16 New Playcallers: What It Means for Dynasty with Bob Harris

The NFL coaching carousel has nearly stopped spinning — and half the league has new offensive playcallers. There's potential for chaos, but there are also opportunities for savvy dynasty managers.

Fantasy Sports Hall of Famer Bob Harris joins Jeff Blaylock to break down all 16 new playcallers and what they mean for dynasty. From first-time play callers in Baltimore and Washington to veteran hires in Pittsburgh and New York, we examine where potential value exists and where caution is warranted.

If you want to find dynasty leverage before the market adjusts, this episode is your roadmap.

Topics Include

• 16 new offensive play callers
• First-time OCs and quarterback development
• Chargers + Mike McDaniel = optimism
• Baltimore, Philadelphia, Seattle & Washington bet on first-time playcallers
• Las Vegas, Mendoza and the importance of OL upgrades
• Miami’s rebuild under Bobby Slowik
• Titans & Giants as cheap dynasty upside
• Players to buy and sell this offseason

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 – Half the League Has New Playcallers
01:48 – Is This Year Truly Different?
04:18 – Change Is Horrible, Until You Make It
06:30 – High Turnover, Low Tenure
09:40 – Declan Doyle's Head Start in Baltimore
10:46 – Desired Outcome for Brian Fleury in Seattle
14:05 – Philadelphia’s Gamble on Sean Mannion
19:22 – David Blough in Washington & Jayden Daniels’ Future
24:15 – Mike LaFleur in Arizona: Buy the Discount?
29:10 – Atlanta Bets on a Browns Reunion
31:30 – Cleveland: New Coaches, Same Questions
34:20 – Drew Petzing Taming the Lions?
36:28 – Chargers Make Jeff's Favorite Hire
41:15 – Klint Kubiak & Mendoza's Futures in Las Vegas
46:06 – Fading Dolphins with Slowik?
48:57 – Old Is New Again: Nagy, Reich & McCarthy
54:13 – Skepticism for Zac Robinson in Tampa Bay?
57:00 – Can Daboll Revive the Titans?
1:00:35 – Bob's Favorite Buys & Sells

Links Mentioned

• Follow Bob Harris on Twitter/X
• Footballguys.com
• SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio
• Follow Jeff on Twitter/X
• Jeff's Dynasty Rankings

Support the Show

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Visit dynastycompass.com to learn more about the show.

Transcript

Jeff: The coaching carousel has nearly come to a halt and in its wake our 16 new offensive playcallers. That's right. Half of the league has somebody new calling plays for their offense, and the dynasty implications are huge. Fantasy sports Hall of Famer Bob Harris, the original Football Diehard, is here to dissect each of these coaching changes and what it means for your dynasty team. Next on Dynasty Compass.

[Theme music]

Jeff: Welcome to Dynasty Compass. I am your host, Jeff Blaylock, the other Jeff B from Footballguys, I'm thrilled to be joined today by the Football Diehard himself, my colleague Bob Harris. Bob, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today.

Bob: Uh, thanks for having me on. I owe you about 8,000 visits for the guest spots on Sirius all year. So I'm, I'm here for, I'm here for duty reporting for duty.

Jeff: Well, thank you. I, and I appreciate, uh, that you asked me to come on to SiriusXM. As, as frequently as you have, it's a thrill to be, you know, a, a regular guest. Uh, I hope that I've treated you very well by giving you in advance what we were going to talk about. That is, uh, one of the unique challenges of Football Diehards is you have to kind of guess what's coming and hopefully have the right research done.

And thankfully, when we did this very topic the last time I was on, I had done some research and could talk somewhat credibly about it. So now with time and, and distance, I'm sure you will talk extraordinarily credibly about the

Bob: not making it easy when you come on the radio, that's for sure.

Jeff: So, yeah, so we're just, just jump in the coaching carousel. I mean, we have one every year and it, it seems to be spinning faster and faster and lots of turnover. But this year there just seemed to be a lot more horses on this carousel. A lot more chairs than musical chairs. A lot more seem to be moving around.

Am I imagining of that or is this just recency bias? And this is just typical of kind of a year?

Bob: No, we had 10 this year. That's a, that's a high number for the, for the head coaches anyway. And the, and the coordinators move around every year, but even in a high number of those this year, especially the, on the offensive side of the ball, like over, over 20, 21, I guess. Um, but yeah, the 10 were like, we're in the six to eight range.

Seems about like the, the, the, the, the happy spot there most years. Um, but we had some, uh, unique, unique moves like Mike Tomlin basically stepping away or, or, you know, dreaming to move on. Uh, we had another long tenured coach, John Harbaugh, what you got 18 and 19 years for those guys. Uh, that was a little unusual. I thought the situation of Baltimore was a little unusual.

Again, not every owner should spend a lot of time in front of the camera with a microphone in his face. Steve Bisciotti for, you know, one of, one of more than one, I guess. Uh, Mr. Pegula in Buffalo also probably should mind his, uh, understand his role. But, but I guess, you know, that's, that's kind of where we're at right now.

Teams are looking at other teams, and I think this is what you see every year, Jeff, is, is teams start copying what other teams are doing. What are we doing going after young offensive mi to coaches? Sure, let's do that. Uh, and, and we, we saw that in a lot of cases. So, um, you know, I do think there's something to be said though for like the Pittsburgh situation or the Baltimore situation.

I do think there's a point where the voice quits resonating. I don't know that that's the case with Mike Tomlin. I don't know that his voice is ever gonna quit resonating, but I do think the message gets a little old at some point. And, you know, and, and I, I don't know that, you know, hitting on 20 years isn't a good time to, to reset and figure things out.

I know in Baltimore there were other complications as well. I think Lamar Jackson obviously complication a lot of talk. Uh, you know, all this came on the tail of the Mike Preston, Baltimore Sun piece in late December. People didn't see that there was a lot of friction between Harbaugh and Jackson.

Jackson prefers to practice later in the day to better play his video games late at night, which, you know, you're gonna acquiesce to your star quarterback, uh, your franchise quarterback. And they, and they did, but not everyone, you know, like, not everyone saw that the same way. And just, you know, you wonder about the connection with the, with the coaching staff there.

So, I mean, change can be like, well, you know, you look at change just in general, Jeff, and, and like change is horrible. Until you make it and then, oh, this was so bad. But that process of making it is always gonna create questions, doubts, and and values. In our cases, it'll either create some values or opportunities for us to look at players in a different way, or at least consider them in a different way.

We don't have enough information to make these final calls yet, but we're gonna make those final calls and we're gonna make decisions based on some of these moves without having all the information we need in place just based on what our expectations are. I think that's all. One of the great fun parts of football this time of year is kind of sorting through these things and figuring 'em out.

Jeff: Yeah. 'cause we don't have any real games to talk about anymore, so we have to project what they might look like perhaps in the in the future. And, and as a long suffering Dallas Cowboys fan, I can tell any other fan base that you do not want your owner being the face of your franchise for very long or for 30 years as the.

Bob: I'll just point at that, the point at that change last year, I mean, what were the expectations for Brian Schottenheimer? I mean, it was clearly not the, you know, one of the high expectation outcomes. And I think, you know, we can go back and look at people on our own football guy, staff who, Jason Wood was not thrilled by that move and wasn't impressed.

Jeff Blaylock was not either I'm, uh, effectively told here. Uh, but, but, but like, you know, sometimes coaches figure things out over the course of time. Players get better and they, you know, so that little bit of continuity they had was great for the offensive side of the ball, not the defense. And, and ideally that's perfect for our fantasy needs, you know, the bad defense paired with a, a powerhouse offense.

So, so yeah, I think some of these outcomes, you know, that where we have perceptions, we, you know, we should always be mindful that, that things can work out better or worse, said Pete Carroll than we expected.

Jeff: It exactly. I mean, continuity on offense. That's certainly, you know, something that that dynasty analysts would love to say. Fantasy analysts generally would love to say happens because then we could just use whatever happened last year and plug it in and say that's what's gonna happen this next year.

But we know that that isn't the case. And particularly now that we are, we're thinking about you've got, you know, since 2024, you've got 20 teams. We've hired at least one new head coach and this year alone, half of the league. Has a new offensive playcaller, uh, 21 teams out of 32 have a new offensive coordinator, whether they call plays or not.

