Fantasy Wildcards + Hype Check

Fantasy points per touch are always elite. His yards per carry are near the top of the league for the last three seasons. I mean, he's been great. And then you give him the ball at the end of 2017. He had five games in a row where he had more than 10 carries in a game. I'm not making this like, oh, you had 18 carries. He had more than 10 carries in a game for five games in a row. And during that stretch, he was the running back eight in fantasy football. He was dominant for a bad team.

Right, like the dolphins weren't good two years ago. The dolphins weren't good good last year. And last year, over the course of the season, there were only five games. Weren't they a playoff team two years ago? Were they good, Mike? Yes. They were. Were the bills good last year? So what about the comp to somebody like Lamar Miller, who for years, efficiency metrics were touted for Lamar Miller until he was given more work and it was all the same fantasy-wise because efficiency goes down.

And that's just inevitable. I mean, generally, the best, most efficient players are the players that touch the ball less frequently. I don't disagree with the fact that, you know, Kenyon Drake is an electric talent. I wonder, though, if the league has decided, not just the B-hole, that he is not a, I mean, he's not the workhorse caliber type of player. Sure. And that could happen. But the thing that's stating in the way of that happening,

is the depth chart. You have Caleb Belage and Miles Gaskins. Two extraordinarily unproven players, players that we really haven't even seen in the NFL. So I don't think, you know, it's not like a situation. He's certainly the most. He's the clear.

starter as of right now. And in the games over the last two years where he's had just 10 touches, he averages the running back 10 in fantasy football. Both years for, I'm not mocking the dolphins and saying they're bad. I'm just bringing up the counter argument of I don't like to have running backs on bottom half teams. No, of course, you want to run, you want Todd Gurley for the Los Angeles Rams. But for that team, he's still been very good.

I think he's electric. So he's a complete wildcard, right? Maybe Caleb Belich comes in. What did you statum for attempts-wise? Because in his career, I mean, he has fewer attempts in his career than like a regular workhorse back has in a year. I feel like that's 133, 120. What did you stat him for this year? I would like to just know that for how you see that opportunity breaking down. Sure. I have Kenyon Drake stated completely not as a workhorse. 200? 192 rushing attempts. Okay.

Where does that put him in your rankings? I believe I've got him 18. Okay. That's all fine. That's all fine. My point is, those numbers that I just gave are conservative. Those are hedged numbers. If he comes out and gets 225 carries very in the realm of possibility and 85 targets, you don't think 225 carries are in the- I don't think 225 is in the possibility for Drake. Do you think it is my- No, I also don't think you're being conservative. No, I don't either. With 192? No.

No, because he, I don't think so. He's played 16 games, two straight years, 133, 120. That would be a backup. That would be conservative. As a backup. But that's the point is he made be the backup again. Caleb Belage might be the starting running back. So, wild card. No, no doubt about the wild card. And like, Jerich McCannard or Kenyon Drake guys. Who do you want? Oh, Kenyon Drake. Drake, not close. Get out of here. Yeah. I'm in the same boat.

Yeah, I believe Kenya Drake, your most profound argument is the one that you mentioned about 10 plus touches. When he gets 10 plus touches, not just carries, it's not dependent on him getting 225. 10 plus touches and being at RB10 is powerful. He's used in the passing game. 73 targets last year, 53 receptions. A depth chart with no competition. And he has shown extreme efficiency.

So if the efficiency comes down a little and the volume goes up, I think he's got a realistic outlook where he could be a top 12 back. I'm not sure he's scoring nine touchdowns again, though. Sure. Yeah, he might not. I don't have him statted for nine. Yeah. I guess one of those was the great hook and ladder. Yes. The great at the end of the game. And on top of that, I mean, you have. He's been great. There's no argument about when he gets the ball. He's been electric. You have the, what should be maybe the, I mean.

Not as a good version, but it's the Patriots offensive system coming down to Miami. And they use their running backs a lot, especially in the passing game. All right. The final wild card of this episode, I told you I'm bringing in a ranked high name. I'm bringing a guy who's ranked low currently go. Wow. Currently going. I can't believe he's going that low. As the wide receiver 50 because people just don't know what to do with him, I.

Agree? That it's hard. It's hard to know what to do with Mr. Deshaun Jackson. And I want to lay out what happened last year. I'm so excited to hear this. What, well, if you don't recall what happened last year, Deshaun Jackson opened the season up absolutely on fire. Just crushing people's souls. You took him as.

Latest could be in the draft. You started him and you're just winning weeks because for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starting quarterback. Then James Winston came in and he was just an absolute dark cloud of the Deshawn Jackson parade. James Winston was fine for himself, but it did not work out for Deshawn Jackson. The splits?

