Bold Predictions That Can Make Your Fantasy Season

0:00Following the consensus is one of the best ways to finish in the middle of the league, but we are trying to win leagues. And today Chris Harris and I are going to talk about some bold predictions so that the consensus might not be talking about that could help you get an edge. Chris, we don't have a show sheet here. We are just kind of flying by the seat of our pants. I don't know where you're going with this one, but let's start off with a bold prediction. Let's hear one from you Chris. I'm going to give you one about Zay flowers. I'm very, very into Zay flowers this year. My bold prediction is that Zay flowers now. He's a five nine receiver, not a lot of five nine receivers are uber successful in fantasy, but Zay flowers this year joins the ranks of the five nine studs. Steve Smith. He's the new Steve Smith. He does 1400 yards and he finally pops through that touchdown ceiling that's been so frustrating

1:01and winds up being a top 10 fantasy wide receiver. Absolutely. Love that one. And I talked about that same comp a few weeks ago. First of all, like you don't even know this Chris, we did our our guys episode. I know you do your flag plant players. We do a similar thing here. Football guys. Zay flowers was my guy at the wide receiver position this year. And I talked about Steve Smith because I remember that the first four years of Steve Smith's career saying he's too little to score touchdowns. You know, he's this five foot nine guy. He's never going to find his way in the end zone 10 touchdowns through his first four years. And then he had 12 touchdowns in year four. So I absolutely love that comp. I am very in on Zay flowers. Now I know when you are talking about players, you know, it is talent first for you. Obviously, the talent is there. But do you have any like additional expectations now with Declan Doyle coming in? Is it seems like the Ravens have run this very like just old school smash mouth, run first type of offense? Do you think that like there could be some more passing that could even help aid that break out this season? I guess maybe I feel like we don't we try to talk ourselves into it when we get change

2:06and we just kind of like try to tell ourselves changes automatically good. Um, it's not going to hurt because I'm with you. It was pretty stale under the Harbour administration. So like I wouldn't put it as a reason that I'm doing this with Zay flowers, but it's a nice little kind of ancillary thing in the quiver nice to have. For me, it is about flowers himself being really good, a really good route runner and obviously very just physically gifted match with a great quarterback who leads the NFL history and average yards per attempt like area, area arts per attempt. I just want to say, uh, you know, a downfield bomber, a great receiver in play action partly because Derek Henry is terrifying. It's it's that's up great for somebody with great talent. I think if someone wanted to be a flowers douter or at least say no, he's going at the right spot in drafts, they would say the touchdown thing as you say. Um, and I grant you a probably is not a great bet to score a lot of touchdowns from inside the ten yard line. I just think players who profile as fast as good as Wiggly as get open as just like

3:12your terrified of them in the open field, those dudes eventually score touchdowns. They just they run long ways and and I, you know, the league of course is going to deep safeties and so they're protecting against the big play more and more, but there's still ways that players this fast and good typically score more long touchdowns. I think the idea that like whatever a fourth year player is proven to us beyond the shadow of a doubt, he can't score touchdowns. I love when people say that because I feel like that's an opportunity for us to pounce. Absolutely. So I love Z flowers this year and even last year like the production was there who six in the NFL in receiving arts, he was eight in receptions last year like the production was already there, just a little bit of smidge of touchdown regression and we can see a huge ceiling from Z flower. So we've got six more bold predictions that we're going to go through today. We're also going to talk about Chris's book that just got published pound foolish. So stick around for all that before we get into all that. Give us that thumbs up on YouTube. We know how important that is to helping this video grow and stick around. Give us that subscribe as well. That means that you are going to be sticking with us through the entire off season,

4:13which is very short, but in season we've got five episodes a week Monday through Friday coming to actually to help you with lineup decisions, waivers, all of that good stuff. But I'm going to go ahead and talk about one of my bold predictions and this was one that I said back in the spring and as we've gotten throughout the preseason, I just feel like even more galvanized in the stance that I did. I think Brock Bowers is going to lead the leagues in receptions this year. And if you can get that sort of production from a tight end that is just a cheat code in fantasy football. Look at it. As a rookie, he had the six highest target chair among all NFL players. That's why receivers included last year dealt with a PCL injury and that kind of zaps some of his production and efficiency a little bit. But now going into this season, they have no other receivers there. It's Trey Tucker, it's Jalen Nailer, Jack Bash, Dante Thornton, Malik Benson. And there's been a lot of word coming out of the beat this preseason that they don't even know who the wide receiver one is. That to me tells me it is going to be Brock Bowers, a guy who has been a certified target earner, a guy who can play out of the exposition, out of the slot position,

