Late-Round Perspectives: James Koh

00:00:00
Speaker 1: James co is a co owner of Reception Perception who's done work for NFL Network series XM, yahoo's Sports Rode Wire, and DirecTV, among other spots. He's a sports broadcaster, a professor, a four time Emmy winner, and some might refer to him as the Sleeper King. These are his Late Round perspectives. This episode is sponsored by DraftKings. There's no better way to get closer to the action. With DraftKings Daily Fantasy, the ultimate destination for football fans. New customers can play free for their share of millions and prizes with their first deposit of five dollars and more. Download the DraftKings Daily Fantasy app and enter promo code Late Round to play free for your share of millions. The Crown is yours gambling problem called one hunter Gambler in New York called eight seven to seven eight Pope n y in Connecticut call eight eight seventy eight nine seven eighteen plus the most stage eligibility sturt Is supply ends December thirty first see terms at draftings dot com slash promotions.

00:01:08
Speaker 2: Now back to the show.

00:01:12
Speaker 1: You know, I always tried to do my research a little bit before people hop on. Just to look at, like, because I do like a little intro and stuff of you know, what you what you've done, and what you're about. And I was looking through your stuff, you know, creeping and stalking you on the internet.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: My god, your resume, my man, like you've been. You've been everywhere.

00:01:33
Speaker 1: I've been everywhere, and and and and last year I was following your your amateur boxing thing that you were doing and stuff.

00:01:40
Speaker 2: Thank you. Yes, right those two years ago actually.

00:01:43
Speaker 1: Two years ago, okay, yeah, yeah, that was fun to watch. That was fun to see what you were doing. Flies it really does it really? Yeah, because like we we met each other like years and years ago and ages ago.

00:01:55
Speaker 3: I can't even this was pre pandemic, right, yeah it had it.

00:01:58
Speaker 1: Was, it was pre pandemic. Yeah, yeah, that's so it's been. I mean it's been a while. You know.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: Every time when we interact and.

00:02:03
Speaker 1: Stuff like that, I'm always excited to see your U you know, your your avatar or wherever it may be. But I'm excited, man, I'm really excited to to dig in here. Let's talk about that resume and that journey that has gone. I mean, like like I said, I was going in like you're You're an Emmy winner, a multi multi time Emmy winner, because you know, you do the broadcasting stuff, but then you also got into the fantasy stuff and and how did all of this come about for James co.

00:02:33
Speaker 3: So yeah, so I've won a bunch of Emmy Awards in my previous life as like a you know, on camera news guy. So I want two Emmys doing hard news. Like when I first started my TV career, I was just covering regular news. I didn't do sports at all. I was covering like you know, like uh, you know, fed raid hikes and like car crashes and likelies.

00:02:57
Speaker 1: I'm assuming I'm assuming some car chases that you've yet a lot of hard chases in there too.

00:03:02
Speaker 3: A weather report, it's like, oh, the five Freeways got ice on it. We go to live to James Co' what's happening over there? I'm getting pelted by ice and rain and stuff. It's like, man, it's crazy. Anyways. Yeah, So no, I was doing hard news for a bit, and then I was a local news reporter for like six years, and then when I finally got to LA, I was doing local news. But then my news director, my boss, asked if I want to do sports. I'm like, yeah, of course, And to be clear, I always wanted to do sports, so it's not as if this came out of the blue. I always wanted to do sports, but I also had to pay the bills and to do that. You can move up in the industry a lot faster covering news than you do covering sports. I don't know, for anyone who's listening out there, it's like, think about your like local sportscaster guy. He's probably been in that seat for like twenty years, so waiting for somebody to like retire or move on. It's not a great career choice or a smart career choice. So I wanted to make a career choice where I can like move up the ranks a lot faster and get paid faster and do those things. And finally when I got to LA, I started doing some weekend sports and stuff like that. That's before I got to NFL Network.

00:04:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, so then from there you got to NFL Network, and that's where like, like was fantasy part of like your repertoire in terms of like what you were interested in or was it the broadcasting that kind of got you into then the door with like NFL Network.

00:04:27
Speaker 3: This is kind of like life advice for people. But whenever you go into a job interview, you really want to be able to not just sell yourself, but also sell yourself in that company.

00:04:35
Speaker 2: Right.

00:04:36
Speaker 3: So yeah, when I went into that interview with NFL Network, you know, I went in there, you know, and told the guy, hey, listen, like I've got four Emmy awards, like whatever, whatever. But at the same time, that's selling yourself. When you tell people about all the accolades and everything, that's selling yourself. But then when I talked about my role at NFL Network, it was like, I love what you guys are doing on the fantasy side, but listen, I have been playing fantasy football since nineteen ninety seven, okay, like a long ass time. Like I definitely know that I can bring broadcasting chops, uh like award winning broadcasting chops to your fantasy side, to your fantasy product and elevate the product in that way because I know, love, breathe fantasy football, and also I have all this experience doing broadcasting work too. So that's why I think I would be a huge fit and a huge you know benefit to be brought aboard at NFL Network and that's how I ended up getting my job.

00:05:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it sounds like you were doing like it's like descriptive data versus versus, you know, predictive data right where you're like, You're like, I can do these things as a broadcaster.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: There's a descriptive stuff.

00:05:43
Speaker 1: Like I'm showing you that I've done this, but here's what I can do and bring it to the table. That's great though, and then that's where you met, you know, Harmon and et cetera. And then you and Harmon now are your co owner at reception Reception.

00:05:54
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

00:05:55
Speaker 3: When I found out that Matt was going to start his website, I immediately want to invest in and be part of his journey there and just handle all the things that he doesn't want to do, which is all the business stuff, Like he doesn't want to deal with HR. He doesn't want to look into, you know, website management or advertising or sponsors. He just wants to go in there and create content. He wants to chart these guys. He wants to sit in a dark room and chart wide receiver. That's his deal, you know. Yeah, but again, when you start a website, you know, as you know, JJ is just kind of like, there's so much more to just handling, you know than just creating content, you know, and that's kind of where I kind of step in. And again, I want to invest in my friend, and I really believed in him and in the product and stuff like that, so I kind of handle a lot of the stuff on the back end.

00:06:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:06:42
Speaker 1: That's great, two great people coming together creating something awesome. I mean, I'm a sub. I think I think Harmon gifted it to me to be fair good. You know.

00:06:51
Speaker 2: I love all the work that you guys are doing.

00:06:52
Speaker 1: And you have been doing running back work over the You started that this summer.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: Didn't you know the Yes, I did, Yeah, the running So I have a question.

00:07:01
Speaker 1: So you're you know, obviously Harmon's doing the wide receiver thing and that's sort of, you know, his bread and butter at this point, not sort of that is his bread and.

00:07:08
Speaker 2: Butter at this point.

00:07:09
Speaker 1: But my question to you, and this is obviously gonna be more football focused now, but like you charting these running backs? Number one, was that something that was just purely an interest for you or you know, like like where did that come about? But then the second part to that, I'm curious, like at a high level in charting, like, what are some things that you've discovered that you didn't really know before or didn't think about before that you are now sort of like comprehen like in a more comprehensive way understanding about that position.

00:07:37
Speaker 3: Well, I wanted to do this since the jump. So when I first, you know, signed on with Matt and and invested into the company, like, this is something that I knew that we should do, just because from a company standpoint, there's going to be obviously a lot of interest in wide receivers, but again there's equal interest in running backs to right, certain to talk about this kind of stuff, right, So I knew that that's something that I wanted to do. I've always loved running backs. If I could go back in time and somehow genetically modify myself, I would I would love to play running back, you know.

00:08:08
Speaker 2: It's been my favorite position man boxing and now running back.

00:08:13
Speaker 3: I know, I guess, so, I guess.

00:08:17
Speaker 2: So I don't know. There's something about it.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: I just I've always been I've always gravitated towards that position.

00:08:22
Speaker 2: But it's been a while.

00:08:23
Speaker 3: It's been a long time in the making, just because I've been so busy with so many different things. You know, again, when we first signed on together, it was I was still working full time at NFL Red Zone, so that was my full time gig. And so I just you know, I got two kids, man, married, mortgages and all I can say, it's just hard, right. So but now that I really want to dig in this past summer and just say, you know what, my schedule has lessened a bit and I have a little bit I have a little bit of carve out time that I can do and spend and dedicate to the running back position.

