February 21, 2025 • 37 mins
It's part two of our homage to Drew Bennett's epic 2004 December run, this time covering wideouts and tight ends who made big strides at the end of the year.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show.
Now here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to the second of two Drew Bennett Drills. This
is where we identify Drew Bene ben I Drew Bennett
drills do. This is where we identify December players who
blew up, and we established whether or not that December
(00:42):
fantasy run is sustainable. Is it a trend or is
it a mirage?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Dunt dun, dun, Drew Bennett, Drew Bennett drill.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The Drew Bennett Drill, that's what we're calling it. Last
week we did quarterbacks and running backs. I have already
confessed that we're We taped this week's show right after
last week's show because I'm at Whiskey Weekend right now.
As you're listening to this now, you might be wondering
what's Whiskey Weekend. You know all about it, Brian. Whiskey
(01:13):
Weekend is goes like this, Twelve guys in the dead
of winter go to a lodge in the middle of
central Minnesota. Everybody brings a bottle of whiskey that's never
been brought before. The top of every hour, you do
a blind taste test between two whiskeys. You don't know
(01:35):
what you're drinking. It's a versus B. You don't get
to see the bottle, you don't know anything about it
except what's in the cup, and you vote for A
or B. Once a bottle has lost twice, it's knocked out.
It's over. Once it's lost two times, it is out
of the competition for good. So we play through the
(02:00):
last bottle standing and we show up Thursday at a
round land lunch time to like, you know, noon and two.
To get to the end. It takes us about through
Saturday nights, Sunday into Sunday before we've got we've got
a winter established.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It's a lot of whiskey drinking.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It's a lot of whiskey drinking.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It is. Is there anything you want to want to tell
future charge right now or warn future charge about whisky weekend?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
You know, if I could go back and tell my
younger self something, it would be the expensive whiskeyes usually
don't win, you know, for our palettes, which it's a
lot of casual drinkers. They like lower proof, sweeter bourbons.
That's it. So I would have saved some money and
(02:51):
gone in that forty dollars price range with easy drinking,
pretty simple bourbons, because that's a lot of are who
are guys like.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Now, what uh? What do you use to like cleanse
the palate most I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Glad you asked, yeah, because you have to write. We
used to delivered almonds or whole almonds.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, yeah, like raw almonds. I've taken a shine to
raw almonds.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But I got the East Coast, I say, almonds. I
can't help it, Almonds. That's that's you.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You've been on the East Coast for less than a year.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Almends. Well, I grew up in New Jersey, so that's
the I suppose ingrained in my DNA Minnesota Bourne.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Try to beat it out anyway, Almends.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I can't help but I say, almends.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So if you if you're a Bourbon fan and you
want to follow this competition, I tweet it in real
time as bottles get knocked out. So as a bottle loses,
I go all right, here we go. We got twelve bottles.
Here's bottle twelve, is this one and it's garbage, and
then we work our way up. Now, some of my
regular listeners will know that I've got a bottle that
(03:56):
I hand selected with great yuck spirits, and that's called
Old Red Reserve. Because I was talking about whether or
not to put it in the competition, Brian and I
decided it's to lose lose if Old Red Reserve. If
I put it in the competition are blind taste test
and it happens to win, everybody will think it's rigged.
(04:19):
I'll be like, yeah, yeah, sure, and if if and
if it finishes I don't know, like seventh then, which
I really shouldn't because I think it's delicious. But if
it finishes seventh then then that's no good either. So
there's just no winning scenario for it. So I'm bringing
Old Reid Reserve just as a sipper on the side.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I like it. You got to save me a bottle, though,
don't forget. I don't know if it's a limited run
or what, but.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It is a limited run, right, yes, And I've got
I do have a bottle in here waiting for you
to come back home.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Sounds good. I I miss uh miss you, of course,
but I miss dog sitting for you guys. Yes, because
name of the superfluous amount of whiskey you have stashed
from all your whiskey weekends, I would indulge and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That would be okay. Anybody who takes care of my
dogs ask.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And sell that. Yeah, whiskey.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It was.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
We had our own whiskey weekend. I tell him, I said, hello, deal, deal,
all right.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So this show, like last show, is about December trends
and mirages. We already hit quarterbacks and running backs. We're
gonna work through receivers and tight ends. This time. There's
a couple more of those players. Let's begin with you, Brian.
How about Jerry Judy, who posted some monster games down
the stretch that all he needed was Deshaun Watson to
(05:42):
get benched.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, who, by the what? I don't want to get
into Shaun Watson. He's need to be in the league
ends upcoming season. Who knows? But ye. As soon as
Jameis Winston came in, Judy's production went through the roof,
starting in week eleven when he had six K his
one hundred and forty two yards. I won't go through
all his games, but just monster Box scores basically from
(06:05):
week eleven through week eighteen one. People might remember most
this is really like a November December run for Judy
when he had his revenge game at Denver that nine catches,
two hundred and thirty five yards and a touchdown in
that game. But what also coincided with Judy's epic run,
(06:27):
not outside of Jamis Winston, was Cedric Tillman got hurt
in Week twelve.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That was a factive play for.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
The remainder of the season, and Tilman was coming on strong,
didn't He might have the draft pedigree that Judy had
a couple of years ago, but Tilman looked great and
that there really was no other true outside receiver to
challenge Jerry Judy per se. After Tilman went down, it
was really like Elijah More and David and Joku whose
(06:54):
tight end he was getting a ton of targets. But
it was really Judy was a one man show. And
you can't expect that going into the twenty twenty five season.
And what you can't expect is quality quarterbacking from whoever
is the starting quarterback for Cleveland. As it's Sam Donald,
I hope it's not Sam Ronald Actually know what, I
wouldn't hate the Browns, oh I would either.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Chemic Stefanski is a legitimately good coach.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I always got to circle back to Donald, I have
a disease. But anyway, but Judy for his price tag
right now for early best ball drafters sixty third overall
wide receiver forty people are buying into trend here. I can't.
I just can't do it. If Tilman was alongside him
(07:39):
through his whole ride and Judy was looking like the Alpha,
then I would lean trend. Did I say trend? I
met Mirage. I'm going mirage with armorrage yep on Josey.
He was, he was the only show in town. Basically,
if Tilman, if he was just out shining Tillman weekend,
week out, it would be a different story. But Tilman
wasn't there Tilman last played week twelve. So I gotta
(08:01):
I gotta go mirage right now for Jerry Judy.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I like Tilman as a sneaky last pick of your
draft right now, and what third year?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
What bodes well for Judy and basically any wide receiver
we talk about. Unlike the previous episode when we said
the running backs that we discussed. You need to be
worried about the incoming rookies.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, not so much. Bad wide receiver class, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Very very very bad wide receiver class outside of a
one one elite player and a couple pretty good UH prospects.
But I don't. I'm not worried about Judy getting beat
out by a rookie or anything like that. But Cedric
Tillman still might be the better receiver on that team.
We shall see.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I like and I'm with you on that analysis. Let's
go to Jamison Williams, the Lions wide receiver. Brian he
finished December is wide receiver ten, one spot ahead of
I'm on ras Saint Brown. Unbelievable. He was still a
big play guy. But the change that unlocked Jamison william
production was antithetical to what you might think shorter passes.
