AFC North Breakdown + Hot Takes

to maintain his level of production. I think there's going to be a struggle for Juju to establish himself as the one in this offense with the difference of coverage he receives being on the outside more often. Yes, the targets are going to be there, but I don't think the offense is going to be as good. And look, Jason went out on record last year with his big Patriots beginning of the end. I think it's going to be a tough year because of a tough division, Baltimore and the Browns in particular.

And I think that I think Juju is another player that has a wider range of outcomes than people believe. I think he's a really great player. Jason just said he could be the number one player. I think he could be someone that disappoints fantasy owners. I really do. What would that be like wide receiver 15? I think somebody that could end up in the 12 to 15 range for sure. I mean, the targets are going to be there, but he's going to have to do, he's going to have to score. Where did he finish last year as a fantasy wide out? What was his?

Rank. Depends on scoring format, usually about six. Usually around six. And where is he being drafted as? About five or six right now at the wide receiver position? Either you have that in front of you? So I haven't been a wide receiver finishing as the wide receiver nine last year. You haven't? No, no, he did. That's half point. In half point, he finished as a nine, currently going 204, which is the wide receiver seven. So I would say that I think 10 is about where he.

where he's going to end up, nine or ten. I think it's... Why don't you're six? Most people presume that it's going to be better for him to be the main guy. I think last year was really the ceiling for him outside of exploding at the tight end touchdown mark. But you guys, I mean, look, most people are in Juju's corner. I get that. He's a great player. I just don't know if he can be a top three guy. And we haven't seen it before. Does that worry you at all that you've never seen him without...

Antonio Brown on the other side very often? I mean, there's obviously been a handful of games. Yeah, very small sample, but we do have, I believe, four games without Antonio Brown over the last couple of years. I do know that his numbers have been, oh, they've been wide receiver number one numbers in those games that Antonio Brown hasn't been there. No doubt. And the thing that we have seen on the field with Antonio Brown is we've seen Juju be a dominant.

NFL wide receiver. You know what I mean? Like you just watch, he passes the eye test. You go, that's why we, you know, used to say a star was being born because right off the bat rookie year, you knew there was something special about this guy. Now he's got the opportunity to be Big Bin's number one honed in on target. And I'll say that on top of just saying now those targets are available, specifically red zone targets are available. Last year, Antonio Brown had the eighth most.

targets inside the red zone 24 so if i mean if those are up for grabs i'm not saying 24 additional for juju but he he had the most in the league last year juju did juju actually he had 26 tied for the most red zone targets in football i'm doing this from memory i don't remember if it was four or five he had four or five uh tackled inside the two yard line right so i mean he was very very close last year to

uh some more pater look i'm i'm interested to see how he works in this offense in a different role most of the time when i watched that offense last year juju was just wide open in the middle of the field the crossers back and forth right i'm excited to see it yeah i mean uh you know for what it's worth anecdotal but uh reggie wayne says he's worried for juju he obviously went through it going behind marvin harrison back in the day with payton manning he was so excited to get his shot found out

It's harder than you think to be the wide receiver one. So that speaks a little bit. It's also very young to do it. I mean, he's a 22-year-old guy that, look, he put a lot of pressure on himself last year, the fumble, that situation. You've got a mental game and a mental hurdle to get over. He's a hyper-talented player. I'm just a little more risk in my mind than some of the other upper echelon guys. I think, Mike, when you were setting Tyreek Hill out, I was really shocked that you put juju up ahead of Tyreek myself because of that risk factor. Sure. It's not like.

Tyreek doesn't have a risk factor. How early is too early for the van stance, Mike? Oh, man. How early is too early? ADP 712. We're getting to the point where it's going to be too early for the van stance. If he keeps Sashing and shantang his way up into the, if he gets into the sixth round, then I unfortunately will have to be out. I mean, like, 712. The bag of the seventh, eighth round is where I'm comfortable taking a shot.

on a potential breakout tight end. That's your Vance stance? Yes. Okay. Despite finishing as the quarterback three last year, is Big Ben draftable in 2019? Sure, he's draftable, but. In New England week one, three and ten against Brady in his career. Do you want a quarterback to draft that you don't want to play week one? Maybe not. No, I was going to say, if you're in a single quarterback league, I'm not drafting Big Ben. He's my 18th ranked.

quarterback and we've got plenty. I mean, it's last year he played a full season. That's rare. All right. We need to talk about the Cleveland Browns. The exciting Cleveland Browns. They are very exciting. Yeah, they start off against Tennessee at home. Then they travel to the Jets. Then they're at home against the Rams and then they're in Baltimore. The 7, 8 and 1 Browns, the 20 to 1 to win the Super Bowl Browns. Get out of here. Odell Beckham Jr.

Biggest edition of any team this offseason. One of the best players in football gets added to your roster. You pick up Kareem Hunt, who could play a complimentary role with Nick Chub later in the season. He suspended for the first eight weeks. And then you've got Duke Johnson in the backfield as well. Baker Mayfield coming into his own, absolutely did everything you could ever hope of a rookie quarterback after stealing the job viciously from Hero Tyrod Taylor.

Look, there's a lot of swagger. Man, how, when Tyrod went down in that game, like, I wish I could hear Hugh Jackson going, fine, fine, fine, fine, we'll play the number one overall pick, fine, Baker, I hope you're happy. Unbelievable. That you get to go play. Then after that game, well, I got to check the tape. We'll see. Were you not watching the game?

I forgot he said. You got to go check the tape as to whether or not Baker should be your starting quarterback. I give the Cardinals credit now because the Cardinals are just not. I guess there was one comment about we'll see who earns the starting job. But since that point, it's been like, okay, Kyle, there's the guy, duh. Kyler's the guy. Yes. Stop it. The Brown. A lot of swagger heading into 2019. Are they the next big thing? You've got so much to talk about so much potential on the offensive side with Todd Monkin taken over at OC, Freddie Kitchens.

