Episode 1: Rams & Browns Fantasy Football Preview with Dan Toomey (@DanT_NFL)

what is going on guys we are back here on the football by Nico show on our first episode and I'm here today with Dan Tumi from Dynasty nerds he is also my coworker at NFL Sapient he covers the Browns and he also is fantasy football writer for dynasty nerds how's it going Dan it's going good it's going good thanks for having me um always love you know chalking up with the fantasy football game it may be you know the middle of May but rookie training camps are started otaa is the beginning before we know it and um August is always just around the corner it's always a good time to talk about fantasy football yeah so today what we're gonna do is we're just gonna go over the Rams depth chart talk about who could be some fantasy sleepers in your draft and we're also going to go over the brown stth chart who from these rosters should you be drafting where should you be drafting them that kind of thing so let's start with the Rams obviously at the quarterback position you got Matthew Stafford and he finished sixth last year at the quarterback position behind Joe burrow and above Aaron Rogers where do you think he's gonna finish next year I'm excited to see Stafford um obviously uh major change we'll go into is um the addition of Alan Robinson um who has been the perennial um kind of odd man out in the the fantasy football space playing with the likes of uh you know Blake Bortles Mitch trabis um I think Justin fields and him played together but like Justin didn't know that he could throw the ball to alen Robinson last year so I think Matthew's gotten the the heads up on on that connection possibility um and then you got the departure of Robert Woods you know how is that going to affect the the Rams offense so it's very interesting um I think Stafford um provides a nice floor from a fantasy football you know aspect he's not he's not a runner you know you're not going to be getting 500 yards a season out of him but um that offense is primed to produce this year and and I think he provides a nice a nice floor and I could see him finishing as you know a lowend qb1 where he also has those kind of ceiling games where you'll get a top five finish from him you know randomly from week to week yeah definitely for sure I think that he 100% has the ability to reproduce as a top 10 quarterback the only thing I will have to know for last year though is he did have a league leading 17ish interceptions so that definitely cut into his total a little bit more he could have finished a little bit higher I think but I think like you said the addition of Allen Robinson will be big for him also the second year in the Sham MC Bay offense I think would be good as well just for him to develop that chemistry with the new wide receiver and now moving on to running back we have Cam Acres derell Henderson Kyon Williams just drafted and J Jake Funk obviously I think three of those guys are going to be a little bit more fantasy relevant than the others but who do you think is going to be the lead Rams running back next year the Rams backfield the the great question of the 2022 off season um you know last time we saw them in the playoffs cam Acres was was just coming back from injury um we know he suffered that I believe that was in training camp last last summer um after I drafted him in the Scott Fishbowl of course he waited until after that happened to to get injured um so I honestly I'm gonna default to you on this uh Nico um what have you been hearing as far as cam Acres um recovery as far as maybe the coaching staff what are they saying about his role in the offense going forward you know is McVey leaking any news about uh committee possibility yeah so I know that he had is a kill's injured like you said in training camp and that the recovery time was I believe he would be back around January you know in time for playoffs but he came back in December final week of the Season against the 49ers he looked decent I know that he didn't look 100% but he looked like really good for someone that you know had an Achilles injury of that severity and just I know they like to split his time and rotate him through you know with Henderson and Sony Michelle just so he wouldn't get you know totally tired out but I think that for next year they're definitely going to go with more of a committee approach and you know the fact that they drafted a running back pretty high kind of signifies that as well yeah I do um I do remember watching during the playoffs and I believe it was the um Buccaneers game bucaneers playoff game where Acres had I believe it was a couple fumbles um you you'd probably know better than I would on that standpoint um but I remember saying to my friends I was watching the game it's it's kind of amazing that um McVey is still going back to him you know that's the one takeway I had from that Buccaneers game was despite him fumbling a couple times um McVey still continued to go back to him in that back field um I don't know if that shows some sort of preference that McVey has for cam ACR um I loved cam ACR coming out of Florida State I thought he was an electric Runner who unfortunately just got stuck behind one of the worst offensive lines in college football and I would really love to see him take this back field and you know pun intendent run away with it um but as we know you know the NFL is is doesn't have our fantasy football teams you know in mind and they are trending towards more more committee approaches um and we do know Daryl Henderson has shown the capability to to be an efficient Runner you know at the NFL level so um I would love to see Acres healthy and with full control of the backfield this year I just don't know if that's that's what we're going to get out of this Rams offense unfortunately yeah definitely I totally agree with you I know that he uh even though that Acres wasn't 100% you could see that McVey really liked to have him included in the offense and in the terms of derell Henderson I know his contract is up after the end of next year so he'll be a free agent uh after this upcoming season so I'm not sure you know what the team is going to do with him I would assume if I were to assume I would say they would let him walk because that's just the way things have to go sometimes kind of the same thing that they did with Sony Michelle but he was actually a pretty decent fantasy player last year when he had you know control of the Back Field averag about 15ish points per