(09:06):
His December average air yards per target was eight and
a half. September October November, where he was much less
fantasy productive, his average air yards thirteen, almost double. They
stopped doing these low you know, the deep stuff that
they had been using to Jamison Williams. It's just low
(09:27):
probability stuff. When he's from twenty yards downfield. It's hard
to hit on those. The short passes meant more receptions,
less boom or bust. For Jamison Williams, it gave him
more opportunities to run after the catch. And also I'd
like to think that in December in particular, Jamison Williams
(09:48):
matured a little bit. You may not know this. The
Lions put Teddy Bridgewater. Remember the Lions brought in Teddy
Bridgewater near the end of the season. They put Bridgewater
on and Jamison Williams ass late in the season because
they wanted Teddy to help train Jamison Williams about how
(10:08):
to be a pro and Teddy is the perfect guy
for that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Teddy's like a player coach at this point.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Basically, he basically is a player.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I mean he was literally coaching high school football.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Then they to the championship. They won a Florida Championship.
So for Trender Mirage and Jamison Williams, I'm on trend.
Not at the wide receiver ten level. That's a little excessive.
That's what he did in December, but I think he'll
be close now. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's gone. Your new
offensive coordinator, john don't call me Johnny. Morton can't be
(10:39):
oblivious to the huge uptick in Williams productivity when he's
not running fly routes every play. So I'd like to
think that John Morton is going to continue to give
shorter looks to Jamison Williams, who can get the ball
in his hands more often. But Brian, no matter which
Lion you're talking about, you have to talk about the
(10:59):
fact that they they just have so many mouths to feed.
You know, all of the Lions are subject to down
games when the ball just doesn't come their way. So that's,
you know, to me, that's an ongoing concern for all
of the Lions. I'm still going trend on. I'm still
going trend on Jamison Williams, but you know, not at
the wide receiver ten level.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think Williams is on trending.
You don't have to pay wide receiver ten prices right now.
He's going off the board. Is a wide receiver twenty two,
kind of like a mid third round pick, but a
guy that I've I've reached for kind of late second,
early third. I believe we are on trend with that production.
And just you mentioned some God, I'm an Ross Saint Brown,
(11:42):
who is going inside the top ten wide receivers. He's
wide receiver six. Right now, I am all out on
Amnros Saint Brown at that price tag, mainly because of
James and Williams and then all the mouths there are
Feed and Ben Johnson. It's gone. So just to throw
that in there quick, I am fully fading. I'm on
Ross Saint Brown in the first round right now. Give
(12:03):
me if I'm picking between him and Jmo, gimme Jamo
in the mid third. Ten out of ten times, on God,
right now.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I think I think I'm with you on that, and
I love I'm on Ros Saint Brown. He is a
great player. It's just all the things that you mentioned.
All right, Let's go to our next player. Brian Thomas
Junior drafted him on our Empire League. I was super
excited about his future, and then Christian cashed out our
Empire League, so I need to go back and get
(12:32):
some more. Brian Thomas Junior loved the development that we
saw this year. This is going to be a trend.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Answer, Yeah, I mean, it's it's a true I mean
he had starting in week thirteen through week eighteen, he
saw double digit targets, totaled five touchdowns, seventy six eighty six,
one hundred and five yards, one hundred and thirty two yards,
ninety one yards, one hundred and three yards In his
last six games all season, he was legit. Here's the
(13:00):
list of rookie wide receivers in history with over twelve
hundred receiving yards, Randy Moss and Kwan Bolden, Odell Beckham Junior,
Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Brian Thomas Junior, and Malik Neighbors,
who was a rookie last year. So yeah, fully on
trend with BTJ. Who is I mean, he's going off
(13:21):
the board as wide receiver seven right now, one pick
after or one wide receiver spot after Aman Rossaint Brown. Wow,
we're just talking about taking I'll take BTJ ten out
of ten times over over Sun God right now. I
mean there's some concerns, like there's some trade rumors with
Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, well, I don't think those are whatever lies.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't yeah, I don't. I don't care either. BTJ
looks for legit, and I mean if you were redrafting
wide receivers last year, like I think Neighbors goes before Harrison, Right, yeah, sure,
but then.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It is, isn't it. Then it would be Brian Thomas
would go before a Well.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yes, Harrison didn't show the eliteness we thought we'd see.
We saw that from Brian Thomas Junior for sure. So yeah,
definitely a trend. If this isn't a trend, he's going
to be in the discussion for one of the biggest
busts next year because he's going at the end of
the first round, early second round if you're lucky, so
you're paying up for BTJ, but he should be worth
(14:23):
the price.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
DeVante Adams finished December is wide receiver two behind only
Jamar Chase. Aaron Rodgers went berserk with him, peppering in
with targets week thirteen forward. He was getting eleven targets
per game from Aaron Rodgers. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Arret Wilson.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, and DeVante Adams scored in five of the final
six games, So trender mirage on DeVante Adams. Who's this
is a nuance to answer, because obviously he's still a
very good even at his advanced age thirty two years old,
he's still very good. And nobody's suggesting that he's going
to fall off a cliff, but from wide receiver too,
(15:03):
he can only be a mirage from there. He has
signed for two more years with the Jets. We don't
know who the Jets quarterback is going to be, but
it is likely not somebody who's going to Pepper eleven
targets per game, eleven competent targets per game at DeVante Adams.
There's they picked seventh in the draft the Jets do.
(15:26):
That's not a spot that's gonna yield a surefire starting quarterback.
Cam mort will be gone should or Sanders will be gone.
The best free agent quarterback, Sam Darnold isn't going to
go back to the Jets. I don't think that would
take That would take a miracle. Justin Fields or Cooper
Rush might be your starting quarterbacks for the Jets. And
that is why we're on mirage for DeVante Adams. Yeah,
(15:49):
I'm with you, sad, all right, let's go to WI
is the option?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Maybe not?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Maybe? Yeah, maybe, Although honestly I'd run fields. I'd roll
the dice on fields.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah. I like lake fields, you know me. I'm an
Advanced Awards market better fields four hundred to one MVP
just's given him a starting job. I'll take any quarterback
at four hundred to one to win MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, let's talk Glad McConkie, next guy up.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Lots to talk about.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Quite a quite a finish to the year for him
and somebody that just got consistently better over the course
of the season.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah. Really, the Chargers did not throw the ball basically
for the first half of the season, and McConkie was
still very much a PPR helper. But from Week eleven
on he was. He was elite and that came to
fruition big time in the in the wild card game
(16:51):
against the Texans when he had nine catches, one hundred
ninety seven yards and a touchdown. And by the way
I saw this doesn't go all regular season, but in
the playoffs, McConkie had the highest recorded speed of any
player in the playoffs, wier than Barkley. Wow, Barkley, who
had a you know, McConkie had like an eighty yard touchdown,
so we got to get the full speed. Barkley did two,
(17:13):
so did Jamiir Gibbs. McConkie faster than both of them
in the postseason. So wow, he's a He's an athlete,
and he's he is, He's great, He's gonna be, he
could be. He's gonna be a Hall of Fame wide
receiver if he stays healthy as a rookie. More yards
than Garrett Wilson, more receptions than Tyreek Hill, more touchdowns
(17:34):
than Ceed Lamb. Last year, his win rate versus man
coverage was seventh in the NFL. Only seven wide receivers
averaged two point two five yards per route run against
man and zone coverage. McConkie was one of them. The
other ones the week neighbors Justin Jefferson, a'man Ross, Saint Brown,
(17:57):
Puka Nakua, Nico Collins.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Some put them in that company right there.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Wow, get into that's the bonus little like sneaper sleeper.
Go out and get him. Marvin Mims Junior in that
category too.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
He's gonna be one of my favorite sleepers for next year.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But uh, anyway back to McConkie, not done yet. Here's
the highest e p A per target by a rookie. Now.
E p A stands for expected points added. It's a
metric used to evaluate the performance of a wide receiver
in the NFL by measuring how well a player performs
compared to what was expected on a play by play basis.
(18:33):
So all time highest e p A per target by
a rookie, Eddie Royal was number one in Oha, then
Lad McConkie number three, ahead of Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase.
