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

You're going to play 85 plus percent of snaps. So they are favored in six of the first seven games. They, they have a, an opening matchup against Buffalo. Then it's Cincinnati. Then they're favored against Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and the Giants. If that's a pretty juicy schedule when you've got Cincinnati, Dallas, Tennessee. Yeah. In your first five weeks. That's, that's like a very interesting start. Yeah. Like from a Nico Nico's had seasons where he's been the number one running or wide receiver, like eight weeks, nine weeks into the year that, that does maybe like, if you're between two guys that are both really good, please look at that early season schedule a little

bit. Sure. Not that it will repeat exactly. If so, hypothetically then let's say Jaden Higgins makes a true second year leap, which I mean, he's, he's a second round pick. He's got a, he's got size. He's got speed. Can he, if, can he turn things around for Stroud? Like we're, we're very negative on Stroud. Is there any path? I don't think so. Where you think it can, where Higgins takes that step and changes the offense. I don't think so. We talked about this with the Bengals. Let's say the Bengals defense got way better and they start kind of, you know, slowing

teams down and they're not getting scored on a ton. They're still going to keep like that, that identity of that team would keep the, the foot on the throat, air it out. They would, Burrow would just keep airing it out. I don't think, I, I believe that the makeup of this team and franchise and coaching staff, if they have a lead, they're going to be running it out. They're not going to be doing that with Chase Brown there. That's what they want to do. And I, I don't know if things go well. So I kind of see, I kind of see Mike's point though, because we, we saw, I mean, this is

still a good team ever since their head coach arrived. They've won 10, 10 or more games and they've had a defense that has been respectable. It wasn't as elite, but it was respectable. We didn't give enough credit to what they lost two years ago for Stroud. In tank? Well, it wasn't just tank. They literally, it was like Nico, Nico got hurt too. And, and, and, and he didn't have anybody else to throw to. I'm just saying that first year to have Stroud in the year to a stroud that first year was Stroud. You had tank Dell and Nico Collins. And I think that Robert Woods and I'm not sure if it was Robert Woods that year or not.

I think it was. I'm just saying he did have a, a number of weapons that season that were, yeah. Tank Dell was there. They have Woods that year. So I, I just think it's interesting to bring up Mike, because we don't ever talk about Stroud in the positive light, but you know, that was a tough season. He lost everybody and we all, we all made him fall on the sword. Yeah. There were some explanations for year two and then, yeah, maybe year three was just like, Hey, we don't have, we have Dalton Schultz here who, I mean, even Dalton Schultz continues

to be the second highest target target earner for the Texans. That seems suboptimal for an offense to thrive. You don't want him to be your second target. And it's important to bring up because we were saying Houston's got this elite defense, so they're not going to utilize the offense that much. We don't say that about Denver who has an elite defense. We don't say that about Philadelphia and their potential on offense. We don't say that about, uh, you know, some of these other teams, Seattle, you know, they have a great defense. They still had prolific offensive opportunities. I think in this NFL, you just have to be able to do that.

If you know, if you've got the personnel to do it. So if Higgins became a true wider receiver too, maybe that could happen. I don't know. We'll just, we'll, we'll leave a, we'll leave a light on. You want to talk about the Colts? Let's go. All right. The Indianapolis Colts last year finished eight and nine in probably because of how incredible they were the number one seed in the AFC and eight and two. So they didn't win again after their bye week. Their projected win total before the year was seven and a half and they got to eight. So there you go.

Daniel Jones injury was in week 14 after they had lost two very close games to Kansas City and Houston. There were three and seven and one score games. It certainly didn't help that they had lost their quarterback. I mean, they lost what a one score game against Seattle the week after losing Daniel Jones kept that game close. Right. With Phillip Rivers. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's a team that we're not sure how to feel about because we don't know if Daniel Jones will be the same guy because he wasn't that good previously. So you got an eight game run of Daniel Jones being elite, making Indianapolis look like

geniuses. What I really like is two things. One in the 12 starts that he had, Daniel Jones, when he was a giant, was a prolific mobile quarterback. He was a runner. He would go out there and run for 500, 600 yards. And he was on pace through the first 12 games to only run for 200 yards. He was where he was succeeding was in the passing game. He was really electric with Tyler Warren, Michael Pittman and all that. And then you combine that with the fact that he is recovering seemingly very well from this Achilles injury. He's, you know, been at practice.

