Mid-Round Madness + Trade Telemarketer

at minimum finish at the wide receiver 30 and likely outproduced that. So you get a return on that draft investment. Yeah, so we're going to talk. We each picked out a couple guys that we really like between rounds four and eight that we think are values for where they're being drafted. Maybe they're underrated for a certain reason. There's a lot of reasons why guys drop in the draft. We'll get into some of those today. You want me to kick it off? Yeah. All right. I'm going to go with Tareke Cohen running back.

It's not even fair to call him a running back. Running back slash backup running back. Thank you, Mike. You know what? I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. You know what he was last year, Mike? What was he? Oh, he was the backup running back. Oh, starting running back. Oh, sure he was. 250 plus carries for Jordan Howard. Look, Tariq Cohen's going in the late fifth round as the RB 28 right now. And I want that RB2.

perceptive discount on Tariq Cohen. You want to know why? Because last year he finished as the running back 13 playing the quote-unquote backup running back role. You know what he isn't? He's not a prototypical running back. He lined up in the backfield 63% of his snaps last year. 20% of the time he was in the slot. That's more than any other running back in football. 13% of the time he lined up at the wide out position.

He's going to be on the field, and he dominated from weeks three through 15, one bus game from Tariq Cohen in this quote-unquote backup running back roll because he's so electric, he's so dynamic. He had four weeks where he was an RB1 in that span, another three weeks as an RB2 in that span, 23 years old, did everything he could do for that team. Unless Matt Nagy is a certifiable nut job, he's going to use Tariq Cohen.

And I think you're going to find Tariq Cohen in the category that you found Darren Sproles in for year after year after year, which is why is Darren Sproles being drafted at the back half of these drafts? And then guess what? Productive, productive, productive. I just love Tariq Cohen at the draft value. Last year's RB13, draft him at RB28. Do I think it'll be RB13? Probably not because of his efficiency metrics. Do I think it'll be 16 to 20? Probably. Look.

So I have not been in on Tariqq, the dinosaur Hunter Cohen. But he's not in on you with that nickname either. The thing is, is, I mean, last year he was the running back 13 and half point PPR leagues. I think a lot of people are surprised to know that or remember that. They just, you know, he's not viewed as a top option at all. Now, if he has the role that he had last year, I think he's electric. I love the creativity from Matt Nagy.

And here's my worry. The counterpoint for this is the first three weeks. We've talked about it before when we just went through their divisional preview. The fact that the first three weeks of the season, Jordan Howard, who you remember all the hype in the preseason where they were working on his pass catching, working on his past catching. Then they come out and they start throwing the ball to him, left right and center. He's a pass catching back for the first few weeks, except...

He stinks at it. He's not good. And they completely go away and say, okay, we've got this Tariq Cohen guy. He's a great pass catcher from weeks four on. That's where you say he had one bus game and was great. Those first three weeks, he was the running back 47, 57, and 34 when he wasn't getting that work. So the question to me is just, did they trade up to get David Mopportunity, David Montgomery, rookie running back for the Chicago Bears?

because of his all-around skill set, because they want to use that as we kind of saw to start last season, and that hurts the receiving role of Tariq Cohen, or did they just go and get a nice, fresh young back to play that Jordan Howard role, and Tariq Cohen will keep it. That's to me, when I'm on the clock and I'm staring down Tariq Cohen, that's the decision I have to make and say what I believe Tariq Cohen is, or really what I believe David Montgomery is.

Yeah, I understand that. Cohen was RB 13 with 99 carries last year. You don't care if he gets the carries. He had 71 receptions. To me, it's just, it's a big leap of excitement. People feel like they need to choose is the way the situation I'm in. You have to sit there and you have to go, boy, if I buy into Cohen, I don't have to not buy into David Montgomery. I don't think you have to choose. Now, do I want to stack them on my own team? No, I don't want two of the same guys at the same position.

But I don't think you have to choose from liking both. I like David Montgomery. I think he's going to be a monster. But if you have a brain and you play and you're a head coach in the NFL, taking one of the most effective big play guys off the field is the dumbest thing you can do. I don't think that Matt Nagy is going to go into the season and go, you know what? A rookie belongs out there instead of the guy who is more efficient doing this than anybody in football and is 23 years old.

24 years old. Dust doesn't make sense to me. I think he's being devalued because of that perception. But look, if he's in the 50 catch range, you'll be really sad. You'll be disappointed. You don't have as much room for error with any of the past catching running backs. Austin Echler, any of those guys. If they're a pass catcher, you don't have as much room for error in terms of if they're not doing that one functional niche.

You're in trouble, right? You don't get the baseline of 15 carries the game. But that's why these guys are in the mid rounds. Obviously, if he was getting the workload everywhere, he'd be an early round. Yeah, and he's in that category with, you know, some of the James White, you know. Well, because, yeah, here's the thing. Drake. So last year, Tariq Cohen was number six in terms of running back receptions. But he was very useful for fantasy. Next on that list, Jalen Richard. Yep. But were people happy they were starting Jailen Richard?