00:08:56
Speaker 2: And now I'm obsessed.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: Now I'm obsessed, man, Like I just once I got into it, I'm like, yeah, this is what I want to be doing. This is I this is what I need to be doing, man. And so I really love charting and doing all those things at the running back position.

00:09:09
Speaker 2: You ask me about what I've learned.

00:09:11
Speaker 3: I think I took for granted how difficult it was for offensive lines to run outside zone. So I know this is like super niche but like, because like when you look around JJ, it's like, okay, well, why can't everyone just do what Kyle Shanahan is doing or the Shanahan's in general, like, why can't people do what Sean McVay was doing, you know, three four years ago, just run outside zone guys, like this is it's clearly the way, it's clearly the scheme fit that like generates the most running back production. Why isn't everyone doing this? And then when I started charting, I'm like, oh, this is why, because bad o lines cannot do this. And there's a lot of coaching involved too, just bad old lines just don't know who to block, and when you don't know who to block, these plays end up getting blown up. So bad old lines are not not able to run outside zone at any you know efficiency, They're really just not able to run outside pretty much at all. So, you know, man gap principles on the outside are a little bit easier because you know exactly who you need to target, But even then that gets a little bit murky and a little bit difficult. And I think that's probably the number one thing I learned just in terms of charting.

00:10:21
Speaker 1: That's super interesting, very interesting. All right, let's talk about this this fantasy football season.

00:10:26
Speaker 2: What so far has surprised you the most?

00:10:29
Speaker 1: Now we're four weeks in, we're recording this before the Thursday Night games of Week five has not officially started yet, But so far, what's been the biggest surprise for you?

00:10:36
Speaker 3: I would say the biggest surprise is, and this has impacting me personally, but just the lack of chemistry between Brian Thomas Junior and Trevor Lawrence. I thought that Liam Cowen was going to be, you know, he's going to be the cure all. And to be honest with you, the offense really has done well, I would say in every aspect other than Brian Thomas Junior, Yeah, Lawrence, you.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: Know what I mean.

00:11:01
Speaker 3: Like Trevor Lawrence is playing well when he's throwing at Brenton Strange, when he's thrown at Parker Washington, when he's thrown into Tami Brown, Like he's got a pretty good handle on the offense overall. But when you're when you don't have the star piece of that puzzle, everything looks a little not as good, you know what I'm saying. So the whole chemistry between or lack of chemistry between BTJ and Trevor Lawrence, I think that surprised me and has continued to surprise me as a season wears on.

00:11:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: You know what's funny is that last year because like Brian Thomas did a lot of what he did from a production standpoint with Mac Jones, right, and and so there was a lot of the you know, I got plenty of questions over the offseason of like, you know, are you worried at all? You know, I was basically at market with with Brian Thomas, but it was like, are you worried at all about Mac Jones not being the quarterback? And I'm just like I brushed it off for the most totally because like why why Like of course we understand that chemistry is a thing, it can be a thing, but why.

00:11:57
Speaker 2: Why would it be Mac Jones versus I think is an.

00:12:00
Speaker 1: Upgrade to Trevor Lawrence, you know, And I agree, like I think conceptually and schematically, I like what I'm seeing in Jacksonville, And we were getting a lot out of the running backs and you know, Traves Etn's averaging over six yards per carry right now and looks good too. And so like we're seeing a lot of those concepts that we saw in Tampa Bay coming over to Jacksonville.

00:12:21
Speaker 2: But they can't get on this side.

00:12:23
Speaker 1: I can't tell if It's one of those things where like the perfect storm has just kind of happened, and like, you know, when when Brian Thomas is on, Trevor Lawrence is off, and when Trevor Lawrence is on, Brian Thomas is off.

00:12:35
Speaker 2: I'm kind of hoping that's the case.

00:12:36
Speaker 1: Like are you are you still more in the camp of buying into Brian Thomas or are you actually nervous about what this could look like rest of season?

00:12:45
Speaker 3: I am coming around, you know, through those first two weeks, I was pretty nervous, But I would say the last couple of weeks I felt like there's been a little there's been a noticeable tick up in terms of production for Brian Thomas and the chemistry between he and Trevor Lawrence. It's really unfair, I think, to both parties, right because like whenever you assess blame for this and to me, truly, I think it's really fifty to fifty. Brian Thomas is alligator arming a lot of throws. He's not running. He's not running through a lot of his in breaking routes.

00:13:16
Speaker 1: Some of the like there have been picks, like interceptions that that Brian Thomas just literally stopped running and it was you know, clearly not on Trevor Lawrence.

00:13:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so yeah, and it's like when you assign the blame, it's kind of like, well, the assumption is that of one of those two parties needs to play perfectly, and in football that just is never the case. It's such a messy sport man, you know. So like Trevor Lawrence is not going to play perfectly, Brian Thomas Junior is not going to play perfectly.

00:13:41
Speaker 2: I get it.

00:13:42
Speaker 3: And so to your point of I think they're both playing imperfectly at the wrong times, you know what I mean, Like it's just not going together. But the last couple of weeks, I think we have seen them kind of sort of gel a little bit more together. And I do wonder too if Liam Cohen, who's a small guy, fiery guy too, Jesus, I was not. I was not prepared to see him ready to fight Robert Sala.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: I think I think the NFL needs more of that, to be honest with you, Like, I think it's great. I think it's fun.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, Yeah, I love that, but h but again, I just I think I think he's a.

00:14:18
Speaker 2: Pretty smart guy.

00:14:19
Speaker 3: And Liam Cohen, I can't imagine he's going to continue to ask BTJ to run the exact same route tree that he ran the first couple of weeks. I think we may see some more vertical downfield shots and and maybe that's a way to kind of unlock some of that untapped potential and.

00:14:35
Speaker 2: Ceiling for BTJ as as a season war zone. Yeah yeah, I mean, like it's also one of those things.

00:14:40
Speaker 1: And I talked about this in my Mailbag episode, but it's like this isn't to me, like Calvin Ridley or something where like that offensive environment is absolute trash. You know, Calvin Ridley was not and is not the kind of player that Brian Thomas is. He's obviously, you know, he's going to be thirty one years old at the end of Like maybe this is the time, Maybe this is it for Calvin, Like who knows, Like we have no idea, but like it's just a much different like positioning and stuff, Like we can't, you know, like we can't just let go of our priors with a player like Brian Thomas, you know, it would be kind of foolish. I think after just a month of football we can adjust. Of course we have to adjust, but completely letting go just seems insane. We had a really weird waiver wire this week where there were some guys that, you know, we felt pretty good about. Obviously if like Woody Marx was out there, then he was going to be a blow your fab kind of kind of player.

00:15:29
Speaker 2: There's these like lingering injuries everywhere, and.

00:15:32
Speaker 1: Like we didn't get like we haven't even gotten you know, at the time this recording, we don't even know if Bucky Irving's gonna play or not this week.

00:15:38
Speaker 2: It sounds like he's not, but like, you know, and then you.

00:15:40
Speaker 1: Get like the Trey Benson ir thing officially hitting after Tuesday after Waivers run yeah run right, So to everyone scrambling to get Michael Carter and stuff and and ma Mario de Marcado, do you have any like lower key waiver Wire ads this week that that you think could make a bigger impact than sort of the consensus was thinking.

00:16:00
Speaker 3: The funny thing to me is, I don't know why everyone's sleeping on Isaiah Davis. They're in love this Yeah, Breylan Allen is going to miss you know, it sounds like multiple weeks. I mean, he's an ir candidate right now. He's got a pretty serious knee injury.

00:16:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he might have gone an IR today.

00:16:14
Speaker 3: Actually, I think you're right. I think you're right. So again, it's like we're talking about Isaiah Davis here. I don't understand on Yahoo he is three percent rostered right now, which I don't. I don't understand, and like to me, JJ, what's funny is I would rather roster Isaiah Davis than Michael Carter. Like we have evidence that Michael Carter and Imari de Marcado are not needle movers, right, Like, we have evidence of this. We've seen them play extensive amounts of football, right, and these guys are not needle movers. I would argue that we haven't really seen any kind of any kind of evidence that Isaiah and Davis is not a needle mover, right, Like, this is a guy that averaged five point eight yards per carry last year. He was straight up better than Braylen Allen. Yes, Breidon Allen averaged three point six yards per carry. You're wondering, well, why isn't he backup? Well, draft capital matters to a lot of these teams, right, and Braylen Allen had a more you know, storied collegiate career, he had obviously the draft pedigree. Thus he is the backup to Brice Hall. And the thing about the Jets right now is that, listen, they don't want to give Brisce Hall full on control of that backfield. They don't want to give him seventy percent, seventy five percent of the backfield touches, right like, So I think that I think that Isaiah Davis is actually gonna work in to like a forty percent snapshare they're in New York. I woant to be surprised to see that at all, and maybe it might even be more if he starts to play really, really well. So again I just go back to I would rather have Isaiah Davis than Michael Carter because Davis, to me, has shown more on the football field than Michael Carter has. And again, I know we're scrambling for Michael Carter because the Trey Benson news was there. I'm just a little bit confused by it because I just don't think either one of Carter or Imari tem Marcado are going to be needle movers in fantasy.