And when you look across the, the, the whole spectrum, you, you've got these longer term guys that seem to be an increasingly rare species. You're just talking about two in the head coaching world in, in Harbaugh and Tomlin in the play collar world. You've got Sean McVay, Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, and Zac Taylor.

Collectively, these guys have 29 years as their teams play callers. The other 28 play callers in the league collectively have 21 years with their current teams. And Kevin O'Connell's got four of those. So that's, that's a, that's a lot of turnover and a lot of instability and a lot of discontinuity from one year to the next.

But the question is, as that is increasingly becoming the model for this NFL that's always chasing other people's tails. Is that instability good for fantasy or is it bad for fantasy?

Bob: it can be both. It is, the circumstances are gonna dictate, right, like the landing spot for these new play callers, the talent on hand, the, you know, the, the, the supporting cast for that primary talent. All those things are gonna matter and some of them are gonna get much better situations than others,

Jeff: Yeah, I mean, and I think that, you know, shotten Heimer may have benefited from that as well. That was a very talented cast that he inherited. And then George Pickens has a career year on top of that. It's just don't look at the defensive side of the ball because at least we know we can score 35 points.

We might give up 30 or 40 or 70, but we can score 35 and in Dynasty and in fantasy football, generally that's all we care about is can you score 35?

Bob: Right. I think that's the, the second year for shot. And I figuring out what they're gonna do with Pickens is gonna be a big deal. We'll see if they franchise tag him or not. I mean, either way he's gonna make a lot of money this year. Do the Cowboys want to tie up a $140 million? Uh, and salary on three players will help the salary cap's $300 million this year maybe. So

Jeff: Maybe so maybe they do some restructuring too for those watching Listing. This show is being recorded on February 18, so anything that we say or talk about, including whether or not Pickens will be franchised, may have been decided by the point you are watching or

Bob: He is supposed to be,

Jeff: is

Bob: have been told he'll be.

Jeff: yes. We, we, we are not, we are not oblivious to current events. We just can't be that, uh, tuned into what may happen tomorrow or two weeks from now. But we do try. We do try. So speaking of not being able to see the future, we've got four first time play callers, at least four, but four that I was able to, to identify.

That's in Baltimore. You've got Declan Doyle, you've got Brian Fleury in Seattle, you've got David Blough in Washington, and you've got Sean Mannion in Philadelphia, who has already done a one year experiment with the first time play collar and, and that didn't work out terribly well for them. Can we expect anything from these four guys in these offenses with this, uh, uh, these unknown play callers in place?

Bob: Yeah, Doyle gets a good headstart, right? Lamar Jackson is called and, and we'll see Derrick Henry, you know, probably be a factor as well. I have questions about the rest of the supporting cast. I mean, Mark Andrews getting up there is Dave Flowers is a very good player. Who's not a very good player every week.

Maybe that's a function of the offense and something that we can figure out. I like that. Doyle had a year working at the side of, uh, Ben Johnson. Uh, Tanner Engstrand would like you to know that doesn't work for everybody. So as he was fired from the Jets after his first season, so look, I think Doyle becomes one of the youngest play callers in the NFL, what, 29, 28, 29 years

Jeff: Something like that. Yeah.

Bob: Um, so he needs a little bit of advantage. I I do think he gets it. It's a good, it's a decent offensive line to, you know, starting point there is, is helpful. So, but Lamar Jackson's a difference maker. If he can make a connection with Lamar Jackson, they're on the same page. They get together and decide what the best offense or how this offense is gonna be designed, uh, that'll work out reasonably well.

I think he has the pieces in place. We don't know if it'll work out that way. But, but, but of all these guys, I think he has some of the best pieces, uh, to start, to start with.

Jeff: Right. And of course in Seattle, again, you're inheriting a Super Bowl champion team, albeit with a potentially different roster because they've got some contracts they need to figure out, including, uh, Kenneth Walker III who, uh, because Zach Charbonnet was out in the playoffs but wasn't during the season. You had a fully healthy, fully charged walker being able to be such a difference maker in the playoffs may not be able to expect that in the future, whether he is in Seattle or somewhere else. 

So you've got San Francisco's former tight end coach and run coordinator very much off the Shanahan tree, Brian Fleury now in Seattle. Do you, do you see changes coming to that offense without whether, whether or not Walker remains, Charbonnet may still be there as well. So do you see any changes coming to that offense, and if so, what, what's the kind of prognosis for the, the assets on the team from a dynasty standpoint?

Bob: I think the desired outcome in Seattle was not a huge change from last year. I thought they might promote from with him for that reason. They essentially did, you know, another Shanahan mind who has worked with Kubiak before, um, and a run game coordinator. I think they wanna stick with the same approach.

Take, keep some pressure off Sam Darn, as much as they can. He can turn the football over on occasion, 20 times last year, regular season. So, um, and keep the running game going and we'll see. I, I still think there are, we'll see if they keep Kenneth Walker. My feeling is they will, uh, kind of re reach an agreement.

We, the reporting is he won't get franchise tag that doesn't preclude him from sticking around. I think it was Zach Charbonnet's, you know, recovery from knee injury. That's gonna be a bit of an issue. So they'll make an effort to keep him, but I think Flo's in a good spot. There's a good cast. Uh, John Schneider seemingly realized last year that offensive lines do matter, uh, and put some effort into that.

That's not been his history as you know. He likes stealing. He's willing to roll out with guys, you know, off the street or just fresh off the tractor on the farm, wherever you know he'll roll with. So, so, so I think they're in a good spot. I think Fleury is in a good spot and I think Seattle's still in a good spot with the talent on hand, assuming they keep most of major pieces.

Shahid, Rashid Shaheed also a guy that'll be a free agent this year. I don't know if he made himself any money. You know, with his short tenure in Seattle, maybe he follows, you know, Kubiak, that's been his path so far from New Orleans to Seattle now. Kubiak in, in Las Vegas. We'll see how that works out. But, uh, but maybe they keep him, I, I think he did change the offense last year.

He opened things up for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but notice noticeably when he came on, even if he didn't catch a ton of passes, he opened things up. So I think that's, I think that's a good spot for Fleury. I don't know a whole ton about him, you know, just in general. I know his path to success. I do have, I am familiar with the coaching staff there.

Played high school football with, uh, the, uh, head assistant head coach, Leslie Frazier, who's kind of been a big part of that offensive line and running game as well. And I, they kind of, you know, this is kind of the, the program there. Right. And I think you'll see the same thing. We see, uh, we've seen with Kubiak taking it to other places.

We'll see Fleury extend building on that in Seattle.

Jeff: Yeah, and, and we've had these two examples, you know, Baltimore last year, the offense wasn't great, but I mean, they, they have historically been, you know, pretty good, at least from a fantasy standpoint. Seattle, of course, just won the Super Bowl. So you have coordinators who move on, you know, in part because of successes of their offenses.

Then you have coordinators who move on because the offense just wasn't good enough, fast enough. And I think that was definitely the situation in Philadelphia where they brought in, uh, former packers, uh, quarterback coach Sean Mannion. Now Philly, as I mentioned in the top, experimented with the first time play collar last season, the results were quite underwhelming to the point that the fan base and others were screaming for Sirianni's head, it's like he just one you a Super Bowl, calm down.

Different outcome this time in Philadelphia, or more of the same question marks with that offense?

Bob: Well, they've gone to the Dak Prescott School of every other year in Philadelphia right? Like they get it right every other year. Uh, so I'm hoping this is the year I, I, you know, this seems like a little bit of a reach for me. Uh, we'll find out soon enough. I don't feel great about the changes that, that are coming with Mannion, which are the changes, the offensive line.

They lost their offensive line coach who, and, and mostly because Mannion wanted to bring in his own people who are familiar with the scheme he wants to employ. So I thought that other scheme worked pretty well when it was working. So, but it didn't work well last year. Right. So we gotta be honest. And there were some injuries and reasons for that.

And, and we'll see if they, he can keep, uh, Jalen Hurts on point. You know, how much of a factor will the tush push be? I mean, that's been a huge part of, of Hurts' value is his scoring in, you know, in red zone situations. So, so that, this is a lot of questions to me. This is the year they get it, right? If we go back to the past, you know, we go back from

Jeff: Every other year.

Bob: right. Every other year. And so, uh, uh. This feels more Brian Johnson than it does, uh, Kellen Moore to me, you know, just on the surface, but I hope I'm wrong. The talent obviously there, that's the big key. I mean, the offensive line wasn't great last year. Lane Johnson, I think he, his, he said he is gonna return, I believe he did.

