Avoid Drafting TJ Hockenson! Here’s Why...

George Kittle So speaking of 49er players uh George KD this is a big story throughout the off season too has core muscle surgery had a big article talking about he had lost 30 pounds so talk about the core muscle injury and what kind of shape you think George KD is in now yeah so he had a what they call an ingal groin hernia so essentially it's a hernia uh where U part of your lower abdominal wall kind of herniates out through the layer of tissue that is supposed to be contained within these can be really uncomfortable to play through very difficult most of the time when you have this hernia the only real solution is surgery and so there was some talk that he might have been dealing with something similar uh a couple years ago um you know he throughout his career dating back to 2017 he's had numerous lower body injuries he's been on the IR for several stins he's missed like an average of two plus games a season um over this that time span um and in the NFL at the tight end position uh with the rigors and the demands of that uh position you know it takes a toll uh there's no reason to think that he shouldn't recover from this particular issue uh but the question becomes durability and longevity in this league and whether or not there's going to be something up that creeps up on him now that weight loss and stuff I mean that could have been contributed to what was going on with him anytime your abdominal wall is involved man that can mess with your intestines that can mess with your stomach your appetite hopefully it wasn't anything related to the surgery or any complication thereof so um I didn't get much information about that but as far as the core muscle surgery and the ininal surgery goes that should be a quick fix a simple thing those surgeries are done routinely and they're very effective um to prevent future problems so yeah according to the athletic today is that he showed up at his typical playing weight so I guess he put the weight back on that was the information that I was getting there George KD inuries are part of George KD I mean ch's like look I have him ranked a tight end seven I always feel like I'm too low on George KD because it's usually one of two factors I know he's probably gonna miss a handful of games and I know he's not going to get consistent targets amongst the other Elite tight ends even though he can perform like the other Elite tight ends I do have a seven adp's actually got him at eight uh so I'm actually a little bit higher than 80P that's not something that typically happens where do you got him at you are a 49er fan and I'm actually higher than you are I have him at six um however I will caveat that by saying I've never been a guy that big on George K redraft wise I much prefer him in best ball or DFS formats because he's because like you said we're not necessarily sure week to week if he's going to be the one getting the targets or if someone else in that offense is getting the targets there are just so many weapons there in in San Francisco and there have been honestly since he's gotten there there are so many weapons to spread that ball around to that you're never necessarily sure if it's going to be a KD week or not but when he is on he is better than just about anybody else uh I wasn't worried about the injury from the standpoint of him coming back from it just from the standpoint of I I mean this is a guy that co-founded tight end University you know damn well that he's working hard in the off season he is a you know professional and dedicated to his craft uh and he is he's one of the best all around football players at the position not just receiving allaround football players at the tight end position uh so I wasn't worried about it there and I I'm still as high on him as I can be like I said with the caveat that I'm always higher on him in the non- redraft formats just because of his his consistency yeah and just speaking to his consistency real quick I mean there is reason to think that he is more consistent now since P's taken over he's averaged 5.8 targets per game that's much more consistent than what he was dealing with originally and he was I think he could point six touchdowns per game which is a high amount that's why I was second in the league at tight end in touchdowns a season ago that's why he finished as the top three guy so there's been something to be said especially when get in the money situations that perie is looking his way pretty consistently um and it doesn't hurt that when you know usually Debo BR auk miss a game here or there and George K gos off during those weeks predictably as well talk about another tight end who was a TJ Hockenson top three guy almost every single year and then he blows out his ACL but it wasn't just his ACL it was also his MCL we're talking about TJ hackinson so how do you feeling about this Brian well uh unfortunately it happened late in the season for him in week 16 and his surgery did get delayed because uh he had quite a bit of swelling in the knee so they didn't fix it immediately which may have worked slightly to his advantage in that it probably gave the MCL some time to recover um but he's definitely in my opinion going to start an active pup if he's not already on there um the question is going to be whether or not he