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What Preseason Week 1 Actually Told Us · Upper Hand Fantasy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on everybody?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Upper Hand Fantasy Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is Farraz Siddiqui.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go over some preseason week one takeaways in this episode.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: The season's here, baby.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We get we're getting some real football to go off of.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love this time of year going into the season, looking at what these starters are doing.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like I try my best not to overanalyze like seven snaps with the first team, but they do year over year give pretty good indications as to how players are being used.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, not every single situation are things that are sticky that can go from the preseason into the regular season, but it's still worth paying attention to because there are some, you know, some things that coaches show tip their hand a little bit in terms of you know what a player's role might look like, are they sharing a role with somebody else, etc.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna dive into that right now.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just get right into it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's start with the Raiders.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Michael Mayer scored a touchdown in this game.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Brock Bowers uh was not a big factor in this one.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Only playing one snap with the starters and came off the field.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But this is Clint Kubiak we're talking about, right?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we're likely to see more condensed formations, more 12 personnel, more 21 personnel, and that sort of thing.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Trey Tucker and Jalen Naylor are the primary two wide receivers.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but are they gonna be the ones who are gonna be the number two target behind Brock Bowers?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, right?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a big chance here that Michael Mayer in those two tight end sets just ends up being the best, that you know, the next best receiver outside of Brock Bowers, and like he ends up being usable either in tight end premium leagues or he ends up being usable as like the streaming option.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, like has Trey Tucker shown enough where he can make a huge impact and like, yeah, can he be a flex option?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, but is he gonna be someone that you rely on you know week in and week out?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Naylor, you know, a lot of Jalen Naylor fans out there, but has he shown enough to you know obviously be you know someone who can step into a huge role?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big question mark as well, right?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So just someone to keep an eye on, especially in deep leagues and tight end premium leagues, uh something to keep an eye on and you know just not be a surprise if Mayer ends up being, you know, either the second or third target on this team.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think Ash and Genty uh looked solid in this game, but Mike Washington stole the show with a huge run when he got some some action in this game.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he's looking like the main handcuff and the clear handcuff behind Ash and Genty.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: One of the few, there's not that many like pure handcuffs where you know like that one guy will get most of the work, you know, if the starter gets hurt.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and he is, in fact, one of them.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move on to the bills real quick.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: DJ Moore suffered an ankle injury in this game.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: It does like a lot of people are saying, like medical experts are saying that this could be a high ankle sprain.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing has come out from the team just yet and saying that it is a high ankle sprain.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, the mechanism is there for one, but they're not you know revealing their cards just yet.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll see if he's able to return to practice anytime soon.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a huge indication of what kind of injury this is, and if he's out for more than a few days or a week, um, then you know that this could be of the high ankle variety, which would not be good.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's the that's the potential bad.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the good is that DJ Moore was ridiculously involved uh with the first team um and with Josh Allen.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like three of three targets in this game, Josh Allen only threw seven passes, and you know, he got this one wide open, and you know, he ended up taking it for a bunch of yards after the catch.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: He ended up with 61 yards in this game.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we've been hearing a lot of smoke, you know, from Camp that him and Josh Allen have a really, really good connection, and that you know, Allen is just constantly looking for him everywhere.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that translated into this game directly.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, he's going at the end of the fifth round, end of the fifth round in drafts.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's somebody that I'm looking at as one of my main targets there.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: End of the fifth rounds, it's tough.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like earlier in the fifth, it's a little bit easier to grab him.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: But once you have to choose between guys like him and Christian Watson and Romo Dunze, it gets really tough.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if I had to choose like the guy who has the most upside out of that group, it's probably Christian Watson.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: But DJ Moore has to be an option in that range.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Another small thing from this game, I did notice that uh James Cook had a very high route participation in this one.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I was looking out for this just because we've heard more smoke around James Cook and him being more involved in the receiving game, running more routes in this game.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you look at you know the previous several seasons, same offense, he just didn't run, he didn't have a high route participation rate.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, he was very effective on the ground, he scored a lot of touchdowns, so it didn't really matter, right?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was just a really good player, very efficient and on a great offense.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: But if he can start running a ton of routes and getting like 50% route participation or higher, we're talking like overall RB1 upside here.