game was a pretty good running back to you know Flex kind of guy and I think that you know him splitting carries with akres wouldn't be a terrible thing you know akres is a little bit more Shifty he's a little bit more of the main back kind of guy Henderson's kind of a little more of a power Runner compared to him so I could definitely see Henderson kind of stealing some of those goal line touches unfortunately but I think that overall you're going to see uh more cam Acres when it comes to pass catching yeah and I I just looked it up just confirm it that playoff game Acres did have two fumbles exactly um and like I said I McVey went right back to him every time so you know maybe maybe we have a little a little light on on the subject um I have to ask you you know coming from you know I work a lot in the dynasty format um the Kiren Williams pick what is um what does that signify to you as someone who covers the Rams you know it's that kind of the end of Henderson I know Kiren during the pre-af process didn't really test athletically as much as people were hoping for um have you heard anything about what the Rams may be you know hoping to get out of him yeah I think uh I was talking with Ryan Drew of uh lafb a couple weeks ago and we were just saying like how you should be drafting a running back almost every year if you can because the way that you know the Shawn McVey offense works and the way that you know similar to Kyle Shanahan is that you can just kind of plug a running back in there and they can just work so I think that that was kind of the ideology when they were picking him I think another main reason was just the injury concern you know cam Acres coming back from an injury Dell Henderson hasn't really played a full healthy season I don't think ever with the Rams and just the fact that Jake Funk also had I believe an ACL in college just shows you that they were concerned about you know the injury and the availability of their running backs which is kind of why they also had to trade for Sony Michelle at the beginning of the year so I think that he can be you know one of those rotational guys similar to how Henderson was in his first year you know behind Todd Gurley just to be a change of pace kind of back yeah I I agree with that take that most most NFL front offices ideally would like to add um to the running back room year after year in the draft draft and you know when we get to the Browns we we'll talk about our our own very our very own rookie running back that that we selected this year but um I definitely agree with that take that no matter what you will see teams drafting running backs every single year yeah and something I noticed when watching his tape was that you know he was very good at pass Pro and I think that's something that the Rams really value in 2020 when they had derell Henderson Malcolm Brown and cam Acres on the roster we saw a lot more of Malcolm Brown than we probably than they probably wanted to because he just so good at pass protection that they kept him in for a a good amount of the snaps so you know as a cam Acres owner in 2020 I was like why is he not in but then you see Malcolm Brown just being so good at pass bro because he was still learning the system that kind of thing I think that's something they might value in Kiren Williams and then moving on to the wide receiver room now this is one that it should be pretty interesting to see actually you got the offensive player of the year Cooper cup Allan Robinson new addition from free agency and then van Jefferson going into his third year who do you like best out of those groups yeah so the Cooper cup season we saw last year was amazing you know it just continues the trend of different year different wide receiver won you know we saw Michael Thomas 2019 he set the wide receiver fantasy scoring record Devonte Adams 2020 set the wide receiver you know scoring record for fantasy wide receivers and then Cooper cup was the next man up you know next year um so I guess the one thing we can guarantee off of that knowledge is Cooper cup will be he won't finish as a wide receiver one maybe wide receiver two that's definitely in his range of outcomes but as the trend continues you know we have to have a new a new one um you know I I got to say um Cooper cup's still going to be the king of this offense um as we see when we talk about fantasy adps he's going in the first round of most fantasy drafts that are happening right now um I have let's see um yeah Underdog ADP he's the currently the second selected player um wow that that we can get into in a little bit but he'll he'll definitely still be the king of that offense as far as I'm concerned um Allan Robinson is a nice addition um I would love if I could leave a draft to have Allan Robinson as my wide receiver too um that would just be because we we got to thank you know Robert Woods prior to the injury he was a service of wide receiver too every single week um as far as a talent standpoint I I don't know how you feel about Robert Woods but personally I feel Alan Robinson at this point in their careers is a bit of a better receiver than you know than Robert Woods was last year um given the two so yeah Cooper cup is's gonna go first round and you know that kind of dictates your entire draft strategy for a fantasy football team um but if I can keep my eye out and grab Allen Robinson in the mid- rounds to filling that wide receiver two hole for my team I would be feeling very very good coming out of a fantasy football draft yeah definitely I think like you said about Robert Woods the problem I think with Robert Woods and the Rams was that him and Cooper cup are very similar type of wide receiver you know they're more of the like run catch and run kind of guys you know so I think that Allan Robinson adds a different dimension to the offense I think he adds a different type of wide receiver to the offense and I think he'll do much better in the in the offense and just looking at some of Robert woods' numbers last year they were just not great when it came to coming with Matthew Stafford in the chemistry with him I mean he averaged roughly like 10 points a game which is barely even like Flex for a roster so I think that Alan Robinson can do much better I know that van Jefferson was even getting some of the points more points than Robert Woods was he did finish higher than him in scoring but if you go and look at his stats they were just much better in terms of uh the Deep ball he averaged roughly 15ish points a game