00:18:02
Speaker 1: I agree with you, and especially when you compare and contrast Isaiah Davis to Braylan Allen. I wrote about this actually in my Prospect Guy, because I do the year two model stuff and so I write up, you know, the year two guys, and with Braylan Allen, like his peripherals and his secondary numbers and his advanced analytics, we were pretty atrocious last year, like they were not good.

00:18:21
Speaker 2: And then you you know, he was.

00:18:21
Speaker 1: Getting a lot of steam and camp and entering the season and such, and it was fine to buy into that a little bit because whatever, it's a late round pick, it doesn't matter. And he's a young player, like really young player, like only twenty one years old, and so you know, he can obviously improve as a player. But Isaiah Davis had just an unbelievably underrated, like in a small sample sure, but underrated rookie season. And my thinking with that split in the way that they've used Breeze Hall versus Braylan Allen is that the two of them are more complimentary pieces as players, right, Like Braylan Allen is sort of just like this bulky not going to catch a ton of passes, kind of just just grind between the tackles kind of player. I think they were hoping that he would become like a true bruiser that they could use at the goal line consistently and like be that compliment to Breishall being more of like the elusive, agile player. But Isaiah Davis might be more of like an in between the two of those guys and maybe even be more of the Breeehall archetype if you you know, were to just categorize between those two, and that might be part of the reason why you know, they preferred going Allen versus Davis. But every time that Davis has been on an NFL field, like he's been really effective, and I'm I'm with you, man, I mean, I'm a I was a borderline like truther when he was coming out last year, so like I'm getting really I'm also like like this is this is my week because I loved Isaiah Davis coming out.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: I love Sean Tucker coming out.

00:19:42
Speaker 1: So I'm just I'm sitting here and I'm like, I'm like, please let this happen for these guys, right, But I'm with you, like it, it didn't really make that much sense that he was an afterthought. I mean, I'm in some like home leagues where like I got him for a dollar, you know, like it was. It was just no one really cared. And I understand it's not the best offense in the world, but it's also an offense that funnels looks to their running backs like pretty aggressively.

00:20:05
Speaker 2: So really really like that call out.

00:20:07
Speaker 1: We also have a lot of interesting tight ends coming off waivers this week, which is not what we typically see. But there's three of them that I do want to talk a little bit about. I think the go to obvious one that people want to learn most about and learn more about is Darren Waller. So talk to me about Waller and if you are bullish or bearish on this situation.

00:20:27
Speaker 3: I'm extremely bullish on Darren Waller for a couple of reasons. I don't think the productivity. Look the two touchdown performance, obviously that's a little fluky, But I just think his usage overall, I don't think was very fluky. Like I get that he only ran ten routes, he only played twenty five percent of the snap So if you looked at that, you would say, Okay, Darren Waller.

00:20:44
Speaker 2: Is an older player.

00:20:45
Speaker 3: Ah, I don't know if I want to buy into it.

00:20:47
Speaker 2: Miami.

00:20:47
Speaker 3: It's not like Miami's offense right now is looking that good either.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: Right.

00:20:51
Speaker 3: That being said, I think the usage that it makes sense for a player in his first game back from an incredibly long layoff, right. I do think that they will get him utilized more as the season wears on. And really, the real reason why I'm so intrigued by Darren Waller is I can't help but think about John HU Smith's like ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd usage in Miami last year. I gotta be honest with you, I did not agree with it, you know, like, don't you had a good offense, you had Tyreek and you had Jalen Wattle.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: Just throw to those.

00:21:26
Speaker 3: Guys, Why are we building out in its higher offensive game plan for John U. Smith in Miami? Like what are we doing out here? I don't get it? But that being said, that is what happened, right, And so now Mike McDaniel now has Darren Waller. Tyreek Hill is now gone for the season. There's just so much like coalescing there in Miami around Darren Waller. For him to really succeed, his health has to hold up. But if he can stay healthy, I think there is a lot of reasons for optimism for that kind of production to kind of sort of follow him throughout the year.

00:22:02
Speaker 1: I thought that his touchdown, like the one that was that that Tua just threw it at the goalpost basically and he you know, and he toe tapped he comes down with it. To me, I'm watching that and I'm like the fact that Waller can step onto a football field after not playing for over, you know, a year and a half or however long, and then he does that, that has to make you at least get.

00:22:24
Speaker 2: Somewhat excited about what he might be able to do.

00:22:26
Speaker 1: You know, even just that micro kind of just that athleticism was still pretty apparent.

00:22:30
Speaker 2: So I'm with you.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: You know, Tyreek Hill being out should be able to you know, funnel targets in different areas. You know, hopefully Jalen Waddell ends up kind of living up to to what folks think that and believe he might be able to be. But you know, looks have to go somewhere, and I think Darren Waller's is one place that can go. Mason Taylor's another one. He's been running a lot of routes, but you know, last couple of weeks he's get getting more and more involved how do you feel about him?

00:22:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a rookie tight end, so you know, we want to be patient with our rookies here, especially at the tight end positions. Generally rookie Titans don't do. I know, Brock Bauers kind of sort of broke that mold and Trey McBride obviously was really good as a rookie too, But again I would I would probably just say there's a we should use a little bit of caution in regards to Mason Taylor. I really like him. He's a really, really good athlete, and let's be real, justin Fields did help elevate Cole Comet as well. Although we are finding that Cole Comett is kind of sort of quarterback proof because I mean he's outperformed Jerald Everett, who they brought in in the offseason as a free agent. He's outperformed Colston Loveland, a highly touted rookie as well. So we're finding out Cole Coomet is pretty good player. But that being said, Mason Taylor has that, you know, pedigree as well. He has that athleticism. Justin Fields, I think when he's looking for an outlet, Valve has utilized the tight end a little bit. So I think there's a lot of optimism and hope here for Mason Taylor. I think he can develop and in this week in particular, when he's taken on Dallas defense that has obviously really struggled defensively, I think he can kind of sort of keep that hot streak going that we saw last week.

00:23:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he could very easily in the season as their number two option in the past totally, you know, all right, last one THEO Johnson twenty five percent target shair last week with Jackson Dart.

00:24:07
Speaker 3: Again, I think there is a lot of reasons why we should get excited about THEO Johnson. I know right now everyone's kind of sort of moving towards Darius Slayton, which I get, you know, I love Darius Slayton. But again, THEO Johnson. To me, if we're talking about a rookie quarterback where they clearly don't trust him to have a full complement of the playbook, you know what I'm saying, like it's one hundred and eleven yards passing jaj. What I found really interesting is that, like we can all sit here and say quarterback wins are not a stat and quarterback wins especially don't matter in fantasy. But for whatever reason, the hypeer around Jackson Dart right is like is built around the fact that he actually won a game against the LA Chargers. Like that's what's funny to me, you know.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, dude, I'll tell you what.

00:24:56
Speaker 1: I think that the Giants in general are just the most vibes based on Earth right now, where where you get Jackson Dart just crazy vibes like like you know, like I've said all along, like you know, even through the prospecting process, I was like, he's got that like psycho Josh Allen in him, you know, like that that just insanity where he's gonna throw his body around a little bit. And then you get Cam Skataboo, who, like, for all intents and purposes, was not even remotely effective this past week, you.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: Know, like like not not like.

00:25:26
Speaker 1: Like but he's such a vibe and he's so fun and it's it's like it's totally such a great combo that I do think that that's just like naturally kind of elevating things right now in the way that we view you know, the Giants.

00:25:36
Speaker 2: But I'm I'm going along for the ride. I think it's fun. It's funny.

