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00:00we're looking at fantasy football now and who are some players that you're not leaving your drafts
00:04without steve i'll start with you on this one uh right off the bat i'll go with brock bowers i love
00:08having the value of the best tight end because i feel that's a position while less so than other
00:13years there's just a big drop off there's only going to be you know maybe four or five max really
00:18good tight ends and i think he's going to be the best one and as these guys said earlier in the
00:21podcast geno smith is now his quarterback way better than aiden o'connell and uh gardner minshu
00:26so i think brock bowers 100 i'm getting him in the first round unless i have like a top two pick
00:30my dynasty team is really happy about that uh steve i'm hoping for the same thing i traded a lot to get
00:37him uh in the draft last year i was very happy with the the early returns uh but yeah he's he's again
00:43he's he's going to be the focal point of that passing game again and rightly so and geno is
00:47going to elevate his ability he's not going to have to work as hard to get those numbers i guess this
00:51year and i agree with you from a fantasy standpoint too it's it's him it's trey mcbride i mean even
00:56sam laporta now he doesn't have ben johnson and how's that going to impact his value i do think
01:01there's a huge drop off after those first few tight ends and i think he's the best one and he's the
01:06youngest somehow too so it's just everything's setting up for him to have a big year hope he
01:11stays healthy and uh again my dynasty team will be very happy about it trey mcbride is the guy you
01:15want if you're uh if your league is heavy on receptions and doesn't care about touchbacks
01:19just curious like why do you think tight end drop value dropped off so hard over the last couple
01:25of years like in terms of offensive using those offensive weapons i think first of all it's hard
01:30to find guys with those skill sets that those only so many human beings on the planet who who can do
01:34the things at that position that it requires and part of this and i'm sure doug can speak to this
01:39better than i can it's guys like george kittle who don't just create matchup problems down the field
01:46but they will whoop your ass in the blocking game like in the run game and what that does
01:52for your offensive coordinator is so important because it means that i can put you anywhere
01:58and i'm not telling the defense what we're doing because if you can't block and i put you in a in a
02:04formation or an alignment that makes it seem like you're going to they know we're full of crap they
02:09know already i'm not running the ball here i'm running play action i'm motioning out of this i'm
02:13shifting out of this because they know damn well that whoever that tight end is can't block in line and
02:20can't handle the defensive end and set the edge so they're going to do something else with this play
02:25so when you have guys like bowers who obviously in that georgia offense you're no block no rock if
02:29you're playing for the georgia bulldogs and again george kittle is a prime example really if you play
02:34anybody in iowa as well if you can do everything really well as a tight end and still be a dynamic
02:40playmaker down the field and create matchup problems that's those guys are so hard to find man and
02:45when it's why there's only a few that do it super super well because most teams that's why they're in a lot
02:50of multi-tight end sets because you have to have another guy who can just block really well if you
02:54focused on the guy who can catch really well you got to have those differing skill sets it's really
02:58hard to find guys who have the size and the skill set to do it all at an elite level like those couple
03:03of guys and i think i mean with bowers with mcbride with reporter you're getting these young tight ends
03:09coming into the league with a lot of production value it's just it hasn't happened year after year
03:13like with kelsey and kittle and those other guys and you know kittle's still at about his peak kelsey is
03:19not i mean it's the the attrition has finally taken hold his you know all his per catch numbers
03:26are just not anywhere near what they used to be and it happens you know now he's the master of a whip
03:31route whereas it used to be the seam route now it's five yards now five yards now if that's what
03:35it's it's you know it's vivo it's with it good left with a good right yes that's the whole offense
03:41now um but i think overall you're you're getting a next wave of tight end uh production value that's
03:48coming and will expand itself in 2025 it just hasn't happened year after year doug why don't
03:54you give us your two players you are targeting in your fantasy drafts i'm going to start with
03:59receiver amika ibuka from the tampa bay buccaneers and uh let's start with the fact that chris godwin
04:04injury wise we're still wondering uh jalen mcmillan looks like he's going to miss about half the season
04:09with a neck issue um i know that baker mayfield has said post liam cohen he wants them to push the ball
04:16down the field ball which if so is good news for mike evans but there's a reason they got ed
04:21bucca in the first round when they already were quote unquote loaded at receiver and now you're
04:26finding out why because they're gonna have to throw the ball to someone besides evans and kate otten
04:31red zone master kate otten to us and ed bucca just comes in with that kind of the tyler lockett
04:39jackson smith and jigba cooper cup slot outside it's immediate we've already seen it in preseason
04:44and certainly with a new staff with liam cohen gone they may push it down the field a little bit
04:51more it's not really the functional construct of their offense they're going to need those
04:55intermediate experts and ed bucca is that from day one and especially if the injury situation
05:01continues late into the season i mean he's just ed bucca is going to and he's not a huge like contested
05:11catch guy but what he is is it's kind of like kyle williams of the patriots who's another guy i could