Then Naheem Hines. Were you happy you were starting him with regularity? Then Theo Riddick. I mean, it's... But that's... That is, to defend you, Andy. That is where I think Tariq Cohen and his talent takes over. Like, when you watch Tariq Cohen, it is very similar to when you watch Tyreek Hill. He's just faster than everybody. Nobody can catch the dude. That's not how you feel when you watch... Sure. When you watched...

And even using the beginning of the season as a template, I don't really like that very much because, yes, Jordan Howard couldn't produce to the degree that they may have wanted him to do it. But once you figured out what you had in Tariq Cohen, you used him to great success for the duration of the season. And then trade it up to draft a pass catcher. After they let go after they traded Jordan Howard away because they want somebody who fits the system. They didn't do that to hurt Tareke Cohen.

No, they did that to help the bears. Yeah, they did that to help the bears. The bears that were a very, very good team last year, right? Were they not? They sure were. Yeah. So I think that it's, I think it'll be interesting to see. I know from camp, there's a lot of times when both these guys are on the field. David Montgomery was giving, given opportunities on third down, Tari Cohen's in the slot. You've got, out of Tariq Cohen snaps 30 plus percent of the time. He doesn't even have to impede on David Montgomery being on the field. So it'll be interesting to see how they use him. I think he's a value.

Mike, who's your first mid-round madness candidate? Well, I'll tell you about it in just a second, Andy. But before we do that, I want to thank today's sponsor. So professional. ZipRecruiter. Look, hiring people in these times, it sucks and it takes a lot of your time, but not if you're using ZipRecruiter. They're the one place you can go where hiring is simple, fast, and smart, where a place where growing businesses connect to qualified candidates at ZipRecruiter.com slash footballers.

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Marvin Jones, wide receiver from the Detroit Lions. He's going in the middle of the eighth, wide receiver 36. And here is why I have refallen in love with Marvin Jones and his draft value. Last year, he had the seventh highest average depth of target, 14.6 yards. That was at 15.2 in 2017. So very similar. Last year, over 900 air yards and nine games. The year before that, 1,600 air yards.

pacing exactly the same. 110 target pace last year to 107 in 2017. He had a touchdown on every seven receptions. That's sixth best in the league. When he was hurt, he was the wide receiver 26. Well, he was hurt. When he got hurt. When he got hurt, yes. So he played nine weeks. And through that time, he was the wide receiver 26. And here's the thing. Here's the difference between Marvin Jones last year and the year before.

The efficiency bit him in the butt. He was outrageous two years ago. When he was a wide receiver, one, if I'm recalling that. He finished at 11 in some scoring. He was fantastic. He was a late round pick. And now he's being, the switch has happened. People buy into Kenny Gallaudy. Gallaud is the number one. Oh, because he's so smooth. Kenny G. Those routes are unbelievable. Meanwhile.

Marvin has no song. He doesn't deserve a song, not yet. But he was doing almost the exact same thing last year as he did the year before. He was just missing on some of those 50-50 balls. And Matthew Stafford was apparently playing with some sort of a broken back last year. The efficiency swung the entire opposite direction.

And he was still the wide receiver 26. I mean, he has been used the exact same way. I think Marvin Jones will continue to be used the exact same way. I think the big thing is is Stafford doesn't, I don't think Stafford has a preference. Stafford doesn't go into there and say, boy, Kenny's, Kenny's my one now. Marvin's my two. I think they go in there with 1A1B.

based on game plan in any given week. So that's why I like the value. I agree with you on Marvin. And it's not that I'm not calling Marvin Jones to repeat and turn back into that late round wide receiver one that he was. But he's going to finish higher than wide receiver 36. Yeah. I mean, look. 36 is madness. They're both. Thank you. This is madness. They're both on the field. Is that Matt Patricia? Yes. And my axe. So here's the thing.

Gimley could stop the Marvin Jones hype, though. No, because he did this last year with Gimley. Well, but they didn't have Daryl Bevel who now is going to come in and run the ball more fair. Don't get me started on Daryl Bell. That's the shade. I won't get you started on it, but that's the shade where you say they're not a very high passing volume team anymore, at least not expected to be that being said. But he never was. You could very easily argue.

that, you know, the coverage, the number one coverage now rolls to Kenny Golliday as opposed to Marvin Joe. So when they're both back on the field, instead of Marvin Jones being the one that devises are focusing on and Kenny G. being the beneficiary. You're laughing because he said bath? visuals, man. visuals, yeah. All right. Let's talk about my guy. Look, Jones, last point there. I want to hear your mid-round. But Jones, he made his name in Cincinnati.