00:25:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, like I said, one hundred and eleven yards passing for Jackson for Jackson Dart right Like so again, like I don't know if the I don't know if Brian's able fully trusts Dark to run the entire playbook. But and and if that's the case, we're if we're talking about stripped down playbook for Jackson Dart, there's no question I think THEO Johnson will be utilized heavily, you know, kind of sort of as a same valve for Dark. And listen, THEO is a dude. He's a great athlete. Man, He's a crazy good athlete. So if we're looking for some checkdowns and things of that nature, I think THEO Johnson's in a really really good spot. And yeah, New Orleans again has you know, struggled at times defensively. I think he's a pretty good play this week too.

00:26:19
Speaker 1: So since we talked about these two offenses, I had some other questions about the injuries that we saw a wide receiver and Malik Nighbors obviously being you know, the main one this past week with his ACL how are you feeling about like Wandell versus Darius Slayton versus THEO.

00:26:35
Speaker 2: Like, do you think that there is a legitimate.

00:26:37
Speaker 1: Enough ceiling for these guys to be like, you know, top thirty wide outs in Fantasy or is this more of like a bye week fill in kind of kind of play.

00:26:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they're more by week fill ins. And I think you just want to play the matchups, you know what I mean? That being said, the matchup for Darius Slayton is pretty good. New Orleans has given up a lot of production to outside wide receivers. It's it's really confusing, right, Like THEO Johnson was tied for the team lead in terms of targets he had five, Wandale Robinson also had five, but Darius Layton actually led the way in terms of receiving yards because he was getting more downfield shots. So how are we feeling about this whole And again we're trying to parse out the smallest pie in the whole world one hundred and eleven. Yeah, I think you know, right, So again, it's just it's it's really interesting. So when I when I put it that way, I don't I'm not clamoring to get Darius Layton, not clamoring to get Wandale Robinson. I think they'll both be really really inconsistent from a production standpoint, and you really do want to play the matchups overall. But Slayton's an interesting one to me because Matt Matt Harmon and I have gone back on back.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: And forth on on Darius Slayton quite a few times.

00:27:43
Speaker 3: I just think he's underrated, you know, because I think people view Darius Layton as like this end of the roster guy, like he's he's a nothing.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: Basically.

00:27:52
Speaker 3: To me, I think he would elevate the passing attacks of damn near every single team in the NFL.

00:27:57
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's a number one, right at least number two.

00:28:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he's a three, but he can He's a three with skills, right and the skills that he brings are he can work downfield right like, and when you look around the league, JJ, this is just such a dearth of true downfield X receivers in the NFL right now.

00:28:19
Speaker 3: That's why I think that Darius Layton on any team would help their passing attack, not because of any other reason than once or twice a game, you could throw to him downfield and he can try to go and make a play and at the very least he's stressing the defense, right. So that's why I think he's just been an underrated player. I think he'll still have that similar role but more volume here for the New York Giants. So in that way, I think he's an underrated player and somebody that should be on the end of your bench.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: But again I'm not I saw.

00:28:49
Speaker 3: People just I mean, dumping buckets of fab money on Darius Layton, and I would not be doing that.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: The other wide out that people were going after this week was Maleikue Washington. Are you Are you more on the potential for him in the Miami offense versus Darius Slayton.

00:29:04
Speaker 3: I think both offenses are a little bit they're below average. I think that's fair to say, right, and so when we're talking about below average passing attacks, I'm not really clamoring to get anybody in those games, right. So Malink Washington is an interesting player. He's mostly a slot guy, and we'll find out whether or not he can fill in that role here for Miami. But I do think that Jalen Wattle will probably dominate some of the looks overall, and if Mike McDaniels has his druthers, man like, he'd be insane to not be building his entire playbook around Jalen Waddle because he is truly the best player, best pass catcher on that offense. And I think Mike McDaniel's pretty smart guy man like, So I would imagine that he's going to change the playbook and play calling to kind of sort of gravitate around Jalen Waddle and Darren Waller to a degree.

00:29:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm probably leaning to I mean, I would lean towards Washington for like ambiguity purposes. I liked him as a prospect. I think he has good yak ability, and I you know, we've seen we've seen that work. You know, you mentioned John Hu right in the in the Dolphins offense last year, like Mike McDaniel will will you utilize those yak players, you know, as much as he can. You know, obviously we see this lower a dot like whether it to be be to a chan ord John Hu last year, and I can see some of that manufactured stuff happening a little bit more for Maleak. I'm just more like intrigued by the question marks surrounding him and the Ambi wheels surrounding him. We have no idea, right, right, so why not you know, throw that dart. But yeah, I'm with you from the standpoint of, like, let's not anticipate a league winning type player like I got him for like five Like I think that his his fab range, in my opinion, depending on the depth of the league, was like five to fifteen percent this week. You know, like, nothing crazy, just someone who might be able to be a filler for you. But let's hope that we can be pleasantly surprised by him. All right, let's talk about the Bengals offense because we now have two weeks without Joe Burrow and it's been it's been hellish.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: Like I said a tweet that it.

00:31:06
Speaker 1: Reminds me so much of last year when the Dolphins were without Tua and it was just just death, you know, watching that offense perform. And I got a lot of people responding being like, well, this is what happens whenever a team loses their starting quarterback. No, it's not always this dramatic of a drop, you know, it's not always like there's a gray area here that we can talk and there's nuance with this where this offense has just looks so putrid. I mean, do you have any hope for these wideouts? Do you think it's matchup basic? Are you at least a little bit optimistic about that? Do you like the usage still from like a Chase Brown Where are you at with these guys?

00:31:41
Speaker 2: So I would say this.

00:31:42
Speaker 3: I know it has been absolutely atrocious and awful the last couple of weeks, but matchups matter, man Like in week number three, he's going up against Brian Flores in that menace, hyper aggressive Minnesota defense where their masking coverage is really really well and Jake Browning, who again has some professional experience, You just don't have that much experience right like looking at what these defenses are are presenting him right now. So that's week number three, and then week number four it's Denver, right Like, again, Denver is going to to to put these guys in absolute brain pretzels, and that's what happened, you know what I mean, dude? I mean again, if you look at what what what the schedule is like for Cincinnati right now, I just laid out in Minnesota Denver week one that to play Cleveland, bro, this has been probably the most difficult, most difficult passing schedule to open the season for damn near any of these teams. Uh, And it's it's it's for me, it's it's Cincinnati, you know what I mean. So right now they've got Detroit, green Bay, Pittsburgh, and the Jets coming up. Green Bay's tough, Detroit's dealing with a lot of injuries in the secondary right now, Pittsburgh is not as good as advertised, and the Jets are kind of sort of up and down as well. Then they've got Chicago in week number nine with Jalen Johnson on IR too. So I think it's going to ease up here a little bit for Cincinnati.

00:33:03
Speaker 2: So I'm not I don't think it's all doom and gloom.

00:33:07
Speaker 3: That being said, obviously, they have not shown very much over the last couple of weeks, so and it's not like these teams that they're going up against are just bad, you know, like yeah, So, so the I think it's more of a neutral matchup over the next four weeks and let's just see what Cincinnati brings to the table. But it's gonna be better than what we saw the last couple of weeks.

00:33:26
Speaker 1: I think you're right, and and I do think that this week is is a big week for just like a general litmus test of like where they really are. And again, I don't love like going super vibes based like this. But at the same time, you know, Minnesota when they played Cincinnati, they were coming off a really bad loss against.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: Atlanta, right, and then that that primetime game.

00:33:46
Speaker 1: And then and then Denver and then they're playing in Minnesota, right, so they're they're in Minnesota. So Cincinnati's on the road very next week, Cincinnati's on the road again, playing against Denver, who's coming off a brutal loss against the Chargers, Right.

00:33:59
Speaker 2: And I don't I.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: Don't like you know, obviously, I'm an analytics based analyst, and I I focus on numbers, and I you know, I'm supposed to not believe in some of this stuff, but I think that we are all human, right, And I do think there is sort of these like different kind of motivators and things that matter to these teams, and in these cases Cincinnati.

00:34:23
Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to just like cope because what do I care.

00:34:25
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like I was, like, you know, like needing to have all these I don't need the Bengals to be really really good.

00:34:31
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to be objective about this, where.

00:34:34
Speaker 1: Like realistically, Cincinnati's been in two really really tough spots when you add on that context too. And so now they're at home this weekend, Like you said, the Lions are banged up.

