Latest / Altitude Problems / 2026 Episode #10: Rockies Offense is Surging! Our Must Haves for Fantasy Season

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2026 Episode #10: Rockies Offense is Surging! Our Must Haves for Fantasy Season · Altitude Problems

• Big Country: Welcome into the Outstitude Problems Podcast. This is episode ten with my partner P V. ⁓ let's get straight into it. How you doing tonight, man? PV: I'm doing good. Feels good to hit number ten. Big Country: September ten day it feels like it was yesterday when they were doing ⁓ day one. PV: I mean it's been ten weeks already, kinda crazy to think about, technically eleven since we took one off, but yeah. Big Country: That yeah. Yeah, honestly, ⁓ I'm excited. Excited for what's ahead too. You know, we're kinda like in that lull of sports, but at the same time, you know, we're getting getting through it. ⁓ OBs in full effect. We got World Cup and soon enough we're gonna have NFL to talk about every single week. And we're those are gonna be good episodes too. So I'm excited. ⁓ give me a recap on some F1 though. PV: ⁓ yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so we saw Charles Leclerc get his ⁓ Leclerc get his first win in a while, gives Ferrari their second win of the year, ⁓ that constructors championship just a little bit closer. Mercedes inching a little bit down after Kimmy Antonelli ⁓ a couple of unfortunate ⁓ circumstances throughout the race. Started with him ⁓ getting kind of a like unlucky break on his wing, slowed him down a lot, dropped him a few places, and then eventually, ⁓ because of that wing, he was cutting corners, they gave him a five second penalty. Drops out of points, doesn't end up getting anything. So now we see George Russell, who ended up taking second, and ⁓ Hamilton, both of them who took third, both of them climbing very much closer to him in the drivers' championship. Russell ended up taking second, ⁓ and it was kind of a weird one because Hamilton was second place with the safety car coming out, but the Ferrari team decided to have Hamilton pit and change his tires, and because of that, he ended up dropping to third and the safety car stayed out, so they didn't even get a chance to try to catch. Russell, he just got a he just got gifted second place. And then ⁓ kind of another unfortunate circumstance in that race, ⁓ Max Verstappen did end up crashing out. He was third place, he had podium secured at the time, and then that was what caused the safety car. he had been complaining about the car during qualifying, asked for it to be fixed, team didn't fix it, started out on the grid, and he ended up crashing while in third, didn't get any points for the race. So really unfortunate for Max Verstappen fans. But yeah, so we'll go ahead and move on to the World Cup game. How do you feel about ⁓ USA getting knocked out in that round of sixteen? Big Country: ⁓ you know, obviously disappointed. I think every you know, like guy that kind of like got into or like World Cup and USA soccer over the past few weeks, you know, really believed that this team could like make a run. Boy, were we wrong. My God. That was one of the worst defensive performances I've ever seen out of a World Cup team in the round of sixteen. Not only did they la look like themselves at all, you know, after like the group stage in that round of thirty-two, but like they look like they were like the team from like ten years ago. That was just shit. So unfortunate. in the end did they were they gonna win it? No, probably not. But it would have been cool to, you know, see like a round of not a round of eight, but like a quarter final game, you know, but Belgium, you know, experience and ⁓ depth proved to be ⁓ a big factor in that game. PV: Yeah, I mean, ⁓ you know, obviously I always knew that USA wasn't really gonna make it too far. You know, there were a lot of people getting a little too hype in that, ⁓ in their whole run and everything. But obviously it was still really disappointing. It was still really disappointing to see the ⁓ Belgium game and how that played out, you know. We finally get some tough competition. We think we can maybe at least keep it close, but it was kind of just a you know, a mess of a game. ⁓ we only had Big Country: Put a hand up there. PV: I think maybe three total shots offensively, and that's due to, like you said, poor for poor performance defensively. ⁓ we never really had control of the ball regardless, and you know, we ended up getting whooped. ⁓ another sad thing to note is ⁓ Mexico also got knocked out in the route of sixteen. I'm a big fan of Mexico, and so obviously it was really tough to watch. ⁓ really sad to see. ⁓ you know, we did put up a good fight though. It was ⁓ a lot closer of a game for sure, a lot more fun to watch, but not enough, unfortunately. So another sad one there. And then Ronaldo and Neymar. We also saw them have their last World Cup games. Neymar officially announced he retired from the World Cup and we knew this would be Ronaldo's last. So we did get to see Neymar score one in his last one. ⁓ really sad to see Ronaldo go out. ⁓ what do you how do you feel about those two legends leaving? Big Country: I mean Neymar's Legends of the Game. ⁓ I'm more of a Ronaldo fan than most. ⁓ you know, that dude's just insane. So kind of to see him go out with like what felt like a little fight out of out of Portugal. It was kinda sad to see Brazil. I gotta hand it to a frickin' Norway, man. They're just knocking on the door and just kicking you in the face. I mean, I wouldn't say like Brazil, you know, played horrible, but they just they also just didn't seize their opportunities, it felt like during that game. ⁓ so sad to see. But we got a new generation for a reason. Sad see like our generation of ⁓ guys that we watched when we grew up or saw clips of 'cause I'm let's be honest, I never watched them. it's kinda sad. I was I mean, Neymar it feels like he cries in every fucking matches that he loses, so I didn't really mind seeing him. Come off. I mean he's 34 and he's given it up already. I think I know he's got out a lot of injuries, kind of like the OBJ for soccer, I'd say. But ⁓ Arnaldo. Kyrie is a good one too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ronaldo, I mean, he's a stud. Just couldn't ⁓ get the very biggest title. He got the Euros though. PV: More like the Kyrie. I like that one more. Y yeah, you know, Ronaldo, it's not like you can it's not like you can say he didn't have an illustrious career. He still had a great career. ⁓ Neymar very similar to Kyrie, you know, he wanted to go about his own path, do his own thing, didn't really ⁓ succeed as much as, you know, many were hoping that they either of them would, and