Fantasy Football - NFC East Breakdown + Training Camp Begins! - Podcast for 7/22

in week three like that was one of their big games when jaden daniels kind of uh center staged it and they were eight and four and one score games they're middle of the pack and schedule difficulty this year 14th hardest um you know i think this team is really really interesting to talk about in general because you know we all love jaden daniels and i actually think like i think jaden daniels is appropriately priced in fantasy despite the fact he is being drafted higher than any other sophomore quarterback in history. But if you look at the names, if you want to talk about what's happened with these rookie quarterbacks that have had breakout campaigns and then you go into that sophomore season, our most recent history is frustration with C.J. Stroud. But you go back years before and if you don't, you know, if you're not looking at like injuries, Kyla Murray jumped from number five to number two, Herbert from seven to two, Lamar Jackson from 11 to 1, Jalen Hertz from 12 to 9. Like it was a

better than where you drafted them outcome for the guys that you truly believe to be special difference makers who ran the football. Those guys could run. And so to me, I don't have any problem with him priced as the QB3 at 305 because he's one of the few that could be number one. Yeah, to me, that whole group that I just mentioned with Jalen Hertz, I could take him in any order. So. You know, Burrow is interesting because he's not a mobile rushing quarterback. You know, last year, Jane Daniels had a very special year on an extremely easy schedule. And so he finished as the quarterback five. So now you're expecting, when you're drafting him as the third, you are expecting him to go north. But I think the best comp there, and this was a comp we talked about going into rookie year, is Kyler Murray. He's playing with the same head coach or the offensive coach that Kyler had.

in his rookie season and his sophomore season. So a jump up, totally not going to be surprising. I will point out, while the regular season schedule was easy, they did win two road playoff games. They beat Tampa where Jay Daniels was 268 and 2, 36 yards on the ground. They beat Detroit on the road, 299 and 2, 51 yards on the ground. Kind of got, I mean... The final score of the Philadelphia game turned into a shalacking. But Jaden was like, I think he really is the truth. And I want to point out something I've mentioned probably a couple months ago. From the midpoint of the season, this passing offense, Jaden Daniels passing numbers, he was on pace for 4,000 passing yards and 36 passing touchdowns. So.

And it makes sense that it would have come along a little slower on that front when he has the tools that he has in the running game. He's just a very, very capable. You know, he was the number one overall quarterback on a week they played Philadelphia in that defense that we just talked about. That's the argument for why you would take him over Jalen Hertz, even over Josh Allen. Like these guys, you know what Jalen Hertz is. Jalen Hertz is going to be a top five quarterback unless he's injured. He's going to be very consistent. But he's not going to go out there and absolutely be the one where at the end of the year, you go, oh, I had, that was the, I had the 2025 Jalen Hertz. So obviously I was one of the people that just won the championship. Like a couple of years ago when Christian McCaffrey was in 50% of all, you know, Lamar Jackson can do that. And that's what you're hoping here with, with Jaden Daniels is that you just haven't even seen his true upside. So if you're taking an early quarterback, I think that's where you're, that's why you're saying.

You don't have any problem with taking him as the quarterback three because there is a chance that he is a runaway quarterback one, you know, ahead of everyone. Unless Terry McLaren doesn't play. If Terry McLaren is removed from the equation, which right now, look, I expect them to figure that up. They really do that. They can't afford not to. This is not the Snyder commanders anymore. This is a different organization. I can't imagine. the momentum that they have that they don't get Terry McLaren, a leader in the locker room on the field. But it's not right now, and at some point you will worry about it. I'm not worried about it on July 22nd, but eventually I will be. Yeah. And that's a variable in place for Jaden Daniels that isn't there for somebody else. But, you know, they added Debo to the offense. I mean, that was the big offseason offensive addition.

