[FULL EPISODE] Decoding NFL Week 1: Reloaded WR Rooms & Secondary Clashes

0:00We've got our take-can is loaded and ready. Absolutely dominant on deep routes, absolutely dominant on short routes. We've got our back-back-still-in-separation against mancovers. This is reception, reception, that first shot. Yo, what's cracking everybody, James Goat, Matt Harman here with you. Listen to reception, perception, the dog show. Alright, Matt, games are here. Let's go, yeah. Week one is right around the corner. Actually, I was when you're here in this, for the first game of Week 1, we'll already be in the books we're recording here on a Wednesday morning. But man, how are you feeling, pal? Week 1 is upon us. Dude, the fact that there is a game tonight smacked me in the face yesterday. I always talk about this, but my wife and I do our annual end of summer trip over the Labor Day weekend. So it's always kind of like jumping in the cold shower on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.

1:00It's like, oh my God, we're not only are we back to work, we're also back to the football season and now it's like, there's a game on Wednesday. We got to get rock and roll in, man. There's a lot to talk about here in Week 1. Was I prepared for it? Well, let the people decide. Six months of football. Now on the docket, let's get it going. I want to talk about some of the most intriguing Week 1 matchups and get your takes on how you see it playing out. We'll start there in Australia, dude. How about the San Francisco 49ers? Very new look wide receiver room there with Mike Evans to John Stribling. Who knows who else is going to get looks here. But primarily those two guys, Mike Evans and John Stribling taking on a Rams secondary that is, and quite frankly, their entire defense that has been completely utterly revamped. You think about Miles Garrett screaming around the edge? Yeah, there's going to be no Aaron Donald, but I mean Trent McDuffy, Jalen Watson, the outside corner room is totally different than it was last year.

2:04How do you see that one playing out? Yeah, I mean, it's one of the more fascinating ones and obviously we're leading off with this. So if you listen to this on Friday, this game has already happened and everything we say is poorly dated, you know, get ready for it. There's a lot of stuff that we're not going to see coming here in week one that is going to play out, you know, pretty, pretty crazily here. But yeah, for this first one, I mean, you're right to point out just how different both of these units look. I mean, by the end of last season, the Rams defense was getting cooked by big receivers on the boundary specifically. I mean, it kind of started with that Panthers game in the regular season against Jalen Coker and Teteromaic Millen. Primarily, though, Jalen Coker was the guy who really had the big moments in that one. Again, that was in the regular season. It continued through the playoffs. Ultimately is a big reason why they did not end up going to the Super Bowl last year. Man, there's so much pressure on this Rams team. It very much, it's like, you know, the Super Bowl or Bust thing can be a little bit silly

3:04for some teams. It really is like Super Bowl or Bust for this team. So a lot of pressure on this team starting here in week one, really fasted to see how that defense coalesces because obviously they went hard in the pain even before the Miles Garrett trade to solve their biggest problem, which was being able to cover big receivers on the boundary. They got guys who can press receivers here now at this point and you're going to need that in week number one against Mike Evans for sure. Evans obviously came out and kind of poo pooed the idea that he's, you know, struggled with injuries and training camp. He's mostly called it just like veteran rest. And I'm open to that actually being the reality for Mike Evans that it was mostly just veteran rest throughout the course of training camp like does even though he's learning a new offense, whatever does Mike Evans really need to practice in training camp. I think he can probably, you know, hop up off the couch and get 10 targets in a game because he's just a baller. But you know, it's obviously something to monitor how healthy is he at this point. And the stripling role will be really interesting for me James because I actually think there's

4:06a chance that at least in week number one, I could see him running fewer routes in this game than Debo Samuel. You know, I could totally see that being the case, which by the way would send shock waves all through fantasy Twitter. I'm actually like nervous. I mean, I feel a little bit of nerves for stripling in this game just because he's become this like fantasy Twitter hype bunny and people forget that you don't draft rookies and fantasy football for week one. You actually, you draft him for later in the season. So I feel like there will be big over reactions one way or another on what stripling does in this game. But you know, let's remember he is a rookie and he's obviously had a great off season. But even Kyle Shanahan kind of downplayed the idea of him being a massive factor right off the bus. So his role will definitely be one of the things I'm most closely watching in this one, especially because you know, Trent McDuffrey, Trent McDuffey's been a guy who can kick inside and cover receivers and you think that that's probably the role that stripling will have early on

5:06the season is that kind of big slot. When you go to Buffalo, how is this offense going to look? Joe Brady now has full control of the offense, has full control of the team. They bring in DJ Moore who work with Joe Brady there in Carolina as well. And they're taking on arguably the toughest secondary in the league in the Houston Texans. And like you could talk, we can maybe we could pick nits about their secondary, whatever Derek Stingley's an absolute stud. But the defense man, godly, they are poised to just be again, one of the top two units. If not the, if not the best unit outside of the Rams here in 2026. It's man, it's the Rams. It's Houston. It's Denver. We got some real, you know what's funny, Matt? When I was looking around the NFL landscape and sometimes you definitely feel this way offensively that there are the haves and the have nots, especially when we're talking about quarterback and wide receiver combos.

