(upbeat music) - Oh, welcome, DJens, far and wide. To another edition of the DJens Docs. That's right, folks. Today we are breaking down the NFC North. That is right. That nasty division up north there. We are talking preview with major injury analysis, free agency moves, and of course, fantasy takes and your best bets come in. That's right. I hope you're ready to go, folks. Join two healthcare professionals that first love was football and second love was making money off football. We look at the game a little bit differently here, so we hope you're ready to join us. And cheers, folks. We're gonna bet into it. Before we jump in this episode, NFC North preview edition of the DJens Docs on the sports gambling podcast networks is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy. You can win up to 325 times your entry with their new pick eight. Sign up with promo code SGPNDock. That is promo code SGPNDock. All caps one word to claim your special pick for it plus first time deposit offer up to $250 in bonus cash. Underdogfantasy.com promo code SGPNDock. We're also brought to you by Rhythm. Get the best data-driven props and picks from Rhythm. Claim your 77-day free trial today by going to sportsgamblingpodcast.com/rhythm at sportsgamblingpodcast.com/RITHMM. All right. Of course, as always, I am joined by my brother into Genesee, Mr. Professor Locks himself. Derek Bennett, how are we doing tonight, brother? - We're doing great, dude. Doing great. Always a great time to have a drink and talk some football with you. - Hey, man, what, I think 80 days or so out, maybe even in the 70s? - I think the 78-79 now. - That's, hey, man, nothing better than that, right? We're getting ancient closer. But right now, it is a little bit of a baseball season, you know? - It is baseball season. - Then close to me. Nice little word. - Another little gift from Kentucky popping out there. - Yeah, speaking of Kentucky, Florida Gators put belt to ass to the Kentucky Wildcats today. - Yes, this is a little bit. - So we're running this on June 19th. So right now, my Florida Gators College World Series, they survive, beat Kentucky 15 to four. They're taking on the A&M right now for a slot in the final. So let's go Gators, baby. That's why. - I don't think we did so far, but we still got plenty of ball to play, so. - The Swamp Kids, come on. The Cardiac Kids, we're good, baby. We took down the Cats, yeah, I'm happy, so. - Gotta bring the bats back out for the second half of the game, fuck. - Yeah, exactly. - That's about as much baseball talk as I can do. All right, get back to. - Hey man, the dog days of summer are upon us. We've got a new NBA champ. Almost, we're getting pretty close to an NHL champ, but it'll be interesting. See if Edmonton can keep putting on Florida. - Yeah, I mean, hey, anything that comes out of Boston, I don't like, so I'm not happy about the NBA with the Celtics there, but it's pretty much the same thing about Dallas. So it's not really like, it was a lose-lose situation. But Stanley Cup, man, I mean, you got two good story lines, whether you're first Canadian team in 25 years, or the first ever franchise Stanley Cup for the Florida Panthers 30 years. - Exactly, exactly, that'll bring all four, that'll be the fourth team from Miami, or around Miami. - No. - That's a championship, they're the only one that has it. - Wow. - Yeah, they often have South Florida hockey team. - Yeah, that's right. - It's always funny hearing the hockey players saying on the day off they're going to the beach. Just something doesn't seem right about that, but hey, man, going to play some golf, it is what it is, but. - Yeah, we'll see, 'cause right now, Edmonton's putting him on it, so game six, heading back up to Alberta there, so that's gonna be a good one. Keep us a little bit on, you know, 'cause I know I'm feeding for football already. UFL ended in like two days ago, and I'm ready to go. - Exactly. - All right, quick clarification piece. I think, yeah, put your hands up, what do you gotta say to the people? - So, this is our second division. You know, we're going to each division, talking about injuries, talking about major additions, loss of those kind of things. We start with the NFC South, of course, with the Carolina Panthers. I may have thrown out Bryce Young to win the comeback player of the year at plus six, which is 40 to one. 'Cause, you know, he was god awful his rookie season. And, you know, what a better way to come back and put some, maybe put some wins in that column? Maybe, I don't know, probably. Anyways, but evidently that's not how you win the comeback player of the year anymore. - Any more, this was, yeah, so we're talking about, this is Adam Levitan there on Twitter, that pretty interesting, you know, the committee after Joe Flacko won last year, everyone thought Demar Hamlin should. You know, I actually, even though we're on the medical side, you know, first, it's amazing that he came back and was able to play. He's a big guy, you know, I like Demar Hamlin, but I don't mind giving it to Joey Flacko there. I mean, he really looked, he just kind of lights out to come back off really out the couch and really take that team literally off the couch and picking his kids up from school to lighten it up and probably averaging, what, 350 a game? - Oh my gosh, those black guys love the brownies. - All over passing yards on Flacko, I'm just salivating, thinking about how much money he brought us last year, so, yeah, I mean, I will say, yeah, of course, I don't know if I agree with this, but, you know, since we brought it up, I originally was a little skeptical, but it was 40 to one, but now it looks like we may want to retract that on Bryce Young, 'cause yeah, the committee is being told pretty much, unless it's an injury or some other circumstance where they miss time, illness, injury, or other circumstance where they actually miss playing time, not just that they suck, it seems like that will, you know, that's what's really gonna win you the award there. So, Bryce Young, Russell Wilson, all those guys, probably not, but these awards, that's the thing with these awards where it's, you know, hey, let's put all of our big Achilles guys have a chance. - That's true, we definitely got some people who can definitely be throwing, yeah, yep, your cousins, your riders, exactly, so, but just want to update the good people there. All right, brother, are you ready to get into it? You got anything else before we get into this? - Well, let's, what are you drinking tonight? - I'm working off some Elijah Craig here, nothing too fancy, what about yourself? - So everybody that, big time Instagram, TikTok, personnel, person guy. - Whiskey influencer. - Get a barrel, what's that? - A whiskey influencer. - He is a whiskey influencer, big time. So if you don't know of two ounce whiskey, look at two ounce whiskey on Instagram, TikTok, but my guy, Tripole, did a barrel pick with Watershed who's out of Columbus, makes a great product. So, reppin' him tonight. - Hey, man, I hope I can one day get to the point where I just buy an entire barrel of whiskey just for the shits and gigs, right? - Yeah, definitely, yeah, it sounds like a great time. I think they rolled out like three or four or five barrels and let 'em try each one is like, which one's your favorite? So, you know, what a more fun way to try whiskey is like, all right, here's a little barrel. - Most of us, whiskey tastes by the little guys, you know, a little less than shots and this guy is tasting by the barrel. - Around taster, yeah. - Must be nice, must be fuckin' nice, man. - Yeah, let's get into this and who are we starting with, Alliance? - Yes, sir, we are gonna start with BTT Detroit Lions. Let's go ahead and bring them up here. So what's gonna run through some of these Detroit Lions coming off a solid year. So we'll start with the reigning NFC North champion. And we'll start with their record. They're coming off a record of 12 and five last year. Some of their losses, lost both their guards. Vitei and Jackson, some pretty good players there. Josh Reynolds, solid starting when I'm a receiver. Camp Sun and CJ, GJ, went back to Philly. So losing some guys in the secondary, some guys in the front, but they did bring in a lot. They brought in a defensive tackle, DJ Reader, who we'll talk about in a second. Carlton Davis from the Bucks, Marcus Davenport, and then Kevin Zitler, who just keeps getting passed around the league, but he's a solid, solid offensive guard. And then they really went corner back heavy, picking up Amique Robertson, Terriana Arnold and Annex Rekstra probably butchered that. So Paulies are maybe- - Rock Shaw. - I don't know, but hey. - Thank you for being here. Cut off. - Yeah, rookie out of Missouri there. And then Mr. Jake Bates, Mr. JF Dell. Mr. Big Leg