that's why I feel like the Kyrie's a really good comparison. But you know, either way, you never really are happy to see a legend go, so ⁓ we'll definitely miss them both. Big Country: ⁓ It's the only thing you didn't get. Yeah. Yeah. PV: ⁓ but yeah, other than that, Argentina seem to be looking a little fishy in this World Cup, you know. Nothing to take from them. They are a great team. Lona Leo Messi is obviously Messi. He is a phenomenal player, but you know, there's been a lot of fishy things and a lot of things to look into ⁓ regarding penalties. ⁓ even the bracket being set up for them the way it is is kind of insane when you think about it. ⁓ you know, it they just keep getting lucky and they were finally gonna maybe face Columbia this next time around and then then they Colombia ends getting knocked off by Switzerland. We'll see what Switzerland can do against Argentina. But, you know, you hope to see ⁓ a good a good matchup. You just hope to see a lot more of a fair penalty kind of a, you know, calling on against Argentina side, 'cause it does feel like it has been relatively one sided. Big Country: ⁓ yeah. Egypt was literally on the doorstep. They were walking into the home. They were ready to, you know, go s have a seat on the couch. They kinda get brutally fucked by the refs. Moussala's pissed, man. I mean, Argentina feels like, you know, they've been on the edge for the past two games, too. So like if Switzerland gives them a good enough fight, you can see them beating him, obviously. But if they do that against a France Or a England or even maybe ⁓ Spain. I easily think they could lose. So who are you kind of rooting for for the rest though? PV: Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I mean obviously kinda like the rest of the world, I'm going for Norway. ⁓ big I'm big on Holland. Holland's really he's a cool guy, he's fun to watch. ⁓ and you know, we like I like my dad mentioned, ⁓ I'd rather see a team win that hasn't, you know, constantly won titles. So it would be really cool to see a new nation go up there and the trophy. Big Country: Yeah. As someone that has a future for Holland to win the golden boot, I would love to see him get to the final, you know, and compete for that. as someone that has an Argentina future to win it all, wouldn't mind them going, but I am fully ⁓ going for Norway as a part Norwegian, you know. It's the only team I have stake left in besides maybe England, but everyone's English at this point. PV: Yeah. Big Country: So, you know, I'd rather like stake it out for the country that have like maybe like six percent lineage. So I'm excited. I'm excited for that. PV: Yeah, I think Norway's more fun anyway, you know. England England's had their time. They have their stars. I think it would be a lot cooler to see a team like Norway win. Big Country: And if they beat France, they can beat anyone. So that game's gonna be huge. ⁓ Holland's a stud, fucking Bapay. Let's see what's let's see what we can do, Norway. PV: Yeah, absolutely. Think France plays tomorrow. Big Country: Yeah, it's a it's I mean, I'm not gonna be I'll be at work, but not really, you know, you know us. but anyways. ⁓ I don't know if you've been like keeping up with the Rockies, but ⁓ Hunard Gooden was named to his ⁓ second straight all star appearance. and it doesn't feel like this year for like the first time in like a couple years, it doesn't feel like this is like the shoe in Rockies player that they get just because they need a player in the All Star game. PV: Yeah. Yeah, France and Morocco tomorrow. Big Country: You know, because every team gets one. Hunter Goodman deserved to be there this year, like no doubt in my mind. He has 27 homers. He leads an OPS on the road for out of any NL player, which is just nuts because that's usually exact opposite when you play at Coors And he should be in the home run derby, but the L B doesn't like him. So I'm hoping he gets in there. I'm hoping the MLG maybe takes the hint, but it's not like a handout at the same time, and he can get in there and he can straight up bash. 'Cause he's just got effortless power. So I'm excited for that. ⁓ yeah. PV: Yeah, I mean he's been tearing the face off the ball. I think, you know, Rockies fans and MLB fans will like think it's kind of crazy that he hasn't been invited to the home run derby given that he's one of the home run leaders this year. But, you know, hopefully he gets that invite eventually. But overall the Rockies have been tearing it up. I mean, ⁓ we see them making a lot of rallies in particular now, being down early in some games, but the bats get hot and the bats get alive and then you just see us somehow make a comeback. Sometimes we blow the lead with the bullpen, but there have been a couple bright spots like recently. ⁓ why don't you tell us about Jordan Romano? Big Country: I mean, Romano he's two for two in saves as a Rocky. He was basically like the sorority gore that got passed around in the Frat House the p this past year. And he's finally kind of like found a home here-ish. I mean, he's only been up for like a week after being down in the triple A, get kinda like probably going through some shit. But I mean, you could see him as our closer of the future because he's he's kind of like built for those big moments and he was last night. He got the Dodgers best three hitters to close out the game. ⁓ but at the same time, I mean, if he plays his cards right, he could Rockies could easily ship him for some parts back, you know what I mean? Cause I mean, why not try and flip this guy? He's probably not gonna re-sign if he has a good year for one. And if you can get something out of him for a team that's probably not gonna make the playoffs, that's it. Not probably. They're not gonna make the playoffs at, you know, seventeen games under. But they're also playing much competitive bait better competitive baseball. So I would I wouldn't mind trading him personally if he has any value. So you sign him at almost no risk, you know, you're paying him literally league minimum. There's no point in like seeing what kind of market he has out there. PV: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's kinda the business and it's hard to hear, but I guess it does make sense. If he has a good year I don't see why he would sign back with us, so Big Country: No, and if he does, great. You know, if we get him for cheap, great. You know, if he can prove that he can pitch at altitude, that'd be awesome. But I I see this honestly if he pitches well, we ship him in less than a month. 