NFC West Breakdown, Jerick McKinnon, Annoying Situations

or getting a text from somebody in our league. And the first bit of news I had was, uh-oh, Josh Gordon. That's the text that came through. Yes. Because people didn't know what was happening. All they knew was that Josh Gordon had been placed on the non-football illness list by the Browns was not at the beginning of training camp. And we know that with Josh Gordon, you tend to get afraid. Yeah.

It's a well-earned reputation at this point, unfortunately. And then the gasoline to the fire was NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said there's no timetable. We'll address the matter at the appropriate time. It just sounds menacing. Here's the thing, Brian McCarthy. If you know what is going on with Josh Gordon and you know the history of Josh Gordon, you got to use.

You've got to ease up on the language because of saying something, we'll address it at the appropriate time. The NFL could care less about the perception of Josh Gordon. They do not care one bit. Clearly. The attitude is you bring those consequences from a PR perspective onto yourself by the decisions you've made. We don't care. We're going to do what we do. But that's ridiculous because you have the potential potential.

redemption case. I know. You're right. The NFL should be nurturing. Yeah, no, you're right. Yes. But then even in that case, in that situation, that can then backfire on you after you build the narrative. Here's the news that fantasy owners want to hear, though. Josh Gordon came out on his Twitter, spoke to this issue, said he is doing great both physically and mentally. This is part of his work. And according to a source from Adam Schefter, one of his sources, he said that Josh Gordon did not have any slith.

lip-ups, no failed test. His leave is a proactive defensive gesture to get extra counseling and to try to ensure this does not have any of the setbacks that have marked his past. Those who know him say he has worked his booty off. Good for you, Gordon. Different word. Good for you. That's what Adam Schefter is reporting. I'm not worried. As a fantasy owner, if anything, this could give more. You buying the dip? Yeah, look, I'm anti- Josh Gordon from a fantasy football 2018 perspective.

But I am pro Josh Gordon as a man, and I believe that he is doing the right thing right now. If I'm a fantasy dynasty owner, I am happy, if anything, you know, that he is taking such active steps. I know that there is so much more involved with the person and him being on the right path regardless of fantasy outcome. But there's a part of me that's like, if we don't get to see that man in that shape,

playing an NFL field there's something wrong yeah like you just want to see what can happen um let's go ahead and uh let's jump into before we jump in we just want to thank today's sponsor seat geek you've heard us talking about them since the beginning of time because seat geek is the only thing that you need to get tickets they make buying tickets to sports and concerts easier than ever it's the smartest

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All right, if you missed the show from Saturday, you've missed the AFC West. We talked to Melvin Gordon. It's gone. We took it down. You can still listen. No, guys. Really? We left it up this time. You can still listen. We talked through the AFC West. Talk to Melvin Gordon on the show. Today we are in the NFC West, a division in which the Los Angeles Rams awoke.

from a long and dreary slumber to the tune of 478 point score, which I believe was number one in the league. It was. And they were 11 and 5, won the division, and absolutely, I don't know, did it speak more to Sean McVeigh or more to the lack of talent in Jeff Fisher, which that sounded like a sneeze? You have to credit Sean McVeigh.

100% yes I mean you if you score first it's a credit to who is there it's it's McVeigh but don't you think there's a little bit of like karma buildup for the years of Jeff Fisher dragging you down 120 yeah that's like a slingshot power that goes the other direction like the freedom the chains fell off exactly 112 points scored a breaker of chains above the Seahawks who were second in the division and yet they gave up

Three fewer points than the Seahawks. They were absolutely great last year. Yeah, dominant. Jared Goff was a competent to good starting quarterback in fantasy. He was streamable. He was startable. Last year, they were led by Todd Gurley. We all know this story. You were led by Todd Gurley. If you won a title, a lot of your teams had Todd Gurley on it because he was dominant during weeks 15 and 16 of the regular season and your fantasy playoffs.

So what are we expecting from the Rams this year? They have let go of Sammy Watkins. They let him go sign a big-time deal with the Chiefs. Watkins was a player that while he scored, wasn't heavily involved in the offense. You had more of an impact from Robert Woods and Cooper Cup on a week-to-week basis. Certainly tied Gurley in the passing game. So this year they add Brandon Cooks. They signed him to the big-time deal. The defending champs of the division. And now we're talking fantasy impact.

Is this a team because they've added other pieces on defense especially? That's the big upgrade for them. How does that translate for our fantasy prognostication here? Their defense should be great. On paper, it's great. We've been down that road before with Philadelphia a few years back where it didn't translate to production. But look, on paper, they're the favorites. Yeah, I mean, they are the favorites in the division for sure.