gets moved to reserve or ir and I think there's a really good chance of either one of those things happening so I am expecting him to probably miss those first four games of the season um you know it's it's a lot and it happened late in the year for him so unfortunately I that's just going to make them take him back a little slower yeah just reading the tea leaves Chase I've been looking at this situation like Hoin is going to miss four games and I've been projecting him as such which kind of surprised me a little bit when I look at ADP and they still have him as a tight end 12 I mean I get it on one hand you know he's been an elite tight end producer so you can get him as a bottom 12 tight end a lot of times if you're drafting a tight end in that range historically speaking you're streaming at the position now this year's a little bit stronger than most which which is why I got him at tight end 14 it's hard for me to wrap around a guy when we have a strong tight end class at least on paper heading into the year to put him in the top 12 when I already know you're gonna miss four games or at least I'm pretty confident at this point you're gonna miss four games where do you got him at I have him at 14 uh ECR has him at 15 today and when I looked earlier today yeah his ADP was yeah he's right around like round 11 round 12 right now for an ADP um there are so many other options if you're if you're in a if you're in a single tight end and and it's not tight end Premium League 10 12 even 14 teams uh I don't think you necessarily want to bother with him let somebody else deal with that headache let somebody else have to pay the price for him and then and then cost themselves a roster spot by having to either back him up or have him back someone else up uh now that said I did take him in Scott Fishbowl I'm trying to I'm trying to you know shoot for the moon there but it means that I yeah I I went into that expecting that for the first at least four games if not the first half of the Season I'm going to have to piece that position together so I actually had to take uh three other tight ends as well in that in in that format but we're talking about a guy the outside of the injury we also have questions about his quarterback situation coming into this season and so for that reason yeah I can't comfortably Place him inside my starting tight end range even though last year he was phenomenal had one of his his best seasons period was tight end three on a points per game basis and was only slightly behind leapor and Kelce in in that regard so if we knew more about his his injury situation there haven't been a whole lot of updates on him it's been kind of under the table under the radar with him if we knew more about that if we had more clarification on his or felt better about his quarterback situation I might be able to argue for him a little higher but as it is right now if you're in a single tight end regular tight end format I'm I'm leaving him out there and letting him be somebody else's headache right now yeah at the at the very best case scenario as far as you wanting TJ Hawkins and you're drafting I think is your second tight end with the hope you get that second half pop that's that's the best case scenario at least in my opinion when it comes to T.J Hockinson there's a lot of other options like you said I'm turning my head too all right the next two guys are maybe not the most Tyler Higbee fantasy flashy but they are fantasy intriguing for different reasons Tyler higgy's Flash before but now he's coming off an ACL injury what's his update and his was even later than hackinson it occurred in the wild card game uh against the Lions so in in all likelihood he'll start the season on pup as well I don't see him being back even after that four-week Hiatus if he does go on pup he could more likely be an IR designation which the difference also being that when you're coming off IR the team has a 21-day window where they can start having you practice and do some things before they make the final decision to activate you off the roster so even if you are past that four game window on IR it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be back whereas most guys if they're on pup after that 4 game Mark both guys will be coming back to play so pay attention to what they designate him that's going to really be the the deciding factor yes that's a rough one for Higg so we're probably not looking his way what about your boy Theo Theo Johnson Johnson I mean the tight end position just open up wide open for the Giants now Darren Waller finally officially retired for like the third time this off seon but the John right yeah and I'm okay with that if Waller wants to bag it you know um listen the Giants historically have always had good tight ends I don't know what it is maybe something in the water there in New Jersey where Dan you where you are I don't know pizza and tight ends baby let's go um but uh it sounds like they're gonna start him on the pup list um with a hip flexor strain it sounds like it probably occurred during either some offseason in training or something uh or maybe you know during his workouts in the off season I'm not really sure um again I think they're just airing the side of caution here uh this guy has a huge upside they're excited about what he can do on