6:08This year in particular, I find it really interesting that there is a very big delta, a huge gulf between the haves and the have nots defensively. There are a handful of teams that look like they are going to just be straight up dukes defensively. Like who do you have your, who do you have in mind when you say that? I mean, you take a look at like Detroit. I think you take a look at Detroit. I think you take a look at Cincinnati. I wonder where Dallas is going to be defensively. They were again, historically bad last year. Washington is going to be just a trotious. Where are we at with the Miami Dolphins? I think the dolphins could be really, really bad. Oh, dude, what about the Cardinals? Oh my gosh. The Cardinals' defense could be really, really bad too. So I don't know. Maris defense doesn't look good on paper.

7:08Packers defense before Michael Parsons gets back. The only one I would push back on, which weirdly they were 32nd in EPA per play last year. Dead last for those keeping track at home is Dallas. I think Dallas can be a league average defense this year. Okay. Mostly because watching them back on film last year, it is probably the most disgusting display of past defense I can ever remember watching in the last 12 plus years of doing work on wide receivers. And so I say that to say that the scheme change, just getting Christian Parker over, and obviously Christian Parker is the first time defensive coordinator where I'm putting a lot on him to say he's going to take the 32nd unit to maybe like 17. So that would be a massive jump. Yeah. But I actually think they have some decent personnel there. And I think just a scheme change from whatever Matt Eberfluss was doing, which wasn't much. And then like halfway through this, not even halfway through the season, more like around in November or something, they just kind of threw their hands up like, well, we got to do something different other than the softest zone coverage of all time.

8:11Let's try to play some man coverage with our third round rookie cornerback, Shurvan Revelle, who was like a good promising player, but was coming off of an injury and hadn't barely played any time. And he was getting absolutely deep fried on the back end. And again, I think he's a promising player, but just was more than thrown to the wolves. So I actually have some optimism for Dallas, especially after some of the additions they've made. Quintet Williams is a stud. He obviously helped the run defense. But yeah, I think they're the one of that group that I think could maybe be again, not special, but average. A lot of the other ones that you mentioned there, you know, we'll see about Cincinnati. I mean, they're a really fascinating team in week one against a Bucks offense that I'm pretty enthusiastic about. God, it'd be like a miracle. I think it's a 25th, you know, or something like that. Dexter Lawrence though, obviously makes a he's the straw that stirs the drink there. But to me, I've got my eyes on the linebackers, especially in this matchup in week one against the Bucks. But do you know what I'm saying, though, like the the the golf between the good defenses and the bad defenses this year seems about as dramatic as I can remember, you know, because

9:16Houston is straight shut down. Denver is fantastic. The Rams have rebuilt their defense to just be again, maybe historically good. Will they get the most sacks in NFL history? I mean, maybe, you know what I'm saying? So I mean, it's interesting. Yeah, I don't want the damn Super Bowl last year. Okay, so I've forgotten. Exactly. And based off that, again, where are we at with Jesse Menter and Baltimore? Like Baltimore's got some ingredients to be really, really good too. So I'm just saying, man, when you look at like the top five or six defenses and then the bottom five or six defenses, it is such a stark contrast, man. And so I know we have done that with teams offences, but I don't know, man, like like I said, that's just one random NFL storyline that I'm keeping my eye on because I feel like there are five or six truly horrific defenses that you can kind of sort of lean upon, you know, weaken it, weaken it. But anyways, all right, we move on.

10:17Again, DJ Moore and the bills, wide receivers taking on this Houston secondary. How do you see this one playing out? Yeah, I mean, Houston's an interesting defense because they have Derek Stingley, but they don't necessarily use him to shatter or play a bunch of man coverage. They kind of, they'll play some zone that turns into match concepts and stuff like that because they also have a great second corner in Camaril Astor. I think Camaril Astor might be, I think people know who he is. He's a good player, but he might, you know, I don't know if he's like a household name or anything like that. That should be though. He's one of the, in my opinion, better second corners in the NFL. You know, he's one of these guys because you're trying to throw away from Derek Stingley. It's like in Denver, right? Riley Moskets, a ton of targets thrown his way because people are trying to avoid Pat Sartan. Different he was the most targeted guy actually. He was and he actually was pretty good in coverage, but he gave a ball. He gave a ball, a penalty is. You know, so that obviously if you're looking at like, you know, what he allowed in coverage, it's going to sort of skew the numbers there because he did get target a lot and give a lot of penalties.

11:17And look, when you're the most targeted corner in the NFL, you're also going to get cooked every now and again. Basically every corner gets cooked every, it's such a difficult position to play. I have immense respect for these guys considering watching receivers go against them. It's a very difficult job. But in Houston's defense, they're one of these ones that they don't really do a bunch of disguises. They don't really, don't really mix things up on the back end, all that much. They kind of just play it pretty straight and they can because they have a ton of superstars at every single level here. So yeah, I think what's going to be fascinating is just watching maybe not the success of the Bill's offense in week one, but sort of the approach with which they try to go at it because this team under Joe Brady as the offensive coordinator full time the last two years is 18th in neutral dropback rate. They have not been one of these teams that's, you know, really leaning on the pass. I kind of wonder if we see that change. And I know the thought process would be, hey, it's just the same old play collar.

