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Some of these questions that we're going to talk about in the back half of the show are questions that I've been asking for answers for for about four or five months. And now those answers are at least we're going to start to get some answers here. At week one, you know, week one is for sure is the first data point. That's an important thing to remember. Week one is the first data point. It's not the ending data point. The job is not to get week one playing time or week one production, right? It's to tell a longer story, especially this show. We try to take a much longer view of things and just, you know, what's happening every single week in the games, but, you know, at least it will be the first bread crumbs and in a hopefully larger baked dish. What you mean, dude? I'm very much looking forward to week one over reactions and week one victory lap. So I'm ready. I'm here for that. Yeah. You know, I'm not I'm not ready for, you know, the, the pain and agony of, OK, this guy didn't do anything in week one. Is it is it over for him? It's over. And sometimes it is. Sometimes it is. You know, Skymore last year famously did not catch any passes. And then in the week one opener, the literal the season opener and it was over. It was it was over right then. That was it. We, you know, should have been like, OK, forget the prospect profile. Doesn't matter. It's it's over for old Skymore because it was indeed over. Hopefully as I think someone, I can't remember who it was in our discord pointed out. I think it might have been DK to be said, like with Skymore last opener. Now Rashad Bateman, this opener, I don't think that my heart is ready to take this. So hopefully it goes better for my guy. Rashad Bateman. I think it will. I think you'll catch more. It will. It will. It will. No, no, yeah, I totally I totally think that as well. All right, let's get to some top headlines. And then again, we'll talk about some story lines that Matt is keeping an eye on. And again, talking about these breadcrumbs and and, you know, what are some data points that he's looking forward to here in week number one. But let's start their instance night. A lot of news coming out of Cincinnati as a matter of fact. But Jamar Chase, the Jamar Chase watch continues and sound the alarms, baby. Because he is back in an actual real life Jersey, Matt. This time I've been talking about a lot about Jamar Chase being, quote, unquote, app practice, but a hold in or, you know, maybe some injuries and some phantom injuries or whatever might have been keeping him out of practice. But now he is back actually in a real life Jersey actually practicing, you know, going about half speed. That's okay. But he looks all right. He looks pretty good. I don't know what his availability will be for week number one. I don't. Here's the thing if sitting here on a, and again, we're recording this on a Wednesday afternoon, sitting here on a Wednesday, I bet you anything he doesn't play very much, if at all, against New England. I just don't think they need them against New England. So I would be surprised to see Jamar Chase out there week one. Yeah, I'm kind of with you. Today was a pretty key day that if he was going to play in week one. Yeah. That he he's got to get out there today because they're going to start pretty much like installing game plans and stuff like that. So if he wants to be a part of that at all, he's probably going to have to be out there. I'm with you that even just from a conditioning standpoint, it would be tough for him to roll out there after almost no practice time and just go out there and play a full compliment of snaps. But they certainly might not need him in week one. But I think as I said, on the last show, they're going to need him in week two because they're taking on Kansas City. And that is when they're going to want fully operational Jamar Chase. So certainly don't want him to go out there and practice and all tweak something or anything like that. You know, I think I think that week two is when we'll see Jamar Chase fully unleashed here, but they absolutely do need him. There's no question about that. I think if they want to make a Super Bowl run, obviously they're going to need your more chase. I just think in week number one against New England, where they're an eight point favorite, I just yeah, I don't see the need. It kind of dovetails into these next couple of storylines here. One, we'll stay on the positive here. Andrea Yoshivas continues to and again, you cannot ignore the Yoshivas hype at this point. You know, it's it started early in training camp and it's continued. He's got a new role here playing as an inside slot man. He's talking about and apparently, you know, we're talking about a Princeton dude here, right? But he's done a lot of tape study. You know, he's been talking about studying some of these bigger slot receivers. What kind of releases they have as an inside wide receiver. He talked about Keenan Allen as one of his, you know, you know, guys that he's studying the tape for to kind of just again, take on this role as a bigger slot receiver. He's I think six, three, he ran a four, four, three. He's a multi, you know, sport athlete here and a great overall athlete. I love him in contested catching his jump ball ability obviously showed in limited capacity last year as well. But man, just Matt, you just you just cannot ignore the Yoshivas hype at this point. Yeah, for sure. And look, I think that with kind of how this is going to dovetail into what we're going to tell them with Jermaine Burton, like they're going to need him. They're going to need Yoshivas to step up. The Bengals are one of the rare teams that still just kind of run out there. Every single snap and 11 personnel. They want to play free receivers on the field. They want to spread things out, Joe Burrow wants to get in the gun, wants to see everything, doesn't want to turn his back to the defense. We'll see if that evolves a little bit. If he's going to give burrows going to give in that offensive kind of style push and pull that Cincinnati's been going through since he's been the quarterback. And then obviously the Jake Browning experience last year looked very different than the Joe Burrow experience from a structure standpoint. But if they still want to be this 11 personnel spread things out offense, they're going to need like a slot receiver to step up. Because as much as I do think Jamar Chase, had he been there all off season, maybe would have gotten integrated more as a slot receiver, he obviously, it was not there all off season. So there wasn't a lot of time to conceptualize a new role for him or something like that. So I think Jase is still going to see some work out of the slot. He's still going to be moved around a ton. But now they just kind of need a straight up replacement for Tyler Boyd. And the athleticism, the size is interesting for Andrea Yoshivas. You know, I love a big slot receiver. Like Tyler Boyd kind of counted as a big slot receiver. People think of like, because he's just a pure slot and all that. I think he kind of gets remembered as a tiny guy, but Tyler Boyd is 62, 203. So they're used to having a size at that slot receiver position. And hopefully I think that's what they're looking for with Yoshivas here too. Yeah, I'm really curious to see. And I don't want to, you know, sometimes we throw away, throw around blessing into skies a little bit too frequently. But I wonder if there were some positives. This is certainly, I think, one of the positives to take away from Jamar Chase being away from camp. It gave guys like Yoshivas a lot more opportunities to run with Joe Burrow to run with the first team offense and get acclimated. And not just get acclimated, man, but just get confident. You know, build that chemistry with Joe Burrow. And from everything that I've read about Andre Yoshivas, man, he sounds like he's just, he's ready to rock and roll. So I'm so curious, you know, I know we're going to talk about storylines here in week one. But man, I am so curious to see what this looks like here in week number one. Does Yoshivas step up? Because man, I was surprised. But again, Tyler Boyd, we think about T Higgins. We think about, you know, Jamar Chase. And I know those guys were dealing with injuries and all that kind of stuff. But nearly a hundred targets last year for Tyler Boyd. So there's certainly a target vacuum that Yoshivas can step in and fill right away. Okay, so again, we talk about some of the other wide receivers. I really honestly thought with Jamar Chase away, I'm like, man, Cincinnati brilliant move drafting this kid, Jermaine Burton, right? Takes him in, I believe it was a third round, but a lot of folks had him pegged as a first round talent, right? So the reports though, with Jermaine Burton, it's the literal exact opposite of Yoshivas. They continue to be relatively negative, you know, and this term professional, Matt, this term professional keeps getting thrown around a lot with Jermaine Burton. And to me, that's a little bit concerning considering the reason he was a third round selection and not a first round pick was because there was some coach ability issues, some off the field type of stuff. And I think that kind of professional coach ability, those kind of things all work hands in hand. So I don't know, what's your thought on this and what's your level of concern? What's your main burden? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I had a subscriber reach out to me on Twitter and say like, oh, you did, I noticed in your updated dynasty rankings, you know, that Jermaine Burton is still pretty high for you. And you know, I'm like, I think it would be crazy to dock a rookie based on like pre-season usage because, you know, he played like deep into the fourth quarter of pre-season games and stuff like that. This is a third round pick. If he doesn't do anything this season, that actually isn't all that surprising. On the surface, the concerning part here is what you mentioned that it's, there are some reports like Paul Danner Jr. from The Athletic, I think was one who wrote that the Bengals are not going to trust Jermaine Burton in the lineup until they can trust Jermaine Burton. And part of that is going to be about professionalism and preparation and things like that. Those whispers have been out there. And that's just really unfortunate because this guy has such a big opportunity here ahead of himself. I mean, yeah, but at the same time, like he had big opportunities accomplished, you know, he was on like national championship teams or like competitive teams with Georgia, Alabama. And he didn't do everything he needed to then. That was the rumor out of college. You know, Dane Burglar said he got him, he got him on the, he got himself on the shit list with both the Georgia and Alabama coaching staff. So if he's not coming here and sees this opportunity, you know, you can't be surprised by that at all. And that's the problem with a guy like Burton is that the ceiling is obviously high. The ceiling obviously exists. He's a great player, but you could be a great player all you want when you're a completely unproven rookie. Like nobody's going to give you opportunities, especially in a stacked receiver room. If Chase is out there, if Yoshvah steps up and Higgins is, you know, good to go here, like, yeah, the Bengals have no incentive to just like, all right, let's, let's, let's kind of rock and roll with the Jermaine Burton ups and downs. Like they're not going to throw him out there without any trust. This is not a receiver room that, that needs, needs the help. I mean, even beyond those guys, like Trent Nerwin is still on this team. Trent Nerwin has like stepped up for the Bengals in the past when there's been injuries. Charlie Jones is a second year player, you know, who I kind of liked as a day three pick for them as a potential slot receiver. You know, he's a guy who's probably going to play on special teams and stuff. Yeah, there's a very good chance Jermaine Burton is not on the game day active players for the Bengals. That's crazy. And then we'll just have to see if he can seize that opportunity. Hopefully this is all for nothing, but, you know, it's just, it's, it's worth discussing that this is the range of outcomes for a player like this. Yeah, Paul Denher, that as you mentioned, who writes for the athletic and has been covering the Bengals for, I mean, decades, I mean, just, he's been covering it for so long. Maybe I'm exaggerating there. I don't know. But it seems like it's been decades that he's been covering the Bengals, man. Um, he talks about just not being completely up to task on the playbook that maybe he's running a lot of wrong routes in practice and in games. Certainly, um, you could see the talent when he, when he gets it right in the clicks and everything is good. But man, Matt, it's with players like this, it could go two ways, it can go two ways, you know, where, where their draft stock falls from a first round draft grade to the third round. They're like, Oh my gosh, this is a wake up call. Man, I got to get out there, I got to really prepare and do my thing because at the end of the day, some of these kids, man, when they're playing in college, like they don't need to prepare because all they got to do is run, you know, a straight nine route fly route right down the field and just go over the top of 510 DB, you know what I'm talking about. But that's not how it works in the NFL. So, um, I'm just, yeah, man, I don't know, man, this, this coach ability stuff, the knowing the playbook stuff, uh, it's just unfortunate because from a talent perspective, Matt, this is, it's just, it would be perfect, it'd be perfect for Cincinnati. If he could fill in for that T Higgins role, if he moves on, or if Jamar Chase is, or T Higgins struggles with injury, man, like from a talent perspective and from a fit and role perspective, it's perfect. It's perfect. But just, he's got to get all that, the, all the stuff behind the scenes kind of locked in. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, the one thing I would say too is that it comes down to Joe burrow too. I think it's a bad sign that, that you go to a place like this in Cincinnati that has an established culture in an established quarterback who should be, um, yeah, I was remember the conversation I had with Damien Harris on the Yahoo draft show when Burton got drafted there that, you know, Damien talked about guys as a quarterback that have the ability and like the personality to, to grab a, you know, a receiver and be like, Hey man, like I need you. We need you and stuff like that. And you saw that burrow was like taking it quickly to Burton in OTAs and many camps, stuff like that, like really trying to form something with him. Mm hmm. And if at the end of this process now, like he's still not been able to reach, reach Burton and, and like we're, there's still concerns there between quarterback and wide receiver. That's a bad sign for Burton going forward. So I hope this is all for nothing, like still believe in the talent landing spot is great. I will also say too that even if he has a quote red shirt rookie year, which is what Paul Dainer mentioned that he might, right, um, I still don't mean, I don't still don't think it's over for Jermaine Burton, but it's you would just like to see, you would, you would like to see a more, a quicker, a better like adjustment and not be, you know, for, or months into his NFL career or whatever, talking about the same things that had made him fall in the draft. Yeah. That's a good point. All right. We move on. New cockense is back in practicing. That's a good sign considering he had that knee injury, uh, his availability for week number one still relatively up in the air. But man, this Tennessee offense, Matt is going to be completely revamped. And I'm really excited to see, speaking of Cincinnati and the ties in here, right? I'm excited to see what Brian Callahan brings as a head coach. And we know that as an OC, the Cincinnati Bengals had the second highest pass to run ratio in the NFL and they had the second highest pass rate over expected last year as well. And this, despite the fact that Joe Burrow missed a bunch of time and they had a backup quarterback in there for Cincinnati, you don't generally see that where coaches really kind of sort of go back into a shell and play a little, you know, protective football and to a degree. They did that too. Right. Like a lot of the passes were around the line of scrimmage, but the bottom line was they weren't scared to throw the football. Yeah. And I don't think this Titan staff will be scared to throw the football either. Uh, I think it's actually pretty encouraging that they have two backs in Tony Pollard and Taj a Spears who can play in the passing game when they've talked about these backs. They've talked about them being involved in the past game. Um, almost like first and foremost, they've been, they've been more like talking about these guys as receivers versus what they'll do in the run game. Um, you know, Brian Calhand, actually, I saw a clip today of him at a press camera talking about, you know, EPA being something that's going to inform him of down a distance. Why is it? When they should look at the football. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I think there's a reason. Like shocker. I hold up. Hold up. Just backtracking here. I correct me if I'm wrong. Have you ever heard of a head coach, not an offensive coordinator, a head coach ever talk about EPA and play calling? I, I, this has got to be a first. Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at it right now to tweet from, uh, to Ron Davenport who, uh, has been awesome, you know, covering the Titans for a long time works for ESPN as their NFL nation reporter. Um, he's the man. True ball. No, for sure. Uh, is to run Davenport and you know, he, he's got the video here of Brian Calahan talking about EPA, weighing your decisions. That's wild. Yeah. So it's, there's a, by the way, there's a reason that like Brian Calahan. As well thought of, uh, among like smart football media members, because I'm sure he's talking about and thinking about these things, but it's crazy to like, yeah, I mean, Brian Calahan's son of Bill Calahan, the, you know, now Titans offensive line coach, like this is a football lifer guy, uh, who, who's in this position talking about this stuff. So I can't, I, this does feel a little bit still like off season brain, uh, but I'm excited to see what the Titans roll out here in week one, just cause like good, bad and different. I know it's going to be different than the Titans of old. I know it's going to be different, uh, from the Mike Vrable, Tennessee Titans. And I, I like Vrable. I think Vrable's a good coach, but I don't think Vrable was talking about EPA in the, in the press conferences. Uh, you know, he was talking about cutting his junk off to win a Super Bowl. So a little bit different personalities here at the top for Tennessee, but yeah, I also think from a talent perspective, man, you know, getting new Hopkins back is, is important because I think it's a team that's going to run a lot of 12. I think they're going to run some 12 personnel and that, you know, two tight ends of the field, neither one of their tight ends are going to be like big time target getters in Wiley or Oconquo, but those are going to push targets to the outside perimeter receivers. And, um, I don't know, we spent so much time talking about Calvin Ridley on the, like the last preseason three and six, five days ago, I think I mentioned this at like, I think there's a chance that we under discussed him this year and he's actually going to have a pretty big year for this team, and, um, you know, I think Hopkins obviously is going to be a big part of that too. So yeah, tight ends week one, they go into Chicago, they play the Bears. That's not a, uh, cake walk of a defense, but it's certainly like these two wide receivers and how will Levis messes with them. And also if they're able to give will Levis, you know, kind of like early career, Josh Allen, like, Hey, Josh, let's take those checkdowns, like let's get you running back sick and catch the ball out of the backfield so that you don't go wild horse, uh, every single snap. I'm interested to see if that all kind of comes together here in week number one, and obviously throughout the courts this season. Yeah, Chicago, a, a, a pretty healthy four point favorite at home. Uh, to be honest with you, I think Tennessee's a live dog right there, man. Go ahead and give me Tennessee, uh, to cover that four points, man. I, I actually think they might win that ball game, uh, going on the road because I really think they're going to catch Chicago by surprise. Dude, Tennessee have the third lowest pass attempts or the third fewest pass attempts last year. I want to, now they're playing under a, a regime where they're just going to be firing this football all over the place. Um, yeah, sign me up for that. By the way, it's interesting, I, I want to backtrack here just a little bit. You talked a lot about 12 personnel, why, why 12 personnel, um, mostly because again, not only did they add Calvin Ridley this offseason, but they also added the aforementioned Tyler Boyd. So, you know, uh, you know, there's some of that Cincinnati, you know, uh, the, the Cincinnati strings there, I, I just, I'm curious because in Cincinnati was, it was all 11 all the time. I think there's going to be a real molding of philosophies here between, you know, what Brian Callahan and those Bengals coaching staffs did versus what his dad, uh, has been throughout the course of his, you know, he's been a run game coordinator. He's also been a head coach obviously years ago, but, um, he's mostly an offensive line guru, uh, you know, that's been his big calling car. That's why he's a high, one of the most highly paid assistants in the NFL is, is Brian Callahan or Bill Callahan? Excuse me. Um, I think there's going to be a real molding of those two philosophies and I think they are going to want to try to play some physical football here too. And I also think that, look, Tyler Boyd's a good player, but they signed Tyler Boyd deep into the off season. It wasn't as if like, it's true. Let's go out and make sure we get Tyler Boyd, you know, it was, it was like, okay, he's available. We're going to give him a little bit of money here because by the way, they had zero depth that wide receiver beyond, um, especially in the slot, you know, it's Kyle Phillips who hasn't really developed as a pro and then this staff barely want, yeah, injuries and stuff like that. That's part of why he hasn't developed has been the injuries, but there's also been, this coaching staff barely wants to acknowledge a trail in Berks exists, much less like they don't see him as an option as the, as a slot receiver, cause they're not trying to take that project on. So I just think like, okay, in certain situations, they probably will be an 11 personnel team, but I think they're going to get into some condensed formations because they're going to want to play some physical football. Like I don't think this will just be a finesse 11 11 personnel, like spread it out team. I think there's going to be some more versatility there. Yeah. Again, another player I'm curious to see is Chigo Conquo, you know, if you turn on his Maryland tape, I mean, this guy was catching passes all over the place and deep downfield too. The certified pass catcher was Chigo Conquo. Dude, it's rookie season. His rookie season was awesome. Like legitimately he was one of the most efficient pass catchers, like on a per out basis, just in the NFL. So it wasn't even just in college. Yeah. No. I mean, so he's shown it to us, man. So again, can they utilize some of that? Is the coaching staff, you know, curious as to what the ceiling might be for a player like Chigo Conquo? I don't know. The, the, the, the former Tennessee regime was not interested in throwing Chigo Conquo the ball at all. So I don't know, can they utilize this here in Tennessee, man? I'm, I'm really excited to see Tennessee's offense. I think they're going to catch a lot of people by surprise, man. And when they fire up those oiler uniforms, oh, baby, let's go. Let's go. It's going to be nice to see. It's a great look, especially for, for our guy, Will Levis, aka Billy Jean. So anyways, we'll see what's going on. How about there in Kansas City? They're going to kick off the, the season in on Thursday against Baltimore, Hollywood Brown has already been ruled out for Kansas City in that contest. Not, not a huge surprise given his injury and the injury timeline put him at four to six weeks. So, I don't think that's a little bit of a surprise. I think next week will be a little bit more of a question mark, but he might miss next week's game as well. But Hollywood Brown has been ruled out here, Matt Kansas City is going to be going about here with their, their new speed weapon and Xavier Worthy, Rishi Rice. And hopefully we've got a pretty healthy and aging gracefully Travis Kelsey. At King Super's Pharmacy, care is making it easy to get vaccinated. Care is helping you stay protected from flu, COVID and RSV. Seasonal vaccines are available seven days a week with evening hours. Care is giving you a shot at staying healthy this season. Walk in whenever is best and get multiple vaccines in one visit at your local King Super's Pharmacy. So come and get the protection you need while protecting those around you. King Super's a world of care is in store. Visit king supers.com/vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply. See site for details. Yeah. And I mean beyond that, Justin Watson is still on this team, you know, I think he's sure. Dude, come on, you know, Justin Watson always ended up playing more than people think. Oh, yeah. It was crazy. He played like 90% of the snapshot. He was nuts. Yeah. Every single year he played. I mean, he doesn't get a lot of targets. But he is like a fish and when he gets targets and stuff like that, at least like my homes likes to throw, you know, some heaters downfield. So Watson is somebody to watch how much his role is going to be this year. They signed Juju. We talked a lot about what, you know, what does that mean with the Rishi rice stuff. So the Chiefs always end up rotating their receivers more than we think early in the season. I don't think there's going to be the same type of situations we saw last year where I think seven wide receivers were active in week one for the Kansas City Chiefs and nobody was a full-time player. I don't think we'll quite see that this year. But I do think that like how much Xavier worthy plays where Rishi rice lines up is going to be a situation worth monitoring. Yeah. I love that. I love. I'm really curious to see what they do with Rishi rice. Will they expand his route tree or as you called it a route bush? The route. Maybe. Let's get that thing growing a little. Let's get that thing. Let's give it some water, get some soil around him. Let's get, let's grow that a route shrub. All right. Now, I want to know who was more excited. You or me about Curtis Samuel back in practice, practicing in full. He's been dealing with a little turf toe injury for the Buffalo bills. I've been saying all off season that Curtis Samuel to me is going to be the bills leading receiver. And it has been met with dead panned crickets. I mean, just absolutely nobody is interested. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear that Curtis Samuel is going to be the leading target getter in this offense. The second you mentioned Keyon Coleman, the second you mentioned Dalta, especially Dalton Kincaid. Oh, then the antennas go up, but if you talk about Curtis Samuel ain't nobody interested in Curtis Samuel, but I don't know, man, just given his reception perception profile. To me, it feels like he's the most versatile wide receiver they've got on the roster. And the guy that can beat man coverage the best from a wide receiver perspective, I just, to me, it feels like he's a shoe in barring injury, of course, to lead this team in receptions and targets and all of those in all of those metrics. I don't know. What's your thoughts here in Buffalo? Yeah. And the real hipsters like me are, you know, still holding a candle for Khalil Shakir who was awesome last year, and you know, is you go back and look at his reception perception prospect profile, I believe in the rookie round up, you know, three classes ago, really good. I think Khalil Shakir has just continued to check boxes. He's somebody that I think, I think if I had to bet who's the most productive receiver in week one for the Buffalo Bills, because Samuel's coming off in injuries, I think it will be Khalil Shakir. And then the sickos like me, there's hipsters and then there's sickos. The sickos like me are also, I'm just reminding people, like, Matt Collins is going to play more than you, than you think in week one, James, when, when, you know, the, the bros are tweeting out the route participation metrics for the Bills and week one, just don't get upset when you see Matt Collins is playing a ton. Okay. Just, just remember that. Dang. Dang it. Come on, man. No. We don't need to see Matt Collins out there. We've seen enough of Matt Collins to know that this guy's not a difference maker. Come on, bro. This is, that he's their sacrificial extreceiver. I talked about sacrificial extreceivers all off season. I feel like the one team, the one team that's really doing it is Buffalo. Okay, but how many of these sacrificial X's do they need? They've got Marquez Valdez-Gantling on this team too. Come on. I think, I think Collins is, hey, Collins was better in the off season. He's a better blocker. I think they want they, they're one of the best rushing teams. Last year in like man gap power runs, they actually were number one in success rate on man gap runs last year. So, Collins is a big blocker. He's going to bring no one likes when I talk about why we see you're blocking, but it's true. It's going to matter for this, this, this distribution here because, you know, Shakir and Samuel are not blockers. No, Coleman, I think that's going to come, you know, in time, you know, I really think that he's, Keon Coleman is probably going to be a back half of the year big impact player for Buffalo. I don't think it's going to be early. So, yeah, I, I hope Samuel's ready to rock. I just hope he can stay healthy because every time he's been healthy, he's been a productive and positive force for whichever offense he is in. It's just about staying healthy. Yeah. I think he actually is going to take more snaps outside than people think to because you mentioned the man coverage beating ability and like I think Shakir is almost like he's established and kind of entrenched as their slot. So if I had to bet week one, most productive bills receiver, I still think it, I think it will be Khalil Shakir who, you know, it's a good, like he's a good player. He's just a good football player. And then the ceiling of this offense, the passing game will obviously be determined by Josh Allen, but it's like how a guy like Samuel integrates as a man coverage beating receiver. And then when Keon Coleman's ready to be trusted is that big slots at slash kind of flanker guy. Yeah. I mean, I think we all are coming into this, into the season with the assumption that Josh Allen is, is this. Um, untouchable player and listen, he's a great player. Awesome player. I'm just saying his ascent came at the exact same time with the arrival of Stefan Diggs, right? So what does this offense look like now that they don't have a guy who is in absolute target sponge, a player that is going to dictate coverage and warps coverage to, to, to make it so that other teams have to adjust in that there are follow players like we're talking about, you know, like Khalil Shakir, getting wide open looks. You know, I mean, like a lot of these teams now can just throw a base defense out there against the bills. Whereas before when they had Stefan Diggs, they just didn't do that. Even in the back half of last year, Matt, when, when Diggs wasn't even getting the ball, he's still dictating coverage and the expenses were warped to, to adjust to that. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know, uh, to me, that's a really, that's going to be a really interesting storyline to follow all year long, um, you know, Patrick Mahomes had to go through that when, when they lost Henry Kill, uh, and he's obviously, you know, an otherworldly talent is Josh Allen of that ilk. Is he of that mindset and, and more importantly, can Joe Brady put his quarterback in a position to succeed without a, a, a coverage altering player like Stefan Diggs? That's I think going to be fascinating to me, uh, to watch here in week number one. Um, all right. So, uh, speaking of storylines, that's a storyline I'm going to be watching in Buffalo. What are some other storylines here, uh, that you are most curious about here, Matt, uh, and we'll start in green Bay. Uh, listen, I talked about questions I've been asking for like four months now. It's got to be what is the Packers wide receiver rotation. Uh, we're going to get this game on Friday night against the Philadelphia Eagles who are breaking in a new defensive system. I think I trust, uh, obviously Vic Fangio to do a good job breaking in that defense over the course of the season, more so than the guy he's, um, he's currently replacing, which is Matt Patricia, who's, uh, continuing to ride Bill Belichick's coattails over there at underdog fantasy, uh, just co-hosting the, the show there with Bill Belichick. Did you see that? Uh, I didn't see that. That doesn't surprise me at all though. Godly. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I, I like how an underdog tees, like, you know, you look, I think the guys that underdog do great work. So, and I think I'm excited to see what Bill Belichick does with his hundred shows, by the way, he's involved in a bill, a billion shows this year. Uh, he's on a million shows. He started, he started his Instagram account. Like what's going on here with Bill, he's dating like a 25 year old, like what is going on with Bill? I like, what's, what's happening here? All I'll say is that, you know, as a guy who's on too many podcasts, uh, myself, I'm to bill, I think is on too many podcasts that guy, he's going to be repeating some notes this year, uh, which I'm sure, which I do. I know I do. Like sometimes like, I said this on this other show, I'm going to say it again on this show and maybe, uh, a little bit differently, but probably pretty much still the same, the same thing. Bill's going to be doing that this year too. So me and Bill Belichick, uh, same person, but anyway, absolutely hundred percent, many people are saying, I have an Instagram account, don't have a 24 year old girlfriend though, I do not. Practically though, practically you're, you're almost there. Okay. Anyways, you're, you're, you're very kind, uh, to my wife. I'll tell her you said, uh, anyways, yeah, with the, were we talking about again? Oh yeah. We got people on their phones right now, googling Bill Belichick's girlfriend. That's a hundred percent. What's happening right now? Just FYI. That's okay. I mean, go fall down that rabbit hole and then listen to his five podcasts, including one of which is co-hosted by Matt