AFC North Breakdown, Surprise WR1’s, Courtland Sutton

I mean, was that the discussion? Yeah, I think this is one of the strongest first rounds as far as the top end of the first round that we've had in the last, I don't know, five or six years. And that's one of the reasons why I've chosen to put Levi-on-Bell at that four-spot in my rankings. It's simply because if you're splitting the difference on value, you know, Todd Gurley just got paid big money, Alvin Camara's role, especially. To be fair, Levy on Bell is going to make very large money this season as well.

Well, it's different, though. I mean, it's a one year. Just saying he's going to make a lot of money this year. Well, any doubt that you had that Todd Gurley is going to be the centerpiece of that offense is assuaged by $60 million. Sure. And Levi-on Bell is coming back. And everybody that contrasts with me on this point about Levion Bell as it has distractions, isn't in camp. They say the same thing. They said, well, he always does this. I want to be clear. No, he doesn't. He did it once.

Right? We've been through this situation one time to the degree where we were content with what happened. I don't think that that is setting the precedent for a guaranteed success throughout the year. Now, to the degree that he's number four, yeah, he's great. He's amazing. They're going to use him as much as possible. But if you talk to injury experts, none of them think it's better to have extensive rest instead of ramping your body up for the season. Right. And we've had them come and validate that point.

So I do think that there is an inherent added injury risk to missing all of camp, to being in the doghouse mentally, to not being on the same page as your team. There is something, even if it's just a slow start, right? Let's concede he has a slow start. Three games. I'll take Gurley. It's fair. Sure. So that's where I sit on that. Juju Smith, Schuster, hamming it up at camp.

James Washington, a player I love, Jason, and I, we disagree. Maybe we can carry that love, hate throughout his entire career, Jason, but I love James Washington. I think we can do it. I think we can do it. I really think we can carry that. I guess, I feel like there's a lot of disagreement with the Steelers, because I really do believe in James Washington's role. We've seen Big Ben make a lot out of a little. Not that I don't think Eli Rogers is a bad player. Don't think he's a great player.

seen him have value because of Big Ben and the passing attempts on this offense. I think James Washington's a great player. Yeah, but when Eli Rogers had actual value, that was when Martavis was not there. Somehow they're a third in yards per game in passing, but I don't think there's enough there for a third wide receiver. James Washington has the talent to give you a couple big plays throughout the season, but you're never going to be able to.

trust him other than maybe the matchup is great so you throw him into your DFS line up. He needs more in a negative fashion to Juju than he does in a positive fashion to himself. I don't disagree with that.

Yeah, sure. But, I mean, Juju was fine when Martavis Bryant was there last year. So I don't think James Washington is a step above Martavis Bryant. I don't think he takes that much away. The one thing you have to be careful of with Juju is last year, his efficiency was, it was not sustainable. His touchdown rate per receptions. I mean, Juju is a great player. I believe that fully. But he's not going to be the number one target.

He's not going to keep the same touchdown pace that he had last year. He'll be valuable. But, you know, I don't see him, you know, I've cooled a little bit on, you know, the ability for him to crack that top 12. But all of that said, as Mike mentioned earlier, James Washington, great option. Juju Smith-Schuster, great player. Antonio Brown, best in the business. Levion Bell, unbelievable pass catcher.

Big Ben is going to be a value this year. And, and, you know, when you draft a guy late like that, look at the opening schedule. Cleveland is week one. If they're, if they're, you know, holding back left bell week one, go Big Ben. Kansas City, their secondaries.

Gone. That's week two. Tampa Bay is week three. Their first difficult matchup is Baltimore in week four, but that's home Big Ben. So I like Big Ben as a draft pick. I love him and best ball. And I'm totally fine drafting him as my streaming candidates start the year. Good news. When Martavis didn't play that one game. Mm-hmm.

Juju had a nice pace. Yes. That is very dear. Let me read this for you. Are you going to extrapolate his one game? Only for entertainment purposes. I love it. 112 receptions. Pretty good. 16 touchdowns. Oh, very nice. 3,88 yards, baby. Yeah. So, Martavis is gone. Juju's good for 3,000. That's what we're saying. Guarantee. Put it in the books. All right, Mike. Let's talk about Vance McDonald and Jesse James. You and I disagree again on this point. I know we have Vance McDonald's.

We do have him in as a potential sleeper at the tight-in position because he is far more athletic and more talented than Jesse James is. Yes. My concern is loyalty to Jesse James, the intangibles of Jesse James, what he does on the field outside of fantasy that will cause Vance McDonald to not get enough of a snap percentage and enough targets. I would also throw in a smidge as far as the worries on Vance McDonald of health. He's already been banged up in camp and he's never really been healthy. Yeah, I will allow the concerns.

Thank you. Thank you, Mike. I cannot ignore them for Vance McDonald because that's what held him back this past year was you can't do the Vance dance if you're wearing a cast. That's true. It's hard to get the Vance off over that cast. He was traded very late on. So you don't wear Vance in the Vance dance? There's no Vance? It's a no, yeah. I mean, you know.

I'm just trying to figure out what the dance is because now I'm thinking you're naked when you do the dance. Well, I mean, you might have a shirt. You're Donald ducking? You're dead. But here's the thing for Vance McDonnell. He was traded to the Steelers basically right before the season. Yes. So you're a tight end. You're trying to learn things. And then he got banged up. He did have in the regular season. He did at the, towards the end, have two games over 50 yards, which.

