QB & RB Rookie Preview + Film Takeaways, Forgotten Loves - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/4

and preference, right? I would rather have three years of absolute elite production that can get me a championship than eight years of production that is far more guaranteed to be like a Kirk Cousins, right? I mean, Kirk Couss is a great fantasy assay. If you drafted Kirk Cousins, it's a win. But he's not really the guy taking you over the top to make a championship. If Lamar Jackson ends up for some reason flaming out at this point forward, And you look back in time and go, man, Lamar really only had like two great years. Well, you want to know what he did in those two years? He won people a lot of championships. And I would rather take that for the peak than just have like, well, I know I'm going to have a guy that's playing for a long time, but he doesn't push my fantasy roster over the top. That's kind of my strategy. Yeah, I mean, I think there are, I think we'd all admit there's more risks to Richardson in that realm of just being unproven production wise.

as a passer. We're going through it with Trey Lance right now where I know he's suffered under injuries, but it hasn't been entirely injuries. It's been practice performance one year in college. So some risks exist there. Mike, do you want to weigh in on Richardson and where you have him? So it's Anthony Richardson is so hard because I feel like I'm betraying everything that I love and believe in for fantasy football of shooting for upside. I agree with Jason. If he doesn't have a long-term career, but he helps you get, you know, a chance at a championship or two, that's a win right there, even though you'd like him to have a longer career. But he has, you know, like how Trey Lance really, really green, you know, he started one year. The numbers are just, the quarterback part of the numbers are so dreadful of.

2,500 passing yards, completed 54% of his passes. Like he has, he just, percentage-wise, he melts down in the fourth quarter. His completion percentage is the fourth quarters of games is just, is absolutely atrocious. There's not really anywhere on the field that he is elite or takes over the game. His rushing numbers, they're fine, you know, 100 to 10, 650 rushing yards and 12 games. When Cam Newton was the number one pick, but he absolutely dominated that part of the game. Lamar Jackson, over 1,000 rushing yards when he was a college quarterback. So you still don't have that production. You can look at maybe it's the school, maybe it's the offensive scheme that can be factored in as well. But I'm so concerned about him even being a...

a starter for an entire season that he is really, really risky. I'm not saying I won't take a chance on him at certain points, but where the market is driving his draft capital, like you guys have him right now at number one. If you're playing in a Super Flex League, if he ends up going as the second quarterback off the board, that won't surprise me, but I wouldn't be willing to do it. Let me ask one follow up to Jason here, because one thing that exists with Richardson being a lower pick than likely Strider Young is that he could go to a place like Seattle where he sets for the first year. That would be way better. Which would be maybe better long term, but not great for the pick. And then in terms of the fantasy pick, right? Is there a series of places he could go that would change where you're going to post draft rank him? For sure. Right now, the places that I think he would go most likely, you know, the Colts are a big one. And do I think he starts week one? No, I think Gardner Menchu starts week one.

Do I think he sits for the year? No, I think Anthony Richardson plays the majority of the year if that happens. But yeah, if he goes to a place like Seattle, better for his long-term value. But you have to admit you're taking a complete sacrifice to take the 102 or the 103 in a Superflex or even a first-round pick in a single quarterback league on a player that... You pretty much are sure he's not going to play that whole season or maybe two years? Yeah, I'm going to pump the brakes on that. I would move him down in my rankings. Bryce Young is coming in at number three here. It feels disrespectful on a lot of levels. I mean, Mike talked about the breakout season for C.J. Stroud in 2021. Well, Bryce Young was better that year. He was the Heisman winner, 4,800 passing yards, 47 touchdowns, just seven interceptions.

You know, Richardson last year through nine interceptions with 17 touchdowns. Like Bryce Young put on a clinic. I don't know if part of it is, are we getting this residual aftershock of negativity built around the Kyler Murray up and down career so far that is going to Bryce Young because of his size? I feel like those guys are being associated with one another quite a bit. It's not like when Murray was getting drafted. His association was Russell Wilson, right? Right. And maybe Drew Brees. Bryce Young is getting more association with the undersized challenges that Kyler has had, throwing it into defensive linemen's arms. Bryce Young is a proven commodity at an SEC leader school, Alabama, for multiple years. But as a fantasy prospect.

