What Would You Do? + Pump the Brakes, Krampus Love

is not the reason that Eric Ebron is averaging eight targets a game. He's not going to be an eight target of a game guy. Not sustaining eight targets or almost nine targets a game is not the only thing that matters here. It's red zone dependency and usage. When you have six touchdowns from the tight end position, it's not a mirage to me. It's not accidental. Hilton was there in the beginning of the year when he scored touchdowns. So to me, it's a matter of, look, what do you want from a tight end? You've made that argument about Kyle Rudolph for years. It's like,

Oh my gosh, if you can get a touchdown from your tight end, you're in the money. I don't think you can get enough for Ebron to justify the trade when a guy's number three in targets, number two on the season. It's just a matter of opinion. It's pure speculative opinion. I can't believe I'm sitting here talking about Eric Ebron in that way. Yeah, this is pretty gross. They put him on it. He's on a new team's too, so it's not like. Do you guys pee in the same fountain? If he was doing this in Detroit.

it would be more mirage-like. Like they lost three or four weapons in Detroit. He's never done it there for a long time. But it's a new team. He's earned the trust of six touchdowns tells me he's earned Andrew Lux trust. Sure. News and notes from around the league. All right. This was the monster news yesterday, which will cause me to speak more into this microphone. Devonta Freeman, running back for the Falcons. We found out after the show. He's on injured reserve, guys.

He's going to undergo groin surgery on Thursday. He will not return this season. Technically, he could return in week 16. If they're in playoff contention, maybe that happens. But the story now is we need to dissect and talk about Kevin Coleman and Edo Smith. It changes the entire equation for me on Edo Smith. The fact that DeVanta Freeman's gone. Because instead of Edo Smith being maybe a one-week placeholder touchdown dependent guy,

You start to look at it from a new perspective, where if Devanta Freeman's gone, Edo Smith is their fourth round rookie, and Tevin Coleman is likely to fly the coop, all of a sudden it's, what do we have in Edo Smith? Right. And in the last two games where Tevin Coleman and Edo Smith were the only backs, it was a 57-45 split. So I'm much more interested in Edo Smith, obviously, with the knowledge that he's not going to be replaced in a week by Devanta Freeman. Now, this comes a little late for the waiver wire.

Yeah, it's unfortunate the timing of it because Edo Smith skyrocketed to my number one claim. We were talking about Jermaine Kirst was the top guy to add. But if you could add a running back who's going to get snaps and get touches, he's the most valuable because those guys don't always pop up on a high-powered offense. They're utilizing them in the red zone as we talked about. I'm very, very intrigued for adding Edo Smith.

Yeah, I mean, I went back and I watched every snap on the season for Edo Smith. He had a couple good runs, especially near the end zone. He has a nose for that. I went back and watched some college film to familiarize myself. And my takeaway was his opportunity is everything you want.

I don't think he is anything special. He never looked like he was breaking tackles. You know, he was able to be taken down a little bit easier. But he is very fluid at catching the ball. It was very productive as a receiving back in college.

49 receptions, 43 receptions, 40 receptions. Those are his final three years at college. In college, those numbers are absurd. Those are unbelievable reception numbers. So he can catch the ball. The opportunity is there. He has enough talent to be valuable for fantasy, but he is no Devonta Freeman. He's not, he doesn't have the power and the balance to.

be that, you know, he's not going to come in and just take over that role completely, but very valuable. He'd be my number one. He could. That's the thing, though, is he could take the Freeman role. The role he could, but he won't succeed at it, is my point, the same way. Maybe. Because DeVantza Freeman looked really, really bad in his entire rookie season. Yeah, and Edo Smith was an investment by this team in the draft. If you listen to Dan Quinn talk about him, he is gushing.

about his past protection and the opportunity that he has. And because Coleman is going to be leaving, I do think there's a world where Edo Smith is seeing, I think he's going to win weeks in total touches based on game script. And so take that for what you will. I don't disagree with Jason. He's 3.2 on the season on 32 carries. So he's not running for chunk yardage. Maybe some of that's red zone.

I agree with Jason's take on him not looking special, but Coleman hasn't looked special this season either. And if this team starts going downhill, why would they give Coleman play if over the second half of the season they're not in contention? And Coleman's leaving. So I think they'd be investing more. So let's flip at the other side. What is Tevin Coleman rest of the season? Because I think Kevin Coleman owners are all dancing in the streets. Yeah, Tevin Coleman is a running back too. This is...

