AFC West Breakdown, Melvin Gordon, and a Pink Moose

Every once in a while. That's what's been tickling. That's what's been tickling. Mustache. The walrus himself. My back head mustache. This had nothing to do with all your organs moving around. All you felt was the mustache in the back of your mind getting you ready for the season, Mike.

Because it starts to tingle. That caterpillar starts moving inside, and then you know the NFL season is here. Yeah, lots of brought up about how Matt Nagy, you know, after that first game he took over, he got the carries back to Cremont. But it's like, okay, well, in the beginning of the year. Such a small sample. It's such a small sample. And in the beginning of the year, it was Andy Reed who was giving Cremont.

Tons of work. So, you, I mean, yeah, I trust Andy Reid. He's the offensive mind there. He's the one that continues to build up great offensive coordinators. So, you know, I think these are going to be fantasy assets in general. I don't want to spend too much for Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey. Last question. Before we move on to the Los Angeles Chargers, is there a name outside of the mainline names, a surprising name you think that could emerge into relevance from the Chiefs? No.

Yeah, it's struggling if you take a look at the depth charts. I mean, it was heading into the off season, okay, they're losing pieces. They lost Albert Wilson. Could this be Chris Conley's time to step up? Sammy Watkins dropped a fat stack of bills on him and said, nah, I'm coming in here. So there's no one I see. And I'm projecting Cream Hunt to have.

The absolute dominant lion's share of this backfield. Even as the Cream Hunt truth on the show, I readily admit he will lose work heading into next year compared to this previous season, whether that is where or Damien or Kirwin Williams, one of them taking work. I still firmly believe, though, that Cream Hunt is the guy. He's the goal line back. He is the best pass catcher.

on the team despite the success that Spencer Ware has had. And they have a pretty solid offensive line that are currently heading into the season. Pro Football Focus has them ranked as 18th. Jason? I'm confident in Hunt. Last question for you. Okay. Unless you had a name. Spencer Ware is the only guy. That was my question for you. It was actually going to be percentage chance that Spencer Ware started in a fantasy lineup in 2018.

I would say 50% because 50. Wow. I thought it was going to be like 15%. Yeah, it's about, I'm going to go 8%. Spencer Ware was going to be part of their plans. And it's all about his health. I say 50% because I think if he's healthy, if he's actually back for camp for week one, then there will be times over the course of the year, whether it's due to injury or due to matchup, where he's involved enough and can be at least a DFS play. Okay, let's move on.

Chargers. Oh, let's talk about the Chargers. One of my our favorite Super Bowl contenders for the upcoming season. Ended the year on a run. One of the better scoring teams in football last year, the number one passing yards per game offense in the NFL. Wow. We saw their defense step up and be the third best.

Against the pass in terms of yards given up per game. The impact that Joey Bosa has had on that defense cannot be denied. So Philip Rivers, Melvin Gordon in company, Keenan Allen and company, head into 2018. The big storyline that happened this offseason is the devastating injury to Hunter Henry. As fantasy owners, we're looking forward to seeing him step out of the Antonio Gates' shadow, which has grown larger over the years.

in a very literal sense. It stayed in place and it doesn't move around very quickly anymore. And unfortunately, look, we've talked through it. But look, Melvin Gordon said this when he was talking at the end of FC. He still expects this team to bring Antonio Gates back. Gates is not expected to go elsewhere. It's retirement or the Chargers. But look, I love this team. I tweeted this morning that if I had to predict a Super Bowl matchup today, July 20th, it was Chargers Eagles.

Hmm, how dare you disrespect the giants? What? Ha ha! Did you just say? Uh, well, that was a... We'll have hot takes later. That's not hot. That's like, um... Dude. Have you ever been to Venus? Ha ha. That's hot snakes. That's hot snakes. That's not hot snakes. Those are fumes. Hot fumes. Anyway, sorry, I derailed us. Hold on. There's...

There's no way. That's not a derail. There's no way this is true. So I will say this. He's been burned with this Giants thing before. I have. I absolutely have. I believe that the Giants are a legitimately really good team this year. Thank you. I'll be here all day. Did you know that they picked?

second in the NFL draft? I did. I know that they lost O'Dell Beckham and Brandon Marshall and even Sterling-Cepard and had no offense. Did you go with Brandon Marshall as the second key loss for that team? I'm, I think that they're going to be a much better team this year. And time will tell. Look, yes. No, no, no. That's fine. They'll be picking 16. When you two said the Saints were a Super Bowl contender last year, you got a lot of grief. They did not pick second.