I'm on Ross Aint Brown, Phuka Nakua, and Kwon Bolden,
the aforementioned Brian Thomas Junior. These are these are all
elite wide receivers. In McConkie is in that group if
(18:56):
you whether you like it or not, So trend conky.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Is a top ten Fantasy wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah, he's going off the board as technically right now eleven.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Interesting he's going before Tyreek Hill right now, I would
take him before Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, it's right before him. Is a j Brown, Drake
London Neighbors Thomas Son guy, like I would. I wouldn't
take him over Almah because where he can get Aman
Ross Saint Brown in the first round, you could probably
get McConkie in the second round. But like, I want
McConkie over Aman Ross Saint Brown at costs without a doubt. Yeah,
I'll go running back in round one, which I'm not
(19:35):
loving this year. Like most years. If I know I'm
getting McConkie in the second round, like he has wide
receiver one ability Fantasy real life. He's got the goods trend.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Friend, We'll take a break when we come back. Adam
Feelin he's uh, he's thirty four years old and he
was awesome down the stretch last year. We'll talk about
his forthcoming season trend or mirage when we come back.
(20:09):
Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charging and Brian Johnson
with you breaking down the December stars and whether or
not these players will continue that the ascension we saw
in December or is it just a fraud? Is it
a mirage? We begin next? Can you begin next? We
(20:29):
next go to Adam Thielen. In December, he was wide
receiver fifteen. His late season serge coincided with Bryce Young's
tremendous second half of the season. Some of Thelen's success
was tangible and showed up in box scores, like he
averaged very healthy six catches seventy five yards from Week
(20:49):
thirteen forward. Six catches seventy five yards. Those are good numbers,
but also the quality of Adam Thielen's catches Last year
he made three of the ten best catches of the season.
Just eye popping. Oh my god, I can't believe he
came down with it. He made those kinds of catches
and he looked great. Did not look like he was
thirty four years old. So trend of mirage, I am
(21:15):
going trend question mark. Yeah, So, I mean the big
questionnaire is his age. Will he lose a step at
age thirty four? Will he struggle to get separation?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Fortunately, speed has never been Theelan's game. Really, It's always
been elite footwork, route running hands. I mean, it's been
just like the whole package. But the other thing is
we need Adam Thlan to not suffer a six week
long hamstring injury, which seems to happen to him every year.
That part's been very frustrating, But everything else is positive, right.
(21:48):
Dave Canalis is a wizard. Bryce Young has room to
get even better. Well, I think you will get better.
And if unless this team pours capital into the wide
receiver position, you know, he's wide receiver one. Adam Feelen
is wide receiver one to start the season. Xavier Legett
(22:09):
might get better. Jalen Cocher. We mentioned last two names
you mentioned last episode. Maybe they get better, but I
and I don't think they're gonna throw like a first
round pick at wide receiver. I don't think the Panthers will.
I think they got to figure out the offensive line
and if they do, that will also help Adam Feelin.
So I have trend to question mark at Adam feel.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I just like as long as
they don't sink too much, like significant draft capital into
wide receiver. Yeah, you gotta love Feelin's outlook. If he
says helping, we already said it's not a strong class. Now,
if if Carolina is able to get Ted McMillan with
the eighth overall pick, that that's gonna that's gonna dial
down the outlooks were all the wide receivers in Carolina.
(22:51):
But right now you'll love this if you're on trend
with Feeling like you are, and I'm with you, Feelin
is going third out out, you know, out of the three.
Right now we get Wow Woker and THELN Lagett is
a wide receiver sixty right now on underdog Coker wide
receiver sixty six, and then Feeling is seventy four, wide
(23:13):
receiver seventy four, going almost two full rounds after Coker,
So major value on h on feeling right now. But
yet we mentioned Bryce Young in the last episode, how
he's on trend right now. Panthers great team. If you're
drafting best ball, they're all coming in at discount. You can,
oh yeah, stack him very easily to Davian Sanders, who's
(23:35):
not in our tight end segment. Could have been also
an intriguing option for the Panthers offense in twenty twenty five.
We'll talk about him later in the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I'm sure a few moments ago you talked about Lad McConkie,
how much you love him, all the all the all
the positives there, and it was all good. Clinton Johnston,
it was a struggle early for him, but it started
to come together in December. Stop dropping so many passes,
He scored some touchdowns. Where are you landing on the
trend versus mirage for Quinton Johnston?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, Like before I dove in, I was you know,
I looked at Quinton Johnson. I'm like, yeah, he was
great in December. And we always, like we warned earlier
in this episode or last week, like be careful, what's
fresh in your mind? You gotta take a look at
the big picture. But even looking at the small picture,
December for Quentin Johnson, it wasn't that great. Most what
(24:30):
most of us are remembering, it's probably week eighteen when
he had fourteen targets, thirteen catches, one hundred and eighty
six yards, didn't score a touchdown somehow, but monster game there.
But then he had a couple in weeks fourteen and
fifteen he had forty eight yards forty five yards, and
he scored in each of those games. But then weeks
sixteen and seventeen three for eighteen five for forty eight scoreless,
(24:53):
didn't He didn't catch a pass in the wildcard round
either on five targets. So I don't know, it wasn't
that great of December. Looking back at it, like, okay,
eighteen games, so we could say trend where it's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
A trend on an underwhelming December.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Okay, Yeah, So I don't know, but stinking it's really
a mirage. I don't think he's solidical. He's definitely not
the number one option, uh at wide receiver for the Chargers.
That's Lad McConkie. We've gone over that, and I don't
think he's secure in he probably is. I don't know
what the Chargers are going to do in free agency.
They're unlikely to draft someone better than QJ to steal
(25:32):
his starting job. But uh, right now, at wide receiver
sixty four, that's that's wide receiver. I don't know. There's
there's no value there for me. So I'm going mirage
until we see some kind of consistent you know, sixty
seventy yards weekend and week out. We just have not
seen that from QJ. We warned, I warned. I can't
(25:57):
say warned people about this, but I still think the
Chargers are going to run the ball more than they
throw it when we were talking about Herbert last week.
So I don't know. I'm on mirage for for QJ.
But hope, I hope I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Final wide receiver Jalen McMillan from Tampa Bay. You want
to guess where he finished among wide receivers in December.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
He was in the top twenty four, had to have been.
I'm gonna say wide receiver fourteen five. Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Wide receiver five propelled by a league high seven touchdowns
in the final five weeks of the season, so that
helps was all the touchdowns he had. He was wide
receiver twenty or better in all five of the final
weeks of the season, and he finished one spot ahead
of Mike Evans, who finished his wide receiver six. So
trender mirage on McMillan, I'm on trend. First thirteen weeks,
(26:51):
Jalen McMillan averaged two Fantasy points per game, total disaster.
He couldn't start him. Weeks fourteen through eighteen, he'd vaulted
up to fifteen Fantasy points per game in ESPN scoring system. Obviously,
to go from two to fifteen is a massive golf
and that's not gonna happen very often. I mean, that's,
you know, something really usually has to go pretty weird
(27:13):
before you see a jump from two fantasy points a
game to fifteen fantasy points a game. And I'll note
that in those final five games where he was so good,
played against the defenses of the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Panthers,
and the Saints. There's some soft defenses right there. Only
the Chargers went to the playoffs out of the teams
that they played in the final five games. But I
(27:36):
think the biggest thing to evaluate we're looking at Jalen McMillan.
It's the competition on his own team, Chris Godwin coming
off in ACL and he's a free agent. I don't
think I think it's it's cruel, it's mean, but I
don't think he's I don't think he's gonna come back.