himself, again, the two-year contract. So let's go ahead and start talking about some of these big takeaways. So, you know, I think that some of the things talking about that secondary, so I'll lead us off here talking about the secondary. I just, I think they were, when you looked at the lines last year, that's what I think they were missing. Was those, especially at the cornerback position. I think it is improved on paper, right? A lot of young guys, the two rookies, they, their first two-shot round draft picks. That's what they started with. But they also brought in a veteran in Carlton Davis from the Fox. He got Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph who we're gonna talk about in a little bit there. But, you know, I do think they're making a good effort on the secondary there. What are some takeaways you were thinking? - Yeah, I think you nailed it. I mean, obviously they lose CJ, DJ back to Philly, but they brought in a ton of DBs with a ton of talent. Like you said, they brought in, the veteran in Carlton Davis who was a stud down in Tampa, but they also brought in a couple of young bucks in terms of Terri and Arnold and Annis Rachtra. So like you said, I think that was their big, you know, lacking point. You know, they weren't great against the past last year, but then they also brought in a couple guys up front with Marcus Davenport to go opposite. - Hutch there. - Yeah, Hutch and then DJ reader up front. So obviously their offense put up some points last year, but they did lose Josh Reynolds who was probably their number two. They really didn't have much of a number two. - Yep. - Which is kind of a concern that they didn't bring in another pass catcher to me personally. - I agree. But, you know, I think they brought in guys where they needed the most. - Yeah, no, I think that's pretty fair. Before we get too far down that hole, let's talk about some of the big injuries there. You know, you got a couple, two major ones. We'll start with defensive tackle, DJ reader. One of their big off-season acquisitions there, quad tendon tear, pretty severe injury. Like it sounds, you know, the tendon that connects your quad to your patella, the top of your knee there. It was torn, a complete tear. He does require surgery, about six to eight month recovery. He's got about eight and a half months until he gets back. So what are you thinking as far as DJ reader? Do you think he comes back and slides in? You know, he takes a little time. What are your thoughts there with the eight and a half months until week one? - Yeah, I mean, I think, like you said, the expected recovery is like that six to eight month. We have that time, but at the same point, like if the lines want to get to where they want to get, like they were so close last year to getting to the Super Bowl. I would not be surprised if he's on like a snap count early on, just to get him back into the swing of things. Like you said, if we're expecting him to be out six to eight months, that puts us right into training camp, maybe into training camp before he actually gets on the field. So it may take him a little bit of time to actually get rolling again. - No, yeah, absolutely, right. I'm right there with you, right? I think that, you know, it's not like he's, I'm worried about him not playing this year, anything like that, crazy, but I think it could be a slow start. You know, he's a big boy. He's gonna take some time to get getting back used to it. So I would not really be counting on him in the early part of the year, I think he'll kind of make his way back on. But I think that defense, you know, that D-line, again, kind of make up for him there. You got to leave McNeil. You got a couple of backups. So that might be a position where they're kind of missing out early on, you know, Broderick Martin Levi on Ruschke. If I don't know your name, I watch a lot of football. That's probably not a good sign. So then a little bit of concern early on, but again, that defensive line with Hutchinson, Ali McNeil, who's sneaky in the sack market, or sack market, all of the snack market too. It's probably not bad there. - He loves the snacks to get the sacks. - Yes, exactly. And then Davenport on the other side. That's pretty solid group there. We got Kirby Joseph, who was trying to keep it under wraps, but he had hip surgery after the season. - That'll most of the season with it. - Yeah, I think he picked up the injury in week two, and then it required hip surgery. So whether that's a labrum or, you know, didn't really say, probably something around, you know, internal things. - Obviously, labral stuff going on there probably. - Yeah, so he's looking at about a seven month recovery per report because we don't know the exact injury. This is, we're just going off the reports of what they're saying. He's got about five minutes to seven months, or excuse me, the recovery times around five to seven months, he's got seven months until week one from when he had the surgery. You know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be very interesting training camp if he's gonna be back or not. I think that would be on the early side. I kind of almost wouldn't expect him to. You got Brian Branch on the other side, who's also coming off ankle surgery that he had a clean up procedure in May. He was seen with a scooter and they kind of, Campbell was finally said like, yeah, it was an injury because he was dealing with some ankle stuff last year, a little bit of a high ankle. And so it just kind of had a clean up procedure, nothing crazy, but it does take, you know, about two to three months to recover from most surgeries, even the minor ones. So, you know, he's got three months until the season. So you really got both your starting safeties. You know, they should be good to go, but, you know, I'm not super confident. There's not a lot of wiggle room for both those guys. How do you see it as far as Branch and Kirby Joseph? How worried are you? Yeah, no, I think, like you said, it's a slight concern because those expected timelines kind of bump right up to week one. So similar to DJ Reader, like it may take them a few weeks to kind of get back into football shape to get back into swinging things, especially with all the new additions to that secondary. So it'll be interesting to see if they try to get those guys back in just to start, you know, kind of building that rapport, building that chemistry with those new guys, or if they, you know, try to protect them a little bit more, maybe put them on a slight snap count, who knows? Yeah, no, I mean, you really got three starters on defense that it's all in that same boat. Like, you know, if they're on the early end of their recovery, they've got rehab timeline. Like, yeah, well, they should be good to go week one, but there are getting pretty close. So really a situation you want to monitor early on in the season. Again, I don't like the lines are starting with a couple, you know, bottom of the roads. They're starting with the Rams in Tampa Bay who are both playoff teams. So it'll be interesting. Yeah, I've got to throw it around a little bit, so. Yeah, that's a great point. That's a great point. So yeah, we're going to, that one's definitely ones. We're going to be watching very closely as we start to get to our week one picks and start to see, you know, how these guys are coming along. But a little bit of pause early on. I don't think past week four, this is really going to be an issue. But again, those first quarter of the season there. And then we got Jimmy or Gibbs, picked up a soft tissue injury in OTAs, expected to be minors, but a lot more questions than answers here. You know, it's hard to even speculate what it is, likely something lower body, whether it's a calf or hamstring, whatever, soft tissue. I mean, they're not super concerned. He's got, what are we looking at? Almost a month, if not a little more until training camp. So, you know, if he's limited in training camp, well, I think we can start to have some concerns. But if right, as of right now, based on what we know, I think we're, you know, it would be a little bit overreacting to kind of avoid him or anything like that. What's your take on it? Yeah, no, I think like you said, it's really hard to say what a soft tissue injury really is. And you know, usually what that comes down to is some sort of a strain. So most likely he's trying to strengthen everything up as much as he can over the next month. And then start kind of almost taste testing, or testing the waters, taste testing. Testing the waters early on in training camp, getting back into sprinting, jumping, cutting those kinds of things. Yeah. All right, before we get over to the actional information, whether that is fantasy or best bets, what, you got any other takeaways for this