Matt Waldman RSP Film Room
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
49 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
No date
Published
11
Player insights
11
Players mentioned
Topics
Aaron RodgersChristian McCaffreyD.J. MooreDavante AdamsJayden ReedJordan LoveJosh JacobsJulian EdelmanMatthew StaffordPeyton ManningTom Brady
Player analysis
Player insights
Aaron Rodgers
NegativeValue66:58
Chris Harris uses Aaron Rodgers as a historical benchmark for veteran quarterbacks who were unfairly faded by the fantasy community despite elite production potential. Harris points to Rodgers' back-to-back MVP seasons following periods where he was ignored in drafts as evidence that veteran signal-callers can remain elite despite age-related skepticism.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeProjection27:27
Chris Harris expresses skepticism regarding Christian McCaffrey's ability to replicate his previous high-level performance, citing concerns over the 49ers' overall health and injury history as an open question.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveBreakout43:45
Chris Harris predicts a bounce-back for DJ Moore, arguing that his improvisational play style is a superior fit for Josh Allen's offense compared to the rigid, structured system he faced in Chicago. Moore's past success was tied to Justin Fields' ability to improvise, and Harris notes that while Moore has had stretches of inconsistency—similar to CeeDee Lamb's career trajectory—the move to Allen's offense should better leverage his freelancer skills.
Insight pageDavante Adams
PositiveRole42:40
Chris Harris identifies Davante Adams as one of the eight best route runners in the NFL, noting that his elite ability to get wide open in the red zone is a primary driver of offensive efficiency and a key reason to value the offense he plays in. Harris suggests that Adams' consistent ability to create separation makes him a foundational piece for fantasy production.
Insight pageJayden Reed
PositiveBreakout35:46
Matt Waldman identifies Jaden Reed as a top-20 caliber player over his first two years, noting that his performance last season was hampered by playing through injury.
Insight pageJordan Love
NegativeProjection32:14
Chris Harris suggests that Jordan Love may have been frustrated by the Packers' conservative offensive approach last year and that roster changes could allow him to "cook" in a more pass-oriented scheme. Conversely, Matt Waldman expresses concern regarding Love's decision-making under pressure, noting a tendency to get reckless and impatient when games become tight, comparing his processing to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeRole27:30
Chris Harris expresses concern regarding Josh Jacobs' role in the Packers' offense, framing the situation as a "pound foolish" decision that creates uncertainty for the team's offensive philosophy. Additionally, Jacobs is noted for the moral complexities surrounding his off-field history.
Insight pageJulian Edelman
NegativeRole3:57
Matt Waldman uses Julian Edelman as a archetype for a specific type of fan-favorite, underdog player character in Chris Harris's novel, noting the character is similar to Edelman but perhaps not as talented.
Insight pageMatthew Stafford
PositiveValue37:48
Chris Harris and Matt Waldman agree that Matthew Stafford is significantly undervalued in current fantasy drafts. Despite finishing as a top-three fantasy quarterback and having two elite receivers, he is consistently drafted outside the top 12, which they describe as a "cheat code." Even with potential touchdown regression, his situation mirrors the late-career success of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
Insight pagePeyton Manning
NegativeProjection43:08
Chris Harris uses Peyton Manning as a historical benchmark for quarterbacks capable of sustaining multiple top-15 fantasy producers on the same team.
Insight pageTom Brady
NegativeValue66:58
Tom Brady is cited by Chris Harris as a historical benchmark for veteran quarterbacks who were faded by drafters but continued to produce at an elite level. Harris highlights that despite skepticism, Brady won a Super Bowl and led the league in touchdown passes, serving as a reminder that veteran production is often undervalued.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Hey, welcome everybody. You know, this is a special edition here. Usually I get a chance to be on with Chris Harris on
0:05his show, which is just an awesome show and he's always been so generous with, you know, with his time and having me on
0:12and and it's been fun to be able to every once in a while we get a chance to catch up with Chris here and Chris has a
0:19has a book that we're going to be talking about that has come out that's been published and it's I've been reading it for about the past four or
0:26five weeks. Things slowed down a little bit for me cuz >> Nice.
0:30>> Chris understands. We know we know what goes on in August. Um, but I've been really enjoying we're going to talk about that and then we're going to
0:37talk about the season coming up for 2026, but uh welcome Chris. It's always a pleasure, man.
