The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
Fantasy Football Expert Adam Ronis on Big Trades of Amari Cooper and Davante Adams
(upbeat music) - You're back with The Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5, live from the Faritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. - We bring Adam Maronis into the HR&P guest line, host of the Fantasy Life on Sirius XL, runs the Dub Club in which he's up nearly 14 units, having a great start to the NFL season. It's gonna play for you tonight. Broncos, Sage, you can follow him on Twitter, Adam Maronis, take advantage of that. Adam, crazy week when it comes to fantasy. You've had tons of injuries, you've had some trades in the NFL. That's where I wanna start, the trades. Jets making the trade, of course, for Devontae Adams, the bills making the trade for Amari Cooper. What does this do for the Jets receiver room, the bills receiver room, and even the Raiders and the Browns? - Well, it's a clear upgrade for Amari Cooper. He goes from untouchable passes in Cleveland with the Shaw wants and now to Josh Allen, and it's clear the bills needed that wide receiver. They have become a one first team. Josh Allen has not attempted more than 30 passes in a game this season. In fact, the bills run the fewest plays for a game in the NFL, which is shocking to believe. So it really helps Cooper. With the Jets, clearly it's better for Devontae Adams. He was in a situation in Vegas. He didn't wanna be there, quarterback play was an issue. Now he goes with his best friend, Aaron Rodgers. Garrett Wilson, everyone's assuming it's awful for him. It doesn't help him 'cause his target share is gonna go from 28 to 30%, probably to 25, 26%. But they're still gonna use them. He's still gonna be fine. So maybe the expectations are a little bit lower considering he went in the first round of many drafts, but it really helped Aaron Rodgers. Like that's the guy who benefits the most. Now he has Adams, he has Wilson still has those. It's hard, Breeze Hall. We saw at the coaching chain work more involved in the offense, so it's really good for Aaron Rodgers from a fantasy perspective and many people probably weren't starting him to begin with. So if you have him in a super flex league or one with two quarterbacks, he gets the boost. As far as Vegas brought ours, like he was already an elite tight end and now he has a chance to finish at the number one or number two tight end this year. You call me Myers, obviously, we'll get an upgrade. He was out last week, so it should help him a little bit. But yeah, that's the way I'm viewing it right now. But just don't trade away Garrett Wilson. He's still going to be very good and you have to understand too, maybe Devonta Adams starts to get some of the top cover corners, which we've seen Wilson get this year and be affected by it, so it can open things up. Devonta Adams is clearly gonna get a lot of targets near the goal line, so Wilson will have to get his touchdowns probably outside to 10. - Who would you rather have on your team the rest of the year, Adams or Garrett? - I would still rather have Garrett Wilson. I know a lot of people will say Devonta Adams, but he is older and Wilson is just, and Ryan has talked about it, just how explosive he is and has changed direction with ease, so they were starting to get the synergy and the connection together. He had 22 targets two weeks ago, so I think it's close between both of them, but I'm gonna go with Garrett Wilson. - Well, Adam, let's talk about some other situations. Also in flux, we don't know what the hell's going on in Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin might take it all the way to game time, but whether it's Russell Wilson or the fact that you know that you can capitalize on the legs of a guy like Fields, how does that affect not only the quarterback, but more specifically the weapons there? And then also the game tonight with the Saints, when you know you're still rolling with Spencer Rattler and they continue to have injuries, anybody worth looking at as the Saints try to fill some holes. - Yeah, so with the Saints, this is a disaster because they're almost the entire offensive unit you've got it, including the offensive line, which has been a problem. So, yeah, Kamala is gonna get the value, but is the team gonna be able to move to football? We found out Rasheech and he, Meniscus is done for the year. That's a massive loss. Chris Olaga should be back next week. Well, maybe, 'cause it's a concussion. We've seen some players miss multiple weeks. So, yeah, there, it's a problem for the Saints right now. Even take some of the holes, who he hopes. All right, if he plays, you know, this is a great opportunity, he's not gonna be there. So, if you're really digging deep, Bob Means, the receiver for the Saints, we saw him last week. Now, it's not a great matchup, even though Patrick Sertan is gonna be out tonight for Denver, so that kind of helps a little bit. You know, you could look at Juan Johnson, but there's not much that I wanna go. The total is 37 and a half tonight, so it shouldn't be a high school. So, like, Bob Means would be the guy that gets it up great, especially over the next couple of weeks where Rasheech, Rasheech, he out. And, yeah, that's what I'm looking at with the Saints. And what was the other one I'm sorry that you asked? - Well, I'm talking about the Pittsburgh situation with Wilson and how that-- - Oh, yeah, sorry. I was trying to forget them all together. That's fine. Look, Nadhi Harris has gotten volume, but it hasn't been great. The thing that bothered my mind here is, this is an offensive line that is not good to begin with. And he'll just help them with his mobility, and I know Fields hasn't been great, but he hasn't improved. He's not turning over the football. He still takes too many sacks, but he's improved in that area. We know Wilson is not a mobile quarterback, and you're gonna throw him out there against the Jets, and the weakness for the Jets is the rushing defense, and that's all Fields could take advantage of that. Now, it's not officially yet, as you mentioned, but all signs are pointing to Russell Wilson. So, maybe they're playing as, hey, I'm gonna throw Russell Wilson out there. He's gonna stink against the Jets, and that gives me a reason to go back to Justin Fields. I don't know, I'm just throwing things out there 'cause I just don't understand this. Some people will say, well, Fields limits the offense, but as far as from a fantasy perspective, you can use Nodgy Harris, but I'm a little worried 'cause Jaylen Warren will be