team, anything, you know, big picture stuff for the Troy Lions head into 24 and four season? No, I think the biggest thing with the Lions is like, they finally did it. They finally got to the playoffs. They have some expectations. They have a number one schedule now, like, you know, top of it and schedule. So can they take that next step with those now high expectations for those Lions? Absolutely. I mean, it's still the Troy Lions, right? You're always going to have that pause for our, our pretty much for our most our lifetime. They've been pretty. Yeah. So I think that definitely makes sense. One other thing I want to point out before you get into the bets, this offensive line is really, really fucking good on paper. It is. So we got Taylor Deckard at the left tackle, Graham Glassgau at the left guard, Frank Ragnell Center, Kevin Zeichler, your right guard and Penny Sewell on your right tackle, man. Again, hey, we talk about football here. We're going to talk about the big nasties if they're really freaking good. And on paper, this may be one of the best offensive lines in the league. They were really good last year. But I looked at their losses. I was a little, you know, hesitant with Jackson and Viatai leaving. I think Zeichler is a great addition. I mean, really, you know, I'm being a Giants fan. I'm a strong believer that your steam starts from the inside out, your offensive defensive lines. This offensive line means business. So I really am excited there. And that's going to lead me. I'll kick us off here with these best bets. Actually, why don't you kick us off? Go ahead. What do you got? So for the Lions, I'm a big, same reporter guy. I love Laporta, especially, like I said earlier, besides Saint Brown, like, who else are they going to throw it to? They really don't have a number two wide receiver option. And golf, golf will chuck it around. He'll throw it all over the place. So Sam Laporta and him got chemistry really quickly last year. So I'm going to take his over receiving yards at 850 and a half. Yeah. Now Laporta looked good, like straight from the Gecko, man. He was a smash. It's a monster. Yeah, between his and Sam Borne. And Titan, you is going on right now, or maybe just finished up or whatever. That dude is a monster standing next to other Titan. He's just jocked. I mean, I need an Iowa Hawkeye tight end on my team, man. No, maybe not any other position, maybe offensive line, maybe Kupertichon. That's tight at Punner. Not too many, but if it's a Titan and he's a Hawkeye, I'll take him. I'll follow that up. Did you have any others for the lines there? Oh, that was it for the lines. OK. Yeah, in a similar fashion, I got two. First one I'll give out was kind of along those lines. We talked about who is going to step up outside of St. Brown. He talked about Laporta. I think he can definitely get his work there. But it's Jameson Williams and Khalif Raymond. And then maybe Donovan people Jones, I guess. That's not really the most confident. I know every year people fall in love with Jameson Williams because he's fast as shit. I mean, there's no wrong about it, right? He can make these plays. But he's had injury concerns. And he hasn't shown that he can be really anything but a flyer right now. I know he had a great career out of Alabama. But Alabama won one season at Alabama. Yeah, exactly. So I mean, yeah, well, I know he's a former Buckeye, so you're not always going to give him the benefit. He couldn't crack the starting line up in Columbus. But who am I? So my first bet for the lines is going to be a Monro Saint Brown to lead the league in receiving yards at 11 to 1 plus 1,100 there. No, I had that one written down. So I really like that pick. Yeah, I mean, it is a little bit short for a market like this. But I do think 11 to 1 is still a good value here. He was third in the league last year, right? And I think he's like fifths in the odds market. He had a little bit over 1,500 yards. Tyree had like 17, 90 something. Really, like I said, I was looking at that market as well. And basically, everybody other than CD-LAM has like a running partner with them. Like you said, Tyree Q has waddle. AJ Brown has Smith. Smith, yeah, Puka. Exactly. So most of those other guys have running partners that may be sharing some yards a long time. And you mentioned CD-LAM. And I think, well, first off, fuck the Cowboys. But also, man, I don't know if they can really recreate that. I think that's where Jack's going to end up doing this year, too. I mean, with his contract issues, you know? Yeah, I mean, I think things kind of fell apart for Dallas. I'm not super high on Dallas. We'll get to that episode, too. But also, $650, I think, is just too short for something that is, you know, I think I need-- if it's not-- I need at least-- even Ammanma, I was questioning it. But it's got to be over 10 to 1 for me in these markets. It's just-- you're talking something season long. There's so many variables I can go and apply here. But I think what we were talking about here is he's the clear alpha on this team on the outside. And a great offensive line, yes, they're going to run the ball. But still, even with how much they ran the ball last year, he was not that far off pace. Like you said, Josh Reynolds, some other guys leave. And I really think this offense is going to put up some damn points this year playing in the dome. So-- and I-- you know, that defense, you got a lot of-- we talked about how they may be better. But a lot of young secondary guys, you know, may have to take some adjustment there. So give me that. And the other one I like is pretty simple-- It fades for a 70-order? Oh. Yeah. It is a pretty simple NFC North's champs, plus $150. I just think it's missed Christ. I-- you know, trust me, last year, I was-- I was ready to fade the Lions. I did fade the Lions at a certain point. I was not trying to believe the hype until, really, they just kept proving me wrong. I'm not going to fall into that trap this year. They're a really good team. Again, that offensive line for me is a huge piece. Jared Goff is-- they got him playing as better as he has in his career. Montgomery and Gibbs, I would say the only other play I was looking at is Montgomery over. Because every year, people forget about David Montgomery. You know who does not forget about David Montgomery? They're head coach Dan Campbell. He loves the shit out of David Montgomery. Five yards in a cloud of dust, three yards, whatever it is. He loves that. So he's not going to stop giving the ball. Give me the ball. Yeah, I mean, as much as the fantasy community loves Jameer Gibbs, and he's an electric player, Dan Campbell loves Montgomery. So when that comes out, I will be on-- Get set for 10. Montgomery's getting the ball. Yeah. More often not. And I think that's why you keep Gibbs fresh, keep them healthy. But Lions champs plus 150. Not anything sexy like the Monroe pick. I just think they're the best team overall. All right. Let's move on to-- oh, before we move on, let's go ahead and talk about-- Countdown to football season is on, folks. And SDPN has got you covered. The college football experience is doing individual team previews for every college football team. Yes, I am-- we're serious. Every Division I college football team, they are doing like an hour long episode full breakdown. I listen to them. It's a great way to get you started for the season. If you love college football, you're going to love the college football experience. Make sure you check them out. Also, SDPN's five-minute fantasy football is your quick and dirty podcast to get you prepped of all things fantasy. My guy Dave over there does a great job straight from a fantasy angle. Look, five minutes, you're in, you're out, three episodes a week. He gets it real quick, nice and dirty. He's great at those rankings and breaking news. So check Dave out over there at the five-minute fantasy football. All right, we're heading on to the team that finished second in the division. And that is your Green Bay Packers there. Cheers, kids. Yes, the cheese heads. Look at that Lambo field. Oh, that's football weather right there. But nine and eight last year, we were a playoff team. They did knock off the cowgirls there, so cheers to them. Um, let's look at some of their additions there. Our losses, excuse me, first, they lost AA. We're on there, Aaron Jones to their division rival, Minnesota Vikings. Always a little bit interesting when a guy goes to someone in the division. Then they've got Darnell Savage, safety starter. He went to Jacksonville. Devondre Campbell is now 49er, which is-- they were going to need him. We'll talk about him, but obviously everybody saw Green Law, Tara's ACL and the Super Bowl. So John Runyon, they're one of their really stud, and I emphasize stud offensive guard because