👀 HUGE NFL Minicamp News & Player Reports| Fantasy Football 2023

Derek Carr & the Saints could surprise why is it that the New Orleans Saints with Derek Carr's knowledge of the Playbook could be the surprise team especially in that division Bloom lots of positive reports about the Saints quarterback and how he's happy with what he's learned in that offense yeah maybe the offense gets a little bit more loose less taysom Hill more conventional passing game Andy Dalton's peripheral numbers his efficiency numbers were actually pretty good last year didn't throw a lot of passes Derek arthuring more passes maybe a healthy Michael Thomas Chris olavi coming into his own Rasheed Shaheed don't forget him the Deep threat and Juwan Johnson who dare Carr said go watch Julian edelman's tape now sees I think that's probably a good thing for fantasy football and uh Juan Johnson knows he's going to work those quick opening routes underneath routes so all those pieces together yeah I think that you can have a better functioning passing game than what we saw of course we're going to see some turnover in the backfield Jamal Williams Kendra Miller waiting to hear eventually if there'll be a suspension for Alvin Kamara and then on the other side of it you look at some of these defenses they'll be facing Atlanta Tampa Bay care Carolina it makes sense that the Saints hate they just hadn't blown that game against Tampa on Monday night where they were up I think 16-3 they would have won the division it was the playoff game so it's not difficult to picture them improving and meanwhile the Raiders may go get Carson Wentz so congrats with that but doesn't it feel like the Saints could be that surprise team because you only need one from that division they might be the only one but look at the defenses they'll face and then boom look at the opposing quarterbacks right that they'll face like we love Bryce young but that's on the come up right right who knows what's going to really happen with Tampa Bay although we kind of know and uh you know Atlanta Desmond Ritter hey how's he doing Under Pressure that's my main question let's see let's see and then you have the defense Dennis Allen's defense we know that's the strong suit of this team and you imagine them you say a surprise team and a team against a defense against San Francisco against Philadelphia against Dallas uh they could keep that game close they they give that team a puncher's chance again with that better quarterback play with Derek Carr so yeah I think down here in New Orleans they would love to see that because have you read some of the stuff about Zion don't did I don't I didn't even mention that let's forget the United conversation but yeah the Pelicans when they're in the news right now it's not great so let's hear some positive news about New Orleans Sports the nuggets are in the news and it's great coming off their first ever Championship Bloom so it's a party here in the mile high city uh is it going to be a party though because this will keep Dennis Allen's job yeah like is that necessarily a good thing right well that's the thing there's a lot of these coaches that are making decisions to preserve their job for this year I think that was the theory behind Jimmy Garoppolo and assigning with the Raiders that keep that team around eight wins nine wins and Josh McDaniels can string it out so since we've talked about quarterback Purgatory on this show for a long time maybe we need to talk more about Coach Purgatory uh and again and this goes back to the draft too when we talk about well if you're wrong you don't lose your job and they're wrong they lose their job that's not a good bias when the front office when the coaching staff is making decisions to keep their job that's not necessarily in the same interest of the long-term health of the team the team's ability to get better to maybe eventually reach the Super Bowl what the fans are looking for so yeah I think that we looked at Dennis Allen as kind of a stop Gap because when Sean Payton retired who really wanted to come and have this job kind of cleaning up the mess right the same to the team that was always kicking pain under the salary cap into the future mortgaging the present for the future or for the future for the present so who wanted to inherit that situation you're like well let's just keep Dennis Allen around that may end up happening longer than expected yeah and that's kicking the can further than you expected but here we go and this is what Could Saquon Barkley hold out? happens in these sorts of situations second one Barclay going to hold out no like he said he's okay to hold out into the regular season I know he has to say this it's June but uh July 17th deals get down to deadlines he doesn't even want to reset the running back market so I get what he's saying but that's a shocking headline like hold out into the regular season I thought those were done yeah and I think they are done I think this is one of those situations where everyone's just saying their lines you know ask Melvin Gordon what holding out into the regular season gets you yeah it's over it it's over um Le'Veon Bell and this is another one cease I just want to say because you know I'm gonna go there uh well there were a lot of people pointing fingers at Lamar Jackson not having an agent saying oh he's messing up his situation he's actually acting against his own interests right well it ends up Lamar Jackson do just fine even better when you put in that he doesn't have to pay some percentage to an agent remember everyone thought Le'Veon Bell sending out the season terrible move well he was one of the last running backs to get a big contract so was it really that