the field he blew it out of the the water in the U combine with his physical attributes and stature so um it sounds like he's going to have a significant amount of ample opportunities to prove himself an NFL tight end with Waller gone and just Bellinger lining up alongside him so I don't think it's anything serious I'm glad it's not anything serious but I didn't want him to have anything going into this like I so want Theo Johnson to take over first of all Chase I mean like I except for one Dynasty League every single other one I'm in I I took Theo Johnson like by the fourth round so like he's on every one of my Dynasty leagues right now all about it one opportunity two raw physical Talent three Daniel Jones only throws the ball over the middle of the field so it's going to be all Malik neighbors and then probably a tight end the boot nothing against Daniel Bellinger Pao Johnson's upsid just through the roof so I just wanted to see it happen but at this point or if you have to pick one tight end from the Giants are you picking Theo Johnson you thinking Daniel B Bellinger for 2024 yeah I you know honestly for 2024 I think I'm still taking Theo Johnson I said in the in the runup to the draft I I liked the idea of him in the Red Zone he's a willing blocker he's not necessarily A a great blocker but he's a willing blocker so I didn't think that was going to cost him time he's a big son of a gun uh which you can't you can't teach that and in the Red Zone they need help they need targets every other wide receiver on their on their roster every wide receiver on their roster is a slot guy and the miniature guy so I mean they need some size in that receiving game and I like Theo Johnson from that standpoint I'm kind of opposite of you though I've kind of hit in the last two three years I've hit the tight end position hard so I've got a lot of leap Porter I've got a lot of McBride I actually have a lot of Mayor unfortunately uh thank you Brock Bowers thanks for nothing um but I also have a lot of Daniel Bellinger because I was taking him really late uh that year and then he broke his face bone his eyes side his orbital bone and that went by the wayside and and he had he would have a perfect otherwise would have a perfect opportunity right now were it not for the existence of Theo Johnson uh I think I'm still taking an upside shot on Theo Johnson because Bel Bellinger is not necessarily anything special as a receiver whereas Theo Johnson has the potential to be speci special as a receiver in so far as you can be special in a Daniel Jones L New York Giants offense well yeah and that It's just tough for rookie tight ends typically to get on the field but this is this is going to be a camp battle I'm actually going to be intrigued to watch I'm probably the only one I'm be watching from the giant standpoint uh Brian thanks so much for coming on the show man again host of the Ines podcast let people know what you got coming out what are you working on and and what you guys are going to have in store for us at the Expo because we're all going to the Expo soon in a couple of weeks yeah looking forward to it had a lot of fun last year um and I will be on the medical panel there uh at in Canton so if you're around we will be on the main stage this year which is pretty cool so um check that out that's going to be I think on Sunday afternoon um so I'll be joining the uh fantasy football or the fantasy doctors they invited me to come on Dr Jesse Morris sent me out a personal invitation so I'll be joining them on the panel again I did that last year it was really cool um hopefully gets a lot more attendance because as you can see from this show you can get a lot of valuable information and should be a lot more news to report on come Canton so uh stay tuned for that and then of course we got the podcast going keep got we got a bunch of interviews coming up I've got a bunch of backlog things I'm working on so I'll be releasing uh episodes throughout the next coming months here each month we'll have a new one dropping um just did one recently um and I've got another one on the docket so pay attention to the podcast then of course that Sports podcast Network TSS fantasy doing their weekly injury updates we're running through the different uh conferences doing injury stuff for each team with those guys on uh Thursday nights or Friday nights I think so check that out uh at that Sports podcast Network awesome awesome so again make sure you guys go ahead and check out the inel list podcast and check out operation domination go to the newly launched fantasy sports advice network.com website you can follow us there from a podcast perspective or just download us anywhere you listen the podcast And subscribe to the fantasy Sports Network channel on YouTube make sure you hit that little bell notification get notified whenever we have new content available to you we will be back next week it'll be sometime in the middle of the week I'll let you guys know exactly when it's going to be we got to see what's going to happen but we're getting in it's next week's gonna be August so we're going to be full-fledged getting you guys ready for your drafts and have a lot of exciting topics to go over for you then so tune in for that follow on social media 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