Again, 50 yards is whole hum, but for a tight end, 50 yards is good. But then you have the playoff game against Jacksonville. It turned into a shootout, which was in his favor, but he had 16 targets, 10 receptions for 112 yards. There are not many tight ends in the NFL who can do that ever, just with usage and actual ability. You have to make your case the same way I have to make mine for Cory Davis.

Right. The playoffs, baby. Fair. But there's been a lot of hype coming from beat reporters because Todd Haley has gone. The new offensive system, they've said it's going to feature the tight end. And before Vance McDonald got banged up in training camp, they were saying he was already getting a whole bunch of targets. You have ESPN's beat reporter. Jeremy Fowler is saying, Vance McDonald's going to be a big part of the Steelers offense. So.

When it comes to completely punting the tight-end position and waiting until your third to last pick, I think that Vance McDonald is one of the better options. Man, I would not want to be a defensive coordinator going up against the Steelers this year. No, no. I'd be asking Lev Bell to release some more EPs into the season. And my last point is for his contract because Bats McDonald got a pretty hefty contract back when he was with San Francisco and then the Steelers traded for him.

Maybe they still can. But if they wanted to, they can get rid of him for zero dead cap. And he's going to make over $4 million. So that means they want him on the team. They weren't put off by what happened last year. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think the greater point is when you join a team midseason with an offense like that, Todd Haley, you're not going to have a massive role. And then if you get banged up, it's even worse. Ravens. All right, the Ravens.

at 9 and 7 last season saw the emergence of Alex Collins in that offense. He was one of the storylines of last season when you hoped, and we all going into the season were Danny Woodhead fans, right? We knew that the role for Danny Woodhead would be big. And then Danny Woodhead was hampered by the hamstring. To be fair, the first half of the first game, the workload was fantastic for Danny Woodhead. Life was good.

It was a great 30 minutes. No more Mike Wallace, no more Jeremy Macklin, no more Benjamin Watson, no more Danny Woodhead. This is a brand new team. We've turned over the past catchers. We've got Michael Crabtree, John Brown, Willie Sneed, all brand new. We've drafted Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews at the tight-in position. We've drafted another quarterback in the first round. Lamar Jackson with the 32nd pick of the first round, and suddenly the train is rolling for Joe Flacco and how great camp is.

You know, what is this team really off of you last year, 189 yards per game? That's what they threw for. That's what Joe Flacco could produce. It's not ideal for fantasy football. I mean, distribute that however you want, and you're not going to be happy with a single option on this team. Where do you find value in Baltimore? Alex Collins. Yeah. I am, look.

I will completely recognize the risks, right? He was not the guy they wanted to be the starter. The risk is built already into his draft. Exactly right, Mike. The risk is why he's being drafted where he's being drafted. So if that's already built in, the upside is not built in there. The upside is that he's the legitimate starter for 16 games, a guy who was...

Great last season. You know, his yards per carry were outstanding, and his strength of schedule is easier this season than it was last season against the run. Plus, the biggest worry, the biggest threat to Alex Collins is Kenneth Dixon, who has been struggling with a hamstring issue. And we talked about this, you know, we talk about this all the time, but a hamstring issue specifically is one of the things that has a tendency to keep.

creeping back up as the season goes along. So I think Alex Collins is a great value. If I can draft him at his current average draft price, I'm taking him every time. Well, let's put that to the test, okay? Because I know he's right at the end of the third round, beginning of the fourth round, depending on your league format. It's 401 in PPR leagues right now. I think he's a couple picks higher.

in standard leagues. But let's put that to the test to see if that value is baked in. Okay. Are you taking Alex Collins ahead of, and these are the players, five players going behind him currently. Okay. Jay Jai, would you rather be Alex Collins or Jai? I would rather have Alex Collins. I would rather go with your boy. I love Kenyon Drake or Alex Collins. And 100% would rather have Alex Collins. Collins.

And then what about Rashad Penny, rookie running back for the Seattle, Seahawks? Another one of my favorites, but he's got more risk plummeting, by the way. As it should. No, I would take Alex Collins over all of those players. I would take Collins over Penny. So, I mean, I really do believe you've got a team that historically the Ravens, you know, in the Harbaugh era, their running backs as a team always produce. I mean, they've got, I mean, Justin Forsett.

came in and was great. Their running backs are valuable if you could pick the right guy. And I think it's Alex Collins. Here's the last thing I'll say for Alex Collins is last year, 15 games, because this was another late addition to Baltimore. But in 15 games, he had 973 rushing yards. And so if he plays 16 games, he's easily, easily a thousand yard rusher last year. And you can get him in the fourth round. Lamar Miller's going behind him.

Is Lamar Miller a thousand-yard rusher? Based on the way I feel like the volume's looking. I mean, to be a thousand-yard rusher is not very difficult. What is it? 60 yards a game? Sure, but you have to keep in mind as well. Like eight last year? You have to keep in mind as well. It was week five before Alex Collins started to get double-digit carries. Right. Okay. No, I'm not really trying to make a point against him. I love him.

I think Alex Collins is a great value, and I think they want to run the ball, and I think they're going to have to run the ball. They were 11th in yards per game on the ground last season despite the turnover at the running back position, and because of Alex Collins. They just don't have the money invested in him that guarantees his role the same way they didn't with Terrence West, because we were talking about Terrence West last off season as a value. And the other risk is Kenneth Dixon. Jason brought up, though, he's struggling with injuries, but Kenneth Dixon is good enough to push Alex Collins for the starting job.