terrible saquon Barkley can't pull Le'Veon Bell uh because of the new CBA and honestly because he doesn't really have any leverage this is a terrible situation we've chronicled this for a long time I don't even remember the first time on this show season I said running backs need to have their own Union but uh a running back salary for an average starter someone like Dave Montgomery it's around the same amount as a kicker I mean some people might say kickers are just as important as running backs and uh not as replaceable but uh these are the players that give a lot physically to their teams teams know they can burn them out on their rookie deals teams know they can get replacement Veterans for Street free agent veteran minimum salaries so Barkley has no leverage here and the other thing we need to look at cease is when did we used to talk about the running back Cliff 30 right yeah team was always the number teams I think now see it is 27 or 28 as far as they're concerned that doesn't mean that running backs can't continue to be productive after 27 or 28 but as far as teams paying for your seasons for your expected production they're not paying for age 28 29 seasons for saquon Barkley every year that you don't get whatever the market will offer you're not going to get back so again we look at Le'Veon Bell situation how he played it actually by today's terms it would have been impossible so I think that it's impossible possible that Barclay's going to get more than the franchise tag from the Giants yeah yeah I gotta say my FedEx driver is huge Giants fan yeah so every time he delivers me comic books and I have a lot of comic books right um he's always talking about making that run and I was thinking okay so long as Barclays there you know because I know fantasy jams have been snapping up Eric gray although Matt bride is still there and they'd likely go get someone hell they could go get James Robinson today uh because the Patriots cut him but like okay in that division we talked about the Saints being a surprise team I don't think the Giants will be a surprise team necessarily Bloom but make a postseason run as a wild card we know that Philadelphia is most likely to win that division yeah I could see it but Barclay's got to be there yeah Barclay's got to be there because other than maybe Darren Waller and let's face it what are the chances that you get uh an impactful Darren Waller come December January not not as much as the chance to get one in September October who in the passing game I like Paris Campbell I like Darius Slayton you know Jalen hi it's interesting but who in the passing game really strikes fear in the hearts of defenses it's saquon Barkley the match-up problems he can create in the passing game the big plays that he can create so yeah Barkley's key to this offense but still he doesn't have any leverage he's not going to get anything out of this team there was some talk that there was an offer out there around like 13 million a year and it did go up a little bit okay and while we're on this subject uh people saying he should have taken the deal at 12 something a year or 13 million a year here's the problem until about five minutes before the franchise tag deadline he had a chance to be a free agent if Daniel Jones had not signed a contract then he would have been the franchise tag player and saquon Barkley could have gotten his true value whatever that is maybe it's less than he thought but whatever it was going to be so he you had to play it out like that that was the biggest EV move for him to hit the free agent market and have all 32 teams negotiating with them so timing was a problem here and yeah maybe the Giants wouldn't give him that deal now that they got the deal done with Daniel Jones and they could just keep him under the franchise tag timing in football and in life is everything and well to have timing you have to have rhythm and the rhythm of the drum beat for trail and Burks see what it did Bloom paid professional um it's every day you and I cover the news for footballguys.com subscribe to our free daily newsletter get it every morning hot takes or just the takes you need to know because hot takes are dumb uh write to your inbox every single morning with takes written by Sigmund myself and Joe Bryant I don't know how many times I've gotten positive trailing Burke stories this off season and Hell Tennessee's looking for somebody yeah but our dear friend Jim Wyatt I love Jim I should wear my visor in honor of Jim or Sean Payton um and it you know he's saying it's your favorite Target Ryan Tannehill all right who's the favorite Target of will Levis that's what I want to know right but it seems like every time you turn around it's hitting us over the head Mike Rabel always more comfortable he's more confident like okay we get it what does it mean right well this is going to be one of those uh glass half full glass half empty situations where we look at the Tennessee offense whether it's tanhill Levis this doesn't look like it's going to be a good offense offensive line issues we were reluctant Derrick Henry even though he still produced like Derrick Henry last year you're seeing him fall at the late second round even the third round in drafts because of our reluctance to invest in this offense now that being said on the glass half full side somebody's got to touch the ball somebody's got to catch the ball and if this is a team that's a losing team then you are looking at the passing game more trailing Berks those conditioning problems from last year that's in the rear view mirror very small uh injuries during the season didn't really create a lot of momentum so absolutely you're going to see his athleticism get