'Cause I I think you really could you can get someone that, you know, is pitching well, especially a reliever, you just get rid of him. You know, 'cause relievers can have great years and then really bad years, you know. You might as well get something out of him. PV: See. Big Country: ⁓ didn't I don't know if you saw this, but we beat the Dodgers last night. We're tied with them right now. That ended a 11 game losing streak at Dodgers Stadium. And you we were talking about this. Yeah, Jordan Morale closed that one. Yeah. I mean he went through Otani. PV: Yeah, and it was it was Jordan Romano clothes. Big Country: Freddie Freeman, I he struck out at the end. Pajes. Pajes, Loki didn't deserve an all-star bid. Just saying. But the fan vote kind of got him in. So he's he had a great start to the year, but he's been horrible the past two months. ⁓ anyways, 11 game losing streak at Dodger Savan's kind of crazy. We almost won on Monday night as well. We came back from down six to one to tie it up, take the lead, and ultimately gave it up in the 11th. PV: ⁓ Tani Paez and Freddie Freeman. Yeah. Big Country: But at the same time, that we were the first team to take the Dodgers into extras all year long. That's in w they're like this is the only team that hasn't gone to extras. And we took them there. Kind of like honestly, it's it's a it's like a small win, even though we lost, but it's still great for us. So I'm excited. PV: Really? I did not know that. That was the that was the same game where Cole Carey got into it with Dalton Rushing now. Yeah, I do not like Dalton Rushing. Big Country: Yeah, fuck Dalton Rushing. We were talking about this. This dude shakes Otani of all people when he's catching him because he thinks he's just that fucking guy. Like and and those two guys, Dalton Rushing, Cole Carrig, they're both they're both some hotheads. Everyone knows that. Neither of those guys were backing down. That is like pay-per-view. If if you put them in a ring, you know what I mean? PV: Well, and he's always wrong. Yeah, I know. No. Big Country: And I love that we have that type of player on the Rockies too, 'cause I feel like we've been missing that. Like that fiery guy that will he'll charge the mound if you fuck with his team. And I fucking love it. Dude's PV: Yeah, I mean I think it I think it lights a fire under your team. I think it gets them motivated. I think, you know, it's something that ⁓ Nolan Arenado, I think, used to bring back to the team. He was a hothead. And, you know, those were the years when we were actually still getting some good hits, getting some good rallies. And, you know, it's it's something that really does ignite your team. It's something that Bryce Harper in his early years would bring to the team. Bryce Harper was a hothead and you know, that's it's just passion. Yeah, he still is a hothead. It's the passion and that passion it gets your teammates motivated. Big Country: Mm-hmm. Still is. Yeah, your teammates feed off that like energy that it brings. And what I'm like really excited to see with like Cole, because like you could argue you can say he might be the future. He's playing that well right now. I know it's he's only been up for a month, but that dude is hitting over 300 in his first major league month. He's playing center field great. He's I love him. PV: The thing ⁓ the thing that I think is really valuable about Cole Carrick is every time he gets on base he seems to score. I don't know if it's because of his base running ability or the the moxie that he brings to the team with just being on base, but whatever it is that he's doing, he's bringing in runs, which is something that, you know, we could we we we were always getting hits, but we were always struggling to bring in runs. But I see him score practically every game. Big Country: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's it's amazing to see. I mean, he led the miners in stolen bases before getting up here too. Like he's an aggressive guy. I love it. I'd say you could probably say he might be our most valuable asset right now. Side for punter maybe, but with the control that he has, I you could say we'd like it's a prank call if someone called about him. You know? 'Cause there's no no chance for giving up a talent like that. ⁓ I I mean, I don't know if you've seen this, but The Rockies, ⁓ as far as like offensive ranks, rank like top five in almost every single metric. So we figured that out. PV: Yeah, I mean another rook that we're not even talking about that's been absolutely killing it is TJ Rumfield. TJ Rumfield is an is an absolute hitter. I mean, he is yep, back to like you said, yeah, exactly. I mean it's just you know, we have a lot of young studs, we have a lot of talent. ⁓ there's there is a bright future for Rocky Spins after such a long stretch of dull, no no fun, no scoring games. Big Country: Yeah, back to back rookie player of the month, too. Like we got a core, man. Yeah, I know we're talking we're like twenty games below five hundred, but like it doesn't feel like that when we go to the park anymore. It feels like we have a chance every time we step on the field. PV: No. Yeah, and especially in comparison to last year, you know, our position this year is miles better. And like you said, this month we've been playing ⁓ competitive baseball in comparison to the rest of the year. So it just you know, it it's small improvements over time that make a difference. Big Country: Yeah. Downside is we are bottom five in almost every single pitching metric. You know what we are top five in? Hits allowed. But I mean, anyways, like the Rockies, man, they're they're gonna Rocky. ⁓ it's kinda like this we've heard this story before. Offense is good, pitching is bad. So if this like regime can like kind of figure out the pitching or just become manageable, you know, where you're like middle of the road. If you're middle of the road with this type of offense. PV: Yeah, per usual. Big Country: You'll be a playoff team. PV: Yeah, absolutely. Big Country: Simple as that. ⁓ so we'll have to wait and see. Trade deadline's approaching. I think we moved Willie Castro. ⁓ and he's such a utility piece, too. I really don't see why not to trade him either. He believes he has a two year deal, but I believe it's a club or a ⁓ player option. So really it's a one year deal. ⁓ and also I feel like someone's going to pay for Willie. He's been hitting well, and there's he's not gonna be on the team in a few years. There's no reason to keep him. Same with Senzatella. Long time Rocky, but at same time he's performing way b way like above where he should be for one and what w anyone expected. So if someone's gonna give him something, please get rid of him. We might have to take a little bit of the contract, but ⁓ well. He's on his last year anyway. I I I think we have some we have some big prospects coming. Charlie Conda and Zach Me. They're mashing