Fantasy Football - Bounce Back Players + Jason's Cleavage??? - Podcast for 6/23

Just go murder your opponent with tons of fantasy points. It's the espressos. It really is. It's the extensive caffeine intake. If you can't calm down, you can't calm down. Yeah. All right. We'll take a break. We'll get into some bounce back. Players have some debates. Hello, everybody. I am back. Is that you in a Waldo outfit? Apparently. When did you dress up as Waldo? Or is that the magic of AI? I don't know. Well, I know you didn't dress up as Waldo. I'm pretty confident you did not. You never did? That was never a Halloween thing for Mike? No. Audio.

Audio crew is just... I looked like Waldo, everybody. Yeah. Bounce back candidates. These are submitted by the Foot Clan. So you guys sent these in for us to discuss and debate. There is nothing quite like finding a value in the draft as a bounce back player. Somebody that had performed really well before. A few years ago, Mike Evans as a my guy was one that, you know, people were able to draft later in the draft. They come back to form. They help you win. The number one answer submitted by the Foot Clan is Brian Thomas Jr. because, oh, what ways you'd have to bounce back from.

Number four in 2024. Number 44 in 2025. Disaster. That was another piece of news that popped up. Just how on the same page Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr. are, which is good. I mean, I want to hear that. Yeah, man. There's 48 catches last year, Mike. The stuff coming out of Jags camp is everybody. It's roses. It's the greatest player of all time. Like, it's going to be Jacoby. No, it's going to be Parker. No, because it'll be Brian Thomas. And Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter. Yeah. He's been playing offense the entire time. Everybody's going to be great. Yeah, I mean, a lot of things changed for Brian Thomas Jr.

He dealt with a lot of drop problems. The screen game was removed. That involved him. His average depth of target went up an extra three yards from his rookie season, and he ended up, you know, struggling on some of those. I do agree that they were never on the same page. His catch percentage dropped 12%. His yardage 500 yards scored twice on the year. And the team basically proved that, look, if it's not working for you, we're going to win a different way. I think that's – like, this is not a player with such tenure in the NFL where you're like, oh, you have a few bad games.

We just got – our offense has to run through you. No, they just said, we'll just turn Parker Washington into a star, and we'll – Travis H.N. Jr. out of the backfield will dominate, and we'll find a way to win without you. Well, Liam Cohen wasn't even here for Brian Thomas Jr.'s rookie year. He wasn't a part of – you know, during the offseason leading into last year, Liam Cohen shows up, talks about how great Brian Thomas Jr. is, but he didn't have him. He's like, we're going to try to get this guy the ball as much as we can,

and they really did. Out the gate. They were throwing a lot. Out the gate. Week one, seven targets. Week two, 12 targets. That amounted – They tried so hard. To a combined 50 yards. And so, yeah, you're right. They went other places, and it worked really well. So the bounce back, can it happen? Obviously, I think everyone in the world believes he has the talent to go out there and be a dominant wide receiver one. However, the way that they're going to be able to spread the ball around, the way that there are so many mouths to feed in this offense, it is very –

I'm skeptical that a bounce back to being an alpha, to being a top – to being a wide receiver one. I think he was wide receiver seven his rookie year. Four. Four? Geez Louise. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's happening. I think you have to define a bounce back as returning to the form of the previous year, which would be in the top five. I don't think that's happening either. One of the craziest stats, he had 17 screen targets as a rookie. Caught all 17 of them, and it was one of the most valuable wide receivers behind the line of scrimmage.

He had one screen target last year. And if that's the way the offense is going to run, because the offensive coordinator is consistent right now with Liam Cohen, those easy targets don't seem like they're going to be on the way, Mike. Yeah. We all have him – I have him at 23. We all have him ranked that he represents a value compared to his ADP. Jay, even for you being like, ah, sounding more negative, you still have him above ADP. You still have him even one spot above basketball ADP. He is a – I think he's a unique bet. You're going to want to – you're going to want to take at least one sort of bet on Jacksonville.

Like, I think, like, in almost every single one of your fantasy teams between – I'm not just talking about receivers. I'm going to include Tim. Like, just – you're going to want pieces of this. Of course, not all of them will work. But it's – for how good Parker looked and Jacoby, it's just – Brian Thomas is the one that makes the most sense. Why? Of the guy who bounces back and they're like, no, okay, he is the target leader. He's – you know, he goes back like he – he goes to a 24% target share, which will be a very big uptick.

I mean, he started hot, and I think there was some injuries not being properly reported. And so I guess I would – I'm more on the side of a bounce back than him ending up as wide receiver 37. I certainly like – Or he's going in sleeper. I certainly like where he's being drafted. And he's being drafted around Jacoby Myers and Parker Washington. So it's like it's all the same bet. I will certainly be betting on him to emerge because he is the most talented. He's a former first-round draft pick for a reason. He's, you know, had 1,500 receiving yards in a season.