I mean, uh, the pieces are in place there for this to be a phenomenal offense. We'll see what happens with AJ Brown. You know, a lot of discussion about what his, you know, future holds and, and are. Would they be willing to trade him? I suppose they would if they got a huge haul. Uh, but also probably be perfectly fine having him.

You look back last year, I think some of the outcomes, you know, it seemed. There was a point in the season where it seemed like AJ Brown was gonna be a huge disappointment in the end. He ended up returning almost exactly what his a DP was. Right. Finishes what? Wide receiver 11 or 12. And that was right where we were drafting him, you know, and lab cocky wishes he could have had that level and, you know, the guy that we were drafting in the same range.

Uh, so yeah, so I'm like, I, I don't know that this materially changes my outlook for any of these players. I'm looking for a discount on Sequent Barkley. I hope for discount on AJ Brown. Don't think I'll get it that much based on the early drafts I've done. And, uh, and, and also like if AJ Brown moved on, I'd be, uh, really interested to see what Devonte Smith could do as, as the alpha in an offense.

And, and maybe we'll get a little, maybe we'll get a look at that. I don't know, but I, but I don't have great hopes for, for Mannion.

Jeff: Yeah, stick with them for just a second because you and I both, uh, during the season, particularly early on and in the preseason, we're, we're very much on the, Jalen Hurts is a better passer than people think he is. He just has not had to be before last season, he really needed to be more than he had been, but that offensive line really didn't do him any favors.

And then of course, the rushing, his rushing went down a bit from the year before. Is, is Mannion being a former quarterback coach? Is he the kind of guy who might be able to. Bring that passing game that we, you and I think is there, bring that back into the play. Especially if, uh, if, you know, uh, if Barkley looks more like last year's Barkley and not the Barkley of two years ago when he was setting records.

Bob: Uh, yeah, so I, I, I, I think the problem for Jalen Hurts has been volume more than anything else, right? I mean, they were, they would go so run heavy at times there. It wasn't unusual for them to have 20 attempts or fewer than 30 attempts, most games. And I think the games, when they ask him to do more, he does more and we get phenomenal results from it.

So I'd be perfectly happy if they do, man. You also a former quarterback, by the way, not just a quarterback's coach. So, uh, has played the position fairly recently, so I think that, you know, that makes it interesting as well. So like, like, I don't know how much of this game is, you know, like the personal relationships to develop between players and their coaches.

If you're on the same page. He kind of worked through things. I mean, there's, like we mentioned Ben Johnson, I don't think he's a, he's anybody's best friend, but he's a good coach who develops relationships based on, you know, hard work, mutual trust, uh, high expectations, uh, you know, things like that. And the players respond to that, to his coaching, or they didn't Chicago.

Well, if Jalen Hurts' response to this coaching, well, we might get a, we might be super surprised in a good way. Right. And I think that, and, and look, we could say the same about Lamar Jackson, right? I don't know exactly how he's gonna react to having a younger guy. And maybe he'll love it. Maybe he'll, he'll connect with him a little better and, and feel more comfortable with him.

And, and so, I mean, those are the things we're gonna have to find out. OTAs begin soon. Minicamps will begin shortly after the draft, and we'll start getting a feel for that flavor. But right now, based on the flying blind aspects, we're looking at the pieces in place and kind of assessing what they're capable of.

In Mannion's case, I don't know what the heck his offense got. I mean, I guess I do know what his of offense gonna be. It's so, it's a version of the McVay, you know, coming from Green Bay is gonna be the mouth for kind of McVay style office. So, so we have some expectations there and we'll have to find out if, if Jalen Hurts is the guy who can, who can execute that.

Jeff: Yeah. And, and while we're on the subject of former quarterbacks quarterback coaches, now as OCs, you've got David Blough in Washington as their new play caller, and you've got a significant dynasty asset in Jayden Daniels there who we are hoping has a much better season than he had last year. I know he carried, uh, my Fantasy Dynasty teams to a lot of 6-8 and 7-7 records last season.

So I am hoping for, uh, an even year magic from him as well. Is, is Blough the kind of guy that can do that for Jayden Daniels?

Bob: Yeah, a lot of talk about going more under center and you know, more heavily targeting Terry McLaurin. What, what I say, 10 targets a game. I'm all for that. Uh, would love that. And so, yeah, I do think, like I'm, I'm gonna give Jayden Daniels a bit of a pass. I mean, injuries happen. I, I had concerns, my concerns about him as a rookie where he did not shy away from contact.

I don't know that his injuries is here were, 'cause he was shying away from contact or not. It's just 'cause he was athletic and running right. The twisted knee, the elbow, just on a weird tackle. I don't think he was out there seeking out contact. So the things that concern me about him, the slight build and the willingness to engage.

I don't think, you know, college, yes, you can survive that. I don't think you're gonna survive that. Uh, constantly, consistently as a pro so Blough can help him understand that and better how to navigate the, you know, that portion of the game. Again, a recent, and boy, the talk man, like Blough, I've heard some lofty discussions about him offensive, you know, his offensive mind, all these things that previously we had not heard.

So I'm like open to it, but also I'd like to see a little taste of it. Uh, and the things he said early on, I think, uh, have kind of interested me. And part of that is, you know, the way that they may be planned to make some adjustments to the offense, to work better in, uh, to better suit Daniel's abilities.

And so I'm all about that. And we'll see. I mean, I guess that's the thing. If it's gonna work out, it's what, what's the, I, I think the big plan was they're gonna run more plays under setter. You know, like, will that make him a, you know, will that, will that help him out? I don't know. It remains me seen they had like, what, 192 plays under center over the past two seasons, 158, fewer than the team of the next few.

So obviously it was a big deal and something they felt they needed to adjust. Uh, we'll see how, we'll see how Daniels reacts to it and what he gets out of it.

Jeff: Yeah, I mean certainly with, with Blough and, and I think Declan Doyle in particular, if the, the, the opportunity for success is there, you've got weapons that are MVP caliber, including a defending or former MVP in, in Jackson. Knowing that the league really loves these young, hot offensive coordinators and knowing that they will probably be another six to eight head coach openings next season, these two can certainly put themselves in a very short line, uh, toward an early head coaching gig, although probably not with a team that would give them the opportunity for success that they have right now with the players that they've

Bob: So I asked Michael Florio how that works out. Um, so right, like I, I do think there's a lot of, no offense to the Arizona Cardinal

Jeff: No, no, none, I'm sure Taken,

Bob: I'm sure they, I'm sure they agree. Um, but, but I think that, that seems to be like, and, and I do think that's like as much emphasis as put as this league puts on quarterbacks or getting the, getting the quarterback and building around him and that being the strength, having coaches come in, who are the play callers, head coaches who come in as the play callers so you can get that continuity if they have success.

And, and honestly, I think we may see more teams being willing to move on from players, coaches, just like they are now players. I mean, dolphins might just spend $99 million this year to get rid of, to aton of wall. Right. As the cap increases, there is no cap on coaching. So, you know, the one hit wonder in Las Vegas, you know, the Pete Carroll experiment was burned out quickly and they moved on.

Now they're trying the, the younger offensive playcaller. I think it does make a lot of sense to me as someone who's way interested in offensive production, uh, to hook these kind of coaches, these kind of young offensive minds up with people. And, and we'll see. I, I'm, I'm optimistic about some of these guys.

Jeff: Yeah, I think it was, uh, uh, Jason Wood, who is our colleague at Footballguys who, who floated a stat and I, I don't have it exactly, so I'm gonna say about, so that I am in the neighborhood. He said about four of the head coaches in this league do not have previous offensive play calling experience as of right now.

So it's clearly a desired trait if you can call plays and can manage an offense. That seems to be where the league has gone. And of course, as fantasy football guys, we love that because an emphasis on offense means more fantasy points and, and that's what we need. Now we were talking about, you mentioned LaFleur, uh, just a second ago.

Uh, we've got these 12 playcallers who are new to their teams, but not necessarily to play calling. I thought we would just run through those and I was gonna do it alphabetically and that's great because that's Arizona and that's Mike LaFleur, who you just mentioned, the former Rams and Jets OC, who is now, uh, there in Arizona and has control of that franchise.

That's where a play, kind of a game of, you know, is this good for Dynasty? Is it bad for Dynasty or is it too early to tell?

