Preseason Power-Up + Rankings Reactions, Megalabowl! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/22

He was brought in two opportunities near the goal line. He did it in preseason. The real question here is James Cook, to me, he wasn't used. They didn't have a lot of third downs. And if he projects to be the passing down guy, that's one thing. But my hope for James Cook was not that he is the third down guy. There's a big misnomer in football. We use the term third down back as like the guy who is the pass catching back. Most pass catching. it might shock you how little is done on third down at the running back position. Right. The pass catchers are running routes on first and second down, getting dump offs and things like that. And if he's not being utilized in that role, it's a little bit scary, but also it's preseason. Well, a couple things I'll say. And I'm, I'm going to just say that I'm kind of out on that situation in general. Like I don't want to take a shot on any of those players, you know, to the, yes, it's a better offense. But yes, Josh Allen runs the ball more.

Washington ran the ball 477 times last year. Buffalo ran at 433. And if you heard me say that I believed in Zach Moss, please erase that from your brain. I did not in any way mean to insinuate that. But we know from history, you don't have to believe, we don't have to believe in them. Like if they get snaps, it's all that matters to me. So it's a problem to me that I just don't think there's enough opportunity there to go around. I don't. I love that you're bringing up the rushing numbers, and this is why I've been pro James Cook of the three of these guys from this backfield. Because I think when push comes to shove and you're playing four quarters and it's all real, I want the guy who's catching passes. This is a team that's going to pass so dang much. But are they actually going to throw...

to the running back they threw to the running back 15% of the time last year that's a bottom five number that's a that's an atrocious target share and that's the question of was it a personnel thing yes or you know a personality thing for josh allen and we'll find out this season yeah and the thing is is can you ever you know part of fantasy is projecting when could you ever start somebody you know it's like do you get a chance once in four games once in two games you know when are the big games coming but singletary has been left for debt

So just let's tie those two situations together. Let's say Gibson falls to the eighth round, which is very possible now with the trajectory of that things are happening. Singletary or Antonio Gibson into eighth. Singletary, if I had to take one of those two. I think that's where I am now, too. The only thing that would persuade me the other way is just the fact that Gibson's had 250 plus carries. So the workload, you know, does Gibson break off a couple big plays and all of a sudden reestablish? It is possible. I don't think Singletary can do that. Like there's nothing Singletary can do to get enough snaps away from Moss and Cook, in my opinion. So I guess I'd go Gibson. Damien Pierce did not play at all in week two because head coach Lovey Smith wanted to look at other running backs. This has been, you know, conveyed as you're the starter, Damien Pierce. That's how I read it. So, you know, he had five carries.

in week one. That's not enough to make you the starter. It has to be camp and what the head coaching, you know, the competition that you have. I've seen the depth chart. I think that's a big part of it. So Lovie Smith has seen the depth chart. Yeah, I will say this. I do think Damien Pierce is the, is going to be the starter sooner rather than later, maybe not even week one, but he will win the starting job on the season. And rookie running backs do well. Those two things being said, I think Damian Pierce is being overhyped right now. He's getting a little out of control. He's up to the eighth round right now. He's going with, you know, these players we were just talking about in Devon Singletary for the bills. Damian Pierce currently is being drafted as the running back 35 that is higher than any rookie running back drafted in the fourth round of the NFL draft in the last decade. So he is like, people are hot and bothered for this guy who I believe, if he is the starter, will be in a committee.

for the Texans. Like, he needs to have the James Robinson role where he's just everything. He's the passing down. He's first, second and third down guy if you're going to be on a bad team. If they bring in Rex Burkhead for passing downs or, you know, maybe they don't give him all the goal line, then what is the real upside here for the Texans? Who are you taking then? Are you taking Singletariat Gibson over at Amy and Pierce's potential upside, Mike? Jason. Who's Mike Jason? I would prefer the bills often, so I would take Singletary. Honestly, at that point, I might take James Cook. Man, I know. I do not. I don't get it. No, me neither. I don't get it. I would take Singletary over Pierce, but I think that I don't, at this point, with everything that's happening and the depth chart, I'm willing to take the shot. I get the, the draft day capital is charitable.