he's going to my New York football Giants. And Bakhtiari is a free agent after his ACL and just not being the same. So I don't know if Andrew's going to pick him up. And then their starter after Bakhtiari was out, Josh Neiman, or Naijumim, or whatever, how you say that, is now a Carolina Panther trying to protect Bryce Young there. Over the additions, so they filled Aaron Jones role with Josh and Studs. They did bring in. Josh Neiman. Josh Neiman. I would say, right, they didn't do a ton. They didn't do a training. But I will say, the guys they brought in, at least the top three, you know, Josh Neiman, McKinney, and Greg Joseph coming over from the Vikings is a solid kicker. But Andre Dillard, he's kind of been a little bit more of a journeyman, didn't really work out as a high draft pick over from the Eagles. But yeah, McKinney and Jacobs, I think, could be good for them. So what do you think can big takeaways for this team? I mean, just looking back at them last season, like, they just had a ton of unproven dudes that went out and bald out. Like, the most part, they lost a ton of veterans. So it'll be interesting to see if those younger guys that, you know, have only been starting a year or two can take that next step and really keep the Packers rolling. Like I said, I really like some of their additions in Josh Jacobs. Obviously, it's kind of a strange move to move on from Aaron Jones for Josh Jacobs. But, I mean, he has proven himself in Vegas. Xavier McKinney, sorry to bring him up. But he's a stud safety. He's a stud safety. So I was filling in for Darnell Savage, who had some good moments as well. Yeah, yeah. No, I think, yeah, you know, we'll see how it balances out. Not a crazy. I will talk about the old one here in a second. But we're going to talk about some of their injuries there. Xavier McKinney is not injured. You know, hey, I got to know our feelings. He played well, X-Man for the Giants. But really, that ATV on the bye week took him out. He was not the same since then. So I don't hate that he left. All right. They've got Eric Stokes. There's a certain cornerback outside of the opposite side, Jayar Alexander. His was more, you know, he finished the season on IR. He had a hamstring injury and he re-injured the hamstring injury. He's had hamstring injuries consistently in his career. As we know, hamstring injuries are very burdensome. They suck because you feel better before the muscles actually healed, fully ready to go. So players wanting to get back on the field, they try to rush it too soon. Very high re-injury rates as Eric Stokes found. So, you know, even in the worst case, three to four months, but he does have eight and a half months to the season. So any concerns there? What are you thinking about Stokes? Honestly, I don't have a ton of concern from Stokes. Hamstring injuries are, like you said, they're rather concerning in the middle of the season because of that high re-occurrence rate. But with that being said, he's had all kinds of time to rehab and get that thing as strong and activating it a little bit quicker so that he doesn't restrain it. So really, no major concerns. Yeah, I didn't debate. You know what's more concerning. I don't know if you saw this, but obviously, fellow Packer Christian Watson stood when he's on the field. It's a clear, clear thing when he's on the field, right? It looks like they were like, did this giant study about, you know, figuring out what's wrong with his hamstrings? I don't know if you saw the results of that. So the biggest takeaway was that he has an asymmetry in his hamstrings. Any decent rehab team or Australian conditioner coach should have known that? I don't know. It wasn't like, at least, I know we look at things a little differently, but that was not like a big thing. I thought they were going to like come out with some new device. You should be able to pick that up in a week. Yeah, so I had the opportunity to interview the head of player performance for the UFL. Coach Sean Hayes, former Harvard linebacker. And he was talking to me about how they love their force plates and using those things for making sure you get that data. I mean, that's like standard procedure stuff. So for the NFL, for a guy like that to be like, oh, he just needs to make sure he has symmetry in his hamstrings. Like, how are you not doing that? So that really makes you find that up with an ice, okay, or something like that. My concern is for the Packers medical team. And I'm going to go further into this, not for the hamstring thing, but for this. I mean, not that we don't, not that we have bad jobs. But if the Packers medical team needs an extra step, I don't really want to move to Green Bay. But yeah, I'm just saying, I mean, hey, yeah, we got to get it. Might get to get that approved by the old lady first. I don't know about that. But maybe it's an old stadium. Maybe it's like the Giants where that their head trainer was like fucking 95. And it's like, you see that meme where he's like, is their weight room just full like cinder blocks that they're like. Yeah, they're just real old school down there. That's right. So, but yeah, my concerns continue, you know, outside of the hamstring stuff, we got two guys, Zach Tom Tucker craft, both with grade three peck tears, right? Both picked up this off season. Zach Tom, you're starting right tackle. That was in April. Tucker craft, your tight end to kind of a starter and 12 personnel. He picked it up in May. I don't know. Do we know how they pick these up? They were they were both of them recorded. I was working out with the bench press. And you know, we'll also picked up a pectare head coach Lefur. Matt Lefur. He picked up pectare. What the hell does Green Bay not know how to fucking exercise? Like they don't know how to bench for us. Sounds like the strength and conditioning team really needs to take a couple, a couple of steps back and see what we're actually doing earlier. Yeah, I was reading an article. He said they were speed bench pressing or something like that, which I, what the first, I get like trying to get some power out of it and get some explosive movements, but using some accommodating resistance. So it's in chains and bands around the bar. I mean, it's all the stuff. Closing Collins, man. You got a risk first reward. Come on. What are we doing? I don't know. Hey, we're not trying to talk down any of our former colleagues or fellow colleagues. Jack, dude, but I get what that when you read stuff like this, it's hard to not be a little bit judgmental from our side of you. These are basic stuff. You're injuring your starting right tackle and your tight end too. Pect, both of them and your head coach. You kidding me? The hell's going on down there in Green Bay, but anyway, let's get back to it. Zach Tom, you know, both these about two to three months recovery timelines. Tom's got a four and a half months. Tucker Craft has got three and a half months till the season. It's a situation where the fact that this happened is pretty bad. However, they should be okay coming in. I mean, it's going to see. You know, it's really important to both a tight end and offensive lineman. You're pecs doing this, doing this every play, right? Like, so I think these are injuries that one, maybe it's- Hence why they're doing speed presses. Speed bench press. Maybe we should just start instead of clap pushups. We just- I think we should do clap bench press. That's what I'm going to invent. I'm going to show it to my soldiers next week. Do some time that's like bench press which is awesome. Yeah, plyo bench press. Yeah. Oh my goodness. But what's your takeaway here? Like you said, it's just kind of raises some eyebrows to why a multitude of people are getting pec tears. You're head coach, man. It's for Green Bay. But I mean, I get it why they're doing speed presses and why they're trying to improve their performance. Yeah. The off-season's the time to do that. But at the same time, like, we're pushing ourselves into the season at this point in terms of recovery. So- Yeah, no. Yeah. No, I- Trying to prove it one step too far. Yeah, exactly. All right. So we are going to now head into more of the takeaway situation. A little bit of getting away from our concerns with their medical staff. So we talked about the young wide receiver core. I will give them kudos because I think on paper, this is best defense in the division. You got a lot of guys returning. Good. With, you don't agree? Well, first round talent everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, Quay Walker, Edron Cooper at an A&M. Isaiah McDuffie, who played well, Dyer Alexander, McKinney in the back end with Bullard and Stokes. Yeah. That's a lot of first round picks. A lot of guys that have played well in the league. So I do like their defense. My biggest