5:15he can play it in line, he can do it all. And then of course, Klingkoobie act the way that he schemes up his primary receiver to catch football deep down field where he can create after the catch is exactly what Brock Bowers has done throughout his NFL career. So Chris, I know you are an early tight end fader and I'm sure you're just like bristling at the thought of this. But like I have been taking Brock Bowers in some of my leagues as early as 13th overall, like early in round two, if he can give you that three, four, five point per game advantage over all the other tight ends, he will be a cheat code. And I know there are running backs and wide receivers there that also project similarly, but I'm a big believer in the talent. I think Brock Bowers leads a league in receptions this year. Chris, what are your thoughts on that one? Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't do it. It's not what I would recommend, but this is a bold prediction segment. And if the bold prediction is that Brock Bowers is going to produce numbers like an elite wide receiver, which I think it is, then you're probably right. I think then you're drafting them good, you know, 13th overall works,

6:16because that's where you take the elite receivers. The whole delta to positionally, it's just hard. Like it's not, it's not really the way it works. Like you need, I can find a replacement level tight end to get close enough to the usual number one tight end that the gap isn't as big as the replacement level running back to the, you know, best running back or the replacement level wide receiver to the best wide receiver. So if Bowers is doing, if he's doing like a typical tight end one season, which is very good. But like, I mean, just in terms of value based drafting, like, Tramik, right, great season last year wasn't at all worth the first round pick, because it just wasn't good enough compared to the delta from other positions. But that's not this segment, you know, this segment is more put yourself out and saying, hey, there's a tight end who's going to behave like we, like everybody thinks I'm on Ross St Brown's going to be, that's going to be Brock Bowers. And if that happens, then you have, you have made a great pick. And I think

7:19the other way that this could go wrong is that Brock Bowers could do that. Like Brock Bowers, he can give you 18 points per game, but where it could go wrong is what if Colson Lovelin also takes that step forward and he is right behind Brock Bowers by, you know, like putting up similar production and going multiple rounds later, or what if Tucker Kraft or George Kiddell come back from injury and produce like they did pre-injury. So the real hope here with Brock Bowers is that he can just separate himself from the pack. But I think the biggest fear isn't like I have no concerns about Brock Bowers producing. I think my only concern taking him that I, is that somebody else later in drafts could produce similar like getting up there in production. But again, I still, my bold prediction that I said this spring that I've just been hanging on to throughout this entire off season is that he can lead the league in receptions. But Chris, yeah, let's throw it over to you. Let's let's hear another bold prediction. Okay. I will say my bold prediction is that Kyle Pissping of Titans. Kyle Pits walks in free agency in 2027. Oh, don't drive Kyle Pits. It's

8:19basically what I'm saying that playing under the franchise tag or whatever. Did he get signed to another deal? I don't care. They did. They gave him, but you know how it is. Like we don't need to open up the contract discussion here, but like you know how it is. They tell him it's a three-year $54 million deal. And if they decide they don't want him after this year, they push that money out, they release him. They take the dead cap on the chain and they move on. That's my prediction for Kyle Pits. I just, I mean, he's my tight end 10. So I can't tell you that I think he's, you know, not going to catch a few balls. But what was he at the, when he, right before he blew up last year, was tied in 22 going into the week 13 or whatever. I mean, he had three touchdowns and 140 whatever yards and then finishes the tight end, too. Right. As if you take that one Tampa game out, the one they went crazy, he finished the year tight end 13. This is just, and I don't know, Drake Lennon wasn't playing. And Michael Pettics wasn't playing. It was Kirk Cousins. And like, was there, were there any underlying film traits that I saw from Kyle Pits last season that

9:20that I didn't see previous? No. Like did they throw it to him further down the field? No, not really. Did he have soul crushing mistakes again? Absolutely. He did part of why Atlanta was so frustrating last year is Kyle Pits was bad for most of the year. And we're now talking ourselves into something based on a hiccup that is unlikely to be replicated. I like people who are going to be boosters of pits are always going to talk about everything but pits. And because they're going to go, who else is there for receivers? And he's such draft pedigree. And they need the easy button. And then they got a. This the Fansky offense, which builds around tie downs, right? The problem is he's bad. The problem is he stinks. And like, unless you're really going to just foundationally, those couple of games that he was big at the end of last year, were about playing out the string and having nobody else to throw to. And that better not be the plan right now or everybody's going to get fired right away. So I, you know, my bold prediction is that

10:22Kyle Pits doesn't even play for the Falcons next year. So where I'd push back a little bit, I like when you say Kyle Pits stinks, he came off that knee surgery. And I think he did stink for two years afterwards. Like he was literally you'd see him like try to break on a route. And he would just fall over like he had no stability in that knee. I did feel like last year I started to see some of that juice again. You know, we saw the acceleration. We saw the long speed. And that's kind of what I'm holding on to. Like this is not a Z-flowers. You know, this guy has a foot on Z-flowers nearly. He's not going to be able to move like that. But for him, it was like the size and speed coming out of Kyle's. That's what got people so excited. And that speed was just gone after that knee injury. I did see that long speed start to come back a little bit next year. So, or last year. So I don't think he's ever going to be a guy who is going to be the top target on his offense. But did you see some of that last year? Like was I just seeing what I wanted to see here? Because I did see him look a little bit faster than I saw in those two years following that MCL injury. I mean, I wasn't watching 2022 film or 2023 film at the same time as I was watching

