Trending or Ending + Combine Hype

You know, nobody could get it. No, I went up. It was a jump ball situation. I grabbed it. And I was laying on the ground with that ball. We had our first victory. We did. First victory. Not our first game, though. All right. Hey, here's some hype train other news. New Raiders GM, Mike Mayalk, who normally this time of year, Mike Mayock is talking about draft picks. Now he is.

going to be talking about them, but in the context of being the new GM of the Raiders. Let's talk about the Falcons coach. I'm sorry. We're going to have to stay here, Jason. No, no, no, no. He said Marcel Aitman is Oakland's number one X wide receiver. He's also very excited about running back. Chris Warren, Jason. Tell us about these players on Oakland. I am so mad at Chris Warren, the man. And he has done nothing.

other than being excellent running back last year in preseason, got injured, and the Raiders clearly liked him. They stashed him on IR the whole season. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. They wanted him back. And now he's being talked up. Look, if you're in a Dynasty League, Chris Warren should be stashed in every format. I held on to Chris Warren last year in our Dynasty League up until about three days ago.

where instead of dropping Des Bryant, I actually dropped Chris Warren. I made a mistake. I went to rectify that mistake. I was going to go out there and grab Jordan Lasley, which another dynasty owners. If you're out there, Jordan Lasley, just like Marcel Aitman, projects to be pretty much the one until free agency in the draft happens. That's the Baltimore rookie from last year. But I went to bid and bring Chris Warren back on my team, and I was outbid. You know who got him, Brooks?

I have a pretty good idea. Yeah. I'll give you a hint. He's stupid and ugly and one of my best friends. All right. Yes, I picked up Chris Warren, also picked up Marcel Aitman. You did. You had a good day. So pay attention. Look, I've talked to a lot of people, talk to Justin Boone on his podcast the other day. He takes the approach that a lot of fantasy owners do. Don't touch an Oakland Raider. I mean, you just don't want a piece of that offense. But in my opinion, it doesn't matter how good that offense is.

If you have the guys, you know, I don't think they're going to spend the money in free agency. Other people think they will. I don't. And if Chris Warren and Marcel Aitman have opportunities there in Oakland to be coached up, Aitman came on at the end of the year. Chris Warren has an opportunity. No more Sean Lynch this year. No more Sean Lynch. No more Sean Lynch. And no Doug Martin. So Jared Cook, going to test the open market in free agency. If Jared Cook leaves, talk about a void.

of pass catchers in Oakland. Right. And the throwers. Uh, what? Well, they only have Derek Carr. So they could use a quarterback. Derek Carr had a great year. He did. It's really weird because he didn't at all. Right, but he did, you know. His stats say he had a good year. Yeah. He didn't and he did. But I don't think anybody out there thought, man, Derek Carr really, really had a great year. No, including his head coach. I don't think his head coach about that. Hey, another dynasty player to pay attention to running back. Edo Smith, second year running back.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn says he's going to see a significant increase in offensive looks this season. Tevin Coleman, a free agent. Edo Smith drafted by this regime. It makes sense. I mean, this is basically them saying, yeah, I think Tevin Coleman is gone. Right, right. But instead of saying that, they said, yeah, Edo Smith's going to be great. This is also, and this is something that Fookland should know, this is the time of year where all players are great and their coaches love them all. And they are fantastic and they're all going to be the best.

Speaking of that, Kyle Shanahan says, Jerich McKinnon went down with the torn ACL last preseason. On track in his recovery, expects him to be the leadback in San Francisco. Do we get redemption from Jerich McKinnon? All the expectations last year were very high. Yeah, we do. I mean, I was high on him last year. He unfortunately got injured. I am right back on the train. I never left. It was, you know, parked.

That's what they do. They park them in a garage. Yeah. What do you do with the train yard? They go to, right, Brooks? You know trains. Okay, all right. Can I ask a question, Brooks? What do they do with the train in the train yard? Would you say they park it in the train yard? Yeah, I guess so. I don't know. I'm no train spurt. Agreed. Andrew Whitworth, coming back, Rams offensive tackle. This is big news for Todd Gurley. Coming back for a 14th year. Yes, he's 37.

But he was great. Yes, he's great. He was great last year, grated out, excellent across the board. This is huge news because he, you know, everything. He's foundational to that offensive line. Everything, every piece of credit has been given to Sean McVeigh. And Sean McVeigh certainly deserves some. But the offensive line, if you look at Gurley's numbers, yards before contact, things like that, a huge part of it was Andrew Whitworth and him coming back is great news for Todd Gurley. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Less need, Sean McVeigh. You want to give him credit for.

Adding Andrew Whitworth, you can do that. He's a great player. And then Ian Rappaport talked about the fact that Bengals are shopping third-year-wide receiver John Ross, Combined Darling. Their director of player personnel said it was, quote, fake news. Neither of those reports are, we love John Ross, and we can't wait to make them a part of our offense. So based on what you said with every coach loving all their players right now, if you're a dynasty owner of John Ross, first of all,

Apologies. I'm sorry. You've probably gone through a box of Kleenex by now. Last year, he scored seven touchdowns on like seven passes for like seven yards. But Ross hasn't been what they expected him to be. Dealt with injuries back in college, deals with him now. Tyler Boyd, AJ Green. Look, is Ross a better...

Would you be happier with him being moved or would you be? I'd be much happier with him being moved. Even with Zach Taylor there in Cincinnati. Look, if he stays, I think John Ross has a better 2019 than he had in 2018. You know, I think he continues to progress. I think the offense gets better. But I mean, they're not in love with them. You know, they probably were shopping them. And the reason that they say it's fake news is because once it comes out that they're shopping him.