He's the good bet. However, this is just – it's a different team than the one that he was the only target to throw to a couple years ago. Now they've added pieces. They've got three guys that were not involved a couple years ago. Parker was there. Yeah, but Jacoby coming in, Travis Hunter. It's important to mention they added Jacoby last year while they dealt with struggles with Brian Thomas and decided they needed somebody else. Yeah, I mean, it's just very different. I mean, I'm looking at, you know, his rookie season where he had 133 targets. The next most targeted player on the team was Evan Ingram at 64 targets.

And so, yeah, he had that – Big Mac. He had that great breakout season. But this is just a completely different offense now. Last year, they – so they rank passer rating when a player is – or passer rating when a player is targeted. Where when he was targeted, the passer rating was 65.1. That's 101st out of 109. You know who that was tied with? Jefferson. Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Oh, man. But behind that, it was like Josh Palmer and John Dotson and Adonai Mitchell and Jerry Judy, and that's not company you want. Ten interceptions for Trevor Lawrence when targeting him.

How many picks did he throw? Wow. Yeah. How many did he throw in the year? Last year it was ten? Ten interceptions when targeted. That's got to be – he was at – Twelve. Huh. Yoinks. All right. Someone trade for Jacoby Myers, please. The next – where do we want to go? Let's go David Montgomery. Let's move it to David Montgomery, and then we'll bounce back up, talk about another wide receiver running back situation. 29 years old. We briefly – did we mention him on the Footcast or was it on this show? Footcast. We talked about him a little bit recently.

I don't – what is the vibe around Houston right now? Let me start there. Before I introduce this segment, what is your general vibe on Houston? Because I'm getting – General vibe is they are a great football team with one of, if not the best defense in the league, and they've got a question mark at quarterback that is the entire – the answer to how good this team is is entirely just is C.J. Stroud the real deal or none? Yeah. I mean, that's my vibe of the team. They have everything. Oh, sorry. Not everything, but they have a lot of what you want in a championship team, the defense,

and then including an elite wide receiver, a very – a pair of interesting young up-and-coming wide receivers, and you've got the guy – then you have Tank Dell coming back from injury. So they're surrounded. It should work, but I think that's what the vibe is entirely on the questions on Stroud. So we basically are in a situation now. Woody Marks had a lot of fantasy relevance for periods of time last year. It got banged up. Joe Mixon, a couple years ago, burst onto the scene. Joe Mixon's – by the way, we don't even – we don't even talk about that.

Put Joe Mixon in the Waldo outfit. I mean, we don't – What is he doing? You won't find him. That's the end, right? Is that what it is? Oh, it's over. It's the end for Joe Mixon? Absolutely. Joe Mixon will never play football again. Certainly seems like it. So they trade for David Montgomery. Houston does. Or he's just waiting for a training camp injury. And, you know, I guess the interesting thing about Montgomery – so last year he only averaged nine fantasy points a game. He still scored eight touchdowns. So that is – I mean, that was real feast or famine.

He basically scored or made you sad. It was a big step back production-wise or fantasy than the year before where he was running back 18. By the way, he was running back 18 and he missed three games in 2024. But I don't feel like anybody here is like, well, David Montgomery, you really suck. You really took a step back and they just couldn't put you on the field. It was more, we're just better with one of the best running backs in the game on the field. And I'm sorry, but it just can't be you out there. Yeah, there was a lot of reporting at the end of the year and with how they got rid of

David Montgomery that it was kind of rumored that they were doing that as much for David Montgomery as for themselves. Like they wanted David Montgomery to be able to go somewhere where he can get the ball more. He wanted more touches, dessert. You know, he's that type of back. You know, he used to be David Mopportunity because it was all about the opportunity. It was, you know, back in the day when, you know, his sophomore season, he's got 315 opportunities. He was the running back four in fantasy, obviously a long time ago, different team. That was for the Bears. But they just could not keep giving him the ball over Jameer Gibbs.

It's just, it's a negative play for your team. And so this is exactly what the Texans did a couple years ago. They looked at their team and they said, we need to go out and get a veteran running back that we can like rely on. Bigger back. Bigger back that can catch the ball. That can be a three down back. And they went out and they got Joe Mixon. And Joe Mixon was excellent for them. I mean, he was great in fantasy football. I think he missed three games that year and was still the running back 11. Had a stretch of time where he was the running back one.

For the first 12 weeks, he was like the number one running back. Yeah, and he was an older back. And so I don't think. And just his age, he would have been just turning 28. Oh, 28. Am I doing the. Nixon? Yeah. I think he was 28 or 29. Because he's 29.8 right now. And that was two years ago? Yes. Correct. So he was 28. And Montee's 29. Montee's going to be 29 this year. Montgomery didn't look to me like he lost anything. I know he's an older back, but he was never like the breakaway explosive type of runner. He was better yards per attempt last year than the year before.