11:222025. But no, I mean, I saw like there was a drop against the Saints that had Falcons fans saying we need to cut this guy. I do remember that one. Yeah. Yeah. And like I just I don't think he's good. Like I and I didn't really know see him go down the field that much until that time. Up a game where he went crazy. Every dog has his day. And you know, it's funny I just was talking about Marvin Harrison and it's not quite to that point yet with Marvin Harrison because it's only two years. But we need to divorce ourselves from the from the the hype talk at some point when they you know, back when they were generational. If Kyle Pits had been taken in the fifth round, I don't think anybody would be drafting him at tight N five or six or whatever it is right now. just people are still like, well, residually I remember he was supposed to be good. And he just hasn't been good. And I think that like what you're talking about, there's a lot of people who play fantasy football now that also play in dynasty leagues.

12:23And that's why you get these kind of weird things where people still hold non-hofer Marvin Harrison, but you also see people still like chase Brown has been awesome for two years. Kyron Williams has been awesome for three years, but because they were day three picks, people are still going to find reasons to just devalue them. And I know I'm a little bit lower on Kyron Williams than the consensus. I'm also a little bit higher on chase from the consensus, but you do see that. Like Parker Washington right now was a day three pick and you know, took three and a half years to kind of break out in the NFL. So a lot of people are discounting that where like I feel like 10 years ago, before everybody was playing dynasty, it would have just been wheels up for Parker Washington. This guy broke out. We love him, but like the dynasty mind definitely does bleed into redraft play a little bit before we take this break and talk about the book, though, I think your take on Kyle Pits is a perfect segue into my next full prediction, which is that Drake London finally finishes as a top three receiver. And this to me just comes down to the talent. Like I think that Drake London is one of the best receivers in the league. You can look back at him, clearing a 30% target share as a rookie is almost unheard of. I mean, he has been a victim of poor quarterback play and just bad,

13:26uncreative offenses since he came into the league. But the guy can draw targets. He can pull down contested balls. He can make plays after the catch. He can really do everything I want to see from a top receiver. And you talk about that huge blow up game from Kyle Pits that came at no surprise when Drake London was out of the lineup. Drake London is the clear top dog in this Atlanta offense. What I especially like about Drake London is how he and Michael Penex played together to Penex. If you go back to watching him when he was at Washington, like he is not a timing guy. He's not a finesse guy. He's not a touch guy. He is a I trust my arm to just rock it a ball into a tight window and let my guy make a play on it. And when he was in the college, he had Roman Doons a in Jalen Polk and those guys that were down field contested catch receivers. That's exactly what Drake London is. And I have seen him go to Drake London multiple times when he's got a DB blank in it on him because he trusts him to come down with that ball. So one, I think that Drake London is a very, very good wide receiver to I think that he has the perfect quarterback here pairing to help maximize his skill set. So Drake London right now, I know there's a lot of fear about to talk about Loa

14:29or no official announcement of who the week one starter is going to be. At some point, Michael Penex is going to get healthy. He's going to come back into the lineup. And I think he turns Drake London into a top three receiver. What are your thoughts on that one, Chris? Yeah. I'm bullish on London for sure. I, you know, I've taken him in the second round of Bunch. I just had a like a 16 long term 16 team leader where I had a couple first round picks and I took him late in the first and that one because 16 picks. Sure. You know, the tough thing with like London and Nico Collins and these, these guys that we know, they're unbelievable athletes. Maybe you just, you, you are worried because you worry because that's what we do that, uh, oh, you know, can the quarterback be consistent enough? Have they been in the past? Um, you just, you, you, I'm so worried I'm going to wake up in that day. He's going to do three for 41 and no touchdowns. And my response to that is that's, that's the NFL man. That's, yeah. You know, there's just no receivers, but maybe one or two.

15:32And usually we get which one or two wrong, uh, that don't do that every, every so often. And like as long as you can put that out of your mind, it kind of, I think it, it, it calms your down, you, you're worried down about situation and you just rely on the player himself. This huge condor Wig and spanned player who's, you know, really, really tough and a little bit injury prone, a little bit banged up, but, um, if, if we wake up in London is three among receivers, I think it's a good call, but it wouldn't be like, uh, I'm on the floor, you know, and for the record, this is a bold prediction show. He's actually my wide receiver for in rankings. I do prefer Amon Ra St. Brown. So if you're in the clock or on the clock in round one, I'd prefer Amon Ra, but Drake London is just a primary target for me at the top of round two. And we, I feel like we did see that upside, realized for just a small little stretch because he had that shoulder injury early in the season. And then he had the knee injury late in the year, but we saw that six week stretch where he averaged 110 yards and a touchdown per game over six weeks. And of course, I am cherry picking the best section of his season to push my narrative

16:32here. But like that's the type of player that he can be like if he ends up having a 1500 yard, 15 touchdown season, it wouldn't surprise anybody because he is that good of a player. But Chris, we're talking about some bold predictions here, but really wanted to bring you on today because you are doing something crazy right now. You just published a book like on top of managing a website and rankings and running your own podcast and doing guest spots. You are also traveling around the world right now or traveling around the country, I should say, doing book readings while self publishing a book, all the week leading up to the NFL season. So my first question for you is, have you lost your mind? What are you doing? I mean, I had never published a book before. So I have had four previous novels published. And, and this time around, I, this one I never really even sent out. You want to show your copy too? You got a copy there. I do. And mine has this very cool, not for resale. I got a, I got a presale copy. He sent this to me a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. I know months, I think months ago months.