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, a little encouraging, but small sample size.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not, you know, taking a huge amount from this, but at least like it lines up a little bit with what we've been hearing.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Moving to Carolina, real quick, Jonathan Brooks, you know, his stock is all the way up right now, man.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he started this game.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it looked solid, you know what I mean?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, his first game back in a while.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I don't know if you guys have heard, but Chuba Hubbard has a hamstring injury that's gonna keep him out weeks.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning that Brooks is gonna get all the reps, all the practice time.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna operate as RB1 until the start of the season.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in week one, he will probably be the guy.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So as I've been saying all offseason, he's somebody that we should be targeting later in drafts, but unfortunately, his ADP is now going to skyrocket.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was already in the running to be RB1 in on you know on this team, potentially, and now it might be in the bag.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not guaranteed, obviously, but pretty likely at this point.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some encouraging stuff from Tetro McMillan.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, with Chris Brazzle going down, after hearing some reports about McMillan seeing more playing time in the slot, I was like, man, like I don't know if they would do that now.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh, you know, if Brazzle was good to go, he could be on the outside while Jalen Coker is also on the outside and Tedo McMillan can play more in the slot.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But in this game, even without Brazzle, obviously, because he's out for the season, Tedor McMillan was still in the slot a ton.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So this is great for his usage.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if they're able to move him around more and be able to play him in the slot more, like you're just taking advantage of things that Bryce Young does well, and that's target the slot, target the middle of the field.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you want from your number one receiver.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You want them to get that type of motion and usage and you know, moving around the formation to take advantage of matchups and getting plays designed for you and stuff like that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, I wasn't big on McMillan in the third round.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still not, but I do think that this is a pretty, pretty good uh is a positive uh take from him from this uh first week of preseason.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Moving to the Browns, real quick, Denzel Boston started as the ex-receiver with the first team.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Deshaun Watson was the quarterback this week.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna start Shador Sanders uh this upcoming week now, um, just that because they're still in a quarterback competition.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think Watson looked fine.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think what really stood out to me, and Boston did his thing too, but Casey Concepcion, like he was he started in the slot, he's gonna be their primary slot receiver.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he did play, he did take one snap from Jerry Judy on the outside in 12 personnel and two wide receiver sets, um, which which is a good sign that you know they're at least, you know, it's not like a Jaden Reed situation where they will never do that, but at least in this situation, they were willing to a little bit.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think eventually Concepcion is gonna take over for Judy as well, and maybe they switch those roles a little bit.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe in two per two personnel, I'm sorry, in 12 personnel, they move Judy inside and then keep Concepcion outside.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we'll see.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do think that with all of the motion that they're giving him pre-snap, and then the design touches, the end arounds that we saw in this just in just this preseason game.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then obviously, we saw what he was able to do after you know he gets the ball in his hands and being able to like play compact, almost like play like a running back, and then get to the pylon and score that touchdown.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is exactly why I was on him all year long and why I loved him as a prospect.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's tough, he's great with the ball in his hands.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just today he said his goal was to score three or four punt return touchdowns.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was returning punts in this game too.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he's just somebody who's also like a super underrated separator and route runner.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: So just somebody who you know is going in the double-digit rounds, who is a clear value and a and a must draft at this point.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mentioned the Packers real quick and Jaden Reed.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Jaden Reed is still playing as the slot receiver.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he he he is still coming off the field in three wire in two wide receiver sets.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it is Matthew Golden and Christian Watson on the outside.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Watson would be still my number one target here.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: My number two target overall would be.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm talking about in drafts, by the way, not Jordan Love's targets, but in drafts, I like Christian Watson number one, and then I like Jaden Reed number two.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: In this game, they did play a lot more 11 personnel, like three wide receiver sets uh more often than not.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, very small sample size, but you know, they did run, they did pass out of 11 personnel, you know, all five of Jordan Love's dropbacks uh in this game.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, it is what it is, but like if they play more 11 personnel, that means Jaden Reed will just be playing more, there'll be less of a rotation in general, because like they have a clear top three, and then there's a serious drop-off after these top three receivers, right?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: After losing Romeo Dobbs and Dantevian Wicks.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a chance that Reed ends up just running more routes because of the fact that they run more 11 personnel and less rotation.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously Golden can do his thing, but Golden got zero targets in this game.