Top 10 QB Rankings + Evolving Opinions, Deshaun Warlock - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/13

of Russell Wilson. At the end of the year, he's going to be great. It's just going to be kind of up and down, some good games, some bad games. And when you put the ball in his hands, he's going to make magic happen. But it's going to be a roller coaster ride I don't want. I mean, look at the beginning of last year. You've said he's going to make magic a lot. Do you know something? Is he a warlock? He is one of the... Oh, man, Deshaun Warlock?

That's pretty good. Deshawn Warlock. You backed into that one. I didn't even think about it. I got to be more careful. You know why I keep saying he's going to make magic is because I don't know that I could name five players in the NFL. I enjoy watching more than Deshaun Watson. He is, he's so fun. And it's always on these crazy broken plays. You think he's sacked and he gets free and makes.

A scramble and bomb throw? There could be major problems for Deshawn Warlock. Because Will Fuller gets hurt. Sometimes the spell backfires. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, if you take this team and you subtract Will Fuller tomorrow, you're going to have problems. If you take this team and you subtract Brandon Cooks, you're going to have problems. Brooks brought this up. We didn't see Juju without Antonio Brown and we haven't seen Will Fuller without DeAndre Hopkins on the other side either. So as much upside or potential as that player has,

I'm just saying you remove a piece or two. You combine the schedule. Watson's always kicking against the goads a little bit with Bill O'Brien. You just have more downside to me, more risk. And where you have to draft him, zero teams. He'll be on zero of mine. Carson wins at eight, Josh Allen at number nine. I'll highlight this about Carson Went. Statistically, he had a great season last year in terms of like, it's shocking to me. Like it surprises me.

with the weapons that he had, what he was able to do, because you go back to that MVP type of year that he was having in 2017, and you come back, and like last year, he was over 4,000 yards. He was 27 passing touchdowns. He had nobody to throw to all year long. He may not have anybody to throw through this year. But he had a more impressive year than I think people give him credit for. Yeah, how dare you? Greg Ward. Could be a starter. Greg Ward is going to start for this team. From week five on. Point proven.

From week five on, you know, that was when a lot of the injuries hit and he had a hodgepodge. He still finished okay when it comes to the totality of those games, very similar to what Drew Brees did a couple years ago. But on a weekly basis, he wasn't a top 12 guy. He was 18, 18, 19. You know, he's in the teen, so he's not helping you on a weekly basis. But here's what I believe about Carson wins. I think he's a great quarterback. I would put him.

Up near the top. Really? I think he's a lock in my top ten as far as real-life quarterbacks. The last few years, either he has been injured.

or his wide receiving court has been injured. In 2017, there were no injuries to the wide receiver court, and his injury was, you know, super late. But in 13 games, he was the quarterback six. If he has health, he's got Zekertz, he's got Goddard. They drafted Jalen Rager, who I believe in. Deshaun Jackson is healthy. We don't know Al Sean, but there's enough weapons there. And I believe in Doug Peterson.

And I, so I'm, I'm in on Carson Wentz this year. In the ninth round, he's probably a quarterback I walk away with more than most. So you then, to ask the question another way, you believe he has the upside to be a top five guy this year? 100%. Interesting. I know Mike, you don't see that, do you? Yeah, I'm just, I don't know how to feel about Carson Wentz. And that ambiguity always, I just don't draft him. It's one of those things where.

Maybe I'm very wrong. Maybe I'm very wrong about Carson Winston. He is as good as you believe he is, Jason. But he's just for me as it doesn't inspire confidence. It doesn't inspire excitement. So I don't draft him for fantasy. Final point here. The one issue, now obviously two years ago, he was incredible. He was a difference maker each and every week. If you look at last year, you know, you start 12 quarterbacks. We say this. This is why late round quarterbacks are the prescription. Last year, you know, your league starts 12.

He really wasn't a difference maker except for two of those 16 weeks. Right. Otherwise, he's in the bottom half of what your league potentially got on a week-to-week basis. I think if you're – so I know what you're saying. You're saying top six. But in reality, I think if your quarterback – it finishes that week as a top 12, you're good, especially if you're drafting this guy late. Yep. And, you know –

Five of the first six weeks, he was in the top 12. Let's put that to the test because he's being drafted in the same range as these last two players on our top 10 quarterback list. Josh Allen comes in at number nine. Josh Stalin, excellent. Matthew Stafford at number 10 on our consensus ranks, which is a, you know, you can get them around later. So putting Matthew Stafford on the board around later or Carson wins. I would take Carson Wins. I would take

As would I. I actually have Matthew Stafford ranked ahead of Carson Wins this year. I think that those are obviously the kind of quarterbacks we're probably going to end up with in a lot of our drafts, unless you're going to go really, really late, unless you're good in a Cam Newton. We've talked about wins. Let's talk about Allen and Stafford to finish out the episode. Josh Allen last year had 3,000 yards passing, 20 touchdowns, did his damage on the ground.

Nine rushing touchdowns. That's so wild. 500 plus rushing yards. I was, you know, I think Stefan Diggs can make a big impact for Josh Allen's progression as a passer. It's never been about his efficiency in the passing game. That's good because it's not there. Because it doesn't exist.

But I do think Josh Allen's a good quarterback. I think he continues to move forward, whether that translates to fantasy value or not. I'm concerned that it doesn't have to. His success in the NFL does not have to, much like Russell Wilson with the early rushing kind of oriented, defensive-minded Seattle Seahogs.