0:43>> Uh it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me and uh it's, you know, we're we are simpatico. That's all I know
0:51about you and me is that we've been friends for a long time and we get along and I mean, frankly, you're the best in
0:57the business at what you do and uh the fact that I get to leech off of your knowledge both in my own drafting life,
1:04my own personal fantasy life and then also on my show is my honor, believe me.
1:09>> Well, I'll tell you I mean, it's a mutual admiration society because I I the the most um fervent fans that that say, "Yeah, I
1:19heard about you from it's from your show." I mean, the Yacht Awesome's are just like they love you.
1:26>> [laughter] >> They absolutely love you and they and so like they're when they write me, they're so excited and they're like and usually
1:34what I hear is, you know, you know, you have your own podcast and we have our own podcast and stuff like that, but I
1:39laugh but what it shows me is how much they love your show because they're always like, "When you coming back on
1:44Chris's show?"
1:45>> [laughter] >> I am making my own show.
1:49>> They're like, you [laughter] know, they're like, you know, like, "Yeah, whatever, but when you coming back on Chris's show?" It's like I laugh how
1:55that goes. But, you know, it's been fun to It's been fun to learn about that you're, you know, that you're also a
2:01novelist and that you've published What is it? Four or five books now at this point?
2:07>> This is five.
2:08>> five, yeah.
2:09>> Yeah. So, so what we're looking at here is Pound Foolish.
2:13>> Yeah.
2:13>> And so, you know, this is Yeah, exactly.
2:16So, um you know, it's it's kind of a a noir, it's a it's a mystery. You have It's done set with football, so it's it's fun
2:28in the sense that you you start reading about football with this, but it's done like in the beginning with a series of vignettes
2:35where you're kind of seeing the landscape of where the the plot unfolds.
2:42And it's and it's a lot of fun to At first, you read it that way and it gives you this sense from like the top down or
2:49from really every different places, but you see, you know, there's the commissioner, there's the you know, there's there's kind of like your your
2:58retired player who everybody only asks them about what you would expect, you know, and you kind of see that point of
3:05view, but then you see points of view of people who are on the kind of the periphery of football. And it just gives
3:11you a landscape of what this environment is about. And the writing is is so good.
3:17It's one of those things where Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you One of my favorite parts of it and I'm going to
3:23let you talk cuz I'm running my mouth with it, but it's One of my favorite parts was you're trying to basically they're
3:31trying to solve a series of murders of women and it's a they think is a serial killer possibly lurking on a team in
3:39Detroit. And they call in the the the brass for the team and and the security for the team calls in a former player who is a popular kind
3:49of underdog kind of kind of player, The type of fan favorite that you you know, like a Julian Edelman type, you know,
3:57but maybe not quite as good as Julian Edelman. I don't know, you know. But that was kind of the impression I got,
4:04you know, maybe not, but like that and he's and he's called to basically kind of observe what's going on and investigate
4:14some, but it's really kind of observing.
4:16He knows he's he's smart enough to know that there's more going on here about why they called him and all of that. So
4:23it's fun, but there's a scene where there's some scenes where like um somebody talks about being a murderer.
4:30And you think it's actually one thing and it turns out to be completely different and kind of and heartbreaking and touching you know, in just a
4:41vignette. And it kind of reminds me of like um Oh, what's his name?
4:48Mosley, the the the >> Oh, Walter Mosley.
4:51>> Walter Mosley. That you know, I've I've read a series of like shorts with his and I think of like Socrates Fortlow,
4:58the the one of the characters that he had. And it and it kind of reminded me a little bit of some of that in terms of like you
5:07you get these series of vignettes that give you a kind of an overall picture of of a theme that he's writing about. But
5:14that's that's what I loved about it. But what I want to know is I mean you know, when you are looking you know, you look
5:23at football like this and it's like it's easy for me to read some of this and go and part of me wanted to go and I'm
5:29going to sound like I'm like hating on you and I'm not. But like I I part of me listen to it and I go
5:36God, he's tired of watching football. He does >> [laughter] >> He does not like he does not like football right now. But then I read more
5:44of it and I go, no, actually it's just a nice it's just a nice well-rounded point of view cuz like I read it and part of me
5:51was like I'm sick of football right now and we haven't started and then I I look at it and I go, yeah, but there's a lot
5:58to It's a complex world and there's a lot about football like the business when people ask me, you must love football and I go, I love the game but I
6:05hate the business and you see a lot of that with this.
