NFL Coaching Changes + Fantasy Impact - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/25

Dallas, new head coach, new offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer. Kind of. I mean, their office of coordinator shifted up to the head coach. So they do have a new head coach and a new offensive coordinator. But last year's offensive coordinator still in charge. Clayton Adams, Cardinals offensive line coach takes over. Tight-in coach before that. Oh, you see it? Just too wait. This is maybe what the NFL is looking at, the tight-in position. I think it's, well, the tight end position is interesting because it's, it's, I think the, the tight end position is about, you know, this is ironic that this is an offensive line coach, tight end coach. You look at what the lion's superpower was, their offensive line play and how they block and their scheme for keeping that together, some of its personnel, but some of that scheme. And so one of the good things from the Cardinals this last year was the office of line play and their scheme of pulling.

tackles and guards and having this kind of new modern offense with a lot more athleticism in that line play. And so I think the tight end coach makes a lot of sense because you're you're looking at both the passing and the line at that point. Well, Dallas will give Brian Schottenheimer his first opportunity to lead a franchise. He's been at the offensive coordinator or passing game coordinator position since 06. Jets, Rams, Seahawks, Mike McCarthy, they couldn't come to an agreement to bring him back. McCarthy, whether it's willingly or unwillingly, we'll be taking a year off. He said willingly. 21 points per game. I believe him. His choice. I mean, he really said, I'm going to take a break. I think that's the move, though, don't you? When he finally got released and allowed to talk to people and there were a few jobs left.

That was the move. Well, even some of these longstanding coaches, I feel like that's the best play is just take the year. Oh, yeah. You come back in such high demand. I mean, Pete Carroll just got a job. He's over 200 years old. I take a year off. I go find a broadcasting job. Right. Like in a studio. You Sean Payton it. Yeah. That's what you do. Like you disappear. Well, not disappear, but you switch jobs. The NFL audience as a whole kind of forgets. Like, oh, this is why I didn't like that person. And then they come back and you're like, oh, I like him again because they're a TV personality. And it's worked for him before Mike McCarthy did this. We had a lot of success with the Dallas offense two years ago. CD Lamb is the number one fantasy wide receiver. Dak Prescott looked amazing. One championships down the stretch. Last year, we saw some of the issues with the offense that certainly were not like fixated on a coaching's.

Like a coaching mistake, right? You didn't have. Well, some say that. I mean, I would say that. I mean, it wasn't. I'm talking about Rico. I'm talking about insisting on playing Zeke for half the year. I think regardless of Rico's performance and how good he would have done. He was always going to represent a step down from Tony Pollard and Zeeke combination. Yeah, that's fine. And then on the other side of the football from C.D. Lamb, you never had an option that was viable. I mean, Brandon Cooks was either injured or unproductive. Jalen Tolbert, you know, not a, there's not other threats out there, and those holes are still there. It doesn't matter that Schottinheimer is taken over. There's still problems in the running back room. You know, there's talk of tradeups for Ashton Ginty, for Dallas, you know.

which may be required. If you want to put him on the roster, I think that... Cowboys are at 12? I thought the... Yeah, let's verify that real quick. Dallas is sitting... Let's see. Dallas is sitting at 12. Kyle? Dallas is sitting at 12. Okay, thank you. I didn't need you, Kyle. Go away. But I mean, the Saints could be in play. Man, yeah. And there could be other trade-up teams. The, it is the... It feels like the most obvious Dallas Cowboy pick. If they stay at 12 and Genties there for them to do that. But they got some offensive line. Speaking of, Jay, you're talking about the offensive line and all that stuff is it's funny how we forget. Like we all know that your offensive line or defensive line, aside from your quarterback, like if you have a great offensive line.

Guess who's offense looks really good with, with. That's how good Jared Gough is. Like guys who you would say are just, they're fine players in the NFL. Give them a great line. Great things happen. So bringing Clayton Adams in to me was one of those, like it felt like a head scratcher, but when you really dive in and look at the success that the Cardinals had at the offensive line and running the ball with James Connor for an offensive line that you. did not expect that level of success? I think it was a savvy move. What are the, like if they need offensive line, if they need to build maybe in a less flashy way than Ashton Genti, what are the odds that this is more of a wasted season for Dallas? And that they decide to make a splash next year. They build in a boring way. I think you can splash in the second round.