00:34:46
Speaker 2: If they can't get it done this week.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be I'm gonna be even more, you know, like I'm kind of nervous right now, but I'm saying, like like panic button, I will press officially and and and be very scared about what's to come. But though the one player that I do want to dig into a little bit more as Jamar Chase, where you know, I sent a tweet out earlier this week that and I actually talked about on the ten Trends episode two.

00:35:08
Speaker 2: But Jamar Chase with.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: Jake Browning eight games with Browning, Browning's played nine, he said, eight with Jamar Chase. Chase is averaging eleven point two PPR points per game with with Jake Browning, where without him it's twenty two. So he's he's basically seen his production cut in half.

00:35:25
Speaker 2: So we're gonna play a little game here.

00:35:27
Speaker 1: I've been playing games on perspectives recently, we're gonna go one wide receiver by one wide receiver, and you're gonna tell me which wide receiver versus Jamar Chase. You you know, so either Jamar Chase or this wide receiver you want more rest of season. The first wide receiver I'm gonna throw out there is Chris Olave.

00:35:45
Speaker 3: I would, man, this one's really really close.

00:35:49
Speaker 2: I'm assuming I'm assuming you're I'm assuming you're in a lave bro because you know, just yeah, I'm an alave bro too.

00:35:56
Speaker 1: So like you know, like alave bros are are we we love some chrysal so.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: I yeah, no, no, listen.

00:36:02
Speaker 3: And by the way, the volume is there too, right, Like he's number two in the NFL in terms of total targets among wide receivers, right, like Puka Naku is one at fifty, chrisal Love is not that far behind. He's got forty three for goodness sakes, you know. Like, so it's there, you know, you know, and again air yards are there too. Just it's just the volume is there for Christal Lave And like it hasn't totally worked out because Rattler isn't that good. But I'm probably trusting Rattler, and you know what, I might be trusting the schedule a lot more for Christal Lave than Jamar Chase right now. That being said, man, Jamar Chase is so damn good.

00:36:38
Speaker 1: You know.

00:36:39
Speaker 3: It's like he just needs to like crack one you know, that's all it takes is for him to like break one tackle and.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: He's doing Yeah, yeah, he can do it like any game.

00:36:47
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, So okay, I am going to I am going to tentatively say Chris O Lave like fifty one forty nine percent Christal Lave over Jamar Chase rest of the season.

00:36:57
Speaker 2: If you want to give me percentages, I like. I like percentages.

00:37:00
Speaker 1: So if you want to do that out of one hundred and you want to say that's that's even better. It'll give it'll give the listeners a better idea, all right. Next on the list is Xavier Worthy.

00:37:08
Speaker 3: Yeah no, no, no, give me Jamar Chase. Look Examber Worthy is an important piece for Kansas City, and obviously we saw him blow up in a couple of different spots. But that being said, I think he's still like a he's not like an every down. We got to get it to him player you know what I mean, Like, he is a role player. He's an really important role player. But I I just don't think, you know, on a week by week basis, I think we're going to see some ups and some downs, especially when Rashid Rice comes back.

00:37:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Rice factors is definitely important. How about a Mecca Buka. If you love a lave, you love a Buka. That's right, That's that's actually really true. The then diagram of.

00:37:48
Speaker 3: A circle, right, Yeah, no, it's obviously. I love Abuka as well. One of my roles, one of my mini roles is a Big ten being a Big ten analyst from my local NBC station here. So I saw a lot of Auka last year and man, I was so in on him, and when he charted out well from Matt Harmon's perspective, I was.

00:38:06
Speaker 2: Like, Yep, this is it. We're in. Look.

00:38:09
Speaker 3: I love Abuka. But that being said, Mike Evans is coming back at some point. Chris Godwin's already back very much a competition for targets I and while I love Baker, I just don't think he can support three high level wide receivers. Jamar Chase is clearly the alpha in Cincinnati. And while we don't like what we've seen from Jake Browning thus far, I think he's smart enough to know, let's go ahead and feed Jamar Chase eight to twelve targets a game. And so I think from that perspective, I will take Jamar Chase.

00:38:38
Speaker 2: Hey.

00:38:38
Speaker 3: By the way, JJ, what we haven't talked about at all is the fact that a potential trade could be on the on the horizon too, right, Like if to your point that if Jake Browning goes out there against a banged up secondary for Detroit and absolutely just pukes all over himself hundred percent, Cincinnati's getting on the call and they're either going to pick up Kirk Cousins or Jameis Winston And man, can you am yo James?

00:39:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me, give me Jamis in this office.

00:39:05
Speaker 1: That's the thing though, Like Cincinnati, let me put on my GM hat and my you know, my my team building hat. Cincinnati to me, like, you either go in and you say we're gonna just try to make the playoffs and maybe Joe Burrow will be back for that for that time, or you you like trade T Higgins. Yeah, like you you do things and you go like I think that the problem would be just just being stagnant and just doing this over and over and over again if they can't get it going. You know, this weekend's Detroit, So that would be my thing, is like let's see, Like like I really do think that they need.

00:39:36
Speaker 2: To like pick a pick a destination to go to. Here's the thing.

00:39:40
Speaker 3: What about if you do the best of both worlds and you just lose but it's super fun. I mean that's literally James, you know what I mean. It's like, you're still selling seats because it's fun. We're still watching bombs go to t Higgins, bombs go to Jamar Chase.

00:39:57
Speaker 2: It's super fun.

00:39:58
Speaker 3: But we're still losing ball games because James throwing turn the ball over two to three times a game, you know what I mean. Like, yeah, So I don't know, like I feel like that might be the best of both worlds.

00:40:06
Speaker 2: The problem would be if you.

00:40:08
Speaker 3: Brought in Kirk Cousins, and if Kirk Cousins still has juice, like he could legitimately take you to the playoffs, you know what I'm saying, That would probably be the biggest problem because then what do you do at the end of the season, Like we got you got Kirk Cousins here, you got you know, Joe Burrow here. Jake Brown is still in her contract too. It's like we got an issue here. But that being said, Jamis everyone kind of knows Jamis is like this, Like, ah, he's a stopgap kind of quarterback. Like that's what would make it the most fun. You're still losing games, so your draft status still protected. Yeah, but man, it's a hell of a lot of fun watching Jamar Chase and t Higgins catch fifty yard bombs, you know.

00:40:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And the best part is that Jamis himself is super self aware and so he will just have fun with it too.

00:40:49
Speaker 2: That's why it's totally you know.

00:40:51
Speaker 1: That's why it's the greatest, all right, Next guy, George Pickens versus Jamar Chase.

00:40:57
Speaker 3: Oh man, I gotta know how long CD Lamb is out.

00:41:00
Speaker 2: Say, let's say CD is out for two more weeks.

00:41:04
Speaker 3: Obviously, for the next two weeks, I want George Pickens, There's no question, no question. But I mean, if we're talking season long, I think I will I think I'll still lean towards Jamar because again, once CD comes back, he's still going to be a target. Dominator. You know, may maybe they have found something here with Jake Ferguson as well.

00:41:23
Speaker 2: I don't.

00:41:24
Speaker 3: I don't love Jake Ferguson, but he's a you know, he's a really nice, complimentary tight end, you know, so they're gonna get him the football.

00:41:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a he's a he's a target gobbler.

00:41:32
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's it's really you know, people hate this and I said this at the at the start of the season because I mentioned that TJ. Hockinson is this eras Greg Olsen, where like the ceiling isn't like insane, but the floor is generally there, right, Yeah, Like Ferguson can be that floor type of player from a fantasy perspective, you know, especially in an offense it's just throwing the.

00:41:53
Speaker 2: Ball a lot.

00:41:54
Speaker 3: Well, he also reminds me a lot of like late career Jason Witten, if we're staying at the team, you know.

00:42:00
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yeah, like the Hawk and Olsen thing I think are at least like comparable athletes and stuff.

00:42:05
Speaker 2: Ferguson isn't even at that level. You know.

00:42:07
Speaker 1: It's more of like the the I mean later career Jason Witten probably, Yeah, all right, A J.

00:42:13
Speaker 2: Brown next versus Jamar Chase.

00:42:16
Speaker 3: I don't know, Jji, what are we doing over here with AJ Brown?

00:42:21
Speaker 2: Bro? What are we doing with AJ Brown? That's why I gotta ask you what are we doing out here? Man?