I don't think they're gonna have him back. And if
he does come back, how fully does Chris Godwin come
(27:57):
back off that ACL and then Mike Evan another year
early entering his twelfth NFL season, and how much does
he have left? It should put Jalen McMillan on the
field a lot and with an opportunity to do pretty
you know, to do pretty well in an offense that
was very pass heavy. But we got to mention that
they have now turned offensive coordinator three straight times, from
(28:20):
Dave Canalis into Liam Cohen and now Josh Grizzard, who
was the passing game coordinator. He's got a pretty thin resume.
He's been an NFL assistant coach since twenty seventeen, which
puts it back a little ways. But with the Dolphins
and a bunch of different capacities like his wide receiver here,
(28:42):
he's like, I don't know, strength and conditioning over here.
I don't know, I'm not I don't love that part.
I would have liked to have had some continuity with
Liam Cohen still there. But nevertheless, it is trend on
Jalen McMillan, I'm.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
With you on trend. I'm has a. I'm pretty much
on the fence, but all trend. One other thing that
doesn't really bode well for McMillan was, if I recall correctly,
this is well after Godwin went down, I mean Kate
Otten who placed tight end not wide receiver. He really
stepped up as the second receiving option once Godwin went down.
(29:16):
But then Aten got hurt and that seems that also
kind of seemed when McMillan kind of stepped up. So yeah, yeah,
point different position, but I'm still on trend with Yeah,
I agree, I'm buying that McMillan not coming cheap right now.
Wide receiver forty two, he's right in the uh.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I think that is a little cheap, to be honest,
for a guy who finished it in December was wide
receiver five. That's well, it's reasonable.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, I mean, he could definitely out outperform that ADP,
but he could also underperform it too. We shall see.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But uh, all right, let's go to the tight end
position and you've got some Tyler Higbee came back from
that devastating ACL injury at the helmet of Kirby Joseph
and they immediately put him to work in that Rams offense.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, he missed the whole season essentially. He came back
in week sixteen. It took him a week sixteen. Week
seventeen didn't get his full allotment of snaps, but in
week eighteen they kind of took the training wheels off Higbee.
He had, let's see, seven targets, five catches, forty six
yards in a touchdown in week eighteen. Then he kept
(30:29):
it going in the playoffs in the wildcard round against
the Vikings, five catches for fifty eight yards. That was
all in the first half. He got knocked out of
that game, so he was well on his way to
a monster game. And then against Philly in the Divisional round,
ten targets, seven catches, fifty four yards in a touchdown.
That was a tough matchup in the snow. So, I
mean the Rams they went and usually like I was
(30:51):
on Colby Parkinson going into last year because Higbee was
going on irs like the Rams, they utilized their tight ends,
but they.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Didn't do that, but they didn't Higby came back.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, as soon as Higby came back, I mean yeah,
it was all systems go essentially, and I believe he
will be a Ram this upcoming season. We're not sure
if Matt Stafford is going to be their quarterback. I
think he will be hopefully they bring him back. But
right now, I'm gonna go with this very very late
(31:24):
season postseason production as long as Higgbye can stay healthy.
He struggled that in the past, but I'm gonna say trend,
especially when we're talking about Higgby going off the board,
is tight end twenty eight right now. So I'll roll
the dice. I'll say trend at that at that price
all day long and take my chances. So yeah, if healthy,
I think we'll see high usage for Rams tight ends
(31:48):
with Higbee back in the fold, then it will be
Higbee primarily, So uh yeah, trend trend for Tyler quick
tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I've got zach Ertz Washington tight end six touchdowns from
week eleven forward and a massive game that's in the
NFC Championship game against Philadelphia. If you go, you know,
fast forward a few more weeks, sixteen targets, eleven catches,
one hundred and four yards, massive game in the NFC
Championship game. Hard to put a trend on a guy
(32:17):
who's thirty four years old, but I think I'm gonna
do it here. Brian now Age is concerned and he's
had some injuries but played every game this year. Part
of my confidence is Ben Senate just didn't do anything
this year. He got on the field some I looked
him up. He played on three hundred and twenty two snaps,
(32:38):
a lot of them special teams, but he only had
five targets all year. That's it. Ben said it was
a second round pick who barely got used. So you know,
maybe Senate has a much bigger role next year in
his second year, but his role was so small in
year one that I don't feel very confident in thinking
that Ben Senate is gonna beat out zach Ertz and
(33:00):
obviously Jayden Daniels capable of generating big performances. So I
still it's boring, but I kind of like zach Ertz
to take it again.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yeah, I would if I'm investing in Earth's and I
think the price is right right now. I'm praying he
stays in Washington because I think anywhere else it's just
it would be a downgrade. Yeah for Earth, who's expressed
he wants to He was like literally like crying, like
I wish I was younger, I could play with Jade
and Daniels. Yeah, right, we all wish we were younger, Zach,
(33:30):
But yeah, he wants to stay in Washington. But h
if they do move on from Ertz, then uh, wheels
up for Sinnate, who I'm buying into. You can get
Senate in the last round right now. In the event
that Ertz leaves, We've all we've come to expect too
much from rookie tight ends all of a sudden, right,
so we got to overlook. I know we're talking to
Earth's but Sinate, I got my eye on him. I
(33:51):
think there's some potential there. But if Earth sticks around,
then that's not good for Senate at least.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Final player for this episode Chigakon quote the ten to
see Titans tight End that did absolutely nothing until the
end of the year.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah, you most expected o'conquo to go into the season
as the Titans starting tight end, which he was, but
he was still splitting work mainly with Josh Wiley some
Nick Vinett. So really just like o'conquo is running half
the routes for the majority of the season, but that
(34:27):
changed really in week sixteen seventeen eighteen. He got hurt
in week eighteen, so we won't count that, But in
week sixteen and seventeen ran more than eighty percent of
the routes. Eight catches fifty nine yards, nine catches eighty
one yards in those two games saw target totals of
ten and eleven. As a whole, the Titans were eleventh
(34:47):
in catches with ninety eight in the league. But again
o'conquo was split in work with Wiley, but Wiley wasn't
hurt in weeks sixteen and seventeen, they just gave o
conquo more snaps. Who hopefully gets that work going into
twenty twenty five. I think he will. We express concern
(35:12):
about this offense. We don't know who the quarterback is
gonna be. There's not a lot of not a lot
to love in the Tennessee offense, but there's not a
lot to love in the tight end wasteland. But I'm
gonna go trend here. Why not? Okay, I mean, and
o'con quo. You're getting him dirt cheap, so he's coming.
He's going later than Higbee. He's tight end thirty right now,
so he's free. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna just
(35:33):
bank on the on the trend that we see the
uptick in usage, because why not. I mean, Josh Wiley,
ain't it. I mean, let's see what o'conquo can do.
He he he is an athlete, he's he kind of
reminds me of your boy John Hu, John Who a
little bit. I mean, I'm gonna and if it doesn't
work out, he's not in John Who's Smith's class.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Let's he's not.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
He's not. He's nobody is he's aspiring to be?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, he's not. He's Johnna. I'm listening to that.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
But hey, that's that's where where John Who, you know,
he got his start in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
She did, they didn't need him. And then the Patriots
who identified how good John it was, paid him a
billion dollars and then promptly didn't use him. And then
finally he gets to Miami and they're like, oh my god,
you're great.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Well don't. I'm surprised you forgot about his stop in
Atlanta where he.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, he daggered Kyle Pitts' season in as much as
Arthur Smith did.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, yep, yeah, there wasn't a nice December for Kyle
Pitts to talk about in that show.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thank you, my man. Two good shows.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Whiskey.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, we'll be uh, we'll be talking rookies after this.
Next week, we'll start turning our attention to Thorne Eistrom
and getting into combined storylines and start really breaking down
rookies in advance of the draft. Can't wait.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Cool Thor is already in mid season four when it
comes to rookie evaluation.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I think he is.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
He's on point, as he always is.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back next next week.