17:33Yes. Yeah. So I have a friend who's a publicist and I was like, okay, so I'm, I used to have an agent and I've been with editors, but the editor that I had been with my previous books had, had, retired. So I didn't have any place, I didn't have a home for it. And this publicist is like, I think you should put it out yourself because you already built the thing that everybody wants you to build for you, which is you have the community who will, who will buy the book. So just do it yourself. And I was like, what is that? And tell you, he's like, oh, it's no problem. And wait, let me, let me tell you a little bit of a problem. It was hard. It was, I didn't understand anything. I got a lot of help along the way. It's been months and we're actually talking on the day that the book came out. And yeah, it's, I didn't sleep a lot last night. And the question about doing it now, it is crazy, but it's also because the novel is about football, it was just the right time of the year to do it. Since you and I are both going to have the most eyeballs on us right now, as people are drafting. So the thing coming out right on, you know, before Labor Day weekend is great

18:35timing for people just to be excited about football and be into getting the book. So I, I definitely swallowed hard. It would have been easier to do in March, but I did it now. So the first question I have for you, this book is about the NFL. And how hard, because like you said, you've published other novels before that aren't about football. So this one, you're kind of taking your two worlds and combining them in a way where you're like a novelist, but you're also a fantasy football and NFL expert. So would you say this one writing a book about the NFL? Was it easier or harder or just talk about that a little bit? So I think emotionally it was hard because the place it was coming from. So it's up. So the premise of the book is basically there's a serial killer who is on the football team, in Detroit, on the football team. And then an ex player gets hired to figure out who it is on the team. And the reason I thought to write this book is you and I, I mean, you've been coming on my show for a lot of years now and we have a lot of off-air conversations.

19:35And I have very mixed feelings about the NFL. I love it. I'm so excited that we're about to launch into this season. And it's going to be so fun to watch these games and react. And you know, fantasy is so fun because it keeps us in touch with everybody. And the NFL like, I don't know, I don't know if there is such a thing as a town square anymore in the American culture because we all, it's so, it's so fragmented and you know, we don't watch the same movies anymore. Watch the same TV shows, read the same books, but we all have football. It's, it's the thing in the US. And I love all that. That is so great. And we're so lucky to have it in our lives. And I wouldn't give it up. And I've made a great living. And I'm so happy and grateful for how many people love it and care about what I do. But man, League makes it hard. You know, there's just, there's such bad people. It seems like a lot of them, not so much the players, some of the players, you know, we're coming off of Josh Jacobs here. And we, you know, Kreme Hunt is still in the league and Quinchon Judkins.

20:35We're not talking about what he did and Tyree Kill and Antonio Brown. And that's the tip of the iceberg, Dan Snyder and the, there's too many stories to keep up with. Like this was shot Bateman thing. Like came and went in a matter of a week. They just swept it under the rug and businesses usual. Let's just keep playing. Yeah. And your bears, like your bears are currently holding a weapon to the forehead of the city of Chicago saying, pay up or we're going to Indiana. It should, it should not be allowed. And I get that there's no institution that is without corruption. Of course, every, that's what it is. That's, there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, whatever. But couldn't they make it a little easier, Dave? Like, couldn't it just be a little nicer? Couldn't it? Does it, does it always have to feel like everything is a press release? Everybody's lying to us at all times. So I just have to feel like at every turn they've got their hand in our pocket for just more money, more money, more money. You have, you buy season tickets, you got to buy the exhibition games and pay full price for them. You want to buy a pretzel? It's $15. I just, there's a part of me that doesn't like the NFL, even though I love the NFL. And that's, I don't know, I'll, you know, do you fight that yourself?

21:38I think one of the problems I have, yeah, you talk about like that, like, you know, all of the, you know, legal stuff that goes on and like the big picture stuff, but also for me, like sometimes it's just like the, that it's a barbaric sport in a way too. And like I consider myself a very peaceful person. Like I, I'd probably if I had to put myself in a bucket, I'd say that I am a pacifist, but like something about Sundays, like watching guys smash into each other and bleeding and like all this stuff on a field, like gets me excited. So there's that part of being an NFL fan too that you kind of have to find that balance between like your real life morals and the sport that you like watching. On TV. So Chris, like, what, what advice would you have for fans? Because I imagine this is something with readers of the book that has resonated with a lot of people who feel this way that they love the NFL and they love watching football, but they really struggle with some of the things that are happening behind the scenes. Like what, what words would you have for those fans that are kind of feeling that internal debate? You know, it's part of why I wrote the book. I was trying to resolve it for myself. I was basically trying to take reality and just crank it up like a half a little bit, you know, and just say, okay, bad stuff happens.