00:42:26
Speaker 1: Like?

00:42:26
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:42:27
Speaker 3: Like it's just it's just so problematic. You know, the new OC there for Philadelphia, I just think he's in over his head. You know, like when you have A J. Brown and DeVante Smith and Jalen Hurts who is a developer who's still developing as a quarterback, and you're throwing for less than two hundred yards in most of your games here, it's just I just don't know what we're doing. You know, they're like, yes, they're winning games, but they're making it so damn hard on themselves.

00:42:52
Speaker 2: You know, need to be this hard? Yeah, it doesn't need to be this hard man.

00:42:55
Speaker 3: And the other thing I would say is like they have taken over this Kansas City like aura, Like it's all about Kansas City. Last year's winning all of these games just based on aura, you know, Like it's ugly, it's disgusting, it's gross, But you know what, they're just winning games and they just keep winning these one score games. That's Philadelphia right now. So if you're an Eagles fan, great, maybe they continue to do that. Maybe they just have all these aura wins, like where they're just winning these one score games. But it's ugly, man, nobody's making a move. Last year, nobody was making a move for anyone on KC. This year, nobody's making a move for anybody on Philadelphia. I don't know what the hell to make of AJ Brown's role. It seems like I don't want to say he's like checked out, but damn dude, he is. He's he's on checked out adjacent, you know what I'm saying, Like he is very close to basically throwing in the towel on twenty twenty five. And if Kevin Patillo can't figure that part of it out, I don't know what they're gonna do.

00:43:53
Speaker 2: Man So.

00:43:55
Speaker 3: And by the way, this has been going on for a couple of years now where AJ Brown just wants the ball, you.

00:44:00
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, I mean it like ah, And he's one of the rare players where it's like, yeah, he's kind of got a point, you know, like he should be getting the ball.

00:44:09
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:44:09
Speaker 1: The problem that I see that, you know, I was pretty bullish on the passing attack for Philly to just be to just throw the ball a lot more this year, because it was almost impossible for them not to. And I think that the miscalculation is with Patulo, like we're not seeing number one nearly as many plays run as we did with Kellen Moore because Kellen Moore likes to run in a fast pace.

00:44:31
Speaker 3: You know.

00:44:31
Speaker 2: That's that's not everything, but that's at least something.

00:44:34
Speaker 1: I think the bigger thing is just from an efficiency standpoint, they're not doing the things that the basic things that we know work analytically, which is like getting guys in motion a lot of play action, and they're not even doing like as much like RPO stuff like just just get the defenses on their heels a little bit more and open things up that way because they're running. Attack has not been that good this year, you know, at least, you know, versus what we saw in twenty twenty four, and so I think all of that is sort of can I think a lot of people are just like, you know, oh, you said regression was gonna hit, and it's not hitting.

00:45:05
Speaker 2: That's not really what's going on here.

00:45:06
Speaker 1: I think it's beyond that, it's it's really like x's and o's that's happening, and them just like running this really.

00:45:12
Speaker 2: Ridiculously stale offense.

00:45:14
Speaker 1: And if they don't change things, and I'm not you know, as each week passes by, I'm becoming less and less optimistic that they are going to change things.

00:45:22
Speaker 3: And wouldn't you also say too, just from again from a schematic standpoint, they ask AJ Brown to run the most difficult route tree right, Like, it's like you're going to be an outside X receiver. You're not gonna get any help. We're not going to put you in motion and we're going to ask you to run vertical and or comebacks. Like it's where are the designed plays for AJ Brown?

00:45:45
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:45:45
Speaker 3: Like where is just a like let's get this guy in motion and have him run a deep over, Let's have let's get this guy running a quick slant route and just feed him the rock here just a little bit, you know, like where are the design touches for AJ Brown? I actually think, for like a Jalen Hirst perspective, I don't actually disagree with where why he's not going to AJ Brown because again, you're asking him to run the most difficult route tree and he's I'm not saying he's covered, but there's certainly shading coverage towards him, so they're trying to take him away. He himself is not running routes that well, right, Like, why would you go to AJ Brown? So again, when we're talking about Jammar Chase or AJ Brown, you hit it right on them. I don't see a lot changing right unless they fire Patulo, which is a possibility, but they have to start losing games for that to happen. And right now, like I said, I think they're just racking up Ora wins Man. Yeah, so I would take Jamar Chase over AJ Brown easily.

00:46:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Last one Nico Collins.

00:46:48
Speaker 3: Uh No, look it's Nico Collins all the way right. Like again, I think Houston's offense is starting to find itself a little bit, although it was against Tennessee and as while you know, like it's and like, by the way, the whole Woody Marks thing is really interesting to me too. And don't get me wrong, like I like Woody Marks. I charted Woody Marks. I said, hey, Woody Mars will be a great fit for this team. And if he could figure out pass pro and I think he's figured out pass pro a little bit here, so it's working out.

00:47:15
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:47:16
Speaker 3: That being said, I am one of those people that I just you can't take a ton out of a twenty six nothing blowout, right, like the snapshare percentages, the usage rates and all that stuff, Like all that stuff gets really really wonky in a blowout, you know what I mean. So and so I get it, like we're excited about Woody Marks.

00:47:38
Speaker 2: He's he's a rookie.

00:47:39
Speaker 3: Nick Chubb is old and he's injured or he's coming off of major injury.

00:47:43
Speaker 2: So we don't like Nick Chubb, all right, I get it. That thing said.

00:47:46
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's like a fifty eight to forty split moving forward like we saw here in week number four. I still think it's going to be fifty to fifty and yeah, I think there will be some very up and down weeks here for Woody Marks. I this this whole proclamation of up he's taken over that backfield.

00:48:02
Speaker 2: I just I don't know, man like by the way he may have.

00:48:07
Speaker 3: He may have totally I wouldn't necessarily point to the Tennessee game and say, well, this is why he has taken over the backfield, you know what I mean, Like I want to see another week or two before I'm really comfortable and all in on what he mark's moving forward. But man back to the original question, Go ahead and give me a Nico Collins over Jamar Chase rest of season.

00:48:28
Speaker 1: The Woody Marks stuff is interesting because at the very least, like to me, it was always just like a process play for me, because like I liked Marx as a prospect, but I didn't love Marx as a prospect, you know, Like I thought he was just like really solid, especially as a pass catcher, like he had that in his in his arsenal. But what I've seen what he like from what he marks in the NFL, And it might just be like the juxtaposition of him versus Nick Chubb, who I think is just not quite you know, He's obviously not the same kind of player that he used to be, right, it might just be that likeaposition of Okay, I'm watching him versus Chubb, and he just looks way more dynamic than Nick Chubb versus me. Thinking about Woody Marks and watching him from college and seeing what he was like in college, because it's almost like I see him as.

00:49:14
Speaker 2: A better like he's playing better I.

00:49:15
Speaker 1: Think as a as a pure between the tackles runner, He's made some I mean, he made some really nice moves even last week too, and so.

00:49:22
Speaker 2: Like it's just it's a really weird vow.

00:49:24
Speaker 1: But at the very least, you know, I like, it's hard for me and I think anyone to be like, yeah, I'm gonna go all in on Nick Chubb right now, you know, just based on what we've seen.

00:49:32
Speaker 3: So okay, let me give some numbers here in regards to my charting of Woody marks, right, Like, he was one of the worst you know, between the tackles runners, yeah, among the twelve guys that I charted last year, right, but he was one of the best in terms of running outside zone yep. Right, So I wonder I'm very curious because Nick Cayley's coming from this LA background. Yeah, I guess he has a little New England background too, right, a little New England.

00:49:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:49:59
Speaker 3: Right, So if we're talking New England, that's gonna be more between the tackles. If we're talking about Sean McVay, mixed bag, because early in his career he was exclusively outside zone and and you know, over the last couple of years, he's been almost exclusively inside zone, but we figured there's gonna be some zone stuff. In regards to what Houston is doing. What's interesting is that with Nick Chubb as the lead prior to week number four, through the first three weeks of the season, Houston ran between the tackles at a seventy five percent clip, by far the most in the NFL. But if we're gonna start utilizing what he marks, who again, I don't think he's very good in between the tackles, but I think he's great outside. If we're going to use what you utilize what he marks, we have to change the run game just a little bit, not a little bit, a lot, and we're gonna have to start getting to the outside a lot more. To your point, JJ, you know, in week number four he did look a lot better between the tackles than then I thought he would look.

