Fantasy Football - Free Agent Predictions + Monty Trade, Combine Takeaways - Podcast for 3/3

They're not beholden to that other truth anymore. Who else is really, really, really, really good? You're going to say Kenneth Walker. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker. Yeah, I mean, I'm not really worried about the workload and I'm not really worried about the report unless you give me a body in in Las Vegas that makes me worried about it. Because there isn't a body there that's going to do anything. Where I think I have this is not worries about Ashton Genti. He is a great player. It is just the. The circumstances around him and in circumstances for fantasy running backs matters so much. Maybe Mendoza comes in and he is the truth. Like he's one of these that quarterbacks that immediately is like. Justin Herbert. Holy crap. This team really, really improved. Or he's like the vast majority of rookies where you're like, okay, I can see it. It's going to take some time. And maybe the, and my projection would be the Raiders are not going to be a good team next year.

We know the numbers of just fantasy running backs when they were playing with a rookie quarterback. Their touchdowns are way down. That's where it gets scary for Genti. The receiving work will be there. But the pie of touchdowns is going to remain small. And then if you bring someone else in and there is a chance that they are siphoning off touchdowns. We didn't see this with the camera though, right? What do you mean? For Kubia. in, I mean, I mean, we were in New Orleans and Camara was the dude and he was the dude all the time. Last year, I mean, look, we had two years of injured Ken Walker. They liked Charbonate. I'm just saying, I think that if you don't give me a name that I have respect for in Los Angeles, in Las Vegas's backfield, I'm not going to worry about it. Yeah, I mean, the backfield is what matters. But I do think, I mean, you just said, you, because Camara had, I mean, he had all the work for Kubiak. Um,

Yeah, but I would go off of the most recent example of Kubiak being in charge of the office. He did just have great success. And won a Super Bowl. Winning a Super Bowl with taking Kenneth Walker and saying, Charbs, you're up. So it's not a, this isn't an actionable piece of news as in like go, go get trade for Gentie or trade him away. No, no, no, no, no, no. There's just be aware of this that there might be a name that shows up for the Raiders and it will bum you out. Yeah, it sounds like they're going to need to add somebody if he wants to have a two running back committee. Because Laobie is not going to be the answer. Neither is Moester, who is 200 years old, or Zemir White, who I think we have one of his runs here. And it's also possible that when he was, you know, when he was the coach with Camara, remember that the back they brought in, you know, to be that other guy was Kendra Miller who never got to play football.

Sure. Yeah, they could not get somebody else on the field. But that speaks to your depth. Your current depth chart says, I'm in agreement with that. They have to bring someone in. But I'd. Yeah, I look, everyone's got their own opinion. This bothers me zero. Okay. For Ashton Gentie. All the problems with Genti before this news I have a problem with. Like you just brought up, you just brought up rookie quarterback touchdown opportunities and offensive line. How about best ball? I don't care about any committee situation. Best ball running back seven, the 12th overall pick. I mean, give me more names that have a better ceiling than Gentie. Who would you rather have right now, Gentie or Hampton? Amarian Hampton or Ashen Gentie? Honestly, probably Gentie. I don't like saying that. I have Hampton. Interesting. Probably Gentile. Let's say Jeremiah Love goes to the Washington Commanders at 7. That dude. Yeah. All right. Yeah. No, Jeremiah Love is really, really good at football. Yeah. In our combine chatter, we didn't even talk about him.

Because he was already the consensus number one rookie pick, and it's now even more. Ginty has tons of like red flag situations going on right now. But when I think of basketball, I'm thinking of like, who could freaking take the league over next year? You watched him in the last handful of games having those, that offense was putrid, and he had breakaway runs and breakaway catches. And I'm just thinking of explosiveness. It's like, are we having this conversation next year going, oh, remember when we said that? And then Gently's RB2 or something. Because part of the equation of all those red flags that we should.