12:22Now he's just the head coach is just going to kind of be more the same. But now he's literally the head football coach. The buck stops with him. And there's just been like enough whispers out of Bill's camp about things like James Cook, you know, catching the football more. Milton Kincaid playing, you know, more of a 60 plus percent snap roll, which would be a big increase for him. You know, obviously this is Josh Allen's guy, Joe Brady, being the head coach now, you know, he's literally like in the hiring interviews for the head coaching position. I just wonder if this ends up becoming more of a pass first team. And that can be a way that you catch a defense like Houston off guard in week one as you kind of go away from tendencies. I think there's going to be built off a strong run game and some of the gap stuff that they do with James Cook will still be incredible. But I do wonder if we just see like a little bit of different levers pulled by Joe Brady. Now that he's the head coach is opposed to just an assistant on Sean McDermott staff. Well, I think two things in regards to Buffalo, which I think dovetails perfectly with what

13:26you're saying. One, he's an offensive-minded guy versus Sean McDermott was a defensive-minded guy. And like, I don't care how much, I don't care how many, you know, how much control you have over the offense if you're the OC. You got again in line with the head coach, right? So if Sean McDermott, the defensive-minded guy wants to run the ball, which generally is what happens with these defensive-minded head coaches. Listen, Joe Brady's got a, you know, kind of sort of fall in line with that, right? Link. And the second thing I would say to is now that it is his job, Matt, it is human tendency to want to do something different than what you did before, right? So I think he will, just from a tendency standpoint, want to lean on the pass. I think he's going to want to lean on Josh Allen and why not? You know, it's like a multi-time MVP, like he's an absolute Superman with the cape on. Like, yeah, let's lean on Josh Allen a little bit more. I'm with you, man. I absolutely think Joe Brady will lean upon Josh Allen in the past game a lot more.

14:32Just because, again, I think he wants to do something different. And now that he's the offensive guy versus the defensive-minded head coach, I think we will see a shift in offensive personality there. Drink up, baby. Fantasy football happy hour is here to get you wins and have some laughs. Matthew Barry here and my podcast, Fantasy Football Happy Hour, has the sleepers bust and start-sit advice you need to win your league. We're diving into the tape. We're going to launch the numbers to bring you sleepers. Bust weekly start-sit advice, whether you're defending a title or desperately avoiding last place, I've got you covered every single weekday. The bar is open. It's Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Barry wherever you get your podcasts. In Washington, Terra McClore in a brand new offense is taking on a tough Philadelphia secondary. How do you see this divisional game playing out? Man, this is tough for Washington in week one.

15:33Yeah. The Eagles are definitely one of those defenses that can be an inner circle, as we were talking about earlier, one of the best defense in the NFL. They've pretty much been that. Washington has had their issues going against Philadelphia, specifically with a guy like Terry McClore. Because you can just line Quinion Mitchell up at right corner and you know Terry McClore is going to be on that left side. I mean, there was that one-thousand. I gave him a couple of years ago. Terry was having a nice season where he just gets completely blanked in that game because that's just the way things go under Cliff Kings right now. I do think David Blow is going to change things schematically. I'm interested in that. But as I've said, on this show, some of my other shows, the commander's offense has gone from being like kind of a really strong march curiosity for me to now a team that I'm pretty skeptical of going into the year from an offensive standpoint, at least how they're going to start primarily because of the Laramie-Tuncel injury. That's the biggest part of this. To me, you just can't overstate the loss of one of the three best left tackles in the

16:37NFL, especially when they've had issues at center in training camp. Then you start to kind of just think about, all right, well, this is a 31-year-old coach who was the assistant quarterback coach last year, massive promotion here. That's a offensive line coach who kind of has more of his roots in college football. It's a big transition here for this team. You just kind of wonder how that's going to look in week one, new system, the quarterback getting under center more, more play action against the team in Philadelphia. It's a good defense that can throw a lot at you that will disguise things on the back end. Step on digs. For the first time with this team, to me, I do wonder if the commanders, I go in and surprise with the commanders offense essentially gets off to a slow start in this one. Laramie-Tuncel out versus Jalen Carter. Good luck. Yeah, right. Again, they've had issues at center in training camp.

17:37Nick Allegretti has been banged up. It's a tough one for this commander's offense here in week number one. I wouldn't be surprised if we come out of here with Terry McLoran. He only has a couple of catches or something like that. Actually, step on digs ends up getting. I am really fascinated to see what the whole distribution looks like in terms of the roles between these two guys. Remember, when David Blouh was first hired, he says the goal of this offense is to get Terry McLoran 10 targets a game, which obviously he's not going to come away with 170 targets on the season no matter what. That's not going to happen. But it was like, to me, I think a declaration of intent of this is our best receiver. We got to move him around more and get him into these advantageous situations, which is basically even the click Kingsbury stuff is kind of extreme. That's really never been the case for Terry. He's mostly been a vertical X receiver. So I was really interested to see what his role would look like with that in mind. But then you bring in Steph Diggs, who's kind of transitioned into this slot flanker role. Does that end up just being like Terry McLoran is more of the X and running that vertical

18:40route through that he has been running over the last few years? I'm really interested to see what their two roles kind of look like from a complimentary standpoint here in week one. All right, we'll see. Meanwhile in Indianapolis, you got Alec Pierce, ankle surgery. Don't know what that's going to be. DUI, a Keenan Allen, although that's looking a little dicey there as well. Very questionable DUI for sure. But regardless, you add Keenan Allen into the mix. You've got kind of an unknown factor. We know that Josh Downs is somebody that's a great route runner, beaten coverage all over the place. That being said, we've never really seen him in a full time role. So it's Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, Keenan Allen versus again, a really interesting Baltimore secondary with Jesse Mentor at the helm. So I don't know. How do you see this cult Baltimore game playing out from a past game perspective? Well, let's separate these into kind of two separate conversations real quick. We'll put the like math week one match up beside because I do think that actually is really interesting and I want to come back to it.