into play but can I do can we just talk about chiggy Okonkwo again because that's another player that you have to consider here if it's not Berks and then DeAndre Hopkins visited over the weekend so even if it isn't Hopkins this could be a team in the market for a veteran receiver so on one hand you're looking at perks you're looking at Okonkwo as potentially the number one Target in this past offense but also this team might be looking for a new number one Target because they see what we see the offense is no good yeah not very good it makes me sad about Taj Spears as well I'm like damn it yeah but he's another one he's another one see that could get a lot of run I mean there's talk that he could get as much work as he can handle and he's their Kamara right exactly so you know we're going to be watching this when training camps open to see those connections to see who gets emphasized in the offense uh because like we said Somebody's have to do it and depending on how you're projecting this team different parts of the offense or passing game might be more important you just went roller skating plume I don't know if they played any CNC Music Factory that was more early 90s yeah a couple of songs from off the wall that was why that was my jam man off the walls off the walls better than Thriller that's my hot take right yeah um but like CNC Music Factory had freedom the rapper Freedom so we're going to talk about the freedom of Lamar Jackson in this offense John Harbaugh commenting saying like hey he's got the ability to audible immediately so this will be I'm not saying Jim Kelly calling his own place like he did with the K gun to the bills back in the day that's a dated reference um but uh yeah it could be the l-gun J gun like it could be the Lamar Jackson show is what I'm saying because it's him calling the shots that sounds pretty interesting to me especially say flowers everybody yeah say flowers that's all I gotta say flowers say flowers Odell Beckham a healthy Rashad Bateman absolutely and this is I think that I especially get excited about new offensive coordinators new offenses I'm trying to calm down a little bit and also make sure that I get excited about offenses in the second year under an offensive coordinator because that's really going to take that next step but we also have to add a bump for Baltimore because how much was Greg Roman holding this offense back I've said this on the show many times but there was a point when Lamar Jackson said a few years back that it felt like the defense is knew the plays and they're not going to know the plays especially if Lamar's calling them right I mean this is giving him the power to keep the defenses off balance and a much more robust passing game keep defenses off balance so that makes you look at Lamar Jackson as going all the way back to when he did have to drop on defenses in 2019 that kind of fantasy ceiling where he's opened up Unleashed as a passer which actually can help him be more productive as a runner and stay healthier because defenses aren't going to be keyed on him as this passing game the cupboard has been bare both in terms of ideas Concepts Innovation and Personnel so to have Lamar Jackson is the number one fantasy quarterback this year absolutely is within the range of outcomes going off the board is the number four in most drafts so you don't want to pay up for Jalen hurts for Patrick Mahomes for Josh Allen but you still want to have a chance to have that unfair Advantage quarterback everything's pointing to Lamar Jackson getting a chance to be that quarterback again I feel life is like a country song Bloom so there's got to be some sort of lemon twist like some sort of irony like 18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses some sort of alliteration right uh because I feel huge mini camp news the title of today's show just kind of funny because it's huge but it's mini yeah mini um what we're getting here in San 49ers RB Depth Chart Francisco is watching Jordan Mason now Jordan Mason moving up the depth chart to number three appears to have passed Tyrion Davis price this is according to Jerry McDonald from the San Jose Mercury News but this is incredibly important for Fantasy jams because Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell are at the top of the depth chart right love Christian Elijah's great they both get hurt a lot so you bet your ass you want to know sorry Joe who the number three 49ers running back is and right now that's Jordan Mason so maybe not on the huge scale maybe this is a little smaller of huge right but like yeah get your popcorn ready watch that 49ers backfield yeah it's it's potentially huge in the sense of when you look on the horizon you see that little Dot and is it is it getting bigger and is it by the time you get to it is it going to be huge or is it still going to be a little dot well that's going to depend on the health of McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell but what we've seen from Jordan Mason during OTAs at least one report saying he's faster uh he's leaner uh you have also Elijah Mitchell missing time with an undisclosed injury I think that we can all see and hey Elijah Mitchell is an excellent six round pick Elijah Mitchell has been a boon for this offense and he's a terrific fit in their running game how however uh I think the over under for games played for Elijah Mitchell in any given year can't be higher than seven eight nine games right then enter like you say Tyrion Davis price and I don't know if it's Kyle Shanahan I think the Kyle Shanahan who keeps making these trade sermon Joe Williams who keeps making these picks because again like Elijah Mitchell or your udfas Raheem