concern for this team is their offensive line. We talked about how, you know, how they lost some guys to free agency. They got their starting right tackle recovering from a peck tear. You know, Rashid Walker, Josh Myers, Sean Ryan. But with the H, I haven't heard of these dudes. They were all like late round picks a couple of years ago. Very unproven. You know, you got Ellen Jenkins and Zach Tom are solid players. Tom's had to play a lot with back to already being out. But no one on this offensive line scares me. No one is, you know, I kind of started seeing that, especially like middle point of the season when Aaron Jones was down, when AJ Dillon was in there, they had no running game. I mean, so that kind of shows you that even last year, their offensive line wasn't moving people the way that they want them to. They probably lost one of their best in terms of John Ryan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's going to lead me into my first bet for this team. And that's Josh Jacobs under 950 and a half rushing yards. You're paying a little juice there minus 135. It's the old line for me. You know, I think that's my biggest thing is like, they still have AJ Dillon too. They did resign Dylan. So they still are going to give him some carries. I just don't think that Jacobs, Jacobs from one, he'll get some volume, but I just don't think they'll have a lot of success. I think it'll be a lot of that inefficiency. Unlike when he was with the Raiders, he's not going to be the only option now. So, you know, I just don't think he's going to get close to that 1,000 yards. You know, I could see him getting over, you know, 800, 850 maybe. But I think it's going to be a little more split than it was between Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon. And I just don't trust that offensive line to open up a lot of holes. He's not really someone who's going to have a lot of big explosive runs. He is a very kind of consistent kind of volume guy. But if you're not picking up the yards, because you don't got any holes to run through, you're going to throw the ball. You know, I don't hate Jordan Love. I think there's still some questions. I'm not definitely like Jordan Love like Truther. I'm not really on the hype train. I just think that, you know, I think he's a pretty good quarterback. There's still some questions there. They're wide receivers. I think they're just better through the passing game. I think they're going to play good defense. And I think they're going to struggle to run the ball. So, give me Josh Jacobs under 90, 950 and a half. And then second bet is a little bit of exact order. One, two, Lions finish first and Packers to finish second at plus 350. You know, you could take them top two. And I think it's closer to like plus 150 or something like that. But I just think that for Lions finish first, Packers to finish second. It kind of goes similar to what it was last year. Because, you know, although I have concerns about their own line, Jordan Love is pretty good. They got some good wide receivers and have defense. I'm pretty damn impressed with that defense right now. So, that's what I got. What about you? I'll throw one at you for Green Bay. So, just looking at this division, historically, I know that the Bears have added a ton of pieces. But Green Bay owns Chicago. They basically own Minnesota. They're really the only other team. And I think Minnesota takes a step back this year. So, let's talk about them. Yep. I think this one, I really like this one in terms of three and a half, or over three and a half division wins for Green Bay. Okay. As I said, you know, they got four last year. They played really, really well against the Bears twice a year. Yep. I think they'll get at least one. Rookie quarterback, good defense. Exactly. I think they'll get at least one from Minnesota, if not both of them. And then, you know, with the Lions, we'll see. Yeah. I mean, I could see them split in one, you know. I think they split one last year, right? They went one-on-one, or didn't the Lions do it? Yeah. I know the Lions took you two on the first time. They won't want us to fight in the Lions. Yep. Yeah. No, I think we're locked up there. Plus 120. Yeah. Plus 120 is not bad too. Yeah. I think you're locked up there. We're going to get into it. But, you know, I'm a little bit higher on both the Lions and the Packers than the Bears and the Vikings. So, I have no issues with that at all. I think that's a good price. I think you're right. I think they can easily sweep. I mean, honestly, even if they just, you know, I could see them sweeping the Vikings and the Bears. But if they take three there and then they just need to grab one from the Lions, I think that's very doable to go ahead and get four division wins this year. All right. Before we move on, we're halfway through the teams. Let me tell you about underdog fantasy. That is not right. Folks, love us some underdog here. Again, promo code SGPNDock for a deposit bonus up to $250 in bonus cash there. Look, all you have to do is it's very easy. You sign up, make an account, use promo code SGPNDock. All one word, all caps. 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Getting back to it. Let's talk about the, what are we doing? What are we doing? Vikings. In the sorta. All right. We've got, again, we will start with their losses, additions, get into a little bit of takeaway, talk about the record. So your rankings are coming off at seven and 10th season where they lost Kirk Cousins to an Achilles tear and to the Atlanta Falcons. Daniel Hunter, stud pass rusher is now on the Houston Texans. Alexander Madison didn't really work out well for them, but he's down the Raiders. KJ Osborne, wide receiver three, he's now on the Patriots. DJ Wanam, who is, I think, a bigger, bigger bit of loss than people realize. He was pretty good pass rusher for them. He's on the Panthers. And then you got, we talked about Greg Joseph going to the Greenwood Packers. He also added linebackers Jordan Hicks and Anthony Barr also gone from that defense. As much as they lost, they brought in just as much. So Aaron Jones coming over from the Packers there, Sam Darnold locking up. One of the best wide receiver in football, in my opinion, Justin Jefferson. We felt that was important enough, put on the additions. Sam Darnold, who may be the starting quarterback, is slated to start right now. He's slated through training camp, at least. Dan Ginkle from the Miami Dolphins got Renard from Houston Texans, Blake Cashman from the Houston Texans, and Dallas Turner, who I was a bit surprised, dropped all the way down to them at that pick there. When he had a big run of offense in the draft. Hey, we're missing in addition. What do we got? The quarterback of the national champion. Yes, I'm surprised you brought that up as a Buckeyes guy. No, I just want to hate on him. He is there. He does exist. And that's one of the things to take away, like QB battle. What are your thoughts going into training camp and who's going to start? Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting because JJ McCarthy to me is definitely not ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. The prototypical program quarterback, like scheme quarterback, they didn't throw the ball in the second half. I think at least one game, if not two games of the college football season. When you say program quarterback, you're talking about like Tom Brady? And he was, he was a program quarterback at New England for the first like, Oh, okay. All right, just ride the defense. This defense is not New England's defense of the early 2000s. Just saying that's a great point. But anyways, no, I think it's probably a good idea to to go ahead and lock down a starting quarterback going into training camp, just so everybody knows. Like Sam Darnell is the guy right now, especially with JJ coming in there. And he is a very athletic dude that has a little strapped to his shoulder. Half the time that gun just wants to slide it in about anywhere. And half the time he landed feet or three rows in the stands. But yeah, I don't know. But you're not, you're not salty about him not losing to Ohio State. I'm very salty about that. I just wanted to get that out there. All right, so yes, we'll see, we'll see if he can, you know, match Stroud's rookie scheme of last year. Oh, okay. Yeah, I will not be, I am not calling for a CJ Stroud season at all. But yeah, I will hold my comments because I think that gets into one of my bets there. So let's talk injuries real quick. Big one here for fantasy and for this team. TJ Hockens. Well, it's probably the biggest one we're going to talk about tonight, to be honest. Yeah, I would agree. Yep. TJ Hockens in there. ACL, MCL tear. So if you pull up a diagram here of the knee, you've got your