AFC North Breakdown + Tale of Three Seasons, Dome Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/8

For the number one running team in football, you know, number one in rush attempts, number one in rushing yards, number three in rushing touchdowns, here's a 10th round pick that could literally get 50% of the work. Yeah, I mean, when you are drafting as late as Gus Edwards, which is basically, you know, a free pick, I am fine taking that shot on Gus. But I, you know, he's just like all the Ravens running backs.

They're not throwing the ball a lot. During the stretch that J.K. Dobbins took over, which was weeks 11 on, Gus was fine. He was the running back 24. But he was the running back 24 because of volume weekend and week out where he never was horrific, but he never was great.

You know, I'm looking at his game logs from that stretch on. He's running back, you know, 26, 28, 67, 31, 23, one where he was 12, 32, 20. It's just an accumulation of enough stats. I don't think that's a guy I want on my roster. I really don't. But I don't blame anyone for taking the shot of. Bateman in the 12th, Gus in the 10th. Because, I mean, that's the way it is. I would take a ribbon. I would take Gus in the 10th then because I would rather be invested in the running game than the passing game.

10.5 is what Vegas has their win total at. They start in Las Vegas, then Kansas City, Detroit, and Denver. So when you're looking at that early season, not too shabby. Does the addition of Rashad Bateman do anything for Mark Andrews? Does it take away some of the market share? Does it hurt your feelings towards Mark Andrews? No, it doesn't. Not yet. I mean, you know, if Bateman...

makes an early, early impact. Maybe it does, but I still think that there's a mind melt between Lamar and Mark Andrews in high pressure situations that isn't going anywhere anytime soon. They just need to throw the ball to J.K. Dobbins. Oh, my goodness. If they just do that. Yeah, which they haven't shown that they will, but if they did. I mean, this offseason has been a lot of talk about it. Oh, yeah. But thankfully, for the first time, it's talk coming out of Ravens Camp as opposed to talk coming from all around.

people watching the Ravens. Everybody's always been like throw the ball of the running back, but now they're talking about... He's not going to. You don't think so? No, I do not. What do you put the odds of? Zero. Zero? No, no. 1%. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, you added two downfield weapons to this roster with Watkins and Bateman, and it's about your...

it's about what he does in the pocket and when he talks it and runs it. I don't think it's conducive to the kind of checkdown situation that we like to see. So unless you're talking about design plays to J.K. Dobbins, that is what I'm talking about. I don't see why they do that. Maybe a wheel route a game or something. Yeah, we'll work it in a little bit more. But I do agree with you. I don't expect them to pass a ton to them. There are articles up on the website, the fantasy footballers.com, a case for and case against article for J.K. Dobbins, if you want to dig deeper there.

All right. Is it time to talk about the number one team in this division yet? The Cleveland Browns? Yes, sir. Yeah, they were in 11 and 5 last season, which was the same as the Ravens. Their projected Vegas win total is the same as the Ravens going into the year, which is 10 and a half wins. But you have them dubbed as the number one in the division, huh? I do. And coming from me who has always been an anti-Browns fantasy manager, which is basically stay away.

I don't trust the franchise. I don't trust their moves. I don't trust their coaches. I don't trust anything. And it's worked out great. And you personally hate like Odell on a deep level. Sure. Guilty is charged. Look, it's worked out great. But my head is not stuck in the sand. You know, the addition of Kevin Stefanski has changed the organization top down. They're working together. Their general manager and head coach are.

gelled and the transactions they've been making and the improvement. I love what they did for their draft, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I think this is just going to be a winning.

Team. Isn't this the time that they pull the rug out from under your perceptions? Isn't that what the Browns do? That is. Isn't this a year where they were seven and three in one score games? We just made an argument against Pittsburgh in one score games. Cleveland did the same thing. Yes, that is true. The difference is this roster coming into this year has now been improved, whereas, you know, the Steelers roster has been. Ooh. Oh, man. You're looking for a word? That's the opposite of improved. Deproved. Deproved. Deproved. Unproved. I'm just kidding.

It was unproved. It has gotten worse. So, yeah, but I really think the Browns are going to be a team that wins the division. And that's crazy to say out loud. For fantasy purposes last year, 27th in pace of play, fourth and rush attempts, third in rushing yards, 28th and pass attempts, right? So this is, you know, a run first team with a very efficient Nick Chubb.

who was amazing. He's the only running back in the modern era to run for 1,000 plus yards and 9 plus rushing touchdowns in fewer than 13 games played. I mean, he's the only one. So when he's on the field, he's taking over. And I think a similar question about Baker and the passing offense should be asked that we ask of Lamar and the passing offense in Baltimore, which is you're asking Baker and the Stefansky office to fill the cup of...

Karim Hunt, Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, and Austin Hooper. Can he do it? Can those four pass catchers give you the kind of fantasy value that you would hope for? No, I don't think they can. And while I do expect them to throw the ball more than they did last year, you have to remember it's so hard. And this is why we try to take a holistic approach of each team and remember their circumstances through the season. For fantasy purposes, for stats purposes,

throwing the ball and passing yards, numbers. The weather for a handful of games in a row for Cleveland last year was truly otherworldly, where you just can't throw the ball and make completions. Now, it's worth noting they still play in Cleveland. Yeah, they haven't moved. They haven't moved in the weather there is terrible. Hey, I got an idea, Cleveland. Build a dome, okay? You have been on the dome campaign for a while. It's just for NFL teams. I mean, this whole thing, this brute pride. Every time you see a bad weather game.

It's just like, oh, we're tough. Look at us. We're fans out in the rain. And look, I'm proud of you. Like, enjoy it. Have fun. But we have the technology. You could have gone indoors and enjoyed the game just as much if, I mean, if they had indoors. Didn't they build a new stadium that wasn't a dumb recently in a bad weather city?