but I feel like he is the guy. And even if he's in a timeshare, but he's 60%. I mean, that's volume at the running back position that you, that is very difficult to find later in the draft. I would take Damian Pierce. Over both of those players. Because I am, I am shooting for a starter. Give me a starting running back. I don't care what team he plays for. Is he going to be the starter? Is he going to get 15 carries? That's all I care about at that point. And I'm shooting for a star. As in like, I don't think Damian Pierce can be a fantasy star on that offense. And you think James Cook can be a star. He's a second round pick with talent who's a pass catching on one of, if not the best offense in football. I get it. The pathway is so clear for Damian Pierce. Like, Damian Pierce will have more work than James Cook. Damian Pierce's odds to finish higher in fantasy football at the end of the season is higher than James Cook.

But I think the ceiling case is what I'm saying. Okay. The ceiling case to me is if things work out for James Cook and he ends up just demanding more and more touches as the season goes on for that offense and he's the past catcher, I think the ceiling is higher. But I totally get the other case. Like I don't blame anyone for being like, that's insane. Take the guy who's the starter. He's not cooking by the book, Mike. And honestly, I can, I can not see where you're going. Yeah, I'm a chef. I don't read the risk. The problem with James Cook is.

The only way you're going to get that James Cook is he's on your bench for probably months as you sit and wait for it to happen. I don't know how he, give me the stat line that you see that being, like what happens for James Cook's numbers that gets you there? Because if he's, if Josh Allen and Zach Moss are the goal line, does he catch 85, 90 passes? No, I think this is a guy that when he's going, he's on the field and he gets. You know, nine or ten carries and four or five receptions and they're high value targets. And, you know, he ends up with a hundred total yards between both and has an opportunity, you know, to house something. Like Chase Edmonds? Exactly. I see him similar to Chase Edmonds who, whee. Yay, preseason. Played 10 of 13 snaps with the first team. Chase Edmonds did. Ran a route on seven of eight dropbacks for Tua. Yep. Tua targets?

He had two of targets. One of the headlines that I don't think is going to get brought up in the tight ends today that I'll bring up now is the, I don't know, elimination of Mike Gassiki from the offense. Gisiki played a long time in this game. If you listen to the comments from head coach Mike McDaniel, it was very clear that Gisiki is frustrated and does not want to cause headlines. He just said, look, I need the reps. It's a new position for me. he's been a pass catching tight end. He is now a blocking tight end. Yeah, don't draft. Who will get a few targets. But I'm saying this because if you look at the offense, Chase Edmonds has a role now being carved out for him and it's being taken away from a place that had targets. Last year we talked about this. Like I looked up the formations that teams ran like two tight-in sets. Miami was ahead of everybody by a huge margin.

Last year it was Gisiki and it was some of these other tight ends. That's not the system they're going to run this year. Chase Edmonds should be able to absorb a lot of what the tight-in position was getting. The dolphins last year were second in targets shared to the tight-end position. Yeah. So that's going to end. They were 28th in target share to the running backs. Like that's going to flip. I do not think Chase Edmonds will have massive volume. I think he will be the efficient. Chase Edmins that we've seen in Arizona when he's healthy and on the field where you're going to need that storyline that you gave from James Cook, where he's making efficient, you know, bigger plays in the passing game. You know, how many total carries do you have Chase Edmonds down for? I believe it's 188 is what I have him down for on the season. Yeah, it's more about the high leverage opportunities. What's the name that you just gave him, Kyle? He's like Diet Camara.

