Regress -or- Impress + Baldwin News, DaeSean Hamilton

or second through fourth outside of Edelman. Still waiting on Josh Gordon news. One of us could be right. It's flip a coin. The Patriots did release Bruce Ellington. Oh, that made a little easier. With an injury designation, which I had not seen until moments ago. So that makes it like 1% easier. Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said Devonza Freeman will be ready for training camp. Excellent. Always important to be healthy.

Yeah. To play football, especially with Devante Freeman's injury history. So look, I think we're all kind of bullish on Devante Freem. We took him in the mock draft last week. I mean, it's no Kevin Coleman. If you want to bet against him because of the injuries, that's perfectly fine to me. But you're getting him in the third round. I'm doing an industry mock draft right now. I easily got him in the third round. He's going to be the starting running back for what I'm projecting to be.

A very high-powered offense, yet again, I think Andy are with me that you believe in the Atlanta Falcons as an offense. I want starting running back. Freeman dealt with foot and knee injuries early in 2018, but it was a groin injury that required surgery and ultimately sent him to injured reserve. In 2017, it was MCL and PCL. The MCL has healed by now, but the PCL...

could linger into this year. It's a matter of, like you said, risk aversion with Devante Freeman. Mike, you and I both have Matt Ryan as a number five quarterback on the year. As of today, we believe in that offense and the opportunity they have. No, Tevin Coleman. It's DeVantan Freeman and Edo Smith. Jay, are you as in on Devonta Freeman as we are despite, I know you're not in on Matt Ryan. Right. So are you still with?

The Falcons? Yeah, no, I think the Falcons are going to be a very good offense as a whole, just like they've been the last four years, but half of those years, Matt Ryan hasn't been a fantasy force because the running game was there. And so I am not as bullish as you two are on Freeman, but I like everything being laid out. I think I'm just more injury adverse when it comes to him. There's such a multitude of injuries right now that are piling up as he gets to an older running back age where I get.

more and more hesitant. And when I'm on the clock, I go, you know, would I want Devanta Freeman or Josh Jacobs? What's that sound again? I would take Josh Jacobs. Oh, yeah, that doesn't sound good. You know, and so, you know, those are the questions where it's like, I tend to find myself citing against him, but I'm not anti-Divant Freeman. If he stays healthy,

He's going to be a steel. Yeah, that's two things, right? Your risk-averse on him, but if you don't like Matt Ryan, but you think their offense is great, you have to like Devonsa Freeman if he's healthy. Yes. All right, be sure to switch your Dynasty League over to Sleeper. Whatever your league is, get started over on Sleeper. Download the app today. It's free. It's fun. We're going to get into regress or impress here momentarily before we do. I want to remind people your chances now. Go to ballerslive.com. Chicago, New York, San Francisco.

Phoenix. Tickets are left in those cities. L.A. is sold out. Come see the podcast live. Come have a blast. You will enjoy it. I promise. It is a lot of fun. You'll be part of an episode. You'll get to enjoy a great time. Meet and greet. Ask your questions. Live at the show. It's a lot of fun. We went with Ballerslive.com because super awesome party time.com. Just didn't.

roll off the tongue, even though that, it's far more accurate. Well, and it's not available. Brooks had registered that years ago and would not sell it to it. Brooks. He is a smudgeon. He's a mine. He's a squatter. He has a lot of like 10 to 12 word phrases that he's been sitting on for years. He's been holding McDonald's with a Z for like 25 years. Yeah, with a K. McDonald's. Oh, they're going to be coming for it anytime. Yeah, you're going to be rich and you can get out of here, Brooks. All right, let's get into it.

Is that about your jokes, Mike? Is that one about your one-liners? Good one, Andy. When you insult someone with your own bad joke? With a bad joke, yeah. Welcome to my level. Kill me. Kill me. All right, players who had more of an out-of-the-ordinary breakout 2018 season, will they regress or will they impress in 2019?

All right, let's start here. Let's start with Jared. Oh, Jared. Gough. Garf. Jared Garf. He was the quarterback seven last year, guys. Seven. Yeah. In 2017, he was the 12th. Last year he was the seventh. Well, I think we are all in the regression category. And I don't want to. Really? I don't want to be. Well.

I don't get. I mean, Andy's got him at 18, and he finished at 7 last year. I haven't been at 12, so obviously it's a slight bump down, but I don't feel like I see him as a regression candidate. I am bullish on Jared Gough. He's it. I've got him as a quarterback one. Oh, years. No king wants to be announced that way. No, no king, but this is the king we have. King Goughrey. Oh, you mean backwin.

Yeah. Things were perfect. Wow. The tale. Jared Goff had a tale of two seasons. Back with things were perfect. What has happened to you? A week ago. When Joffrey was the king, things were perfect. Say what? Danny was good then. All right, go on. So here's the deal. Jared Goff, it was a tale of two seasons. If you look at the first half of the season, he wasn't.

a top seven quarterback like he finished. They're like two thirds. Well, sure. I mean, no, it was. He had more games where he was playing great. At the very end of the season, he was a complete dumpster fire. CJ Anderson was like, all the touchdowns belong to me. But if you look at the splits with and without Cooper Cup, you know, he wasn't as good when Cooper Cup was gone. The offense wasn't as good. Things kind of sputtered a little bit. But the beginning half of that year, he was the quarterback too.

He was right behind Patrick Mahomes and was on fire. The offense, Sean McVeigh, I believe in, Cooper Cup coming back. Now, I've got him as the third of the three wide receivers. If he was healthy, I'd have him as the number one of those of that little triad. But, I mean, if they're back and they're healthy, I know Todd Gurley's a big question mark, but all three of us were a big fan of what we saw from Daryl Henderson. They spent money on him. So I think their office is going to be fantastic. Outstanding. I think all three wide receivers are going to be valuable.