05:16you know when i was thinking of rookie of the year i was almost going there um these guys who just
05:21understand how to find voids and coverage how to influence a cornerback this way and then go that
05:27way he's got all those little subtleties down so well uh mayfield it will help to sort of sand off
05:36his yolo tendencies which we all know he led the lake to begin interceptions last year as great as
05:40he was um i think ed bucca comes in as a natural fit and he's going to get a ton of production value
05:47because of what's happening to their other receivers the other guy i'll go with is uh kyron
05:52williams of the rams uh speaking of injuries we don't know uh whether matthew stafford will be good
05:58to go all the way through the season because you can talk about arm talent i mean stafford is one of
06:01the greatest of all time i would love to see him full go through the whole season but we just don't
06:06know and uh sean mcveigh is very good at making the best out of eh but jimmy garoppolo is a lot of
06:14eh stetson bennett is a lot of eh i don't care what he did in the preseason yeah um so kyron williams
06:21and sean mcveigh over the last couple years has gone from inside outside zone to gap well most people
06:27already know this and kyron williams became his main man blocking power running back last year
06:33they went back to more inside mostly inside zone they brought back a little bit of that
06:38and williams was just as good in that regard so mcveigh now knows whatever i do this guy can run
06:45it and you know he had good production last year i think they're going to have to be a bit more of a
06:49run heavy team in 2025 and yeah blake quorum is good but he's more of a pure gap runner i think
06:56kyron williams has proven and they gave him the contract to you know validate it i think
07:00kyron williams is now a feature back in an offense where they're just going to have to run the ball
07:05more and those are the guys you want to follow do you not worry about the uh fumble numbers from last
07:08year not per se fumble numbers tend to go they tend to go back and forth i think they're definitely
07:14going to be a run heavy team i think if i'm purely looking at this from a fantasy perspective i think that
07:20that quorum's presence and the fact that they spent another fourth round pick on jarquez hunter out of
07:25auburn who i know they really like i think it's going to be much more committee than i would like
07:29as a fantasy owner if i'm if i'm going to have to pay top dollar to have kyron williams and assume
07:35he's a feature back i think those other two guys are too young and and they spent too much on them
07:39quorum as a third round pick the year before to not have them involved enough to where i would just
07:44be annoyed with how much they they siphon away from kyron williams and mecca abuka obviously you know
07:49i'm a bucks guy and so i'm gonna everybody yeah so many people rake to the bucks for that pick
07:54because they're like oh you need so many things on defense and you've already got all these receivers
07:57why are you doing this this is why this is why you do that this is why you continue to keep a strength
08:02a strength because injuries happen all the time they obviously probably had an idea with chris godwin
08:07that he was going to take longer than they wanted to be ready obviously you didn't see anything coming
08:11with jayla mcmillan until that injury happened uh last week but abuka as a player again doug kind of
08:19alluded to it he is chris godwin like he is that perfect number two who in that offense if there
08:26was no mike evans he would be the number one because he can line up everywhere he's tough
08:31enough to stay close to the line of scrimmage and and block and and move all around the the the
08:37offense and catch the ball over the middle but again he's never had to be a contested catch guy
08:41because he's wide open all the time because he can create so much separation and when you can do that
08:46he's just such a ready-made pro out of the box and obviously they've been saying that
08:51throughout the camp and the offseason in tampa but we knew that already last year at ohio state
08:55watching him he could have been a first round pick the year before but like everybody else in
08:59columbus they were too pissed off about the way the season ended they all went back to win a
09:03championship and they did and so you're getting an even more experienced even more polished guy
09:07he's just so ready to make an immediate impact and again this is an offense that everybody can look at
09:12the fact that liam cohen left and went to jacksonville nobody went with him no the bucks
09:17kept almost everybody else from that staff promoted josh grisard who's 35 years old he was their third
09:23down guy last year he handled the third down offense for tampa bay they were the number one third down
09:27offense in the nfl last year so the scheme is going to stay the same for the most part there will be
09:31some new wrinkles but they were top five in passing and rushing last year the entire starting lineup is
09:37back outside of godwin and worse to start the season obviously but abuka is just primed to be
09:42that guy that while everybody else is worried about evans and rightfully so he's the guy that's
09:46going to eat like chris godwin did last year up until that injury chris godwin was the number one
09:51wide receiver in fantasy football when he got hurt he was getting force-fed the ball all the time
09:55amuka abuka is going to play that role until godwin gets back and even long term after that he'll he'll
10:02be that guy into the future and that's the thing about the buccaneers offense the way it's set up
10:06the quote-unquote number two receiver behind evans is really a one or a 1a as far as production as
10:11far as target share they want they want two guys who are ones in different ways and that's i think
10:16with a book of what they'll have and then when godwin comes back god help everybody that's when it's
10:22really interesting i think all this buck talk leads us perfectly into luke's uh first fantasy option
10:26so luke what do you have yeah i'll talk about the other side again i just talked about how balanced
10:31this offense was last year and so much of it is because what liam cohen really did for this team