22:40Let's imagine I were like a really bad thing happening, like slightly worse. And hopefully this doesn't really happen. And like through that lens trying to get at that question of, you know, there's so much that's brave and good and true about the sport and the people who love it and the people who play it. And then yet there's so much that's not good. And a lot of the encouraging the players to be to live on the edge, I think, causes them to live too far on the edge and do horrible things. And then after their career CTE and stuff, how does one resolve it? The world is cognitive dissonance. You know, the world is somehow finding a way to live between two truths and not lose your mind. I have friends who've given it up, who've decided that fantasy and or the NFL is not for them. For those of us who want to stay in it, I definitely want to stay in it. I'm a big fan. I can't wait for the season. I think, you know, some, some element of don't let them take it away from us. It belongs to us as much as they think it belongs to them.

23:42There's some element. And I think I hope this comes across in the book some like don't let the crappy billionaires just, you know, destroy it for us. Like love it for the parts that you love it. Acknowledge the parts that you don't and don't let them ruin it. And like they will try to ruin it. You know, they will try to put it on TV and stupid places. They'll try to put it in France for some reason, you know, like, and like my advice would be like do your best to try to love the parts you love. And yet it requires some personal compromise and compartmentalization, I guess. And I think those are like good words to kind of focus on too. It's just like, you know, trying to remember the good parts about football because I have so many good memories with like my grandpa and my uncles and like I remember at my mom's second wedding. Like she got married on a Sunday during the NFL season. And like we all left during the fourth quarter to like crowd around the bar and a wedding reception to like watch the end of the bears game and like those types of memories, like there are good things that come from the NFL.

24:43And that's why if you're watching the show listening to the show, you realize that as well. The last question I have for you though, Chris, this is a fictionalized book. There are no actual names. Oh no, but as I was reading this book, it's not quite as fictionalized as the names and the stories might make it out to be. So, you know, you have to kind of as the author, you have to say like, oh no, these are all fictionalized. But I would highly recommend anybody read this book because I think if you are a fan today and you know of team owners and lead commissioners, I think you might get a couple of things in this book that maybe you didn't explicitly say. Any resemblance living or dead is purely coincidental. I don't know what you're talking about Dave. That's crazy talk. I mean, you're not saying this is my interpretation. Of course, everything is purely coincidental. Yes. No, I mean, the truth of it is that I started writing this. I didn't know I was going to write this book. I said 2023 and and it was like a lot of the commander stuff was coming out. Dance night or that whole thing. The email. Oh, the football team, the Washington football team, the Washington football team and like taking

25:46nude photos of their cheerleaders and not telling them and harassing them and stuff like all that was coming out. And I was so mad and the league's response was obviously not enough. And I wrote that first chapter that you're referring to. It's the first chapter of the book. I didn't really know it was a book yet. And I wrote it as this fictionalized thing about a commissioner, a commissioner. And I got a lot of anger out writing that. And then I was like, this could be a book. And then I kind of like got the idea from there and kind of kind of went, but it did start from that same. And I don't want to give I think I think it's funny. I think mostly you'll read it and think this is a funny story. And I want to know who did it. You know, there's just, you know, there's a lot of also kind of trying to myself as a fan trying to process the hyper toxicity, the kind of, you know, class politics of football and trying to make it all make sense to myself. Well, we will have the link in the description here, whether you're listening on YouTube or the podcast,

26:50I will have the Amazon link in there for you to order it yourself this episode is coming out Thursday morning. So the book will officially be released. It came out Tuesday. So we'll have been out for a couple of days, but you can order your coffee, get it by the weekend and read it as soon as you can. Hopefully finish it before the season even starts. Chris, any final words on the book before we get back to our very low brow bolder. I mean, the thing is like I love what we're doing. You know, I love believe me. I don't want anybody who doesn't know my work. I think if the folks who are watching who listen to my show know that I really like football. This is not about right, right, hating football. This, so I hope that comes across, but you're so kind. But I think Chris, like truly, a lot of fans juggle exactly what you're talking about. That you love football. Like I don't think that there's any part of you that hates football. Like it is pure unadulterated love, but there is this kind of moral dilemma that I think a lot of NFL fans can relate to. And you did a great job of capturing that in this book. Thank you so much. Yeah. No, man. I also for, you know, I did an audio book.