gun in triple A, and only time will tell. When they're gonna come up. It's just who are they gonna take off the team to get get them get them up here? Right. And I truly could see any three of our outfielders getting moved. Jake McCarthy, I really see could get moved because like like he's been playing phenomenally, he's never done that once in his career before. And he hasn't he has a little bit of team control. If someone wants him, let him have them. Troy Johnson, old as shit. Exactly. PV: He's been playing phenomenal lately. Yeah, we have too many outfielders. Yeah. Big Country: We have too many like outfielders that also like are not like crazy valuable. So if someone wants them for like a bench bat or maybe they want Jake McCarthy so he could roam the outfield or run bases, let Troy Johnson, great off the bench. PV: Or even or even some better relievers, you know. Big Country: Yeah. Like ⁓ I think Zach Mean and Charlie Connor can provide a huge boost to this team in the major leagues if they just give ⁓ playing time. That's like the biggest thing. And you're not gonna give them die if you don't give away some of these guys. So I don't want to give up Mickey Moniac personally, but if someone offers us something, and I feel like they will because he mashes right handed hitting, right handed pitching, I mean, you can get rid of him. Truthfully. Yeah, you PV: Yeah. Yeah, I mean like you said, it's just it's just the amount of outfielders that we have already for one and then the prospects that we have are, you know, it's it just makes the most sense. Big Country: Yeah, not to mention Jordan Beck. He got moved down to AAA. He got hurt, and essentially he just wasn't doing good enough in the majors anyway. He got sent back down because there's like no spot for him in the bigs. We need some spots for these younger guys. ⁓ I think Tyler Freeman would be a perfect candidate to move to. Mickey obviously wants something out of him, but he has team control. There's no point in You know, delaying the inevitable anyway. You know? We're gonna get rid of some of these guys and bring on the youth anyway. So I mean, the only guy that you could say is truly like where you need crack in return is probably Hunter Goodman. You know, so yeah. ⁓ but let's get into the main part of this pod. We're gonna talk some fantasy tonight. ⁓ of each of us have like some ⁓ calling must haves or sleepers. You know, mine a little bit more sleepers than must haves, but ⁓ let you go through ⁓ three first if you're okay, or do you want me to go through mine? PV: Let's hear yours. I haven't heard yours yet. Big Country: ⁓ he wants to hear me. Okay, let me So this is ⁓ Big Country's Sleepers. I got three of them. I'll kind of like break it down to like why for each. But we'll start off with ⁓ Harold Fannon. And I believe you know this pretty well as you were a fantasy owner of him last year. This dude was tearing it up at the end of the season. All right, we don't need to shop the Chris Olave jersey, all right? We don't need do that. Harold Fannon was ⁓ a very good tight end down the stretch last year. coincidentally, that's when Shador took over. I think Shador will be the shard. I think you do as well. But this dude averaged sixteen points in his last five games of the season. You average that out, he's finishing his tight end two. By Andre McBride, obviously. And truthfully, the the gap between tight end one and tight end two was obviously huge last year. It was like a hundred point difference. This would have only been a twenty point difference. You know, and right now he's drafting about 79.4, so like right the middle of six for twelve man, end of seven for a ten man, and then a ⁓ tenth almost a tenth round pick for an eight man. But you could be getting a tight end two in the late six or late seven. I mean that I think that's great value personally. I obviously, you know, he has to like keep doing in each season, each game, you know, throughout the season. You know, it's hard to do, obviously. But I love his upside, especially considering I believe he's like the fifth or sixth tight end off the board. What do you think? PV: I am a big fan of Harold Fannon Jr. here. ⁓ I think for maybe different reasons though. I actually, you know, as a Colorado fan, this might be kind of controversial, but I actually think it's a lot closer in competitiveness and likelihood that whether or not Shadur ends up starting. I think maybe if he had a bigger year last year and he proved something more, he would have had more say going into this year. But I do think it's still kind of up for grabs. I think you're gonna see a lot of competitiveness between those quarterbacks and who actually ends up getting the starting job is gonna kind of be what I feel like would be a last second decision. I think in all likelihood it probably will be Shadur. Shador has the most experience with the starters, but I do think it's a lot tighter of a race than it seems. However, in regards to Harold Fanon, like you said, he was ridiculous in his production last year. I mean, ⁓ whether it was touches, yards after catches Big Country: least in his last like five, six games, wish Shador, too. That's kind of what I'm basing it off of. Yeah. PV: Yeah, exactly. And that was with Shadur. And that's kind of where I'm a little shaky, but I think still, regardless, Harold Fannon, I think he's good enough. And I think what really fueled his production on the back end of the year was more so the team we started getting a lot more confidence in him. I mean, especially when that team had David and Joku all year anyway. So it's not like he was the supposedly their primary starting tight end, and now he's gone. Exactly. And so that's why I am still big on Harold Fannon here. Really big production with catches and yard after catch. Big Country: And he's gone. He's with the Chargers. PV: ⁓ so I do think that he is a really big sleeper target. I do like that. Big Country: Yeah, I'll I'll leave Chris Olave for last, but ⁓ we'll we'll talk about Chase Brown really quick. Another guy that just had a really great end of the season. He had a very slow start to the season, and I think that was like largely due to like the Bengals just not like really being competitive in those games. But when they are competitive, and we all expect the Bengals to be competitive. If you don't, you're fucking stupid. No one thought they were gonna be that bad last year, right? No one thought Joe Burrow was gonna get hurt either. You know, so we we planned for them to be. back and ready to go. But this dude averaged twenty two points a game over his last six games. Average that out. That's RB1. RB one. And for a guy that's going w we'll just say it's for ten men. He's