Josh Allen can have a fabulous NFL season without giving you what you want for your fantasy. Well, last year, Josh Allen, games that Josh Allen scored more than two total touchdowns, one. One. And that was the week. You're talking passing Russian combined? Yes. Wow. And that was the week. He was the quarterback won on that particular week. But other than that, if you look at his game log, he was very mad. And here's my concern for Josh Allen.

It's funny because people look at this argument a different way than I do. The argument against Zach Moss, their third round rookie running back, saying, well, Josh Allen's going to take his touchdowns. Frank Gore had 11 carries inside the five that turned into two touchdowns. Josh Allen had five carries inside the five that turned into five touchdowns. If Frank Gore were able to execute better inside the five,

What happens to Josh Allen's touchdowns? That's the way I am looking at that. They go down. Thank you, Jason. Thank you for answering my rhetorical question. Got it. So that's my concern for Josh Allen. What if Alan finishes the year with four rushing touchdowns? Because the passing touchdowns are not.

They're not jumping to a level. They could, though, couldn't they? Not to me. I mean, this is the Lamar Jackson question of last offseason. Every single offseason discussion was Lamar Jackson has no chance to become this passing. He's inaccurate. Yeah, I mean, and then all of a sudden the jump happened. And you add Stefan Diggs to the equation, a great team. I'm just asking the question, could Josh Allen be one of the players that make that massive leap?

He's going to have to jump up to the 66 completion percentage range like Lamar Jackson. Yeah, can he, yes. He absolutely can. Diggs will move that number further. Diggs will move it up. And not just Diggs. I mean, the reality is what Diggs does is he makes John Brown and Cole Beasley better at the role that they are now playing for the team. So I think he's got a good wide receiving core. I think he can make that jump.

I do not believe he will make that jump to be good enough in the passing game because I think he loses rushing work. I think they want him to try to get better at passing. So you look at both Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. I think both of them are going to rely a little less on their rushing and a little more on their passing. Both added an elite wide receiver. But I think Kyler is set up to- Mar is like, why not just do both? Right. But that, well, that's my point is that I believe Kyler came in with the-

passing pedigree, the passing accuracy, the passing ability to take a leap forward, whereas the probability of Josh Allen doing that is not the same. So I'm, you know, he's still good. He's still got a rushing baseline, but he's more like my quarterback 10. If I had, because that's where you have him ranked. Exactly. So it's more like where he is. I cannot imagine having Josh Allen and not utilizing what he's brought you on the ground. I mean, it's just like the Cam Newton equation. Josh Allen.

is going to run because Josh Allen is going to get outside the pocket and have the ability to run the football. I think he has a beautiful opening schedule. He plays the Jets, the Dolphins, the Rams, the Raiders. Yeah, that's pretty solid. I think he has a, he's a great late-round target to me. Yeah, to start the season and just see if you do get the magic with Stefan Diggs because the pathway is there. Yeah, I mean, the reality is.

Josh Allen is a great runner. He has a bad schedule this year, gets off to a hot start, but the thing I can't wrap my head around is how he is so good rushing the ball in the NFL and so bad at running as a human. You guys remember his 40?

where he ran like Dwight Shrewt's brother and he doesn't know how to use his arms. If you haven't seen it, Foot Clan, you must look up Josh Allen's 40 run. It's hysterical. I've never seen a guy run like this that's not on a comedy show. I feel like he was mailing in it. Like he's just like, I don't care about this. I mean, I'm remembering it now. How is he? It's very funny. It is great. I forgot about it. And then Matthew Stafford last year was unbelievable through the first nine weeks.

of the season. Yeah. I was impressed with Matt Patricia's willingness to change kind of the identity that he came into the league possessing and just handing the ball off to Stafford and letting him do his thing. It made them competitive against better teams. Well, it's, I mean, it can work hand at hand because if you want to be, oh, we're the tough running team, draw everybody up with the run and then throw deep, which is what Stafford did last year. I mean, he was airing it out more than any quarterback in the league.

Yeah, and they gave them the ability to throw him first down frequently, which is, you know, you talk to Warren Sharp. It's like that's Warren Sharp's dream is these NFL teams start to take the step forward like Andy Reid does in Kansas City and throw the ball on a running down. And they let Matthew Stafford do that often. Hey, you're not allowed to do that? You're not allowed to do that. It's a running down. Yeah, well, welcome to. You had two tight ends on the field. You're supposed to run the ball. I don't know why it's that voice. Hey!

Hey, listen. That's my poison. Matthew, here's the offense that Matt Patricia ran last year. He pulled the book out. You know, it's a real thick book. It's got all the plays in it. But the cover page, the title sheet, it says don't get fired. And it's really, that's step one. And it doesn't matter what you do. I don't care of your identity is to run the football and play defense. Here's a little tip. You couldn't run and you couldn't play defense.

So if you're going to win, you're going to give Matthew Stafford the opportunity to throw to Kenny G and Marvin Jones. And now you've got arguably the best past catching running back coming out of college in DeAndre Swift. We talk about, okay, maybe they can't run the football since Barry Sanders. That doesn't mean DeAndre Swift can't be a weapon in this offense catching the ball 50 times. Theoretic was the most relevant running back out of the backfield in Detroit in the last 20 years because he caught the football. So I do like Stafford because of his draft.

capital. He's the quarterback 13 off the board. You can take him with your... We all like... Close to the last pick. He's on our breakout or our value list. I do have the worry with Stafford. My only worry, because he was unfathomably good at the beginning of last year. It was great. I don't worry about him. I do worry about Patricia and the OC in the sense that we were coming in the last year saying they want to run the ball. That's the history. That's what they say. That's what they've done. And they didn't.