Fantasy Football - AFC South Breakdown + Booty Scootin' Bhayshul Tuten - Podcast for 7/9

But we do have questions up and down the offensive side of the ball in terms of who you're really going to place your bets on in the backfield. It's going to be Bashaw Tootin, Chris Rodriguez, and LaQuint Allen in some capacity sharing work. Like, this was a team that made a concerted effort to go out, and their name was brought up among other veteran off-season opportunities. So they are – As it should. Yeah. You're losing someone stabilizing like Travis H.N. Jr., who – I mean, Andy, you brought up his inefficiency numbers, which that's true. He's kind of been inefficient his entire career.

It's his thing. Yeah, but he just gets the ball a ton. And so you lose him, and the next man up is a fourth-round running back. The media is going to link you to other running backs. And they really – the splash was Chris Rodriguez, who – What is – It's not much of a splash. Yeah. Yeah, but he's caught like a handful of passes in his entire career, just has never been able to get a toeing. If there wasn't a connection – That's a ripple in the water. Yeah, if it wasn't the connection between Cohen and Rodriguez at Kentucky –

That's probably what got the deal done. We would probably not – we'd just be like, he's a depth piece. It doesn't matter. We brought it up on the last show. Basial Tootin did have problems getting in – you know, Chris Rodriguez can get into the end zone. Yes. Basial Tootin inside the five. We don't know if that work's going to be his and how successful he'll be. That's what the question is. He had limited success. Who gets it? But he did have success. Tootin was better than HN Jr. inside of the five. Right. It just – it comes down to what do you believe, who will get the work.

And, you know, like, we always want the more talented player on the field. Sometimes the coach just likes a player. And even if, you know, we're screaming at the television how inefficient it is, they're going to keep giving that player the work because they like them and they trust them, I think it ends up being Tootin. And I think he gets just a crap ton of volume. So you can make the arguments that Tootin will be inefficient, but it's like, well, look, HN Jr. was inefficient last year. Chris Rodriguez was four and a half a carry last year, and he did have enough work for that to matter.

He had 112 carries. He scored six times in Washington. So it's worth noting that, like – Rodriguez is an interesting player. He's only 25. He's an interesting player. I just think that the upside is with Tootin. I think that's really – it comes down to that explosiveness and speed. And if he is the first man up, the opportunity to utilize it. If you don't remember Tootin, the prospect as a rookie last year, he's 99th percentile explosiveness, 4-3-2 speed. So it's exciting for fantasy purposes because if one of those two guys has a real breakout this year, it will be Tootin.

Like, Chris Rodriguez could be a value. He could end up being someone that is a good draft pick, but I doubt he's got, you know, like, oh, he's RB1 at the end of the year. Whereas Tootin, I think, has that upside, that allure. I lean more towards Andy's side where I am skeptical that he will be the darling that so many people believe. Like, there is a Tootin fan club out there, and they are having a rootin' Tootin time because there's a lot of them now. He was only 3.7 a carry on his attempts last year. He made plays. He is a playmaker.

And then LaQuint Allen, how much will he be a factor, a Justice Hill factor on third down, I don't know. That's just where we're at with this discussion. And so you're taking a shot on, like, the Tootin draft pick. There's a handful of these every single year. You're drafting a player to be something for your lineup that you're not 100% certain he'll be. And so there's upsides to that, and there's downsides to that. But where he's going right now, what's the ADP on Tootin in the fifth round? I mean, that's tough. That's RB22 off the board. The usual dead zone.

That's a vote for Liam Cohen. But, yeah, that's the usual dead zone for running backs, right? Yeah. Usually those mid-round guys, what it is is exactly what he is. Those middle-round picks are the ones that aren't sure things. You're not positive, but there's hope and there's reason where it's like, okay, I could see the path, so he goes up higher than being a late-round pick. And that's usually when it doesn't work. And this is the kind of, like, Basial Tootin, young, exciting, good offense we like. Yes. David Montgomery, all the volume on a playoff team. That's a decision to make for fantasy managers.

Yes. Between those, and they're very different archetypes. It's fair. So that's one where I'm going to be on, I'm leaning towards the Montgomery side of that equation. Sames. And Jason said Sames. Well, I wanted to say Samesies, but I felt like that was too stupid. But you said it anyways. No, he didn't say it. I just said Sames. That would be too stupid. I don't know if we've talked about something more in the offseason than the wide receiver. Yeah, please. We don't need to do it all over again. Quick. Who do you want? I like Parker Washington. I like Jacoby Myers as players.