Bob: Well, it's obviously too early to tell, but also it's probably good, like if a part of the Game of Dynasty is being ahead of things and like the McVay tree has had a lot of success, right? And they tend to run offenses that we like to invest in. And whether it ends up being, you know, fantastic for the organization and that's the, you know, kind of the rub of these situations.

I mean, the organization has to be successful enough, uh, to get something done and, and, and we want the offense to be successful enough. I thought last year's offense in Arizona was perfectly fine, right? And, and, but that, that's gonna be the open questions. They have decisions to make a quarterback, uh, with Kyler Murray, a lot of talk that they're willing to move on from him.

They'd love to trade him. It's possible they could even release him, which would obviously play into Murray's hands. It'd be great to be a free agent and free to sign with wherever you want. Uh, I don't know if he'll get that. And then what they do with the bridge quarterback, Jacoby Brissett more than served our needs last season.

Over the course of his starts, he was, you know, quarterback won, almost put up quarterback one numbers top 12 numbers almost every single week. And did great things for Trey McBride, Michael Wilson. Uh, we'd love to see that carry over. There's talent there, right? We saw it. I mean, maybe some untapped talent that, that we learned about in the form of Wilson.

So we'll see what the backfield looks like. I'd like to see more about Trey Benson. I'm interested in him. I'm interested in him. I'm mostly interested 'cause I don't know where that knee ended up last year. It seemed like there was a setback and if at some point we hear he had another procedure. It wouldn't be terribly surprising.

This is that season watch out at the scouting combine where every GM and coach that's there gets a turn at the podium. You will hear more truths told during those two days of coaching and gm uh, press conferences than you'll hear probably the rest of the year combined. Uh, and a lot of times we'll get these little tidbits on, oh yeah, he had a procedure.

We'll, he'll be fine. You know, so we'll see if that's the case with Trey Benson. It seems like James Conner's future is up in the air, probably as it should be, but beyond that, I mean, Marvin Harrison, Jr. Uh, you know, our friend Matt Waldman, our rookie scouting portfolio colleague Will, will tell you he's got a cure.

The clap attack issues that he's having right now. We've seen, you know, like Quentin Johnston seem to, seems to have moved back to him coaching and, and, and effort. You know, can take care of that. And all the other skills are there for Marvin Harrison. But in the meantime, Michael Wilson's a hell of a player.

And it just reminds me of going back to serious coverage of the draft. The year he came out, that was Jeff Mann's favorite wide receiver right. In that class. He loved him. And so, uh, there's a lot of talent there. They, I do like some of the, you know, the, the offensive line has great young, they've got a great young tackle in Paris Johnson.

So, I mean, I think they've got, I, I like the pieces, right? Like quarterback needs to be figured out. I think Jacoby Brissett could be a bridge. We'll see if the Cardinals think that, I mean, he is an older guy. They wore what, one in 11 with him as the starter last year. Whatever, whatever it was doing for us, it wasn't doing great shakes for the Cardinals.

But, but that, that to be decided. So the, this, the issues that quarterback will continue, but I think it, from a dynasty perspective, I think this move is good news for Trey McBride. Like, you know, look, we're gonna be paying the historic premium for him no matter what. Coming off the season he did. Is he gonna get 169 targets every year?

I don't think so, but it's in his, it's in his wheelhouse. So, uh, you know, we're gonna be locked in on him as one of the top, one of the elite tight ends. Marvin Harrison, Jr. Just based on his pedigree coming in and the talent coming in, we're gonna hope he improves. I might be looking to buy him if, uh, if I thought there was an owner who felt like he, they weren't getting what they wanted out of him, or were discouraged by Michael Wilson's ascension, uh, that might be a, might be a place where you could find, make a little ground.

I think that's all we're looking for this time of year, right? A little bit of a discount or a little bit of a chance to, to cash in on somebody. And so, uh, I wouldn't be averse to cashing in on Michael Wilson if I had him. If someone came and offered me the right, you know, the right compensation, I would probably be, be open to that as well, not knowing how the quarterback's gonna play out.

I think there's still a lot of uncertainty in the outcomes there.

Jeff: Yeah, Arizona was just a fascinating, uh, case study in, in, in how dynasty managers could read Tea Leaves and capitalize, because Brissette and Wilson both were largely on the available on the waiver wire or deep on somebody's bench at the beginning of last season. And, and then they became, uh, potential league winners for people who picked them up.

So certainly an offense to, to watch with that. And, and the question of quarterback, 'cause if Brissette is not retained, then he becomes, start able somewhere else and a much cheaper option, I would imagine, than Tagovailoa, or Murray or some of the other quarterbacks whose, uh, hold on, starting gig is a bit more tenuous, which leads us to, uh, Atlanta.

And I'm not saying that Michael Pennix Jr's, hold on the starting gig is necessarily tenuous, but we knew how it's not firm either. And, and we've now got Cleveland's former OC and Cleveland's OC has an experience with having, uh, 11 quarterbacks in the room and

Bob: Jacoby Brissett, one of them.

Jeff: And Jacoby Brissett was one of them. And that is Tommy Rees. Uh,

Bob: I don't think Rees worked with him, but certainly, uh, he's been through the Cleveland Mill. Um, I, I, Rees comes into a good situation. Number one, Kevin Stefanski iss, you know, the architect of the offense, and we'll take over the play calling if you give him reason to, right. We've seen that before. Uh, and he handed it over to Rees, and I think that's probably, you know, the, the wise choice.

But, but again, he comes in with the advantage of some high end talent at, at a handful of positions and a great offensive line. Uh, so I think there's some, you know, or at least the, the personnel on the offensive line to be great. Um, getting the band back together up front, uh, with, uh, with, with Bill Callahan.

I think that's a huge plus, right? Uh, a huge coaching plus, I know it wasn't great for you people in Tennessee, uh, but he is still, Bill Callahan had a great run in Cleveland and is, you know, considered one of the best offensive line coaches in football. I think, uh, Matt. Kind of put it like, uh, our guy football guys kind of put it like, he's a, like a, a one and a half at coach, right?

Like you just bump everything up. So, so I think that works in their favor. They've got great receiving talent. We'll see what they do with Kyle Pitts, that'll be part of this equation. Um, you know, no tag for him as of today. We're just two days into that open window. So as we record this, so we'll see if that comes and, and we finally got what we want outta Kyle Pitys, that Kevin Stefanski offense could lean heavily on the tight end or at least make good use of the tight end.

So I'm optimistic there. If he sticks around, I'm gonna be, continue to be in on Drake London, regardless of the quarterback. And, and if it's Michael Penix even more so. Right? Like, I mean, I think that's the, that's what you're looking for. And of course Bijan's gonna be fine. Probably maybe even in a better spot if, if Tyler Allgeier moves on as a free agent,

Jeff: Yeah. And we, we hope that Pitts is not like the Olympics and comes once every four years because, uh, that would be somewhat disappointing as, as those us who who have been on the pits bandwagon at some point are like, Hey, oh, okay. Yeah, it's back to normal. But you said words that, that are not normally said in the English language, and that is "successful run at Cleveland."

Uh, which you, you mentioned just a moment ago. So let's move on to Cleveland where you now have Todd Monken, Baltimore's former offensive coordinator, and we talked about some dysfunction there in Baltimore that, that was, has lots of, lots of palace intrigue that most of us will never be privy to, but clearly a lot going on behind the scenes there.

Monken lands in Cleveland and we've talked about guys coming in with, with successful talent and opportunities around him. Now we're gonna talk about Cleveland and what is Monken's outlook there?

Bob: Oh, it's, it is Cleveland. That's what his outlook is, right? So. You know, the, the issue that's been an issue in Cleveland since they returned to the NFL has been the quarterback. And that's doesn't appear to be any end to that, that we, we can tell, I I, you know, to the point where it's not unusual to hear people discussing the possibility of Deshaun Watson being the starting quarterback for this team with a straight face.

And, and some of those people are the people who cover that team on a daily basis. And, and certainly they've learned and they've become cynical as they can be. But, but the talk was that the Watson returned to workouts late last year and looked like the best quarterback on the field. Well, that's a low bar. I get it.

Jeff: Not surprising.

Bob: but also, I mean, the investment is in him is not going away. So if you thought that a change in coaching or whatever can make this work, but in the meantime, that's gonna be the big problem. You're, you like the, they brought in the run game coordinator from Baltimore as the offensive coordinator.

