Should managers dial back fantasy expectations in Atlanta?
Yahoo Fantasy's Matt Harmon and Nate Tice look at which Falcons to fade with Tua Tagovailoa under center. Check out the full conversation on the "Yahoo Fantasy Forecast" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
It, it's, yeah, that's kind of where I'm painting at is just that this is a team that I don't ex- don't think expects to win.
I, I think it's gonna have some weird game scripts this year, which is gonna be led to lead a lot of disappointing performances, but some typical Bijan r- performances as well, so.
But notice I don't really You know, Drake London I'm kind of a little bit worried about 'cause it's just, ah, it's hard to buy into that passing game right now.
Yeah, I mean, 20th overall.
I h- I have him ranked 20th overall, but I've, I have bumped him down a little bit just because of how I feel about this offense, you know.
And, and there are guys in the same range.
I wouldn't hate it if, like, you just-- I know that Drake London is the number one receiver, but if you look at George Pickens, who's the next guy in my rankings, and you say, "I would just rather be attached to the Cowboys offense than the Falcons offense"- I know I get it.
This is hard for me to say 'cause it's usually- Right I'm like talking people to go, "No, buy into Drake London."
Yeah.
And now I'm kinda going like- Right, we, we are London guys, yeah.
Yeah, but now I'm like kinda throttle back a little bit this year.
I know, it's, it's a weird conversation with him this year fantasy-wise.
I mean, even Chris Olave, like I have him 22nd, I have Drake London 20th.
We're gonna talk about the Saints, but like what's the difference between Chris Olave and Drake London right now?
I, I think they're pretty similar caliber of receivers.
Yep.
The clear number one target on their offense, especially with Jordan Tyson banged up.
So yeah, there are guys, I mean, this is why you do tiers in fantasy, you know.
Yeah.
You wanna just go to the, a different player in this position, I b- that's totally fine with me.
I still feel okay about London.
Again, like I said, I'm in line- Yeah with ADP.
Bijan, I will say, I have him as my third overall player.
I have Jahmyr Chase as my second overall player, just on the risk factor that the, the Falcons offense totally tanks.
Pitts has been the one that's the most difficult click, and I, again, I don't think he's egregiously ranked ADP-wise.
But, he's 72nd.
I'm a little bit behind ADP on that one just 'cause again, we're, we're hoping three players hit from the Tua Tagovailoa offense.
Yeah.
I'm gonna go ahead and sell three players hitting from the Tua Tagovailoa offense consistently because we saw this in Miami, man.
And that's, by the way, I, if I'm ranking offensive minds in the NFL right now, I'm ranking Mike McDaniel ahead of Kevin Stefanski, even though I think Stefanski's- Yeah generally fine, not like super offensive or anything.
But they kind of struggled to get three players activated consistently, Nate, even before Tua really, really started to decline as a player.
I mean, it would be like Tyreek Hill and then Davone Behan and/or- Yeah Johnny Smith, and then Jalen Waddle's kind of left out in the cold.
Yep, a-and it's wh- it's just also a confounding thing too.
It's where Stefanski likes to feature tight ends.
There's a lot of screens- Yeah with it as well.
But a-again, I just picture too is just gonna be some frustrating touches.
Okay, they're in the red zone, and how do you win with Bijan and Dr- and, I'm sorry, not Bijan, but Kyle Pitts and Drake London as your receivers in the red zone?
Lo- give 'em, you know, fade balls or give 'em jump balls.
Tua's not really a jump ball thrower because guys can make plays- Yeah on it.
Like it's, it's an irony.
People think the softer the arm is, that's actually better for those.
It's actually you want the guys that can get it up and down, you know, the guys that can kind of pace it just a little bit.
Burrow's arm's enough.
Tua has a lesser arm than even Burrow.
So again, it's just, it's hard for me to buy into this.
I'm, I look at this fantasy-wise that if any fall to me, great, or I get a guy at price in an auction league, great.
But it's not one- Yeah I'm gonna overpay for anybody.
And I, this is a guy that, you know, over- has loved overpaying for Bijan.
But now it's just been one of these where, you know, in auction leagues it's, it's like one of my favorite things to do every year.
But this is the one year I'm like, "Okay, my eyes are starting to venture elsewhere" just because I do think there's gonna be some disappointing weeks this year.
