Explain Yourself! Ranking Debates & Hot Takes

I don't even know if that's an expression, but that's what it is. It is now. It's gasting. Explain yourself. Here's the reality with DJ Moore. DJ Moore was a very highly touted rookie, right? The first rookie wide receiver taken in last year's draft. One of our big takeaways from last season was to remember the slow nature of rookie wide receivers in fantasy football.

They don't get off to a fast start. None of them did last year. It was really the second half of the season where you started to see some emerge, whether it was Dante Pettis or DJ Moore, whoever it is. And that's the usual trend if you take out 2014 when there was a bunch of O'Dell Beckham-type superstar rookie wide receivers. It really is the case where it's year two or year three where that breakout comes. Our job is not to just simply say what happened last year, but to project...

the future. I believe one of the explaining yourselves that should be on this show is your ranking of Cam Newton, which maybe we'll talk about somewhere down the line. I know it's more about how much you like other quarterbacks, but I believe that Carolina has a very good offense this year with Christian McCaffrey, with Healthy Cam Newton, with year two for both DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel. And if they have a good offense, and DJ Moore steps up into that clear-cut wide receiver one role.

Now, I'm taking a risk, right? Because it could be Curtis Samuel who steps up. It could be, you know, someone else. But they lost Evan Funches. They lost a good amount of targets from last year. And DJ Moore, if you look at us. They know where Funches is. They didn't lose him. Well, it's hard to lose a man of that size. I would grant you that. But the reality is he got so much better the second half of the year. You're talking about a difference in PPR first half of his rookie season from 7.95.

to being up over 12, and that was with the last few games without Cam. He was still better in his game splits with Cam than with the backup. So I think DJ Moore takes a big step forward. If you look at his games from week 10 on last year, he was on a pace in that rookie year, which we thought was kind of lousy, for over 1,000 yards.

That was his pace. And if you think about how he did when there was still cam and starting in that week 10, when they started to really give him more work from weeks 11 through 14, small sample. But he was the wide receiver 10 showing that he can. He had a good stretch. He can be the guy. I believe that. And so to me, when I stat this out, I'm looking at who's the number one for Carolina? I think it's going to be DJ Moore. I think he's talented. I liked him coming into last year's draft. And if he takes that step up,

19 could be too loved. Wins Cam really had Steve Smith. Steve Smith. Right. So you're talking about his rookie season. Steve Smith was awesome. He was, but that was his rookie season. I'm saying that it has been a wide receiver committee situation in Carolina for a while. Yeah, with Calvin Benjamin and Devin Funches, you are correct. There has not been a wide receiver to really have, be a wide receiver one on the field. I think DJ Moore. Well, I only bring that out not because I don't believe Moore could do it.

But because you were saying he performed in a stretch. And I feel like Benjamin and Funchis and Ginn, they had stretches with Cam. The only player that has been a consistent contributor with Cam has been early, you know, I guess you can say early Steve Smith, but it's really Greg Olson. Greg Olson, yeah. It's interesting because I think we would all say McCaffrey's the one by way of volume. Sure. I have DJ more.

projected for more targets than Christian McCaffrey. So I would not say that. Okay. Mike, I'm supposed to talk to you about your Austin Hooper ranking. Now, now. We really want to talk about this. No, we don't. Jason and I have met 13 and 14. You haven't met 26. And I want to say this for the record. I don't care that you have met 26. Yeah. I don't care. We're not going to talk about Austin. Excellent. Screw that guy. Honestly, here's a deal. I've seen Austin Hooper get drafted as like a.

a top 10 tight in. No, thank you. It could happen, but you're not going to be happy along the way. He's the fourth option at best in that offense. No. No. That's all the time you get on today's show, Austin. But I had really cool stats. Yeah. Give me one, Mike. You get one and then we're not even going to argue with you. Nearly 40% of his targets came in three games. Okay, good. That's pretty good stat. I'd rather, I'd rather convince you that Damien Williams is bad. Yes, please.