Certainly, but they were a bad team. Man, I hope you're right. I like it. I'm not calling them for the Super Bowl, but I think they're a contender. Number three draft accuracy. He's not calling for it. No, no, no. But if they make it, he wants credit. I'm not saying that they're going to be my odds on favor, but they are a contender. They're in that group. All right. Why isn't Philip Rivers being drafted as a top 10 quarterback? I have no idea. Number one passing offense, Keenan Allen.

dynamic. Mike Williams, second season, Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams, deep threats. You know, I just don't understand it. The knock on Phillip Rivers has always been that while he finishes the season, you know, as a quarterback one, oftentimes a back-end quarterback one, he's never been one of those win you games. He's just consistent throws for a lot of yards over the course of the season. Similar to what happened to Drew Breeze last year, right? He finishes quarterback 12, but if he played him week in, week out, he wasn't.

winning new games. But that wasn't the case last year with Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers was winning people games last year. And I completely agree with you guys. Eight of the last 10 years. He's a great pick this year. Eight of 10 years in the top 12. Right. Right. That's what I'm saying. But usually the back half of the top 12. Agreed. Agreed. If you get him out of value, you can smile. That's the way it looks to me. I'm very content with him in the later rounds. You know, Melvin Gordon, I've got some heat over it, but I have Melvin Gordon ranked.

higher than Ezekiel Elliott this year because of what I believe about the roster and the team. I think Gordon is an absolutely locked in workhorseback, and then you're just picking between the very few running backs that get to do that. Love Melvin Gordon. I don't think anybody doesn't love Melvin Gordon or believe in him. Mike has given me grief over the years because Melvin Gordon has very poor efficiency metrics.

But even Mike knows that the volume that is locked in, if Melvin Gordon is as inefficient as he was last season and gets the volume he got last season, he'll be just as good as he was last season, which was great. He was the fifth. He's 25 years old. He was the number five fantasy running back after a number seven year, which is very difficult to, you know, in the NFL. Only a handful of players do it year after year after year. There are no.

barriers in the way of Gordon being that guy. Yeah, I wanted to highlight Austin Echler was fine this past season. But 200 yards, 240? Right. And he works in the passing game. But you have, that's the only threat to Melvin Gordon's work, Austin Echler and Justin Jackson. They're not taking him off the field. And he is not losing his goal line work. Even the games when Austin Echler was getting.

heavily utilized in the passing game, Melvin Gordon was still getting more targets in those particular games. So the work is locked in.

As far as the wide receivers, Keenan Allen is a true locked and loaded wide receiver won. His first 16 game seasons. I know he's got an injury history, but he's not injury prone. We've got a great article from Matthew Betts that was talking about the difference between injury prone and frequently injured. Exactly. And that's what Keenan Allen is. The real question on this team. Yeah.

is that next wide receiver. Is Tyrell Williams actually of value? He had a great season, two seasons ago without Keenan Allen. But Keel and Allen took a lot of the targets. Now that Hunter Henry is gone, will he step up? I believe that Tyrell Williams is the number two, the guy you want. I assume that was both of your answer because I was going to ask the question, like pick one, right? You pick one guy, Mike Williams.

Travis Benjamin, I don't think any of us are considering him for that, really. It's Mike Williams or Tyrell Williams. I've been pretty vocal about my appreciation for Mike Williams, especially in the Red Zone. And now with Hunter Henry down, I think Mike Williams will end up with more fantasy points than Tyrell, who gets in the red zone as well, or I'm sorry, gets in the end zone as well, but he gets it over the top. He gets big plays. And the way that I'm reading the situation of, because Hunter Henry, he's a deep play tight end as well. And so I think Tyrail Williams picks.

up that slack. It's not a, yeah, like I want to fight about Mike Williams versus Tyrell Williams situation. But draft price and what I'm projecting, I would take Tyrell. We talk so much about the number two option on great passing offenses. This is the number one yards per game offense through the air. So I think that there's value to be had at the wide receiver too. It's not going to just be keen in Allen. Right. It's just a matter of.

you know, much like Jacksonville or Dallas or Green Bay, much more like Green Bay, I guess. Who is it, right? Take a shot on one of them. Sure. Whoever you believe the most in. And back to Keenan Allen just real quick because it's... That's exactly what Philip Rivers says on every play. Well, he did. He definitely said that in the second half of the season. So is that what you guys...

You're projecting more of the second half where he rattled out. He went wide receiver two, four, four, finished the final week, which is week 17 as number one. However, before that it was spotty and he was still.

a usable guy. I definitely project him more second half last year than first half. Was that the breakouts? I believe the connection is too strong. The success was there for them as a team. So yeah, Keenan Allen, you know, he's going to be one of those around 150 target type players. There's not a lot of them. Okay. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Keenan Allen proved himself in a big way last year. All right, before we move on to the rest of the divisional discussions, because I know.

You want to talk John Gruden? I mean, that's just... Oh, I can't wait. ...of all the storylines this year, that's the one I cannot wait to see so much. I love you, Gruden. But let's thank Pristine Auction for sponsoring today's podcast, longtime partner of this show. Since the beginning, pristine auction has been offering you incredible deals on authentic autograph sports memorabilia. Recent auction prices. Jason, pick up a Kenyon Drake signed Dolphins jersey for $61.

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