Sleeper Picks + Preseason Battles

The upside of Damien Harris is, should something happen to Sony Michelle, then you've got a true workhorse back. I think Damien Harris can be good even while Sony is there. Look at Rex Burkhead in the playoffs this last season. He had three touchdowns in two games, and that was while Sony was balling out. This is a team that's going to run the ball a lot. They're going to have a ton of touchdown opportunities. Damien Harris is great around the goal line. So that's why, like, we don't draft.

We don't love drafting handcuffs specifically, right? Like, because you don't know when a guy's going to go down. It's usually not going to be week one. It's as the season goes on. If I am going to draft a handcuff, the two things that I want. One is a known injury history with the running back ahead of them. So like Gurley and Sony Michelle, there's actual reason to believe there could be cause early in the season or standalone value. And I think that's where Damien Harris will surprise. I think Damien Harris.

could have weekly standalone value. If he's getting a couple receptions and getting goal line work, that's good enough to be a flex player. That's bold. I think it's bold to call him a flex. I don't mind the sleeper pick. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out. I tend to, the Sonny Michelle injury debate, I feel like we are either aware of the problem.

in a way that Bill Belichick isn't, and I tend to, like, think that Bill Belichick and this offense and where they drafted him believes it's not as big of a problem as people speculate. Would you say that if they believed it was a problem on their day two pick, they would use another pick on a running back because they did? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think that that's a regret pick, but I think Damien Harris is very talented. I just don't know how the depth chart is going to shake out. We know Brandon Bolden.

is active on game days. This is a special teamer. Because of special teams. So then you look at who's active on game days. Are you going to have three running backs active along with Brandon Bolden? So opportunity is 100% there for if Sony Michelle has problems and you believe Damien Harris is the most talented back outside of Sonia Michelle.

then that cream will rise at the top and maybe he's the guy that does what Sony did if Sony's on the shelf. So definitely sleeper upside there for Harris. Mike, do you want to take the reins? I know you've been, you've got a bad case of something. I do have a bad case. And we're talking this is a deep sleeper. So if the bench is a little bit larger, this is a guy you can look at at the very end of your draft. And PPR, this is a little bit more tuned into the PPR crowd. And I'm talking about infected.

with the Beasles, Cole Beasley, who, if you follow this show for any amount of time, my love for this player has been professed many times, hearkening back to the year when he had 98 targets, and on that season put up 75 receptions for 833 yards and 5 touchdowns, and that year was ranked by a pro football focus as their number 8 wide receiver on the year. I start off with that.

so people understand he's actually a good wide receiver and if you put him in a position to succeed he can do it flash forward to he got signed by the buffalo bills and free agency he seemed like it was this is left for dead for any kind of fantasy value the way that buffalo has been playing the way that josh allen played where he would just chuck it deep he just josh allen never seemed like he was going to or last year

He didn't like those short passes. He wanted to go deep. Now he's talking about, this is a quote from Josh Allen. We run a similar offense to the Patriots because their OC, in fact, spent four years in New England before he went down to Alabama to be their OC and then got promoted to be an NFL offensive coordinator. Look at what has happened. Preseason week two had five receptions and two drives with Josh Allen. Allen is actually...

growing, of course, he's growing as a quarterback, but that involves taking some of those short throws, taking some of those easy plays, not always having to go deep. There was an emphasis of Josh Allen taking it easy and dumping it to the slot-wide receiver similar to the way that the New England Patriots use Julian Edelman. I'm not expecting Julian Edelman levels of production, but in a PPR league with your last pick, if you're grabbing a receiver who's catching

six to eight receptions every single week. I mean, that's free money. Every single best ball league I've been doing with my 18th pick, I'm grabbing Colesley. So you're in, you got the infections? I am in if you get PPR in, and obviously that's a deep league, right? That's your 18th round. Not everybody's going to be doing that. I don't know if Cole Beasley will be relevant enough to crack into, you know, a starting lineup. But it's worth noting what's happened in the preseason. They gave them a lot of money.

Four years, $30 million. They gave more years, more guaranteed money to Cole Beasley than they did to John Brown. It's an interesting situation because Beasley's been in the NFL for going on, this is like his eighth season. Right. And six catches a week, just for context, it's 96 catches a season. So that would beat his career high by about 20 if he caught the ball six times a week. PPR leagues, he's one of those like your team has been beaten up. You need to throw somebody out there and not get a goose egg.

Beasley seems like the reason they invested in him will guarantee some level of production in that offense. Does it not? Yeah, there are leagues that play three wide receivers and a flex in PPR leagues. And that flex position, I think Cole Beasley has a chance to end up in there on a weekly basis. Now, these are sleepers. Preseason week three could show up and just absolutely rain turds on this parade. But I think it's very possible that...

Cole Beasley is going to be very surprising. Never want to be in a turd storm. No, no, you do not. A turd storm? Yeah, those are, that would be unfortunate. Have your umbrella. Gross. All right, my sleeper pick number. I will brave this storm. No, I will run. I will run and I will live. Give me an awning. Michael Gallup. Who?

Michael Gallup is my first sleeper pick. His average draft position right now is in the 12th round. It's the absence of Beasles in a way and also the presence of Kellynne Moore. I mean, Kellyn Moore's offense is going to be so much different than what they were running with Scott Linnehan and Cole Beasley. More motion, more downfield throws. Is that Brooks? Brooks just chimed. You believe it, right?

Oh, it's exciting. A different offense. More bunch formations, more downfield throws, more innovation, more motion, and less options in the passing game than, you know, no more Cole Beasley with the target counts that he has. Yes, Randall Cobb is there, but by all accounts, Michael Gallup has been the wide receiver one throughout camping in the preseason games. Amari Cooper's been on the shelf. Gallup has taken advantage of the opportunity. This is a former third round pick last year.