6:09>> I mean that might be the perfect tagline. I should have asked you beforehand. I love the game but I hate
6:14the business. So that might That is like I'm going to put that in the second edition. I'm going to put like a pull
6:20quote from Matt Waldman saying that that's brilliant.
6:23Cuz that's where it was coming from honestly. The idea behind it um you know, it's hard Ideas like build on themselves and you can never quite
6:33remember why you connected X to Y or whatever but By the way, being compared to Walter Mosley that is a high
6:39compliment so thank you for that.
6:41He's awesome. So uh the first thing I did, I didn't know I was writing this a new novel that was football again cuz I have another
6:51football novel that's was my first novel and I was a lot younger and it was more simple, more first novel typical
6:57first novel. And so I didn't know I was going to go back and write it. It was the 2023 season and it was when that
7:04Commander stuff was coming out.
7:06Uh the Dan Snyder stuff with the cheerleaders getting their pictures taken when they were dressing and getting harassed and Gruden emails and
7:17the racism and like treating the fans bad and the commissioner knew about this stuff for so long and nobody said anything about it for years
7:27until it couldn't be contained anymore.
7:29The journalists are the one who broke it and it just made me so mad that I sat down and wrote that first chapter with
7:34the commissioner's perspective. And let me just tell you it's a it's a fictional commissioner. It is absolutely not the the I cannot Am I going to get sued
7:41Matt? Am I potentially going to get sued here?
7:44>> remotely. But >> Hopefully not.
7:46Hopefully not.
7:47>> No, not at all. But in fact, I would have to say I would have to say that your commissioner had to be a lot more
7:54charming than the one in the NFL to be in the situations that he was in even if it was pretty transactional.
8:02>> Well, [laughter] well, so so I wrote that first chapter like it's an angry chapter. It's very mean to that fake commissioner and
8:08funny, I think, hopefully. And he's not sympathetic at all. And then I didn't really I sort of put it aside which is
8:14like a way of getting out some feelings I was having about the league that feel like we feel too often these days. That
8:21we keep having to make allowances for this thing that we love. And um I do love it. Like And so that I'm glad you
8:28made the distinction like so then I was like, okay, what if this was part of a of a novel?
8:34And what should that novel be? And I was I was like, you know, the violence and violence against women is just endemic in the
8:39sport. And there's something about football that seems worse than other sports. Not not totally, but like it seems to happen more frequently. And I kind of wanted to
8:49interrogate that. And the method then was, okay, a season in the life of a team, the team in Detroit.
8:55And let's just crank up reality. This violence against women, let's take it to a quarter turn more and turn it into a
9:02serial killer. And okay, now now there's a serial killer on the team. And it felt like a good way to investigate
9:09um how we feel about football and the various aspects of it. And it became kind of like the having those perspectives that you
9:18mentioned at the beginning was like I wanted to have this kaleidoscope.
9:22Uh I wanted to have a season is football in particular so giant. It's this maximalist enterprise
9:31of football season where I mean, it's 53 players. That's a lot of players. And it's hundreds of staff, and it winds up being thousands of
9:40administrators across the league, and there's so many people, the idea of like how does it come together and succeed or fail is the the razor's edge, and I
9:50think when you're in the middle of it, you have no idea. I've talked to players who are like, "Yeah, I thought I was on
9:54a good team, and then we lost every game." Or I thought, you know, "I couldn't tell if we were good, and then
9:58we won a Super Bowl." And like or everybody thinks they're going to be good, and then they turn out not to be.
10:04So, I wanted it to have this multiple perspectives and multiple uh like first-person or, you know, like focalizations um where you're getting different
10:15perspectives on what it's like to try to summit the mountain of a football season, and then also have this ridiculous crazy story going on of, "Oh
10:24my god, could there really be a serial killer on the team?" And then have kind of the, you know, the American media
10:29landscape get a hold of it in its jaws and not let it go.
10:32>> It kind of feels like I never thought about it this way, but you know, with most stories you you get
10:38in this, you know, often times you'll see with a lot of stories that you that you will read of be a pretty
10:43straightforward linear narrative. Um you know, the plot's pretty linear, and this kind of maybe linear, but it bounces around from character to
10:53character, so you know, so much early on. But the characters are rich even when they're even if it's a short, you
11:00know, it's kind of they're briefly drawn out for each section, and you may not come back to some of the characters for
11:06a while or ever. I don't know yet cuz I'm not finished. I'm like think I'm about 200, where am I?