ACL anterior crucial ligament, your MCL on the inside part there, both major stabilizing ligaments of the knee, both fully torn, both require surgery to fix. It's about a 10 to 12 month recovery timeline. And he injured himself late in December. He's only got about eight and a half months till the start of the season. What are you thinking here? He's going around tight end 13. He's got a pretty big range on the ADP front, but tight end 13, 12 to 15. And then at 105 to 150 range, around guys like Cole Comette and David and Joku. So what are you thinking? Yeah, I mean, so from a Viking standpoint, this isn't good, you know, especially with a new quarterback coming into town. You know, you want all of your weapons available. TJ Hockensen is a huge one. He's not going to be available for the first, probably. What would you say, six to eight weeks? Yep, yep, I am. Yep. You know, so, you know, I think from a fantasy perspective, that's where things get a little bit tricky for me. I think he's one that I probably would not draft. Even why I really like TJ Hockensen from a fantasy perspective. Just because he's going to be on the IR, he's going to be on your bench for a good, you know, six to eight weeks. Yep. With that being said, keep him on your radar because he is a stud. You know, once he gets back on the field, I think he's going to put up some numbers. But he's probably one that I would probably shift away from in terms of drafting. Because like you said, he's on the bench for half a season. No, I mean, I think you're being nicer than I am. He's a full fave for me this year. I agree with you. I think he's a great player. I think he's a huge value for this team. I am avoiding him unless I can absolutely get him for a steal. I will not be drafting TJ Hockensen this season. I don't think people understand. You know, we have a multi ligament injury, not just an ACL injury. That does extend the recovery timeline there. It does bring down your outcomes a little bit more. It hits your skill positions the hardest. You know, I would want him to have at least a month and a half after the season starts until he really starts getting back into it. And that's really just getting back into playing full speed. I don't think he's going to be 100% right away. And I don't think there's any reason to rush them. I also don't see them having the best season. So I don't think that they're going to really want to whisk him moving forward by sending him out there too soon. So for me, TJ Hockensen is not somebody I will be targeting at all in the draft. You know, he's going around guys like David and Jocke will commit. Not a big commit guy, but I would definitely rather have in Jockew and take some other tight ends. That does leave a big hole. I mean, behind him, it's Josh Oliver, Robbie Tunion, and Johnny Munt. What the fuck? Dude, I've been-- I know I've been calling for this. Dude, since I've had a week in the NFL season, I've heard of him. Maybe. I heard of Bobby Tunion once before he tore his ACL with Aaron Rodgers and had any touchdowns out here. But I mean, dude, I've been calling for this. Oliver on X, but I guess I'll do it here. Okay, as a guy who watched all the games of the United Football League, Sal Canella is still available. He was the best tight end and one of the best receiving threats in the entire league. By far, the Saints worked them out. They didn't take them for whatever fucking reason, because New Orleans is a bunch of idiots there and Dennis Allen. But whether it's the Rams or the Vikings, which we'll talk about Tyler Higgby too, but T.J. Hockerton and Tyler Higgby are not starting this season. They will not be there for the first part of the season. Why is Sal Canella not on the phone right away? It does not make any sense to me. Like, you're really going to roll out Josh Oliver and Bobby Tunion. Like, for your Sam Donald or your rookie quarterback as your security blanket, it makes absolutely no sense to me. I like, like you said, T.J. Hockerton's a great player. This is a brutal injury. He's got a multiligament knee injury. He doesn't even have nine months. The injury or the data shows, evidence shows significant injury risk increase for a retare if you come back before that nine month mark. So, come on Vikings. What are you doing? Let my guys Sal Canella in the league, but yeah, he's a fade for me. Other guys, Brian Murphy coming off an MCL tear, MCL tear alone. Yeah, a lot less of an issue. Happened at the end of the year. One or two month thing. He's got eight and a half months. Should be fine. And then Andrew Van Ginkel coming off a foot injury. Still trying to find out a little bit about him. He ended the season on IR for Miami Dolphins. So, something you want to monitor and train and camp. We have not been able to get a lot of info on him. Kind of keeping it close to the vest. No, he's coming off a fairly significant injury. Hopefully, it's something just like more of a Jones fracture, a fracture type. Nautilus Frank site type because fracture type we're probably looking at closer to three to four months as opposed to anything super long term. So, kind of keep the eyes peeled for Van Ginkel. Anything else on the injury front for you? Nope. All right. Let's go ahead and talk about why don't you go ahead and give us your give us your bets there. What do you got? Yep, yep. So, a couple of things. And we've kind of touched on these a little bit already. So, without Hawkins in there, big, big opening for even more balls to be thrown towards Justin Jefferson's area. So, between Jefferson, Addison, I would probably go Jefferson a little bit more in the red zone. Now that Hawkins is out of there, I think Jefferson goes over seven and a half receiving touchdowns. That's at plus one hundred right now on DraftKings. And then we already talked about your boy JJ, the jet plane McCarthy. Who knows when he's actually going to be the starter? You know, it could be week one. It could be week five. It could be week and we just don't know. So, right now, he is on DraftKings. His over under is at 17 and a half touchdowns. I'm taking the under every day of the week because I just don't trust him throwing the ball in the NFL. I honestly don't know why he was a top 11 quarterback drafted. That's just, I can't do it. Is that an unbiased opinion? Yes. Unbiased. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, I like the JJ. It's so, I wouldn't say it's completely unbiased. But when it comes to my money, when it comes to my money, my betting is always unbiased. Okay. Yeah, so pulling back the curtain a little bit. I like that I do not, I've told Derek that I don't want to see his picks before. So, we do not influence each other because something like this, we are seeing this a little bit differently. So, my best bet for this team, I only bet for the Vikings right now is JJ McCarthy. They'll be the day one starter at plus two 10. Listen, as much as you don't like him, I'm not super high on the guy either. So, I don't hate your under pick there, but they picked this man for the 10th pick. They moved up in the draft one spot to get him at number 10, which like they literally wasted draft capital because the Jets weren't taking him unless they thought the Broncos were going to jump up for him. But like, I, from my understanding, they're like the only team that had him as even a first round quarterback grade. So, I mean, that might be an exaggeration, but I was shocked that he even left this year. I thought he needed at least another year, but it's a different NFL, man. If you go up to the top 10 and like, what's going to sell tickets, they think about this. If you're a Minnesota Vikings fan, are you more excited for fucking Sam Donald, who's been seeing ghosts since however long, you know, he couldn't even beat out Zach Wilson. And he learned behind Brock Purdy, he's, he's, oh, he's, he's cured, he's sucking ass. He's going to make you work and he's sat out there in California for a year. He's, he's already got a second chance in Carolina. That shit burned up in flames, man. I think that if you're going to spend a top 10 draft pick, you're going to start the kid somehow, some way from what you're saying. I think it's always been reported that he's bouncing balls into receivers' feet. It's all right. It's too late, man. You already been in the pick. It's too late, man. I think you've got it rolling out there. I think if who's all right. So between Donald and Jay Jay McCarthy, if you're going to have someone who's going to make splash plays in training camp, they're going to go viral and get out of the crowd excited. You tell me it's fucking Sam Donald or is it Jay Jay McCarthy? Because I agree. It's what you say. Jerry Hall. Jerry Hall. I'm going Jerry Hall or Nick Mullins. Oh my gosh. Are they still on the