He comes in number three. Yeah. And if I'm an NFL GM, I absolutely draft Bryce Young over Anthony Richardson as well. He is, I don't worry about the size so much that I, you know, the size issue is not the whole stupid thing. You can't see over his offensive. Yes, he can. He's played football his entire life. He's been absolutely fantastic. That's the dumbest thing. Is he going to get some more balls tipped? Sure. Deal with it if he's a great passer. This is just from a fantasy football perspective. He does not have the body to run the ball. He's not going to be a 100% pocket passer. He can get out and scramble a little bit, but you are not going to have the coaches wanting him to run at 200 pounds. And then you have the durability worries because you've seen Kyler get injured every single year of his career. And so there's fears there.

But basically when we look at drafting veterans and we're saying, okay, it's our draft. Who do we want to take? Do we want to take Tom Brady? Do we want to take Joe Burrow? Do we want to take Kirk Cousins and Derek Carr and all the guys that are pocket passers? We know that they have to throw 40 touchdowns or 35 plus touchdowns to really be special. And so the chance of him being a 40 touchdown yearly thrower is, I think. Small. Let me ask the question a different way. We're going through these quarterbacks. Which one of those top three means the most or means the most to the receivers that he's about to, you know, the team that he's going to. You know, you laid out right now, Stroud to Carolina, Bryce to Houston, and let's give Richardson to the Colts. Who provides the most year one potential value for their receiving room? Yeah, it certainly wouldn't be Anthony Richardson. Oh, no.

I think I would still have it be C.J. Stroud. Do you think it would be Bryce Young? I have checked out of the conversation, and I'm just thinking about Michael Pittman, guys. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Michael Pittman would be not good for. Guys, if Michael Pittman has to put up with Anthony Richardson's accuracy. Oh, you're going to hate Anthony Richardson even more. I am so sad right now. And that's just an idea that's been floated. I was going to say, I actually, we destroyed this city. I. I know the quarterbacks are the hot thing right now. I lean right now of predicting the draft, which is a fool's errand of the Cardinals won't be trading down. And the Anthony Richardson and Will Levis, the other kind of like the next year of quarterbacks, I think they're going to fall a little bit further down that people are talking about right now. I don't want you to say that because I want the Cardinals to get a lot of. It would be delightful. Look, Will Levis.

And Hinden Hooker are the last two names I want to bring up briefly. I am assuming your yeah is not Will Levis. No, it is not. I don't get it. That's what that's my analysis on watching him play football is that's the first round pick. Huh? Look, I. Okay. I, unlike a Zach Wilson endorsement, I don't get it either. And I think... Okay. I didn't know where you were on him. And the problem with Levis to me as a fantasy potential commodity is, you know, you see this. Okay, he's going to talk to the Raiders. It's like there is a point in this draft where you're drafted as a backup. Mm-hmm. And you're also unproven production-wise. Yes, you've got the physical skills inability. Yes, we've seen a lot of those guys over the last handful of years from Ponder to Gabbert to...

You know, there's a lot of manual. And look, there's a lot of first round quarterbacks that if you're going in that middle range, if he's a 10th, 11th pick, Rosen, and you end up being the backup for the first year. And then I just don't know if I see a great path for Levis. Now, he could surprise us if a team makes him the priority and he goes at four, right? Because the Cardinals trade down and then they trade down again and the first four picks are quarterbacks. Okay, maybe that means something a lot more to his future. Yeah, I mean, I see him as a Daniel Jones type of comp to me. Same what I thought that he's a physical guy who has a lot of holes in his game, but he can run and have a little bit of mobility. He threw 46 touchdowns at 25 interceptions. That is, you know, 12 fumbles. He didn't protect the ball. And when I watch him in the pocket, I mean,

I've never seen someone with less pocket awareness. I mean, that guy just gets crushed. He has no idea someone is about to hit him every time he gets hit. There's a lot of talk about his senior season and how we should kind of throw that away because of the injuries that he suffered and struggled with. If you listen to Todd McShay and Hair, give me the. Kuiper? Thank you. When they were debating this, this was a hotly, I don't know if you saw that clip. They were going at it because... Who was on which side? Kuiper is a very, very big Will Levis fan. Oh, no. And McShay isn't as much. And so the discussion is around the fact that what you saw in the potential in his first year at Kentucky in 2021 is the Will Levis that you're drafting. Not the injured fighting through injury. Never quite right Will Levis of last year.