They don't have, they're not going to get value. Everyone's going to offer nothing. So, yeah, I do hope he moves because if another team is giving up value, then they want him as part of their team. You know, let's say John Ross goes to Tampa Bay, becomes the Sean Jackson replacement, you know, the burner and with Bruce Ariens. I would love that because I do think John Ross is actually a talented wide receiver. His deep catch rate, he had the highest percentage of uncatchable.

Targets. Well, if he kept his touchdown rate up last year and he caught 100 passes, he'd be up in the 35 touchdown range. That's okay. But look, John Ross, here's the good news. He is still just 24 years old, and he is a burner. And if he can get it turned around, he will change. He'll take the top off of defense. Philadelphia, that could be a destination. Would you be willing to target John Ross in Dynasty on the cheap, or do you just, are you off? I'm off.

He can, he's firmly in the, I don't know, Devante Parker category of if he does well for somebody else, then he does well for somebody else. I don't want to target him. He's not been good. Did you talk, did you mention the Evan Silva quote about it? I did not. He's caught 35% of his targets. That is atrocious. He's dropped 12% of his targets. Also atrocious. But also 8% of his targets have been picked off.

That is atrocious. Yeah, but he's averaging 3.5 yards per target. Which is atrocious. Yeah. By the way, lots of dynasty chatter today. Make sure you switch your Dynasty League to Sleeper. Download the Sleeper app today. Move your lineup over to a modern platform. Let's get to the main event. Trending or ending. Jay Grizz, nothing to say? No. No. All right, hey. Made out of cardboard. Yeah. Aaron Jones. Let's start here.

Trending or ending, let's have some debate, discussion. Aaron Jones, can he be an RB1 in fantasy for 2019? Last year, 133 rushing attempts. Average, 5.5 per carry. That is the league leader with a minimum of 130 attempts. The year before, guess what? 5.5 a carry. Too many fives not to hit that drop. Look, he was the RB9.

In points per game from weeks 10 through 16, that's a good span. RB 13 from weeks 4 through 14, missed the final two games of the year, placed on IR. What can fantasy owners get from Aaron Jones? Are we setting yourself up for a value pick that turns into a top 12, top 15 guy, or for heartache due to a committee situation?

Look, I... Where do you weigh in? On this show, last season was probably the most anti-Aaron Jones from just a cost to get him in belief of McCarthy and whether he would actually get enough volume to succeed. And you had to wait, like you said, until what, week 10 before anything mattered with Aaron Jones. If you remember, he was suspended. Now, I believe that Aaron Jones will have a successful...

fantasy season in 2019. Is that RB1? I think that's like that I think he's got the ceiling for it. But I would put him more in the, you know, top 20 running backs, a worthy draft pick. I don't think he's going to, especially with news coming out, right? Like Matt LaFleur said that running back is one of the more violent positions and you need to take an RBBC approach, right? That's bad news. Fantasy owners.

hate hearing that he wants to do a split same way he did with Dionne Lewis and Derek Henry. And the same way, you know, he was part of the 2015-2016 Atlanta Falcons. And so he has that roadmap with Devon to Freeman, Kevin Coleman. But the split is fine if the predominant running back in that split is getting, you know, 15 carries. Because if you look back.

to the 2015-2016 seasons with Devante Freeman. Devante Freeman had seven games each year with 15 or more carries. So he was fine in an RBC. He was, I believe, the running back won one of those years. If you look even last year with Matt LaFleur with Dionne Lewis and Derek Henry, they combined for nine games with 15 or more touches. Last season, Aaron Jones only had three.

I think the thing you want to see from At LaFleur is not, we don't have delusions of an NFL where every team has one guy and they're the only one that touches the ball. But you want to see logical committee usage. You were frustrated so many times last year when Aaron Jones was carving up a defense, but then Jamal Williams found himself onto the field for important drives, key situations.

And you almost felt that frustration through Aaron Rogers. One of the things that I put in the positive column for Aaron Jones is the endorsement and confidence that Aaron Rogers has shown in Aaron Jones. But there is a risk. There is a risk there because Jamal Williams is a competent running back. Let me ask you this. Where do you think the Packers last season of 2018?

ranked for total rushing attempts. Oof, I have no idea, so let me guess. I'm guessing they ranked 25th. Are they dead last? They're dead last. So whatever you said, if it wasn't 32, the answer was lower. That was a franchise low for Green Bay's rushing attack as far as total rushing attempts by running backs. They've got nowhere to go but up. And now they've got an offensive coordinator coming in with a history of last year with Tennessee Titans.

They were number nine in rushing attempts. But it took them a while to figure out the Derek Henry needed the Rockmore, too. I don't like the question, Brooks. I don't like can he be an RB1. That is too open and ended. Of course he can. We've seen it. Will Aaron Jones be an RB1 in 2019? Will that trend continue, Jason? How do you weigh in today? I weigh in with a no. I think he'll be an RB2. I weigh in with a no. I think he'll be an RB2, but I actually believe Aaron Jones will be a good fantasy pick because I don't think he'll be drafted anywhere near the top 12.

All right. Number two, trending or ending? Oh, this one kind of, this kind of hurts. Is Alshon Jeffrey a wide receiver three for fantasy now? Points per game? Wow, Brooks. These are some numbers. He has been, last year, the wide receiver 25 in points per game. The year before, 21. Year before that, 35.

So that's three consecutive years outside the top 20. He had three straight years inside the top 13 back in 2013, 2014, 2015. Do we need to adjust our expectations for Alshon Jeffrey? Or will Carson Wince lift him up? No, I mean, it depends on what your expectation is. But he is not a guaranteed wide receiver 2 or better. There's no way. I mean, last year when we were going into the draft, one of our bust alerts.