Patricia, which, uh, who was the chief as a coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, who was being replaced by Vic Fangio, the current defense coordinator, and if we know one thing about Vic, it's that he will be better than Matt Patricia, uh, who, but you know, Vic Fangio does sometimes take a little bit of a, it takes a beat for those defenses to get rockin' and rollin' here, uh, so the Packers wide receivers against this defense, I think they're in a good spot to get some productive plays, but who's going to be playing the most of this rotation, James? That's what I want to know, um, it, and what the rotation looks like here because not, not only is this a good receiver room and we've talked in detail about Romeo Dobbs and the, the good things he brings is something a little more than the sacrificial X receiver, but, but a little bit sacrificial X receiver stuff handling the backside work so that you can do the fun things with Jaden Reed and Christian Watson and Don Tavey and Wix is kind of like the jack of all trades, the, probably the best true ISO route runner of the group. Um, but, you know, more than Jaden Reed, more than Jaden Reed is like at the outside guy because Jaden Reed primarily runs from the slot and I do think that, um, just again, like deep down the field, ISO route running, um, released off the line of scrimmage against press, you saw more of that as a rookie from Don Tavey and Wix and you did as, uh, then you did from Jaden Reed. I will say about Jaden Reed though, and I know I did say this actually on, on another show that in any other situation, Jaden Reed, we look at his, you know, reception, perception pro, well for one you, not even just from his rookie season profile, but as a guy in, in his prospect profile that was good, right? Like just a good outside receiver, check the success rate boxes we want versus man and press coverage. And then he comes in his rookie season and he does that from a production standpoint and then in reception perception comes in at a 72.2% success rate versus man, 81.7% success rate versus zone, he wins, uh, on the quick hitting routes, but he also wins intermediate on digs and posts and corners. I'd be ranking that guy probably as a top 20 receiver in fantasy or like darn near it. Definitely is a wide receiver too, but you can't do that with Jaden Reed because you don't know the playing time of this entire Packers wide receiver room. That's why I'm so curious to see it, especially because James is much to be tough at the receivers. They have two good tight ends. Last year, they were one of the most heavy 12 personnel teams. So they're going to want to get those guys involved because they're second year players as well. So it's crazy. The rotation of these Packers receivers, I think Jane Reed's too good. You can't take him off the field. I think Don Tabin wicks is too good. You can't like just throw him on the bench. But what does that mean for Christian Watson? What does that mean for Romeo Dobbs and does the coaching staff share that same view that I just threw out about those two players? I'm not sure. I'm ready to finally get the answers though. I mean, when you've got these four guys, you would like to just go, I mean, gun spread and just like, let's go, you know, but that's not that's not the identity of a Matt LaFloor offense. That's not the not the identity here in Green Bay, because as you mentioned, I mean, they went heavy a lot, man. They went 12 personnel. They weren't scared about it. I actually got to check in on the health of Tucker craft. I think he was dealing with a little bit of injury that that actually might help make the decision a lot easier for Matt LaFloor in terms of how often they're going to go 11 personnel. You know what I mean? But you're right, man. Like again, when you've got not three guys, but four guys that can play a little bit and do different things that that's the young man, that's the other thing. There's no repetition here. I know. Right. There's no, like, if you want like a splash play deep down field, okay, Christian Watson is your guy. Right? Like you want some, you know, you need to move the chains a little bit and you want to get into a contested catch a little situation where the quarterback trusts his wide receiver. That's Romeo Dubs. Right? Oh, you want to get a guy who's getting open in the slot? Okay. That's Jaden Reed. You want a guy who kind of sort of does it all? Maybe that's Dante. I mean, there's such, there is such little overlap when we're talking about skill sets. That's what makes it so hard because you can find a role and you can find, again, we talk about role catering and all that. You could find a role for all of these dudes. You can make a case that all these guys should be on the football field. That to me is what makes it really, really difficult. But man, Matt, at the end of the day, I just wonder if health and inconsistency is what's going to force Christian Watson to the bench and they just roll with these other dudes, man. I just, to me, I feel like that might happen, but man, draft capital certainly is going to play a factor too. Yeah. And I think that there's a real chance that, you know, three different players lead the team in catches, yards and touchdowns respectively, right? And that's the thing about Watson is that he is legitimately valuable in certain areas. I don't think he's a complete player. I think some of the efficiency metrics are boosted by big plays and big moments and also small sample sizes because he hasn't played that much because he's constantly on and off the field. And, you know, he has these really great games. He has these really bad games too. Like that's who he is as a player. That's why I think he's a less is more player. I'm not saying he needs to be forced to the bench, but I don't know that I want him out there on every single snap. I also think, by the way, not having him out there on every single snap also will kind of help him from an injury perspective, not put too much on his plate. I think less is more is good for his skillset and for his body, right? So that he can stay healthy for the long term. So especially here, the Packers, like you want to, you can win the Super Bowl this year. They're a team that some people are picking to win the Super Bowl. So why would you not take long term kind of into account here and say, Hey, like, we don't want to burn out Christian Watson in week one, playing a bunch of snaps. Let's, let's get him going for, you know, down the line. Yeah. No, I think that's, I think that's smart. And again, the NFC as, as always is wide open and green Bay can certainly assert themselves into the mix. Man, this division though, this division is so good, man. This division is insane. We got to talk about Detroit is another Super Bowl contender, Chicago on the comma. And obviously you guys heard my hot take with, uh, with Minnesota. So geez. Yeah. And then there's the Vikings with one of the least efficient quarterbacks the last of all time. Of all time. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Anyways, um, yeah, I got it. I really, I got to be nicer to Sam Darnell. This is becoming too much of a bit. So I would bet a little bit. The bit is good. The bit is strong. I like the bit, um, especially since we're on, we're on opposite sides of it. So it's good. Um, okay, talk to me about, uh, another storyline that we're going to be tracking here. This one in Indianapolis. Yeah. This one's 80 Mitchell's role, especially because, you know, two things have transpired over the course, um, of the off season, like late off season here training camp, Josh Downs was having an awesome camp by all accounts. Josh Downs is an awesome football player. You guys know if you follow reception perception, you know how I feel about Josh Downs. Having said he picks up a high ankle sprain, uh, he still wasn't practicing or was limited in practice leading up to here to week one. So, um, you know, he might not play in, in week one. Uh, and when, while Downs is missed time, this coaching staff has actually used 80 Mitchell in a variety of formations. They've used him as a slot receiver at times. I think that's so fascinating, James, because when you look at 80 Mitchell's RP prospect profile, it was primarily just X receiver. He lined up outside on 83% of his sample snaps. He was on the line for 82.8%. Wow. Uh, the highest rate of any top two round prospect in the RP database from this class. Um, he was the, the most X receiver heavy, the most position limited in terms of his deployment among these top or one of the most, uh, event of any of these top receiver prospects. And his most commonly run routes relative to the prospect average, nine post dig out. And then a corner route was within the prospect average as well as was the slant. So it was mostly a vertical X receiver route tree, which if you think about