NFC West Breakdown + Cam Akers Injury, Football is Coming! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/22

Top 47 is a problem. Absolutely. Tyler Lockett, both of these guys really weren't good for you the second half of the year. And if I have to say and make a bet like who's going to become the go-to guys, clearly Metcalf. But I would rather take a shot in the sixth round on Tyler Lockett. Is Gerald Everett sneaky at the tight-in position? Certainly. He's a wonderfully sneaky.

streaming option. I don't think he's going to be able to be with this run first. This run first team that has a clear one and two receiving option. I don't think he's going to be a weekly locked in guy. They do use multiple tight ends. They've done it for years. I think Will Disney may exist right now just to disrupt anybody else from being too relevant at the spot for Seattle. The Greg Olson hopes of last year did not come to fruition.

But Everett at least has some youth and some juice. Here's what's interesting about Gerald Everett because people are out there. They're excited for Irv Smith from the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, I have noticed that. It's funny that you have very similar situations here, right? You have a coaching staff that would prefer to be the run first team. You have a team that has a clear one and two.

in wide receivers so they can't possibly jump up to be the second option in the passing game. But I would bet if you had to say which quarterback is going to throw 40 plus touchdowns, everybody's going to put the money onto Russell Wilson. So the difference in scenario is not that different to me for those players. On top of that, the new OC, it was the former passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams and Gerald Everett.

has that athletic profile that you go after for a late round tight end. Gerald Everett's a 91st percentile athlete, where Irv Smith is a 28 percentile athlete. Yeah, I mean, I think there's some fatigue with Everett. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. And that's where you find value in fantasy is oftentimes with veterans who you're fatigued on. Yes, because you let somebody else do the running and carrying Gerald Everett for all those years where he wants a producing. You get tired and fall over. You're like, okay.

I'll take Gerald Everett on my team, please. It's hard because the narrative with Everett has always been. He was the first real pick of Sean McVeigh, and he's an offensive mastermind. So what's going to happen in another place where he said, I don't want you anymore? We go from golf to Russell Wilson. I think that's the hope. That's a bit of an upgrade. My point was simply late round tied in.

athleticism and betting on a high touchdown total for that team. And maybe the variance hits and Gerald Everett ends up with eight or nine receiving touchdowns. We need to move forward. We need to move on to the Rams. They were 10 and 6 last year. They were four and four and one score games, the golf effect, as we'll call it. And they bring in Matthew Stafford to headline this offense. The final three plays of Jared Goff's career in Los Angeles was an incomplete pass, a three-yard.

negative three-yard completion and then another incompletion and then a sack. And that was the end of the ball game. And Sean McVeigh said, that is the end of your tenure here. We cannot go further without a different quarterback. And that's, you know, 22nd points per game last year. That is not a Sean McVeigh stat that they're proud of. Efficiency in the red zone was an issue. So Sean McVeigh wants a balanced attack, but this offense did look a little bit nicer with Cam Acres in the backfield. I think we all agree that Acres is a...

better, more talented runner than Darrell Henderson is. And losing that is going to hurt. Sure. Yeah, for sure. I do think where it helps is on the passing game. I believe that they, Sean McVeigh will use the talent that he has on the roster. The fact that they traded a ton to go get Matthew Stafford. And now they lost their.

primary guy in Cam Acres. I think they're going to have to do a little bit more with the passing game. I love what that means for Tyler Higby. I love what that means for even Van Jefferson as the third wide receiver option. But I have bumped up most of these Rams receivers just a little bit post the Cam Acres injury. Yeah, I mean, one of the things that you have to remember with the Rams as excited as you can get with their offense. Like this was a 10 and 6 team that wasn't good in one score games.

but still made the playoffs and still knocked off the Seahawks. And the reason for that was they have the best defense in football, the number one in points against. So they don't necessarily have to do what other teams have to do on offense to have success. I think that they won a quarterback that's going to be more trustworthy in close games, but that doesn't mean that they're going to have to go out there and set the world on fire and be one of the top passing teams in the league.

12th and pass attempts last year, seventh and rushing attempts. So that identity was seen through the McVeigh offense on the field. Last year they added Deshaun Jackson this offseason. Malcolm Brown is gone. Goff, like I said, Josh Reynolds is gone, Everett has gone. So let's start with Stafford, and then we'll get into the passing weapons. Jason brought Matthew Stafford up on his bounceback episode.

He has had a lot of fantasy relevant games in recent years, but he hasn't had a fantasy relevant season since 2017. Is this the year that that changes, or are there so many other fantasy quarterbacks that it's just not worth the story? I think there's just so many others that Stafford is going to be an elite streaming option. Now, right now he's not being drafted as a streamer. He's up at the quarterback 11, which is higher than I have him ranked. You brought it up, Andy.

They're not going to always have to throw the ball a ton. They have the best defense in the league. So I think that's going to take the baseline down a little bit where you're not going to have week in and week out just throwing for 350 and 3 touchdowns because there's no reason to put him dropping back 50 times in a game. But with this offense, with the weapons, with Sean McVeigh, you're going to have some of those explosive games. So I see him as one of the best streaming options.

for mid-season, not so much a great draft pick, especially I believe they start the season with Chicago and the Colts to solid defenses. But the rest of the first half schedule is very nice. What do you think the win total is? Vegas has the win total for the Rams. They had, what did you say? The Seahawks were 10? Yes. I would go 11.5. Really? I'll go 10. 10.5 for the Rams.