give Kubiak credit for is he's freaking awesome. Like they have, they don't have Pete Carroll. They have a freaking awesome coach in Clint Kubiak, who everybody wanted. And there's just no way Mendoza is less competent than the last two years of quarterback. And it's not Pete Carroll's son running the offensive line. Right. So it's like maybe they'll have more touchdown opportunities with a better coach. Okay. I hadn't seen one of these rumors. We're talking about a couple of different things here. I, I, hesitated to bring one up because i thought maybe we talked about it in free agency predictions but i want to bring it up now sure the giants are quote seriously looking at some of the top running backs in draft and free agency thank you the people hate it the people hate it the people hate it we all hate it don't you hurt my camp scataboo i know he's only got one leg right now but it makes obvious yeah sense

that they'd be doing that. I know, but I don't like it either. But, but the names and the amount of money it will take. Yeah, I mean, they're, they're talking about, they're talking about Jeremiah Love. That, they've been rumored. There's rumors around Ken Walker. Do you know how? The Walker ones are the rumors where it's like, if to bring it, the reason why they're saying, well, Seattle is saying, we're probably not going to get Walker back is because of the bag of money he's going to get. Like, if you're Ken Walker and. money's all the same. Why would you go to the Giants and not just go back to Seattle? It would have to take an amount of money to lure me away from the team I just won the Super Bowl. They picked fifth overall, so the love conversation, if he's not gone by then, we'll be, we'll be watching with bated breath. It sucks because this is the, you know, this is the second blow of the injury to Camp Scatterby. You know, if he doesn't get hurt, this conversation's not happening because you feel really good about him and you just feel about adding an ancillary piece.

But with the injury, the severity of it, the timetable, the risk of re-injury, the risk of getting back at full speed. The people hate it. The Giants are sitting there going, well, look, we're not going into the season with just this one asset at running back. Jim Harbaugh is not doing that. That's why I was so excited about Tyrone Tracy being very competent because I felt like Tyrone Tracy could hold off the Giants doing this. This was my big fear. So I was like, Tyrone Trace is good enough to let Cam have the time and then come back and take over. Maybe it's smoke. That's my hope. I mean. Maybe it's to make the people drafting at six and seven and eight think that they want Jeremiah love and swip swap them. Yeah. I sure hope so. Let's do. Let's go with that. Cam. Because I got a boom. I rebuke this report. Um, Kyle rebukes this one. Jeremy Fowler reporting a head coach told him at the scouting combine to watch for two a tongue of Iloa to Atlanta.

What do you get when you have two left-handed quarterbacks that can't complete a pass? There was a... Two lefts, don't make it right. Another interesting rumor, which... So Matthew Barry writes an article every year. It's a great article because he goes to the combine and he gets a bunch of rumors. And one of them was Joe Flacco to Atlanta. And you're like, that makes so much sense. Oh, my gosh. Also... That would rule. Like imagine Drake London. Oh, Drake London with Joe Flacco. Back in Stefansky's offense, catch a passes from Joe Flacco, that would rule, man. 45% target share. Tua? No. Vikings. Reporting, uh, this reports from Tony Pauline. They're quietly exploring an exit strategy for JJ McCarthy. Hasn't been that quiet. No, I think it's like I can't get away from the rumors of they're totally willing to move on right away.

Tyler Murray, Gino Smith, Anthony Richardson, all names that have been mentioned. The, I mean, you never are 100% sure where it's coming from. Like, is the call coming from inside the house? We don't know that for sure. But it's like, if you're Minnesota and this is what's going on right now, like, you better replace him. Like, you can't have an entire offseason of this of like J.J. McCarthy, any time the sports rumors are on, like, We're going to get rid of McCarthy. We want someone else. And you better do it. This reminds me of like, let's say you're putting on a play and you cast a bunch of people. And then they cast J.J. McCarthy for this role. And then he gets up there and the dude can't sing, but everybody's around him just saying like, oh, it sounds all right. No, it sounds pretty. Look, everybody in the audience, everybody on the team around him, they know the truth.

And we're all wanting to say maybe he'll come along. But now instead of him just being good, the story is he has to become good. That's the problem with J.J. McCarthy. You can believe he's going to become good. But you can't possibly feel as good about him now than before he played. And we're all going, yeah, you know what? Maybe some voice lessons. You know what I mean? Kevin O'Connell, he's a whisperer, man. What's ironic about this situation? We all know it might not work. Is the last time that a team drafted someone very high to be their future and then immediately moved on, it was easier because they had the number one pick. It was our Arizona Cardinals. They drafted Kyler Murray and got rid of Josh Rosen after one, you know, flame out year. And then the ironic part is the only way that the Vikings can truly just easily move on.

is also Kyler Murray. Like if they can just go and sign Kyler, he can, but I'm saying that would give, I think if they knew that they had Kyler in tow, if he was a free agent and signed or they could trade for him or whatever, I think they would do that in a heartbeat and move on. If they had Kyler, the entire offseason discussion around every single player on the Vikings offense is different. Oh yeah. And all of a sudden. And we don't like Kyler that much. And all of a sudden, everyone out there is going to love Kyler if he goes to the Vikings.