Diet Camaro. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of like that. Delicious. And less calories. Is that Stevia? Again, for everything for Chase Edmonds is he's not in the dead zone. Like if Chase Edmonds were a dead zone running back going in the fourth, it would be a harder tale to tell yourself to get all aboard. But where he's going in the eighth round. Oh, he's got to be moving up after Big Jason talked about him. I've, we'll see. I've been doing a lot of drafts this weekend. I've. Been sad to see him go in the sixth round. We're seeing Alan Robinson creeping up too. Over and over this weekend. If you need a running back in the sixth, I'm still fine with him there. You know, like you said, he's not a fourth round value, but sixth the opportunity cost is still there for him. One more running back situation worthy of discussion because, you know, Miles Sanders has missed some time. Kenneth Gainwell.

has, I think, been talked about a lot more than Boston Scott. But Boston Scott is just, if there's a tagline for that movie, it's he's always there. Yeah, Boston Scott, if he didn't catch the game, he started for Philadelphia. He was, he was a work horse running back. I think he got like 10 carries just right off the bat to start the game, including some goal line attempts as well. And as I'm watching this going, oh, they must have. sat Kenneth Gainwell. He must not be playing in this game because he's been banged up a little bit. But after Boston Scott is done, here comes Kenneth Gainwell. And this is not a complete, you know, we got to bail out on Kenneth Gainwell. But this has to be a data point in your analysis of the Philadelphia running backs that Bostas Scott is very valuable for this team. He was the guy, all the points over the off season of me trying to be like, I think Miles Sanders can be okay.

Because Boston Scott got all these carries close to the goal line. Maybe he's just going to get them again. They like him. And it's, it's a little bit. He's good. Yeah, that's the thing. He's a, he's a good running back. I think Kenny Gainwell, if given the. He's good. It's just like, I wanted to call him a good little running back. He was on pace for 151 carries last year from week eight through 17. So that's a lot on 40-something percent of snaps. Yeah, that second half of the year's stretch, he was five times a running back two last year. He's involved. He is good. And though he exists not to help you win anything, but to just destroy my hopes and dreams of Kenny Gainwell. This is, I think it's Buffalo. Sure. You've got Josh Allen running the ball and you've got Jalen Hurts running the ball. And then you got three running backs. Gainwell, Sanders, Scott. Yep, that's fair. Tough.

All right, wide receiver position. Can we control this? Oh, we're back. Fire up the engines. The hype train on Romeo Dobbs. He's dobbin on these fools. I mean, it's his fault. Six for 69, two touchdowns on 12 targets through two preseason games, by the way. Jordan Love has not looked that bad. Let me, he has looked. He's made some plays. He's all right. I mean, but. Yeah, none of his preseason work has come from Aaron Rogers. It's worth noting that. Aaron Rogers has talked down the rookie wide receivers, said we need our best 11 on the field, which basically is not the rookie wide receivers. It does include both running backs. These are these are kind of comments he's made. He's talked up Alan Lazard as the true number one for this team. That being said, you know, it's like we've seen the Sammy Watkins experiment. Yes. We've seen it for years. We've seen it with Patrick Mahomes. Like he's the starter. Sammy is. Not Dobbs.

But if you're late in your draft, like, I don't know. You're not. You're seeing the ADP hop on the train. Matthew Betts this morning, Underdog League, eighth round pick Romeo Dops. Wow. Don't do that. So that's the hype train. That makes it not fun. People want a piece of the. Yeah. If the hype train goes too fast, you start to get worried about derailing and dying. Yeah. So has you been impressive? Yes. Does it mean that this year is his year? No. Does it mean that the second half could be? Maybe. The question for me about Dobbs is if you can get him very late and you're wanting to hold on to him, I think eventually he plays Sammy Watkins out of the job. But even then, again, Aaron Rogers with rookie wide receivers. Part of my entire argument for Alan Lazard is that.