I shockingly have Robert Woods, and I say shockingly even to myself. I knew I was bullish on him, but he was my wide receiver 10 when I finished my rankings. I do not believe Jared Goff will regress. How do you view his troubling end of the season? I know that you had Gurley injured and you have cup out, but you also had a situation where they were schemed against successfully.

in the Super Bowl, really bad Super Bowl by golf. Is that something where you finally saw him come under some pressure in full? Does that change your view of him as a NFL quarterback, fantasy quarterback at all, Mike? It was an unfortunate scheduling situation because if you look, even though I know that when you throw out the names like Detroit and Arizona, you think of bad teams from last year, they actually had.

solid past defenses. And his worst game was against Chicago. And Philadelphia was also in this stretch. He put up 339 yards against Philadelphia when everyone was crushing him. He just didn't have a passing touchdown. And that's what kills you in fantasy. So for those final five games, four of those teams were actually like top 11 when it comes to giving up fewest passing yards last year. So I think it was.

It was just a mixture of all of those things made a witch's brew that Jared Goff could not overcome for fantasy. What's tough is, yes, I have Goff ranked lower than people want him ranked. But I think even, Mike, you have a 14. I mean, it's a product that you like other players more. I don't like him being a 14, but he's just behind other guys. Right. And I think we did see some weaknesses, you know, for him to put up some of the single digit games he did at the end of the year.

to know that, you know, is Gurley going to be 100% back? I think I agree with you, Jason. Sean McVeigh is running the ship. And if he has to drag people with him, fantasy points stick with them too. So I think it'll be very productive and give you very big games. I just like some other players more. That's all. That's fine. But I do want to make sure fantasy owners, they shouldn't overreact to the two biggest, most visible implosions. One being the Super Bowl.

Okay, he's not going up against Bill Belichick with two weeks notice. In the Super Bowl. Every week. Okay, that's an outlier type of game. And then the other one was that Chicago game you mentioned. I mean, it was four interceptions. I don't think he cracked 200 passing yards. But if you go back and remember that game, it was like 20 degrees, terrible weather outside Chicago's great defense. And it was just a trainer. Yeah, that's a tough game. So finishing at QB7, regress or impress.

He finished it seven last year, regress are impressed. He'll impress in 20. I'm saying impress. Not that he'll finish above there, but he will have a great season in 2019. I think he will finish below seven, but I think golf is a safe quarterback one. Even though my rankings have him just outside of it, it's when you're ranking, when you're ranking quarterbacks, it's tough because you're trying to to project who's going to have that slightly.

their seasons is a little bit of an outlier because they overproduce in the touchdown department. No, I agree. And I think what people don't realize, too, even with these fantasy finishes, if you took a quarterback that finished at nine and took a touchdown away from them and gave it to somebody, you know, three spots behind, it's a narrow finish. That's why in the ultimate draft kit, and the way we talk about quarterbacks, it's less about saying he's going to finish as seven or nine, ten or eleven.

It's more about what tier are they in. You seem to both believe he is in a tier worthy of a QB1 position. Yes. Yes. Okay. Stefan Diggs. Last season was the wide receiver 11. And you saw some transformation in the offense. You saw a heavy dependency on Adam Thielen early in the season. New quarterback. You lost an offensive coordinator.

During the season, last year, Diggs finished, his finished line 102 for 1021 and 9, 149 targets. So wide receiver 11 last year, what are your thoughts on Stefan Diggs, regrets, impress? Yeah, Diggs is a very curious case because it was, you know, if you look at what happened with the Minnesota Vikings, they were off to a really hot start in the beginning, fantasy-wise, passing-wise. You know, I believe the

The first half, Kirk Cousins, was on pace for 682 passing attempts. But the second half of the season, it was only on a trend for 530. And really, if you look at when the offensive coordinator shift happened, he was down at 437 passing attempts. But what's curious about that is that second half, that second half where it was a very slow pace, Stefan Diggs was the...

You know, he was the number one during that time versus Adam Thielen, who much more so disappeared. So it's like, what do you believe here? My biggest worry with Diggs, in addition, I guess, 1A, 1B. One would be, is there enough volume to where he can repeat? And two, can he stay healthy? Like, he's really been an injury prone guy. He has not played a full season. He was in 15 last year. Right. And that's how he finished great. But I mean.

If he's in 13 next year, he's definitely going to regress and hurt your fantasy team. He had four touchdowns inside the five-yard line last year. Nine touchdowns, that's a lot. And he has a knack for getting in the end zone. Fantasy owners right now are drafting him behind where he finished last year. He's got an average apposition of the wide receiver 14. If I had to weigh in here, I would weigh in at slight regression for Stefan Diggs as far as fantasy finish on the year.

but not by a ton. Yeah, I think he will regress slightly, but I also think that people are, I think they're writing off Kurt Cousins in that offense too soon. Kurt Cousins, it was, what he had to work with at the offensive line last year, it was rough. And you could see that Minnesota was also clearly displeased with that. They went heavy in the offensive line in the draft. Will that.

pay off will that actually improve things? I lean that it will and which will only improve things for the time and how much Kurt Cousins actually has to carry. So I still think that Stefan Diggs is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. I think Kurt Cousins is a more than adequate quarterback. So I'm still fine with having him up as a top 15 guy. He, I think the truth for the passing attempts is going to lie somewhere in the middle between those because.