And what he did with the offense, he's the head coach now. Beckham, Landry, Calloway, Injoku, Chub, it's out of control. You have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, one of the best wide receiving cores in the league, one of the best running back cores in the league, and one of the best young up-and-coming tight ends in the league. If this offense can't get it together with a new offensive head coach, the offensive coordinator from the Bucks last year, who shockingly were, you know, top three across the board.

It's kind of that air raid system, at least Monkins is, I believe they're still going to be running more of Freddie Kitchens system there. This offense should be moving. It will. It will move. The question is, is it too divided? Is it with Odo Beckham, with Jarvis Landry, with Injoku? Can any of these guys be the complete dominant fantasy force that you hope they can be?

because they're just good players on a good offense, or will the plethora of options steal away from, you know, obviously those three guys can't all catch touchdown? It's great for Baker. I mean, it's great for Baker to have those weapons, no doubt about it. I think it was hard to predict efficiency. Last year was a weird year for Landry in and of itself, like when you talk about the white receiver core. Yes, it was.

You look up drops. I mean, he led the league in drops. I mean, it's Jarvis Landry, some of the best hands in football. His career catch rate was much higher every year prior to last year. Last year somehow 54% previous four years, 69, 71, 66, 75. You don't know if that was getting on the same page with Baker. You don't know if that was. Well, there was a big change. When Baker took over, they started using him downfield and not using him as the Jarvis Landry really short intermediate. We're just kind of lob it to him. Yeah. And so I think that that makes sense. However,

Targeted more than any other player in football on third and long. They should. Whoops. Presumably you're going to switch that, right? He's not going to be the downfield guy anymore. He's going to go back to doing what Jarvis Landry excels at. Be that short intermediary guy because they've kind of got a wide receiver one here. Well, he previously excelled at looking at the box score, seeing, wow, that's a lot of receptions. Oh, that's not a lot of fantasy points.

Right. That was where he excelled. PPR machine only. The one thing I'll say is like I have worries, right? I just brought them up, splitting all the targets, splitting all the touchdowns, dividing it up between all these great players. But I don't believe that's fair because usually when you have teams that are great.

right, the best offenses. And you don't complain about Robert Woods and Cooper Cup and Brandon Cooks and Todd Gurley and there's just too many good options. What ends up happening is they're just a great offense and you want all of the pieces. And I feel like my big hiccup is Jarvis Landry. I don't want him. I pass them on every draft. There's like no round I'll draft them. And I harken back to your...

Andy, your thing that you always try to remind yourself on that you've learned over the last couple of years that wide receiver twos on their team are still really good fantasy options. So am I making a mistake here with Jarvis wanting to just not touch him because he's behind all these other options? Look, we haven't said a lot of positive stuff about Landry on this show, but there is the, there is the train of thought that Landry's going to benefit in a big way from...

Oda Beckham being on the outside, him coming underneath, and in him having another year with Baker Mayfield and being far more efficient. And if this offense is cruising, you know, we talk about over and over again, you love all three pass catching options in Los Angeles. Love them. Okay. I don't know why we were boxed into the thought that there's one pass catching option in Cleveland.

That's the worry because Landry's not kind of good at football. He's really, really good at football. So then you just talk about, well, they might spread it around a lot. Spreading around a lot works pretty darn well in Kansas City and Los Angeles. So it is, I think it's a, it could be a trap. That's not, I'm not predicting it. Because there's still the Browns. But it could be a trap. Like, I mean, sorry Cleveland, but you guys know, you guys know this. Banana. Anytime you're excited about the Browns, you're always let down.

And so it's different, man. I believe it is different because I, so I start thinking like what it comes down to is do you believe in the coaches and do you believe in the quarterback? That's what it matters. And I definitely believe in Baker. And I am unsure about Freddie Kitchens as a head coach. Well, I believe in John Dorsey. I believe in the personnel. I belerve and believe in the team. A blurb. A blurb in the team. And so, yeah, you're kind of marked a little bit. You've got a little bit of a stink stain.

on the franchise. It's hard to get that off in one year. It is. Or two years. As the Browns. Can Nick Chub be your team's running back one, Mike? Let's say you start your draft out with DeAndre Hopkins in the first. Nick Chubb in the second. I believe so, yes. Because even though the looming Kareem Hunt coming back here in week 10 or so, I mean, that's still plenty of time to get.

all you need out of Nick Chubb. I don't think it's going to be. Cream Hunt comes in here. Let's say the Browns are, they're playing well. Nick Chubb's having a good season. They don't all of a sudden say, okay, Kareem, you get in there and you're going to take 50% of the carries. That's just not going to happen. The football team will not move away from what is working. And I think that Nick Chub is a sensational running back. And now if the Browns were actually...

on that precipice of being a good team because I think that Chubb does need to be on a good team to really excel and be your running back one. So I think that he is worth the draft price. Even though you know you halfway through the season, you may be trying to figure out what your second half plan is. That still doesn't take me away from spending that early pick on him. He was only the starter in nine games last year and he was second in the NFL and 20 plus yard rushes.

Sequin led the way, but Chubb, Zeke, Mixing, and Gurley were tied with 11, and that was not playing Weeks 1 through 6 pretty much at all. He did score nine fantasy points fewer against top 16 rushing defense. Yeah, that makes sense. So look, they need to be a good team like you said for him to have that opportunity. Are you interested in David Injoku before he move on to the Bengals? I am not really. Unless you guys want to talk more about Injoko, I think he could break out.