19:40So I looked at the 398 snaps last season where all three of Alec Pierce, Josh Downs and Tyler Warren shared the field together because it seemed for a while there. Is Alec Pierce going to play in a week one? By all indications, he's going to play in a week one. Will he be full go Alec Pierce as we know him? Maybe and I would say probably not because he hasn't practiced for most time. He's practiced a bit here towards the end of the summer. But obviously he spent most of the summer banged up not participating training camp and recovering from this ankle surgery, which was did he get a PRB injection or there was a lot of discussion about the recovery process from that ankle. But regardless, he's going to be on the field in week one. So 398 snaps last year where these three guys were on the field together. And Michael Pittman was on the field for 377 of those snaps. I actually think does make a pretty decent comparison to Keenan Allen because I expect Keenan Allen to kind of play as the Z receiver, which is essentially what Michael Pittman was last year for this team. So across those snaps, it was actually Josh Downs that led the way with the pretty

20:44significant 27% target share on those snaps. Tyler Warren was 21%. Alec Pierce was 18.3%. Michael Pittman was just under 21%. I actually kind of feel like this is maybe pretty accurate for how it could play out at least early this season. Now Alec Pierce was incredibly productive, had 1.99 yards per out run, which led the team in those snaps because he was the deep threat. 17.98 air yards per target for Alec Pierce on those plays. Tyler Warren 5.8, Josh Downs 8.4. I actually think 8.4 to 9 something like that would be good for downs. I think we could even push it closer to 10. And I kind of think they'll need him to be that guy in week one because again, not only is Pierce coming back obviously from the injury, you also think like, okay, in these snaps to, it's a pretty clear. Alec Pierce is out wide on 85%. Josh Downs is in the slot for about 76%.

21:47Keenan Allen slash Michael Pittman in this actual scenario is 69%. Wide 30% slot again, sort of the Z receiver essentially. Pierce is going to be the X. He will be outside and on the ball for over 80% of his snaps this season. I would be shocked if it's any lower just because of the skill sets of the other guys in the room. And here in week one, going against a Ravens defense, which is now, as you mentioned, coached by Jesse Minter. I mean, that is some of the most impressive zone coverage film last year is the Chargers defense under Jesse Minter. Are we going to see that like a ton of zone and the way they've called things in LA in Baltimore because it's better, you could argue it's better personnel on the back end in Baltimore right now than what they had in Los Angeles, even though they got a ton out of those guys. I give Jesse Minter a bunch of credit for the scheme there. If that is the case, I mean, Pierce is going to be kind of running into a lot of those

22:48zone windows as the extra, the vertical X receiver, you know, with a quarterback coming back from the kill. He's like, I just feel like this is going to be setting up for a lot of targets shortened underneath, which leans into downs against zone coverage, leans into Tyler Warren checking it down in the flat, Keenan Allen, of course, coming in as kind of that designated hitter on third down. So I feel like we'll see a lot of those three guys in week one and less of Alec Pierce, but I could be surprised by that. I'm with you, man. I'm with you. I think it's going to be like I said, I'm fascinated to see what Baltimore looks like. This is the first time that they're not in that gym, our ball era. You've got Jesse Minter, first time head coach, you got Declan Doyle, a first time OC. How is it all going to play out? They've got the personnel. I mean, I think if you look at their defense, man, like they got some guys, man. This is a really, really good defensive unit. And really quite honestly, it feels like this defensive talent pool that they have is specifically built for somebody like Jesse Minter, you know, just he's got to get these guys all moving in the right direction.

23:49But, man, they got some guys, man. Like this is a very deep defense. You talk about it all three levels. Baltimore was a weird defense last year because you're thinking you're too talented to be this bad. And there were times when they just looked awesome. And other times you're like, what is going on with Baltimore? You know what I mean? So, yeah, I think they've got some, they have the ingredients to have a great defense. Let's see if Jesse Minter can put all these guys together, man. I'll be interested to see. Yeah. All right. Most interesting wide receiver rooms and target trees that you're watching here in week number one, we'll start with the Jags wide receiver room. Obviously, they've got these three guys, BTJ, Parker Washington. What are we doing here with the tight ends as well? The running back, I mean, there's just so much in regards to question marks. And not really, I mean, this is the funny thing, man.

24:50The reason it's anticipating them to be good is just we don't know where, where is all of the production going to fall? How do you kind of sort of see it playing out there in Jacksonville? Yeah. Look, man, this is one of the most interesting week one reveals that we could, I mean, that we've got to be watching out for because this has been like a subject of fascination is what are these, what is this Jags wide receiver room? Kind of, you know, how does it sort out in the whole deal? And man, I will say one of the kind of like final takeaways I have. From the last two weeks of August, specifically doing fantasy content is, man, I do, I do think we've kind of over corrected on Brian Thomas Jr. as a player. I agree with you. Like man, anytime I would take him in a draft, like we, we streamed our Yahoo fantasy analyst league draft and people liked my draft, but they hated that I took BTJ. I referenced that like BTJ was my favorite value in the eighth round of Yahoo ADP.