I agree. The running back draft class is so deep this year. I think that could hurt Genti just from a standpoint of even people who have them as their number one running back on the board. They might say, hey, I can get a really good prospect next round. There's one offensive tackle left. Let's pull the trigger there. I think Schottenheimer taking over the continuity from what we've seen him here in Dallas. Two years ago, they were in the number one scoring offense in the league. In fact, previous to this season, including in Seattle, He's got four straight years. This would have been his fifth of being a top 10 scoring offense. We've had a lot of fun crapping on Schottenheimer over the years. But he has had enough success. I know there's some metrics you can point to that say they're very negative and some that are positive. The one that is the most relevant for next season was the previous time we saw him as the offensive coordinator for this team with Dak Prescott. So I'm not too concerned about a...

a real letdown season, assuming DAC is healthy, I think the Cowboys' offense bounces back to being at least top half. Yeah, I mean, I think for fantasy managers, that would be exciting. I don't think they can do it without fundamentally adding talent to the offensive side of the football. Yeah, they really feel like. Go ahead. It really feels like C.D. Lamb can't lift that much. Like, there is just too, it's too heavy on his shoulders. Get the man some help. You need. the running back position solidified and you need to find another weapon in the passing game. I don't think, you know, if the offensive line is weakening, that C.D. Lamb is going to be able to do enough. This was a, I know Rico was the savior in your mind, but running the football last year was as bad as the numbers can get. 27th in yards per game, 27th in EPA per play. That's so important, whether that's first round or not with Genty. We'll see.

But let's move on. Duval. Oh, man. Jacksonville. That guy still doesn't have fired. Duval. Liam Cohen. He's going back to Tampa. No, he's not. This 39-year-old is flying the coop and arrives in Jacksonville. He better succeed. Doesn't he have one and done fears written all over him? And I'm saying he better succeed because the move he pulled on the bucks. I feel like that. gets you in trouble with the, like, if he, if, if, if it didn't work out and he loses his head coaching job and all the other teams are like, dude, you're a snake. Yeah. We know what you did. You want to hire him back as your OC? No way. I think most teams are legitimately forgiving of head coaching opportunities, no matter how you do it. Because you don't get many of them. Now, they did hire Joey Gladstone from Full House to be their general manager. I don't know if you saw that.

What? Yeah. No. Pretty sure that's who they got. I'm going to go look. I think it's Joey Gladstone. They have a whole new head coach, OC general manager, uh, universe going on in Jacksonville. I'm talking about, uh, James? James Gladstone. Yeah, but that's close enough. Joey Gladstone is pretty sure that's the Jags. Cut it out. Yes. Thank you. Um, so trying to get there. Regarding, um, Liam Cohen, I know he's got funny sound bites. Does he? And he's just so cringy with his smile on his face, right? He does have success. He, you know, if you go back the last several years, he was the coach. We talked about on this episode when he was taking over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had gone back and forth with the Rams and Kentucky.

This dude is not afraid of moving. No, he is not afraid of like, what's my next paycheck that I can take a little upgrade and go somewhere else? Kyle confirmed 11,216 miles of moving for Liam Cohen over the last decade. Yeah, he's not afraid of it. But he has come out and said when they say, what is your office going to be? And I know he's got some dumb sound bites, but he said he's going to build his offense around Trevor Lawrence. So. I mean, whoa. You know what I mean? He's going to take his quarterback. I hadn't thought of that. Did they stop the presses on that one? Well, no, but they reported it like it was breaking news. I mean, when I was researching this, it was like all the, all the, you know, Jaguar newspapers like, he's going to build around Trevor. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Of course he's going to build around Trevor. If you told me Brian Thomas Jr. I would have been like, all right. Yeah, there you go. So anyways, that's good. He's going to build around the quarterback for the offense.

The guy that signed the five-year, $275 million contract. That's the one. Thank goodness. It's funny because I, you know, we always need a head coaching villain. He's it, man. He's slid right in. And it will be so good for fantasy. If he's great, if he does what he did with Baker last year and what he's done with Matthew Stafford in the past. I mean, he's got a good pedigree. And it would be great if he succeeds, but I'm rooting against it. There are certain franchises that always slip on the banana peel. Yeah. And Jacksonville feels like that. Now, do we have fantasy football darlings on this team? Sure. Brian Thomas, let's go. Let's have success. I would love to see Liam Cohen work some magic and get you the football. And Trevor Lawrence be relevant in a somewhat consistent, predictable fashion or a running back like Travis ETN, reemerging as the talent that he probably actually is.