This is as players. I like Travis Hunter. I like Britton Strange. I might like Brian Thomas as a player. Brian Thomas and Parker Washington are going very near each other in the drafts. You're not going to really have the opportunity. Basically, when you're on the clock, you're going to be choosing one of those two players. And who are you choosing? I'm getting closer to Parker by the day. I feel like I am too. I'm getting closer to Parker by the day. And one, I don't know who brought it up. And if I could remember, I would shout you out. But somebody brought up the fact that Parker Washington in this offense is going so significantly behind Luther Burden in the Chicago offense.

But the situations for them are very similar. The production for Parker Washington was there over a long period of time last year. It was after the bye week. It was very solid. And the slot position for Liam Cohen has been a fantasy football dominator. And so I just wonder if that discussion is worthwhile. Like, Luther Burden has all the excitement and the hype in the world. And here's a team that went 13-4. And because he doesn't have the draft capital or name recognition, he may just be a steal. Yeah, you don't have any of the recognition and you're going into year four.

So that's where the difference is. If someone was going to turn into a boat, I would expect it to be a wide receiver. They're happening before they're going into year four. It's Luther Burden year two. Correct. Yeah. Between of the Jacksonville guys, I think I still lean Brian Thomas. It's not a strong lean. It's like a soft. Yeah. And it was just of the. Barely on his side of the field. If. When I evaluate the situation, it's like if one guy is going to turn into the difference maker and not just the three of them all kind of, you know, hot swapping who's going to be the star of the day.

I think it's Thomas. But again, this isn't like I'm not I'm not demanding Brian Thomas get onto my roster. All right. Let's take a break and get into the very different Houston Texans. What's up, Foot Clan? I have been in the tech and media business for my entire life. I built hundreds and hundreds of websites. And so one of the things that was the fundamental, most important thing about making it official, whether it's a website for our league, which we've done many times, or a website for a business or a website my son is registering to be able to build his business.

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9-1-1 wins. Houston's strength of schedule, according to Warren Sharpe, 7th most difficult schedule for 2026. They won a lot of games for an offense that was 19th in yards per game, 13th in points per game. They were a terrible red zone offense. So if you want to know why you just kind of didn't enjoy watching the game very much, it wasn't that. I don't think any of us would say, oh, Houston, they were the worst offense in all of football. And the numbers don't bear that out either. It was that when it was time for it to matter, they just looked inept at times.

And then they went out and got a guy who can actually run in the red zone and score touchdowns because they did not have that. No, Woody Marks had to carry a lot of the load last year. This was a defense. It wasn't the plan. It's just, yeah, they kind of had a guy that they really liked. Yeah, they did. And Joe Mixon and he just vanished. And it wasn't all Woody Marks' fault, which is why it might not just work for David Montgomery. Their offensive line was dead last and run, block, win percentage last year. So this is, it's one thing to want to do the running of the football well.

It's another thing to be capable of doing it within your offense and having a threat in your passing game that keeps the defense honest enough to let David Montgomery go and have success. But from a game script perspective and from how we like to draft running backs, this is a team that has a great defense. That will be leading or close in a ton of games that taking the ball out of a quarterback's hands like CJ Stroud seems like a prudent decision when you have a lead late in the game and you have a running back that is proven in Detroit that when there were those situations and you had a big lead, he could salt the clock away.

So again, I find myself inching closer and closer into this being a more impactful year for David Montgomery than I think some people believe. Not me. Yeah, Jason's all in. I've been all in since the acquisition was made. I mean, you saw this team do this a couple years ago, grabbing an older, inefficient Joe Mixon, who is what he was best at, was handling a large workload, being a veteran who is in the right spot at the right time, always falling forward, getting what he can. And that's what David Montgomery is. They went out, they traded for him, they signed him, they extended him, and he's going to get all the workload.

This is a team that I think they won their final nine games or something crazy like that. As soon as CJ Stroud went down to injury and missed three games, they started winning. But this is a team that will be in the lead a lot with that defense. And so I also think David Montgomery is a good pass catcher. I view him as a three down back. My projection for him is that he will carry a lion's share of this backfield. Yeah, I don't disagree with any of those things. It's the, he's 29 years old, he's changing teams. It has been quite some time.

I mean, it's been since 2022 where we've seen him be, you know, like a, a true featured player, you know, splitting time with Gibbs, even the carry count in 2023. Less tread on the tires, Mike. Yeah, you, I mean, you can, you can argue that except we're going into year nine and he's 29 years old. So he, he is the exact profile that I generally bet against. I can see how it goes, right? I, but when I'm, when I'm in mock drafts, I just, I don't think I can, I haven't been able to get Montgomery on my team. And Jason and I will target him.