Um, I think that, you know, maybe bodes well for Quinshon Judkins, but his health is still an issue. Right. So we have to. Get questions about that. The offensive line still questions there, the supportive cast. David Njoku will have said he will not be back. I love Harold Fannin probably, regardless of the situation, he just seems like a, an outstanding chess piece that I'm pretty sure Todd Monken will pick up on pretty quickly and probably already has.

And, uh, and go from there. I think, you know, from a dynasty pers you know, perspective, that's the lone piece that I think anyone's gonna have interest in. And is Harold Fannin Jr. And I don't think, you know, if you're looking to gain some kind of edge on this, I don't think you get it. Get any edge. I don't think his value, I don't think you're gonna get anything for trading him right now.

Like Right, the value's not gonna be high given the uncertainty. Uh, you know, you're, you don't want to give him away because of that. So, uh, you know, he seems like he's gonna be a hole for me. And outside of that, you know, Quinshon Judkins, his health is gonna be an issue. Uh, the workload probably will not as long as he's healthy.

So, so I think he's probably the only other guy on the team that I have a ton of interest in. Sorry, Jerry Jeudy, I don't mean anything. It just hasn't worked and until I understand what the quarterback situation is or until Jameis Winston is back as your signal caller, sir, I.

Jeff: Bring Jameis in. He is one of the best things that ever happens to, to fantasy assets is having Jameis Winston back there. Yeah. So swapping quarterbacks doesn't tend to work out very well or, or trying to get someone else's cast off, but it happened to work great in one instance, which was between Detroit and the LA Rams.

So you've got Jared Goff still in Detroit with an unquestioned hold on that, back on that, uh, quarterbacking spot and that offense. Very talented. You have Arizona's now former offensive coordinator, Drew Petzing coming in, uh, to work with Dan Campbell on that offense.

Bob: Look, whatever we wanna say about the Arizona Cardinals, I don't think Drew Petzing's play calling was a problem, right? I think he maximized what they had there and made great use of the running backs in particular. Uh, and the tight end. Uh, you know, obviously. So I don't think this is a bad move, right? Like, uh, you know, they're gonna run the offense that they've been running.

It was some form of it. I don't think they're gonna switch to that kind of Cleveland style, you know, run heavy and they might look, maybe this is great news for Jahmyr Gibbs. Probably not great news for David Montgomery. 'cause I think he may be applying his trade elsewhere. In the future, but, uh, but, but I do think, you know, like the piece is there, are we dialing back on our Amon-Ra St. Brown?

No. Are we dialing back on the possibility that Jameson Williams tail end of the season was a, was a thing and not just a momentary blip? I think it is a thing. I think this is, yeah. Desired outcome. We saw the shifts come when Dan Campbell took over his play collar. They went heavy. And I think that's part of this, you know, this hiring is, Hey, we want to make use of the piece.

I mean, Dan Campbell still is gonna have a big sway on this. And, and, and, and for whatever we thought about the offense last year. I mean, I think they were only down like, what, three points a game, like from a whopping 32 down to 29, that's not a, you know, not a, that's not a bad move. So I think this is probably a, a a no no law.

I don't consider this a losing move. I don't think, like, you know, John Morton obviously didn't work out. I think this will work out better than that. And if it doesn't, hey, Dan Campbell's there to take over. So I think from, from our perspective, everything's status quo.

Jeff: Yeah. With, with Campbell's experience and willingness to call plays, I think pet sing's on a pretty short leash, but I don't think that that's gonna matter because the talent around him, I think he's gonna bank better use of it than, than his predecessor did. 

And now we get, uh, to the LA Chargers and one of my favorite hires of the cycle now, when I was lost on Football Diehards and asked who my favorite hire was, this hadn't happened yet, so I didn't get to mention this one.

But we now have Mike McDaniel, the former Dolphins coach, that when his offenses click, they are beautiful to behold and wondrous for fantasy. And then when they don't click, they look like last year's dolphins. So, uh, how, how does McDaniel fit in with the Chargers? What does it mean for Herbert and, and McConkey in particular, and some of the other pieces that are there in LA?

Bob: Well, I think as long as the offensive line stays healthy, the, for starters, I mean the baseline is, is monstrous there. The McDaniel hire adds to that, right? We've seen the Greg Roman, Jim Harbaugh pairing for many years now. It's been. Pretty successful, right? Uh, but I think this takes it to another level.

Um, I think what you said, I mean, it's an innovative scheme that, that Mike McDaniel runs, uh, loved the way it first worked in Miami. When you take, you know, some of these assets with all the speed, you have them moving at full speed when they hit the line of scrimmage, uh, turned out to be just, you know, using motion.

And, and I just, I thought it was a, it was a whizzbang scheme and I can think of some of the pieces here that will benefit, not the least of which being Justin Herbert, um, but also all those wide receivers we'll see with McConkey. I mean, it's got, we're seeing more, we're seeing less slot production this year.

I know JJ Zachariason re talked about this recently. You know, the, just the overall slot production's down, a lot of it has to do with the use of three tight ends or heavy tight end sets. And so maybe we see more of that. I don't know if that's gonna be the case, uh, for the Chargers. So like, I think I'd be looking to buy.

Buy McConkey right now based on just the disappointing season alone. Uh, and maybe you don't get that. 'cause everyone's gonna see the same thing we're seeing, which is, hey, optimism for a turnaround. I don't know if he's ever gonna be that guy though. Uh, in this offense that we drafted would be last year. I just don't know if he's gonna be an alpha wide receiver or what.

You know, we were drafting him in the middle of the second round. Uh, you know, the numbers might be solid, but I don't know if we should be drafting 'em that high and I don't think we will be this year. And again, if somebody's looking to move on from him after being disappointed, I will happily take that on, uh, with the upside that comes with just the change in offense and, and again, cannot stress this enough.

This offense was not horrible until week nine, uh, when Joe Alt went down for the second time. When it just fell apart, they couldn't protect the quarterback. Uh, and it just, it all fell apart. And so, uh, if they can rectify that situation up front, I don't know where Rashawn Slater's gonna be. That was a pretty serious injury he had last year, but it was at the very what end of training camp.

So he has a chance to be back. They get alt back. Uh, that's a, that's a huge bump alone without even taking the coaching into account. Omarion Hampton's in a really good spot. I like, I don't know if we won't see a, a still a fair amount of Kimani Vidal as well. I mean, he looked like he a great compliment. Uh, but I know a lot of people are, have really high expectations for Hampton this year.

In the first series host draft we did, I think Howard Bender took him with the fourth pick overall, uh, Omarion Hampton, which is a little aggressive for me, but also I can, you know, I think you could make the case. It's not indefensible. Uh, so a lot to like in LA with Mike McDaniel coming in, coming in there.

Jeff: Well, and I'm a believer too of get your guy. So there's a great chance that Hampton's not available when that, when the fourth pick comes back around as the ninth pick in the next round. So you just go ahead and get your guy, one guy we, we did not mention in that, but I think we should spend a little time on, because McDaniel has had such success making stars out of this position is tied in and Oronde Gadsden, uh, and what that might mean for him to have someone with McDaniel's mind now driving that offense

Bob: You know, Gadsden's, he's a unique physical talent and that seems to be the thing that McDaniel's best at making these kind of chess pieces outta these guys, putting them in positions and give creating mismatches. I think we'll see a lot of that for him. And, uh, and maybe other tight is there, we'll see, we'll find out if that's true.

But, but Gadsden's obviously the one we'd be most interested in. We saw the upside last year. He is very good at running down the middle of the field and, and creating separation and, uh, can ultimately be a great red zone weapon. So like that we're gonna, you know, kind of at some point we're gonna assume Keenan Allen's not gonna be around.

That's gonna open up a lot of targets there. Uh, so I, I would expect a, I would expect a big leap for Gadsden with or without the change of coordinators, I would expect the development, but obviously McDaniel's history of making these guys, you know. Look, look what he did with a narrow band of Darren Waller last year at like 80 years old.

Jeff: Right.

Bob: Overstating the case, but like he is more than capable of scheming up ways to take advantage of these unique physical talents.

Jeff: Yep. Let's move on to, to elsewhere in that division to Las Vegas. We've mentioned this name a couple of times and, and where we also had to talk about coordinators. We don't know a whole lot about. We know a whole lot about Klint Kubiak and the styles of offense that he runs. Uh, another sort of unsettled quarterback situation, at least to the extent that you ask yourself, is Mendoza going to start week one or are they going to try something else and, and bring him on later in the year or next year?

