The Overreaction Episode + High Class Canned Food - Fantasy Football Podcast

where I am on David Johnson is I don't think he has any more elite years ahead you know maybe if he gets in the top 12 I think he's going to be back end and I don't think the receiving work will be there with Todd Gurley David Johnson who do you think has a better year last year because I think we all agree the elite years of of Gurley performance are probably gone but the situation you guys talked about him being a back in guy who would you rather have I would rather have Gurley man I think I'll take DJ

I think I'll take David Johnson. What's interesting... That's a tough one, though. It's very tough. It is a very tough one. And what's tough for David Johnson is where he can really get it done and really help this offense is being a pass catcher. We haven't seen Deshaun Watson with the tendencies to check it down. But he's always had DeAndre Hopkins. He's had a guy who if there are two people on DeAndre Hopkins back, like he is giving them a piggyback.

DeAndre Hopkins is still open. You can still throw him the ball. He plays for the Cardinals now in case you were curious. Yeah, we're pretty happy about that. Thanks, Bob. But what's interesting is we've talked about this, we've referenced it, but our editor-in-chief, the Borgogan,

When he went and he was looking at vacated targets, he found that there was an uptick in usage of passing to the running back. And in a great friend of the show, JJ Zach Riesin, has been talking about vacated targets of, we need to look at targets as a skill statistic. Like a wide receiver has to get open to earn a target.

I mean, regardless of if they catch it. And you can't just say, okay, well, now all these targets go to Will Fuller because he, of course, he will get open. It's like maybe people aren't getting open. And now that those tendencies that we've seen from Deshaun Watson does not throw to the running back. Now, listen, he has to because people aren't getting open like he was when he had the elite DeAndre Hopkins. So it's that that's a one like I can't, that that's a time will tell situation. But it's a.

I do see the scenario where all of a sudden David Johnson is back in that 50 reception area where you simply couldn't project it at the beginning of the year. All right. Is it Jason's opportunity? I am. This one to me is easy. And really, this is almost pump of the brakes on myself because I had this thought initially. Like, oh no, what happens to Mike Evans now?

James Winston is gone. All those picks and having to come back and throw deep and also having no fear to just say.

go long and throw the ball over and over deep down the field to Mike Evans. Now Tom Brady comes in. He no longer has a deep ball. He's not throwing it down the field. It's Chris Godwin in the Julian Edelman role. Yada, yada, yada. All this news makes people, I've seen it on Twitter. Can I jump in and say I'm one of those people that I was asked the dynasty question whether Melvin Gordon and the 107 was better than Mike Evans?

And the first thing I thought of was trying to process Mike Evans with Brady and what that means. So I'm excited to hear the remainder of this. You're who I'm talking to. Thank you, sir. Yeah, and only you. Everyone else. Tell me what you're talking to both of us right now. Oh, is Mike still here? Yourself. Hey, everybody. Look, James Winston, yes, he was a gunslinger. Yes, he throws the ball down the field and needs to because he gets in deficits.

he's not as good as Tom Brady. Just a fact. He's not as accurate as Tom Brady. He doesn't read a defense as well as Tom Brady. He doesn't exploit defenses and take advantage of situations. He's not going to be as good in the red zone as Tom Brady. Certainly not as handsome. I'm sorry, James. He's definitely, I mean, look, Tom Brady, if he's looking that good in his 40s, I want to be, I want to be like, man. Oh, yeah. Let's eat some veggies.

Mike Evans from a can is a great, oh, always from a can. I wanted to post a poll of canned vegetables versus frozen vegetables because to me, I like, I see, frozen vegetables are disgusting. They end up turning out awful every single time. Give me canned, you know, and I'm talking, you know, green beans and corn and all the normal like canned vegetables. That's so much better than the medley frozen crap.

I've always gone no vegetables, but I do not a good time. That is better. But my point is this. Mike Evans didn't lose a step. Mike Evans didn't become a worst wide receiver. He's 26 years old. Oh, Mike Evans is incredible. He's never had a season without a thousand receiving yards. And we're acting like him going to Tom Brady is going to destroy him. Stop.

it. He's got a better quarterback. The Vegas, you know, over under right now on his touchdowns is 30. Divide 30 touchdowns up and you're going to be just fine. Mike Evans over, you know, his career, including his sophomore year where you had three touchdowns as a 16-game pace of nine touchdowns a year. And I think Tom Brady is going to be able to use a great wide receiver in really solid ways. So, you know, I'm going to take advantage of buying the Mike Evans dip.

Because I'm buying a dip of Mike Evans because he got Tom Brady as his quarterback. I think people wanted a reason or an argument or an opportunity to just make a decision between the Godwin Evans. And this gave them the opportunity to definitively say, I'd rather have Chris Godwin. And I would too. I would rather have Chris Godwin than Mike Evans. But.

The point is those aren't mutually exclusive. You know what I mean? Like last year on a points per game basis, everyone knows Chris Godwin was unbelievable last year. On a points per game basis, last year, Mike Evans was the wide receiver number three. So like, it's not, it's not a Mike Evans is the clear two. It's a one A and one a situation. If I have to draft one of them, I'm going to take Godwin ahead, but I'm drafting both of these guys early. And I believe.