Yeah, I mean, he regressed a lot. You've seen that happen, right? Justin Herbert was an example of someone that was incredible, was going to be the next great thing, goes back to school, has a worse season, drops in the draft, and it turns out it's pretty good. And so there are some people comping Will Levis that direction. And they say, well, look, you got to look back a couple years and look at the potential what we thought he was going to be. He had a disappointing final season. But maybe that's not, you know, he lost some wide receivers as well. And he was injured. And there might be reasons for this. He certainly has tools to throw a great football. You watch him at the combine and you're like, that's a nice throw. That like he can, he can, he can spend the ball. There are some upsides to him. And for fantasy purposes, he runs. But if I had to place my mortgage on will he work and be a franchise quarterback or will he be a bust, I put it on the bus side.

Mike, Hinden Hooker, somebody you want to talk about. Yeah, I just, Tennessee. Yeah, so Tennessee quarterback was on his way to potentially winning a Heisman. I think he ended up Kyle Fifth. Yeah, he was a frontrunner for a while. Yeah, because he tore his ACL, unfortunately. And the conversation with Hennon Hooker starts with, he's coming off an ACL injury, which is never great going to the NFL. And he's old. For an NFL prospect, he's 25 years old, which is like not old to be a human being, but to go into the NFL at that age. He's not Al Borland old. Right. Yeah, exactly. He's older than Justin Herbert, who's been in the league a while. And next year he will be older than Justin Herbert. But watching his tape of the last two years at Tennessee, to me, he is so incredibly.

impressive of just delivering strike after strike. You know, you had in 2021, 68% of his passes. Next year was completing 70% of his passes. And his touchdown ratio, as you were highlighting guys that don't turn the ball over. How about 31 to 3 or 27 and 2? Like the guy makes sharp throws. He makes great decisions. The fact that he's coming off an ACL injury is a super bummer. But I think that he is going to be set up. He might be, you know, like a back of the first or a second round pick where he's going to go into a situation. Like maybe Jalen Hertz, sit behind a quarterback for a year or two and get his shot. That's not necessarily great for fantasy football right now in your drafts. But I think long term, if Hennon Hooker does get his opportunity, I think that he is going to succeed. Yeah, the NFL draft's going to tell us a lot with him. I agree that he looks like a very good prospect.

The problem is. And he does, for fantasy purposes, he does run more, like he runs a little bit, four and 30 yards, 620 yards the year before. Accuracy is so impressive. Yes. That part of it reminds me of the way Bridgewater threw the football, you know, where Bridgewater doesn't give it away. And if you do land in a better situation because of the ACL, yeah, it's just a matter of do you want to wait two years to get your draft pick to play? in your fantasy draft. And then when you have him play, he's going to be a 26 year old, essentially rookie. So it's tough. He'll fall in drafts, but I just want to see where he lands first. And like to be that age, though, for a quarterback, he can play for another 10 years. Like if he gets healthy and gets right and the team likes him, he can still have a long career for Dynasty.

All right. Like you said, more deep dives on the Dynasty show over the next month. The rookies will be getting their time in the sun on the Dynasty pod starting tomorrow. Running backs. Maybe even more than a minute. Really? It's not really much to say. Well, we'll talk. We'll talk about the running backs right now. A reminder from our 10 Things to Remember show. Rookies get run. They get opportunity. Year after year after year over the last decade, we've seen at least two top 24 rookie running backs every single year. Last year, Bruce Hawke, Kenneth Walker, Damien Pierce, fit the mold. The year before it was Najee and Giovante. And the year before that, five rookie running backs, Jonathan Taylor, James Robinson, Antonio Gibson, DeAndre Swift, Clyde, Edwards, Allair, all inside the top 24. So we're talking about players that are going to make a big impact in fantasy in year one.

Philly, Miami, Buffalo, Cincinnati, the Chargers, Atlanta, among many teams that could use some help at the running back position, and there are some names out there. Have you tried the Bijan mustard? I have. It is delicious. Now, did you try it on a hot dog? I have tried it on a hot dog, yes. And on a sandwich. I don't even remember how, did a listener send it to us? Yes, yes. So Bijon has his own muster. You're thanking Bijon or you think both Bijon and the listener who sent in the Bijonese. What is there to say about Bijon Robinson, the number one overall prospect and fantasy? Look, it is pretty simple. I think everyone out there by this point knows Bijon's name. They believe he is the number one, you know, offensive prospect in this draft class at the skill positions. You know, he's in everyone's top five big board rankings.