I think that's where it really, like, look, I get it. You got an old one. You didn't think about a dome in the 70s or whenever you're building your stadium. Yeah. That's fine. You build a new stadium and bad weather that's in a, not a dome. What are you doing? Unless you're green bay. That's the only place that I think is allowed. Oh, so you're willing to be traditioning Green Bay. Just for Green Bay, I'll allow it. Because it's just too classic and snow. Like rain, rain, rain, that's not a classic game. It's rainy. It's windy. Nobody's enjoying that. Isn't it supposed to be an advantage for these teams?

That play at their home stadium? Only Lambo. It's not an advantage for us as fantasy analyst to try to project those and predict those. Would you rather draft a Raven wide receiver or a Brown wide receiver? Genuine question. I would rather draft a Brown wide receiver. If I had to draft one, it would be Jarvis Landry in the ninth round between those two teams. Drivers Landry is not allowed to be picked here. Now pick a Raven or a Brown from the...

to be one of your wider seats. Okay. If I, if that's, if, if we're making these rules, then it's Marquis Brown at the end of the night. Oh, over. Odell? Odell's not on my draftable list. Oh my God. He's really not. He's just not, he's off my list. I was just trying to find a way to get you into Odell. Watch take, take Marquis Brown out. All right. Markis Brademan. Oh, my gosh. All right. So, um,

Big picture here. I'm really not sure what to do with Cream Hunt. We saw four weeks without Nick Chubb. He only averaged 12 more yards per game in those games. Here's the big headline. We came into the season. What did we say about Cream Hunt? Oh, my goodness. The reception totals from the time we saw him. He had 38 receptions last year.

Yeah, I was very disappointing in the receiving. That was one more than the eight games in 2019. So no extrapolation applied to Kareem Hunt's season. Now, he scored. He was actually okay to play in fantasy for a good part of the year. He was good. But look, he's just in the category of like wild card that I don't know.

I never knew when to play him. I just kept doing it and it kept working out. I was going to say, if you didn't know when to do it and you just played him, you were disappointed for three and a half quarters over and over and over. And then at the end of the week, you're like, oh, man, glad I played Cream Hunt. He was good. But he was disappointing because when Chubb went out, he didn't dominate the way that we thought he was going to. And he had a stretch of games once we started relying on him and trusting him that was a little disappointing.

Kareem Hunt is uber talented. You just can't debate that. When I'm looking at, okay, the passing work, and it didn't jump up the way that we hoped based on the eight games from the year prior. So which one is the truth? I'm going to bet more on his ability, because we've seen both. We've already literally seen it. I would bet more towards...

Not all the way towards the eight-game stretch we saw, but he's going to catch the ball a little bit more. He's going to be involved. Kareem Hunt is just too good of a player to not be involved. No Beckham all last year, though. I mean, there are going to be targets, whether you like it or not for No-Dell, as you can call him, No-Dell Beckham. Well, I mean, if I call them that, it would be because he's probably not on the field. Okay, or on your team. But look, he's going to get targets. There's no way that he doesn't have 100 targets in the offense if he's healthy.

So let me ask you this. Kareem Hunt right now is in the back of the fourth. He's like at the four or five turn right now. He's going right next to Miles Gaskin. I know I'll pass on Kareem. You'd rather have Gaskin than Hunt. I know how good Nick Chub is. I know that every time you take him off the field, you're putting an inferior player on and Kareem Hunt's really good. I don't know that that's true. I think it's true in every way, shape, and form. It's not true in the receiving game. I think it might be. That's ret.

Did you see Nick Chubb what he did with his opportunities in the passing game? Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's a great pass catcher. That means that he's unexpected to be the receiving back and gets opportunities. All I'm saying is that I know Nick Chub's a better running back than Cream Hunt. Sure. He might be the best running back in the NFL. You talk about the age and the wall and Derek Henry. Nick Chub is young. Nick Chub is an outlier. Nick Chub is the center of this entire Stefansky offense. So here's the interesting thing. So it just makes me scared.

Here's the thing about that. So let's talk about Nick Chubb on this team. We know they want to run the ball. We know he's unbelievable. He was on pace for like 1,600 rushing yards last year. He's the sixth pick right now on average in drafts. That's too high for me. You talk about him as the best running back in football. He doesn't catch the ball. Not much, not enough to be a big factor for fantasy. And...

If I'm in the top half of my fantasy draft, I'm not taking a running back that doesn't catch the ball, not named Derek Henry. Yeah, I think that's the thing is you can put them in the same category as Derek Henry. I think it's a fair thing to do. I haven't done it. You haven't done it. Mike has. Mike has them at five. You and I have Chubb at 10 and 11 for those reasons because we don't think there'll be enough passing work. And because they have a right to take them off the field for a quarter. Like if they're winning a game.

They just have the luxury, not the right, the luxury of putting Cream Hunt in anytime they want. And that is what we saw. You think that Hunt might come in only when you're down and he's the past catching back. But there were plenty of games where when they were up and you'd expect, okay, this is a Hunt lead, you know, run out the lead moment. It was like, oh, now, now, or a Chubb run out the lead. Now Hunt was on the field. Here's the thing, though. I will point this out to you because maybe it'll change your mind.

From the time Nick Chubb came back from injury, which was eight full games, that's 1,500 yard pace, 17 touchdown pace, and how many? 27 reception pace. 27 would be 11 fewer than Cream Hunt had last year, and Cream Hunt had the benefit of a four-game stretch without Nick Chubb. So when you talk about reception difference between the two of them, it wasn't that much. I mean, I... From the time that he came back.