in his second game back, but we've seen Arthur Smith use multiple backs, and it's not like Nodgy Harris is having a great year. So, it is a good matchup. I'm interested to see how much more Jaylen Warren gets involved, and George Pickens is just a dilemma right now, because we know the talent is there, but they seem the limit is mapped, and it's a tougher matchup. So, Pickens, to me, is more right around when I receive a 35. I don't think you have this sort of him, and fire moves. Again, I like the talent, but they don't use them enough. He's not a must-start tight end. He's more in the mid-tight end, too, area, like 15 to 18. - Adam Rona is joining us from the Fantasy Life on Series XM. Adam, who are some guys that were drafted as starters based on their ADP that, by this point, going into week seven, maybe a guy like Calvin Ridley that you're like, okay, I thought this guy could be good, but he's just not, it's not gonna happen for this. Who are some guys that were drafted as starters that you're completely writing off, whether it be for injuries or back-quarter back player, whatever it might be? - Yeah, Ridley is a good one. I think Christian Kirk might be in that conversation, because he's not on the field for two wide sets, and you have Evan Ingerer back, who commanded a lot of target class three, to 10 receptions, and that seems to be a go-to gap at Trevor Lawrence. I think right now, because two is out, you have to put Jalen Wattle in that conversation. I think you could also make a case for Michael Pittman as well, depending on who the quarterback is, and it looks like Anthony Richardson could be back this week, so we've seen that doesn't go well for Pittman. I mean, look, running back, I guess Rashad White, right? Because people were drafting him in the fourth round, and we've heard Todd Bowles come out and say, yeah, it's gonna be three men in the backfield, and we're gonna play the hot end. And Rashad White, his value was volume. He's never been an efficient back, but last year, there was no one to cut into his workload. We've already saw a bucky Irving cut into it, and then we saw Sean Tucker have a big game last week. So, Rashad White's in a bad situation. Travis E.P.N. as well. I think he said he was a hamstring issue, now he's day-to-day, but we seem to take Big B with some explosive plays. They even used the Ernest Johnson a lot when E.P.N. went out last week, so running back is all about opportunity, and we've seen so many injuries in guys. Just, we're plugging in Trey Sermon last week, and he wasn't great, but any running back to get an opportunity, they're in, so it's hard to act out a running back, but those are just a couple of examples of running back sets. We thought we'd get volume that now clearly are in time shares or committee. - It sounds like the Tampa Bay backfield just a bunch of unplayables, right? Like, unless you're drafting a best ball at this stage of the year where you can get those guys late, you're like, "You're not playing them in a seasonal, are you?" - I don't see how you can, because you just don't know how it's gonna be distributed, and Rashad White, I don't think they completely stage them out, but his value really is in the past, and I don't see how they give him many carries. So, if I had to start one this week, it would be Bucky Irving, but the problem this week is they have one of the worst match-ups against Baltimore, who is a top five, and he was standing at the point allowed to running back. Team don't even run them. There's only been two running back this year that have had double-digit carries in a game against Baltimore. The way to beat them is by the past. So, that's the other issue, and I want to see how this plays out. I do have Bucky Irving in a couple of weeks, and Rashad White, and look, there are some leagues where it's really deep, and you might not have better options, but if you have the ability, I would look to stay away from the back there for this week until we see how they actually deploy them. - Same idea with Nick Chum. No waiting to see what he looks like before you insert him in a lineup? - Yeah, well, here's the problem with Nick Chum, and I don't see how you can't love him. If you've watched him over the years, to me, at one point, he was the best all-around back in the NFL. The problem is, number one, this Cleveland offense is putrid, and the offensive line is not close to what they had years ago when he was healthy and dominated. So, you take that, you take him coming off a serious knee injury, ACL, MCL, 28 years old, and we don't know the workload. Yeah, I am definitely temporary expectations, and I think you have to do the rest of the year. This is just not the same offensive line that he ran behind, so you have to be very careful, and that's the risk. You should always be learning lessons every year. One of the things I preach to people is, don't believe what they tell you on injuries. They always are optimistic. We solve with Christian McCaffrey week one. Oh yeah, if it was a playoff game, he'd be out here week two, and where is Christian McCaffrey right now? So, always have lesser expectations. We're seeing it with Jonathan Brooks. I think people expected him to be back week five, week six, and yes, they opened his window to return, but we don't know when he's gonna be back, so always take that cautious approach, and Nick Chubbed another example. You don't know what the team is going to look like when these players come back. So, I shy away from stashing these players when you know they're gonna miss six, seven, eight weeks, 'cause you don't know if it's gonna look as rosy as it does before the season when they return. Adam, we love talking to you every week. We love talking fantasy football, but also keep everybody informed on the dub club, 'cause you're rolling on that as well. Yeah, last week was actually a bad week where I went five and three. So, that should tell you the story for the season. 31 and 13 on the NFL for almost 14 units. So, I have a play out for tonight. You can go to my Twitter @AdamOnus or X, whatever you wanna call it, and you can actually get 50% off your first month. So, try it out, obviously. I can't stay in the crowd forever. I hope that I can, but it's been a really good start to the NFL season. And I also do NBA, which starts Tuesday. So, for one price, you can get NBA and NFL. Twitter for me, but I'm stubborn. Adam, appreciate the time. Enjoy the football weekend. Thanks, you guys as well. Adam Onus, follow him on Twitter. And Adam Onus, host to the Fantasy Life on Series XM has been crushing it with the dub club.