25:53People lit my ass up on Instagram. So I feel like, of course, like, you know, I don't say this is like to be mean, but you know, kind of like more casual drafters who check back in in August, they're like, I'm never drafting this BTJ goofball again. He burned me last year. There's some of that, I think, to it. But I just even think also like there's been so much buzz about Parker Washington coming out of Jacksonville and buzz that like I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm generally buying. I thought Parker Washington was, he was the number one ranked Jags receiver for me in my fantasy rankings. I think that he should be the favorite to be the most productive based on what we saw at the end of last season. Like, you know, if you do the same exercise that I just was talking about with the cold sweat receivers with the top three Jags receivers and you look at a smaller sample, but 159 snaps in six games last year, including the playoffs where Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr. and Jacobi Myers were all on the field. It's not even close in terms of production.

26:553.14 yards per out run for Parker Washington, 1.4 for BTJ and 1.2 for Jacobi Myers. I mean, Parker Washington ran away with like the efficiency metrics targets. For Rahu, he was targeted on, he had a 35% target share in those 159 snaps. It was obviously all Parker Washington all the time. Again, I think where he went in fantasy was pretty fair. You know, I had him around like, why was he for 30? That was basically where he went off the board. But again, it's just like the, the hype on like social media was so crazy for Parker Washington that kind of really got pushed out, pushed onto the rug that like generally they were really excited about what Brian Thomas Jr. was doing. He was healthier in training camps. So I'm interested to see just what BTJ looks like in week one, what his role looks like because he definitely has a gauntlet early season schedule, even especially like outside cornerbacks. Like he's going to face Derek Stingley. He's going to face Pats or Tan shoot. He's facing Dernesal Ward in this first game.

27:57Yeah. Most likely. So just is he an exclusive X? Is he a vertical X? I don't think he's a sacrificial X whatsoever. I'd be shocked if that's his role. Like his route tree will be one of the more interesting ones to go back in chart in week one, which of course I will be doing in season charting as always for the website. So he'll definitely be one of the ones I write up because I think his role will be fast and plus like just again, how did the snaps get allocated here? Is it going to end up being you know, Parker Washington is the, is he the guy that does lead the team in snapsur? Is he like a slot mostly player and comes off the field and to receive a sets? It doesn't sound like that's going to happen based on the trading camp reports, but let's find out for real in week one. Yeah. I mean, and again, I know the sample size and stuff is, is always going to be in question, but Parker Washington didn't play well against bad teams last year. So down the stretch, you know what I mean? So I think that's something that builds defense. He obviously smoked them in the playoffs. That's kind of maybe the one caveat. Listen, he destroyed Denver too, right?

28:58He went for six, six catches for one 45 and a touchdown against Denver at Denver. So that's, you know, that means something. And that's kind of things too, right? Like in that game, Brian Thomas Jr. is, and I, this is why I don't think his role will be this vertical outside X only this year. I again, because we go back and look at his rookie season, which I do think in hindsight, and I even kind of said this at the time that I think the production was a little overinflated because they were a horrible, a horrible team and literally everybody else was hurt down the stretch. Like I do think that matters, at least when we're looking at production, but you know, obviously what perception perception is isolating away from production outside variables. Like he was still playing extremely well as not just an extra seaver. Like he actually took a bunch of snaps off ball in that rookie season. So can we see more of that? I'm sorry to interrupt, but like that in Denver last year, that was like Parker Washington is moving all over the formation, runner routes from the slot. Well, yeah, BTJ is doing the dirty work with Pats or Tan and kind of getting sacrificed in that way. How do you think it's going to play out in New York? Malik neighbors, again, the health is very much in question.

30:01Sounds like he's going to play. We're not 100% sure though. Malik neighbors and now Malachi fields because my goodness gracious, my guy, Darius Slayton, Darius Slayton is no more in New York, bro. No, say it ain't so, dude. How do you say it playing out there in New York? Can we just take a minute to talk about the NFL's most on again, off again. It's complicated on Facebook relationship is now over. Oh, no. Darius Slayton and the John Bond. I'm almost finally broke up. I mean, by the way, like we'll see. I don't know. Maybe he gets back on the roster for sure. I would never rule it out for these two. This is like when your buddy, you know, starts telling you about my significant other, they stink. I think I got to end it. And then you're like, yeah, I hate them. So don't worry. They're terrible. And then they get back together. Oh crap. I shouldn't have said what I thought. This has happened to me before in real life for sure. But anyways, I will say it's over totally at Darius Slayton.

31:02Maybe finds his way to the junior, giants again, but I do tend to kind of doubt it. And number one that does sort of tell you that I think they're pretty good about, you know, Malik neighbors being available in week one. Like he will definitely be out there. Now Malik had an interesting quote last week where he talked about, you know, even though he's running cool routes on Instagram and cool, like he even says, yeah, look, I'm looking nice out there. Sometimes I go back and watch my practice routes, which Malik is a gem. You love that. Still, he even says like that, you know, it doesn't mean I'm like all the way there and everything. So I mean, I won't be surprised if neighbors is, I don't know, limited it to some degree in week one, week two, week three, that wouldn't be surprising. But I'd be shocked if they would release Slayton while, you know, thinking like, oh, neighbors isn't going to play in week one. But regardless, obviously, it's a long term move. And I do think this just immense the fact and, you know, I did a video on this earlier a couple of weeks ago, I think Malik, I feel, just set up to play a big role for this team in as a rookie. I think he will be out there a ton in week one, you know, Jalen Hyatt was also releasing