27:51I recorded it myself this summer. So if you, if you prefer to listen, it's just unfair. But like you have it a podcast like people knowing your voice and then you get to read your own book. Like that's just almost too easy to serve it up for your audience. Yeah. I put a, I put a chapter chapter 21. I put in the, in my podcast feed today or actually two days ago as people listening to this. And already people were like, okay, so I can get the audio book now, right? I was like, yeah, you can get it. Well, definitely, definitely check that out. And thanks Chris. Let's get back to it. As I said, our low brow bold predictions, you know, no more, no more moral dilemma talk. Let's just talk about what we think is going to be happening over the next 18 weeks. Here in the NFL, play another bold prediction on me, Chris. I've been, I've been saying it all over and I'll say it here. Matthew Stafford's going to lead the NFL and touchdown passes again and be another, a pure starting fantasy quarterback again. And this just in he doesn't run. I just found this out. I'm being, I'm being told the team does not run. And that's makes him horrible for fantasy.

28:52My bold prediction is just top five season in fantasy for Matthew Stafford again. And I mean, my, you know, like I can give you my logic or you can react whatever you, whatever you prefer. I mean, first of all, I'll say like I think it's very funny that people use that reason to knock Matthew Stafford. You know who else doesn't rush? Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott. Like they might rush for what, a hundred and ten yards a season or something, but like that's not making any meaningful difference. Pukin' Kuhon, Devonte Adams. Like he's got the best one to punch in the NFL. He was the MVP last year. So I am with you on Matthew Stafford. You're not going to get any pushback from me on this one. Yeah. Like, I mean, he's going to regress of course he is because you usually don't throw 48 touchdowns again, but he led the NFL by 12, I think last year. So he could regress and still lead the NFL in touchdowns. I think he will. There's obviously, I think the biggest concern is not like he doesn't have the cheat code of running. I think the biggest concern is he's older and he gets hurt and it could, it would all go wrong for this super team of the Rams have assembled.

29:52If Matthew Stafford gets hurt, obviously. So that would be the big problem, but like I can't plan for that. So just in fantasy drafts, I wait and I wait and I wait and whatever the ninth or the tenth round I take Stafford and I'll back him up probably and most leagues. I'll take a second one. But yeah, I feel like it's just an easy button in drafts this year. And you know, that's what I was going to say is like he is so cheap in drafts right now. I'm looking at football guys at ADP which gets updated nonstop and he is QB 13 right now there, which means like you can wait for every one of your league mates to take their QB one. You can even wait for a couple of guys to take a backup quarterback and you can still get Matthew Stafford. And then if you do want that rushing cheat code type of quarterback, you can get later in the draft. You can pair your Matthew Stafford up with a bonus or a Kyler Murray or a Malik Willis or one of these guys who does rush the ball, giving you a little bit of, you know, insurance installation and also kind of giving you a peak. If you want to see how those rushers perform alongside Stafford. So yeah, you're getting no pushback from me there. And even if it's not Stafford, it's just like just wait on quarterback in general.

30:54Like the guys that are going is like the 18th quarterback off the board still have top five upside this year. Can I ask you also just this idea of, I think the data that says, I mean, we have friends, lovely, wonderful friends who we love who just believe in the data that says, I've run the numbers and on the hall. If you're not taking quarterbacks who run, you're putting yourself at a value disadvantage. And I think the problem is that the data can't account for the Hall of Fame player, the singular talent. And so that's the data is always going to miss Brady in 2020 and 2021 Rogers in 2021. I think Stafford now, like I sure, that's true. That for Daniel Jones or whatever, you know, for some dude, you're probably right. Although Danny Jones, I don't know if he's going to run this year. He has run the past. Maybe bad example. I just don't think like the law of large numbers applies to a player who is awesome. I also think that the NFL has changed a lot. And like I don't want to discredit any of the work that people were doing 15 years ago.

31:56When it was like Tim Teebo was the guy who like we knew objectively was an awful quarter back. You could still get like really good fantasy production from him. But the difference was like nobody else was really rushing back then the way that he was. It was like, you know, you had your Tim Teebo and you had your cordless steward and you'd have your Donovan McNabb. But like now the league, there are so many bad quarterbacks that are rushing and then really good quarterbacks that aren't rushing that it has leveled the playing field. And of course you've got your handful. You got your Josh Allen's and your Lamar Jackson's and your Drake Mays and Caleb Williams who they're going to pass the ball and they're going to rush the ball. And that's why they're going in around three, four, five of your drafts. But once you get past that like Uber elite here of elite passers and rushers, I don't think there's a huge difference. Like yes, Bonyx and Malik Willis are going to rush for more than Matthew Stafford. But if Matthew Stafford passes for 2000 more yards and 25 more touchdowns, there's no amount of rushing. Malik Willis is going to be able to do to close that gap. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I think it's sort of overdone.