It's more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly is a
production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decided to drop into the show.
Now here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to the second of two Drew Bennett Drills. This
is where we identify Drew Bene ben I Drew Bennett
drills do. This is where we identify December players who
blew up, and we established whether or not that December
(00:42):
fantasy run is sustainable. Is it a trend or is
it a mirage?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Dunt dun, dun, Drew Bennett, Drew Bennett drill.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The Drew Bennett Drill, that's what we're calling it. Last
week we did quarterbacks and running backs. I have already
confessed that we're We taped this week's show right after
last week's show because I'm at Whiskey Weekend right now.
As you're listening to this now, you might be wondering
what's Whiskey Weekend. You know all about it, Brian. Whiskey
(01:13):
Weekend is goes like this, Twelve guys in the dead
of winter go to a lodge in the middle of
central Minnesota. Everybody brings a bottle of whiskey that's never
been brought before. The top of every hour, you do
a blind taste test between two whiskeys. You don't know
(01:35):
what you're drinking. It's a versus B. You don't get
to see the bottle, you don't know anything about it
except what's in the cup, and you vote for A
or B. Once a bottle has lost twice, it's knocked out.
It's over. Once it's lost two times, it is out
of the competition for good. So we play through the
(02:00):
last bottle standing and we show up Thursday at a
round land lunch time to like, you know, noon and two.
To get to the end. It takes us about through
Saturday nights, Sunday into Sunday before we've got we've got
a winter established.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It's a lot of whiskey drinking.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It's a lot of whiskey drinking.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It is. Is there anything you want to want to tell
future charge right now or warn future charge about whisky weekend?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
You know, if I could go back and tell my
younger self something, it would be the expensive whiskeyes usually
don't win, you know, for our palettes, which it's a
lot of casual drinkers. They like lower proof, sweeter bourbons.
That's it. So I would have saved some money and
(02:51):
gone in that forty dollars price range with easy drinking,
pretty simple bourbons, because that's a lot of are who
are guys like.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Now, what uh? What do you use to like cleanse
the palate most I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Glad you asked, yeah, because you have to write. We
used to delivered almonds or whole almonds.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, yeah, like raw almonds. I've taken a shine to
raw almonds.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But I got the East Coast, I say, almonds. I
can't help it, Almonds. That's that's you.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You've been on the East Coast for less than a year.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Almends. Well, I grew up in New Jersey, so that's
the I suppose ingrained in my DNA Minnesota Bourne.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Try to beat it out anyway, Almends.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I can't help but I say, almends.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So if you if you're a Bourbon fan and you
want to follow this competition, I tweet it in real
time as bottles get knocked out. So as a bottle loses,
I go all right, here we go. We got twelve bottles.
Here's bottle twelve, is this one and it's garbage, and
then we work our way up. Now, some of my
regular listeners will know that I've got a bottle that
(03:56):
I hand selected with great yuck spirits, and that's called
Old Red Reserve. Because I was talking about whether or
not to put it in the competition, Brian and I
decided it's to lose lose if Old Red Reserve. If
I put it in the competition are blind taste test
and it happens to win, everybody will think it's rigged.
(04:19):
I'll be like, yeah, yeah, sure, and if if and
if it finishes I don't know, like seventh then, which
I really shouldn't because I think it's delicious. But if
it finishes seventh then then that's no good either. So
there's just no winning scenario for it. So I'm bringing
Old Reid Reserve just as a sipper on the side.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I like it. You got to save me a bottle, though,
don't forget. I don't know if it's a limited run
or what, but.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It is a limited run, right, yes, And I've got
I do have a bottle in here waiting for you
to come back home.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Sounds good. I I miss uh miss you, of course,
but I miss dog sitting for you guys. Yes, because
name of the superfluous amount of whiskey you have stashed
from all your whiskey weekends, I would indulge and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That would be okay. Anybody who takes care of my
dogs ask.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And sell that. Yeah, whiskey.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It was.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
We had our own whiskey weekend. I tell him, I said, hello, deal, deal,
all right.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So this show, like last show, is about December trends
and mirages. We already hit quarterbacks and running backs. We're
gonna work through receivers and tight ends. This time. There's
a couple more of those players. Let's begin with you, Brian.
How about Jerry Judy, who posted some monster games down
the stretch that all he needed was Deshaun Watson to
(05:42):
get benched.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, who, by the what? I don't want to get
into Shaun Watson. He's need to be in the league
ends upcoming season. Who knows? But ye. As soon as
Jameis Winston came in, Judy's production went through the roof,
starting in week eleven when he had six K his
one hundred and forty two yards. I won't go through
all his games, but just monster Box scores basically from
(06:05):
week eleven through week eighteen one. People might remember most
this is really like a November December run for Judy
when he had his revenge game at Denver that nine catches,
two hundred and thirty five yards and a touchdown in
that game. But what also coincided with Judy's epic run,
(06:27):
not outside of Jamis Winston, was Cedric Tillman got hurt
in Week twelve.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That was a factive play for.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
The remainder of the season, and Tilman was coming on strong,
didn't He might have the draft pedigree that Judy had
a couple of years ago, but Tilman looked great and
that there really was no other true outside receiver to
challenge Jerry Judy per se. After Tilman went down, it
was really like Elijah More and David and Joku whose
(06:54):
tight end he was getting a ton of targets. But
it was really Judy was a one man show. And
you can't expect that going into the twenty twenty five season.
And what you can't expect is quality quarterbacking from whoever
is the starting quarterback for Cleveland. As it's Sam Donald,
I hope it's not Sam Ronald Actually know what, I
wouldn't hate the Browns, oh I would either.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Chemic Stefanski is a legitimately good coach.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I always got to circle back to Donald, I have
a disease. But anyway, but Judy for his price tag
right now for early best ball drafters sixty third overall
wide receiver forty people are buying into trend here. I can't.
I just can't do it. If Tilman was alongside him
(07:39):
through his whole ride and Judy was looking like the Alpha,
then I would lean trend. Did I say trend? I
met Mirage. I'm going mirage with armorrage yep on Josey.
He was, he was the only show in town. Basically,
if Tilman, if he was just out shining Tillman weekend,
week out, it would be a different story. But Tilman
wasn't there Tilman last played week twelve. So I gotta
(08:01):
I gotta go mirage right now for Jerry Judy.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I like Tilman as a sneaky last pick of your
draft right now, and what third year?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
What bodes well for Judy and basically any wide receiver
we talk about. Unlike the previous episode when we said
the running backs that we discussed. You need to be
worried about the incoming rookies.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, not so much. Bad wide receiver class, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Very very very bad wide receiver class outside of a
one one elite player and a couple pretty good UH prospects.
But I don't. I'm not worried about Judy getting beat
out by a rookie or anything like that. But Cedric
Tillman still might be the better receiver on that team.
We shall see.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I like and I'm with you on that analysis. Let's
go to Jamison Williams, the Lions wide receiver. Brian he
finished December is wide receiver ten, one spot ahead of
I'm on ras Saint Brown. Unbelievable. He was still a
big play guy. But the change that unlocked Jamison william
production was antithetical to what you might think shorter passes.
(09:06):
His December average air yards per target was eight and
a half. September October November, where he was much less
fantasy productive, his average air yards thirteen, almost double. They
stopped doing these low you know, the deep stuff that
they had been using to Jamison Williams. It's just low
(09:27):
probability stuff. When he's from twenty yards downfield. It's hard
to hit on those. The short passes meant more receptions,
less boom or bust. For Jamison Williams, it gave him
more opportunities to run after the catch. And also I'd
like to think that in December in particular, Jamison Williams
(09:48):
matured a little bit. You may not know this. The
Lions put Teddy Bridgewater. Remember the Lions brought in Teddy
Bridgewater near the end of the season. They put Bridgewater
on and Jamison Williams ass late in the season because
they wanted Teddy to help train Jamison Williams about how
(10:08):
to be a pro and Teddy is the perfect guy
for that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Teddy's like a player coach at this point.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Basically, he basically is a player.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I mean he was literally coaching high school football.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Then they to the championship. They won a Florida Championship.