moster Etc Jordan Mason what we saw last year there were some times that it seemed like Mason should get work there was opportunity for him to get work and maybe he made the team more on his special teams prowess they weren't really excited to get him on the field now they could be more excited to get him on the field and see so I think there's a possibility that he could outright take the job from Elijah Mitchell not so much that a healthy Elijah Mitchell is going to be overtaken by a healthy Jordan Mason but once that entry seal is broken for Elijah Mitchell let's see what happens in training camp it's possible that he's not healthy enough to overtake Jordan Mason so this is absolutely important and when does it become important does it become important in week four week eight maybe not until week 16. I don't know but I want any San Francisco running back who has a chance to start we say Plug and Play Running Games Shanahan those two things go together like peanut butter and jelly and I'll say this toast and jam Windows yeah I'm on Jordan Mason that window might be two weeks but you know what I'm gonna do in those two weeks I'm going to win win so Windows everybody they call them windows huh Windows starts with w that's right the wind starts with w it's not a Travis Etienne & Tank Bigsby coincidence so yeah yeah we are watching this and what else we're watching bloom in in two successive days you wrote about tank Bixby I wrote about tanks Bigsby we didn't consult each other no but we're of that same mind of like hey everybody something's going on in Jacksonville so I don't want to say running back by committee but because we could out touch the starter and the lead back and Travis etian yeah and the key here is that there are things that Travis etn can provide speed passing game ability we'll see it hasn't really lived up to billing uh but there are things that Travis etn hasn't been able to provide and when they take tank Bixby in the third round first of all that tells you they have a second round grade on them tells you that they see him as a core contributor to this backfield really the only variable here is what is tank Bixby ready for if he's ready for the James Robinson role then he may get that role and if you like Jacksonville to win this Division if you'd like Jacksonville as an encore to winning a playoff game uh to win maybe 11 games 12 games in the regular season as a team that is Head and Shoulders above the competition in the AFC South that's tank bigsby's music because you have fourth quarters where he's closing out the game you have him closing out drives you have this offense again Calvin Ridley what's that going to mean for this offense having that X that can really stretch defenses and not having a lot of slot receivers basically interchangeably playing in more of a dink and dunk pass offense which worked very well last year but again what was I just saying let's think about not just the new offenses the new offensive coordinators but the offense is where now it's year two so everyone's fluent in the offense now we can take that offense to the next level along with Calvin Ridley tank Bixby a powerful slasher yeah I think this is great I think that see this is going to sound familiar rookie running back some of these rookie running backs Zach charbonnet Devin a chain these are the guys you want to be looking at until their adps come up and Bixby is one of the cheapest of them all yeah so keep an eye on that and we should do a show Bloom on second year players yeah because I think second year players it's like a used car right right it's like everyone's excited about the rookies which is great I you've been in drafts with me where I draft almost all rookies because I'm crazy but like I think that second year shine should be there for a lot of these players obviously obviously we're not dealing with that when we talk about tanks Bigsby because he's a new guy but second year offenses are like second year players yeah and people need to realize where the value lies they're in you mentioned charbonnet it seems like we're always writing about him on the newswire positive reports coming out of Seattle Is Elijah Moore a breakout candidate? and then another guy that's been a little bit hit and miss and we also have the DeAndre Hopkins yeah like signing floating around somewhere but Elijah Morris breakout candidate yeah you wrote about that this weekend Bloom so yes he is again unless signs there right and I think that is a problem because it would be if Hopkins signs there and look both with cook and Hopkins you have that initial surge oh Cook's gonna go to Miami that's who's interested in him well cook once the 11 million or so he was going to get from Minnesota Amy's not gonna pay that Hopkins also developing his Market uh the relationship with DeSean Watson seemed to maybe be the strongest force factor influence in where he's going to end up well we'll see but Elijah Moore Zach Jackson from the Athletics saying it looks like clearly obviously a potential breakout player catching everything favorite Target for DeSean Watson and talking about post hype right the Elijah Moore hype was pretty strong last year and Elijah Moore can play I mean there's no doubt about that kind of wrote his own ticket out of town while the team was in a winning streak complaining about his usage so I think that uh maybe he got what he wanted and when we look at DeSean Watson you know we were interested in David Bell and again I bring this up all the time to Sean Watson and Hunter Renfro that's why I like geeky cutie so much I get those socks back on but I think that Elijah Moore makes a lot of sense as that slot receiver but not like a Kiki cutie