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jaden Reed ended up leading the team in targets with three.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Watson had two targets in this one out of those five attempts from Jordan Love.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so interesting to know, right?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um moving into this year.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Golden has all the opportunity in the world to break out with this role, but you know, he had tidbits of that role last year and couldn't get it done.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, a lot of a lot of um, you know, positive reports from camp, but he you know, he needs to turn it into real, you know, real production on the field when it when it when it matters.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in this backfield, Josh Jacobs obviously dealing with an injury number one, number two, he's also dealing with the off the field legal issues.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a suspension is still on the table for Josh Jacobs.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure Ian Rapp reported about that not too long ago.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the interesting thing is Marshawn Lloyd is healthy now, and there have been reports about him um seeing this particular doctor this offseason to get his body right and kind of transform how his body's operating.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously, over the last couple years since he's come out of college, he has been a walking injury, like injury after injury after injury, like he couldn't stay healthy at all.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys might know if you followed me for a while, I was a big Marshawn Lloyd guy coming out.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Loved him, you know, see him at the senior bowl that year as well.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the fact that he played every single snap with the first team offense, every snap that Jordan Love was on the field, he was on the field as well.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: He was running routes, he looked good.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's just been a lot of praise coming out of camp for him.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like the organization loves him, he just can't stay healthy.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a reason why they love him because he's a damn good player.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And even with Josh Jacobs healthy, there's a chance that he carves out a rule for himself as long as he can stay healthy.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, you know, he's somebody that should be on a radar simply because of the fact that if Jacobs gets hurt, this guy could be the every down or at least a three-down workhorse for a pretty good Packers offense.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So keep in mind, keep him in mind.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Movements of the Jets, Brees Hall hurt his groin today in practice, unfortunately.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta hurt.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, don't know the severity of that just yet.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure we're here we'll hear more soon, and maybe he'll get more testing and all that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but not ideal, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just a couple weeks away from the season.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Isaiah Davis, the you know, I think he's the current RB2, he's also dealing with an injury, so he didn't play in this preseason game.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there was a lot of positive for Brees Hall in this game because he played every snap with the first team except just one, and that's when Braylon Allen came in for that one snap with the first team.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then if Brees Hall is playing that much, like what would have Isaiah Davis played if he were to be be you know healthy for that game?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: But we've also heard reports about Brees Hall, you know, maybe being a little bit more of a workhorse than we've been used to.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, he just got paid too, so that could go into that decision as well.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Isaiah Davis, I think, would be the player, the running back that I would want if Brees Hall were to miss time.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's more efficient, he's more elusive, he is also um he plays better than you would think after contact.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: You think of Braylon Allen and how big that dude is, you would think that like he's really good at after contact.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I just don't know if that's the case because Isaiah Davis is just, I think, an overall better running back, and he's a much better receiver, too.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, would they give Isaiah Davis goal line carries if they get there?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's where Braylon Allen comes in.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I do think that uh, you know, if you if you're gonna pick up one running back, it would be Isaiah Davis.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Not a great, great run out so far for uh Omar Cooper Jr., um, the rookie wide receiver that the Jets just drafted.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um A.D.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Mitchell is the clear wide receiver two ahead of him.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there also, unfortunately, might be another wide receiver ahead of him, Isaiah Williams, who's been killing it at camp, apparently.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and in this game, Isaiah Williams played with the first team, or I guess with the with the starting unit.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and until the starting unit was done, that's when Omar Cooper Jr.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: ended up coming in.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So he seems to be the wide receiver four behind these guys right now.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Cooper can obviously, you know, he's a great prospect, he's a good player.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you know, he could obviously start to win that competition against Isaiah Williams.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but who knows?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like it could take some time, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, not I wouldn't be completely surprised if he doesn't make a huge fantasy dent in year one.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you have to talk about Jeremiah Love's performance and the fact that he has a high ankle sprain.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, why do you need to play him that much?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: You you you come into this, you know, into the offseason, you're like, all right, listen, like, this can't be like a one-man show.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we need to have multiple, multiple running backs because it's just, you know, it's just not smart to give you know one guy all that work.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yet you give the dude like how many how many touches did this guy have?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: He had 14 touches in this game.