AFC West Breakdown, Hunches & Haunches - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/16

It's very fluid in terms of who's going to contribute, how often they'll get to contribute the running back room. It's retreads. I mean, it is. It's players that have had opportunities that have been hurt. Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins. We've even, they even said, you know what? Let's bring this guy in. Don't go anywhere, Big Will Disley. Big Montana goes Hollywood. Oh, nice. We've got to update that drop, the video. The video drop? We need a camera crew following him around. Will Disley? Yeah. Well, you know, because of Hollywood. Yeah. So to me, it's the process is what brings people to the place where they're like, hey, this team is going to do things the right way. And they're in a division with a, what, six and a half projected raiders, five and a half projected Broncos, looking like they could be the one team to make a run towards Kansas City.

And that trust right now has to be in the coach, in the quarterback, right? Yeah, that's where it's going to go from. Yeah, and Greg Roman. You got a factor in G-Roe. Yeah, he's averaged 10 plus wins per year. That's so wild. How can a guy have that much success and just be still kind of floating around? They have the most total vacated targets, 395 of any team. over the last five years. Let's not forget. It's not just Keenan and Mike Williams departing in their wide receiver. Right. It's Austin Echler, who's been their number one target. It's their number one tight-in Gerald Everett. It's their number three wide receiver, like they're all gone. This is a new team. It is a completely new team. Ladd-McConkey, rookie wide receiver coming into the most total vacated targets in football. And Joshua Palmer's going to have an opportunity. DJ Charks is going to have an opportunity. And we'll see if...

Quentin Johnston can get it together. He will have the opportunity. He will never look back at the retirement home, you know, 40 years from now and say they didn't give me a shot. It will never be like the guy that stuck at the bottom of the debt chart. Like you're at the top. We didn't want you there. He's going to be on the field and have the opportunity still with a great quarterback. What he showed on the field rookie year was very, very, very disappointing. Andy, I know you've gone back. You've watched all of his. All of his plays. Yeah, I put one of those devices on. Yeah, where you hold your eyes open. Lockwork orange. Uh-huh. But doing that, I believe if my memory serves, you came out a little bit more optimistic for Quentin Johnston's future. Well, yeah, I mean, everything surrounding the storyline of Quentin Johnson is just the basement. It's dumpster on fire discussions. And that's not the reality. It was a mistake. Tons of mistakes.

But you still had plays after the catch. You still had some big time receptions. It's just a matter of can he become a consistent contributor? Because the patience level of this head coach, if you can't do it, that's why they brought DJ Chark in. Because you can put him right in the lineup and you're going to get a professional wide receiver. So since 2014, first round rookie wide receivers who finished that first year with no top 24 finish it. Yeah, let's hear this great list. Josh Doxon, which, to be fair, he got hurt for a lot of it. Laquan Treadwell. Boston. Mike Williams. All right. There we go. John Ross. Boston. McHill Harry. Boston. Jalen Rager. Boston. Yeah. Oh, man. Well, that's not good. As a first round rookie, he really had no top 24 games. Hey, you got to just luck into one. You're the number one wide receiver.

Lost his quarterback. Lost his, what's the sticky stuff they put on the gloves? Stick them? Yeah, I lost that stuff too. Yeah, I mean, he had two touchdowns on the entire course of the season. He played 65% of their snaps. This is why you like Ladd McConkey because the confidence levels in the other options are not high and none of them, like they don't profile as high volume wide receivers even when they succeed. Like, Chark's not going to be high volume, right? Joshua Palmer. Probably, I mean, he could be a six to eight guy if he's having a good season. Johnston, I think he could be high volume if they use him the right way. But McConkey profiles as the target monster. Land McConkey is very intriguing of can he be Keenan Allen Light. And like his tape at Georgia.

He just, he looks like that pro who finds the spot, like gets the mojo working with the quarterback. The quarterback knows this wide receiver is going to find the soft spot in the zone and give me a wide open target and he's going to run good routes. The practices that were open to media early on that have already taken place, it's been reported that he was clearly the number one target for Justin Herbert most of those practices. So the fact that I like the player. I like the opportunity. I like the quarterback, and he's completely necessary as a, you know, a day two drafted wide receiver. I'm in on lap. He could be, I think you should know quickly. Yeah. With that McConkey, I think you'll know very fast. And he very well might have a capped ceiling as a slot possession receiver that just is good and has a place for fantasy, but is never going to, you know, win you a championship. But he showed, he showed a lot on film that made me go.