And the reason why is because he has literally every single thing that you look for in a prospect. He just checks the boxes. Is he the best at those things? Like, you know, he's not as explosive as Sequin was. He doesn't have the long speed that Brees Hall had. You know, he's not the best receiving prospect we've seen come out. But there isn't a hole in his game. He is big. He is strong. He is fast. He can catch. This is why I like your comp. This is why I genuinely, I appreciate your comp because it, and I'm teasing it, but there's a humility within your comp. Yeah, I don't see Beijon Robinson as a number one running back for three years in a row. Barry Sanders, AP. Exactly. I don't, I don't see that. I see a Matt Forte, a guy who can do everything.

will be a workhorse back and will be a fantastic fantasy asset being a top eight running back for fantasy. Forte was fantastic. And that's kind of what I see as the career projection for Bijon. Running back 12, 3, 3, 9. That was Matt Forte's four years span from 2012 to 2016. You're going to get a... large chunk of time, which we're running back is three or four years, where he is one of the best fantasy football assets at the position. That will happen because he will come with enough draft capital to where his opportunity will be given to him. There are only a few destinations where cold water will be poured on that and you can't be sure of the opportunity. Is there any place you can go where you will take another person number one in the fantasy rookie draft?

No, I don't believe so. I don't believe that I, if he goes to Seattle. How about that question to you, Mike? Is there any place that Bijon can go that he will, you'll be, and any place that J.S.N. could go where you'd be tempted to take him number one. I don't think so. Is it like, I feel like the, the places where you go, uh, is like Tennessee. And Derek Henry's still on the team of, okay. They're going to use Derek Henry this year. But then the following year, I'm going to have Bijan Robinson on a team taking the Derek Henry role, which would be just insanely valuable. So there might be a situation where you have to wait a little bit, but that's a weight that I'd be willing to put in. I will say this when it comes to his destinations, and obviously this will only be relevant for a couple weeks. We'll know where he lands soon enough. But two of the highest odds...

to land destinations are really bad for him, in my opinion, which would be the Washington commanders and the New England Patriots. Those two places, I think he would be far less assured of a workhorse volume. I completely agree. Both of those, both of those would be a problem. So would Washington, because the, they love. Their adoration for Brian Robinson is. I think their adoration would go out the window if they spent a first round pick on. Nope. No, no. I mean, you saw it back in the day. You saw it with Gibson, too. You saw it with Gibson. You saw it with Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams with this coaching staff. Like, you know, they would split it. They don't look through the same lens we do. They don't at all. Which is dumb. Our lens is great. Yeah, fantasy for life. We should sell our lens on shout ballers. How does one sell that? Well, in Jason's case, it would be like a pair of glasses, except for we put.

Two Bijon stickers on the front of the lenses. Did you ever have those old point and shoot cameras that would put the like Ninja Turtle? Yeah, I'm seeing Al Nod. Put the Ninja Turtle? I've never heard of the slides. It was like a 35 millimeter camera, right? And every, and the film, I guess the film already had like Michelangelo's head on it. Yeah, different characters on different pictures. So you take the picture, but then like when you develop the pictures, they've already got like a Ninja Turtle in the corner of the picture. This was like high tech. Like almost like a watermark? My people out there know what's going on. Yeah, almost like a watermark. Yeah. I'm upset I didn't know about this. Oh, they were, they were not great. I will never, I will never. You've got all these old pictures from my childhood that are, you know, they're corrupted by Michael Angelou. I'll never cease to be amazed by how Andy, who is the youngest of us, is the oldest of us. Yeah. I just, yeah, you remember all the old stuff. That's when I won my championship with Michelangelo. That's right. All the old stuff, I was, I was.

you know, experimenting with it while you were watching cable. I didn't, you guys were just watching cable. Gotcha. Four inches from the big screen. I was at the library. Living the good life. Yeah. I didn't get any of that fun. All right, Jamir Gibbs. Let's talk about Jamir Gibbs, Alabama, Jr. I know Mike and I are enamored with what we've seen on film. Yeah, don't tell me the odds. He is 5-9, 200 pounds, 436 speed. He wishes he was 200. Me too, actually. One-99. Yeah, so the weight. Yeah. Is that an issue? That is an issue. That is a huge, huge issue. And that is his only one. That's it, which is not really a fair or fun thing to discuss because the dude is electric. 436 speed and that was at the 40, but that just matched what you saw on film. Yeah.