it, well, I mean, that's what the Colts need, right? Cause they can just take a Alec Pierce out of the rotation, plop 80 Mitchell in that spot. Michael Pittman's your flanker. He's moved around the formation and Josh downs is your slot made perfect sense when he was drafted. Sure. Since he's gotten to camp, 80 Mitchell, I think from what I've been told, uh, by people who have been to that camp, uh, and you just listen to some of the reports and the way they're talking about a Mitchell, I think they got 80 Mitchell in the building was like, Oh, this guy can do way more than that, but he could do way more than just line up and run as an X receiver and run deep routes. Let's mix up his alignment. I think they were going to do this. Even if, uh, Josh downs wasn't injured, but I think Josh downs being injured gave them an excuse to try 80 Mitchell out as a slot receiver and, and move him around the formation. So I think this is really fascinating because definitely when you look at 80 Mitchell's prospect profile, 84th percentile success rate versus man, 83rd percentile success rate versus press and then 31st percentile against zone coverage that does more so points you do that outside X receiver. And I think that will be his primary position when he is a full time player, you know, press man beating X, but I think his movement skills and some of that, as I've talked about it like that low you to sleep route running that he has, okay. I think that can work as like a move around player and somebody that does a little bit more than just the vertical routes on the outside. So if I, and I, I think Mitchell's a good player, good prospect, really liked him in this class. I want to see what his week one role looks like because if he is more versatile than just a, you know, your run of the mill X receiver, he could really be the, the missing piece of what this Colts receiver room really needs. Yeah. It's, I'm going to be fascinated to see how much they actually play Alec Pierce. So again, we're talking about a guy that was a second round pick in 2022, right? So it's not as if he's just a throwaway pick, right? So Alec Pierce has also reportedly had a pretty good camp, right? So I don't know what to believe. I mean, are all these guys having great camps like Pierce, seven, a great camp, 80, Mitchell, seven, a great camp. Josh Downs, before he got injured was having a great camp. The only person I haven't heard about is Michael Pittman, as a matter of fact, but we know he's a certified, just don't lock it in. He's a certified good player. Yeah. No, they paid him like that. Yeah. They paid him like that. We don't need no reports about Michael Pitt. We already know this Duke and ball, right? So I'm just, again, we're almost getting back into this whole green-based situation, right? Well, you've got four guys here that, again, can play a little bit, right? I know you're not big on Alec Pierce, but again, second round pick, he has a role that he can play, right? Which is, again, athletic, you know, big-bodied ex-receiver that can get downfield, right? And so, yeah, I'm just, man, I don't know. Are we going to get another green-based situation here in Indianapolis with these four players? I don't know. I don't know. Look, we don't talk fantasy on this show, but just from a fantasy perspective, man, like I am a little bit hesitant to invest in any of these players, and that includes Michael Pittman. When we started this whole process, I was all in on Pittman, right? Because I thought all these other players would be really, really good players working around Pittman, but the more I've seen them play now and the more that their roles have been kind of like moving around a little bit, I actually kind of sort of think Pittman's going to be another one of these, I just, I don't want to say he's going to be a guy, but man, he's going to not be the featured, featured guy, if that makes any sense. You know, I think he'll be the one, but that the gulf between the one, two, and three, and four, that's going to be a lot closer than what I was anticipating when we started this whole process. Yeah, I think that's fair, and it just is dependent on all these other players. It depends on when Josh Downs gets healthy, you know, if you look at just like the, the two games that Anthony Richardson started and finished last year, Pittman was still the, you know, which is fricking two. Pittman was still the high in a way most targeted player, like from a first-rate target perspective, he was at 32-ish percent, 33 percent, he was at 35 percent over the course of the entire season. So it wasn't just like Garner Minch who got in there and Pop Gunnar fed him, Anthony Richardson was feeding him too on those first-rate targets because of the RPO nature of that offense, like the first read's going to get the ball out. I just wonder if like, yeah, some of these other guys, maybe they become first-rate players. I don't know, but I do feel, I feel so strongly about Michael Pittman, I think of Michael Pittman so highly. It's been tough for me to, I've still kept him from, yeah, fantasy perspective in that tier three of wide receivers, but he is the lowest ranked there. I've just ended up taking him a lot because I think a lot of people feel this way about Michael Pittman and he ends up falling in drafts. So I think there's still a good role for him here, but I do wonder if some of these other receivers catch up with him. I'll just say this about Alec Pierce. I liked Alec Pierce to a degree as a prospect and I think he translated a lot of that in his first-year reception-perception profile. But if you remember the way I talked about it was the bad takes about DK Metcalf where he can only run like vertical three routes, vertical routes, he can run go routes, post routes and slant routes, and that's quite literally it. But I do think he brings some value in that way, I mean, it's pretty sacrificial. He was honestly maybe the most sacrificial X last year because he just ran a bunch of deep routes and almost never got the ball, but clear out space for Pittman and Downs and all these guys. I think he'll probably be, now that I think 80 Mitchell might be more position versatile, I think that there will be more room for sort of, there will be more of a role for Alec Pierce to do that clear out stuff. I still just don't think he's going to command too many targets per game. I will be fascinated if the health does not hold up and to this point it has never held up for Anthony Richardson. He's had so many season ending injuries throughout his career going all the way back to high school, going back to high school, Matt, you see this big, hulking mammoth of a man, you're thinking this man will never get hurt. Unfortunately, he's just the way he plays, man, he puts himself in danger a lot, but it just hasn't happened on the football field very much. What does this, I love what this team did in targeting Joe Flacco to be their backup quarterback so that they can keep some of these concepts that they've got going on. I think they can continue to do that and I know Flacco just went crazy last year to end last year and that was nuts, that was just nuts. That came out of it. That was nowhere. Come back, Claire, the year Joe Flacco, better player than the guy who died, better come back. That's crazy. That's insane. Quarterbacks really do win every award. That was disgusting. That was insane. That was so stupid. That's crazy. I mean, godly. Unbelievable. Anyways, but the fact that he's with the Colts now, though, and it's not somebody who is just where they have to completely shut down the offense, you know what I mean? They can continue to do the stuff that Shane Sycan wants to do. I think that's really important and I thought that was a really savvy move and yeah, man, if Anthony Richardson can't hold up, I think Flacco steps in and I think he actually can keep the ship rolling and dude, he's going to be playing with the best receivers he's ever played with in his entire life in terms of a collection of receivers. You know, Alec Pierce, Pittman, Josh Downs, Adi Mitchell. Oh my goodness. That's that is a really nice, you know, quad, you know, receiver room that he's got going on there. Yeah. I'm just really interested to see how this room comes together. I've always been higher on the Colts receivers than kind of national media, just because I've been higher on Michael Pittman than most people, right, but, you know, Downs is an RP favorite. Mitchell's got a really interesting RP profile that has some real, I mean, 84th percentile success rate burst man, 83rd against press is no joke, baby. So if they can, if they can get some of that and yeah, I mean, the, the, the quick hitting routes like slants and stuff like that digs, he's good on those routes. So if he can become an over the middle player, like more of a reliable target getter than just running