So if you do have McLauran back and you add Debo and you still brought back Ertz and you have, go ahead, the senator, Ben's Senate at tight end, available if needed. And you've got really talented pass catching running back in Austin Echler and capable running back Brian Robinson. I thought you were pointing at me for Echler. Would you like me to? Well, I just, the, thank you for, thank you for pointing. Yes. So it's now my turn to talk. It's the. There are certain teams you attack who are not having their running backs drafted in the top 24. These are the real ambiguous. They're often unsexy picks. But this is a team that's going to score so, so many points. I mean, where were they in? There were sixth in points per game last year. Fifth in yards. And they only passed the ball. They did not pass it over the course of the season very much. They were like the fifth lowest. And you have, so you have Brian Robinson, Jr.

going in, like, outside of the top 30 running backs, and he had 42 carries inside the 20. You have Austin Echler who, again, he's old. He's 30 years old for a running back that is very old. However, among running backs with 100 or more touches, he led all of them in yards per touch. Like, he still had some juice, especially in the receiving game. So this, I want, if I have multiple leagues, I'm taking. multiple chances on this backfield. Some teams I'll take Robinson and the other ones I'll wait on Echler. I think if I only am taking one, I think Echler's the guy I want to take the chance on just in case of the defense is a little bit worse and this offense has to put up points and they're going to get Echler on the field, but both of them are worthy picks at their ADP. With the exception of I would prefer to have the 26-year-old

You know, touchdown. I would rather have Brian Robinson than over Echler. That being said, I completely echo everything you're saying. Like, everybody should be taking one of these. You Echler. No, it was popping into my head. I just let it go. You should be taking one of these guys in, you know, they don't cost you much. Yeah. And every year you want to talk. Their price wouldn't be this price if they didn't, they weren't both on this team either. It's like a combination of, you know, feeling a little bit like it's. a couple of unsexy players, but they're on a really talented offense. I mean, Brian Roberts have finished as the running back 29 last year, missed a handful of games. He's being drafted outside of that. Yeah, yeah. 42 carries inside the 20, same as Chuba Hubbard. And seven touchdowns inside the 10, same as Jonathan Taylor. And remember, Cliff Kingsbury knows one play when you get down at that goal on it's like run up the middle. That's not going to be Austin Echler. That's going to be Brian Robbins. Like Echler's game log, I mean, it seems like,

It seemed like things were really starting to get moving, and then he missed an entire month there towards the end of the year. Which, that's a danger of him being a 30-year-old running back. But both of those guys are fascinating at ADP. 7-4-5-4. Those are numbers. Those are the touchdown numbers of Terry McLaurin before last season. 13 was what he put up with Jaden Daniels. Do we... We need more volume, though. Do we... worry. I mean, we brought it up, but this is your team overview. McLaren's one of the most obvious regression candidates when it comes to total touchdowns. So if he doesn't get more volume, if he's there and he doesn't get more volume, 13's a tough number to match, especially just his, you know, adding Devo to the offense and everything. So McLaren is one of 10 wide receivers since 2000 with 13 or more receiving touchdowns with fewer than 125 targets. That's what we're talking about. We need more volume.

the list of guys that you have the next season data on, there's one year where Mike Evans improved in touchdowns the next year. Everybody else lost touchdowns and a lot of them like a catastrophic amount of touchdowns. If you had to lock Debo or Echler into your flex for the season in this offense, would you lock in eighth round pick Debo Samuel? I would go with Echler. Debo is so difficult. uh having like watching him last year was difficult so that's where i'm i'm concerned of is debo are we done like career lows in yards up can can he get back to anything that he was because he was he was a special player because of his yards after catch and like he wasn't out there just you know the tactician roasting people making defenders fall over he's just like you can't tackle me because i'm debo but if we if

That superpower is gone, which the 49ers at least. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the 49ers were like, he's not worth it. Yeah. And he kind of got phased out of the offense too. When those big bodied, you know, hulking wide receivers who are dominant and great when they hit that wall, you know, Andre Johnson was the best wide receiver in football. Yeah. And then the next year is like, oh, he lost a step. And he's not good anymore. Anquan didn't. Anquan Bolden forever. Oh, Anquan Bolden. I mean, that is the comp for Debo. There's a real man. So where do you stand on that? Would you rather... Debo just doesn't feel like a wide receiver that will be on any of my teams in any situation. I just don't see the upside. They don't pass it enough. I was going to say the volume. The volume's not going to be there for him. And honestly, I feel like Terry McLorn's not going to be on a lot of my teams simply because...

You know, the touchdown stuff. Good Lord, the game log for Debo is so much worse than I remember. Oh, a lot of red. Uh, how about this? Okay, so after their by week, week nine, week 10, 10 fantasy points. That's pretty good. That's okay. Four, two and a half, two, four and a half, three and a half. Huge game against Miami. And these are like, he's playing in all of these games. It, oh, man. No, I'm with you, Andy. I don't, you know what? I just don't unless you're in a league. Why wouldn't I want to take something with higher upside in the eighth round? If your if your league is just like we're we're not really interested in Debo and he's dropping to one of the into a double digit round. Okay, I'll take a chance, but I what's funny about Terry McLaur and he was an A inconsistency, but it was he was so freaking lucky last year. Like the touchdowns.