did have some deep speed or Hunter Renfro uh Elijah Moore is a really Dynamic player so it makes sense to me that Amari Cooper and Donna peoples Jones on the boundaries stretching out the defense and then you let David and joku and Elijah Moore crisscross zigzag slice and dice and I think this is going to be not necessarily a second year offense because Deshawn Watson wasn't really even in the offense for a year but there's a lot of talk that the offense we're gonna see Cleveland have this year is very different than we saw last year maybe they weren't even really trying to install anything for DeSean Watson last year they are doing that this year and at least right now Elijah Moore is going to be a big part of that let's talk about to wrap things up on today's edition of the audible Cecil Lamy Sigma bloom Justin Fields is not going to be a robotic passer this is according to Luke Etsy again that's one another one of those notes and one of those phrases because as a Young quarterback who needs to be better as a passer we all love Justin Fields I think expecting a Jalen Hurst jump from him is getting ahead of yourself premature um yes because Hertz was a bunch better passer than Fields was um now Fields can get there okay but if he's not going to be a robotic Pastor it means he's going to do what he's going to do without thinking and that's great now what is the what is that going to be is it going to be tucking the ball and running right adventure to guess yes yeah that's the thing and look players evolve and you mentioned Jalen hurts Jalen hurts was a half beat behind he watched him in Alabama right Oklahoma happy behind that sped up Shane steichen that's why it's so interesting thing about stiking with Anthony Richardson but we're talking about Justin Fields but notice the common theme here these are players that with that strong base of rushing stats for Fantasy Football if you just get average passing stats from them now you're in the stratosphere for Fantasy Football Justin Fields was a very strong fantasy quarterback in the second half of the year last year when he was healthy even though the passing game was atrocious so if the passing game just comes up a little bit Thou You're really excited but I think you hit the key point if he's not robotic what I remember watching at Ohio State was he's just not comfortable attacking as a passer outside a structure you can see different things about how he holds the ball where his eyes are how quick he is to start getting up to speed and it is a high speed that he can get up to once he becomes a runner but he's not necessarily a patient player or even a player I think that understands see one of the things I think is one of the most underrated tools for a quarterback right the pump fake you can totally manipulate the defense with a pump fake you don't even have to really do a pump fake you even just have to move the ball Ben roethlis oh this is your shoulder just yeah dips your shoulder don't have you don't have to do the Ben Roethlisberger are almost gonna throw change your mind bring it back that's true that's true but it manipulates a defense but what it also shows me is a slow down deliberate thinking even though the bullets are flying and everything's happening really fast around you and I just don't know if Justin Fields is there yet so I think you're right now for Fantasy what's the difference if he's racking up the stats as a runner but as far as his ability to progress as a passer and get to that next level and getting DJ more into play and that seems to be a clear connection and then taking advantage of Darnell Mooney of Chase Claypool of these this uh you know they've got speed you got quickness you got size you've got skill with DJ Moore but can you take advantage of that uh and then I guess we still have to be agnostic about glue getsy and whatever what do we really know about Luke getsy as an offensive coordinator as an offensive mind uh being with Aaron Rodgers so a lot of question marks here and I like you said sees I don't know if him I almost would want him to be not robotic but operating within structure as a passer because I think that's where the good things are going to happen for him yeah um I almost wouldn't mind if he was a little bit like okay one read two you're here yeah and then take that step in year three like continue on in that that next year of this offense so either way we'll keep eye on that and of course keep you up to date on all the news again check out that football guys free daily newsletter it's available at footballguys.com and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel smash the freaking like button yes I go den of nerds on you with a huge news from and mini camp he's Sigmund Bloom you follow him on Twitter Bloom yeah we gotta talk about audible dads too right oh okay you know it's Father's Day it's Father's Day it is going to be a Father's Day discount we always talk about supporting the show you want to support the show go to footballguys.com audible dads to get your Father's Day discount whether you're buying it for your favorite father or father figure or buying it for yourself because you deserve it so it's time and we're getting ready to roll out our undervalued overvalued players sleeper all the series that you love it's all going to start coming out so don't wait another day to indulge yourself with a footballguys.com subscription footballeyes.com audible dads that make it happen footballguys.com audible dads he's Sigma Bloom at Sigma Bloom on Twitter I'm at cecilami the show is at the audible there's only one anyway until next time be safe be kind know that you're appreciated stay tuned and would you please always stay frosty