32:05got back on the practice squad. Obviously, it's like OBJ on the roster, cool to see for him. But I do think fields is set up to play a pretty big role as not just a receiver, but also as a blocker for this team that wants to run the football tons. So he could be somebody that, I don't know if he'll be like a fantasy waiver ad after week one, but if you have him on your dynasty team or something like that, and look, I like fields as a prospect a little bit as a day to guy, definitely somebody to keep an eye on, you know, if you see him play a big role here in the early portion of the season. Yeah, man. Listen, can we also talk about some other landing spots of Darius Slayton only because that I am, you know, the world's largest Darius Slayton fan apparently. So I will say, hey, listen, his skill said does match with a lot of teams. Look, I've talked about this on my radio show too. It was like, there is a real dearth of outside wide receivers in the NFL right now, you know? And Darius Slayton talk on your radio show. I think I was talking, I forgot where, where how this came up.

33:08I think I was talking about Kansas City needs an outside wide receiver. They just released Darius Slayton. I think he could be a fit, which by the way, I do think he could be a fit there in Kansas City. I know Houston is constantly in search of a second outside wide receiver opposite of Nico Collins. So that's a possible pairing too. But man, get this guy on Buffalo, get this guy on Kansas City. It's going to be obviously extremely cheap to get him on those units too. So I just, like I said, man, I'm curious where Darius Slayton might end up because I do think that he can be a contributor in some way, shape, or form to a contender. Kansas City would make sense. I mean, Atlanta might make sense. You know, just some teams that need more outside receiver help. I mean, I don't know. Darius Slayton, he's fine, man. I don't know. He's fine. He's perfectly fine. So yeah, I guess you kind of do need like a fine outside receiver in a place like Kansas

34:09City for sure. I don't know. Buffalo, maybe a little bit of a progress stopper there in Buffalo. So we'll see for Keon Coleman. Yeah, I mean, I guess. I don't know. Who's progress is he stopped? Kyler Bell. I don't know if they want to play one of those guys. Yeah, he'll end up, he'll end up in Tennessee with Dable, even though that makes no sense. He'll end up in Tennessee with Dable. I hope not. That would be so bad. I'd love to see him either in Kansas City or Buffalo. That would actually be a progress stopper. I think Buffalo is actually an interesting spot. Just in case Keon Coleman completely and utterly falls off the map. You know, Darius Slayton could be somebody and they just have to win, man. Like, that's the other thing about Buffalo. It's like, we can't even talk about development anymore, you know? It's like, they just got a play, man. They just got to win. Like, there's no room for development right now. Like, just go out there. They're completely, this is a completely mature team. Whether it's running back, whether it's their defense, this is it, man. Like, you got to win.

35:10Their window is this year next year, that's it, you know? I don't see, the problem is, Matt, I would usually agree with you, but they don't have young players that you're like, yeah, dude, we got to get this guy activated, you know? Like, they just don't have those guys. Their team is built to win right now. Yeah, that's fair. By the way, their window is as long as Josh Allen is, he has a pulse and is playing football in the NFL. There's that, that's as long as their window is. It's not this year next year. Their window is as long as he's a human being walking the earth in the 17 jersey for the Buffalo Bills, which I guess you could say the same thing for the Kansas City Chiefs. Although I do think, man, they're already know. Are you talking about my homes? In the big 2026? Like, that's like, wow. What's been my thing is that people have completely over indexed and like, they're just totally like resume watching for Patrick Mohms. Is he one of the two best quarterbacks to ever play the game? Yeah, I think he's in that conversation, 100% for sure.

36:11But in 2026, no, coming off of an ACL, coming off of a 2025 where he was terrible, coming off of a 2024 where he was very average and human. It's been a long time, Matt, since we have seen Patrick Mohms put that Superman tape on. I'm with you. I actually picked them to miss the playoffs again this year. And it's kind of weird that Josh Simmons is just not playing week one. You know, they're left tackle going against the Denver Broncos and they're in trouble. Week one that could be a trouble. Slate would be maybe a little bit of a progress stopper there because it probably is like, are we sinking in swimming with Xavier Worthy? Like what is Rishi Rice this year? Can we play Cyrus Allen more? Although I certainly think like, God, all of those guys would be good. If you could just get like a like, Darius Slate and because again, I said this about Brian Thomas Jr. I think we've jumped the shark on sacrificial X receiver and like calling guys like Brian Thomas Jr. sacrificial X or like Marvin Harrison Jr. Like not all Xs are sacrificial and not all sacrificial players are Xs.

37:15Darius Slate is actually a sacrificial X. He's like one of the original guys. So I think all of these dudes in Kansas City would be, you know, maybe they'd definitely be better activated in 11 personnel if somebody could just stand outside on the line of scrimmage and run some clear out routes that, you know, eventually my home is going to throw like a jump ball. It'd be nice. I mean, how is he had to throw a jump ball to the last like four years? I don't know. So yeah, probably nobody, but that would actually make a little bit of sense. Teams like the Raiders, no thanks. The Dolphins want to talk about a second. No thanks for those guys. And that's why I kind of think like this was a bullish move for a guy like Malachi like I feel to, you know, like could fill the same role a little bit of a sacrificial X jump ball guy, but also is definitely more of an asset as an insert blocker. And you saw some of that the preseason for him. So his role will be really interesting to watch in the wake of the Darius Slate and departure. I like it. Okay. You talk about the Miami Dolphins.