We know that that was a large percentage of his fantasy points, but they just happened to come in the weirdest ways. Like he would have a game with 125 yards, no touchdowns. So it was a good fantasy game. Then he'd have a game with 19 yards, two touchdowns. Like all of his touchdowns came in these like small yardage game. So he looks really consistent. But actually, if you look at like the volume and the yardage, just yardage, he was not very consistent. So I worry about both of these guys where they're being drafted despite liking the offense. Yeah, it sucks because it always feels when you're in the draft. It feels disrespectful to Terry McLaurin for what he did. Yeah. But this is, this is fantasy realities versus NFL realities. Like this team is not going to succeed without him. But for fantasy purposes, it's really hard. But your fantasy team can.

Yeah, your fancy team can. So Dallas was 7 and 10. It was a hugely disappointing season overall. They were projected to win 10 games. They won 7. They had the worst point differential by a Cowboys team since 1989. And yeah, their deck. That's a while. Their deck was gone. Oh, no, boy. That's going to hurt. I mean, Boston. Two years ago, when we were doing this show last year, I mean, you talked about it with the Eagles at the top of this segment, but it was anybody's division. The Eagles and the Cowboys were seen as just a coin flip. And I feel like we are not giving the Cowboys enough credit simply because we saw how bad they were without their quarterback last year. Without looking, do you know their win totals? I'd love to know if you could just guess them.

I would guess. For 2025 Dallas win total. Nine and a half would be my guess. I'll go eight and a half. Yeah, you're both wrong. Ooh, are we too low? Too high? You're too high. What? Unless this has been changed, it's seven and a half is what I have. Kyle, is that right? Seven and a half. Seven and a half. They won seven games last year. This is a, as a starter, a full-time starter, DAC was three and four last year. And this is a team that, I mean, look, you look at the off-season additions. They don't impress you. George Pickens, yeah, okay, cool. When I like, they needed him. Then you added Giovante Williams and Miles Sanders. Okay, all right, well, neat. But that makes, for fantasy, that makes me love these wide receivers. If I'm Vegas and I'm looking at this, and I want to justify seven and a half and why I got there, it's, you got a new head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, never been a head coach. You've got Dak who is frequently injured, right? It's happened. You've got a defense that regressed massively. I mean, just, they were terrible. They were one of the worst in the league.

You lost Zach Martin. And you lost Zach Martin. And now you have a division that suddenly, hello, Jaden Daniels, future what, perennial MVP candidate, potentially? Washington the 112 games? Like, you got to face Philly twice in Washington twice in this division? Like, it's just, I can see it. I understand it. We got Jerry Jones. taking pot shots at Micah Parsons. Well, Derek Jones is very old, Mike. I know, but this very, very. But I have to bring it up because it was so incredible of they're talking about re-signing him. And he's like, well, even if we sign him, I don't know if we're going to have him. Because of the indict the injuries. Yeah, because he got hurt. And then we got, hold on. Then we got a JJ Watt tweet. Oh, yeah. Who said, just JJ Watt.

Anytime you can publicly take a dig at your star quarterback and your star pass rush or simultaneously right before the season begins, you got to take it. Nothing makes guys want to fight for you more than hearing how upset you are that they got hurt while fighting for you. That got retweeted by somebody. Yeah, that was the story. That got retweeted by Micah Parsons. Oh, man. I think Parsons will get his contract, but it's just, it's every single year. Every year we do this with Jerry Jones and timing things. I do not like Dallas with DAC better than Washington. I do not like Dallas with Dak better than Philadelphia. And then you're like, what is the third place team in this division finish with? And it's not that Dallas can't bounce back, but sometimes ships have sailed with the situation that you're in. They're not going to compete with a defense that is 30 first and points per game allowed in 28th in total yards, nor should they have that same defense. I would agree completely.

from an NFL standpoint. Yeah, but from a fantasy football standpoint. Oh, it's great with that. This is awesome. This is what you want. You want a bad defense. I'm so glad that the Cowboys defense isn't this juggernaut it used to be. And I love that, you know, it's like you, we could have enjoyed the fantasy goodness of the running game. I don't, I don't, I still bypass like every ADP time I'm looking at Giovante Williams. I'm like, Nah, and you really, we should be taking shots on him. Yes. Because right now the other guys there, the backups, the rookies, they're not getting any mention. So I think Javante is going to do what he did last year, which is get a ton of work as the lead for his team, but probably not be that great. But the nice thing is that means that DAC is going to have to throw the ball a ton. CD Lamb should be back to being in the running for wide receiver one this year. And George.