I would rather convince you that Damian Williams is no good. Oh, this is so great for me because I get to just sit back and listen. I've besmirched Damian Williams so much. And now I've been like the highest ranked on him this off season. And I don't like it. And I really want to hear why he's the wider. You've got him at running back. He's not on my wide receiver. I sat at him as a running back this year. Yes. Running back 17. Yes. Tell us. You have 10 and 11. And I couldn't feel more comfortable about Damien Williams at 17 than I do.

I really do. That's funny. Brooks put a note in here. He goes, is this a placeholder ranking until training camp? No, he's at 17 because it's inclusive of exactly what Damien Williams is. And here's the story. Damian Williams had a wonderful, wonderful time with Patrick Mahomes. They were skipping through the meadows. Oh, crap. Did Mahomes go somewhere? No.

Oh, okay. Thank you, though, for that. Good. I got a little bit worried. That was impressive. 5.1 a carry with Patrick Mahomes last year. You've got to love it. Now, this wasn't Damien. Look, Jason didn't like Damon Williams. Correct. And that's because his entire career is unlikable. There's nothing likable about his career. 3.3 a carry, 3.4 a carry, 3.7 a carry. I like his past catching. Damian Williams has been an unlikable player, to say the least. The thing about it is he was in a perfect situation. I believe you could have put.

100 running backs in Damien Williams situation last season. No team. Amen, brother. No player played with a lead more than Damian Williams. He played with a lead more than any other running back in football. You know what he did? He faced 6.4 men in the box on average because Patrick Mahomes demands you to pay attention to the secondary. So he faced almost the fewest guys in the box on average. He also got what was there.

That's it. That's all he did. He ranked 112. 112 and yards created per carry. That would be yards beyond the auto-blocked amount. Oh, by the way, that was like almost the worst. This is the argument I was making to you guys last year. But, but it would be wrong of me if I ignored the fantasy production because he's in the same situation. That would be the mic argument, right? He's in the same boat.

They didn't go spend a high draft pick. They drafted Darwin Thompson in the sixth round. They picked up an undrafted free agent, who, by the way, led the entire college football and pass catching. Airbooby! Still undrafted. But the thing is, is Damien Williams. I believe that there is risk on Damien Williams' season not being as efficient, not being as perfect. Tyree Kil may not be on the back end, changing the amount of many faces in the box. I think that you've seen historically, even when Jamal Charles was there, and I think we talked about this before, maybe it was on the footcast,

You know, you've had Charkandric West who would come in for a drive or a third down. I think you're going to have capable guy. I think they're going to like Darwin. They brought Darwin in for a reason. You've got also Darrell Williams, who never dropped the pass. 100% catch rating last year. Out of how many targets? 100 million. Impressive. That's about 100 million more than I thought. And the thing is, is obviously Carlos Hyde is there. But here's my major point. If Carlos Hyde siphons some first to second down work, some.

They went out and paid for him quickly. And then you do integrate some rotation. There's just more risk to Damian Williams than anybody else I rank in that top 12. I don't see the same variables that exist. I don't see the same outlier season. Do you consider Damian Williams' season an outlier? I do, based historically on his data. So when I look at the efficiency metrics of like he didn't really get more. Thank you, Brooks. Darrell Williams, three receptions on three targets. Is that true? Get that stat out of my face. Is that true? Three? Yeah.

Stick to the 100%, Andy. Stick to your guns. That's terrible. I just had to see. Thanks, Brooks. I could play running back for Patrick Mahomes, and I've got a shot at catching three targets of being done. That's a terrible stat. That's a terrible stat. And it should not submarine my argument. Carlos Hyde is a terrible pass catcher. He's not going to steal past catching duty from... Agreed? Damien Woods. Williams would be great. You know how great he'll be? About 17. I love...

everything you just said. I think that the role of the Kansas City Chiefs RB1 is worth more than the RB17. Agreed. Which is why I don't have them ranked that low. No, I mean, if it's the same as last year, I'm wrong. I'm just dead wrong. I just love the truth that freaking anybody could do it. Well, it's nice to know you could throw it to Darrell Williams as much as you want. He will never drop a pass. You say best hands of all time. Right. Yes, exactly. I mean, you say Carlos High doesn't have pass catching. It is.