he had a couple games where he was just like one in single digits which is not good so he was more of a boomer bust option for sure but I think that Alan Robinson will be a little bit more consistent when it comes to just getting him the ball and being a good wide receiv receiv to like you said agreed definitely agreed and then if you look at some of those other guys I can't really see any of them being uh fantasy relevant and you got scronic you kind of filled in you know for injury two two outwell their highest pick from a couple years ago can't really see him being of any value unless they have him returning kicks and that's one of the formats your league has is kick points for kick returns same thing with Brandon Powell and yeah that's pretty much it for the wide receiver R we can go on the tight ends wonderful and then we have Tyler the 2019 fantasy football legend I know that many people including myself had very high hopes going into 2020 for Tyler higgy and what do you think went wrong there what what were wrong with Tyler higgy um I don't know like you know he was everyone's favorite sleeper tight end um going into drafts last year um by the time we got to September the he kind of lost the sleeper aspect as he he started rising up the 80P um unfortunately just the way this tight end position is right now unless you're selecting one of the big three and I think we actually we got to call it a big four now because now we got to remember Kyle pittz falls into that category um I've heard a lot of people say this you either go with tight end you go great or you go late you know you got your Mark Andrews Travis Kelce your George KD and now your Kyle pittz you know I would actually I forgot about Darren Waller so I was so it was five in the great tier um those those mid-range guys are just not you know not where I Target my roster construction for a fantasy team you know you got your your mik gazis you know um Evan ingrams would be a name in the past um so we'll see Tyler higgy fall uh ADP wise you know after scorning fantasy managers last year uh let's see if we look at Underdog ADP currently he is tight end 19 um off the board behind the likes of Hunter Henry IRB Smith Cole k um it might have just been a case of you know just an off year for for Tyler Higg but obviously you being the Rams scy you might know a little bit more about tight end usage in this McBay offense yeah so I think that he doesn't use his tight ends very often which is why you don't get those big numbers I know during that run you know at the end of the season he was just getting a lot of action because Gerald Everett was out and they kind of focusing more on him as a Target currently he ranked last year in scoring as the tight end 18 so I don't think the uh the ADP is that wrong for him you know he scored 8.8 a game 8.8 points a game had a maximum in uh week 18 versus San Francisco of 17.5 that was his max score he got that during the year so I can't really see him being much more than a tight and two like a guy you f you know someone from your bench yeah kind of a a matchup play if you will you know catch a bad defense on a good week type of thing yeah because I know that the in the Shawn McVey offense you know the tight end don't get much love he they use them a lot in the intermediate passing game you know kind of as a third option kind and you'll see a lot of those quick passes you see a lot of those short passes and sometimes you'll see him in the Red Zone not too often but I know that he's a big Target do like him in the red zone so he might be able to take advantage of some of those targets that he got and if you look at just some of those other tight ends on the roster Kendall blankon Bryson Hopkins Jacob Harris Dynasty I would do like ja Jacob Harris as a prospect and I know I'm not sure so sure about Bryson Hopkins but I've heard that Jacob Paris the coaching staff loves him he didn't get a proper chance last year so if you're in Dynasty and Jacob Harris is on your waiver wire go pick him up to watch out for yeah so now I think we can move on to some of the ADP for this team we're starting with Matthew Stafford he is currently going around the quarterback nine in drafts and I think that that might be a little bit of a sleeper pick because he did finish six last year with an improved offense what are your some what are some of your thoughts um I think quarterback nine is going to be a a good spot for him um couple things we have to remember uh Russell Wilson going to the Denver Broncos Russ is going to finish better than he did last year because that Seattle roster is just not destined for Fantasy greatness you know you pair Russ with courland Sutton Jerry Judy KJ hamler Tim Patrick like he has weapons you know we may finally see Russ Cook as they say um so that's that's the type of quarterback you know he finished worse last year he's going to finish better this year um the inverse is also true we got to look at a guy like Aaron roggers you know he lost Devonte Adams and they're trying to replace Devonte Adams with the collection of Sammy Watkins and Christian Watson that's a quarterback that might you know drop a little bit might fall a little bit further than he did last year um I think quarterback nine like I said before low-end quarterback one is is a very nice spot to grab stat and the best part is is you're going to have safety you know um one fantasy darling last year was a player like Jaylen Herz you know he's got that that rushing upside that we look for in fantasy quarterbacks problem is he's not the best passer of the football and if he goes up against you know a guy like belich you know a defensive genius who knows how to take away your your strengths you know you could see a Jaylen Herz put up a five-point week meanwhile Matthew Stafford he's not going to get you a 35-point game like a Jaylen Herz might but he's going to get his consistent you know 20 to 25 points or what it is and depending on roster construction stability is might just be the type of thing you are looking for out of your quarterback position yeah definitely I totally agree what you said about the consistency obviously you know he's not going to rush for more than like five yards a game if even you know anytime he rushes it'll just be like a scramble to get a first down but I think that he offers a very safe floor and I would take him in the similar tier of some of those guys like Brady or even Derek Carr you know some of those similar tier guys that have the same play