nine routes and corner routes and stuff like that doing George Pickens stuff as an extreceiver. This might be a really, really big hit for the Colts. So I'm just, God, I hope Anthony Richard could stay healthy and I hope he is more accurate than he has been in the past, I just hope it all comes together. Oh, man, his misses are so big. It's crazy. It's crazy, but I think overall, his overall accuracy as Derek Klassen pointed out to us on reception perception.com, go check it out. His profile is so interesting. His misses are so big, but he's actually a relatively accurate quarterback when you kind of take everything into consideration. Okay. Anyways, okay. Talk to me about the storyline you're following in Detroit. I mean, James, we did like what a whole 45 minute segment on Jamison Williams this summer. And then I think justifiably probably never spoke about him again after that, because we did an entire podcast segment about Jamison Williams. If you want to go by the way, by the way, a lot of people listened to that. A lot of people, a lot of people commented on the YouTube video. Some of them really did not watch the entire video, which it was long. I get it. Some people didn't read the whole RP profile, which I think was probably the longest in RP history. I get it. Now, I'm assuming it lists the whole thing, but I'm not going to sit here and repeat all that because it was a 40 plus minute conversation. But the nuts and bolts of that conversation was that Jamison Williams is a guy who the total picture of his RP profile looks bad. When you parse it out into those final five games in the profile, it actually looks like probably a starting-level receiver who can be in the mix here. And the Lions have been really high on him all offseason. I'm interested in what his role is going to be, and mostly because you talk about, from a fantasy perspective, one of the biggest things I thought about Jamison Williams was that he was going to, with all the hype that the Lions had given him, with all of this clear cut interest from fans and listeners and users and stuff like that, there was going to be a big push-up for Jamison Williams. He finished the offseason James' wide receiver 49 in consensus ADP, that jump never came. And I ended up taking Jamison Williams a decent bit, even though I have my skepticism about him as a player, because there was some value at the end of the year for him as a player. But some progression is a route runner at the end of the year, and that price and fantasy never jumped. So now I'm curious, again, we spent 40 plus minutes talking about him over the summer. What is it going to look like, man? What is it going to be? Is he going to be just a deep game player, or is he going to be more of a full field wide receiver? Because as I mentioned in those final five games, you did see the curl route increase. You saw the slant route success rate kind of stay the same, but mostly like the dig routes and stuff. That stuff came up, right? And I'm fascinated to see if that is a continued progression, or if he's just going to be a deep shot guy, if he's just going to be a clear out guy, and more of an ancillary piece to an offense that already has two dominant target earners, and I'm on Ross St. Brown and Sam LaPorta. My thought on Jamison Williams, and you talk about his ADP in fantasy football, I just laugh because I think about two things. One, Dave Chappelle says that Twitter is not a real place, and I get it, you know, like Twitter is not a real place because when you go to Twitter, man, the people who stand for JMO are crazy, bro, you know, it's nuts how much people think the upside is, which Jamison Williams, right? But then I also, I'm really over here chuckling to myself because you're saying his ADP really didn't move. I don't understand what happened. They're doing exactly what you told them to do, which is not everybody listens to me. I mean, but that's what's funny though, but that's what's funny though. They're doing exactly what you said to do, which was, hey, he's a starter level X receiver in the NFL. I wouldn't get too, too excited about that. But again, if you want to get excited in regards to he's not the worst player in the NFL. Okay, cool. We get excited about that, but just don't get, you know, don't get over your skis here a little bit. That's what you said. That's what you said. I guess you're right. So they're listening to you, Matt Harmon, the wide receiver guru, man, like that's, that's what's happening. That's, that's what's so funny to me that you're shocked. You're shocked that people are listening to you, which is so funny to me. Well, yes, I, I, on a day to day basis, I'm shocked that anybody listens to what I have to say. I went, I wake up thankful that there clearly are people listening to what I have to say. But yes, I am shocked, especially on this one, because I just thought that people would listen to the drum beat from Detroit, they would overemphasize those final five games and the big plays and stuff. I did. I really thought he was a candidate to jump up several rounds, but it didn't happen. So now I think we're going to get a pretty big reveal on, it was the Sunday night football against the Rams and Lions Island game is Jamison Williams going to be just like a five target per game splash big play guy, or is he going to be a true number two in this offense, which I think has, has been a missing piece low key and we've been talking about this too. But I think Detroit's low key actually telling you they're not fully committing to Jamison Williams either though, right? Like the fact that they keep bringing in all these guys that play outside, you know what I mean, Donovan, people, Jones, they bring in Tim Patrick after he got caught, they bring in Alan Robinson, who could play a little bit out. I think they're low key telling you that, okay, we've also seen Jamison Williams up close and personal. And yeah, we're going to continue to bring in some of these outside wide receivers. So I think, I think the tea leaves are there, the crumbs are there, they're telling the team is telling you that they're listening to you, Matt, that this guy, even when he's fully functional and fully operational won't be more than a fourth, fifth option on this team, you know, and they're, I think they're hedging their bets just a little bit. Yeah, they're, they're trying to get the Twitter impressions up, posting the Jamison Williams, like Tony Camp clips and the Dan Campbell high points there. They're engagement farming, but they're also maybe still hedging a little bit. I like that take. Yeah. I like it a lot. Okay. Final storyline that you'll be following Matt Harmon go. Yeah. Again, lay up, we've been talking about this for four months, but you know, we discussed Nico Collins on our hot takes show where I said he's going to lead the NFL in touchdown receptions. I love that. Love that. Love that. Love feel really good about Nico. And the reason that I've said this off season, that I'm just highest on Nico Collins among these receivers is one, because his third year reception perception profile was awesome. His first two years were good. I've seen him for three years. I know what he can do. I know he can win in that ecstasy role. I think he has the clearest role on this team, which is why I've been the highest on him. That doesn't mean that I'm not high on like, as I always say, you can like two receivers on one team. You're allowed to do that. You know, fantasy points data has a new separation wide receiver separation stat out. Actually, they call it ass average separation score, which is so funny. Great marketing. Absolutely love it. Love that. Number two, Tank Dell is like their number one ass player. I mean, God, what am I saying? He's the number one ass player. And I think probably a lot of that is, is due to some of the stuff I've said on this show where, and I don't, I haven't dove into the full methodology, and I, you know, it's it's whatever. I think it's good. But I bet a lot of it, if I had to guess is why he's the number one rated player is a lot of stuff I've talked about on this show where he has such a good, you know, reception and perception profile on these out breaking routes, these big boy high degree of difficulty comebacks outs, corners, the deep outside breaking routes was those were his strength in college. That was definitely a strength in in year one over 80% or 80% or better success rate on all of those out breaking routes. I bet that's like doing a lot of heavy lifting there. And yeah, man, he was awesome on those plays. He was not some little tiny slot receiver, even though he was a small player. Because digs become that slot player. This is something we've talked about when they targeted Keenan Allen and we look at digs as RP profile and how much he was still successful on those short routes, you know, is, is that his future