32:57So I will go with my last bold prediction here and then we'll have one more from you, Chris. And this is one I haven't really flat out said on a show yet. I've kind of teased it a lot. I've talked about Chris Rodriguez being a very good value in drafts. But as we're getting deeper and deeper in a training camp, I'm starting to wonder if Chris Rodriguez might just flat out score out score, Bay Shaltoot and in fantasy this year. We have heard nothing but positivity from Liam Cohen. And we got to remember Liam Cohen was Chris Rodriguez's coach in college. And then when free agency opened, they made him a cruder designing. He did. Yeah, he did. He recruited him. He had like was singing his praises saying that he was the engine that powered the offense saying that like even when the blocking wasn't there, he could count on Chris to get him four yards whenever he needed to. And I think Bay Shaltoot, you know, very fun player. We see the spark scores and the relative athletic score and the size speed score and all that. And I think that's why people get excited. But this is a guy to me that still struggles with his vision and struggles with his footwork. And last year, you know, we talked about all of these breakaway runs. He had one rush last year of over 15 yards. So all of this size and speed that people get excited about did not show up last year

34:02in the stat sheet. Chris Rodriguez on the flip side top five is in success rate top five in yards after contact per attempt. Top five in broken tackle rate. And he might not have that long speed that people get so enamored by in fantasy circles. But he is a coach. He is a running back that coaches really like. And we saw last year Dan Quinn was preferring him over jacory crosskey merit this year. It sounds like he's going to be much more involved in fantasy gamers want to believe. So I think that Bay Shaltoot could have some breakaway runs. And I think that he's in line for decent amount of work. But if Chris Rodriguez is getting a decent chunk of this backfield and he's getting the goal line work which I expect him to do. This is just a good sound running back who every step of his NFL career has carved out a role. I think that it's very possible that he could just flat out out score Bay Shaltoot in this year and you can get him six or eight rounds cheaper. Yeah, you're preaching the choir. We definitely have come to the same conclusion about that Jacksonville backfield. It's not even that I hate to. I'm not drafting him. He goes a little bit before I would take him ADP wise. But it's just you know you and I have talked about so many times the every backfield is a

35:06platoon just about there's like three or four that aren't. And it's so funny how some platoons people are like man, I'm really worried. I'm really worried about Bucky Irving. There's other guys there. Bucky Irving is scary. Take Bucky Irving. And then Bush will to it. Oh, it's just Chris Rodriguez. You're fine. Like, it's weird to me. I would much, much, much rather take Rodriguez at his price. And that's a good bold prediction that maybe even it gets so close that Rodriguez tips over the tips over the edge. I think it's very possible. You know, it's funny that we think of Tuton. He's not even that big. Like he's rocked up. He's definitely strong. But he's like 206 pounds or something. It's not a huge back. I feel the same way about Tuton's film to completely veer away. This is a bold prediction of mine. But Omar and Hampton his film too. Yes. Tight hips. Not the best work. Yeah, tight hips. Doesn't see it. You know, if you give him like eight strides to get up to full speed, nobody's going to

36:06catch him. But like, how often is a running back getting that opportunity where they have like a full runway to like take off? Like that's where Tuton's speed comes from. He isn't one of those like foot in the ground and he's there. Like it takes him a few strides to get up to speed. And that's why yeah, like at the 40 R dash, he's going to smoke that. Like he didn't break those runs off in his rookie season. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's fun. I'm like Tuton's price is at least as reasonable. I see Hampton go, you know, 13 or 14 or whatever and I just go, wow, okay. I mean, that's feels like wish casting to me because you're basically just saying, here's this guy who actually didn't produce it all last year and then got hurt. He's going to be amazing. And I like it because of all the other things around him. And usually they need to be good players too. We'll see. Maybe he got hurt. So, but I think of Tuton and Hampton kind of in the same vein in that way. And I think the last thing I'll say about this, I think a lot of people saw what Travis ETN did last year and say that, wow, like we could see Beishal Tuton plopped into that

37:06role. I just don't see that happening because I don't see like I like Chris Rodriguez. But I don't see any of these running backs as talented or as complete as Travis ETN was. So yeah, Travis ETN could handle a bell cow role and he could be out there on passing downs and go line work and early down. He could do all of those things. All of these running backs. They like, we'll throw the quint down in there as well. They all have serious limitations that is going to force this into a split back field. So give me the guy who's cheaper and the guy who I think is very underrated from a talent perspective. But Chris, 100%. Yeah. Let's go ahead and bring it home. Your final, final bold prediction for the episode. Jeremiah Love gets ankle tackled in September and winds up playing fewer than 10 games. No. No. I will say I'm kind of with you on this one, but I want to hear your reasoning. I don't want it to happen. But I just, I bring it up by way of saying it feels like it feels like it's the two ankles heard around the world at this point are Jeremiah Love and Ashton Gentee and you know, day

38:10by day. Who knows? By the time folks are seeing this, we might have totally different stories about who who's carrying pizza boxes and who's not, you know, because Jeremiah Love was seeing carrying pizza boxes, which means he's fine. Pizza famously very heavy to carry. I just think people are whistling past the graveyard on really both these players, but Gentee's ADP, which was first round, has come down and he's more like 16 now and love is obviously because he's more of an unknown and it's the Cardinals and whatever. He's going to go later than that, but still not for me late enough. I am out. I'm not, I wouldn't be buying at all on love as much as it's fun. You know, we know each other a really long time and you know already that I'm apt to be lower on players I've never seen play in the NFL before. Until this injury, it felt like everybody was kind of being kind of chill about Jeremiah Love. They weren't making him that the Ashton Gentee fifth overall picked from last year. They were like, okay, it's the Cardinals.