style as him as well so now if we move on to Cooper Cub like we already said Cooper cup is going in the first round of your drafts I highly think do not recommend that because there's obviously there's going to be a regression and like you said there's a different wide receiver every year so how can you trust Cooper Cup's going to repeat again he is the focal point of the offense so I definitely would not put you know a top 10 finish behind them what are some of your thoughts about Cooper cup yeah so like I said Cooper cup um I love the position um it's just um you have to come to terms to yourself as far as roster construction goes because you're taking kurick up in the first you're sacrificing top five top six you know running back and as we know from playing fantasy for a couple years that running back position dries up very very quickly um I find that a lot of drafts where I try to go first round wide receiver I'm left you know not loving my roster so much because the running backs you know they're looking not so great um but then other people also subscribe to the idea that hey running backs get hurt a little bit more frequently than wide receivers do and more importantly when a running back does go down you can directly plug in their backup and expect similar levels of opportunity to produce um I just yeah wide receiver one overall um it's it's it's in his range of outcomes definitely I think he has a good chance of doing it again this year um but there's just so many little quirks it comes to scheduling where they're playing outdoor games indoor games that uh if I had to put money on it I'd say he won't finish as wide receiver one again but I would also say at the same token he's definitely going to finish as a top eight wide receiver next year um so like I said it kind of just comes down to roster construction and and what makes you feel most comfortable as a Fantasy Football manager yeah for sure and I think that like you said uh if you go wide receiver first round then you kind of left with not too many options of running back but then the drop off you know from running back one to running back 10 is so huge that I think it's not not really recommended from my perspective to take a wide receiver in the first round because definitely the NFL is moving more towards a Passing League so you get a lot of more of these Workhorse running backs that you know like Jonathan Taylor and Derk Henry that are going to get you those running good running back yards and stuff like that but the Cooper cups of the world the Devonte Adams they're everywhere you know you got a good wide receiver and I would at least like more than half the league that you can draft it'll get you a solid 15ish points a game and if you look at some of those guys that have been going in the first round I like Justin Jefferson at his ADP much more than I like Cooper cup I feel like Justin Jefferson has a way better chance of of going for the wide receiver one than Cooper cup does because you know he's in that Shawn McVey offense he's in that position to succeed from Kevin oconnell and I think that you know maybe Adam th takes a little more of his Targets this year we can see him finish as the wide receiver one yep you know you got you got a lot of candidates for wide receiver one this year you know Jamar Chase he is my personal bet for wide receiver one um I think T Higgins injured not a lot of people talking about that Jamar Chase is gonna eat this year um Devon Adams Stefon Diggs they're always in the conversation for wide receiver one you know Adams he's back with his boy Carr you know Fresno State greats um we'll see what what they can do out in out in Las Vegas it's definitely going to be a interesting wide receiver One race this year yeah and then looking at Allan Robinson he's currently ranked as the wide receiver 33 around guys like Hunter rro Devonte Smith and Darnell money I think that might be a sleeper position for him because I would rather have Allan Robinson and Cooper Cup in these in a draft what are some of your thoughts about him his ADP yeah agree with that um so one concept that is is kind of newer to Fantasy managers is the concept of stacking stacking your your player stacking your quarterback with your wide receiver um it's a concept that comes from a lot of DFS players it's how a lot of the Big Wigs take down those large tournaments and win you know Millions on Sundays um it's also a concept that we can apply to our regular fantasy team I am a proponent of stacking I like to stack my players together um and with the ADP the way it is with Matthew Stafford and Alan Robinson you can always always leave a draft with those two um Cooper cup you have to have you know a top what eight pick to guarantee yourself a chance maybe we getting Cooper cup um but also you know that that Allan Robinson ADP is not going to stay that way forever he's he's definitely going to be going up draft boards as we approach the um the end of the summer because you got to remember he still got he still got that stigma to him you know from the Blake Bortles M Tris days people just aren't aren't Keen onto them yeah I think that's pretty true and the fact that Matthew Stafford is the best quarterback he's ever had is going to move him up on people's draft boards I think that he's definitely a sleeper pick for those you know that have drafting right now I would go and grab him over Cooper cup in the first round and just looking at van Jefferson as well I would see him as more of a boomer bust option I know like we already said he either scored you know double digits or like one or two points so I think that he's definitely more of a matchup kind of guy He's listed as wide receiver 53 alongside guys like Alan Lazard and Marquez Val scantling and Drake London so I would see him more as like you know when they're playing the Falcons that might be a good time to go pick them up yeah you could also you know work off the concept of um wide receiver handcuffs you know if we were to see God forbid a cup or a Allan Robinson go down you know van Jefferson I think is the type of player who can plug into that offense and produce similar production given similar opportunities yeah 100% I think that going into his third year you're going to see a lot more improvement from Van Jefferson I think that's the main reason that you know they haven't fully committed to signing Odell I know they voiced their opinion saying well we want Odell back but I don't know if they 100% need Odell you know they