Repetitual, he's not a good pass catcher. He's not. He did fine for one necessary season of that in San Francisco. Yes, he did. He was forced fed targets and he was really bad and inefficient with them. And he had a bunch of drops. He's bad pass catcher. I promise you.

he's a good pass catcher from Patrick Mahomes. No. Yes. My point is Damien Williams sucks, but he's going to be. That's fine. But the running back one for Kansas City is going to be great. Yeah. My argument has always been I want Kansas City's running back statistics.com where they break down, you know, running back finished by coach. Do you know how many times the running, the, the, the RB1 has finished 17 or lower for head coach Andy Reed? I do not. Four times. It's just four times out of Andy Reed's.

10,000 year career. Name the running backs. You can name them on one hand. Sean McCoy, Jamalt, Charles, Kareem Hunt. Sure. But guys that catch the ball. And Damien Williams. Well, that's fair. Damien's one that it's fine. Don't you feel like there might be more risk to Damien in that top 12 than any other, for those reasons? Yeah, I don't. I won't argue the fact that there is absolutely risk. I did my best, Jason. For Damien Williams. I did my best and I submarine myself with three catches from Darrell Woods. All right.

Jason, you've got Mark Andrews up at 10. Got him where he belongs. That makes him an extremely relevant fantasy tight end, a sleeper tight end. I loved Mark Andrews to the point of I'd went and traded him or traded for him from you. Shut up. But I don't have him that high. I do have him, though. He's on my team. Did I mention that? He's on my team, not yours? You did mention that he was traded away from the champion team to your team. Yes, that's correct. What is happening?

All right. So Mark Andrews is high. When I put out my first rankings, that was one of the names that came back a lot, like, was like, holy Mark Andrews. You know, like you really believe. Or oftentimes it was who's Mark Andrews. Like a lot of people were saying they didn't know who Mark Andrews is. And that's fine because he wasn't a relevant fantasy option last year. And he was a rookie. He was for the Putrid Baltimore passing game. And so I get not knowing who Mark Andrews is, but let me explain who he is.

He was a very prolific pass catching tight end in college. I wasn't sure if that was just because he had a great quarterback or if he was good. He looked a little pudgy to me when he was running, but he did a lot of, he did a lot of damage at college. That's mean. I just calls it how I sees it, Mike. Then he comes to the NFL and he passes the eye test in the NFL as a rookie, which is rare. He was...

Pretty darn good. In fact, he was good to the point of, I realized that the touchdowns did not flow for Lamar Jackson or for Joe Flacco this last year. But as far as yardage goes, he was since the year 2000, he was the sixth highest yardage for a rookie tight end. What? Yeah. And if you, because rookie tight ends don't do much. Right. But he showed that he can. And here's the coolest part.

Look at the splits with Flacco, because you might go, well, Flacco loves tight ends. He can only throw like two yards. But he had a pace, Mark Andrews did, with Joe Flacco. He was on pace for 434 yards, which is when he was playing with Lamar Jackson, he was on pace for over 700 yards as a rookie. That's fantastic. Who was their number one wide receiver? Who was it last year? It was Michael Crabtree.

Who is their number two is John Brown? So the targets of any veterans there are gone. They brought in a couple rookies, but they're still rookies. The only rapport that he really has with anyone who had target volume is Willie Sneed and Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews showed well. This is a system that knows how to use the tight end. So I think Mark Andrews takes a huge step forward. The real question is going to be touchdowns. Does he get enough?

from Lamar Jackson to be in that top 10? I think he does. What do you say to somebody who feels Andrews took advantage of Hayden Hurst's absence and Hurst Boyle too involved for Andrews to be relevant? No, I think that this is a system. They want to run the ball so much that they use.