Yeah. I mean, he's he's I believe that this is a great pick in fantasy. You're talking about a guy who is not a high end, expensive draft pick where he's probably going to get the vast majority of work, be a bell cow for a team that is projected to win a lot of games. And be leading a lot of games. And be leading and be conservative. They want to put the ball in David Montgomery's hands over CJ Stroud's hands. Yeah. Every handoff is not an interception. Correct. Is what they say. That's that was the quote. So, I mean, I the bounce back doesn't fit the my mindset on David Montgomery.

It's just more like a returned opportunity for David Montgomery. I don't think like you said, it's not going to be flashy. It's not going to be big plays. You know what you're actually looking for here? You're looking for the Texas Kyron Williams. That's that's kind of the makeup here. Kyron Williams doesn't run away from people. He's just good in the red zone. He's versatile. He can catch the football. That's what Montgomery can do. Montgomery got tons of targets in Detroit and did a lot with him. He reminds me a lot of what James Connor was for several years as an older back.

He's just a guy that's going to go out there and he's never going to get 20 yards on a run, but he'll get 15 yards on a run regularly. You know, it's just like it takes it takes a village to tackle him. He is. He's a scary pick. You want to hate him. I know. Yes, because everything about this profile of a 29 year old changing teams to and where I stop myself on the Texans don't have everything because they don't have a great offensive line. But it's projects to be a pretty weak part of their game. They keep trying to find a way to rebuild it and I know they can't do it yet.

Montgomery is going to get a ton of work, but he's in the he's about like a six rounder. It seems on sleeper. He's just he is in the running back dead zone because he he's a starting running back who is not exciting with a bad offensive line. And like the numbers, you know, the two years ago when when he was not getting a ton of ton of opportunities on the field, he had 12 rushing touchdowns. Like he's not getting 12 rushing touchdowns with the Houston Texans. You don't think so? I don't think so. No. Hmm. I think you can get to actually possible there.

I think it is possible that he could get double digit touchdowns. Not obviously this isn't project to be a top five offense. And with what you're saying about the offensive line, that's true. They did spend their first round pick on a on a guard. So hopefully that is going to help improve the line. But there's a team that will keep running the ball all game all the time. And when they get around the goal line, they have not been able to punch in touchdowns. Twenty three five zone carries for the running backs last year led to four touchdowns. Exactly. That's why they went out and got David Montgomery.

They're like, we would like to score touchdowns when we run it in the red zone. I remember a lot of these plays. And and who knows? Maybe that is entirely the offensive line. But I'm sure what's the ceiling. I think he could ceiling best case scenario. I think he could be a running back one. I think he could be like RB nine. RB. Yeah, exactly. Mike, what's the ceiling for you? I don't disagree with the ceiling there, but it would take the 12 type of rushing touchdowns, which last year may you guys with 12 or more. You had Taylor Henry Gibbs Jacobs, James Cook.

And then you have the then. Hey, I'm Zach Charbonnet. I have I have 12 touchdowns. But it's like Zach Charbonnet had 12 rushing touchdowns in the season last year. Wow. Gosh, they must have won the Super Bowl. Just imagine Ken Walker with 12 extra rushing touchdowns. RB 26 right now on sleeper for Montgomery. I have him at 26 on the dot. Jason at 22. Mike at 25. ADP is not out of control. It's I just hate that this is exactly the profile and arc type of a player that is bad news. And you should not. And Woody Marks did flash at times last year.

It's not to say that. Like, I don't think that this team is going to. Not put marks on the field at all. So that's another risk factor is just what the breakdown looks like. Yeah. And I don't mind if people I mean, it's when you're in your draft. It depends on how the first few rounds. What do you need here? Because you're going to be sacrificing a quarterback. Yeah, exactly. The opportunity cost. Yeah. You're giving up a Jaden Daniels if you want to take a shot there. Or a Roma Dunze if you want to take a shot there. Someone that could really break.

You know, while I say that running back nine is like best case scenario, I think what you're drafting in David Montgomery is just a solid running back two. I think he is being drafted well after solid running back twos. And so he's a good value. But he's probably not going to go out there and just flat out win you a championship. He's not. At the end of the year, we're not going to be like one of the best picks in the entire, you know, the way that Rome could be or the way that Jaden Daniels could be in that same area.

But he is, to me, he's safe. All right. We'll take another break and we'll come back and talk about two players that are 30.8 years old. Oh. All right, Foot Clan. And whether you are on the go or at home, T-Mobile, well, they're built to keep you connected wherever you're scouting your fantasy team. And that on the go part, that is important. With America's Best Network, you'll be connected to the latest news and player projections. So when you're on the clock, you can draft a winning team. I can think of so many situations where that element of being connected while you're on the