I think there's a chance George is one of the best picks in fantasy this year. I do, too. I just feel like the Dallas Cowboys compared to other teams are much more of a house of cards. That, you know, we've had times we've talked about Matthew Stafford with the Rams, how much hinges on his health. You have an offensive line that's 23rd going into the season, ranked 23. By the way, that's up from where they finished, which is 25. And no running game. So no running game. no offensive line, and DAC's supposed to be your savior. I'm not sure the team doesn't want to move on from DAC. Like this could fall apart quick is what I'm saying. This could, you got a, you got a lame, a potential like one and done head coach. Like Dallas, this could be one of the most disappointing situations in fantasy from a amount of resources that you actually have to lean on.

For fantasy? Yes, for fantasy. Yeah, because if you, look, it's great to think, like, Dax's success came on the back of a good offensive line and a good defense, like being able to compete. Like, I know that, like, is that going to be the Mount Ryan? Like, the, like, how is the offense going to give the ball to the running game? if they're trailing, and how is he going to have success without an offensive line on a consistent basis? I don't think necessarily that the Cowboys are going to have success from a wins and loss standpoint. Well, no, but the offensive line matters to Dak's staying healthy. Obviously, okay, if Dak goes down, C.D. Lamb's not going to be the wide receiver one. But Dak went down last year, and Cedlam, I don't have in front of me. What was he like the wide receiver eight? He was still a very good year. He was still fantastic. So I'm just not worried about a guy who's going to get 170 targets.

And let's just say that I was worried about C.D. Lamb, I was saying that I think you're going to be disappointed. You can be disappointed with everybody else on the entire team. Dak, George, running game, defense. I'm varying on DAC and the two wide outs. And Andy, just to bring it up of the, because you know how Jerry Jones, so good at doing contracts, they're not getting rid of DAC any time soon. unless they want to carry $130 million dead cap, a $56 million dead cap. If you go to 2028, don't worry. We're down to 32 like this. They're stuck here because of how they treated his contract. Obviously, an injury means they move on. But right now he's, you know, he's not injured. So I like for fantasy the receiving game.

I really do. And personally, I like Dak because I do think that the other teams in this division are going to score a lot of points. What's the opening schedule? I mean, Philly is week one and then who do we got? In Philly, then the Giants, then at Chicago, then Green Bay. I mean, it's, I mean, that's okay. I do not think Dallas is going to have a good year. Whatever that means for fantasy is up for interpretation. But I don't think that DAC's success is going to translate to them having a lot of success on the field because they don't have the pieces.

Ferguson was somebody people were looking forward to. The tight-in situation's a question mark. He was number one in red zone targets. Dad got hurt. Maybe he can bounce back. I think Ferguson should bounce back. He's going in the 10th, not even a top 12 drafted tight-in. Last year was pretty disastrous. But I mean, over the first month, you had a, he got, Ferguson got hurt week one. And then he came back. He was tied in three, nine, ten. And then the team kind of is loaded. He's as mad as it gets. And I think the fact that there's a legit wide receiver two now will take some away from. It could. We did see a lot of DAC last year, right? Yeah, we saw seven games. So we saw seven games. He was good for fantasy and three. Was that fair? Yep. And then CD in that stretch was okay, but not amazing.

I mean, I really think the holdout for Zidi Lamb affected stuff. And for him being his talk to you. Look, I'm, I'm just trying to illuminate the other side. I don't. Sure. Everything that has, let me be clear, when DAC has been healthy and CED has been healthy, those two have combined for great fantasy numbers. That should still happen because Citi gets it done with every quarterback. Yeah. And remember two years ago, in the first seven games for Dak, he only had two good games. and then finishes the quarterback three on the season because he was magma you mean when i won the title yeah with with him and now you're just now you hate it just feels no loyalty yeah it turns your back on it feels a little bit like the cowboys are trying to honorless man they're trying to run the same thing out there and hope it works this time but while not paying certain people oh yeah yeah their their team has not gotten a thousand yard rusher go their team has not gotten better over the last three seasons