is as a slot receiver. He hasn't played full time slot receiver since like 2016, but there was an experience level for digs to do that is digs a guy that is, I mean, he was, his RP profile last year was declined from where it used to be, but still at a very good level. So the roles between digs and Dell, that's something I've got my eye on because I know what Nico is going to be. He's going to be the extra sever. He's going to run out there and that role is going to be awesome in it. How these two guys line up and the playing time and route distribution between the two of them, I think is a very fascinating story. All right. Before I chime in here, let me ask you this straight up. Can Nico play inside at all? Sure. I don't see why not success rate versus zone was solid for him. He separates really well on those quick hitting routes to, and he's a freaking monster after the catch. Yeah. He's also the, I mean, clearly the biggest of this room. And this is a team that still wants to run the ball. They did cut their full back. The guy who was their primary fullback last year, and they were a really heavy 22 personnel team last year, I see a 21 personnel team last year. So I think they're probably going to be more of an 11 personnel offense, which yeah, I mean, I, I'm not going to say that Stefan Diggs is one of the best blocking receivers in the league. So maybe there is some concepts where Nico kicks inside here, even just in the, in the run game. Okay. So I asked that and then I kind of sort of take this more like holistic approach to it and just more of like a, okay, let's think about the personalities involved approach. I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine Stefan Diggs being the player that he is would be okay playing inside, like, let's say like 70% of the time, I just, I can't, I can't envision it, man. And he is such a gravitational pull in regards to his, you know, his energy man. I can't imagine Houston's making this big swing to go bring in Stefan Diggs. And then they don't relate to the coaching staff like, Hey, man, like, let's keep this guy involved mentally. Let's keep this guy involved spiritually. You don't, they made him a team captain. Yeah. And again, that all, I think all of that is just to again, I don't want to say a P step on digs, but like make him feel like part of the community, make him really like, you know, get him acclimated into this team culture ASAP. Man, yeah, if they stick him inside though, like that goes, like maybe that works for a couple of games, Matt, but bro, like after like four or five games of just like seeing these, you know, low a dot passes, like that ain't going to work, dude. Stefan Diggs has got to get out there. He's got to run man. And he's got to get some shots down field has to that has always been his MO, whether we're talking about Minnesota, him getting mad at her cousins, even Buffalo at times when he gets mad at Josh Allen, like he's got to let them dogs out, man. He's got to let the stallions run baby and he's got to get out there and get those, get those deep opportunities. And I know you can do that from the slot, but generally it's harder to do it from the slot. So I don't know. I would be surprised. Yeah. I will say I think the one thing I'm pretty clear about with digs and how he will impact this team is that he is going to be maybe their kind of their third down guy, right? Because he's still good against man coverage. He's still good winning those quicker route. I mean, the biggest decline though last year was his deep route success rates. Those were the routes that really fell, fell back from a reception, a stand point. So I think maybe it would help them actually if he got some deep routes from the slot. But if they want to line him up outside, I think that's where he's going to be like third down, back side of the formation. I can just if I'm just trying to trust that this guy is open over here because he's been one of the best route runners in the NFL over the last decade. So I think that's where he's really going to have like a place as a ISO receiver is running those shorter routes, but then when you want to get a shot play with him, I mean, mix him in on some of these out breaking route on some of these combination routes where some of the best route combinations last year was Nico Collins running big overs and tank del run and deep out breaking routes. Maybe they can do that where those guys are on the front side of the formation and you know, tank dels, probably your off ball player. They did a good bit to get him away from press coverage last year. He's maybe your pre snap motion guy and Niko is your slot receiver, but he's on the line of scrimmage. So you're moving those guys in combination and yeah, then digs is just your backside X running maybe like a shorter ISO route or even sometimes like telling him, you know, Hey, just forget the route combination and now it looks on paper. Just get open over there, you know, just get over dude. Let's do it. I wonder how CJ Strout feels about that because Josh Allen told me two years ago that the reason before him and digs is kind of relationship, you know, got a little frosty that one thing that he, I think that him and digs vibed on was that he would tell him like, yeah, I don't care about route depth. This thing says it's seven routes, take eight, take six, don't care. Just get open. And I wonder how CJ Strout feels about to that too. He's worked with so many good receivers, you'd think that he can have that comfort. But yeah, I wonder if that's maybe something that we see from Houston just digs is the backside X receiver in name and it's just like, Hey, just do whatever you want over there. Get open. Well, these two guys work in like combo routes on the front side. Yeah, we are the alignment Kings here. So Nico Collins played 70%, excuse me, 80% outside last year and 20% lined up in the slot. Stefan digs last year in 2023 played 70% outside and 30% in the slot. So again, primary outside wide receiver is Stefan digs 70 30 split, although we did see Nico Collins kick inside on 20% of his snaps as well. So I don't know if they could figure out ways to get tanked down inside. They could figure out ways to get Nico Collins inside. And Matt, you love this too. When their number one wide receivers play a little bit more inside and get some of these layup throws, right? So I don't know, man, maybe, maybe Nico Collins kicks in a little bit more than what we've been used to seeing recently. You know, I think that might be, that might be a way to keep Stefan digs happy with some of these vertical routes and some vertical targets as well. So I don't know, it's going to be, it's going to be man, it's going to be fascinating. Oh my gosh, it's going to be so fascinating to see the deployment and can CJ Stroud keep all these dudes happy, man, and keep all these dudes fed, like that's going to be great. By the way, for fantasy, give me CJ Stroud all day long, you know? Stroud's got a possibility to throw 40 touchdowns this year, man. Like I love it. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Fantasy analysts are down on CJ Stroud because he's not a mobile quarterback. It's like, well, if he's going to meet that ADPs, he's going to have to throw 50 touchdowns away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He did my kind of 50 touchdowns in this year. Exactly. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And your point is what? You know? What's your point? Like, yeah, this dude might throw 50 TDs. That's why he's ADP. So I come on, bro. Come on. Anyways, what a great show. Man, we got, we got loose right there. That was great. That was a lot of fun. You could tell that Matt and I are just fricking pumped, Bray. Like, we are just, we're stoked that the season is finally here and, man, I can't wait to talk to you when we get back early next week and just kind of dissect. Oh, my God. Dissect what we saw there in week number one. Anyway, show's running long. We got to go from Matt Harman. I'm James Co. We got to go, but remember, it's never too late to chase dreams. Peace. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it. Granger has you covered. And Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. (upbeat music)
Welcome to Week 1! On today's show, Matt and James discuss the latest NFL headlines as well as storylines they have their eyes on ahead of the 2024 season getting underway. Are Ja'Marr Chase and this Bengals offense ready to roll? How's the Titans offense going to look under Brian Callahan? How is the Bills target totem pole going to play out? Plus, thoughts on the Packers loaded WR room, AD Mitchell's role in Indianapolis, Jameson Williams potential breakout season and Nico Collins set to fly in Houston.
Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts.
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