Yeah, and the other report, Anthony Richardson, that was the report about them having an interest in a trade. The Colts are going to move on from Anthony Richardson. Jason and I had briefly talked about him a little bit in the office. He still lives with this like aura of promise that formerly was there, but we forget he's played a lot of football. He played more games than I remembered this last year. I went back and I looked and I was like, oh, that's some bad. Yeah, 11 games last year. Passing percentage? What? I know, right? No, no, no, the year before. Oh. Four last year. We're in February, so the last year moniker is a little bit. Yeah. Gotcha. This past year, four games, the year before, 11. And you were out, but let me ask you this, because he obviously has physical tools that are unteachable. If you were... Please don't teach me his tools. Would you rather have J.J. McCarthy or Anthony Richardson? In Minnesota?

No. A totally different team. General manager. They're both on the market and they're both dealing with the same stuff, which is they had promise, but then you saw them. And it was a lot of a lot of uh-ohs. That part of you could say, hey, I just want somebody to run around and figure things out. Yeah. And then there's most of me says JJ McCarthy. I'd take McCarthy. Yeah. Yeah, because he had some good games. No, yes. And he did. But Anthony Richards had some awesome games too. He sung a couple songs pretty good. Oh man. But man, he can't hit the high notes. You remember that locker room? Yeah. Name. He did give us that. That will be the greatest contribution. Potentially he gets to the- Yeah. Josh Rosen never gave us anything that good. The meme? No. Not as good as that meme. We got to take another break and then we're into it. Fantasy free agency predictions. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at prize picks.

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Free agent frenzy. All right, we're going to get into our predictions. And man, are they going to be so correct? I can't wait. It's a good time to let you know the NFL's cap is now $301 million. It had kind of been moving upwards and upwards and upwards. It went down right after COVID. But to go from 208 million in 2022 to 301 million in 2026 is, unbelievably amazing. I feel like the NFL's doing all right. In terms of teams with cap room, it's always, uh, it's always good to makes me even angrier at Bill bidwell, dude. Oh, right. Yeah. What? Cap room for teams, Titans number one, Raiders number two, Jets number three, Chargers number four. And that was how I believe that was bid well when the cap number comes out? Dagummit. You're raising this thing to 301. True.

He's like, I ain't got that money. You gotta pay my players. I think these numbers are all before the cap raise as well. So I think there's a handful of teams, the Titans, Raiders, Jets, and Chargers who will have over 100 million in available cap space for those. The Chargers are so exciting. I know that I'm like a lifelong Herbert Stan, but at the same time, that is, if you look at the teams that have a lot of money, not many of them have as many tools and weapons available. No, that one stands out. I mean, they're just ahead of the game. Titans Raiders Jets are three horrible teams. And they lost two really good tackles last year. Imagine that team. They get, they get those two tackles back. Sure up the inside of the line. Like they don't have to spend this cat money to, you know, to get some tackles. They just get them for free. Yeah, yeah. And then they get to go spend the money. It's not free. Well, for.

the same price they were already paying. They're not paying a dollar more. The Seahawks have a lot of space and they're going to be able to pay the guys they need to pay in that young defense as well. JSN about to just consume that entire cap. We're recording this episode in the afternoon of March 2nd. So it's being listened to on Tuesday. 4 p.m. Eastern is the franchise tag deadline. The legal tampering period where teams can enter contract negotiations is Monday, March 9th. And then Wednesday, March 10th is the official beginning of the league year, which is just about one week away. So I'm the reigning champion of free agency predictions. Oh, that's never happened before. And it must have been like a score of two to one to one. But I'll take it. Amazing, Kyle. We get so many of them right. Well, this year for sure.