team? Yep. They're still on the team. I had to check over there. They are according to the soundtrack. But no, I just think you spent the Jack Crapital, Jay Jay McCarthy plus 2-10. I like the price. But yeah, this team for me is very lukewarm. It's probably most lukewarm of a team as I'm going to have this year. Their defense is, eh, they're OK. Offense without Hockinson. The offensive line is, you know... The defensive line is back. Yeah, I think they're... The offensive line is me. I mean, there were seven and ten last year. Yeah, I think they might give him a little bit of a boost. But yeah, that's fair. But I just, I don't think he does too much. You know, I think they finish around that record again. Seven and ten, you know, they're over under six and a half. It's pretty juicy to the over. I think I would lean over. But I'm not going to have a strong play there. I like the McCarthy start day one start at plus 2-10 better. All right, you gave yours out for that, correct? Yep. All right. Before we get on to our last team, we are talking about rhythm. Look at you, rhythm. That is... Listen, if you are betting on player props, you need to download rhythm. Trust us. We will be betting on many player props. That's going to be our bread and butter coming to the NFL season. And rhythm is a great tool to have, as it transforms complex data into actionable insights, empowering bettors with smarter data-driven decisions. Unlike other platforms, rhythm combines advanced predictive analytics with an intuitive user experience, making betting both easy and enjoyable. That was a lot of big words in that read. And it's not a surprise because this product model... Are you able to get through that? I am proud of myself after this much whiskey. 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All right, so we've got one more team to talk about to finish up this NFC North. And then I'm hopefully going to go watch my Gators take down these Aggies. So, Chicago Bears, probably the oldest. Interesting team we're going to talk about as far as what the hell can we expect from these guys. Losses, quarterback Justin Fields is now backing up quarterback Russell Wilson as a Pittsburgh Steelers. Not a sentence I thought I was going to be saying this off season. We got wide receiver Darlem Mooney going to Atlanta. We got running back Deonta Foreman going to the Browns. Safety, former Alabama safety Eddie Jackson. Good player, has ran into some injury issues of late. He's currently a free agent as well as Janik and Gaku, kind of a journeyman defensive end who can get you some sacks in some situations. Bringing in the big ones, your first round picks, Kayla Williams, Roma Dunesay, out of Washington and USC respectively. Keenan Allen coming from the Chargers, Deonta Swift coming from the Eagles, Jared Elbert coming from the Chargers and Kevin Bayard from the 10th. Titans and then the Eagles and then the Bears. What is your initial takeaways? What are you thinking right away for this big picture of Chicago Bears? They brought in some big names in one offseason. You know, they finished really, really well to the 2023 campaign. Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting what one Kayla Williams can bring to the NFL, because you know, he's had all the hype in the world and now it's time to go out and prove that he's not the four turnover quarterback that he was against Notre Dame last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was. He's at, I mean, talk about highs and highs and lows and lows, man. I think that's, I mean, that's their season right now, right? Like it is going to, you're going to live and die by Kayla Williams, right? Like is he the guy or will he struggle? And that's not to say that if he struggles this year, that he can't ever be the guy or that you completely write him off, but you know, this is like LeBron James level hype, man. He's been getting this hype ever since the freshman year at Oklahoma, when he took that as a guy who was on Kansas Moneyline, that bullshit fourth down from the running back and ran it for a touchdown. It's one of the greatest plays I've ever seen, but like, he's a, he's a special player, but mentally, is he there, right? I think, you know, you could ask that question in college. Now in college, he, he did have to do just about damn everything. That defense was, you can't even call them a defense. It's a disgrace to the offensive line was not good. I was like, he literally was a one man show. So, you know, I think I don't want to be too harsh on him for some of those interceptions, some of those bad plays because without him, that's like a fucking five win team over there in USD. So, but no, I think that's a big question is how good is Caleb Momes going to be? If he is the guy, he's got some receivers in Allen, O'Doom saying DJ Moore. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's got weapons all around him. I mean, he really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. He really does. Bringing in Swift. Okay. I mean, you know, but now you got come at still there. Their offensive line should be okay. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, like you said, I think it's, is he going to be good this year or not? And that's going to be the Chicago Bears season. Yep. Yep. I think that's what they're going to live and die by. All right. Let's talk about some of these injuries. We talked about you mentioned Cole Cometh there starting tight end. He did pick up a forearm fracture last week, 17 fractures. You know, if they're during the season, it sucks because you just need time. You need about two to three months to heal. There's not a lot you can do to accelerate that healing process. Sometimes you can have a surgery to kind of make them more stable, but two to three months, he's got nine months or eight months of the season. He should be good to go. Other is they're starting, right guard, I believe, Nate Davis. He's got a foot injury. Not a lot. We could find there on what's going on with the foot, but he was limited in camp and it's been undisclosed. They expect him good for training camp, but that's what everybody fucking says about ivory injury around this time. I think that's definitely one to monitor because that offensive line, it does look pretty decent on paper, but they've been suffering from injuries. We saw how much fields had to run for his life. If Caleb Williams has to do the same, that's really not a great way. You want to start your career system. Yeah, man. That's something that I haven't heard being talked about a lot, but like Caleb Williams had the same system all the way through college. Lincoln Riley followed him to USC. It'd be interesting switching over. That's a good point. I can't say the Bears have been known to be a quarterback-friendly offense, so they really haven't hit home, whether it's Trubisky, Fields, or any of these other fuckers. Maybe Jake Cutler was the last one that actually could sling it, but that's the thing. Rex Grossman, she was. Bigger takeaways here. For me, we'll start with the secondary. I think the secondary is a really good unit. You got Jalen Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, Kevin Beyer, Tyreeks Stevenson. I think the biggest concern is Kevin Beyer. He looked like a shell of himself when he went over to the Philadelphia Eagles. Maybe that's because the Eagles just can't play fucking defense, and they ruin everything in that shitty ass city, but Beyer definitely looked like he'd lost the step. That might be concerning. Other than that, they got a solid secondary on paper. Really got a defensive line for me outside of Montez Sweat. Montez Sweat is, I think that's one of the coolest stats last year was he led the both the Commandos and the Bears in sacks when he got traded mid-season. You got Demarcus Walker, Andrew Billings, and Gervon Dexter. I know Dexter because he's a gator. He's got a lot of potential. He hasn't really put it all together. He's a Baylor guy, to be honest, but he's one of those giant human beings that hasn't necessarily panned out. He's been a journey, not necessarily a journeyman, but he's been okay. Two, three option. Yeah, I mean, but none of those guys really impressed me. I saw them in Montez Sweat, so he's probably getting a lot of double teams this year. I will still be interested to see his sack number because I think he does produce. They really should still bring it. I'm surprised. They let Ingaque walk, and they did not really bring in anybody else to get some pressure on the quarterback. Again, they do have a pretty good secondary. Their linebackers are pretty good, but again, without a D-line man, it's going to make life really hard for the rest of the defense. We'll see there, and I think it's me. I will go ahead and start on this one. That brings