going in the middle of the fourth round. Potential RB one production. PV: Yeah, and I think a lot of his value that's underrated is his value as a blocker gives him the ability to catch those passes as just slipping out of the backfield. And that's where a lot of his points came from. You know, you the the Joe Joe Burrow and the Bengals, they do like to draw back a lot. It's not like Chase Brown was constantly getting handoffs, which he did get a good amount of handoffs regardless, but it's the fact that they do have a lot of passing options with him slipping out of the backfield and them just dumping it off to him, and that's where a lot of his production comes from, especially with two Big Country: Yes. Mm-hmm. PV: really big threats at wide receiver down the field, it just opens up things down low. So I agree. Yeah. I think Chase Brown, he shouldn't be falling so low, especially in such a high powered offense as the RB one. It's it is pretty crazy to see him fall that low in trafts. Big Country: Yeah, let me look at like see what rank he is going right now for running backs. I it can't be very high if it's thirty four from what I remember. ⁓ let's see. It's very low. ⁓ he right now he looks like around like thirteen. RB thirteen. I think that's insane. PV: Yeah. Yeah, that's really high value. I mean, as a starting running back in a high powered offense, like we've been mu have like we've been slamming this whole time. But I think the biggest thing if especially if you're PPR, I guess that but that would make a big difference. ⁓ but with him being a good blocking back, he's gonna get a lot of catches out of the backfield. Big Country: True. I mean, but even if y y you say he doesn't get catch it well, even if he's not PPR, I still think he provides hella value. Just because like you said, he k he's getting yards and he's also he was also scoring a ton at the end of the season. Now, is he gonna have the same production, same high production? Maybe not. He's not gonna probably be RB1. We all know that. It's probably not gonna happen. But at the same time, he has that potential and he could easily be at our like a PV: Yeah, he was getting tons of touchdowns. Big Country: Top five running back in fantasy this year. So PV: Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, obviously it would take a lot, but it's it also wouldn't surprise me to see him up there. I think he has he has the ability, he's he's a freak athlete, he can truck people, he can run he can run across the field, dash across your face. So yeah, absolutely. Big Country: Yeah. That leaves me to your boy, Chris Olave. You saw this first hand, you kinda I mean you had didn't you have Harold Finn and Chris Olave at the end of last year for fantasy? PV: I did. Harold Fanning was one of my pickups. Big Country: Partly why you probably made a little push. ⁓ but Chris Oblave, I didn't really see these these stats last year, but I I was looking tonight, I was like, God, this guy turned it on late. And it got it has to be largely due with when Tyler Shuck started getting those stabs primarily. Had to be. Like the c comfortability started finally clicking at the end of the season, especially when they were on that playoff push. Right? This dude was averaging almost twenty points a game. You average that out He is wide receiver one if he does that. Over six games, you know. He had one dud, which was six points. His high was thirty-six, but I mean those kind of like average each other out right there. But a mat like he could he could easily be our wide receiver. Five, three, two. I don't know what he finished at last year. I can't remember. But I mean, the dude's a stud. His problem has literally just been concussions. PV: That's actually one of the things I think going into this year. I love Chris Olave and I will ha I'm he's gonna be my sleeper pick. I'm gonna have him going into this year. ⁓ I also do think I am I think we're gonna see a slight dip in production from him. Not to his fault, but more so to the system that yeah. I think n I w with Jordan Tyson, I was like, wait. But I think it it's a number of things. ⁓ Big Country: Mikhail Lamone. No. Jordan Tyson. Sorry. PV: I think Olave last year with Shug being a rookie quarterback, Shug had a lot of just safety net passes off to him. If you look at the amount of targets he had late in the season, it was ridiculous. He was getting target after target after target as a PPR machine or as a PPR ⁓ league, he was just a machine. And so I think a lot of that fueled his production. I think with Jordan Tyson coming in, it's gonna be both good and bad for him. I think, like you mentioned here, it does take a lot of pressure off of him. The defense is not gonna be paying as much attention. Big Country: Mm-hmm. PV: But I also think it's gonna open up opportunities for Shug, who ⁓ when I mentioned Shug as well, is also becoming more mature and more comfortable in an NFL offense. And he's not gonna feel as rushed to make a throw to his star wide receiver as you would in your first year. So I think you're gonna see him take his time and make a lot more ⁓ you know, good decisions and you know, the right play rather than kind of force the ball down the field. And another thing is Olave was the big play player last year. I think this year you're gonna see it move over more to Jordan Tyson. I think Chris Olave, and that's where I think you can still argue that he is still gonna get a lot of production for targets because I think Olave is gonna be still the safety valve for short passes and a lot of dump offs, you know, make Shug feel comfortable in the pocket, but then you're gonna see Jordan Tyson be the one to go down the field and catch the big passes down there. So I think you're gonna see a lot of less a lot less big plays from Olave than we did last year, but Big Country: Mm-hmm. Yeah. PV: I do think he'll be consistent in his production and he'll still be on my fantasy team this year. So I hope he does well. Big Country: Yeah, and also he's he's just gonna be he also has Travis Etienne coming over, so he might have like a solid running game this year with Alva Kamara last year. He kinda was shit, let's be honest here. Wasn't good. I think the the value there only like you said, it only kinda like you can hurt him a little bit, but also I really helps him. You open that that play action, you know. Well, a lot to obviously wait and see, but I don't see like a crazy dip. PV: Yeah, so it just kinda depends on how it goes. Big Country: I don't think he's going to be our wide receiver one. I don't I just we can average everything out in the end of the day, but he won't. Yes, but top ten wide receiver for a guy that is drafted outside the top ten right now for