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why'd you just take him out when other starters came out?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: That would have been nice.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you kind of know what you have in this guy, don't you?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it was in was that absolutely necessary?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, the good before he got hurt was the fact that his split with Ayalgir wasn't that annoying.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he was still like a 70% snap guy.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: He was he had a relatively high route participation.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was running, you know, he had a good route rate.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So he's gonna get his targets, and the fact that he was able to get 14 touches in a meaningless preseason game in you know, in one half, pretty much, like that's pretty damn good in terms of a workload that you're looking for.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like the reason why anybody would fade him was there was there would be two reasons in conjunction.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is like if you if you don't believe in the Cardinals offense as a whole, uh and then number two, like in conjunction, would be the fact that you know maybe those this would be a little bit of a split, you know, Algier mixing in, even James Conner mixing in potentially as well as a third running back.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm not sure if we should have that concern right now with Jeremiah Love.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think he can still end up with 20 plus touches in a game, even with Algier getting eight or nine carries or ten carries.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's possible.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Algier didn't even run a route in this game, so his role is pretty clear, like as that static, like, hey, we're probably gonna run the ball here, running back, right?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um unfortunately, uh you know, he left with the high ankle sprain.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Love did so now how do you deal with this?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's going the third round.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can't draft him in the third round right now.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I'm drafting today, like I cannot draft him there because I don't know how this is gonna affect him.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: High ankle sprains are notorious for to like zap uh efficiency, to zap um explosiveness.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, this could be a re-injury risk waiting to happen throughout the year.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, he his risk profile simply goes up.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think if he goes down to like the end of closer to the end of the third round or or early fourth, like that's when I'm gonna be like almost all in.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think getting a talent like him who can get 20 plus touches in a game and be efficient doing it, uh, and also catch passes, I I think is a pretty that they'll be a mispriced um asset at that point, you know, in that early fourth round range, or at least at the 3-4 turn.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of interesting tidbits from the Chargers.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, um, both so obviously we talked about Aronda Gaston, right?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that they added both Charlie Kohler and uh David Njoku, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, well, is he gonna be able to get enough routes and run enough of a route rate to be able to be fantasy relevant?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think the answer is no.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Both Charlie Kohler and David Njoku rested with the starters in this game, but Gaston ended up playing.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a great sign.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, Kimani Videl also played in this game, while Amarian Hampton and Keaton Mitchell rested as healthy scratches.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that tells you that Kamani Vidal isn't as vital to this Chargers offense, starting offense, as Keaton Mitchell is.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Keaton Mitchell, we talked about this before, fits Shanahan's scheme like a glove.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's part of the reason why, you know, anyone would fade Omarion Hampton at his price.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like if there if Keaton Mitchell wasn't in this backfield, I really don't think there would be anybody that would be more deserving of touches, like all the touches, than Omarion Hampton.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that Vidal is like insane talent, but like he is a good one-step and go outside zone run guy, uh, and that's Shanahan's scheme.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this this that alone just tells a lot.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: More than the play, more than how they play on the field, but this uh inactive, active for this preseason game gave us a lot of info, I think.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Moving to the Titans, real quick.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you would expect Tony Pollard to kind of have this uh have somewhat control of the backfield.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I always thought that this was going to be a pretty close split between him and Tajay Spears, which is why I was taking a lot of Spears towards the end of draft.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Spears is basically free, he's like going off the board in the 15th round-ish, and Tony Pollard is going off, I think, in the ninth round or so.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: But Spears ended up playing more snaps, 13 snaps to nine snaps.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: He ran two more routes.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: They both had four carries each.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Spears had a big run in this one, and then Pollard uh ended up punching it in for a touchdown.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Spears seems like a clear value.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: The ADP gap should not be as large as it is right now.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Tony Pollard is somebody who I just cannot draft in that range, especially given some of the wide receivers and Jordan Mason and guys like that in that range.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, Cam Ward in this game, if you watched him play, like he was like absolutely terrible.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like this was not good.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: He as somebody who, you know, was looking at him as somebody who could take a potential jump in year two.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I didn't see any sign of that jump.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I saw uh I mean I'm not gonna say I saw a regression because it wasn't that much of a sample size, but still, like, you know, he played a good amount and a lot of inaccuracy, a lot of like bad like the decision making was weird, like holding the ball for too long, not getting the ball out to the right spot for his receivers.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was just it was just ugly.