38:18They're rookie wide receivers. I guess Chris Bells there listed as their number one now, which I found to be really interesting. I think he missed an entirety of training camp. And yet there is as the number one, what are your thoughts here on the Dolphins rookies in terms of their waters, viewers? Yeah. First of all, I don't know if we talked about this on the show, but how obviously I don't think we talked about this on the show, but how insane is it that the Rams trade for two to out well back from the Miami Dolphins and they give up Jarquise Hunter who then got cut by the Dolphins? Yeah. Like the Rams is that they had to get they had to get two to out well back and it cost them cost not Jarquise Hunter is roster spot. Anyways, so that was my whole point of the Dolphins receivers all off season. Like don't talk to me about two to out well. Don't talk to me about Jalen Tolbert. Like this team is going to know where this year throw the throw the kids into the pool and see who can swim. And it kind of seems like that's what's going to happen this year. I think it will be Caleb Douglas is the extra receiver. Chris Bell is kind of the movement Z and then Malik Washington will be the starting slot

39:22receiver when they go into 11 personnel. And again, am I expecting this team to be good? No, am I expecting this offense to be good? I certainly am not. But am I at least interested to watch what those three youngsters can do for this operation? Sure. Like you can get me to maybe they're not going to make the quad box. And we want against the damn Raiders. Well, it's a 425 game. So actually they almost certainly are they are going to be in the quad box. They will let me. I guess that's right. They will be in the quad box. So I'll be watching this on Sunday. And I'll definitely be like watching it back on film to see what the roles look like for these guys. Because I mean, Chris Bell it is pretty crazy that like you did obviously not practice much in the off season coming off the late season ACL tear as a collegiate prospect. And he comes out there and just now he's just fully involved with the offense as he should be like he's a really interesting talent and somebody that look pretty good in the preseason week three when we saw him. So he's definitely someone that I've got my eye. This whole team is really interesting.

40:23Just these are three young guys. Malik Willis getting a chance to come out here and prove himself. Look, nobody's going to be gasped up to watch the dolphins in week one. But that is a rather interesting 425 slopfest game potentially Raiders dolphins. Because the Raiders in their own right have a really kind of unclear and maybe unsettled wide receiver room. Although we expect Trey Talker to be the one there. Yeah, there you go. All right, let's predict the biggest week one wide receiver over reaction. And then we'll get out of here. But give it to me, man. What is your week one wide receiver over reaction that you think folks will have after the full slate of games? All right. So I have one positive one and one negative one. Oh, positive one. And these are, this is by the way about two players that I really love. So I'm, you know, kind of put my heart on my sleeve here with the negative one. But positive one. I think week one over reaction. Maybe it's not over an over reaction.

41:23But I think Chris Olave is going to go crazy in week one. And I think people will be rising him up the rest of season fantasy rankings because he's just set up again to just moonwalk into a major target chair. No Jordan Tyson to start the season. He basically got the crew running out there with him that he saw last year, you know, where it's a, it's Devon Valle, you know, it's Bryce Lance, Barry and Brown. So it's like, obviously Bryce Lance and Barry and Brown are rookies. They're new faces here. But, you know, I don't expect either of those two guys to come in here and get eight targets off the bus as rookies. I think Valle actually is in an interesting position as the big slot receiver there. They also added my boy, Cedric Tillman on the practice squad. So maybe he'll get some opportunity at some point for this team. But regardless, like it's, it's basically John Johnson and Chris Olave. Like how is Chris Olave not going to have eight to 10 targets at the bare minimum in week one against a Detroit lion secondary that, as you mentioned, is a little questionable heading into the season. So I feel like big week one overreaction.

42:23Like Chris Olave, rest of season top five fantasy wide receiver. People will be talking about it because he's going to go berserk in week one. I am going to say one negative here. I will say Drake London is going to have a bad game. Oh, was it? Oh, was it? Go ahead, John. Okay, we're, we're some patico here, bro. Look, the quarterback situation obviously is about as bad as it gets there in Atlanta, Steelers secondary and their defense as a whole. I think when healthy should be actually pretty darn good, man. So I think that Drake London might have a really slow start here in week number one. And fans will be absolutely clamoring for a quarterback change probably after one half, you know, so I think Drake London might have a really slow start to the season. And, and yeah, you're talking about moving, moving players up and down rankings. Like I do think that Drake London will be moved down quite significantly there after one week because people will say, hey, listen, the quarterback situation is untenable.

43:25And we love Drake London, but we don't think he's going to do anything. I just think that he will recover though at some point, especially after they do make a quarterback change. Yes, I, well, okay, lots of break, lots of unpack here about the Drake London thing. I'm so glad we're on the same page about this. One, I thought about this because obviously the quarterback situation, they didn't even want to admit to themselves that they have to start to a in week one. They waited forever to name him, starting quarterback. It was crazy, crazy, crazy late. So there, so there is that. And obviously, I think that's just going to hang over everybody's mind. The matchup against the Steelers is tough. Like I think Patrick, I think Patrick Graham is one of the more interesting figures to watch this year. Sneakily as a defensive coordinator because they've like God willing, they've been trying stuff. They are in Las Vegas with his defenses. Just hasn't gone very well because the personnel is not that good. I have some questions about some of the personnel on Pittsburgh's defensive roster, but there's no question that it's better.