as opposed to what we saw last year. These are all the things that we're waiting to see. This was the 26th best offense in points per game, 25th and yards per game. They couldn't run the football, 25th in yards per game. You've got major needs, tackle, interior offensive linemen. If you want to build around Trevor Lawrence and $275 million worth of Trevor Lawrence, perhaps you should protect him so he's not either playing hurt or hurt. That would be a goal. that you need to accomplish. So we'll see what they can do in the draft, just 39 years old, and Baker gets another offensive coordinator to deal with. Do you guys have any other thoughts on the Jacksonville coaching changes? Grant, Udinski. Udnski. Udnski, and when Liam Cohen gets done, it'll be Udnski. You know what I mean? Like, Swiss! Thank you.

Man, you say he's cringing? Really wanted to get that one out. Hey, it's just a layup. It was set up right there for me. When did you plan that? No, I didn't plan that joke. That just came. I don't think that Doug Peterson, you know, has a nice start at a change of location and then fades off, but. I'm not sure how much more Liam Cohen can get out of Trevor Lawrence than Doug Peterson did. Al, is that true? Did he set himself up for that joke? Yeah, he said it was set up right there for me, but he's the one that put the ball on the tee. Andy said, what do you think about? Oh, I just said his name. Yeah. Oh, that was the ball. That was the ball. That was the ball. That was how the ball was put on the tea. Just saying. And then it was like grand slam and tea ball. That's easy. Okay. The Raiders hired Pete Carroll.

who is turning 74 in September. And Chip Kelly, who is 61 years old, both of these names were more exciting to say 10 years ago, 15 years ago. He was old 10 years ago. I know. Well, 10 years ago, Pete Carroll was more exciting at the age that Chip Kelly currently is. Yeah. So, you know, we've been around the block with Chip Kelly a little bit, right? Philadelphia for a couple of years, 49ers. for a brief moment in time, and then UCLA's, you know, had Chip Kelly for a few years. I feel like, and correct me if I'm wrong, Raiders, terrible offense last year, terrible rushing offense, dead last in the league. I feel like either one or both of you are, like, excited about this. I am. That would be one of us then, because I was very excited. I said, I kind of fought you guys a little bit when Pete Carroll was hired. I said, I don't think it's a bad head coaching hire because.

He is a good head coach. I don't think it's about higher for the Raiders. Right, for the Raiders, for the NFL. And then Chip Kelly coming in, I was very excited about. I mean, Chip Kelly is always. Yeah, I'm for it. In all of his years, the pace of play pretty much every year is like number one and total plays, you know, number one or number two. His pace of play has been outrageously good. He has said he won't do the hurry up as much. Not only as he said. So this is this is the coach where from a fantasy football standpoint.

I have soured on. I am not as excited. Looking at what he has done, what he has said. I mean, he is swearing up and down. He's a changed man, essentially. But the thing is, is if you look at what he did last year. I won't go back to my old ways. In Oregon, he ran 81.4 plays per game that was ninth in the country for UCLA, 72.1, that was 17th in the country. This last year, slowing down. Winning a national championship, getting old and boring. They were not. No huddle. They were huddle up. He ran 61.8 plays per game. That's 120th in the country to great success. Now he is working under Pete Carroll, a guy who is not probably, I was surprised by this higher because it's like, is Pete Carroll really going to want to run no huddle and try to get out there and run, you know, 70 plays in a game? And he won't be able to keep up. They're trying to get to one play a game. Right. So I guess this is from a fantasy standpoint. And Mike, you can.

share the rosy side, I worry that what Chip Kelly is saying is true. And it's okay if it's true. They did win the national title. The excitement for Chip Kelly, look, it's still the Raiders. The excitement is just, I think this team will really improve. I agree. Pete Carroll's a really good coach. They're going to make this team better. They're just, it. Sometimes you have barren wastelands like the Patriots last year and probably the Patriots this year. Like when there's just no one on the team, that sucks. Other than their starting quarterback running backs and wide receiver though, where are the holes on the offense? Right. The line. Okay. Yeah, just the offensive line. There's a lot of holes. It's everywhere for the defenders to come through. But with Pete Carroll as like the general and then bringing in the Kelly office, I think we could have some good stuff. I mean, Jacoby Myers will be.

