NFC East Breakdown + Late Round Gold

Cole Beasley at the end of last year. I don't know if I would agree with that. Cobb versus Beasley, this is a wash. Oh, Beasley's much better. Sure, maybe he's better. But the team around him, the other pieces. That's why I didn't mention Randall Cobb, I think is better. So, you know, since we already talked about Dak a little bit, just some stats so that you know once Amari Cooper got there, you had Dak really change from...

You know, he became more of a pocket passer. He ran the ball a little less, which usually isn't good for fantasy, unless you're succeeding in the passing game, which he was. From weeks nine on, he was the quarterback six. He was a top half quarterback one ahead of during that stretch, Aaron Rogers, Andrew Luck. I mean, he's a guy that's done it before rushes plenty of touchdowns in. I believe he averages six a year.

And he's the type and style when they get down there where it's not like Matt Ryan's three last year, which aren't common. They'll probably go away. Matt Ryan. Right. Where Dak gets down there and it's like you're selling out to stop Zeke. It's strange because you brought up Dak. He's in our ultimate draft kit as a value. I get all that. I get where he ends up on the year. But if I'm a fantasy owner and I'm facing off against my opponent and his quarterback is Dak Prescott,

I'm not that scared right now. You're not scared at the quarterback, but what getting Dak Prescott allows is the rest of your roster to be super strong at all those positions because you took your quarterback late. Right, right. No, it makes sense. The huddle has the 2019 offensive line ranked at number eight. Another strong, you know, this is a strong unit. It's been a strong unit for years.

Let's talk about Amari Cooper. Mike, maybe rehash a little bit of your feelings, emotions, analysis. You brought this up a few weeks ago, but I feel like it's worth bringing up again. Let's hang with Mr. Cooper. Yeah. Let's talk about it. Or not hang him in your case, right? The problem with Amari Cooper is that he is simply not consistent. He gives you these absolute.

blow up games. And at the end of the year, like those numbers, which we all go to a lot, you know, from week X to week Y, he averaged out he was this wide receiver. And you can do those exact same statistical gymnastics with Amari Cooper from the time that he became a cowboy. Once he was traded to be a cowboy, he was a wide receiver one. He was an absolute top option. Meanwhile, you were happy with him in...

about three of those games because it was really disappointing the other times where I am not in on the on a wider, a player being drafted as a wide receiver one who has the career bust rate of Amari Cooper. This could be the year. Absolutely. This could be the year that Amari Cooper turns it around. There's just such a career of him. We've already seen four full years of Amari Cooper.

doing this where he's a great wide receiver he's incredibly talented something is just missing and that is he is very inconsistent and it's just not someone i'm drafting as my wide receiver one if he's my two okay i'm more interested in that but that's not where he goes in draft people draft him as a one historically in his career i believe the numbers we looked at 66% of the time

You're disappointed in the performance you get from him. It's funny using the same kind of guideline of, hey, I'm looking at my opponent's team. He has Dak Prescott. I'm not scared. I'm looking at my opponent's team. He has Amari Cooper. I am scared. I'm going to draw the short straw. Of the big blow-up week. Of the big week where he scores three touchdowns on 220 yards. If there was ever a situation that Amari Cooper should show some semblance of consistency.

You'd believe it was here in Dallas. Now, the reason it's harder to believe is we got to see him in Dallas do the same thing he did in Oakland. Yeah, and he does have the full off season. That's what I'm saying. So it could be a different year. But when the wide receivers behind him currently, the next 10 wide receivers, they only had that rate of finishing as a wide receiver 3 or worse, 44% of the time. Those are the guys going after Amari Cooper.

An average of 44% of the time, you're disappointed that there are three or worse. Meanwhile, Amari Cooper's in that 66%. It's just, that's tough to draft him right there, knowing that he will have the big blow-up games and win you a week, but will it be enough or will he just crush you three-fourths of the time? All right, a couple other storylines with Dallas. First one is...

You brought up the receiving core. You've got Amari Cooper diagnosed, figured out, you know where he's being drafted. But Michael Gallup, Randallup, the other pass catchers, do you have any interest in late round flyers on somebody like Gallup to take the next step, on somebody like Cobb to be a PPR target maybe better than we think he will be because of the volume Cole Beasley received? Because of Dax, you know, 71% completion percentage last year, that was on the back of Cole Beasley, right?

Yeah, the struggle for going in on Michael Gallup or Randalli Cobb is last year they were 20th in passing plays per game. I'm sorry, overall, with 563 passing plays. That's just not enough volume to sustain of any consistent basis, even though I think Michael Gallup is a good wide receiver. He was a third round pick. That's a pretty high investment for the team.