10:35was elevate the ground game and he did it scheme wise with a lot of things that they were finally
10:41creative with that they were never creative with under byron left which it really weren't under
10:44dave canalis for that one season either baker mayfield in the passing game expanded and had
10:49a better season but what liam cohen brought to the run game and what josh bizard again will continue to
10:54is just so much more versatility so much more playing to the strengths of the offensive line and
10:59the playmakers that they have and the guy who exploded right away for for fantasy owners last year was
11:04bucky irving he went from okay he'll be the change of pace guy to rashad white who's the starter to by
11:09the end of the season he had made rashad white take a back seat and he was the dynamic guy who
11:13was on the field as much as possible rashad white still has value on third downs because he's just
11:17such a good pass protector he's such a smart tough guy that he's he's such a great blocker and very
11:22valuable there he can catch the ball out of the backfield but bucky irving i think and we saw a
11:26glimpse of it last week against the steelers in the preseason game where they motioned him out wide
11:30and he ran like a go route for a touchdown like teddy bridgewater put a dot on him in the back of
11:35the end zone if you're going to be able to manipulate formations to where he's out wide on his own
11:40against an inside linebacker you're toast and that's what we saw in that preseason game i think
11:45josh bizard is going to be super creative with the way they use him and i think again you look at a
11:50passing game that's going to have so many weapons baker mayfield coming off a 4500 yard 41 touchdown season
11:56and oh by the way they had a top five running game and so all those guys are back i think bucky irving
12:00is going to be even better than the version we saw last year who was already you know over a thousand
12:05yards rushing had a bunch of receiving uh yards as well i think he's just such a dynamic player in
12:10all three downs especially ppr leagues he's going to be one of the most explosive runners on a week
12:14to week basis even when everybody's healthy he's going to be the engine that makes that offense go
12:19and teams are going to have to respect that passing game to where they're never going to be able to
12:23load the box up against him he's always going to have some soft boxes to run into he's always going
12:28to be involved in the screen game in the passing game and every time he touches the ball i feel as
12:32it feels like it's must see tv and he can score on any any play the guy that's a little more under
12:37the radar that i think doesn't get enough love pretty much every year since he's entered the league
12:42is josh downs the wide receiver from the colts and michael pittman jr has been the number one guy
12:47there for a while obviously that quarterback situation is hot garbage and we know that we know it's going to
12:52be a very run heavy attack we know tyler warren top you know 15 pick is going to be heavily involved
12:56in that passing game but josh downs is the guy that always makes it work like he is the guy that always
13:02gets open he does the dirty work even though he's a smaller guy he's been banged up a little bit but
13:08he's just such a sharp route runner he's an explosive guy he can create big plays he can get
13:12open at every level of the field and he's been able to do it while already having bad quarterback
13:17situations he's never had a stable quarterback situation with the with the colts since he got there and so
13:21he's already proven that that's not going to keep him from putting up numbers and i think while
13:25teams are worried about stopping jonathan taylor they're worried about stopping pitman and warren
13:29he's the guy that's going to consistently get the least amount of attention from opposing defenses and
13:34i think he'll have the most room to work and he's the guy that i think i checked his adp the other day
13:38and he's like the 50th wide receiver off the board right now in fantasy drafts if you're looking for
13:43value at the position that's where i look is the guy that's going to get consistent production
13:48that i don't have to spend a high pick for if he's the 50th receiver off the board i'm super
13:52happy about that value i like downs there's a guy on the colts who i actually like better as a fantasy
13:57receiver it's alec pierce who had one of the more good explosive play receivers in the nfl had seven
14:03touchdowns to downs as five last year i like downs i like pierce just because well it worked with
14:09anthony richardson because the one thing richardson could do last year was throw the ball downfield that
14:13was it right um either throw the ball downfield or run and get hurt um yeah well that's what he
14:18for us that's why he frustrated me honestly as a dynasty guy ended up trading alec pierce in my
14:22dynasty league about halfway through the season because he was so hit or miss like if he got
14:26those deep balls he could win you a game or he could not catch a pass like he would just completely
14:32disappear and obviously ad mitchell's there as well second round pick i know they have high hopes for
14:36he's still coming along slowly but pierce was just so inconsistent and so frustrating that i felt like
14:40the floor with downs was always 10 point like you're gonna get me double digit points every week
14:45alec pierce it would be like 28 points or four and i'd be like oh my god yeah i'd be afraid to
14:52take anyone who's depending on daniel jones to get them the ball but i kind of like your strategy of
14:58like downs might be the one guy maybe getting some shorter passes that daniel jones can complete so
15:05you know they're gonna have to pass the ball somebody's gotta catch it someone's gotta catch it
15:08yeah but that's a scary team yeah all all the signs lead to downs like all the fantasy statistics
15:15of like you know his catches per game and all that stuff leads to him being a good fantasy option
15:20but yeah the quarterback play is questionable
15:23you
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