So for Trender Mirage and Jamison Williams, I'm on trend.
Not at the wide receiver ten level. That's a little excessive.
That's what he did in December, but I think he'll
be close now. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's gone. Your new
offensive coordinator, john don't call me Johnny. Morton can't be
(10:39):
oblivious to the huge uptick in Williams productivity when he's
not running fly routes every play. So I'd like to
think that John Morton is going to continue to give
shorter looks to Jamison Williams, who can get the ball
in his hands more often. But Brian, no matter which
Lion you're talking about, you have to talk about the
(10:59):
fact that they they just have so many mouths to feed.
You know, all of the Lions are subject to down
games when the ball just doesn't come their way. So that's,
you know, to me, that's an ongoing concern for all
of the Lions. I'm still going trend on. I'm still
going trend on Jamison Williams, but you know, not at
the wide receiver ten level.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think Williams is on trending.
You don't have to pay wide receiver ten prices right now.
He's going off the board. Is a wide receiver twenty two,
kind of like a mid third round pick, but a
guy that I've I've reached for kind of late second,
early third. I believe we are on trend with that production.
And just you mentioned some God, I'm an Ross Saint Brown,
(11:42):
who is going inside the top ten wide receivers. He's
wide receiver six. Right now, I am all out on
Amnros Saint Brown at that price tag, mainly because of
James and Williams and then all the mouths there are
Feed and Ben Johnson. It's gone. So just to throw
that in there quick, I am fully fading. I'm on
Ross Saint Brown in the first round right now. Give
(12:03):
me if I'm picking between him and Jmo, gimme Jamo
in the mid third. Ten out of ten times, on God,
right now.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I think I think I'm with you on that, and
I love I'm on Ros Saint Brown. He is a
great player. It's just all the things that you mentioned.
All right, Let's go to our next player. Brian Thomas
Junior drafted him on our Empire League. I was super
excited about his future, and then Christian cashed out our
Empire League, so I need to go back and get
(12:32):
some more. Brian Thomas Junior loved the development that we
saw this year. This is going to be a trend.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Answer, Yeah, I mean, it's it's a true I mean
he had starting in week thirteen through week eighteen, he
saw double digit targets, totaled five touchdowns, seventy six eighty six,
one hundred and five yards, one hundred and thirty two yards,
ninety one yards, one hundred and three yards In his
last six games all season, he was legit. Here's the
(13:00):
list of rookie wide receivers in history with over twelve
hundred receiving yards, Randy Moss and Kwan Bolden, Odell Beckham Junior,
Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Brian Thomas Junior, and Malik Neighbors,
who was a rookie last year. So yeah, fully on
trend with BTJ. Who is I mean, he's going off
(13:21):
the board as wide receiver seven right now, one pick
after or one wide receiver spot after Aman Rossaint Brown. Wow,
we're just talking about taking I'll take BTJ ten out
of ten times over over Sun God right now. I
mean there's some concerns, like there's some trade rumors with
Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, well, I don't think those are whatever lies.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't yeah, I don't. I don't care either. BTJ
looks for legit, and I mean if you were redrafting
wide receivers last year, like I think Neighbors goes before Harrison, Right, yeah, sure,
but then.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It is, isn't it. Then it would be Brian Thomas
would go before a Well.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yes, Harrison didn't show the eliteness we thought we'd see.
We saw that from Brian Thomas Junior for sure. So yeah,
definitely a trend. If this isn't a trend, he's going
to be in the discussion for one of the biggest
busts next year because he's going at the end of
the first round, early second round if you're lucky, so
you're paying up for BTJ, but he should be worth
(14:23):
the price.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
DeVante Adams finished December is wide receiver two behind only
Jamar Chase. Aaron Rodgers went berserk with him, peppering in
with targets week thirteen forward. He was getting eleven targets
per game from Aaron Rodgers. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Arret Wilson.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, and DeVante Adams scored in five of the final
six games, So trender mirage on DeVante Adams. Who's this
is a nuance to answer, because obviously he's still a
very good even at his advanced age thirty two years old,
he's still very good. And nobody's suggesting that he's going
to fall off a cliff, but from wide receiver too,
(15:03):
he can only be a mirage from there. He has
signed for two more years with the Jets. We don't
know who the Jets quarterback is going to be, but
it is likely not somebody who's going to Pepper eleven
targets per game, eleven competent targets per game at DeVante Adams.
There's they picked seventh in the draft the Jets do.
(15:26):
That's not a spot that's gonna yield a surefire starting quarterback.
Cam mort will be gone should or Sanders will be gone.
The best free agent quarterback, Sam Darnold isn't going to
go back to the Jets. I don't think that would
take That would take a miracle. Justin Fields or Cooper
Rush might be your starting quarterbacks for the Jets. And
that is why we're on mirage for DeVante Adams. Yeah,
(15:49):
I'm with you, sad, all right, let's go to WI
is the option?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Maybe not?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Maybe? Yeah, maybe, Although honestly I'd run fields. I'd roll
the dice on fields.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah. I like lake fields, you know me. I'm an
Advanced Awards market better fields four hundred to one MVP
just's given him a starting job. I'll take any quarterback
at four hundred to one to win MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, let's talk Glad McConkie, next guy up.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Lots to talk about.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Quite a quite a finish to the year for him
and somebody that just got consistently better over the course
of the season.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah. Really, the Chargers did not throw the ball basically
for the first half of the season, and McConkie was
still very much a PPR helper. But from Week eleven
on he was. He was elite and that came to
fruition big time in the in the wild card game
(16:51):
against the Texans when he had nine catches, one hundred
ninety seven yards and a touchdown. And by the way
I saw this doesn't go all regular season, but in
the playoffs, McConkie had the highest recorded speed of any
player in the playoffs, wier than Barkley. Wow, Barkley, who
had a you know, McConkie had like an eighty yard touchdown,
so we got to get the full speed. Barkley did two,
(17:13):
so did Jamiir Gibbs. McConkie faster than both of them
in the postseason. So wow, he's a He's an athlete,
and he's he is, He's great, He's gonna be, he
could be. He's gonna be a Hall of Fame wide
receiver if he stays healthy as a rookie. More yards
than Garrett Wilson, more receptions than Tyreek Hill, more touchdowns
(17:34):
than Ceed Lamb. Last year, his win rate versus man
coverage was seventh in the NFL. Only seven wide receivers
averaged two point two five yards per route run against
man and zone coverage. McConkie was one of them. The
other ones the week neighbors Justin Jefferson, a'man Ross, Saint Brown,
(17:57):
Puka Nakua, Nico Collins.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Some put them in that company right there.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Wow, get into that's the bonus little like sneaper sleeper.
Go out and get him. Marvin Mims Junior in that
category too.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
He's gonna be one of my favorite sleepers for next year.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But uh, anyway back to McConkie, not done yet. Here's
the highest e p A per target by a rookie. Now.
E p A stands for expected points added. It's a
metric used to evaluate the performance of a wide receiver
in the NFL by measuring how well a player performs
compared to what was expected on a play by play basis.
(18:33):
So all time highest e p A per target by
a rookie, Eddie Royal was number one in Oha, then
Lad McConkie number three, ahead of Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase.