That just, it doesn't happen. Even the guys who become legendary Green Bay Packers do nothing with Aaron Rogers as a rookie. Just draft MBS. Do that instead. Oh, yes. Draft Marquez, Valdez Scantley instead of Romeo. The starter? Yes. Are you crazy? For the chiefs. And because if he's going in the eighth, he's being drafted ahead of MBS. Yeah, I think really it's more of a dynasty outlook for Dobbs where you say, okay, this guy. You know, when draft season came around, like right after the NFL draft, Dobbs was a guy you were scooping up off of waiver wires once your rookie draft was done. Now you go, okay, he looks talented, he's gotten a lot of buzz. He might have a future, but it's not for redraft leagues. It's not a guy that I think you should be drafting there. Whereas a guy that you should be drafting, I think, in redraft leagues and certainly in dynasty leagues, who is just, I can't believe how Left for Dead.

uh which is the phrase for today sure dead yeah um johan dotson oh yes that's because the shroud of war from cars and wince covers overall that's good i mean if you are around the wince mustard cloud but yeah i was gonna i was gonna jump back into the chiefs we'll do that in a minute but jehan dotson yeah You brought it up. He's played with the starters and two wide receiver sets in both preseason weeks. Same snap, same routes as Terry McLaren. He's going to be the starter opposite of Terry McLaren. He is going to have opportunities and is the wide receiver 63 in average job position. Ridiculous. Again, you compare him to Romeo Dobbs upside. Please take the first round rookie. 100%. Essentially, if you're a first round rookie in the NFL draft, you should be on a...

You should be on the redraft radar. You should be drafted at some point. And the fall of him in dynasty rookie drafts was, you're like, well, that's kind of weird. And that's just magnified here as we've gotten into the redraft leagues. So I am with you guys that I'm very happy to draft Dotson at his ADP with full confidence. Yeah, Dotson and our dynasty startup draft that I'm doing right now. Dynasty startup was a 13th round pick behind guys like KJ Osborne. He's a first round draft pick. So back to the Chiefs Wide Receivers, MBS. We talked about it, 21 out of 25 snaps with the starter, saw five targets. That's not a surprise to me that he's the starter. But he looks good and you should be considering him in your drafts. Juju didn't play. But I'm very confident, especially after this game. I know Juju did not play. But MVS looks good. He had a

maybe a crossing route. I can't remember the exact route, but he broke completely free, and Patrick Mahomes missed him. It would have been like a 50-60-yard touchdown. MVS is a speed guy, and he's going to hit a lot of big touchdowns this year. Skymore rotated with the starters, but played behind. Superstar. Justin Watson, who seems to, at least in preseason, have a role in this offense, as does. Is it Fortson? Who is the tight end that scored twice? Was it Fortson? Yep. Jody Fortson. So you hear, obviously, Kelsey's there, and then you hear about Noah Gray, but then here's Jody Fortson with two touchdowns. I do think that is a little bit of a hint of what the Andy Reed offense with Patrick Mahomes is going to be like this year. Spread around. I think it's going to get spread around a lot. That's why I've been hesitant about an NBS or a juju or any of these guys that's not named Travis Kelsey. And it's why I was nervous about non-Tarek options in the years past is because...

They just haven't done anything because you can't count on it. You know, you never knew when it was a Byron Pringle week or DeMarcus Robinson or somebody else or a Watkins week, right? So, you know, is Justin Watson going to rain on everybody's parade if they're celebrating the juju or the Skymore situation? It's going to rain gold, rain gold down on fantasy brilliance. Look, this is. What? He has gotten buzzed all camp long. He has a role in the preseason, and almost everyone projects him right now that I've seen to make the 53-man roster. One of the first steps of success. Justin Watson is not going to be someone you draft, but he is someone that will slow the progress of a rookie like Skymore. I can agree with that. George Pickens, flashed in week one. He continues. I will say this, and I don't say it lightly because I don't like saying it at all.

But Chase Claypool's made plays in the preseason so far. Excellent. I just don't want him to be forgotten when you hear George Pickens hype, Deontate Johnson. Claypool is still gigantic. That's never been something that, you know, it's just a quality that he's possessed. He's a humongous human being. Comes down with contested catches. And on top of that, like the George Pickens ascension is. He may be an outside starter, which has so far through the preseason, Chase Claypool has played a ton in the slot. And you get that big slot role, like Cooper Cup, big dude, plays in the slot. You get a rookie quarterback. If Kenny Pickett takes that job and you get the slot-wide receiver on the easier DB matchup, he, like, Chase Claypool is interesting in that role.