At my own detriment. Yeah, we will target him. But I, I will say that it's a, it's a different archetype. You know, there's a, a use case where Tootin is the better option. If you said who was a breakout top five running back, I don't think David Montgomery is going to be that. He doesn't have the explosiveness to do that. He's going to be a volume guy. If Tootin breaks in. I mean, 12 touchdowns for David Montgomery is not unreasonable at all. I think that that's, I think that that's possible. I don't know that that puts you in the top five.

No, he had 13 and a thousand in 2023 and he was the running back 13. I liked it. Well, yeah. And half the work, right? Well, you have the opportunities. I mean, he started, he had a ton of 200 probably. Yeah. I mean, Woody marks is not going to be a factor. They're already talking about him in special teams. He'll, he'll spell David Montgomery here and there. I just think it's interesting because I like it when other people are out. And so we're not going to agree because that's the principle here. The principle is sometimes you pick players that have a good case against them.

And that's it. I liked it as yards per carry. Haven't gone down. They went up last year from the year before. I, I liked it. He's done the double digit touchdown thing that he's been pretty resilient. I just, his carries went down. His efficiency went up. It's there you go. He is like, I think Montgomery is still a fine player is just, if they, if they really use him as a three down running back, how long, how long can he keep that up? Can he make it to, can he give you 14 quality games? Yeah, I think he can. I think, I think he's built for all the players that could.

I think he's the one that can do it. I mean, I think it's a Nick Chubb esque type of. And Nick Chubb was part of the plan for the Texans. Not last year's Nick Chubb. So as you, when you're like, yeah, well it worked for Mixon. Didn't work for Nicholas Chubb. Well, Chubb was coming back off of. Yeah. Chubb had already been bad. The injury. That's why Cleveland didn't bring him back. Yeah. He, he freaked. Montgomery freaks me out. Um, yeah. And that's why David Montgomery is going as the RB 26 in the sixth round. And Basial Tudens is the RB 22.

Nico Collins. He's just there still. He's very good. And very good. Great. And very good. Wish he was on a team with a bad defense. That would be awesome. Yeah. He's going to be capped by just total opportunities provided by a quarterback that has been, you know, we, we made a lot out of Aaron Rogers being 14 fancy points a game. Well, CJ Stroud after his amazing rookie year, 13 fancy points a game, 14.9 last year. He still got a completion percentage up in the mid sixties, but three top 12 finishes in each of the last two years. You don't get prolific man weeks from him.

You're probably going to get more top 12 finishes from Rogers having a special week than CJ Stroud, who just seems kind of like a game manager at this point. And that's probably what the team needs the most is for him to take less chances. Absolutely. I mean, you look down the stretch, they won nine games in a row. They won with 16 points, 23 points, 20 points, 20 points, 40. Thanks Cardinals. Cause anybody can score 40 against the Cardinals, but like they were winning with, with so few points where, and, and especially with Montgomery here where when they get in the red zone, they

can actually maybe score on the ground. This is, it caps the wide receiver upside, but Nico Collins can win any week. Uh, you look back last year, he had so many top 10 weekly performances. Granted two of them came in the three games with Davis Mills, but at least, at least, you know, if something happens with Stroud Mills, you know, is a capable backup. Do you care about any other wide receivers? Jaden Higgins, Jalen Knoll, Tank Dell, Xavier Hutchinson. I want to care about Jaden Higgins. I want to care about Tank Dell. I, I do care about Tank Dell, the man.

I think Mike's odds of caring about him in fantasy are much higher than yours. I'm sorry. I agree. Jaden Higgins is interesting, but this team just doesn't have the passing volume, I think on a weekly basis. Uh, well, what I saw provide, what I saw from Jaden Higgins was really good. Uh, he passed the eyeball test to me, but because this was a, I mean, this is like the quintessential defense and don't make mistake veteran win the ball game team, not the fantasy adoration. This was a team that did not let the rookie have too many snaps. You know, he was so disappointed in this season.

I really was. I was just super bummed. I was bummed at the utilization. There were opportunities where it was like, we thought he was going to get more work and he just wasn't on the field. They, they were, they would rather have the veteran, you know, uh, uh, Christian Kirk out there instead of the, the young, exciting guy who could make mistakes. And I'm hopeful if you want to paint the narrative for how it works for Jaden Higgins is now that he's not a rookie, he's got the experience and he's coming in as a vet. Maybe they just say you are on the two on the outside.