He could be the type of guy that gets 150 targets and, you know, catches 120 of them. All right. Any other thoughts on this office? What about Herbert? Give me it. The fact that he is QB 16. I put out our list of top 10 according to the UDK, Mike, and I asked who's missing, and Herbert was the number one answer. Yeah. I don't, it's hard to see a world where he bounces back. And you're like, Elite fantasy football Justin Herbert is back. That's difficult, but QB 16, it feels like if you are, if you're punting your quarterback, like you're in on, you like golf's opening schedule because it's super nice. Leaving the draft with two late round quarterbacks and one of them being Justin Herbert. He finished as QB2. Am I remembering that right? I believe that is right. If you have the number. I'll look at it.

Again, I don't think he's going to make it to QB2. Not last year, by the way. But it's like the guy. Once upon time. He has second year. He has the talent and the abilities to be that type of a guy. Maybe like maybe he goes, he has like a Brock Purdy type of a season where yeah, the volume is incredibly low, but it just ends up being incredibly efficient throwing touchdowns or like. you know, like Lamar's MVP season. Like that's not a high volume throwing, but you just, you are hitting on your high value plays. The Gus Bus is profiling as the starter right now. Gus Edwards, go ahead and hit that drop. Thank you. Number one, fantasy football running back from week 7 through 11 last year. He had 12 catches last year, which was a career high. This is not Austin Echler.

In fact, when he was with Greg Roman in 2022, he had two snaps on third down. And even out of camp, you're hearing Gus, he'll be the starter. If JK Dobbins is healthy, he could have the inside track on third down. And yet this is weird because you're going into this season with an offense that we know wants to run the football, but with an older running back leading the way, since 2000, only 16% of top 24 running back. seasons came from Arby's above the age of 29. That's not surprising. No, it's not surprising. Because there's very few that get that opportunity. But what is surprising is that those who get the opportunity are usually much, they have much bigger, greater careers than Gus Edwards. He's like old and hasn't really been a sensational, you know, he's not Adrian Peterson making it to 30 at the running back position. So it's really tough to be like, well, who do you want here? Who's Gus?

You know, who do you draft? Because there should be value here. If they're going to win nine and a half games, they're going to score a lot of touchdowns. And that's probably Gus Edwards. I think it would surprise people that last year was his most prolific in every way, shape, and form. Like from an opportunity perspective, carries obviously had the wicked touchdown totals. Like last year was Gus's best year. And they brought him over immediately. So he had. You know, he missed all of 2021. We were excited about him going into that year, comes back, hurt, didn't play a whole season. Last year was the running back 20 in fantasy. But he's not going to catch passes. Yeah, correct. And the, you know, like the historical evidence we have for, like the Jim Harbaugh years in San Francisco, that was, it was all Frank Gore. Those four years of 2011 to 2014.

It was Frank Gore averaging like 260 plus attempts where the backup. So in 2011, Kendall Hunter had 112 carries. Haven't heard that name in a while. The next year, Kendall Hunter was second. He had 72 carries, then 78. And then he was replaced by Carlos Hyde as a rookie. Hyde only had 83 carries. Is there a world, Gus, you should take him at a two-round discount over his Amir White? Yes. Yeah, I think so. I think that if you're in, it's difficult if you play in like, say you're a one league player. That's a little more difficult. But all these late rounds starting running backs, I want them in at least one league. Romans running backs have averaged 13.7 combined rushing touchdowns over his 10 years as an offensive coordinator. And when you get to the goal line,

It's going to be Gus Edwards. Yeah. All right. Division. Break it down for me. Top to bottom. Chiefs. Don't copy me. Hello. I'm going Chiefs, Chargers, Vikings. Vikings? Wow. That is a surprise pick. I'm out. I'm out of the next year. I will take Vegas and then the Broncos. I got the same thing. I will go Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders. All right, in between the AFC and the NFC, we're going to take a break, do a mock draft episode on Thursday. So do not miss it again. Three shows a week right now, the fantasy footballers throughout July, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, in August, boys, it'll be five days a week. Let's go. And the season will be here so soon. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. Check out the draft kit.

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