You mentioned the passing game. You mentioned Tyler Higby. I love Tyler Higby this year. I agree with you on that. Tyler Higby to me is... Post-type sleeper. Post-type sleeper. He is also the proven Troutman, okay? Because one of the reasons Mike loves... Yeah, but that's so boring. One of the reasons he likes Troutman is because Josh Hill and Jared Cook have departed.

Well, Tyler Higbee has had elite performances on an NFL field both last year and the year before, that amazing finish. Look, I didn't like Higby last year to be a consistent tight end because I felt like there were too many options in the offense and at the tight end position. Those have departed. Gerald Everett demanded targets in this offense in Higby with the connection with Matthew Stafford, somebody that can provide some value.

I just have more confidence that you're going to see consistency from Tyler Higby, and he could be very, very sneaky as a late round, tight end that you can lock into your lineup. I've said this pretty much every single mock draft we've done. If I don't get one of those main three guys, Higby's my primary target because you get him so late, he costs you nothing, and he should.

Be a solid producer at wide receiver versus getting those fifth round, sixth round, seventh round tight ends where I'm still giving up a good wide receiver in those rounds. Those guys aren't going to be any better than Higby. By the way, we didn't talk about the running backs because we talked about them at length in the news segment. So if you fast forwarded, you came to the Rams. Go back to the news. We talked all about the Cammakers injury. How dare you fast forward this show. People do what they want with podcast, Mike.

Yeah, but you don't have all sorts of control. You don't get the full experience. Listen, some people slow-mo your voice. They don't even know. They make you sound like you're drunk. They don't even know that awesome joke they missed. That's true. Most people. The bypass joke? Maybe. Go back and listen. So, but Mike, do you agree on Higby? And then what do you give me a lay of the land with Woods Cup and then Van Jefferson or Deshawn Jackson? Right. What do you think of the passing?

Weapons. I don't mind taking the shot there on Tyler Higby. You are right that he is far more proven than a player who has done absolutely nothing to the NFL. And coming into last season, I was excited for Tyler Higby. I was excited at what happened at the end of the season when Gerald Everett was out. So I have absolutely no qualms with your adoration. Your impassioned love.

for for uh for higby who also ended up higher my projections than i thought i think all three of us that was part of what started this is i was just surprised all three of us had that realization independently of we went in start doing our projections for the for the udk and it's like oh okay tyler higby i see you i see you up there currently top ten for all three of us mike has him at nine andy and i at eight if you have to draft

a Rams wide receiver. Do you prefer Robert Woods in the end of the fourth or Cooper Cup at the end of the fifth? Because you save around, and I don't know if I view these guys very different. No, it would be the value on cup. Is that same for you, Mike? This is a, yeah, probably. I mean, you had the weird touchdown regression. I mean, like it really.

hit Cooper Cup hard going from 10 receiving touchdowns in 2019 all the way down. He was watching the DJ more tape. Yeah. And he got himself four touchdowns. It really is solely about the draft cost here. If these guys were right next to each other and they were both on the clock and I had to choose one, I would probably lean towards woods. But it's so close that a round difference makes a huge, you know, imagine.

You can get, instead of Robert Woods, you can draft DJ Moore, who's going in the fourth right next to him. You could draft CD Lamb. In the fifth where you've got Cooper Cup going, you're going to be drafting Tyler Lockett is right next to. Oh, wow. Lockett or Cup? Would you rather have, right? Would you rather have Cup and DJ Moore or Lockett and Robert Woods? And I'd rather have the DJ Moore and Cooper Cup. Okay. I mean, that makes sense. It's funny because Woods is so solid.

But Cooper Cup had that start to the year, like a year and a half ago, where it looked like we were about to anoint him one of the elite fantasy whiteouts. And I can't get that out of my head saying, oh, wow, Cooper Cup is winning weeks for people. Like Robert Woods, he's along for the ride on the win most of the weeks. Like he helps you. He's a role player. But he's a role player. For your fantasy team. Cooper Cup looked like he was ready to take the leap and really went backwards on the touchdown totals. But let's move on to the Cardinals.

A spectacular eight and eight season last year. It was tough. I mean, they beat Seattle. They had the Hopkins catch against Buffalo, where they took out the bills. But then they lost gimmie games against Detroit, Carolina. They are an offense that finished statistically very high in all major categories. Total yards, points per game, pace of play, rush attempts.

And yet, you know, Bittersweet is a fan of the Cardinals, but this is fantasy football. And what's your outlook for the offense in a very tough division again? Because Vegas has them at 500, so what would that be? Eight and a half this year? It's eight and a half. There you go. In this division, you just, you can't put them. They're a good team, but you can't put them.

higher than three, and you could easily put them forth in this division. Put them four. So it's not fair. Come on. It's not. Other NFL divisions, get it together. When's the last time they shook up the divisions? You know, it's like of the whole NFL. I select the AFC self. The reality is with this offense, the number one most important thing to me is the pace of play.

They were the second fastest. You get so many more plays every single game over the course of the season. It's just fantastic for fantasy. You add a mobile quarterback and Kyler Murray who can, you know, scramble and make things happen. I think this is a team where you want to invest in offensive pieces. No, Kenyon Drake. He's gone. But they added James Connor, AJ Green, and drafted Ron Dale Moore, very electric weapon that will really help Kyler.