massively undervalued yet again. This is an offense that's either going to have a rookie behind center or it's going to have Darnold, Stafford, Cousins, Rogers. I think it'll be one of those. Jacoby Brissette, somebody in that tier. Listening to Chip Kelly, Chip Kelly get interviewed about like what, you know, what's your philosophy for the offense. A lot of it is what depends on who's a quarterback and they're going to take a look at everything at their disposal. He said he's going to look at, you know, who's available on the free agency market, who's available on the draft and who's available on the roster. But it was in that order. It was like, oh, okay. It just doesn't. Oh, yeah, the roster. And, you know, we could look at those guys too. These are two new coaches that are inheriting those guys. Those guys are under contract. So they've got a leg up to be the starter, but they are not their guys. And they know that quarterback is a problem. So I feel like coming into this franchise, you are taking a heavy look at.

Every current starting NFL quarterback can you trade for them? Who's available on the free agent market? And then the draft, because they've got a pretty high draft picks. Overall, yeah, since 2012, out of all the head coaches hired 60 plus, only two of what looks like about 12 have finished with winning seasons in year one, about 500. Ironically, Bruce Ariens was two of them because he was hired at 61 and then 67. Jim Harbaal last year. Harbaugh and Erie is the only two to be above 500 as a rookie head coach above that age. As Frank Wright got the shot, what I want in 10 start to the year. Have you heard, you were talking about Shador Sanders trying to like manufacture where he's going to play or where he's willing to play? Yeah, I would say his camp, his team, his father. Yeah, daddy. I would say, have you heard anything? Like the, the Raiders. I think he'd love to go there. If he would love to go there, that makes sense because I don't think he can.

I think you get past the Giants. Then New England has, they've got their quarterback. Jacksonville has their quarterback and then it's the Raiders. This is you saying, though, that Titans and Browns are not going quarterback quarterback. Not going Shador, yeah. Well, you know, they think the Titans are taking Cam. Right. But then you've got Cleveland. Cleveland passing on him or. Well, I'm just saying. Or him passing on his team. He's passing on Cleveland. Right. If they are going to dictate, they're not going to be like. The Brown select quarterback Shador standards, like, no. Nope. No, thank you. He'll say that behind closed doors. If the Giants traded for Stafford, then that would put, I guarantee the Rams would go somewhere other than quarterback there if they were going to bring in Darnold. And then like you said, the Patriots and Jags, you know, maybe Shador did, could fall to six. So it's a good point. We'll take a break and jump into some more names.

Bit of a retread tour we're going on. Carol and Kelly. The NFL? No. Carol and Kelly and now the New England Patriots bring in Mike Vrable and Josh McDaniels. Josh McDaniels, they should just like his place. They should just put some plastic over his furniture. Every couple years. I'll be back. He knows. He'll be third time, right? Third time back as the offensive coordinator. Look, I love Mike Vrable. I think he's a great. leader of men and a head coach. But you talked about the, you know, kind of, you know, bare cabinet situation that you had in New England. I personally love Drake May. I think Drake May is going to be a very solid NFL quarterback. He's a great runner. I think you give him some pieces and you build the team the right way and you find him, you know, a consistent running game and an offensive line. Got a lot of building.

Yeah, so I agree completely. I mean, we've talked about my love for Vrabel, even though he's a defensive head coach. He is a special, I think unique head coach. His in-game management is usually outstanding. His motivation is great. It seems like a Dan Campbell type of, you know, relationally, not play style or team style by any means. Very, very different. But just relationally inside the locker room, commands respect. And I think this is a. great hire for the NFL and for the Patriots. For fantasy football, this does not strike me as exciting. It doesn't make me more hopeful for Drake May. And I agree with you. I think Drake May is a good quarterback, but he doesn't have the weapons. And you saw Brady with McDaniels have always successful years, but they weren't always fantasy gold. You know, when he had, you know, Randy Moss, okay, you're out there throwing a ton of touchdowns. But this, they, they, they.

have bare cabinets like you said, Andy. I feel like they need to spin this draft doing the most boring things possible. Offensive line. They need to build an offensive line. They used 13 different starters last year. That was the second most of any team in the last 26 years. I mean, 30 second in pressure rate. I mean, you're lucky that Drake may can move a little bit because he, his career could have been, you know, you've seen rookies take enough stacks to where they're not the same. Their first five picks should be the line. Just, yeah, it's the perfect year to do it.