Las Vegas, Klint Kubiak, uh, what are we looking for there?

Bob: We're looking for Mendoza to be the day one starter. I mean, like, I, you know, I, I don't know why else you, how else you would do it at this point. I, Matt Waldman again, somewhere out there is like, ears are burning. 'cause that would not be his desired outcome. You would like to see every quarterback get an opportunity.

You're not gonna see him get an opportunity. Uh, but you'll see him come into a situation where they're gonna lean heavily on the running game. They've gotta work on their offensive line. That's was a big, huge problem last year. They bring in Rick Dennison a, you know, a long time, highly successful offensive line coach, not as successful a play caller and he won't be doing that.

Here he is running the offensive line. That, that, that to me is the starting point for all this. There's some super talented players in this offense in form of Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty. We'll see if maybe there's moves to be made at wide receiver. I don't know that the Tre Tucker-Jack Bech Duo is the duo.

We'll see. And, uh, you know, they're the free agent class is not overwhelming. Right. Uh, outside of like, I think people are gonna be. People are gonna be paying a lot of money for Alec Pierce. I don't know if the Raiders will be that team, but they have a lot of money. Uh, so beyond that, I look at the list and I mean, you know, you know, is anyone like super intriguing?

Wan'Dale Robinson, Deebo Samuel, Shahid maybe makes sense. Tyquan Thornton I think is gonna get some. Get some interest, like branded io is gonna be out there. Is he a guy that you would maybe wanna try and rehabilitate his career? Tyreek Hill now available. Is he a guy? I mean, I don't know. You got Tre Tucker.

Why do you need Tyreek Hill? You got a really fast guy who's maybe less trouble? Calvin Ridley's getting up there in age. I don't know that he'll be really appealing. You trade for AJ Brown? I don't know about, I don't know if that goes Keon Coleman probably available in a trade. I don't know if he's the, the piece that's gonna set that off.

So I think there's still some answers to come at the wide receiver position, but the guys that we're interested in, I think, uh, Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers. Brock Bowers is just a different cat, right? I mean, like, you know, just, I, I didn't have a lot of 'em last year 'cause I hate playing, paying the historic premium.

Uh, so it'll be the same reason. I don't have a lot of trade McBride this year. It's not that I don't think they're gonna be fantastic, it's just, man, the price that I'm looking to gain a little value, maybe a round or so later. And looking for the next. Of those guys, or at least the, the, the, the next tier, the top end of the next tier of TEs at that case.

But, but I wouldn't knock anyone I'd know in that first draft. I did, Trey McBride came off early second round, which I, I think you'll, you'll see a lot. Bowers came off in the middle and probably, probably not a bad price for him. I mean, the year before we were seeing him go, you know, a little bit earlier.

So coming off the injuries, et cetera, he's still a player that's just a difference maker. Uh, you know, truly the alpha wide receiver on that team and capable of being that whoever they add or don't add or whatever moves they make, Brock Bowers is just a different level of play at that position.

Jeff: absolutely. Yeah. I think that this is to, to me, one of the most fascinating, uh, things to watch in the off season is what does Las Vegas do with that offensive line? Because we know that Mendoza is not the best when he's pressured, that he's not the most noble, uh, mobile. He is noble, he is not the most mobile guy.

Uh, he's not particularly great at creating things off script and off camber. Uh, and then you have Ashton Jeanty, who for at least half the season had one of the most remarkable stats that I've ever seen, which is he had more yards after contact than he had yards, which is almost impossible. So that tells you how, how good of a player he is, that he can turn a four yard loss into a one yard gain, which doesn't do great for dynasty or for fantasy purposes, but, but there's that talent there.

So what they do at that line, I think is gonna be really critical to the early success. Because if Kubiak can scheme up anything, but if, if Mendoza only has one and a half seconds to process and throw, and Jeanty gets hit five yards behind the line of scrimmage, there's not a whole lot that that offense can do.

Bob: It wasn't until like he broke out, kind of had the big week four of Chicago who was horrible and, and that that flopped the, those numbers that like we know if you give Ashton Jeanty an opportunity and maybe we won't be as interested in how he stands before the snap or, or what his personal preferences are for playing.

We'll just let him play football. That wide zone scheme that Klint Kubiak brings in, I think that'll create some lanes for him and, uh, and uh, we'll see if he's as patient or under as Kenneth Walker. Uh, but, but I think, I think it'll be perfectly fine. Like, you know, if you're looking at guys with superpowers, his superpower is breaking tackles and, uh, giving him an opportunity to do that somewhere beyond the line of scrimmage.

A good plan.

Jeff: that'd be, that'd be great. Uh, let's head over to across the coast, across the country to Miami. We've got Houston's former offensive coordinator, which should already start scaring some people in Bobby Slowik. Uh, do you, are you more optimistic about him in Miami than say I am? Based on what? Miami has their odd quarterback situation and Slowik's record in Houston with that offense.

Bob: Slowik's record in Houston was not horrible. It was his relationship with CJ Stroud that was so ultimately, what did him in, I mean, CJ Stroud had his great rookie season under sleek, and so maybe that was a one hit wonder kind of situation. Um, I mean, people had, I mean, Bobby Slowik was a head coaching candidate after that season, right?

Uh, and maybe the reason, you know, maybe we all now know why he didn't get a head coaching opportunity. But, but this is seems like a team that's taken it down at the studs, right? This is a total, total rebuild. Uh, you hear a Hafley comes in there, the new, uh, head coach with the mandate to be, uh, to create a more physical team, right?

And so, I don't know, I don't know how enthusiastic I'm gonna be about anything on this offense. I mean, look in Dynasty, am I looking right now to see if people are willing to sell Jaylen Waddle at a discount? Yes. Beyond that, no one's moving from De'Von Achane, and I'm not moving him. You know, if I have them, if they're gonna be running more physical.

I know the new GM there, John Eric Sullivan, uh, basically said there was five pieces that they were gonna build this team around. Three of 'em were on defense. Uh, two of them were on offense. It was De'Von Achane, even though he's not the big physical guy, uh, he gets the job done and Jaylen Waddle the two pieces they're building around.

We'll see what the quarterback situation is. It makes perfect sense for it to be Malik Willis. Uh, given all the Green Bay ties of everyone coming over there, he'll be an unrestricted free agent. So he's gonna make a ton of money. He might as well make it from Miami if they have any left over from moving on from Tua Tagovailoa, which will happen at some point, one way or the other.

\And I saw just some discussion this week about their willingness or potential willingness to just eat that $99 million and, and get it off the books and move on. And this be a total rebuild year and. I, I think the Dolphins know where they're at and we should know as well. There are a couple pieces there.

We're gonna be interested in how they end up faring is gonna depend on whether an offense can stay on schedule. Getting a good young quarterback like Willis might help in that regard, but I don't think you're gonna expect super high end production in general from this offense. But we all know, like, you know, when you're out there drafting players and what I would consider not good offenses, skim the top and you're probably gonna be okay.

There are still production, even the worst offenses, get something done. So I would say the Waddle, you know, the Achane-Waddle level is the tier that I'd be interested in. One of those. I think I could maybe find a discount on Waddle. I'll be out looking for that.

Jeff: Yep. So now we move away from kind of that trend of the, the younger coaches to, to some of the more retread kinds of coaches, uh, with the Giants, the Jets and Pittsburgh: Matt Nagy, Frank Reich and Mike McCarthy, respectively. all of whom have at least four, three or four stints as an offensive play call or head coach somewhere else prior to joining these teams, uh, any optimism for the offenses at all in either of the New York teams or in Pittsburgh?

Bob: Half of them, half the New York teams are not really in Pittsburgh. Right. Until we, until we see some, you know, like I do think Mike McCarthy, you know, an offensive mighty coach. They haven't done that in what my lifetime, uh, I guess Chuck Noll was. So, it, it's been in my lifetime. But, but, uh, the two before that, defensive minded coaches, um. I have some hope there, but I don't know that they have the horses to, to do anything to excite me, right? DK Metcalf is to me not a reliable enough, you know, lead receiver, uh, for me to want to chase him or look for value over there. I don't think you're gonna get a ton of value there. And I think people who have him are probably just better off holding him and hope the offense gets better and hope they figure out the quarterback situation, uh, to a satisfactory level.