But instead of grooming him to be the next guy, they went out and got to Marty Cooper. Yeah, I agree that those options, they will get better. Cobb could have a decent year. Over under 65 receptions for Randall Cop. I would take the under based on health.

Okay, yeah, he only played six last year, 14 the year before, 10 the year before that. Yeah, so, you know, the issue here is passing volume. This is a team that succeeds because of Zeke, their offensive line. They run the ball like crazy. And that's why Zeke is my number one running back. He's always been in the conversation, right? The last few years, he's been a top three back. He's always on a per game base as a top three back. If you look, since he's been in the league, 93.

0.7% of his games. He's an RB2 or better. He just doesn't have bust games. 70% of his games, he's an RB1. He's great. And then the dream happened last year where he started catching the ball. Once Amari Cooper got there, it even went up, not down. He was on pace for 118 targets. That's...

He stopped batting it down. Yes. He started catching it. Well, it's never been a kid. I mean, he's always had the skills. Not yet. Not yet. Dak finally realized or, you know, something with the offensive coordinating whatever it was, they're like, oh, you know what? Zeke's really good at catching the ball. This seems to be working around the NFL. He's just getting him in space and he's capable enough to make the catch, get in space. Yeah, so he could be an 80 plus catch player this year.

Do you worry about handcuffing Ezekiel Elliott? That's a question a lot of fantasy owners will ask. I'm a no. I'm a no. I'm a no because you don't know if it's Tony Pollard or Mike Weber. You just don't know at this point. And a plus mark for Zeke is superstar center. Travis Frederick should be back. If you remember, he was a late scratch last year.

don't even know how to pronounce the syndrome, but it was a very serious. Is it the Epstein bar or whatever it is? Yeah. Boolean bar. Never mind. I sound like a fool right now trying to pronounce it. But him being back is a big deal because that was the pick where it was mocked in the NFL draft that they took him so high. And then he's just been an absolute dominant force. And when you have a dominant center, it's a huge.

Huge boon for your running games. Yes. And I believe that as of right now, he has not been back at the minicamp yet, but he is on track. Yes. All right. Before we get into the Eagles, I want to take a moment and thank a sponsor. No bull. It's time. No messing around here. To demand more for your workout gear. No bull is a footwear apparel and accessory brand for people who train hard.

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This was a team that obviously won the Super Bowl two seasons ago. Head coach Doug Peterson. They went nine and seven last season. And that was with injuries to Carson Wentz and then handing the ball back over to Nick Foles. Among many names. That is one of the names they call him Nick. That's one of the names they call him. And this team, they went at it this offseason to equip Carson Wentz, who was newly paid for your extension. But they equipped him.

They brought in Jordan Howard at running back. They brought in Deshawn Jackson, a wide receiver. They drafted a player that I know you guys both love. JJ, our Sega White side. They drafted Miles Sanders with one of the highest draft picks they have ever spent on the running back position. After trading for Jordan Howard to bolster that, they're like the whole Josh Adams. It didn't work. Cory Clement experiment. They're like, man, it'd be nice to have a good running back again.

They couldn't run the ball last year. 28th in the NFL in rushing yards per game. Seventh in passing yards per game. This is a team that wants to be able to hand the ball off. And maybe it's a committee. Maybe it's Miles Sanders. Maybe it's Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard around the goal line. That's the belief around Philadelphia as you're going to have both of those guys having opportunities on the field. We need to see more from Miles Sanders in the preseason. But let's talk about the running back court to begin with.

What's the ceiling for a player like Miles Sanders in this Philadelphia offense? The ceiling for Miles Sanders is an RB1 because it's a great offense if he turns into a three-down back. But do you believe he is going to? I don't. I do not either. I don't. I mean, Jordan Howard is still good at what he does. He's not a very versatile back, but sometimes you only need a light switch to do one thing.

Right. And so if he's good at being a running back, he can get up the middle and still get yards. He's going to be used. Do we have a status update on what's going on with Darren Sprouls? I believe he is aging out of the league.

Right. I mean, you know, he... He's still a free agent. They didn't resign him. That's what I mean. But has there been any buzz? Because last I heard, he was going to retire. And then he said, well, no, maybe I'm going to come back. And then after that happened, they went out and got Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders. And I really doubt Darren Sproul's tags alone. I think they would take him back, though. There's a lot of talk. Look, Miles Sanders, to get on the field, you're going to have to pass protect.

as a rookie. You're going to have to be able to play a three-down type of role. You've got to be able to pass protect to catch the ball because his skill set is one that at Penn State and I believe will translate to the NFL is a great pass-catching option, but you've got to pass-protect to do it. You've got to keep Carson wins, your franchise investment upright until he proves he could do that. He's not going to earn the lion's share of carries and work. I had two dynasty leagues. In one, I drafted David Montgomery.