have van Jefferson they have a couple other young wide receivers so I can't really see them you know unless they sign him for just a veteran minimum I can't really see them signing him back this year I think the one problem Odell right now is it's it's the re injury you know it's an injury to the same place he had surgery on I think the Rams are just kind of like listen we're going to we're going to not risk it and you know see how you are in a couple months before we commit you know x amount of dollars to you um um I I would have to imagine most teams in the league are taking that approach when it comes to a player like Odell right now yeah and then looking at just like let's say they do sign odel where would you rank him in terms of these other Rams wide receivers I mean the last time we saw him on the field he was about to win the Super Bowl MVP if he didn't go down to that game um I had a lot of buddies at um a party with me who had a lot of money on that so they weren't very happy when when he got hurt um it just like him and Stafford they just had a connection like from the GetGo it was not even it's kind of funny we bring this up you know me being the the Browns guy but um it was almost as if Odell was like saving himself for Stafford and when he got to La it was just like an instant here we go type of thing um I think there is a very real quantity to put on that connection and I honestly think he would he would immediately take over the number two role um I I don't have the numbers in front of me as far as like three wide receiver sets that the Rams run but I I have to imagine it's pretty uh pretty frequent and you would imagine you'd be seeing Cooper cup Allen Robinson and Odell on the field almost almost every play I would have to hope given given given those names that you have you know to put on the field oh yeah 100% the Rams run just off the top of my head I can guarantee you that they' run the highest wide three wide receiver sets in the league I was I was I was doing an article on it for Fantasy Football a couple weeks ago and I think I remember they were right at the tippy top of the league as far as how often they run three wide receiver sets yeah I just looked it up right here the Rams run 86% of their total plays out of 11 personnel or three wide receiver sets the next closest is 77 and that is the Bengals yeah so um well the Bengals look at those WI receivers don't blame them for running three wide receivers all the time yes so you'd have to imagine if if we had put that scenario together they' probably stick you know cup and Odell on the same side of the field you know let them uh you know dve off each other run some smash Concepts and really mess up the defensive back's lives and then you know Alan Robinson gonna be stuck you know on the island doing what he does best and just going to get the ball um I now that we're talking about it I kind of hopes they don't sign Odell because they're definitely going to win the Super Bowl again if they too yeah I think like you said he it's a very Niche kind of role for Odell in this offense you know they didn't they don't need like a a a true number one they don't need him to be you know their savior he can just kind of play a limited role and be very good in that limited role as we saw this past season and just looking into his numbers fantasy wise he was doing pretty good I would pick him up you know as my Flex option if he signs back with the team and is still you know 100% he scored a touchdown almost every single week after their by- we only he miss uh he missed some time in Seattle and he did not score in San Francisco but every other week he scored a touchdown so just that kind of production from him would be great even if it is in such a limited role yeah like I said I have to imagine right now most teams are just waiting for the Medicals to uh to come back and clear because there there's really no rush to sign into a contract at the moment you know the guy's going to be rehabing anyway he not going to be reporting to many Camp so most teams are probably just going to sit and wait at this point on that yeah definitely and then moving on finishing with Tyler higgy like we already said he's gonna be one of those sleeper tight ends that kind of burned people fantasy managers last year so I think that I would personally wouldn't draft him as my tight end one I can see him maybe as a flex tight end two you know kind of bench fill in guy but I wouldn't draft him as my tight end one for sure what are your thoughts on him um I got to agree with that um looking at Underdog ADP currently he is going around players like Co met uh David njoku a player that we'll talk about a little bit later in this podcast um you know uh Noah Fant now that is in Seattle um Robert tanion in Green Bay um this is all just kind of like the dart throw territory with tight end where if he's not smashing week one you know I'm just hitting the drop button going back to waivers and trying again for week two um so this is going to be your end of your fantasy draft type of player that honestly you might just be playing for week one matchups at that point yeah I think that the biggest thing when it comes to Fantasy tight ends is just the opportunity that they're going to get and you know within the offense like how much are they throwing to tight ends how much are they being targeted in the Red Zone who's their quarterback is also a pretty important thing too cuz if you look at the top you know tight ends maybe excluding George KD but I think that that one's a just an outlier you look at the top tight ends and you also see that most of them are tied to a pretty good quarterback as well throwing them the ball you got Patrick Mahomes Lamar Jackson and then Derek Carr some of those top guys and just the ability for the quarterback to get them the ball is pretty important too and I think that Stafford knows how to get Tyler higgy the ball it's just the fact that he won't be targeted you know as much compared to some of the the wide receivers aside him the other thing you got to think about is play that scenario out Odell resigns how is he getting a Target you know you're putting out Cooper cup Allan Robinson and Odell Beckham Jr you know he's just there at a block at that point yeah definitely there's too many Ms de feed in the Rams offense you know when you have that many weapons so I think that obviously the best Rams wide receiver to have at their ADP is Allen Robinson for sure and now moving on to the part