The win total, the win total was surprising to me. All right, let's, uh, we talked about how they start the season. Mm-hmm. Um, what do you think they start the season at? I think one and three. Oh, record wise? One and three. Give me, give me the games. I'm gonna go two and two. In Philly. Yeah. Home against the Giants. Okay. In Chicago and then against Green Bay at home. I'll go two and two. They start on one. Go two and two. All right. Here we go. One more break. And we're talking about the amazing New York football giants. Well, they went 3 and 14. Things are going really backwards for Brian Table in New York, 9 and 7 in his first year, then 6 and 11, now 3 and 14. Can they get to a winless season? I'm not sure. They lost their last 10 games. Can they get to a winless? Yeah, that's the, well, you go from 9 to 6 to 3. Oh, okay. That's fair. I see what you're doing. I mean, they could do it. If these trends continue. Technically, maybe they go 0.16 and 1. Maybe they could get a tie in there.

They lost their last 10 games. They traded Daniel Jones away. Drew Locke started five games for them. Tommy DeVito started two. Tim Boyle started or appeared in three different games. Oh man. Those DeVito games, electric. They were pretty much the worst offensive team in football. 15 total passing touchdowns on the year. There was one worse, man. There was one worse team. Yeah. Points per game anyways. By the way, that was 15 passing touchdowns on the year for the second year in a row. So it's okay. They fixed it. It's a Russell Wilson led, eventually Jackson Dart led offense going into this season. Unlimited diarrhea. With an incredibly difficult schedule, by the way.

the worst that's what the hardest schedule in football that's just mean that is man including including six games against the division mates we just talked about yeah that's fair um so nobody's probably on the hot seat more than brian dable now if they win the game of jackson dart that draft pick they'll have a future they are currently favored in one game one game against who New Orleans in New Orleans by one and a half. How does that feel? In week five. How's that feel New Orleans? Saints fans are like, oh, at least they're not going to hit on my team this episode. Just catching some streets. Oh, man. I'm so sorry. Yeah, they don't have their buy week until week 14 either. So it could be, look, it's tough because we all love Malik neighbors, the talent, the ability, the fact that he made so much out of so little last year. But man, it looks rough.

It really does. It looks rough in New York. Their defense was bottom third. Their offense was one of the worst in the league. I do like Brian Dable. I do think he's a good coach, but I think I've thought that about a handful of Giants coaches over the years that just it wears on you. You know how the president looks different? Yeah. From when they start the presidency until you see Obama after his presidency and he looks about 30 years older. Uh-huh. That's about Brian Dable, man. He's putting the weight back on. Oh, is he getting? He was doing so good. I think, I mean, he won more games with more weight. Yeah, but I think he was, he wasn't on a diet. That was pure stress. He's been shaving wins right off of his off the scale. Yeah, I mean, really from a fantasy standpoint, we're all excited about Malik neighbors. You know he's going to get the ball, you know, 30% of every pass is going to go to Malik neighbors. That's outstanding. When you get the ball.

in the hands of a player as talented as him, great things happen. Breakaway touchdowns, fantasy-wise, he's going to be great. Everyone else, like, I love Cam Scadaboo. I know Mike, you do too. I believe he can succeed in the NFL. But can he succeed in the NFL in a committee on a team that is going to maybe be the worst team in the NFL? Probably not. The odds are very against. That's not a good situation. And he also, I mean, Tyrone Tracy had, I mean, he was another day three running back, but he had himself a decent year, a decent enough year that I would think Scadaboo has to overtake him. If you look back at the teams with the worst record and what their running back fantasy points rank was among the rest of the league, last year there were three teams tied with the worst record. They were 32nd, 29th, and 25th.

in total fantasy points to the running back. The year before, 30th. The year before, 31st, 31st, 25th, 29th, 29th. Math doesn't math for a good player. No, you're not, you're not going to have a lot of fantasy value in this backfield this season. What is then asked the question of, is there, with, you have, there is hope. There is a, at least, I don't know if it's real hope or just manufactured, you have a first round quarterback that will take over. sooner than later. Is there any chance that Jackson Dart comes in, and this team is not the, like, not 32nd in scoring? All of a sudden, you're like, hey, they're, you know, they're low 20s of scoring. Andy? Is there any chance? No. Okay. No, honestly, if I was New York, I would not put him on the field this year. I agree completely. I would not put him on the field. Brian Dable is going to have no choice.