11:13Yeah, I'm about Let's see if I can read anymore. Yeah, about 210 pages in. This is a >> Oh, you're deep in, yeah.
11:18>> Yeah, so I'm pretty deep in. But um but you know, there's characters like there's a starting quarterback, I'll just share one. The start The the
11:26starting quarterback who has who goes to like this underground shop and gets all these like just weird collectors things
11:37that I wouldn't even call them correct collectors. He's getting scammed almost, you know, and it's and it's he's getting scammed and they're luck charms, but
11:44they're like macabre kind of luck charms.
11:47>> Famous person macabre luck charms, yeah.
11:49>> Yeah, and so it's just like that that's crazy, you know, that's kind of crazy.
11:54But then also you you kind of some there's there are characters you sympathize with even when ones who may have like there's a character who
12:05I don't know how to put it this way without people going off on me about it.
12:09Um, but there are some characters that you look at them and you think of players who've done some really awful things and you go
12:17they they were enabled since high school to behave this way. And you can you can you know, you can argue that right is
12:26right and wrong is wrong and that you should know better. And I would say that in many cases that's true. I would also
12:33say that if part of the recruiting establishment is to have hostesses and I'm not saying the hostesses are hoes. I mean, that's basically what I, you know,
12:42but I would say that there is a lot of underground encouragement for players to be able to um just basically have sex with people that
12:52they want to have sex with and people are thrown at them. I mean, I I know a judge in New Orleans, a criminal judge
13:00who who I was good friends with and she was in law school and she was I mean, I was 36,
13:09she was 30 she was 35 when when we knew each other.
13:14And I will just say I mean, I don't mind saying it, but I laughed cuz it it wasn't D.J. Shockley himself, but D.J.
13:21Shockley came into a bar. She was playing pool with some law students of hers and they came in with like a velvet
13:28rope. Like one of those rope like and they [laughter] and they literally put it in they literally put it in the bar
13:35in Athens.
13:37And they had sorority sisters literally lining up you know, to talk to these guys.
13:45And one of the one of the part of the entourage and one of the guys who was on the team hit on my friend. I wasn't there. She
13:53came and told me like later that night, but she was like, "Yeah, he hit on me."
13:57And I'm like, "I'm too old for you and I'm not interested and you know, I you know." And she's from Brooklyn and she's like this
14:05just amazing like 6'3" tall powerhouse of a human being who is just charming and and pretty and funny and
14:17like she's not going to waste her time with that kind of thing going on. And he literally responded to her. His response
14:24was this crass like, "Well, there's there's you know, there's 10 women waiting in line basically to to blow the guys that are standing here at the
14:34booth." I mean like that was the entitled thought of this. So, when you you know, and she told him to go back to preschool
14:44or something crass like that and like and then goodbye. But like he you know, it's that mentality and when you think about players who people throw
14:53themselves at them, then they start thinking, "Well, how do I how do I get easy sex? How do I have this these
15:00opportunities to do these things?" And you can see how it can go just one step way too too far and then they go five
15:08steps way too far and there's some point where you go, "Dude, you should have known better." But there's also a point
15:14where you think if you you know, power corrupts absolutely, that's that's a form of power. And you see that in this book with various
15:23stages of it, but then there's a character that I look at and if I remember correctly, he's base- he's the linebacker. He's like the soul of the
15:29team.
15:30And I don't know yet for sure cuz I feel like I'm going to be wrong if I say to myself, you know,
15:38>> Who done it?
15:39>> [laughter] >> Who done it? Yeah. Who did it or who did it?
15:41>> or anything like yeah, but I feel like I look at him and I go, he seems like the type of guy that NFL players I do know
15:47who were like pretty good family men who were like you know, who were guys that were just you know, that when they are players
15:55that go, "Hey, it's not all like that.
15:57It's just the ones that get put in the news they're everywhere and it feels like it's everybody." But like I feel
16:03like you do that you balanced it out well. And but then I feel like I'm waiting for the rug to get pulled out
16:09from under me. So I'm not sure yet.