that everybody was waiting to hear for Matt gay in fantasy football personally I had Matt gay last year he was great he missed I think only two kicks during the year nobody knew to pick him up and I think that that might be the same thing this year I me you look at the fantasy kicker outlook here finishes kicker number five in terms of ADP he is going kicker number six so I think that he might you know be a top five kicker again next year do you have any thoughts on Matt gay so um kickers I like to look at two things one who's playing indoors thankfully the Rams they hold their their home games indoors um they're going to play in Arizona next year hopefully twice for your sake um that'll be in indoors um I don't have the ram schedule in front of me but yeah basically I'm looking for kickers who play indoor games and considering your home stadium is indoors that knocks out half of the matchups um another thing I look at when evaluating kickers is offenses that aren't really going for it on fourth down you know I'm looking for coaches that are going to kick a field goal because honestly that's how how you score fantasy points um so I look at a coach like like Brandon Staley and the he's always going for an fourth down so charges kicker might want to stay away from um from what I remember mcve is more the conservative side as far as going for and fourth down so that might might be a little correlation as to why we're seeing Matt gay you know score so highly for Fantasy Football yeah definitely like you said he uh he doesn't like to go for on fourth down I think for him it's more a situational like where they are in the game you know how many points are they behind are they ahead that kind of thing and just looking at their schedule like you said you know the first two games they're home at Arizona which I believe is indoors right yep Y and then at San Francisco which is outdoors Dallas is indoors Carolina is outdoors uh San Francisco at home Tampa Bay is outdoors and then Arizona New Orleans Kansas City is outdoors I only seen like I think the only ones I've seen is San Francisco's outdoors and then you have Carolina Outdoors Tampa Bay Outdoors New Orleans is indoors Kansas City outdoors and then Seattle I believe is outdoors as well and then Green Bay in the cold which might be not a great time to start if you're making your fantasy Championship uh might have to move on for Mr M gay that week yeah and then Los Angeles obviously indoors and then Denver is outdoors so maybe about I would say about half a little bit less than half are going to be yeah it's a good it's a good amount and you gotta imagine that week one game against Buffalo what are they going to put up 80 85 points between the two teams yeah that's something I I feel like I I personally look for is either you want a kicker that's GNA be on such a high powerered offense that they're G to get all those extra points and get into the red zone or you want a kicker that's going to be on kind of a mediocre offense you know that gets the Red Zone but can't entirely go get in there and score so that's why I think the Patriots are really good spot for a kicker because you know saw Nick folk you know the Patriots offense wasn't good enough to get into the Red Zone and score they're good enough to just get to the field goal range yep exactly okay now I think we can move on to the Browns obviously we can start off with the quarterback again who do you think is going to be quarterbacking for the Browns first of all think that's the most important question so so this is a tough one um it's funny that we're talking this week because um the NFL is currently meeting with DeShawn in Texas um and I believe we'll be getting a final decision um by Friday on what his status is for 2022 um we have jacobe brette has been signed as our backup and given a suspension he would fill in as a starter in that case um he has been you know a starter for many years in the league um when Andrew Luck retired uh in the middle of a preseason game he started for the Colts that whole year um he was with the dolphins for a little while when two was hurt so he he has experience under his belt and this offense is built in a way where he could be serviceful enough to you know to roll out as your starter um we're we're so close to the news I really I really hate speculating one way or the other what it's going to be um everything I have been reading is that a suspension may be coming but it may be coming in 2023 so um so who knows let's um let's just approach this fantasy football talk with the assumption that Deshawn plays this year and starts every game that might be uh might be the simplest simplest way to go about doing this yeah definitely I think that like you said Jacobi could be a pretty good starter I remember having him when he was on the Colts on my roster and he was averaging I think like 20 points a game or something crazy like that for his injury and I think that he can have the ability to start and be a pretty good QB for them if DeShaun Watson does not end up playing and I think he also has that rushing kind of floor similar to some of the other quarterbacks that are good in fantasy and he averaged about I think 20 30 yards a game rushing which is pretty decent and I think that Deshawn definitely is g to be more but if he does play he should be viewed as one of the top quarterbacks you take in your draft yeah for sure um so if we're looking at Underdog ADP he's going as quarterback 14 right now um directly behind Stafford Rogers and Lance um obviously this ADP on Underdog is live because they're running their baseball Mania tournament for millions of dollars um so it's super accurate but it's also not reacting to any news by the time we get to August when you're drafting for your fantasy football leagues we will know for a fact whether or not DeShaun Watson is playing that year and obviously if he's not or if he's suspended you're not going to be drafting him at all um but the last time we saw him on the field the Texans he was a top 12 fantasy quarterback and that was on a terrible Texans team we must remember he was running around for his life behind that offensive line and Cleveland we see has built one of the more successful offensive lines in football right now there has been a little turnover we are changing our starting center this year um but it's still going to be a great cohesive unit um so Sean Watson if he plays the full season will finish as a quarterback one with the Cleveland Browns yeah for