He's participated in everything. And so, you know, it's like him being back. I'm not saying this for Daniel Jones, but I am saying it for the Colts, for Jonathan Taylor, because Jonathan Taylor, when Daniel Jones was removed and they didn't really have a anything to threaten deep and you could just I mean, if I was playing against the Colts with Philip Rivers, I put everybody at the line and just stop Johnny Taylor. That's what they tried to do and did. And I think with Daniel Jones back there, I am a little bit more optimistic that we'll get not necessarily the 30 points per game that they were averaging with the Colts in

the beginning because it was also magical, but a good offense. And I do think I the way I look at the Colts coming into this year, good offense. Well, if you believe I think I'm going to put a situation out there and you tell me if you are going to push back against it. If you think they're going to have a good offense, then you like Alec Pierce because you believe in Daniel Jones. And Michael Pittman was a target hog that is gone. And Alec Pierce got a big paycheck and was very good. So I think if you think their offense is going to be good, you have to.

And Daniel Jones is good. I feel like you have to believe that Alec Pierce is going to be a massive producer for the offense. You cannot live and die on Tyler Warren alone in the passing game. So I think Alec Pierce is going to be very good. I don't necessarily think Alec Pierce is going to be very good for fantasy football simply because it depends on the role. If he's the possession receiver, then absolutely. Alec Pierce is going to dominate, probably be one of the best picks in the entire draft because people aren't drafting him high. He got paid like a number one wide receiver and could dominate.

The difference here is I think he's going to stay in the role he was in that he thrived at, which is stretch the field, catch deep bombs. The team has already come out and said that's not the case. Alec Pierce came out and said that. I don't think Josh Downs was going to take over the Michael Pittman role. I mean, they say a lot of things. They said he'd be more involved. They didn't say he was taking over the Michael Pittman role. They said they would give him more outside routes than he's ever had before. But Alec Pierce is literally, they've come out and said like, he understands he's going

to be handling way more targets in the offense. I just don't, I don't think you can make a more, I think it's less compelling to say Pierce succeeds than it is to say Downs and miscellaneous. And Tyler Warren. It's those two guys. That's not enough. That's just not enough to have a prolific year at all. The way that I look at this offense, the way that I look at this offense, it reminds me so much of the old Raiders where it was Darren Waller along with Hunter Henry. And then they had a speedster outside. Who was that? I don't think you meant Hunter Henry.

Or Hunter Renfro. It was Renfro. And so Renfro is like the Josh Downs. Darren Waller is like the Tyler Warren. And I can't remember the name. They had a- It was before Tucker, right? Yeah, it was a- I think in this situation- A deep threat that was very Alec Pierce. And they were really good. Well, in that situation, you just made Daniel Jones Derek Carr's production. And that's what I mean. It's not enough. Because Derek Carr wasn't enough with that offense. That's all my point is. It's without Alec Pierce being prolific. You will get Derek Carr out of Daniel Jones.

And if you want to make that argument, that's fine. But that was the year- Renfro is much better than Josh Downs. Yeah, I'm just saying. That was the year Hunter Renfro was very good in fantasy. Darren Waller was very good in fantasy. Yeah, Renfro was a one. And that was still Derek Carr. Yeah. Yeah, he supported- But I'm talking about whether Daniel Jones is good for you. Good for the team. Are you not- You don't think- You think Daniel Jones being back, you're saying he's irrelevant. Daniel Jones is irrelevant? Yes. Oh, okay. I think Daniel Jones is- Because he wasn't last year.

I mean, he was like a very- That's what I was saying. I don't necessarily think- Coming off the Achilles, I don't look at Daniel Jones as someone I'm targeting in fantasy football. But I think he's going to help the offense enough, open up things for the running game, for Jonathan Taylor. He was on pace for 4,400 yards and 28 touchdowns last year. Daniel Jones was with only six picks. 516 passing attempt pace, 71% completion percentage. Like you said, he was a pocket passer, which to me, like that takes away the concern about the Achilles quite a bit. Mm-hmm. I struggled with just the contract for Alec Pierce of-

Because GM's teams do stupid crap all the time. All the time. If you paid Alec Pierce $84 million in guaranteed money, it's a four-year $114 million contract. And 84 is guaranteed. If you paid him that money to just stretch the field and be what he was last year, you have made an egregious mistake with your resources. I don't know how- Pierce was great at it. But being great at that, like what Pierce was doing, that's not $114 million. It's also not what he did every week of the season. He had high-volume target weeks during the season. He had a 13-target week and a 10-target week and an 8-target week.