I would say this. Anytime that you have a team that is the number one scoring team that does not have a super Hall of Fame or a Peyton Manning type guy leading the charge, there is, at the very least, there is statistical and historical data to say regression.

could come, right? I mean, if it doesn't come, you're saying that this is going to be the number one offense two years in a row, led by Jared Goff, and I would bet against that. That's not saying that they're going to be a bad offense by any means, you know, but it is saying that I don't think you can bank on what we saw last year from Jared Goff. A lot of his touchdowns were, you know, outside, breakaway touchdowns that weren't, weren't him just targeting the right guy in the end zone. Todd Gurley was six.

you know, receiving touchdowns taken to the house. Yards per game, they were eighth, passing yards per game they were 10th. So from a overall yardage perspective, they were simply efficient in scoring. Right. In all capacities to add to your point. Yeah, and that's the thing. So I, you know, is Todd Gurley worth that number one pick, number two pick? Absolutely. Do I think he's putting up 20 touchdowns again this season? No.

I do not. I think that there will be scoring aggression, especially look, the defense is going to be better. But that can help a running back. That can help a running back, but it means that the team can slow the clock down, have fewer plays, doesn't need to score as much as a whole. And for fantasy purposes, that just means more doubtful to finish near the number one spot in the league and score. Yeah, I think I buy some of that.

I don't think Sean McVeigh is the kind of guy who's going to sit back. Yeah, I don't think that's the kind of offense he runs. So I don't expect him to say, okay, we picked up Nadamakung Su and other defensive weapons, so we're just going to sit back here and not try to score. They put up points for a reason last year, much like the Falcons in what you talked about last year. Regression is in the cards for them. So I understand all of that. Brandon Cooks.

differing opinions in this office about Brandon Cooks. I'm a big Brandon Cooks fan. I know we've adjusted him a little bit, but if you had to put your money on one of these three guys, Cooks, Woods, Cup, leading the way fantasy points, who do you want on your roster? If I have to put my money on it, then I'm going to go with Brandon Cooks, the guy that they have paid to be their wide receiver won. But Cooper Cup, I've talked about him back on our early sleeper show. He's...

One of my favorite of that later round type of wide receiver, he was, I mean, he's a big slot player. And you take Sammy Watkins out of the equation. Sammy Watkins was a red zone nightmare for teams. And Brandon Cook simply is not that player. It does that part of his game all of a sudden elevate now that he's playing with Jared Goff. That would be a very interesting turn of events. There's a lot of.

a lot of touchdowns that could go Cooper Cup's way. He's very interesting to me. The addition of Brandon Cooks sinks the ship a little bit for Robert Woods, unfortunately, who had his own little, you know, somewhat of a breakout this past season. But for Jerry Goff, you talked about, yes, he had a lot of line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage type of touchdowns.

But now you had Brandon Cooks who gives you those big plays. Do you feel like that's a positive movement for Jared Goffers that because of what he was able to accomplish last year, is this just a wash? No, I think it's definitely a positive thing for Jared Goff. I'm not expecting Jared Goff to fall off and be, you know, the 26 best tight end. But right now he's being trained. I wouldn't expect him to play tight end at all this year. Corbeck. You actually have him at 21. Mike's at 13. I'm at 14.

Yeah. Oh, I got him at 13? You do. There you go. He's being drafted. You've got him ahead of Mount Ryan. Oftentimes he is being drafted ahead of even that. I've seen him as basically a top 10 type guy. I do think Cooks helps Goff. But if you look at, you know, okay, cooks will maybe get more yards for Goff than Watkins did. But Watkins was that red zone guy. You could have made the same argument for Watkins as a deep threat and he didn't do it.

Sure, but I'm saying the touchdowns also go away for going from Watkins. Andy, to speak to your question, if I had to bet my house on who's the most productive fantasy option, I would also bet on cooks as their big money guy. However, we're very bold here. He is not, but he is not the guy that I would be drafting. I do not like his draft price going in the fourth round of a team where if at the end of the year, Cooper Cup leads the way, or.

Robert Woods leads the way or Cooks leads the way. None of us are going to be surprised. So in that situation, I'm taking Robert Woods, the guy who's going in the ninth round, who was actually the most valuable guy last year for a stretch before he got injured on this team who now is not going to face number one coverage. Cooks is getting the number one coverage. You've got Patrick Peterson. You've got, you know, good guys in the division. So.

Yeah, I like Robert Woods the best from a draft cost. My only play here for the Los Angeles Rams to Sean McVeigh is Gerald Everett, tight end. He's on your team. Mount Everett, please get him going. He is an absolute monster of a man. If you start game scripting for him, I think he will dominate. One final point. Their offensive line last year was ranked. Was it 10th? What, the end of season?