44:25And I feel like we will see a lot of interesting stuff from Patrick Graham this year starting with week one, some creative blitzes, old school New England stuff, which is where he kind of finds his original roots against to a in week one. That's tough for Drake London, who I also think is part of my prediction here is just, I'm a little worried about Drake London's role. And I've kind of alluded to this just quietly on the pod. And maybe if I was like a more bold person, which I'm not, I could have put him lower in my fantasy rankings because of this. Obviously, there are quarterback concerns. That's part of it. But man, I just look at this roster right now. And like how is Drake London not going to go back to being just an 80% outside on-ball receiver as the ex given that it's like our guide Super Bowl hero, John Dotson as the number two receiver, Zachariah Branch, like Alameda Zakias, all like Flanker slot guys, Kyle

45:28Pits getting all the designer Mickey Mouse targets in the preseason game with two. That's got to have you a little concern. Bejohn Robbins and probably catching 10 balls in week one as two is trying to get rid of that pill against the the the Steelers defense. That's got me worried about Drake London. And then the other thing too, it just feels like every year there's Drake London panic after week one. And I went back and I went back and looked at this as a rookie. He had seven targets, which was a 21, 21.9% target. You're seven targets, five catches, 74 yards in his first game against the Saints as a rookie. But the next season week one against the Panthers, they win the football game 24 to 10. He had one target for zero catches. What? One target dropped it. Zero catches in that game. And I remember I was just coming out there and being like, well, Drake doesn't care as long as we win the football game. He doesn't care. I'm like, buddy, you're not going to cite his wins and losses record when you give him a contract extension. You're going to be looking at the statute.

46:29Please listen, I've defender Arthur Smith at times, but please miss me with that kind of stuff. Week one, the next season. Yeah. 2024 against the Pittsburgh Steelers three targets, two catches, 15 yards for Drake London in that game. Last season week one against the Bucks. The 15 targets. Okay. He turned those into eight catches for 55 yards and had like two contested catch losses in the end zone. It just feels like every year it's a slow start in week one for Drake London who ends up then being one of the most productive receivers in the NFL. I do think I have my concerns about his role a little bit. I certainly have concerns about the quarterback situation, but I think once we get Michael Penecks back in there, my God, I can't believe like, you know, it's just that's what I'm hoping for. That's the best case scenario here. Like let's get Penecks in there. I think we'll be okay on Drake London might be in the season. But still, it feels like we're going to get another slow start here for Drake London in week number one. Well, I think we've got to get through the first, you know, five or six weeks because,

47:33you know, the schedule does open up, I think. You know, you got the bears later on and we'll see how the bears end up holding up. But San Francisco, yeah, I don't think they're defensive. It's going to be bad. Yeah. But the San Francisco 49ers is interesting too. They've got the Buccaneers, they've got the bangles. And again, the chiefs are completely revamped in their secondary. And yeah, like they've got the lions, the commanders down the stretch, the Buccaneers again. I'm telling you, the schedule opens up. And yeah, there's going to be some down spots for sure just because I don't think the Falcons are going to be that great offensively. But still though, I think the matchups down the stretch look, especially in the middle part of the season, I think pretty good for Drake London. So again, when we talk about overreaction, yeah, he might get blanketed here against Pittsburgh Joey Porter and company. But I do think that better days will be ahead for sure. I'm nervous about this.

48:33I didn't actually end up drafting very much Drake London just because I went for kind of running backs in the second round, ish this year and ended up finding my way to other receivers. I had Nico Collins ranked ahead of Drake London this year. So I ended up with Nico Collins if I was going to receive her in the second round. So just ended up with Drake London, a lot of fantasy teams. So far, listeners out there that do have one of your fantasy teams. No, I don't know what's to tell you. You're not benching Drake London a week one. I hope we're wrong. I hope we're doing the overreaction. You know, and like we can at least have a nice game for Drake London here. But you know, if he does drop a dud in your fantasy lineup in week one, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. Maybe have a good meal planned for your dinner. You know, right? Like order something nice for yourself. We don't have a sponsor here to highlight. So maybe we should. But you know, something is going to make you get yourself a feel good comfort meal along the docket for something. You come on. All right. There you go. Great show. I can't believe week one is here. I'm excited. The next six months is going to be great, man. I'm really looking forward to it.

49:34So let's get it going here, Matt. Okay. So the season is upon us. Go to the website ReceptionProception.com. You're going to find in season charting here from our guy Matt Harman. You will find in season charting from the quarterback guys too. So yeah, there's just plenty of great content to be had on the website. And yeah, man, go check it out. Also, if you are listening to this show right now, and you, which this hurts my feelings, if this is true. This is a show right now. And you don't subscribe to the website, but you've always wanted to try a little reception perception. See what these wide receiver charting redups look like. You can check out the Jamar Chase profile for free. Drop it Wednesday morning to celebrate kickoff here. So zero dollars and zero cents. That's going to cost you. So if you want to check it out for free, you can do that. It's a fun. You can let get a lot of historic data from the Jamar Chase profile because spoiler alert, he's really good. So you get to look at a lot of historic data in that one. I kind of see where he's at from a best receivers of this era sort of look at there. And by the way, if you decide to be a sicko tier subscriber as well, Matt and I do a private

50:39sicko tier stream every single week where we will go through people's questions, line ups and just talk about general football goofiness overall. So there you go. Two, one PM Eastern on Fridays every week. So I love it. Let's go. Matt Harmon, I'm James Co. We got to go, but remember, it's never too late to chase your dreams. All right, peace.