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was just ugly.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully, you know, obviously, you know, I think you know, I heard that he bounced back.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so they played on Thursday.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: He bounced back on set in Saturday's practice and looked good.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it needs to be translated, you know, to the actual field, right?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what happens with this.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, hopefully he get he's just getting the kinks out from the offseason and and all that.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully he can bounce back from it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's only one you know preseason game, right?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's the first one this year.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: So not I'm not I'm not holding it against him too much, but like it's definitely not ideal, right?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: When you're looking at potentially drafting Carnell Tate or Wandell Robinson, uh, or any of these guys on this offense, right?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh by the way, Wandell was the slot receiver, uh primary slot, but he did get the most targets um in this game.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it is worth noting.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, two straight 140 target seasons from Brian uh in offenses that Brian Dable has ran over the last two years, and he brought him over.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So play a similar role, similar role.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing is, though, he might not end up playing uh on the outside like in two wide receiver sets like he did last year with Malik Neighbors or you know, with whoever the you know the X receiver is.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but Know he will be on the field in three wide receiver sets.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: In two wide receiver sets, it was Calvin Ridley and as the X receiver, and then uh Tate as the as the flanker.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think one wide receiver who is absolutely winning, you know, in training camp and you know so much hype around him, and then he actually came through in this first preseason game is Dejaan Stribling.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like 62% target share in this game, you know, with the first team.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like he saw eight of 13 possible targets, and he actually ended up having a great game.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like he looked good, like he caught balls like from the slot, he was catching balls down the field on the outside, separating vertically.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: He looked good, you know.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: He got some contested catches in there, too.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think given this is Kyle Shanahan's scheme, and you have a wide receiver popping off like this in camp and in a preseason, like you got to take your shots, man.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, second round pick, he's just somebody we have to take shots on, period.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's for me, he's a must-draft.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, once you get to the double-digit rounds, like it's fair game at that point to get him.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Mike Evans obviously has his injury history, he's 33 years old.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's like a lot of potential upside here for stribling uh in this particular scheme, and with Brock Purdy as his quarterback, straight up.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move to the Chiefs backfield real quick.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Behind Kenneth Walker, we're looking at a couple of backs, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at Emmett Johnson, who was just brought on this year as a rookie.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, last year, Brashard Smith was, you know, one of the kind of chess pieces in the pass game that that Andy Reid was using.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then they brought in Amari Demarcado too, uh, as a free agent.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Demarcado is somebody who has been you can call him, you can kind of call him like the veteran of the group who has some NFL chops as a pass protector and as a pass passing down back, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't really have an indication, uh, a strong indication as to like who will be that guy.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: I will say that Brashard Smith uh started the game and he played most of the snaps early on with the first team, and then he came off the field, and then it was uh it was Emma Johnson after that.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's interesting because uh from camp, there's been a lot of rumblings that Amari DeMarcado would be the you know the passing down guy.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, regardless, if Kenneth Walker were to get hurt, and I'm knocking on wood as I say that, I think the guy that I'm the most interested in, assuming he makes the team, is Emmett Johnson.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Emmett Johnson, you know, from Nebraska, able to carry a full workload, not necessarily like the most efficient in the run game, but obviously could be very very uh productive on this particular offense.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if Kenneth Walker were to get hurt, Emmett Johnson would profile as like the next best runner with serious receiving chops.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's kind of how I look at it.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's a very, very good receiver who happens to be an average runner who could end up being a little bit better than he would normally be if he wasn't on the Chiefs.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's a lot of uh word scramble for you right there.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I think Emmett Johnson, like you know, long story short, would be the guy that I would bet on to be the primary hancuff to Kenneth Walker, even though it might end up just being a timeshare at the end of the day.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll see.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: We'll obviously monitor this next game, but I think this RB2 job for the Chiefs, and along with who's gonna be their primary receiving back or passing down back, is gonna be very interesting.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: A bit on the Giants backfield, real quick, it was a bit of a mix.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like Scataboo did end up getting the first uh carry for the team, uh, but he mixed in a little bit with Tyrone Tracy, and then even with the even on the first team, we ended up seeing a little bit of Devin Singletary too.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Not ideal.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you don't want uh Scataboo to get a ton of touches, like you know, then he pulls a Jeremiah Love.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: You you don't want to see that, right?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's coming off a gruesome injury.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: You want him to get ramped up a little bit in real game time action.