wide receiver, I think is good value. So ⁓ I mean if you're gonna take him as your ⁓ keeper pick in our fantasy league, fuck you. But I took JSN in the fourth round last year, so suck my dick. Anyways, but that's kind of my like kind of like not PV: I could see him being top ten. Yeah. Yeah. Big Country: I wouldn't I mean you can't even really say these are under the radar or sleeper. We people know about these, but they're being undervalued. So I ⁓ I like my takes on those. Let me pull up yours. Talk me through PV: Yeah, so these guys are gonna be more so must-have kind of rather than under the radar players. I think their value is relatively similar to where they should be, but I also think that if you're gonna see them anywhere near the value, if you're maybe two or three spots around there, there's someone that you were gonna have to take and they're gonna win you the league. And I'll start in the middle here with someone that I already talked about in Omarion Hampton. ⁓ or Marian Hampton was, you know, he ha he had his rookie year last year and we saw a lot of big spurts out of him. But it also felt like he was in kind of like a offense that would just it wasn't creative. It just would hand him the ball and then if he got some room, he was making a big play out of it. And that's where I think the big difference is gonna come in this year. You have Mike McDaniel coming in as the offensive coordinator. McDaniels. Is it McDaniels or McDaniels? McDaniels, yeah. And Big Country: McDaniels, McDaniels, yeah, yeah, yeah. Swaggy Mike, bro. PV: Yeah, you have him coming in as the offensive coordinator, you know. I think as head coach, ⁓ he was lacking the toughness that it requires to get the team motivated and get the team out of a rut. But as an offensive coordinator, he's brilliant. He's ⁓ he's got great schematics, he has a lot of history with a lot of great playmakers in his past. ⁓ and so I think he's gonna he's gonna scheme up some beautiful plays for Omari and he did so with Devon and Chan in the past. Big Country: Uh-huh. PV: So I wouldn't be surprised to see O'Marian Hampton be one of the league winners this year. I do see him in my mind being a top three running back, which ⁓ obviously not a lot of pr people project him to be up there. But I think like you mentioned, like it mentions there, the receiving upside, ⁓ the speed that he has, the scheming that they're gonna have around him, and Justin Herbert is still a great quarterback, so they're still gonna be afraid of the air game. You still have Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston, who took a huge step up last year. ⁓ I think they're only gonna be better this year. So I think that ⁓ all these aspects do come I think that O'Marian Hampton's gonna have a great sophomore year. I think this is gonna be his year. And so I'll move on go ahead. ⁓ Big Country: Yeah, and kinda Yeah, I can't. Anything, my bad, bro. I think kind of something that we're kinda like you know, you're talking about the Chargers a lot, it feels like, you know, ⁓ we're kinda s you know, sucking the Chargers deck a little bit. You know, ⁓ Matt will love that. But you know, if any like di dynasty guys, dude, Trey ⁓ Trey Harris drafted at Old Miss. Not this past draft, but the one before. I think he could be a stud in Mike McDaniel's office. Really do. He had it was a little hurt his first year, but like second year in the system with Herbert. I don't think Quentin Johnson is a guy. I never really have. I don't think anyone really has. PV: I think he took a big step up last year, honestly. Big Country: Well, he did the first half of the season and then he fell off a cliff, you know. Like there were some games where you're just like, where's Quentin Johnson been the whole entire time? He has like one target, maybe, you know. I just I I think he kinda personally, I think he lacks like the talent, you know, from a route riding standpoint. I think he's just a runner, personally. But I think I think Trey Harris could be a stud, dude. I really do. PV: That that's where I'm gonna disagree. I think that Quentin Johnston's problem last year was the Chargers' offense was so simple that it just got figured out after a while. And then they didn't they never schemed anything new up for Quentin Johnston. They never moved around the receivers to try to trick offenses. You don't you didn't see a lot of really tricky motions like what the Chiefs used to run a lot of the time. That's how you get players open. You make them think you're targeting one guy and throw to another, but at some point it just felt like you knew what the Chargers were doing. And that's what I that's why I think that the Chargers are going to be. very different this year 'cause that's just not the type of offense that Mike McDaniel runs. Big Country: Ma may maybe people figured out Quentin Johnson because we still saw Ladd getting open. We still saw Keenan Allen, that old fucker. PV: Well, we started to see Ladd get open. Lad had a bad start to the year and then all of a sudden he was having the productive year. Big Country: Yeah, sorry to you, yes, but I'm assuming he adapted a little bit. You know, the offense adapted. Well, Quentin didn't adapt. He just stayed constant and people figured him out. And I tr I fuck Quentin, man. ⁓ I I you could ride him. I'm not PV: I think that's an offensive I think that's more of an offensive coordinator problem if you're not figuring out ways to get your wide receiver open 'cause you know he's an athlete. You know he's fast enough. So if they're not getting him open then they're just not scheming it right. Big Country: Doesn't matter if he's open if he can't do this. He can't catch. He's still dropping shit, man. But I mean, I I still love Amarion though. I think his upside is insane. You you give him, you know, play out play action, you know, deception too with him, with Herbert. I mean, like what we've been saying. Chargers are gonna have probably a really good year. They're gonna be a real threat in the AFC West. PV: Hey, we saw a big improvement. We saw a big improvement. Yeah. And so I'll I'll go ahead and move on to Carnell Tate here. ⁓ this one is a kind of a big one actually. ⁓ with Carnell Tate, I feel like one of the biggest things is he's an Ohio State wide receiver. ⁓ it's very seldom that you see an Ohio State wide receiver not succeed in the NFL. We did just see Marvin Harrison have a tough rookie year, but I think Marvin Harrison is stuck in kind of a shitty situation. You know, he didn't really have a gifted offensive coordinator. Big Country: Rockies have bases loaded, by the way. PV: He didn't have a super gifted quarterback to be delivering in the ball. And, you know, his team overall just wasn't in a