I'm telling you, if he is a deep threat on this team, I will eat my shorts. I have him- It is an impossibility. I have him ranked closer to you, Andy. I'm more on the side of they can't be that stupid, right? No, they're not. And by the way, this was- This is the team that brought Jeff Saturday in. He didn't drop the ball. And Phillip Rivers last year, both of which I thought were real stupid. Uh-oh. Well- Now I'm really- I'm in a glass case of emotion. If Alec Pierce receives the target levels that you're talking about as some sort of deep threat to run the defense off

so you can throw it to Josh Downs, I will be- They will be a terrible football team. That will be my contention, at least. Uh-oh. Josh Downs is going to have way more opportunity. We don't know if he can succeed on the outside because he's basically never done it. He should have more opportunity. There could be opportunity for other guys to step up. Um-oh. Why in the world am I forgetting his name? Their third wide receiver who actually has flashed in the past. Whose name is escaping me, Kyle, please. I like to think of- Nick Westbrook- Akeen? Ashton Doolin. Oh, it was Doolin.

I was going to guess Doolin. No, I was like, there's no way he's talking about Ashton Doolin. I am absolutely talking about Ashton Doolin. Well, we should move on. Flashed in the past. Flashed in Doolin. No? I don't know what that means. You said he flashed. Oh, you're saying his name is Flashed in Doolin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's great. Come on, keep on. I gotcha. Self-boo? I gotcha, he says as he hits his own boo. I mean, I guess sometimes you can say something and it doesn't hit. Yeah. And you just got to take- Just give us some time.

Responsibility. But Tyler Warren, we're all excited about the draft cost of Tyler Warren. Very. Late fifth round pick. Josh Downs costs you nothing to take a shot on it. And Alec Pierce costs you nothing to take a shot on him. So when you talk about value right now, there's a lot of value there. Yeah. I mean, John, the Taylors were the discussion. Yes, he is. Absolutely. Because he's vacillated between being the best running back in all of football and kind of sometimes not that good. And he is, ADP-wise, the running back three. Yeah, I mean, people are betting on- You better be right.

That's what that draft stock says. I mean, if you don't remember, last year before Daniel Jones went down, Jonathan Taylor wasn't good. He was the best. He was better than Christian McCaffrey. He was- Yes, he was. On pace for- He was carrying Jason's team. No, it was awesome. I thought he was carrying just everyone's team. Yeah, we were all on his shoulders. And we were not like a backpack. No, but your team- We were full chicken. We were up high. Your team in particular would like, everyone on your team would struggle. It didn't matter. And then you'd win anyways. Because you had Jonathan Taylor.

I mean, he was the true workhorse. That's why, like, Daniel Jones was really good last year. But he wasn't that consistent for fantasy. He wasn't- It was- This was Jonathan Taylor's team. Jonathan Taylor is the fantasy star here. And obviously, people are drafting him as such. Do you buy into that spot, Jay? Do you buy into RB3? I know people are. Do you believe that that's where you'd want to take him? I do. It's a vote for the Colts. I just moved him down. Because when the Colts succeed, he succeeds. Yeah, I just- So do you believe that the Colts are a better team than Houston or Jacksonville?

I think his- Him being in the running back three is- It scared me off that I- Like, I haven't- I didn't crush him in the rankings. I just- I have him now where- I don't know if I'm going to take the running back three. I think he is- I think he's more fragile than the current thought process about him is. Fragile from a fantasy- Yes. I'm not talking about his body, which has been fragile. I'm talking about the way it goes wrong. So, yeah, the- I'm just like looking- Man, the Colts. Have you seen their records in the last five years?

Nine and eight, nine and eight, eight and nine, eight and nine, and a four and 12 season next time. Oh, impressive. So they've just been right on the edge. And so, what's their projected win total that I just said? Did I bring it up? Why don't you just tell me? Eight and a half. This division is so fun. So you've got nine and a half, nine and a half, eight and a half. I'm really curious how we're going to sort these. Oh. I think if they lose 10 games, I think you're unhappy with Taylor this year. Yeah. You think they'll lose 10?

I said if they lose 10. Okay. I said if they go seven and 10 or something or worse, which I mean, eight and a half win total, seven wins is within the- I think it is a little bit more nerve-wracking there. But we'll see. I mean, they're a super interesting team. We just had- Is there a chance of, you know, with the vacated targets, do we see an uptick in Taylor's receptions? Because he's good at it. Yeah. We've been frustrated when they haven't thrown him the ball more. We bring that up all the time in the past where you've got a large portion of vacated targets.

It often goes to the running back position. The fact that Daniel Jones is coming off an Achilles, maybe a little less mobile, more checkdowns, it certainly couldn't hurt. Yeah. Taylor's- Taylor is only difficult because he's going as the three. Okay. We'll take a break and we get to talk about one more team that's got a lot to battle against in this division. All right, Foot Clan, whether you are on the go or at home, T-Mobile, well, they're built to keep you connected. Wherever you're scouting your fantasy team and that on-the-go part, that is important. With America's Best Network, you'll be connected to the latest news and player projections.

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