And, you know, storylines around Dallas. He's in the top, you know, two or three coming out of camp. So right now you have a team where Beasley had 65 receptions. They're gone. There ain't no Zeke right now. That's 77 reception. And I know Tony Pollard, hype, train, hype season, whatever. Michael Gallup has a great opportunity. And if this plantar fasciitis stuff is worse than we think with Amari Cooper, and he misses time?

And Michael Gallops the one on a Kellynmore, Dak Prescott downfield throwing offense where he can go up and make the right now. Talk around camp. They're tuned in with the back shoulder throw. Michael Gallop's a big boy. You think about those back shoulder connections that quarterbacks and wide receivers can have down the field. I'm just optimistic that Michael Gallup will have standalone value potentially and then all the upside of what if with Amari Cooper's foot. What if Amari Cooper?

misses week one. Oh, man. You can start Gallup. What if he misses, what if he plays week one, re-injures himself? He's out four weeks with plantar fasciitis. There's a lot of upside to Gallup. So he's one of my favorites. Oh, yeah. Can't nobody tell me nothing if Mari Cooper was out. You know what I'm saying? All right. No, I like that. I actually think that Gallup has been really underlooked. You know, on this podcast, we haven't really talked about him. But I'm worried a little bit about whatever the foot.

issue is with Amari Cooper. And, you know, was Zeke out there or not out there? Michael Gallup could end up, you know, being a horse to rely on. I'm going to go with Mark Andrews as my second sleeper pick, a tight end that I owe so regrettably traded in our Dynasty League to you, Andy, for John Ross way too early.

That was like a February trade. Yeah, it was. My favorite. Well, you won that one. Wait, let me make you a great offer. Oh, great. AJ Green is gone or is out right now. Sure. I will trade you John Ross for Mark Andrews. I thought if you had AJ Green to send along for Mark Andrews, now we could talk. But I'm a huge. I mean, Mark Andrews tied in for the Baltimore Ravens. Yeah, tied in for the Baltimore Ravens. It was a rookie last year. He didn't get a lot of pub because they drafted two.

tight ends, and he wasn't the first one they drafted. They drafted Hayden Hurst. A first round draft pick. Mark Andrews was also a pretty high draft pick himself, and you didn't know who to trust. Hayden Hurst got injured a little bit. Mark Andrews really looked great. I mean, he had the same yak ability that George Kittle had that was so dominant in 2018 for a rookie season since 1990.

He's behind only O.J. Howard in the highest yards per reception. He's got an ability out there that you really desire for fantasy tight ends, the ability to break those long, you know, stiff arm a guy and take it to the house. And if you look at just what he did in his rookie season, I mean, yeah, very impressive. He had the seventh most receiving yards for any rookie tight in since the year 2000. What was his total? What was his total on the season.

Not the pace, just the total. Was 552. I think he gets 800 this year. Look, in his rookie season, once Lamar Jackson took over that that second half, that's the pace you were talking about. He was on pace for 716. It's 50 a game. And a guy with a big yards, you know, per catch at the tight-in position, what do you got? One big play, two catches, 25 yards each, you're done. I mean, 800 yards.

could happen, and he's been the star of camp. I'm 100. I love arguing with you. I'm not arguing with you here. There's no chance that I disagree with Mark Andrews. Yeah, I mean, he costs you nothing. He's your last, he is my safety valve at Tide-in. Like, you know, I'd love to do the Vance dance or, you know, get one of the top three guys. Maybe Evan Ingram, if he's, if he's slipping to a good value. But if I don't get one of those guys, I just, I go, okay, I'll get Mark Andrews with my last pick. I am totally fine with that.

He has something that other tight ends, they don't even have the option to do. He could be the number one target for his team. Like, that's a very realistic outlook. Well, here's what you have to state out loud for him to be the number one. Miles Boykin won't be the number one option. Markis Brown won't be the number one option. Willie Sneed won't be the number one option. Honestly, Willie Sneed is his biggest competition. Well, it's fair, but it...

To your point. Yeah, listen to what we just said. Willie Sneed is his biggest competition for targets. And the fact that he's still the number two tight end on the team. Because Nick Boyle is still around. Even if he has usurped Hayden Hearst, I'm just, I'm with you guys. I like Mark Andrews as a sleeper, but you can't paint the picture just as all roses here for Mark Andrews. There is an outcome where Mark Andrews continues to play.

40% of the snaps. And that's 100% fair. And he's a 13th round pick. He's an undrafted guy in a lot of leagues. So my mental change has been to go for Mark Andrews over Trey Burton or Jordan Reed or Greg Olson. You know, Delaney, I'll draft the head of Mark Andrews. But the other guys, it's like, what do I want out of week one or two at that tight-in position? Because I'm afraid if I draft Trey Burton instead of Mark Andrews.

then I get two catches for 22 yards, week one. Okay, do I hang on to Trey Burton for the breakout game, three for 45 in week two? Whereas Andrews, it's like... Is he on the field for 75% of the snaps? Is this... Is Lamar Jackson a better passer now? More consistent. Does he throw the ball more? Is he rushing six, seven times, eight times a game instead of 10 to 12? A lot of... The variables excite me about Andrews. Right.

So there you go. Rosie or not, 13th round picks don't burn you if you get them wrong. Sure. All right, Mike, you're up. All right, the guy I want to talk about running back for the Los Angeles Chargers. Justin Jackson. We just talked about earlier on the show. They expect Melvin Gordon and the whole. Talk about action Jackson? Oh, yes. Action Justin Jackson. Yeah. They expect Melvin Gordon to be holding out. He can hold out for eight games. And we have seen that. We have seen that shift.