There are some players where when you go to the combine, you just want to see what it is because you're like, that dude is so fast. I can't wait to see how fast he runs. And it just backed it up. He is electricity on the field, absolutely outstanding. Now, the problem is he is 199 pounds, which means nothing taken away from his talent or what he can do. But what it does... concern me with is what opportunities is he going to receive to do said things on the field? He is probably not ever going to be a 300 touch player. Will he be a 250 touch player? I don't know. Will he be a 200 touch player? Will he be 150 touch player? There are... Sorry, go ahead. Really, there are other great players who have had spurts of really cool fantasy output. Like my comp... Really cool. My comp for Jamir Gibbs, it's not one that a lot of people like.

It's C.J. Spiller, who now in hindsight. He had a year. He was running back seven. I've got three names. Yeah, there's plenty. That I think will prove a point. You have to be super, super special to excel and earn the opportunities. You have to be durable in your first year, I think. But like, Jamal Charles, under 200 pounds. Alvin Camara and I would say, I know he's a thicker boy, but I'm saying from a style, like from a total touch standpoint, he didn't need as many touches to be effective. You have to be that good is what I'm saying, to where you can be efficient on fewer touches. Or like an Austin Echler who, look, it didn't seem like Austin Echler's career path was to be the guy. It seemed like compliment. But then you're just so good that you do enough. And I think that that stacks something against Gibbs at other backs that you guys like, Mike.

not have to overcome. Yeah, Gibbs will have draft capital. He's an elite pass catching running back. He averaged over six yards a carry playing for Alabama. Like, that's the hope, right? For Jemir Gibbs is he played at Alabama this last year. He dominated in the most prestigious NCAA conference for football. And He didn't have a problem being out there on the field and giving you tremendous production. He can score from anywhere on the field. Like, I mean, his long was a 76-yard touchdown, but he just, he can, it's like that Travis ETN thing where maybe you bottle up a few times, but here goes a 30-yard run. And especially mixing in the past catching, I'm so excited to see what he could do. Again, don't tell me the odds because I know the odds are not in his favor.

but so many of, so many pieces of the argument are, and watching him play football, he is sensational. And I'm putting you on the spot here, so I don't blame me if you don't have the answer. But is there a perfect home for Jimmy or Gibbs in this draft? Yeah. You got one? Yeah, it would be the chargers. It would be to replace Austin Echler. They're not looking to give him an extension, even if they kept the heckler. Which would go with there being an electricity on the field would fit with a charger. It sure would. That would be a place where you know they're going to throw to the running back, and they're going to utilize Gibbs' best, most elite weapon that he has, which is his receiving game. He's on a high-powered offense. They've got a coaching staff who have been willing to really utilize a 200-pound running back. So that would be the destination that would say no fears whatsoever, because the talent is unquestionable. He is.

He's just beautiful. He feels, yeah, I can't say the words that I call him in the office. That's why I paused, Mike. That's why I paused and then went dot, dot, dot, beautiful, because all I can ever think is what you call him in the office. If there's a, I'll try and figure out how he's, how do I say it? There's a song that has the same title. But yeah, so. I'll share that somewhere else. But the, uh, the Cincinnati love robot. Yeah, there you go. There you go. I couldn't think of the singer. Who's, uh, gosh, old crooner. All looked that up. I'll look that up. Sorry, because I'm thinking Cincinnati Bengals would be, that'd be a great place for him as well. It's, uh, I think it's James Brown. Yes. Uh, yes. Once we get into this part of the show or, you know, in the 55 minute mark or so, that's generally.

When we pop open a bottle of Charbonnet. Oh, man. Yes. And so the last major running back we want to discuss is the senior from UCLA, Zach Charbonnet, who has the size and the skill. You two have been kind of, I don't know, competing for his attention over the last month. The thing about for Charbonnet is I fell in love with him. Two times because I scouted him last year. Look, we spent all of our time looking at pros. We're, you know, a year-round fantasy football show, and we focus on that. So our time when we're getting introduced to the rookies is really, you know, the playoffs for the NCAA and then starting to watch film from January up to the draft. I was watching his tape last year, and I'm like, who?