This was the special thing involved in Tevin Coleman's draft price. In the sixth round or so, you drafted a running back that had standalone value, and then if something were to happen in front of him, he gets a huge boost. I think Edo Smith is unfortunate for what you thought you were going to get in Tevin Coleman. It seemed like coming into the air if Devante Freeman went down, Tevin Coleman's an automatic running back one.

think that's the case. I think he's more of a mid-range running back too. All right. All right. So do you, you're not pumping the brakes on Kevin Coleman at all? Oh, not at all. 3.3.7 a carry this year versus 4.2 career average? Yeah, but opportunity will be there on a very high-scoring offense. I'd be stoked if I had it. I forgot to mention it earlier, but the pump the brakes was brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts, Better Parts, Better Prices every day. Other quick news, Georgio Tevecchio taking over at the...

kicking position for the falcons. Georgio. Georgio. I guess I didn't even say it right. Greg Zirline. Oh, he's back. He's back for the Rams. Eat a steak. My team is very happy. This was big news too. John Gruden. Concern with Marshawn Lynch's groin strain could be a long-term injury. I want to be very, very clear. I'm not going to even look.

in Doug Martin's direction. I'm not even going to see. Like, it's one of those things. This is full Medusa. Like, I'm not, if I happen to glance in his direction, I'm turned to stone. I'm not doing it. Jalen Richard is the guy to own. He, you know, this is a team that stinks. Their defense stinks. Richard's going to be on the field enough to make you go, eh.

I'm kind of okay with the starting him. I can squeeze him into my flex here and there. And Doug Martin will get out there and he'll have 18 carries for 16 yards. Yeah. No, he will have one. They're not going to use him. I disagree. The point is whether they use him or not, he's going to be worth. Yes, yes. I won't make the argument against that, but I do believe if Marshall on Lynch is to miss time, then I think Doug Martin's in line to see 10 plus touches a game.

Even with him getting none last week with Lynch off the field? Yeah. Well, I mean, Richard is the PPR guy. Yeah, six receptions, seven receptions the last two weeks on by this week. Comes out of the buy, though, with Indianapolis, San Francisco. There's probably value there. You're going to have to sift through. And like I said, don't touch crampus. It's gross. And I have a personal stance against not adding Doug Martin, but we would be remiss.

If you're in a deeper league, I do think that he's worth a speculative ad on your bench. I'll bet you my house. I love this. I love this right now. So far right now on this show, I have been anti-Ebron while Andy has fought for Ebron. Andy has been anti-Dug Martin while you fought for Doug Martin. No, no, no, no. What is it happening with who we are? Mike.

Loves Doug Mark. To quote my friend Jason Moore, don't hear what I'm not saying. Don't hear what I'm not saying. It's terrible. I don't want him on my team. Just take a stance and don't stand up for him. I can't not stand up for a running back who might see 12 to 15 carries. Mike loves crampus. Dude, Marshaun Lynch isn't even getting 12 to 15 carries.

18, 19, 20. In the beginning of the year, you're reading his numbers. How about the last three weeks? 29, 13. 913. Yeah, thanks, Mike. No, I understand the past two weeks that it's been, he's been game scripted out. Just saying I think he's going to touch the ball. Okay, all right. Mike loves crampus. Mike loves Doug Martin. No! All right. Let's take a break here. We're going to get into what would you do?

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the menlo club.com and use the promo code footballers trust us as a deal you don't want to miss out on whether you're a young professional entrepreneur or a dad balancing work in life the menlo club is tailored for you what would you do all right i thought this would be a very educational segment for our listeners because i'm going to put i'm asking you to i'm asking myself

What would I do in the situation that I own one of these guys? And these are players that they were drafted in the top 40 to be something. Therefore, they are big names, right? And if you are an owner of one of these players, what are you doing? What are you doing right now? What do you expect? What course of action do you take? And I think I want to...

pose the question directly to one of you guys and then move the next player to the next guy. So I'll just start with. I'm not putting the first one on, Jason, because he is an owner. So I want him to get some advice here. I need it. Mike, what would you do if you own David Johnson right now? His average drop position was number three overall. He is the RB12 in point per game. And the reality for David Johnson is that...

He's kind of having a Todd Gurley-like year from two years ago when he was with Jeff Fisher. You drafted Gurley that year in the top three. You ended up with a RB 12 to 15 on a weekly basis. David Johnson has Denver tomorrow, San Francisco, and then the buy week. What are you doing with David Johnson? So this is the really important thing about David Johnson. The past two weeks, he has received 18 carries. And both of those weeks, he's rushed for 55 yards. Oh!

I wasn't even ready. You're leaning back in your... That's not actually what's important. But he's getting... That's more of a... Yeah. After the first two-week debacle where they were not giving him the ball, I should say first three week, he is getting a lot of carries on the ground. He's seeing targets.