sure I think that he's one of the best quarterbacks that you know for Fantasy when it comes to rushing when it comes to passing I believe the last time he played was when he led the league in passing yards if I'm not mistaken so I think that he offers a good rushing floor as well as a good passing floor so if you want you know a versatile quarterback that's kind of a good in between between you know your Jaylen Herz and Mar Jackson's versus you know your Matt staffers and your Tom Brady's I think he's a good balance between the two so I think you got a pretty decent floor from him and then just looking at the Browns running backs you have obviously Nick chub and Kareem hunt probably one of the best Duos if not the best duo in the entire NFL how do you see you know that that back field kind of splitting up for next season yes so um I believe we're going to be going into the season with you know Nick chub Kareem hunt deis Johnson everybody's uh favorite pickup from that Thursday night game last year and then we also drafted uh Jerome BD the running back from the University of Cincinnati in this past year's draft now uh Nick chub he is probably one of the best pure runners in the league you know I'd say maybe him and derck Henry and Jonathan Taylor can all make a a case for that title um and he has been deployed in the screen game a little bit more in past years um now one note I do want to make is that we saw Kem hunt go down with an injury last year and the Browns offense I mean there was many things besides Kem hunt there's the whole Baker Mayfield thing and this and that um but the offense without Kem you could tell it was missing missing a key piece um and then we'll get into the wide receivers uh as well in a little bit but I think we are going to see Nick chub and Kareem hunt on the field at the same time many times this year and now obviously that caps the ceiling for both players um it's very hard to have two weekly running back ones on the same team but it's they will they will chubble fall into the you know serviceable rb2 category and then Kareem hunt will be your you know rb3 with touchdown weekly upside to you know Spike into the rb2 range yeah I think that's a great I you know great analysis uh obviously he finished as a top 10 running back last season running back seven behind Zeke and ahead of Leonard forette both of those guys kind of also have the same situation where they have you know someone behind them that was sharing time so I think that that's a pretty good indication of how you know this backfield is going to be split up next year and if you look at where hunt finished even though he was uh hurt last year he averaged a pretty decent score when he was playing if you I'm just looking at his game log here he averaged around 20 points a game during the time that he was playing on the team so I think that that's a pretty good indication you know how this back is going to split up the Browns are obviously a run first team that might change a little bit more with Amari Cooper and SE Watson but I would say that they are going to be a run first team next season as well what are some of your thoughts on their offense you brought up a good point um with Johan Watson so I believe depending on the starting quarterback um will determine the usage we see for both Nick chub and Kareem hunt um we saw Baker Mayfield you know he had the rotator cuff shoulder injury last year and then um case Keenan was our backup last year and we saw Case Keenum start two games for us uh one was week 18 against the Cincinnati Bengals when nobody had anything to play with for so you know everybody's playing their backup to that point but there was that Thursday night football game against the Denver Broncos at home where case was the starter and I'll have to pull up the game lock in front of me but I want to say that the Man passed less than 22 times and that's where we got that you know the darest Johnson game that everybody was was so happy about getting the uh the waiver wire win uh for that week um so I believe that if we see like I said jacobe brassette under Center we are going to see a lot more run and if we see DeShaun Watson under Center we'll see a lot more flexibility with this offense not going to say they're going to airing it out you know like a Josh Allen or a Patrick Mahomes will be uh but the ability will be there um to do that and yeah looking at the game log from that Broncos game uh case had uh 33 pass attempts so a little bit higher than I I was thinking um but then we also saw at least an equally 33 Rush attempts from the running back so you know you got your 5050 split when we go with the backup you know jacobe deshaun's in there we're going to see a little bit less action on the ground with Nick chub we're going to see probably a little more screen game action with Kem hunt and we might even see creem hunt line out up outside wide as a wide receiver at that point so jacobe pounding ground kind of Derrick Henry numbers forck Nick chub Desa is the starter a little bit more Dynamic offense a little bit more spreading the ball around yeah and do you think that some of those wi some of the running backs will be split out wide a little bit more because they don't have you know a good wide receiver core that's experienced you know like maybe they set Kareem out hunt out wide like you said or even Duren Johnson out wide you think that'll happen a lot more if they do decide decide to pass yeah so this is a good time to transition into the wide receiver room um we obviously traded for Amari Cooper this year um from the Dallas Cowboys however at the same time we saw Jarvis depart um he was cut he actually signed with the Saints this past week and then obviously we talked about already Odell was with h the Rams last year so our current wide receiver depth chart we're going to be having um Mario Cooper uh Don's peoples Jones who is entering his third season similar to Van Jefferson we've seen some nice things out of him two very similar players we have Anthony Schwarz who's entering his second year he's a Speedster out of Auburn speed is the name of his game and then um the Browns drafted David Bell the wide receiver from Purdue this past season very funny um so the Browns run a kind of a social media PR where F the team keep you up to date with mini camp type things and when we made the David Bell selection I was a little bit that's not Andrew Berry type of pick I was watching the latest episode it turns out Kevin stefansky handpicked