You know, in that system. And a lot of times people will look to the total targets last year. I think it was like 118. And you forget that Mike Evans basically didn't play his last game and then missed three games. He was on 155 target pace. And yeah, that was with James. So the target number total will as a team come down. But the target quality will go up. And that was still with Chris Godwin having broken out and with Arians running the show. So, you know, the Mike Evans.

dropping like a tank dropping like a tank dropping yeah that's a very common look yeah if you might have it's dropping like a plane it is going to drop you don't yes mike evans dropping like a tank is a narrative i'm not getting dropped it like a tank drop it like a tank now that's dropping it like an a j brown was that right oh yeah very nice all right mike you're up all right so my last one is i am not going to overreact to the steelers

dreadful year. It was a terrible year for Pittsburgh's. The Pittsburgh offense, it was rough. They were 27th in points, 30th in offensive yards. But the previous five years, so five years straight when Big Ben was the quarterback for Pittsburgh, they were top 10 in points, top seven in yards. And in those five years, they were top four.

Four out of the five. So, I mean, like, they're putting up yards, and yes, I get it. Antonio Brown was a huge reason for a lot of those yards, and he's gone. But I believe in Big Ben in this offensive system for Mike Tomlin. And the reason why I'm bringing this up, and just, again, to highlight how bad they were, of quarterbacks with 100 plus attempts, Mason Rudolph, ranked 34th in passer rating, and Duck Hodges was 40th. Their quarterbacks sucked. But here's what's happening.

Here, right now, current best ball ADP. James Connor is being drafted as the running back 24. Two years ago, he was the running back six. And if you're thinking about, well, are they going to replace him in the draft? Pittsburgh doesn't have a first round pick. It's much harder to spend a day two pick on a running back, which is not a position of need when you do not have a first round pick. Juju Smith Schuster, who was the wide receiver 9 two years ago.

and the wide receiver 16 in his rookie year is being drafted as the wide receiver 13, not even being drafted as a one. Big Ben, who the past two years when he was healthy finished as the top 10 quarterback is being drafted as the quarterback 18. People are completely dismissing this offense because of what happened last year. And yes, I completely admit this is a bet that I'm making that Big Ben is still going to be able to play football and play at a higher level.

I think he will be able to do that. That's my biggest question is whether Big Ben goes the, you know, the Cam Newton roll or direction after injury or whether we have old Big Ben back. He certainly has a strong beard game. So I understand the respect. And it, look, the beard game, I mean, it's, it's big. But, I mean, that is the game. It is big. It is not good. It is, I mean, it is, it is downright. It looks like that has to be unhygienic.

It can't be good for him to support that nest. It looks awful. Well, it's part of his neck weight training. It's actually very important for getting back. It's a very heavy beard. Yeah. But I just, I really believe that the, that come, these are best ball. So let's see what happens with when the regular ADP hits. But I think that the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking like draft day values right now.

I feel like I am in a position, and I'll ask you, Jason, to weigh in. But I don't, I'm not going to react at all. I think I'm just, like, I'm not looking for value in Pittsburgh, but I'm also not, I acknowledge the fact that, look, I might not have loved juju the way other people did last year, but it doesn't, I mean, he lost Big Ben. There's no, there's no evidence of what the offense could have been and what it couldn't have been. So, and then you have the injuries with Connor. So for me, I'm almost just on the sidelines for this one. Where do you?

Way in, Jay. Yeah, 2019 is a deleted season. I don't weigh in what we saw there from a production standpoint from any player across the board. Obviously, you've got to take what you saw in, you know, rookies like Deontay Johnson, showed flashes because that's the only NFL action that you can see. But that doesn't exist to me. The only thing that does factor in is now higher risk. So when I'm looking at putting these guys out there, I'm going to stat them out there.

probably like they're going to be the Steelers that they've always been. I mean, Big Ben's 38, but we've got a lot of quarterbacks now. You know, you look at Breeze, you look at Brady, who are playing into their early 40s and still playing well. Now, Big Ben's coming off an injury. So that makes it more difficult. So I'm going to stat them out like they're going to be the same old Steelers.

But I'm going to have a much higher risk rating, which will mean when you're at a draft, if they're not at good value, then I'm going to probably tie break somewhere else. The thing I think Mike is highlighting is looks like they might be at good value. I mean, if Big Ben is quarterback 18, so what if he gets injured or isn't good? The upside there of him being, you know, the same old Big Ben.

it comes for free. I mean, you could pick him up after the draft if he's the 18th quarterback in a lot of leagues. Well, the hard thing with Big Ben is that you get to now see the outcome of no Antonio Brown for real. I mean, we didn't. This was the story of all last offseason was we were saying, okay, can he be? Because he was always a quarterback that you'd have a couple good years, but you also had some years where, you know, he wasn't a top tier fantasy option. So that question is still on the table.

You just have an extra year and an extra injury compounding the answer to me. What's insane to me is, what did you say, Mike? They were 27th in points, 30th in yards, and they were a hair away from making the playoffs. I still think Tomlin is a great coach, and that's part of why the defense turned into an elite one there at the end. Which is crazy because the first four weeks, they were just about the worst defense in the league. And they're like, okay, well, we're not going to win with offense. We're going to have to change things around. I just think he's a good coach.

Yeah, they also traded for an outstanding defensive back. So, okay, I will be very curious to see what big, it's better for the NFL that he is back and that the Steelers have him. And then we get to, you know, at least see Juju and Connor and this offense come to fruition in some fashion. And you're right. I think a lot of people are going to be like me, stand on the sidelines, and that will drive that ADP down because of the uncertainty. So I want to thank.