great place. So obviously it was a tough rookie year for him. We expect to see a little more out of him. But then you talk about other Ohio State wide receivers. You got Jay Asenton, you got ⁓ Chris Olave, you got just an At Terry McLaurin. It's an unbelievable plethora of wide receivers that you can pull out of Ohio State and Big Country: Terracorn. Brian Hartline knows how to make receivers. Unfortunately, he left Ohio State and now I believe he's at PV: Absolutely. Big Country: Too lane, but still. PV: But regardless, yeah, here's Carnell Tate, a six foot four monster. ⁓ I think he's got all the all the assets that he needs. ⁓ I think one of the biggest things is Cam Ward didn't really connect with anyone specific last year. I think he was struggling to find that guy that he could always throw to. So I think that's gonna be his pairing this year with Carnell Tate. And I think he did bring they did bring in a lot of other weapons alongside Carnell to help him out. You know, you still get car Calvin Bridley coming Calvin Ridley coming back from a broken leg. Big Country: Mm-hmm. PV: You have ⁓ Wandell Robinson was a big signing. He's a target machine. Yep. Really, really good in this short game. Big Country: That's gonna be huge, dude. If they all can like somehow stay healthy, Alec I I own name more if I don't know if I'm not pronouncing any manner. If all those guys can stay consistent, man, Cardinal take it up a huge year. I really do think that's as well. Especially with Dable as O C as well. PV: Ao Manor. Exactly, yeah. Yeah. And exactly, is that was gonna be my next thing is you know, the the Titans they went out and got Brian Debool, who's another ⁓ one of those guys who I think was also lacking kind of just the the it factor that a coach needs to be able to lead a team, you know. Like he just wasn't able to get that team under his belt, but regardless, he's still a brilliant coordinator. Same thing I was saying about Mike McDaniels, and so obviously now you have Brian Deboul at offensive coordinator rather than the head coaching position, and I think that this is p phenomenal opportunity for him and I think he has all the weapons that he needs. A r he has a second year quarterback, a star rookie wide receiver who you took fourth overall in the draft. ⁓ and so I'm big on Carnel Tate this year, you know, especially with him not necessarily being wide receiver one. I think for a lot of people that's a negative, but in my eyes for fantasy, I see that as a positive because it does take a lot of the pressure off of these wide receivers. And now you're not facing their best cornerback. You're typically facing their number two or three option. And Typically these guys have a step up because of that. Big Country: So I remember what Malik Neighbors did in his first year with Dable. Same. Could be another because you have another type of year like that. Another rookie receiver just going bonkers. ⁓ so yeah, I like it. PV: Yep, exactly. Yeah. And then the last one is gonna be Saquon Barkley. ⁓ I saw he was fallen kind of around 30th ⁓ in drafts, which I do find kind of a little crazy. I do kind of understand the idea that he's getting older, but I feel like this is often something that hurts a lot of people in fantasy. You think that someone just because they're a year older is gonna have a significant dip in production and that just doesn't end up being the case. We've seen that happen with players like Derrick Henry, with players like Christian McCaffrey, you know. They get another year older or they're, you know, they've had an injury in their past. You're like, ⁓ they're probably not going to be as good as they were. And then all of a sudden they're the number one or number two running back. And I think we're going to see a similar thing with Saquon Barkley. I think a big ⁓ problem with the production last year with the Eagles was they were trying too hard to force feed deep balls to players like AJ Brown and Devontae Smith rather than focus on their short game, their RPA opportunities that they used to excel in. And I think you're going to see them go back to that a lot more this year. And so I think you're going to see Saquon kind of get that. Really good volume again. He's gonna get a lot of handoffs. He's gonna get the occasional dump off because he's still a really big guy who has really good blocking ability. I mean, I think he's six foot one, maybe six foot two, with obviously his massive quads. And so it's not easy to get a bu got by a guy like that. So I think that he can be a difference maker in a lot of leagues this year, and I don't think that age is gonna slow him down. Big Country: Yeah. Not to mention the Eagles have one that does so lines as well in the NFL. They consistently had it. ⁓ Saquon is an athletic freak that's gonna take over at some point. He just, you know needs the ball in his hands. And I also think like maybe the Eagles got a little figured out last year after that Super Bowl run, you know, they could have been a little bit too a little bit too predictable with Jalen Hurts as well. ⁓ you know, like you said, they're kind of throwing deep balls a lot, trying to make those guys go and make plays and When it was just as simple as, you know, giving it to probably the best player on the field. Maybe maybe it should be that simple, honestly. ⁓ so I I don't mind that pick at all. I mean, the problem with like Saquon is you just can't reach on him. Because thirty is kind of a good value, but you're gonna have guys probably getting him at like twenty, twenty two, twenty three, and you could probably say that's a little that might be where he is gonna get taken but shouldn't. ⁓ But if you can get ⁓ like, you know, right at thirty, maybe twenty nine, maybe like late late fourth at like thirty seven, be an unbelievable take. PV: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, ⁓ like you mentioned, the I think the the passes downfield and that was a big part of that was AJ Brown being a diva. I feel like that did throw off the vibes off the vibe on the offense a lot. You know, they didn't feel like they were they were all kind of clicking. You didn't really see the chemistry that they had throughout their Super Bowl run. So, you know, I feel like especially with someone that's that negative gone and kind of a new new face in the building with Makai. ⁓ I think you're gonna see kind of a new energy with this team. Big Country: Mm-hmm. Do you think Jalen Hurts kinda like gets back to his old form or do you think he kinda, you know you know I I truly don't think Jalen Hurts is that good. Truthfully, he they make the offense very easy for him in my opinion. PV: I think I think yeah, I I think what we're gonna see is we're gonna they're gonna go back to kind of more of a systematic offense where they throw more short plays, the right play, you know. If you're only gonna gain three yards, so be it, rather than try to force the ball down the field, which is what it felt like they were doing last year. And so I think you're gonna see him play better, not because he himself maybe is stepping it up, but I think that they're just probably gonna go back to the system that did work. Big Country: Yeah. I can't remember who's the OC there now. 