00:50:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:50:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, But if we if we stretch that out across the entire season, I think we will see him get back to what we saw in college, which is a guy who struggles, you know, in between the tackles and and honestly, man like you know, actually he was a pretty explosive player too, Like you know, he had he had a twenty three percent explosive play rate among the plays that I charted for what he marks, and when we're talking about the top twelve guys that I charted, he was actually number one in explosive play rate. So he actually has that in the US bag.

00:51:31
Speaker 1: He just didn't test well, you know, I know, you know that like that also is was problematic, like just from like you know, an.

00:51:38
Speaker 2: Overall like what does this guy look like?

00:51:40
Speaker 3: Evaluation standpoint one hundred percent. But but to your point, like he's a good pass catcher, he's actually explosive when he can get to the outside. But let's just see if Houston modifies their offensive scheme just a little bit to kind of utilize his athleticism just a little bit more.

00:51:54
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what I think is probably one of the more interesting storylines. I don't know if I would call it like a surprise per se, but it's at least like I think like something that's that's you know, easily top three change, like changing the fantasy landscape this year. Things that's that was horribly worded. That's why I'm not a broad That's why I'm not a broadcaster.

00:52:15
Speaker 2: I'm just a podcaster. Let me just get to it.

00:52:18
Speaker 1: The Chargers offense, right, yes, the pass catchers there is Lad mcconkee, dust, How are you viewing these wide receivers? And then the last thing I'll say is does the offensive line stuff worry you?

00:52:30
Speaker 3: Now? The offensive line definitely worries me, There's no question. And that played itself out as they lost in a surprising, shocking manner to the New York Giants. And again just Herbert was under pressure a lot. Okay, that being said, you know is Lad mcconkkee dust, No, And actually those two things are related. And I would say because their tackle problems are going to be a problem for the next you know, four or five, six weeks here, I think that. And again, remember Joel got injured in the game. Right now that they have an entire week of game planning to kind of sort of get set things right, don't be surprised if LA now starts to lean on more of a quick, quick game, right, like a quick passing attack, right, and these deep, developing downfield shots for Quentin Johnston they kind of sort of, I don't want to say, evaporate entirely, but we see a lot a lot less of them, you know, And in that way, who's going to be the guy that gets open the fastest. I mean, shoot, that's Latim Conky, right. So that's why I think the tackle issues and Land mccaukey's production might be a little bit related.

00:53:32
Speaker 4: You know.

00:53:32
Speaker 3: I want to be surprised to see Lad mccaukey get back on track this week as the offensive game plan gears itself to kind of sort of work around the tackle issues, just though Herbert's just not getting destroyed in the pocket like he was there in week number four. So no, I don't think Lad mccaukey's dost. Yes, the the tackle situation concerns me. Omarion Hampton. His usage might might be a little bit concerning as well. But again, if they're trying to keep Justin Herbert healthy, it probably mays a lot of sense to try to feed the rookie of the rock a little bit. So we'll see, but I think that Lad does have a chance, especially with these tackle issues, to come back over the next couple of weeks.

00:54:10
Speaker 1: I've texted Harmon a little bit about the QJ stuff as it was happening the first couple of weeks of this season, and look, I know that you know he's surprised because he's playing better and such, and it's it's not it's just to me, it's just it's okay that this could just be one of those things where the player got better and the usage changed a little bit and he's getting, you know, better looks for what he is capable of doing. If you were to right now, putting you on the spot, pick either Lad or QJ.

00:54:39
Speaker 2: Rest of season? Do you have a lien with what?

00:54:42
Speaker 1: You can give me a percentage again if it's helpful, But do you have a lien with those guys?

00:54:45
Speaker 3: I do, I'm going fifty five to forty five? Lad, you know my lean there would be Lad. I know he hasn't really And again, the to be honest with you, I think more more concerning than Quentin Johnson has been the usage of Keenan Allen. Right, Like, Keenan Allen I thought was just you was only talk about dust. Shoot, I thought Keenan Allen was dust last year. I'm watching him in Chicago, man like, I don't know, maybe he just hates the cold. I don't know what it is. Hey, listen, he's an older player. Maybe the cold's impacted. I don't know, man, But like I thought he was dust last year. Bro then all of a sudden, him and his crazy ass shoulders come to LA and he's rejuvenated. You know, Like what's going on here? I was not anticipating that. I thought this was more of like a like a depth signing at best, you know what I'm saying. But no, he's actually been a huge integral part of the passing attack. That's the only reason why I'm not just like, nah, this is ridiculous, Like Lad, Lad eighty percent for sure going to be better than Quentin Johnston. Has nothing to do with Quentin Johnson. Has everything to do with the usage of Keenan Allen.

00:55:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a little bit more redundancy between those twos versus Huja, you know, and that's that's that would be the issue overall. All right, real quick, before I let you go, give me any cell candidate or candidates that you have right now in Fantasy.

00:55:57
Speaker 3: Cell candidate, we go back to Quentin Johnson in a league in air yards. There's no tackles left. I just don't think the game plan is going to allow for QJ. To see these deep downfield shots QJ for me, big time sale.

00:56:09
Speaker 2: All right, give me a buy candidate.

00:56:11
Speaker 3: I'm gonna stay a wide receiver. I think Tech McMillan he's the wide receiver thirty three right now. When I saw that, I was shocked. I'm like, how is Tech McMillan the wide receiver thirty three? This guy's been playing really good football and great ye, I mean he's he has been incredibly good. Like from an actual on field perspective, he's a stud man. He has seventh in total air yards though, so again the volume is there for him to absolutely OutKick this wide receiver thirty three price tag right now.

00:56:40
Speaker 2: Bro.

00:56:40
Speaker 3: So for me, I think he's a huge buy. I think he has man This might be a little hot takey, but I think he has a skill set very similar to Nico Collins, a downfield, big bodied X receiver who's actually a much better route runner than you think, right Like, I have been really surprised by his start stop a bi on comebacks and curls. He's been good on dig roundes as well. I just think that the skill set between Tet and Nico Collins are are pretty similar. And yeah, he's a huge buy from me right now. Wide receiver thirty three dude, he could absolutely finish as a top twelve wide receiver, especially given the injury landscape right now.

00:57:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean I had Tet as a target this year. You know, I had him as a bye can last week on the show, and yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I mean I think that his like because his go to comp and his his typical comp was like a Drake London coming out.

00:57:32
Speaker 2: He's going towards that right now too. Like he is a he's a beast.

00:57:36
Speaker 1: He's very good, and so I'm excited to see, you know what he'll be capable of.

00:57:39
Speaker 2: Hopefully Bryce Young.

00:57:40
Speaker 1: Can can turn things around a little bit because he's been pretty inconsistent this.

00:57:44
Speaker 3: Year, you know, you know, jug even if it's not Bryce and they go to Andy Dalton at some point and Bryce Young's career is just done and over with, even then, like even then, it's going to be an upgrade at quarterback, right Like, I would not be surprised at all if if they make the quarterback change and the offense improves, I would be surprised at all.

00:58:01
Speaker 2: I don't know, all right, last thing, throw me a hot take for Week five.

00:58:06
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with Stefan Diggs as the wide receiver one dot one this week.

00:58:13
Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. Okay, listen to game. We're talking.

00:58:16
Speaker 3: Hey, yo, if we're talking vibes, come on, man like, it doesn't get more vibe than this, you know, like we're talking a revenge game of revenge games. Man like New England taking on Buffalo and Stefan Diggs. His production and his usage has ramped up, finally cracked the century mark last week against Carolina, and again he is the number one wide receiver in this passing attack. Drake May is developing as well, and dude Diggs is catching everything he's got, nineteen of twenty two targets come his way. But you know he hasn't caught a touchdown yet. So I'm gonna say, in addition to my hot take of wide receiver one dot one, I am gonna say, how does he get there? He's gonna get there by catching two touchdowns this week against Buffalo, a team that has been giving up production and touchdowns to outside wide receivers. As a matter of fact, they've given up a I believe they've given up a touchdown to an outside wide receiver in three consecutive games. So I think that Stefan Diggs hot take, Stefan Diggs catches two touchdowns, ends up as the top scoring wide.

00:59:13
Speaker 2: Receiver this week in fantasy football. I love it Buffalo banged up too.

00:59:18
Speaker 1: I mean, they could that that game could be fun for fantasy's.