All right, we'll start at the quarterback position. Just two names we want to throw predictions out for. Really kind of just one. Daniel Jones, who is a free agent. They've talked about tagging him, whether it's a transition, a franchise, they're working on a contract. I think the expectation is he's going to be a cult. The reason that they're literally willing to shop Anthony Richardson is because they know their solution. And I don't think Daniel Jones wants to go anywhere. I can't imagine that it doesn't work out for him to stay in Indianapolis. So the big name then is Malik Willis in terms of free agency predictions, and we actually all have different destinations for Malik Willis. So rubber meets the road right now. Who do you got, Mike? So I have the Cleveland Browns. Honestly, I think it really comes down to two teams, and it's not the one that Jason's going with. I think it's either my team or yours, Andy. It's just such a, it's a weird situation where...

Teams should want Malik Willis. What you have seen, you know, not just last year, but two years ago as well. I believe in him. He seems like a starting quarterback in the league. But for a guy who seems like a starting quarterback and the amount of money that your team will have to commit to him, that's where it. becomes difficult to figure out who's actually willing to take that jump. So he had three starts the last two years in Green Bay. And I'm going with Cleveland. He had rushing totals of 73, 60, and 41 in those games. That is a fantasy, like, superpower. I actually believe in Malik Willis being a really good quarterback. Mike went with the Browns. I was between the Browns and my Arizona Cardinals. I think that's how I'm going to go with Arizona. I think they'll spend the money on Malik Willis.

I'm trying to not let the like, the 30 million numbers should shock you. However, you just had a cap go from $208 million to $301 million in four years. Those numbers, it's market rate for quarterbacks. He's earned it, or he'll have earned it. That's where it's different. And I get it. If you're going to pay him to be a starter, you're going to have to pay starter money. That's all I'm saying. And there are multiple teams that seem to want to make them a starter. including maybe Jason's pick. Yeah, and this is where he's going to end up going. Oh. It will be the Packers East. The new Miami Dolphins regime is basically coming from Green Bay. This is their new GM, their head coach. They are intimately familiar with Malik Willis, and they've got connections to him. That's essentially why I've got him going to the Dolphins. The dolphins need a quarterback.

They're familiar with them. And we just see too often when things happen. It's like, well, who are you connected to? What what personnel were you comfortable with? Who did you know? And that's, you know, where players go and who coaches want. And that's as part of the Arizona thing too. Yeah, sure. I mean, there's obviously in the NFL like most teams have a handful of connections to other players. These ones are pretty direct. And the need is for all three of these teams. So we'll see. I'm excited. I think we're going to see Malik Willis as a starter, which adds.

A very interesting name to the quarterback pool for fantasy players for next year. It's Kyler Murray is the domino of what does Arizona actually decide to do with Murray? Do they keep him for another year? Do they just full on cut him? I think he'll be released maybe by the time the show is being talked about. It sounds like he's going to be released, which I just can't imagine you can't get something. It happens so often. You know that though? Yeah. There are these big names that this happens so often. where you're like you've got to be able to get something somebody should throw you a a third a fourth like whatever like you'd be like i'd take an eighth you know what i mean you're like sir there's not an eighth round i'd take a deal i'd take 50 bucks you know you it's amazing but it happens all the time where these guys just get cut um running backs we have one we'll start with the one we're unanimous on it's brees hall 24 years old despite all of our hopes dreams and his

goals for his life, he seems to be, he's going to be a jet. Yeah. He's going to be a jet by contract or by, when you're listening to this, he'll either have signed a contract or been franchised. That's the truth. So let's go with Ken Walker. We have three different destinations for Ken Walker. Let's start with Jason. I'm going back to the Seahawks. I know that he can get a lot of money on the market, but they won the Super Bowl. He wants to come back. They want him back. This is, I'm not bullish that he goes back to Seattle because.

All running backs should take the bag. Go test the market and take the bag. You're confident enough to pick them. I'm giving the Super Bowl nod to the reunite. I'm going with the New York football giants. I think that they make a splash, Harbaugh. Be a smokescreen. I'm going to go with the sad truth. Ken Walker to the Giants. Mike? No. I'm going Washington. They really need a running back. I don't know. I just feel like they're, they need to make a splash at that position. and get it shored up. All right, Travis E.T.N. Jr., 27 years old. Three different destinations here predicted for him. I'm going to go with Arizona. I think part of this offseason, the bad press, the Cardinals are dumb. They will be dumb again. They'll be dumb and spend on Malik, and they'll be dumb and spend on Travis E.TN. Arizona with James Conner's injury, Benson's injury. I mean, they went through four or five running backs last year. ETN's a dual threat.