Whether that's Aaron Rodgers coming back, which is, seems increasingly likely, or Will Howard or something else. Uh, they'll figure out, uh, the Jets. I have zero hope for. I just don't, I mean, you know, the, and maybe, maybe they get a Kyler Murray, they land a, a quarterback somehow that, that that can change their fortunes to some degree.

That's what it's gonna take. It's gonna take, it's gonna take a quarterback, uh, for me to change my mind. We'll see if they keep Breece Hall, like I'll be in on Garrett Wilson, no matter who his quarterback is. You look at his target share. Last year it was well over 30%, uh, in the games he played. I don't see that changing.

'cause what else is there? Right. I know they tried to figure out some young guys. I'm not investing in those young guys, uh, not investing in pretty much anybody in the Jets. And if I have the pieces there, I'm hoping like if I have Briese Hall, he's on a different team and Garrett Wilson, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna hold and, and revel in his goodness,

Jeff: Yeah, it's a decent chance that by the time this airs, Breece Hall will have been franchised by the Jets. But we certainly hope that that does not happen. I know I picked up a lot of Breece Hall last season thinking that he would be somewhere else this season, but that would be a very Jets thing to do to, uh, make him suffer through another season there.

Uh, you know, I, I agree that a quarterback, uh, getting a successful quarterback can change the fortunes of the Jets, but I think the only thing that will really change the fortunes of the Jets is to get a better owner than who they have right now and get a

Bob: they're not getting that

Jeff: in place. But that ain't happening. And as a Cowboys fan, I can tell you that you can go a long time wishing for something like that

Bob: and.

Jeff: not gonna get it.

Bob: I think the other New York team, I mean, they have the, the other New York team has assembled a good cast of young, talented players and we'll see if they keep Wan'Dale Robinson or not. Maybe they can't, but, you know, I think if they do, it's a great plus, especially, you know, if we have a healthy Malik Nabers, I think, you know, whatever you think of, uh, even like, even a guy like Theo Johnson, I think is, you know, has shown some potential and has the athleticism to eventually put something together.

But between Jackson Dart, Cam Skattebo and Malik Nabers, you have three of the top guys at their respective positions in very early phases of their careers. Uh, and dynasty investors should not let Matt Nagy scare them off or, or heard them forwards. I think you should just, you know, you should play that talent at the moment and we'll see what happens with Mr. Matt Nagy, um, like. Uh, the, you know, the Chiefs offenses have not done well, but, but I mean, he hasn't been the play caller right though,

Jeff: Playcoller.

Bob: with him, with him as the coordinator, I should say that the Chiefs offense obviously is pretty damn good, but Andy Reid's always been the play caller and that's gonna continue and, and maybe his energy levels, you know, you talk, you listen to what Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce say about Eric Bieniemy returning and how much they love his level of energy and things like that.

Maybe that just wasn't the, the connection that Matt Nagy had. We've seen Matt Nagy coach at a high level in Chicago. He was the AP Coach of the Year, uh, one season there. So it's not like he's totally incapable. Uh, so I have some optimism here. I like the head coach. I think they did a good hire there and, and John Harbaugh being a great executive, a CEO type coach, and he's had a pretty good, pretty good track record of hiring coordinators, uh, in general.

So, um, they don't often go on to become head coaches, but they do solid jobs for him, and until they don't, then he moves on. So he's pretty efficient with that. And, you know, that would be, uh, the obvious concern. Like, wow, what if Nagy sucks? Well, they'll figure that out, but the talent will win out in the end for me, from a dynasty perspective.

Jeff: Yeah, I'm, I'm much more concerned about the durability of those players, uh, for the Giants than I am the coaching, because I think that the talent is, is definitely there. I mean, Dart, Skattebo,  Nabers, and if they can hang on to Robinson, I mean, that is a tremendous core to build a team around. Theo Johnson is, uh, he's one of those guys.

I think that if you don't wanna pay a premium for a tied end in the first few rounds of your draft, whether we're talking about dynasty startups or even redraft drafts, Theo Johnson's one of those guys, I think you can pick up farther down the board for almost nothing, and we'll, we'll deliver, we'll deliver at least above average production for you with the occasional, you know, two touchdown kinds of games, because that's the way that that happens for

Bob: Room for growth for him too. I think he's a, like a super athletic player who has a lot of talent, needs to put it all together. Maybe a little development.

Jeff: We got, uh, two, we got Zac Robinson coming into Tampa Bay, uh, former, uh, OC at Atlanta, which, uh, sometimes has Kyle Pitts working and sometimes doesn't. Former passing coach for the Rams. Uh, any hope for resurgence in Tampa Bay of that offense of Baker Mayfield. Of Bucky Irving and of whoever veteran receivers are still hanging around when the season starts.

Bob: So I feel bad for Josh Grizzard being the guy who got stuck with the season when Baker Mayfield to me didn't look healthy a lot of the year. And I think we're, you know, we've heard more about that since the season's over. Uh, Zac Robinson may be the guy who benefits from that, right? Like just like Dave Canales and Liam Cohen did, although Liam Cohen going on, you know, immediately to have some success.

And I guess, you know, to a degree Dave Canales is as well, at least relatively speaking with the talent on hand. But I think Baker Mayfield can carry, uh, an offense. I mean, I think he's proven that. So he needs to be healthy. We'll see what the supporting cast is. I don't know that I'd give a huge knock to anything here.

Uh, based on Zac Robinson's hire. I don't. On the other hand, enthusiastically feel like I need to run out and acquire any pieces that I don't already have based on the arrival. It just, it feels like a lateral move to me. I, you know, I could all due respect to Josh Grizzard. I just don't think he, I don't think he had the ideal circumstance of a healthy Baker Mayfield.

I think that makes a huge difference. And you could look at, you know, the times, the, you know, the, the early portion of the season, Baker seemed to be right on point. Everything was working perfectly fine. And then there came a point where he got really beat up, I think it was against Detroit. Same game, uh, that, uh, that Mike Evans got hurt in that, that it just started going downhill.

So, uh, so I'm hoping for the best there. Not out to acquire anybody. We just heard that, uh, Bucky Irving had a procedure on his shoulder. Uh, we obviously knew he had the issue last year. He had some issues beyond that as well, you know, coping with, you know, missing time for the first time in his career. I think that's something a lot of players, you know, uh, have to deal with coming into, coming into pros.

I mean, it's just a fact of life. So hopefully he rebounds, I hope I catch a little discount on him. Don't think I will, based on early drafts I've bid in. Uh, so I think there's no, nothing I'm looking to leverage, uh, in Tampa Bay right now. Uh, other than, you know, maybe people giving up on Mike Evans now that he says he's gonna return.

Jeff: Yeah. I had, uh, actually somebody oddly say that they, they were concerned about what that would do to the tight ends in Tampa Bay, and I'm like, what were you playing Cade Otton in the first place? Yeah, you need to, need to dream bigger. I don't, I don't think Robinson's gonna matter that much in, in that scheme.

I'm still not starting Cade Otton, but we'll see if, uh, see what happens to that offense. 

And then Tennessee, you know, the land of the land of eternal optimism and, and no performance. One of the worst offenses in the league last year, one of the worst fantasy offenses in the league last year. Uh, Brian Daboll, who has the longest, uh, longest, uh, resume of head coaching and offensive coordinator jobs, and was a tight end coach at New England under Belichick.

He comes to Tennessee with. That cast that he has, uh, any chance of, of a resurgence there in Tennessee?

Bob: I think we saw the signs of it. The end of last season, uh, Cam Ward started looking like, uh, first pick overall, uh, started playing like it a little bit, cut down on the interceptions, threw multiple touchdowns and he was, the last four games got hurt in week 18. Uh, but leading into that game, he had started to make some huge strides.

It seemed to me. Uh, they need an alpha receiver, they have some good talent at the position. They've gotta figure some things out at running back. I'd be looking to invest in some pieces here though, 'cause they have nowhere to go but up, right? I mean, you know, no one here is gonna be, no one's gonna be holding you up for anybody.

I think, you know, Daboll's perfectly capable of getting the most outta these guys. I like the Robert Saleh hire. Uh, I think, you know, he probably learned a lot from his time, uh, with the Jets. Uh, I like the energy he brings to a team and I think he's probably in a good spot or a better spot, uh, in Tennessee than he was in New York.