00:59:21
Speaker 2: There's a very real chance it could be fun for fantasy. Do you think that that with Diggs?

00:59:25
Speaker 1: Just since we're on the topic, do you think that they were just kind of like like slow playing it to make sure that he was good and is because like literally in weeks two and three he had like sub sixty percent route shares for them, you know, and then this past week finally over that eighty percent mark, and obviously you know the production game.

00:59:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I think it makes a lot of sense. They don't want to rush the guy out there, And to be honest with you, there's still ahead of timeline, aren't they. Like I was under the impression he wasn't going to be ready till like week six, seven, eight, and like we're week four to five and they've pretty much ramped him up to full speed.

00:59:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's startable. And this is a horrific week.

00:59:59
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've looked at wide receiver rankings, it's a horrific week for wide out. So if you're going to choose a hot take, it's probably good to do it at wide receiver position for a guy.

01:00:09
Speaker 2: To be the one on won this week, because the position is such trash right now. Yeah, I know.

01:00:14
Speaker 3: I mean you think about like JJ McCarthy in a bad spot right now, the defense that you know, the defensive matchup doesn't line up.

01:00:21
Speaker 2: JJ.

01:00:22
Speaker 3: Excuse me, Jamar Chase obviously we just talked about him at lengths. Yeah, there's just man, there's just so many opportunities and pitfalls for the top wide receivers right now.

01:00:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, James, this was great, man, always great talking to you. Let everyone know where they can find you, what you're working on, all that good stuff.

01:00:39
Speaker 2: You know what. I'm going to get to all that.

01:00:46
Speaker 3: But I want to talk to you about this in particular because we talked about the running back stuff and I didn't get this out, and I want to get this out, okay, And you're a data guy, and I just want to get this kind of sort of idea out there because I don't think we fall on this enough, But did you know that ten of the top fifteen running backs last year ran to the outside more than they ran to the inside. So outside run rate, to me is something that no one talks about in fantasy and I just want to get that out to you and your audience where we can we focus a little bit more on outside run, right, Like, if you think about Kyle Shanahan, if you think about Garrit Kubiak, what were these guys so successful at they were finding random running backs doing what running outside zone? Yeah right, and so yeah, with tons of speed and like and honestly, maybe not even tons of speed because Justin Forest at the age of twenty nine had fifteen hundred scrimmage yards under Garret Kubiak when he was the Baltimore OC. Like, again, these guys have been king makers doing what running to the outside, and that has still proven itself to be true. Again, ten of the top fifteen rushers last year ran to the outside more than they ran.

01:02:01
Speaker 2: To the inside.

01:02:02
Speaker 3: So it's not a perfect stat but again, if we're looking for profile, you know markers can guys run to the outside is one of the most important factors. I look for when we're talking about high upside running backs. It's not everything, it's not everything, but no stat is going to capture everything. And we have all these metrics for wide receivers, yards per route, run air yards, all these things. We don't have enough of that for running backs. And let me tell you right now, JJ, I really truly, honestly, really feel strongly about this. And this is why I'm bringing up out of the blue randomly to you.

01:02:36
Speaker 2: Right. I love this love is that.

01:02:37
Speaker 3: Outside run rate is one of those markers for me to find a really good, high upside running back. And I just want you to start looking into that, JJ, because I know you can and I know you love the data, Okay, and if you can start to get this out there man, Like I'm just trying to preach this gospel of Hey, listen, if you're looking for high upside running backs.

01:02:59
Speaker 2: Look at outside run rate.

01:03:01
Speaker 1: Has that been something that you looked at from a prospecting standpoint? That just translated as well, like that's a that's a marker of someone that you like would be more interested.

01:03:11
Speaker 2: In one hundred percent.

01:03:13
Speaker 3: And again, when we're talking about outside success, right, and again, you could find this data too on Reception Perception dot Com through my running back strutting. But yeah, it's like these guys that can run to the outside. Well, I just talked about what he marks running to the outside really really well, it.

01:03:27
Speaker 2: Should be not a surprise that he is.

01:03:29
Speaker 3: A high upside running past yere right.

01:03:31
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, yeah, asht genty was the best.

01:03:33
Speaker 3: He was literally the best at running to the outside in college.

01:03:38
Speaker 2: Right.

01:03:38
Speaker 3: So again that's the kind of profile that I am looking for when we're trying to find these guys that can play. Now, again, it's not one hundred percent success rate, man, it's not one hundred percent hit rate. But again we're just we're trying to find the edges here, trying to find a little bit of an advantage that maybe your league mates don't know about. And I know for a fact no one and Fantasy is talking about this. And so again, if you and your listeners start to do a little bit more digging, a little bit more research into this, I do think that this can be an advantage and we can be in early on this trend of looking for outside run rate in regards to finding sleeper running backs.

01:04:17
Speaker 2: I love it.

01:04:17
Speaker 1: I love it, and I love that you just brought it up out of the blues like that. That's fantastic.

01:04:22
Speaker 2: Listen.

01:04:22
Speaker 3: If there's any audience that's gonna that's gonna consume this, man, it's gonna be your audience.

01:04:26
Speaker 2: Man. Yeah, we're gonna love that. Yeah.

01:04:29
Speaker 1: Of course, I want any guests to come on and just say, hey, I want to talk about this thing.

01:04:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to talk about it too. It's very interesting. I haven't dug into it, you know enough.

01:04:38
Speaker 1: I Mean, the thing that's going through my head is just like the correlation of what we know what we want in fantasy football in particular, which is usually like you know, generally athletic backs that can create these big plays and these splash plays and kick it to the outside at the very least, you know, like a like that's why I was interested in, like Kenneth Walker this year, in that Kubiak system. I mean, my guy, like that combination could be glorious if they just let it happen, right. And that's no shade to Zach Sharbonnat. I think Sharpenna is fine. He's just not the same kind of player as Kenneth Walker is. And so like my brain, my brain's going to the correlation of just kind of like that. But I do wonder, you know, obviously there's gonna be an overlap of like just scheme and and the the fact that like those that that that Shanahan tree and the Kubiak tree is going to be more efficient generally because of the stuff that you were talking about earlier with the offensive line play and such, and then getting more out of that and being able to coach that better, and then that will trickle down into these running backs having the capability and ability.

01:05:39
Speaker 2: To do that.

01:05:40
Speaker 1: But I do I do wonder parsing that out, you know, like like really looking into that and sort of like segmenting it if you can find some gems and looking at things that way.

01:05:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, right now, that shortcut is outside run rate man, And again that kind of sort of encapsulates everything that you're talking about, is it. Scheme is a tech right who cares? You know, Like that's the runt of the ball to the outside, you know, means that means a lot of things are moving in that direction, which is talent level for the running back. He can kick it to the outside, he's got no athleticism. And maybe the run scheme is also built to run it to the outside as well. So when I look at outside runway, that's it's like a short cut number into Okay, can they get it done on the outside. So again that's just this is a random you know, totally, like no one talks about this in fantasy football. I think they should. I think they should, And it's something that I'm like preaching right now as gospel as I am like getting more into the running back charting as well.

01:06:34
Speaker 2: I'm going to dig into it more. I'm going to dig into it more. I love it.

01:06:37
Speaker 3: Man.

01:06:37
Speaker 1: Let everyone know what you're working on, though. What's going on at reception Perception? How awful of a coworker Matt Harmon is all that.

01:06:45
Speaker 3: Matt's the worst huge No, no, no, it's the most humble dude you'll ever find. But no, it's been great over there. Obviously, we're doing stuff. I'm writing for Yahoo, I'm creating content for Rodal Wire.

01:06:56
Speaker 2: Man.

01:06:57
Speaker 3: I just have bro I'm obsessed with finding jobs and I just got to keep working, you know. But but yeah, fantasy football is my life, man. I love doing what I'm doing here. We're doing running back charting now for reception perception as well. If you want to find me at James dco on all the socials, whether it's Instagram, TikTok, you know, Twitter x or or hell even YouTube. If you want to find me out YouTube, you can go and do that too and shoot me a message. I'm pretty good about getting back to d MS.

01:07:25
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I'm on Twitter at Late Round QB, Blue Sky at Late Round QB, all that stuff.

01:07:30
Speaker 2: Make sure you're checking out Lateround dot com.

01:07:32
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the show, subscribe to the YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash at Late Round FF. Thanks for listening everyone, but more importantly, thanks for tuning in