David Bell for this offense so for all of you Dynasty managers out there David Bell is the name to keep keep on in the back of your mind we might be seeing some big things from him in the future um but yes so our wide receiver room is limited we will see creem hunt um lined up outside wide with Nick chub in the back field um but we're also going to see the tight ends getting a lot of usage you know we got a couple good tight ends and um you know we'll talk about those guys a little bit you know do you have any comments on the wide receiver room what are your thoughts yeah just going a little bit going back on the running backs just for all the listeners here's a pro tip on identifying if a team is a run ver team so if they have a fullback on the roster and I think that's pretty self-explanatory but I know that you know some of the teams that employ fullbacks are obviously going to be run first you got the Ravens you got the 49ers I think it's good to take advantage of those situations because obviously if there's a fullback on the roster they're going to be you know run first they're going to be help blocking and I think that the Browns I'm not sure Johnny Stanton he's a big man yeah so I think that you can take advantage of the fact that fullbacks are on the roster and that'll kind of hint towards what teams you know are running as in terms of offense as for the wide receiver room Amari Cooper definitely definitely the wide receiver one he was a wide receiver one in Dallas so I think that he probably should finish similar to how he finished in Dallas I wouldn't expect more production out of him especially due to the fact that the Browns like we said are run first team I would expect him to finish around the range of guys like maybe uh Evans maybe even DeAndre Hopkins and then the wide receiver 2 again not too sure about I don't know if I would recommend picking up one of those guys as your wide receiver one for sure I could see maybe another Flex kind of wide receiver two play in there with Donovan peop Jones I know he was a pretty decent sleeper pick last year and then moving on to the tight ends like we said a lot of young tight ends David joku Harrison Bryant and they let go Austin Hooper last year I know they resigned David and joku to a pretty big deal this past off season how do you feel about him so yes so I didn't mention this before but we might consider David part njoku is part of the wide receiver room um a lot of reports from beat riders in the Cleveland area are saying that don't be surprised if you see David nooku deployed as a wide receiver this year um he is a former first round pick he is highly athletic and um in the spurts that we've seen him given the opportunities he has produced um I know coach tansky loves him and obviously the front office loves him by resigning him um he is one of my super tight ends for this year uh we'll get into the ADP a little bit later but he is going very late in drafts and I think people need to start learning the name David andoku when considering what to do at tight end this fantasy football season yeah so he averaged let's just see seven and a half points a game last year he finished around guys like Cole Kat Evan Ingram a Hooper who was also on the Cleveland roster do you think some of that was the reason you know why they signed back David and jok is because he didn't get the proper opportunity with Austin Hooper there yeah so um Andrew Barry general manager I love him I think he's doing a very good job everyone can agree the Austin Hooper contract was the worst contract in his tenure um Austin Hooper was coming off his season with Atlanta Falcons where he was forced fed the ball because I believe Calvin really and Julio Jones are both hurt at some point previous season and he just had like a million targets uh he hits free agency and Cleveland immediately makes him one of the highest paid tight ends um two years later and everybody is regretting that contract and we were finally able to get out from under that money um during this offseason eating a little bit of a dead cap in the way but you know so be it now I think the confidence that they have in David and joku gave them the ability to um make this move the other thing being the um uh Harrison Bryant you know we we drafted him two years ago now and he's he's looked very well very good as well I think the combination of confidence in those two players um is allow us to um move on from Austin Hooper this past past season now so we have to think the Cleveland Browns you know we talked about you guys running your three wide receiver sets we love to run two tight end sets and two running back sets so we are going to see both Harris and Bryant and David and joku on the field at all times um like I said wide receiver room a little lacking I don't be surprised David and joku out wide on Sundays yeah I think that kind of like he said taking off taking advantage of the opportunity is big for you know matter what fantasy football position I think that you know him being the main tight end the fact that the Browns like really went out there to go and sign him indicates that they really like him in the locker room and just his opportunity and and a run first team when him being on the field all the time is going to be great for him and in the Red Zone you know if they can't go and run it in the Red Zone they're obviously going to go look for a big Target like he is and just moving now into the kicker because we we love fantasy kickers here and we got a we got we got an interesting one we got Kade York the uh the draft pick from sixth round draft pick from LSU this past year um he was one of PFF highest rated kicker and um they had so much confidence in him that the day after the draft they cut the two veterans on the roster so um fantasy managers be warned though Cleveland is a whirlwind of weather and you'll very commonly see 45 mile per hour winds during our Sunday afternoon games I uh unfortunately I would not be recommending K York as a as a sleeper sleeper kicker pick this year okay so I think that rounds off the Browns roster and that's going to do it for this podcast I appreciate you coming on thank you to all the listeners I hope you got some good advice from our broadcast today you can find Dan as a featured rer on Dynasty nerds and of course on football Sapient covering the Cleveland Browns to be updated every time a new episode drops you can follow me at football byne on Twitter thank you very much for listening to the pod [Music]