39:10I need to, I need to wait. There's a lot of other running backs there. Then he gets a high ankle sprain and now people are like, no, he's the same. He's good. Take him in the second, take him in the third. Well, we're good. Like, that seems crazy to me. There is a huge worry that he either just isn't the same because that's a very high ankle sprain. It's a very bad injury or it all takes us one hit, one tackle and he limps off the field. And that's true of everybody, but his ankle already hurts. So I would be all the way out on drafting and my wonder where you think. Well, they also, let's not forget, they sign Tyler L. G or who like we love B. John Robinson, but let's not forget what an annoying thorn in the side Tyler L. G or was for B. John Robinson, especially his rookie season. So Tyler L. G. he should be involved. James Conner is still coming back from that ACL. They didn't release him. He's going to start the season on injured reserve, but he'll be back at some point. So I have been a big, big time Jeremiah Love Fader this off season. That being said, Chris, let me ask you. I got my first Jeremiah Love share the other day and it was in round five of a draft.

40:12If he falls in a round five or you want to take a chance there? Yes. I absolutely am. So that was why I said like I'm not drafting Jeremiah Love and then I finally had to have my man in the mirror moment when I'm sitting there in round five Jeremiah Love's on the board. And I'm like, all right, well, I guess I'll dress in Jeremiah Love now. He's he's 51 overall on my board. So it's like early round five. So definitely I, you know, at that point, he doesn't have to be your RB one or two. And you're like, cool. He's my flex. Or else you've got amazing receivers. So of course, I know we'll take any player at any price. But I guess the bold prediction is that I don't I don't want people who have high ankle sprains. I who was it from especially rookies behind a bad offensive lines? Like it's not just going to be getting hit by, you know, safeties out in the open field. Like they're going to be 350 pound defensive linemen that are like clobbering him as soon as he touches the ball. I don't grind offensive line film. I don't pretend to be something I'm not, but our map of time, he does and he's fantastic at it. So the Arizona has both a one blocking and pass blocking unit bottom 10 in the league. So this is a team that isn't projected to win a single game behind one of the worst offensive

41:15lines in the NFL. And I think Jeremiah love is a very, very good player. But we've seen a lot of very good players come into the league and struggle just because their offensive environment is so bad. And they just don't know what it takes to be a pro and you know, it just takes a while to get acclimated and their coaches need to learn to trust them. And so just to you know, that takes a season to build. I was River's account from Roderl. Who when the Jeremiah love happened injury happened? He said, get ready to hear about the lowest high ankle sprain in NFL history. That's it right there. So I'm just going to hope we're just going to hope. I don't think you should help. Yeah, and for people who are drafting this weekend, I think that's kind of like a good note to close on is like, you don't want to fade at anybody entirely. You want to say that I'm never, ever, ever touching this player, but kind of like no where when these players start free falling a little bit like like I said, I'm not in on Jeremiah Love, you're not in on Jeremiah Love either Chris, but like if he's there in round five, you kind of have to have that point where you know that you'll catch a sliding player eventually. So, um, you know, don't go into your drafts to ridge it this weekend, maintain some flexibility,

42:19let the value fall where you can, but also have fun, get your guys and know where you're willing to click on some guys that you might not have quite as much interest in. But last time before we sign off here, be sure to go out and order pound foolish. I've got the link in the description below so you can do that and Chris, any final selling points that you'd like to hit on the book before we wrap up here today. Oh, I don't know. I don't think so. You did such a good job and it was such a pleasure to get to talk at length with you about it. Honestly, um, it, you know, I, I think it's getting more acceptable to like on shows like ours to not spend the whole show rending our garments and, you know, feeling horrible about the fact that we like the NFL, but just at least making people understand that we're also vulnerable to this, to these feelings. Um, and so just getting to talk about that, of course, I know you well. And so I know you share these feelings, but getting to express it in front of everybody when mostly what you and I talk about are busts and sleepers and stuff was really a pleasure. Thank you. Yeah, and thank you for making

43:19the time and that's something that I think football guys like that runs through our DNA here. Like Sigmund Bloom has never shied away from talking about his like inner turmoil with the NFL and fandom and all that sort of stuff. So I appreciate you coming on here and talking about that. And also we're sitting here talking about your book. Check out Harris football if you haven't already. Like the little podcast that could one of the best shows out there and you will hear me on there. You'll hear Jeff Bell on there. You'll hear Sigmund Bloom and Matt Waldman and other football guys staffers as well. So, uh, I'm that note. I want to thank y'all so much for taking the time to tune in today. I'm going to be back tomorrow with Chris. I think this is your, your evil twin brother, Bob Harris. We're doing a show kind of covered some last minute news before. Yeah. Chris Harris today. Bob Harris tomorrow bringing you all the Harris is here over on the football guys fantasy football show. But I want to thank y'all so much for taking the time to tune in and we will see you soon.