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this makes sense.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't think this is really indicative of what his role is gonna look like during the season, but at the same time, it's possible that they end up ramping him up like for several weeks going into the season, and then what happens from there?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we just don't know.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I think he's very talented, but it might take several weeks for him to kind of get, you know, get his feet under him uh to be able to like really play like we know he can play, right?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we might have to be a little bit patient.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll take a discount, you know, in terms of like where his ADP will be.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be welcome.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because he was kind of creeping up into that late fourth round range, and I loved the fifth round price tag personally.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now it is worth noting that the Giants are bringing in Najee Harris for a visit today, which is uh not really what you want to hear if you draft the Cam Scadaboo or we're planning on drafting Cam Scadaboo because if they bring in Najee Harris, are they really bringing him in him in just to be, you know, like a backup?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is he gonna what role is he gonna play, right?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is he gonna be somebody who takes a load off of him?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Tyrone Tracy, obviously they're passing down back right now, their primary one.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, what does that mean for his role?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: It will get it kind of muddy, honestly, if they end up bringing Najee in.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, so we'll see uh what they end up doing there, but something to monitor with this backfield.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah likely is somebody else I want to mention and talk about because obviously he's one of my sleepers, uh, or I guess one of my you know tight end targets.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it is worth noting that his ADP where he's going, like, there's a reason why he's not being drafted a lot earlier, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Given that you know he's the quote unquote starting tight end for the Giants and like the main tight end there.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's like definitely the main pass catcher, but he's not the only tight end.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Giants have multiple tight ends that they were using with the first team.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah Likely basically just came in for the passing plays, right?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which is fine.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: His route participation will and can be high, right?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's on the feet.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: He was running a route on, I think, five of six uh Jackson dart throws.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, like you want him on the field on some run plays too, because the Giants have to know that if Isaiah likely is only going to come in on passing downs, then you're obviously gonna be, or passing plays, then you're obviously gonna be giving away and tipping your you know what you're doing to the defense and letting them know, like, hey, if Isaiah likely's in there, we're probably passing it, right?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is not something that good coaches want to happen.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh now it is worth noting that the coach here is Matt Nagy, the OC at least.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: So uh you know, you never know.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's not nice.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say this is the reason why he's being drafted at this spot, because there is a little bit of risk associated with him.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, yes, can he be the second target still?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but if he's gonna be coming off the field this much, because I if I'm not mistaken, he was only on the field for like five of like fourteen snaps or something like that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which is, you know, which is not ideal.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you the exact number here, actually.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was on the field for six of sixteen snaps, but he ran a route on six of seven dropbacks, right?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then he ended up getting two targets out of the five that Jackson Dart ended up throwing.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: So not ideal, but this is gonna be his role.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's like uh this passing down slot receiver type of player, which can be fine for fantasy, but is it gonna be extremely consistent?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I I just don't know.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you haven't checked out the draft kit yet, I would highly recommend doing so.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: We updated the entire draft kit with all the updated blurbs from this week's preseason games.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: We updated all the rankings and the tiers.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, these are all mine.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: I say we, because we had a great team putting the thing together from like a technical perspective.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Tyler, our our our website guy, has been amazing and just he's a wizard when it comes to this stuff.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but in terms of all the analysis, all the takes, all the rankings, uh, it's all mine for Oz's, me.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I hope you guys enjoyed.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you got some drafts coming up this weekend, next weekend.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: This thing is gonna be continually updated all offseason long.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so whenever you end up drafting, you will know that is the most up-to-date version possible in terms of your your draft cheat sheets that you're printing out.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you're using the live draft assistant, which allows you to you know pick by pick, understand who the best pick is on the board.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: You you manually click guys off as they come off the board, and then you'll see Faraz's take.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see Faraz's next best pick, you'll see the sleepers, you'll see the targets, you'll see the avoids, all of that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're interested, I'll have the link in the description of the podcast.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: But also, if you just find me on Instagram at UpperhandFantasy and you DM me the word draft26, one word, draft26, I'll send you more information.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but go check it out.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you guys.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Take it easy.