I'm on Ross Aint Brown, Phuka Nakua, and Kwon Bolden,
the aforementioned Brian Thomas Junior. These are these are all
elite wide receivers. In McConkie is in that group if
(18:56):
you whether you like it or not, So trend conky.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Is a top ten Fantasy wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah, he's going off the board as technically right now eleven.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Interesting he's going before Tyreek Hill right now, I would
take him before Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, it's right before him. Is a j Brown, Drake
London Neighbors Thomas Son guy, like I would. I wouldn't
take him over Almah because where he can get Aman
Ross Saint Brown in the first round, you could probably
get McConkie in the second round. But like, I want
McConkie over Aman Ross Saint Brown at costs without a doubt. Yeah,
I'll go running back in round one, which I'm not
(19:35):
loving this year. Like most years. If I know I'm
getting McConkie in the second round, like he has wide
receiver one ability Fantasy real life. He's got the goods trend.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Friend, We'll take a break when we come back. Adam
Feelin he's uh, he's thirty four years old and he
was awesome down the stretch last year. We'll talk about
his forthcoming season trend or mirage when we come back.
(20:09):
Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charging and Brian Johnson
with you breaking down the December stars and whether or
not these players will continue that the ascension we saw
in December or is it just a fraud? Is it
a mirage? We begin next? Can you begin next? We
(20:29):
next go to Adam Thielen. In December, he was wide
receiver fifteen. His late season serge coincided with Bryce Young's
tremendous second half of the season. Some of Thelen's success
was tangible and showed up in box scores, like he
averaged very healthy six catches seventy five yards from Week
(20:49):
thirteen forward. Six catches seventy five yards. Those are good numbers,
but also the quality of Adam Thielen's catches Last year
he made three of the ten best catches of the season.
Just eye popping. Oh my god, I can't believe he
came down with it. He made those kinds of catches
and he looked great. Did not look like he was
thirty four years old. So trend of mirage, I am
(21:15):
going trend question mark. Yeah, So, I mean the big
questionnaire is his age. Will he lose a step at
age thirty four? Will he struggle to get separation?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Fortunately, speed has never been Theelan's game. Really, It's always
been elite footwork, route running hands. I mean, it's been
just like the whole package. But the other thing is
we need Adam Thlan to not suffer a six week
long hamstring injury, which seems to happen to him every year.
That part's been very frustrating, But everything else is positive, right.
(21:48):
Dave Canalis is a wizard. Bryce Young has room to
get even better. Well, I think you will get better.
And if unless this team pours capital into the wide
receiver position, you know, he's wide receiver one. Adam Feelen
is wide receiver one to start the season. Xavier Legett
(22:09):
might get better. Jalen Cocher. We mentioned last two names
you mentioned last episode. Maybe they get better, but I
and I don't think they're gonna throw like a first
round pick at wide receiver. I don't think the Panthers will.
I think they got to figure out the offensive line
and if they do, that will also help Adam Feelin.
So I have trend to question mark at Adam feel.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I just like as long as
they don't sink too much, like significant draft capital into
wide receiver. Yeah, you gotta love Feelin's outlook. If he
says helping, we already said it's not a strong class. Now,
if if Carolina is able to get Ted McMillan with
the eighth overall pick, that that's gonna that's gonna dial
down the outlooks were all the wide receivers in Carolina.
(22:51):
But right now you'll love this if you're on trend
with Feeling like you are, and I'm with you, Feelin
is going third out out, you know, out of the three.
Right now we get Wow Woker and THELN Lagett is
a wide receiver sixty right now on underdog Coker wide
receiver sixty six, and then Feeling is seventy four, wide
(23:13):
receiver seventy four, going almost two full rounds after Coker,
So major value on h on feeling right now. But
yet we mentioned Bryce Young in the last episode, how
he's on trend right now. Panthers great team. If you're
drafting best ball, they're all coming in at discount. You can,
oh yeah, stack him very easily to Davian Sanders, who's
(23:35):
not in our tight end segment. Could have been also
an intriguing option for the Panthers offense in twenty twenty five.
We'll talk about him later in the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I'm sure a few moments ago you talked about Lad McConkie,
how much you love him, all the all the all
the positives there, and it was all good. Clinton Johnston,
it was a struggle early for him, but it started
to come together in December. Stop dropping so many passes,
He scored some touchdowns. Where are you landing on the
trend versus mirage for Quinton Johnston?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, Like before I dove in, I was you know,
I looked at Quinton Johnson. I'm like, yeah, he was
great in December. And we always, like we warned earlier
in this episode or last week, like be careful, what's
fresh in your mind? You gotta take a look at
the big picture. But even looking at the small picture,
December for Quentin Johnson, it wasn't that great. Most what
(24:30):
most of us are remembering, it's probably week eighteen when
he had fourteen targets, thirteen catches, one hundred and eighty
six yards, didn't score a touchdown somehow, but monster game there.
But then he had a couple in weeks fourteen and
fifteen he had forty eight yards forty five yards, and
he scored in each of those games. But then weeks
sixteen and seventeen three for eighteen five for forty eight scoreless,
(24:53):
didn't He didn't catch a pass in the wildcard round
either on five targets. So I don't know, it wasn't
that great of December. Looking back at it, like, okay,
eighteen games, so we could say trend where it's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
A trend on an underwhelming December.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Okay, Yeah, So I don't know, but stinking it's really
a mirage. I don't think he's solidical. He's definitely not
the number one option, uh at wide receiver for the Chargers.
That's Lad McConkie. We've gone over that, and I don't
think he's secure in he probably is. I don't know
what the Chargers are going to do in free agency.
They're unlikely to draft someone better than QJ to steal
(25:32):
his starting job. But uh, right now, at wide receiver
sixty four, that's that's wide receiver. I don't know. There's
there's no value there for me. So I'm going mirage
until we see some kind of consistent you know, sixty
seventy yards weekend and week out. We just have not
seen that from QJ. We warned, I warned. I can't
(25:57):
say warned people about this, but I still think the
Chargers are going to run the ball more than they
throw it when we were talking about Herbert last week.
So I don't know. I'm on mirage for for QJ.
But hope, I hope I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Final wide receiver Jalen McMillan from Tampa Bay. You want
to guess where he finished among wide receivers in December.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
He was in the top twenty four, had to have been.
I'm gonna say wide receiver fourteen five. Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Wide receiver five propelled by a league high seven touchdowns
in the final five weeks of the season, so that
helps was all the touchdowns he had. He was wide
receiver twenty or better in all five of the final
weeks of the season, and he finished one spot ahead
of Mike Evans, who finished his wide receiver six. So
trender mirage on McMillan, I'm on trend. First thirteen weeks,
(26:51):
Jalen McMillan averaged two Fantasy points per game, total disaster.
He couldn't start him. Weeks fourteen through eighteen, he'd vaulted
up to fifteen Fantasy points per game in ESPN scoring system. Obviously,
to go from two to fifteen is a massive golf
and that's not gonna happen very often. I mean, that's,
you know, something really usually has to go pretty weird
(27:13):
before you see a jump from two fantasy points a
game to fifteen fantasy points a game. And I'll note
that in those final five games where he was so good,
played against the defenses of the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Panthers,
and the Saints. There's some soft defenses right there. Only
the Chargers went to the playoffs out of the teams
that they played in the final five games. But I
(27:36):
think the biggest thing to evaluate we're looking at Jalen McMillan.
It's the competition on his own team, Chris Godwin coming
off in ACL and he's a free agent. I don't
think I think it's it's cruel, it's mean, but I
don't think he's I don't think he's gonna come back.