'Cause Ciriani's not calling the plays, right? PV: No, Siriane doesn't call. Nah, I think he maybe calls let's see. Big Country: He might. Did we really just blow up bases loaded and nobody out? Yes, we did. ⁓ Rockies. ⁓ but anyways. ⁓ he was the Packers QB coach. Yeah, I mean, if it's anything like LaFleur system, ⁓ get a lot of get ready for a lot of screens, RPOs that don't work, and PV: Sean Manning. Packers QB coach, yeah. Hey, what did I just say? They were gonna but but that's but that's what Jalen Hurts excels at. That's that's why they brought him in. Screens, RPOs, short passes. If you're gonna get two or three yards, so be it, because you have Saquon Barkley and teams are gonna fear you handing the ball off to him. So one of these these short passes will break out occasionally and then you know, every now and then you have someone slide behind the defense. Big Country: You know, th this is gonna sound bad, but like is is Josh Jacobs really like that much of a drop off from Saquon last year? Probably not, right? PV: No. No, not really. I think that there's I think they're different players. I think that J Josh Jacobs and Saquon are different players, but I do think that in production they're very similar, yeah. Big Country: I mean the Packers and the Eagles did pretty much the exact same last year. No. You what's kinda crazy? We haven't heard anything about our idiot of the week, you know, Josh Jacobs in the the past month. It's kinda crazy. PV: Yep, just fell off the radar. Nothing's really going on with that at the moment. Big Country: Or maybe maybe he's innocent. Maybe. I mean he's if he's back at practice, it kind of leads me to think that he is. It really does. PV: No, I don't think that that's how that works. I mean Rishi Rice fled a car scene and was taken on video and then he was allowed at practice anyways. Big Country: Well she Yeah, but the Packers have been known to be not that type of team. Like they'll cut you pretty like what they like Terriano. He got cut. And so I remember Terriano it's a little different, yes, but the Packers have never been the team to say, okay, that's okay. We're gonna keep you. Never been that team. So to see him still on the team. PV: Terry on Arnold was bad though. Maybe Josh Jacobs is just that good. They don't trust Marshawn Lloyd yet. Big Country: Yeah, I highly doubt that. Truthfully, he has a very cuddable contract, so if we don't want him, we can get rid of him very easily. That's a thing or two about him. PV: I don't know. I just I don't see that I I think you lose a big part of the run game. I think March Hunlink could be good, but you know you have a lot of production in Josh Jacobs and you need a run game in the NFL. Big Country: No, I'm saying like I'm saying if you if the Packers truly thought he was guilty, he'd be gone already. Because he has a very cuddle contract. You know, he's not that good. He's old. He's a 30 year old running back. He gave us production in this first year. His second year was utter trash. He was unhealthy. When he played, yes, he could be really good as a person that took him as PV: But he's too good. He gave him a lot of production this year. I was gonna say when he played he was pretty good. Big Country: As we took him for multiple any time touchdowns. but I don't know. I'm not expecting him to put up, you know, twelve hundred yards and ten touchdowns. I'm really not. I'm expecting a backfield with Marshawn and him to combine and be just an absolute war. PV: Yeah, mm like tw like two or three times throughout the season. No. That's not the value you get from Josh Jacobs. The value you get from Josh Jacobs isn't season long value really. Like you're not expecting him to get that twelve hundred yards, but you know he's gonna be a back that whenever you hand him the ball in those short situations, he's gonna get you that first down. Or those first down situations where he might get you a six yard run, you know. Big Country: Yeah, and I d I mean that's what he put up in his first year was like twelve hundred, by the way. That's why I said that. I'm not expecting to do that. If he puts up eight nine hundred, Marshawn puts up near the same, package could be really good. And I also think PV: Yeah, I think and I think I think that's why they need him, you know. I think you can't just rely on Marshawn. I think you need to have both legs. You know, you have the power in Josh Jacobs, the consistent running, and then you have occasionally maybe Marshawn Lloyd breaks off something big. He's younger, he's I think a little quicker. Yeah. He's pretty qu he's pretty quick now. Yeah. Yeah. Big Country: Faster. Very very quicker. Josh Jacobs is slow as shit. He's like Eddie Lacey in his like very f very, very early years. Early years. Not his fat years. Rookie rookie of the year, Eddie Lacy. That dude was a stud his rookie year. People people know Eddie Lacey's rookie year, bro. That dude was a such a stud. Beat up Keenan Allen for rookie of the year. PV: That's no no no. Eddie Lacey was very Eddie Lacey was very different. Big Country: I c I remember him doing this like three sixty flip into the end zone against the Steelers in the snow. PV: Then got fat. Big Country: Dude, he got fat of shit. You know those ⁓ those trends of ⁓ you know when like ⁓ POV my Netflix documentary. You know, it's him like sitting down. I saw one that says POV Netflix documentary about being a Packers fan over the last ten years. And he's just like, Please don't start please don't start me off with the Seattle game in fourteen. Please. Just please. ⁓ found that hilarious. ⁓ PV: ⁓ man. Big Country: That kind of wraps us up for ⁓ week ten of the pod today. ⁓ listeners, let us know. N R G DM s DMF if you have any ⁓ sleepers or mouse haves. We could talk about it maybe next week. Not that any of you are staying to ⁓ minute forty nine of the pod, but if you are, I'd love to hear Yeah, we'd love to hear ⁓ ⁓ you got anything else to say, Pat? I don't have really PV: We all know you are. Big Country: ⁓ Denver sports fact of the week. If you want to rattle one off, you can. PV: ⁓ Not really, but you know, let's hope that we see Norway win. Go Norway. Big Country: Go Norway. Have gonna I guess. PV: Have a good night.