That whole wide receiver room because you have Tribisky, maybe later a rookie, it's going to be a little scary. Christian Kirk has had massive volume in the preseason, eight targets on 22 routes. This past week. Kirk at wide receiver 46 locked that in. That's very interesting. And then some tight-in storylines. We'll throw them out there real quick. Big time alert here. There's been some questions about it all offseason, but Albert Aguvenom who I took with the very final pick in our last mock draft. I mean, in week one, he played the whole first half, didn't see a target. In week two, all the starters rested. He rotated in and played into the fourth quarter. They drafted Greg Dulcich, which tells you a little bit of, like, their plans for this offense. They also have, what's the other tight end that has been very impressive? Do you remember the name? Not Jake Butt.

Not Jake Butt. Thank you, Kyle. Let me pull it up here. You guys can talk about it. I will say that I saw some reporters tweeting out that they think the reason he was playing deep into the game was to get reps on blocking, that he still needs to work on his blocking, and you really need game reps for that. So it's, you know, I don't want overblow, you know. I don't know. It's one of those things where we talk about it a lot. We're analyzing. We just did a whole show on this preseason. There's a lot of nuggets, important things to take away. But we have to remember especially when it comes to who's playing what amount of game. These coaches are making decisions based on whatever they think is best for how to get the next step out. These aren't like punishing. I don't think he was being punished. Hackett said he needed reps. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what I said. He needs...

blocking reps. Sure, maybe not discipline, but that's a, you're not ready. It's a bad sign. Yeah. I mean, so you got, you got Albert O doing that. Meanwhile, Brevin Jordan, I believe second year player tied in for the Houston Texans. 22 of 29 snaps where Davis Mills played ran a route on 16 of 17 Davis Mills dropbacks. That's that from a good friend of the show, Graham Barfield. Brevin Jordan to me. I loved him coming out and they don't have a lot of targets. Exactly. I think Brevin Jordan needs to be on your, maybe you're not taking him as a punt tight end, but if Brevin Jordan comes out, week one gets five or six targets, you need to pay attention. And then Isaiah likely scored twice for the Ravens. He had 100 yards. So eight receptions, 100 yards, a touch.

I thought he had two touchdowns. Am I wrong? Was it just one? I don't remember. Against Arizona as the Ravens won their 22nd consecutive preseason game. The Arizona Falcons? You were not a fan of the Cardinals, black on black. No. Get it out of here. I mean, they shouldn't have gone black on black. They should have been wearing the white tops with the black helmet if you want to give those black helmets a shot. That would be fine. But it's just nothing about that team looks like the Cardinals. I completely agree with that. They looked like the Dion Sanders Falcons.

Exactly. Like the vintage old logo falcons. And I love variant uniforms. I love all those things. But that was, that was not it. I feel like the boring and not the Cardinals. I feel like they took the cheap way of updating the look. They didn't go back to the drawing board and really refresh it. They just said, hey, let's get some black helmets on and confuse Mike Wright. Yeah. They, they pulled an intern from Hot Topic and said, hey, revamped these for us. And they said, okay. Did you, did you, what was your review? What about black? What about black? Did you like them, Jason? I thought they were fine. I love the helmet. I, uh, by itself. Yeah. Yeah. I do agree it looks like the Falcons, but.

I'm not opposed to, you know, look, sometimes when things are new, people just want to go, ah, I like it the old way. Oh, is that Mike? He's the grandpa of the shell. Get off my lawn is what I'm hearing, Mike. He's not at all. He's the grandpa. That's how you know it's bad, because I want all the new stuff. Do you like really important follow up question? Do you like the Jacksonville Jaguar's uniforms? Just overall? Yeah, overall. I mean, I'm fine with them. Okay. All right. Anything else? They don't look like the Falcons. How are the deucers doing over there? Oh, yeah. I've got that helmet right here on the YouTube. There's the Cardinals coming. Exactly. Yeah, there it is. All right. Well, we're done for today. Sleepers, breakouts, bust, value episodes coming this week. Megalibol.com. Ultimate draft kit.com. It's the time. Brar. Goodbye.

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