I don't think they're gonna have him back. And if
he does come back, how fully does Chris Godwin come
(27:57):
back off that ACL and then Mike Evan another year
early entering his twelfth NFL season, and how much does
he have left? It should put Jalen McMillan on the
field a lot and with an opportunity to do pretty
you know, to do pretty well in an offense that
was very pass heavy. But we got to mention that
they have now turned offensive coordinator three straight times, from
(28:20):
Dave Canalis into Liam Cohen and now Josh Grizzard, who
was the passing game coordinator. He's got a pretty thin resume.
He's been an NFL assistant coach since twenty seventeen, which
puts it back a little ways. But with the Dolphins
and a bunch of different capacities like his wide receiver here,
(28:42):
he's like, I don't know, strength and conditioning over here.
I don't know, I'm not I don't love that part.
I would have liked to have had some continuity with
Liam Cohen still there. But nevertheless, it is trend on
Jalen McMillan, I'm.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
With you on trend. I'm has a. I'm pretty much
on the fence, but all trend. One other thing that
doesn't really bode well for McMillan was, if I recall correctly,
this is well after Godwin went down, I mean Kate
Otten who placed tight end not wide receiver. He really
stepped up as the second receiving option once Godwin went down.
(29:16):
But then Aten got hurt and that seems that also
kind of seemed when McMillan kind of stepped up. So yeah, yeah,
point different position, but I'm still on trend with Yeah,
I agree, I'm buying that McMillan not coming cheap right now.
Wide receiver forty two, he's right in the uh.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I think that is a little cheap, to be honest,
for a guy who finished it in December was wide
receiver five. That's well, it's reasonable.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, I mean, he could definitely out outperform that ADP,
but he could also underperform it too. We shall see.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But uh, all right, let's go to the tight end
position and you've got some Tyler Higbee came back from
that devastating ACL injury at the helmet of Kirby Joseph
and they immediately put him to work in that Rams offense.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, he missed the whole season essentially. He came back
in week sixteen. It took him a week sixteen. Week
seventeen didn't get his full allotment of snaps, but in
week eighteen they kind of took the training wheels off Higbee.
He had, let's see, seven targets, five catches, forty six
yards in a touchdown in week eighteen. Then he kept
(30:29):
it going in the playoffs in the wildcard round against
the Vikings, five catches for fifty eight yards. That was
all in the first half. He got knocked out of
that game, so he was well on his way to
a monster game. And then against Philly in the Divisional round,
ten targets, seven catches, fifty four yards in a touchdown.
That was a tough matchup in the snow. So, I
mean the Rams they went and usually like I was
(30:51):
on Colby Parkinson going into last year because Higbee was
going on irs like the Rams, they utilized their tight ends,
but they.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Didn't do that, but they didn't Higby came back.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, as soon as Higby came back, I mean yeah,
it was all systems go essentially, and I believe he
will be a Ram this upcoming season. We're not sure
if Matt Stafford is going to be their quarterback. I
think he will be hopefully they bring him back. But
right now, I'm gonna go with this very very late
(31:24):
season postseason production as long as Higgbye can stay healthy.
He struggled that in the past, but I'm gonna say trend,
especially when we're talking about Higgby going off the board,
is tight end twenty eight right now. So I'll roll
the dice. I'll say trend at that at that price
all day long and take my chances. So yeah, if healthy,
I think we'll see high usage for Rams tight ends
(31:48):
with Higbee back in the fold, then it will be
Higbee primarily, So uh yeah, trend trend for Tyler quick
tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I've got zach Ertz Washington tight end six touchdowns from
week eleven forward and a massive game that's in the
NFC Championship game against Philadelphia. If you go, you know,
fast forward a few more weeks, sixteen targets, eleven catches,
one hundred and four yards, massive game in the NFC
Championship game. Hard to put a trend on a guy
(32:17):
who's thirty four years old, but I think I'm gonna
do it here. Brian now Age is concerned and he's
had some injuries but played every game this year. Part
of my confidence is Ben Senate just didn't do anything
this year. He got on the field some I looked
him up. He played on three hundred and twenty two snaps,
(32:38):
a lot of them special teams, but he only had
five targets all year. That's it. Ben said it was
a second round pick who barely got used. So you know,
maybe Senate has a much bigger role next year in
his second year, but his role was so small in
year one that I don't feel very confident in thinking
that Ben Senate is gonna beat out zach Ertz and
(33:00):
obviously Jayden Daniels capable of generating big performances. So I
still it's boring, but I kind of like zach Ertz
to take it again.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yeah, I would if I'm investing in Earth's and I
think the price is right right now. I'm praying he
stays in Washington because I think anywhere else it's just
it would be a downgrade. Yeah for Earth, who's expressed
he wants to He was like literally like crying, like
I wish I was younger, I could play with Jade
and Daniels. Yeah, right, we all wish we were younger, Zach,
(33:30):
But yeah, he wants to stay in Washington. But h
if they do move on from Ertz, then uh, wheels
up for Sinnate, who I'm buying into. You can get
Senate in the last round right now. In the event
that Ertz leaves, We've all we've come to expect too
much from rookie tight ends all of a sudden, right,
so we got to overlook. I know we're talking to
Earth's but Sinate, I got my eye on him. I
(33:51):
think there's some potential there. But if Earth sticks around,
then that's not good for Senate at least.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Final player for this episode Chigakon quote the ten to
see Titans tight End that did absolutely nothing until the
end of the year.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah, you most expected o'conquo to go into the season
as the Titans starting tight end, which he was, but
he was still splitting work mainly with Josh Wiley some
Nick Vinett. So really just like o'conquo is running half
the routes for the majority of the season, but that
(34:27):
changed really in week sixteen seventeen eighteen. He got hurt
in week eighteen, so we won't count that, But in
week sixteen and seventeen ran more than eighty percent of
the routes. Eight catches fifty nine yards, nine catches eighty
one yards in those two games saw target totals of
ten and eleven. As a whole, the Titans were eleventh
(34:47):
in catches with ninety eight in the league. But again
o'conquo was split in work with Wiley, but Wiley wasn't
hurt in weeks sixteen and seventeen, they just gave o
conquo more snaps. Who hopefully gets that work going into
twenty twenty five. I think he will. We express concern
(35:12):
about this offense. We don't know who the quarterback is
gonna be. There's not a lot of not a lot
to love in the Tennessee offense, but there's not a
lot to love in the tight end wasteland. But I'm
gonna go trend here. Why not? Okay, I mean, and
o'con quo. You're getting him dirt cheap, so he's coming.
He's going later than Higbee. He's tight end thirty right now,
so he's free. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna just
(35:33):
bank on the on the trend that we see the
uptick in usage, because why not. I mean, Josh Wiley,
ain't it. I mean, let's see what o'conquo can do.
He he he is an athlete, he's he kind of
reminds me of your boy John Hu, John Who a
little bit. I mean, I'm gonna and if it doesn't
work out, he's not in John Who's Smith's class.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Let's he's not.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
He's not. He's nobody is he's aspiring to be?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, yeah, he's not. He's Johnna. I'm listening to that.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
But hey, that's that's where where John Who, you know,
he got his start in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
She did, they didn't need him. And then the Patriots
who identified how good John it was, paid him a
billion dollars and then promptly didn't use him. And then
finally he gets to Miami and they're like, oh my god,
you're great.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Well don't. I'm surprised you forgot about his stop in
Atlanta where he.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, he daggered Kyle Pitts' season in as much as
Arthur Smith did.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, yep, yeah, there wasn't a nice December for Kyle
Pitts to talk about in that show.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thank you, my man. Two good shows.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Whiskey.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, we'll be uh, we'll be talking rookies after this.
Next week, we'll start turning our attention to Thorne Eistrom
and getting into combined storylines and start really breaking down
rookies in advance of the draft. Can't wait.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Cool Thor is already in mid season four when it
comes to rookie evaluation.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I think he is.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
He's on point, as he always is.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back next next week.
It's more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly is a
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