me up to, so we talked about, hey, there's a lot of potential. I think this is one of the teams that has the biggest, largest variability out of this entire division. We really don't know what we're going to get. I think it's a gift that I think they're getting too much respect in the market. I think I'm going to go miss playoffs at plus 100. This is a team that was 7 and 10 last year. They've been pretty bad the past couple of years. They're going to have a completely different style of offense with Caleb Williams as opposed to Justin Fields. That D-line, man, that D-line kind of scares me. It's really the questions between Caleb Williams. We'll talk about the running back situation, which I don't love, and the defensive line. I think that's enough to push them out of the playoffs. I like the Packers and the Lions in this division, especially the Lions. I just think that they do miss the playoffs. I don't think there's three teams coming from this division. They might be able to beat the Vikings, but I do not think they're as good as the Packers and Lions. I think they need a little more time. Even though Caleb Williams may be the guy, he's still a rookie quarterback. They're still going to be growing pains there. Give me miss the playoffs at plus 100. The other one I'm going to talk about is, and we can talk about this from a fantasy perspective. The running back room for the Chicago Bears right now is DeAndre Swift, Roshan Johnson, and Khalil Herbert. DeAndre Portman is no longer there, but you've got three kind of guys to me that are all at the same tier, the same level. This screams running back by committee for me, although Swift is listed number one on the depth chart. I think Joe Johnson and Herbert are going to get a ton of carries. I also think they're going to throw the ball a decent amount with that wide receiver trio. Give me DeAndre Swift under five and a half rushing touchdowns. He's had five rushing touchdowns the last three years when he's been a little bit more of the guy. He still hasn't had a bunch of rushing touchdowns. I think, again, it's going to be a running back committee. I do think they're going to air it out. I don't know how many touchdowns this team is really going to put up in general. Give me DeAndre Swift under five and a half rushing touchdowns as my second bet there. What do you got for the people? Well, I thought it was going to sound all smart and pick the bears to miss the playoffs, but you're already still my thunder there. Just cosign it. I'm going to cosign that one. But like you said, I think the defense, I think, does take a step back. Kill Williams is the question. The offensive line, the running backs, mid wide receiver. They brought in... They've got good wide receivers. Yeah, bringing in Keenan Allen, bringing in Odunze, both look like studs. It'll be interesting to see how much they try to get Odunze going, especially when Allen's probably on a one-year rental kind of a deal. But like you said, I think if there's going to be multiple teams coming out of this division, I think the Packers are better. I think the Lions are better. I just don't... I can't trust a rookie quarterback very often. You know, CJ Stroud kind of was in the minority. I think it's a best-case scenario, right? And they barely won their division, but they barely made the playoffs. Exactly. So, you know, I think it's just not likely that a rookie quarterback leads the team to the playoffs. So, I'm going to go... Give me a cosign now for the Bears to miss the playoffs. And I kind of already touched on this a second ago too, but with that trio of wide receivers, Kill Williams is going to have all kinds of options to people to throw it to and throw a commit in there. Swift is pretty good coming out of the backfield. So, I think I'm going to take Odunzay's under 675 receiving yards at -115 just because, like I said, I think they're going to get Keenan Allen rolling. They paid him a shit ton of money for a one-year deal. They want to get him involved. DJ Moore has been there for quite a while at this point. They know how he operates. He's the vet. So, I think they'll want to get him going as well. And Odunzay, he's going to fit in there somewhere. I mean, he's a talented dude. He's a top 10 pick. But that room is so jam-packed right now. A year or two from now, he's going to be a dude, or at least hopefully. But I think he starts his career a little bit slower. Yeah, I don't hate that. He's another guy who was high on Odunzay. I almost wanted the Giants to get him over neighbors. Yeah, that's the thing. You do have Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, Cole Comette, and that running backs out of the backfield. And let's be honest, Kale Williams probably going to do some damage on the ground with his legs. So, it is just about like, I think it's less of a Roma Dunezay play, and just like, you know, the lot of mouths to feed there in Chicago. So, I think Kale Williams can have a solid season without this team making the playoffs, right? We talked about, you know, they got a pretty good secondary, but Beyard gives me some questions, and they have a defensive line, really, like, and they're a line, like, you know, a lot has to go right for this team to make the playoffs. And I think if we're getting plus money for them to miss it, I think this is odd makers of just everybody's a little too excited in Chicago, which I mean, hey, they're a great fan base. They deserve some success, but I just don't think they have put it all together this season. All right, folks, that is the four teams in the NFC North. We were talking the biggest injuries breaking down free agency market, and then talking our biggest takeaways, biggest concerns, and our best bets and fantasy football takes. We're going to do a quick recap for you guys to talk about the bets. So, I will first start it off talking about Derek's bets here. So, he had Sam LaPorter over 850 receiving yards at -115, Green Bay Packers over three and a half division wins at plus 120, J.J. McCarthy under 17 and a half touchdowns at -115, J.J. Jefferson over seven and a half receiving touchdowns at plus 100, Bears to miss the playoffs, and Romo Dunesay under 675 and a half receiving yards at minus 115. For myself, I had the Detroit Lions NFC North champs at plus 150, a Monterey St. Brown to lead the league in receiving at 11 to 1, Josh Jacobs under 950 and a half rushing yards at minus 135, the Lions to finish first, the Packers to finish second at plus 350, J.J. McCarthy to be the day one starter for your Minnesota Vikings at plus 210, and the Chicago Bears to miss the playoff at plus 100, and C. Andre Swift under five and a half rushing touchdowns as part of that running back committee there in Chicago. All right, brother, I think we are about done. What do you got for the people? Any parting words? Any gripes? Any questions, concerns, comments? No, nothing that really comes to mind. If you like what we're talking about, what we're doing, what we're throwing out there, like follow, share, send it to your significant others, your best friend, your grandma, whoever, whoever likes to watch football. There you go. Look at this call to action there for my co-hosts. But as he's saying, folks, look, we're a new show here, the DJN Jocks. If you do enjoy just two dudes that look at football a little bit differently due to, hey, we grew up studying 11 football, but also studying and understanding injuries and how that interacts with the game. Give us a like, follow, subscribe, leave us a comment. Like we said, we did the NFC South. Now this is the NFC North. We're going to do the NFC West next, and then we'll finish up with the NFC East and head on to the AFC there. So we're going to be knocking all these out before training camp. If you got any questions about a certain guy, certain player, something comes up, reach us out to us. If you just like what we're talking about, want to shoot the shit and drink some whiskey with us, we invite you to join us. As always, folks, we happy to have a wonderful, wonderful week. We appreciate you, and the DJN Jocks are out of here. What's up, DJN's doc here. As a proud member of the US Army and a lover of football, sometimes those two things cross over on here. But as you probably already know, as a lowly captain, these are just my opinions. These are not opinions that are representative of the entire DoD or the US Army. The same thing goes for any references to any commercial products or hyperlinks. Again, that does not constitute an endorsement from the DoD or the Army. I hope you enjoyed the show, and as always, let it ride, baby. [ Silence ]
To the North!! The guys preview the NFC North from all angles to get you some action! Injury Analysis, Free Agency Breakdown, Fantasy Football Takeaways, and Best Bets!