It's perfect year to do it. People are not going to have really high expectations for you next year. So get the stuff that fans don't want to see, get it out of the way. But for fantasy purposes, yeah, you don't want to see a free agent like T. Higgins or who's now franchise. But you don't want to see prolific players go to New England right now. No, they go. So, yeah, they're a couple years away. The Saints welcome Kellyn Moore, just 36 years old. We call that. Less than half a Carroll. That's that is a fact. That's right, right? So these guys like go to there's, you know, like the big head coaching meeting. Yeah. And Pete Carroll's going to be like, who's this kid? Kellen Moore. He's like, I work here. I'm killing more.

Super Bowl champion. I like that. That's the opposite Adam. Adam Thielen voice. I like it a lot. Even though he is older than Adam. You know, this is this is job age. Perspective. Yes. So Kellamore, Rye. Hey, guys. Are you excited about this higher? I'm cautiously. Yeah. Offensive higher. Cautiously optimistic. He's bringing his OC with him that was basically his quarterback's coach. So he's been the offensive coordinator the last two years. for the Chargers and the Eagles. Talking about your guy. Talking about Kellynne Moore. I mean, you think he's my guy because we share the last name. Sure. That's what I was going for. But yeah, his his quarterbacks coach from both of those destinations. So this is the third year in a row. These two men have moved to, you know, upgrade their opportunity and try to run an offense. I think they've been pretty successful. The amount of time, you have avoided saying his officer coordinator's name.

Yeah, Doug. Yeah, Doug who? Dougie in, you know what I mean? You have been like dancing around this name. It's Nussmeier, Doug Nussmeier. Not Nussmeier? I believe it's Doug Nussmire. Ah. Yes, they were together in Dallas, L.A., Philadelphia. Did they brought in Staley, right? Yes, defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley, no longer mean mugging on the sideline in Los Angeles. Just incredible of Kellam Moore is the boss now. I know. They flip. They flip spots. Look, talk about fantasy, though, because this is a team that needs help at wide receiver profoundly, I think, with Oliva's injury history. You need help on the offensive line. I think you have your running back situation.

You know. You can't spend any more. Right. You really. You can draft somebody, but. You could draft somebody, but Kellamore can get the most out of Alvin Camara, I think. And Kellamore has been, his offenses have really highlighted the slot wide receiver. You saw that a couple years ago with Dallas. C.D. Lamb led the NFL in slot receiving yards. Then he goes to the Chargers. Keenan Allen had the most slot receptions per game in the NFL. Then he goes to the Eagles, Devante Smith. moved more into the slot. More than usual. More than he did the previous year. Five receiving touchdowns in the slot. That was the fourth most in the NFL. So like I'm curious, you know, right now Chris Olave is their main quality offensive weapon. And I'm curious if they utilize him more in the slot and get more out of him so long as they can get him a quarterback that's not throwing murder balls. No, they're going to have the same quarterback. No, well, that's a problem. Carr will do that. Well, then until Olave is.

car did off. What? Yeah. Bustin. Oh, man. I like that one. I like that. I'm going on record. I'm going to go on record. I like that one. I'm going to go on record. I like that one. There wasn't a T. There wasn't a T. No. Yeah. There wasn't a pitch. It was a. What's the offensive coordinator's name again? Nussmeier. Okay. Yeah, I feel like, you know, we'll be watching closely what the pieces are going to be. in New Orleans five games they won last year. Jason looked like he was well on his way to a head shave. Well, I guess he was regardless. But five and 12, it fell apart. It's an offensive head coaching hire and it's the opposite of what the Jets did because the Jets brought in another defensive first time head coach. It's wild. The Jets. Aaron Glenn, he's got a lot of, you know, experience and attitude and locker room bravado.

I can definitely see. But we're back in the same place with the Jets. We've got Rex Ryan. We've got Robert Sala. We've got Aaron Glenn. They have their type, which is defensive, gritty, New York Jets football. And okay, here we are. Yeah, I mean, they want to change the locker room. And this is that type, that Rahim Morris, you know, we were just talking about, you're going to come in and set a standard, set a culture. I think he can do that. But I worry for fantasy purposes, this is really, so Tanner Ingstrom is the office of coordinator coming in. And this was the passing game coordinator last year with the Detroit Lions. So Aaron Glenn is bringing one of his guys from the Lions over. But it wasn't like he gets Ben Johnson. So this is a very raw offensive opportunity. Like, you know, it's like I don't know a lot about Tanner Ingstrom. We don't really scout.