And, and I expect a, a higher level of success there. And I do, I like, look, they've gotta work on their offensive line as well. Again, need some more talent. A wide receiver, they've gotta sort things out at running back. But the quarterback position, I think they've, I think they might be onto something here and I think the, the Daboll will hire will add to that.

If you like Chimere Dike. I was okay. If you like Elic Ayomanor. Okay. If you like Gunnar Helm, okay. I mean, you're not gonna be out there paying an exorbitant amounts unless you're in return leagues, and then, then someone's gonna hijack you on, on Chimere Dike. But otherwise, I think everything, everything is on, everything's in play with them.

Like for me, like if there's people out there, if I'm looking to do some deals, then I can include some titans in there or, you know, I don't know that I'm gonna be out targeting them, but if, if I, if I come across openings, I might, I might be trying to acquire,

Jeff: Yeah, they seem like fairly, you know, low risk, potentially low to middle reward kinds of players to pick up. But the fact that they're inexpensive, most likely you can park them on a, on a bench if you're not having to rely upon, you know, Chimere Dike to be for you, what he is for Tennessee, which is the wide receiver one.

If that's where you are, then you will have the number one draft pick in 2027 and then you can get, which, you can get that receiver that everyone's talking about with the number one pick and be be quite pleased with that. 

You know, it, it's funny 'cause we have mentioned this in passing, uh, or directly several times, which is we need the offensive line to be better when you invest in the offensive line, and this is off our script, but if you look down, if, if I were to list the top needs of teams of the 32 franchises, or at least the teams picking the first round offensive line is either number one, number two, or in couple places, number three, and there ain't that many offensive linemen to go around.

Uh, in this draft, and, and I think there's the drop off is, is starts to get pretty significant. So that will be something to watch. I think if you, as, as dynasty managers of your drafts aren't until, or your startup drafts aren't until after the draft, don't just be watching for where the skill guys go, see who's actually able to improve that offensive line, because that's gonna drive a lot of value, either in or out of the skill players that are behind that

Bob: Yeah, watch free agency too. Um, we've seen teams the last couple years kind of flip, flip the scripts on their offensive line over the last three or four years, just with free agency. So free agency one. Good pick in the draft and maybe you can set yourself up to change your fortunes.

Jeff: So we've talked about, you know, a bunch of guys, which, which ones are you most excited about and which players would you be investing in, in Dynasty, just based on, you know, these breaths of fresh air coming into their respective situations.

Bob: I, I think the Chargers are a team. Both of us will probably be interested in those pieces there. I don't know that we'll get any deals on anybody, though. You know, if you're a bargain hunter, that's probably not the place to look. Maybe Washington, uh, you know, if you look at, I don't know if anyone's gonna be.

Anyone beyond the, anyone in the backfield I'm interested in. I just like, if you, like, if you have Jayden Daniels, I'm kind of optimistic that things could get better if you have Terry McLaurin. I have. I'm optimistic. Things could get better. If you could find a deal on Terry McLaurin. Given the way blouses talking about it, I would be interested in, in acquiring him.

I don't know if everyone else that we're playing with isn't paying attention to that and didn't hear the same thing and has the same hopes. Like, just like if nothing else, a healthy season where he didn't start out, you know, with a month long hold about would be a, a great step up for him. So I do like a lot of the, you know, those situations.

I don't know if I'm enthusiastic about, you know, out there acquiring any Ravens, uh, any Seahawks other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who you're not getting. You either have to have 'em or, or you're gonna have to happily watch someone else enjoy him. Um, Philadelphia. I, I might be making moves for DeVonta Smith, like, you know, just like almost, I mean, he is a solid play either way.

He is what he is, but he can, but he has the opportunity to be more if they move on from, uh, from AJ Brown. So that might be worth a speculative kind of play if it's not too expensive, but it might be Arizona. I like all the pieces there that we talked about. The three receiving assets are all great pieces.

We'll find out about Trey Benson. Um, so I, I just think if you're like out there looking to leverage some pieces, it's the, it's the Chargers that I'm most interested in. I, I don't know if you're gonna gain a lot of ground with anyone else but the Titans and like the Giants, the younger guys on, on those teams who, who have a lot of room to grow,

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, certainly. You know, if you're in leagues and you, you play, you play your league mates as much as you play your own players. I, if you're in leagues where you've got box score warriors and people who, who take what happened last season as indicative of what's gonna happen next season, there's a lot of opportunities with some of these offenses that struggled last year, either because of injury or management incompetence or just not having enough talent.

The talent that is there can still deliver. And so those are some opportunities, I think, for anybody. Uh, who are you trying to, to trade away? Uh, if you can preemptively with some of the, uh, some of the, uh, coordinator changes that you're seeing.

Bob: I don't know that anyone, like, like I, I feel like anyone I wanna move is, is are people that are so obvious that it's gonna hurt. Like I, I like do I do, I think I could get something for DK Metcalf. Like on the hopes that this offense is gonna get better and the hope that Aaron Rodgers is gonna return.

If I could do that, I would probably be, I'd probably be looking to move on from him if I could, if I thought I could get a ton in return for Garrett Wilson. But I don't know that you will, uh, just 'cause of the circumstances, him coming off the injury. And if it is, you know, a bunch of, uh, bunch of, uh, people who are watching the box score, they're not gonna realize what a, what a big part of the, that offense was, even with horrible quarterback play.

So, I don't know if, I don't see a lot of, I don't see a lot of people, I'm looking to move that, 'cause I don't think I'm gonna get anything for 'em. I think in most cases I'm not gonna get value for players. I.

Jeff: Yeah, that's, uh, we, we both play with a lot of savvy players. It actually had someone ask me, uh, about a week ago, they said, well, you're in some industry leagues. That must be some of the, they must have some of the coolest trades and the, and the guest things that go on there. I'm like, actually, it's pretty dull.

We don't make any trades at all because we all know what each other's up to,

Bob: Right. You're not, yeah, you're not, there's no one you're fooling or getting ahead, you know, getting the jump on in most cases. Uh, so, and that's the thing. I mean, like, you know, there may be, I, I think the thing you look at this time of year, Jeff, for me, is developments or news, news will drive values, right?

Like if somebody, we hear somebody had a procedure that we didn't know about, oh wow, maybe there's an, an ancillary piece that gains value or that piece loses value. I'm looking for developments or news out of many camps when we hit May. Like, oh, he is not getting many turns, or, oh wow, he's getting all the turns.

Things like that. That's gonna where you start finding like maybe some little creases in some, some places where you can take advantage of. I think we're a little too early in the process. There's, you know, there's obviously, you know, big changes, but we need some more changes to take place before we can truly assess the values.

Uh, and uh, or at least to have, you know, look, we can truly assess the value at any given point in time. Uh, but the more data points we have, obviously the better we get at that.

Jeff: Yeah, and certainly, you know, the opinions expressed today may change a lot between now and

Bob: the next

Jeff: season or even the next hour or two. I haven't looked at Twitter since we've been online. There's

[01:04:53] Bob: I've been glancing. It's nothing, nothing, nothing that would've changed anything.

Jeff: Okay, very, very good. Bob, thanks so much for joining me this week. This has been fantastic. Uh, before you go tell the folks where they can find you, if they want more of your incredible wisdom.

Bob: Uh, everything was available right now. Footballguys, Weekly Notebook comes out every Monday. You can get it in the daily email update. So sign up for that. Uh, Sirius show's on hiatus. We'll be back for draft coverage in April, then back to our regular daily, uh, nonsense, uh, once we hit July. So, uh, look forward to that.

Uh, and in the meantime, look forward. Figuring out some of these, uh, some of these intense issues that we've been, uh, discussing the possibilities of. I again, look forward to the Scouting Combine 'cause we'll hear a lot. We can start making some, some better, uh, better informed, uh, leaps and assumptions, uh, as we go through that process.

Jeff: Well then I know to clear my calendar from July on and a little bit around the end of April. So, uh, I'll make sure that I do that. Bob, thanks so much for joining and thank all of you for watching or listening today. If, whether you're on YouTube with us or on Apple Podcast, Spotify or your favorite platform, please like, please subscribe.

Uh, if you, the best thing you can do for the program right now to help us grow is go over to Apple Podcasts and give us a nice five star review and, uh, and a review, a five star rating and a review that would really help us grow over there on that platform. And I will be back next week with another guest.

We're gonna have a fabulous conversation about a way too early rookie draft. We'll do that next week on Dynasty Compass.

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