I think they bring Arizona, E.T&A.N. Arizona, and we're talking about Willis and Travis E.T.N. Yeah, I've got him going to the Chiefs. I know the Chiefs are everyone's favorite place to pick for Jeremiah. I love to go, but I don't know that he lasts till the ninth pick. And the Chiefs clearly need a good workhorse dual threat running back. I don't feel like Kareem Hunt and, you know, Pacheco, this version post-broken leg, are good enough. So I would love that. and maybe this is just hopeful as no i think it's i've got him on my dynasty roster like i just i mean go go to kansas city pacheco and hunt and kreme hunt well they won't be there and like they have to do something i'm going with a running back is always fun because you like you can be surprised well yeah you're like these are the four teams that clearly have to go get a running back and then it's like oh this team that you thought they were perfectly fine i'm going with the chicago bears of of

This is a DeAndre Swift release? Not necessarily. It might just be, hey, like, look, Manangai was great. He was a seventh round pick, though, and with these, it happens to those guys all the time. And, like, the Monty to his, uh, brings, bring ETN in. And you, and it's not necessarily a Swift release. It, like, might be both of them this year and then prepping for when DeAndre Swift is no longer on the team. Swift can, is a $1 million dead cap if they release them. Maybe a cut, too. J.K. Dobbins. He was good. J.K. Dobbins last year was very good in Denver, got hurt. We just talked about Denver. They were maybe swooping in to get David Montgomery. Dobbins, I have going back to Denver. Mike, you have him going back to Denver. I love him going back to Denver. He says he wants to be a Bronco. But the things Sean Payton has been saying, I mean, he talked about their three biggest needs this offseason, the three positions they're going after the most.

I don't remember one of them. I think it was the defense. The other was tight end and running back. If you remember anything, remember these three things. Something? Number one. I don't remember. Number one. But number two is a big one. Look, I don't care about the defensive side of the ball here on his needs. But I was surprised that he said running back is like one of their biggest. I know RJ Harvey. So because of that, I think they're looking and they were the rumored. team that was trying to get David Montgomery. I think they've got a type. They want a bruiser. And so I've got him leaving and going to the Falcons. Okay. Well, the bruiser you've got coming to Denver is the next man up. Yes, I've got Tyler, Alger, Jason, you have him going to the Denver. Little Swapski, Team Swaps.

yeah there you go i've got him going to washington i don't i think the washington splash might not be as exciting as the one you had predicted alger would be fun and mike this would be the same case in your i'm going with kansas city over i went him over travis etn because i think that they need well etn is a is a versatile player like they need they need a thumper on the ground like they need a they need a beat boy they need someone who can actually make the other team very scared of the run. Almost like they should have drafted Jonathan Taylor over. Almost, almost like that should happen. But like, that's a huge part of what's missing for the Chiefs is there, no one's scared that they're gonna just take over the game on the ground, get those safeties pulled forward and then hit with the deep play. So I'm going with Beef Boy Alger and the Chiefs. And Rico Dada will predict for him as well. I have him actually going to the, uh,

the team with a ton of cap space. I have him going to the Chargers. I think he could look at the Chargers situation with the offensive line coming back and the opportunity and say, hey, I can make a mark there. It's Omarian Hampton. He's young. You know, you're not really dealing with anybody else there. I'm going to go to the Chargers for Dowdle. I'm going to go the Saints. Yeah, that makes that's they've got Camara and not a lot and Camara's old and he just feels like a good stopgap for them. I'm going with Arizona. I think. Your boy coming home? I think they move forward with Trey Benson and a not a super high tier running back, but someone to compliment Benson as the writing on the wall in Arizona is that James Connor's time will be done in Arizona. And I think if I'm Rico and looking at if Benson's the starter, I'm going to come here because I think I could take the job. How many minutes before you would own a Rico Dowdell jersey?