Last year for Dijax games where Fitzpatrick played and games where it was just James Winston. You're talking about the targets are nearly the same. 6.1 to 6.5 targets a game. But here's what happened to the production. Four receptions as compared to 2.5. 78 yards compared to 36. A half a touchdown a game compared to nothing. That's nearly 15 PPR points a week.

when games where Ryan Fitzpatrick was playing, and that includes some games where Ryan Fitzpatrick was not the starter the entire game. So these numbers are a little skewed, but 15 points down to 8, which tells me this is not a Deshawn Jackson problem. He is still a great wide receiver, and if you watch Tampa Bay Games, when James Winston was the quarterback, you frequently saw D Jack.

G. Jack's running free. And then an errant ball, either way overthrown or way underthrown, an absolute furious Deshaun Jackson. Flash forward to this year, the Philadelphia Eagles traded for him. They wanted him to come back home. And so much so they said, okay, here's a new three-year deal, Deshaun Jackson, worth nearly $30 million. But then you get right back into the wild card situation for D. Jacks because...

Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks as a whole, they were not good with the deep ball. Carson Wentz was only throwing a deep pass, which is 20 yards in the air on 11.2% of his attempts. That's not great when you're considering Ryan Fitzpatrick is up at 12.6. Then Carson Wentz passer rating on those deep balls.

only 70 compared to Ryan Fitzpatrick who had a deep passing percentage of or passer rating of over 107. So it's like, okay, well, if I'm just looking at last year's stats, if that Carson Wentz is throwing the deep ball, his numbers were very similar to James Winston as far as efficiency. So maybe nothing's going to change, but now I go back.

to when Carson Wentz was having his MVP level season, and he was absolutely sensational. He's throwing the ball deep 16.5% of the time had a pass rating of over 100. So the outcomes for Deshawn Jackson are so wide. I mean, wide receiver 50. Deshaun Jackson literally can be...

a league winning type of receiver if he hits. If Carson Wentz comes back and he, like for you, Andy, if Carson Wentz is who you expect him to be, then Deshaun Jackson is paying back just insane dividends on a wide receiver 50 price. Well, some of the stats that you're talking about, Carson Wentz not being quite as efficient as he was the year before on the deep balls. Getting out of the pocket. Getting out of the pocket is one thing and also the weapons. He didn't have a Deshaun Jackson. Like,

Maybe having Deshawn Jackson there to throw a deep ball to might help. The year before he had at least Tori Smith, who we can mock Tori Smith, but he's, that's his trick. He'll get his job. He's a deep ball guy. That's his trick. Last year, you know, they were. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I will run the nine routes. You know, last year they basically replaced Tori Smith with eventually Golden Tate, which is the exact opposite trick. It was supposed to be Wallace, Mike Wallace, but then he got hurt. Right.

No, those are both good points. I mean, I think if we saw Winston's MVP-esque season, get out of the pocket, buy time, deep plays developed. That's what you need in today's NFL. That's what Mahomes did so well, you know, buying time, giving Dijax a chance to run free. And just having that connection between players. I mean, we haven't seen it yet. But Winston, Dijax, they didn't have it. It wasn't there. Right. Never. The math never added up.

So interesting because when I look at my team and I'm making dynasty moves, I've got Deshaun Jackson, right? And I don't want to trade him for anything. I want to open the – I just want to see what I get under the tree. Right. I don't know what it's going to be. And I could be disappointed. I didn't trade him for better value. But maybe he's a top 15 guy somehow. Yeah. And both Andy and I have Deshaun Jackson currently ranked as a top 40 guy. So even with not –

being exactly sure what's going to happen with Deshaun Jackson this year, he's still already an immediate value. Yeah, because he's me. Wide receiver 50 being drafted as wide receiver 50. I'm sure if you're playing on draft right now, you're playing basketball. He's going, she's definitely going before wide receiver 50, but for people who are doing the casual redraft mock drafts right now. Now, do you worry at all about having, I mean, if you draft Deshaun Jackson and redraft league, you're dealing with the boom bust.

Sure. Do I even start him? You absolutely could be dealing with that. But with Carson Wentz, there's a world where that's, you're not dealing with a boom bust. You're just dealing with a great player who's good and then can boom. I'm excited to see what happens in Philadelphia this year. I am too. I think DJX is great for Philadelphia. I think DJX is great for Carson Wentz. I don't know because there are so many mouths to feed. I mean, this is why he's a wild card. I don't, I don't.

know that Deshaun Jackson's going to be a reliable. And the wide receivers are the two, right? Well, the nice thing is that Deshaun Jackson has a huge mouth. So when he actually takes a bite, half your cake has already been eating. Yeah, that's true. Kind of surprised you went to that specific analogy. But one bite is all he needs per game. Yeah. And what I liked about your story, because people have moved on from him, but you began your narrative on him by.

just saying what he was last year. This was last year. Yes. It wasn't three years ago Deshaun Jackson. He came out and was dominating for fantasy football last season with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah, and Carson Wentz, I mean, we're joking about Tori Smith. Carson Wentz has never had a player like Deshawn Jackson. And that's how I opened with. This is not a Deshawn Jackson problem. I think he is still a top field stretcher. Yeah, they believe it with the contract. All right.

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