16:12>> Well, it is a it is a story and it's, you know, authorly license. Um yeah, I would I appreciate your kind words and it's so
16:20nice to be able to talk about it and um and like you know, you've obviously read it and that's makes a big difference too
16:27and it's I'm I'm really appreciative and humbled. Um The the the reason I would want someone to read it is if you as a person love the
16:38NFL. Like I love the NFL. I love it.
16:42Um but if you have if you feel like you're compromised morally for loving it like I do. I personally like we'll talk about Josh
16:51Jacobs. We'll talk about who you know, just ho- ho- horrible thing. I mean, it's it isn't just players. It's mostly not players. It's the Bears holding the
16:59city of Chicago hostage for whatever, 10 billion dollars or whatever they want, you know, or they'll move. It's it's just a league that makes it hard to
17:07love it. And if you feel that sometimes and you like a good mystery, I think you might like it. What were you going to
17:13say? Sorry.
17:13>> No, I think you're right. I mean, I think it's important it's a that was a good way to to broach an important topic with that
17:20because I think that if you don't have ambivalence about the realities of the of the sport, then you I don't I don't think you're looking
17:28very hard, you know, and you don't have to look very hard to in the first place.
17:33So, I mean, I I I absolutely do and I I love football. I would say that you know, as someone who
17:41grew up in circumstances that were not always easy, I would say that football was a really great outlet for me that
17:48probably would have resulted in me probably having behaviors that would not have been good and it was a nice release
17:57valve for me and to be able to have kind of something to balance through until I got old enough to look around and go
18:05"You know, maybe I should um maybe I should seek a little bit of help and get some and get some knots untied in my life. So,
18:13because I'm not going to be able to hit people and get hit forever legally and >> [laughter] >> and and then I'm probably going to feel
18:22a little depressed about it and I might act out on it. I don't think that that was I don't think I would have acted
18:27out, but I definitely think I definitely felt some depression early on in my life and I never thought about it until I was
18:34like reading this book, reading, you know, thinking about football and the good and the bad and realizing, "Wow, you know, on the
18:43there is a cathartic release with that."
18:45I know some players who I you know, my my buddy Ryan Riddle who was a you know, the um leading the leading all the all-time
18:54single season sack leader at Cal. He played with Marshawn and and Aaron Rodgers and he is the he is a sweetheart
19:02of a human being who lives in LA and um he has two daughters who are growing up wonderfully and he's a he's just he is
19:11lit- He's a cinephile. He literally just Great guy. And, you know, at the same time, you know, I remember asking him
19:19what his favorite play was, and his eyes just light up, and it's kind of like watching those those shows where people change right
19:26before your eyes, and he's talking about running down a field as a kick return um coverage, and literally cross-body blocking two players, and hitting and
19:36pushing those guys at Stanford into the kicker, and he leg-whipped one of the guys that he hit cuz he hit the first
19:43guy, and he said He said, "I went right through them. I felt my energy go through them, and it was an amazing
19:48feeling, but this guy got carried off the field. This guy took like 10 minutes for them to get him off the field." You
19:54know, it was that kind of thing.
19:55And I said, "Do you miss it?" I mean, cuz he's in his mid-30s. He mid-to-late 30s now. I go, "Do you Do you miss the
20:02contact?" Cuz he never got hurt. He played in He played with a number of different teams. He was about to like
20:09start in Atlanta when Bobby Petrino was like, "Yeah, you're going to start for me at outside linebacker. Get a house here."
20:16And then the whole thing with Petrino happened.
20:19And then the And then the um the housing market went kaput, and he had his house for a number of years
20:25while still in not in LA.
20:27But like I ask him, you know, he's doing great, but I asked him about all that, and he goes He goes, "Honestly," he goes, "there's
20:33parts of me that like I I feel like I need to get an outlet.
20:37Like I have to have an outlet." Like he goes, "I He goes, "It's not impacting other people that I'm dealing with, and
20:44I would never let that happen." He said, "But it's But the If you're raised to have the violence of that game,
20:50something's not right." He always would say it. "Something's not right with you if you like being hit like that and hitting people like that with a high
20:59level of violent violence, especially on a kick return team." So, it I think your subject is you know, makes so much sense. I just
21:08wonder like how why did you decide to to go the route of the vignettes like that? What was appealing to you about about trying
21:18that?
21:19>> Trying different multi like all these multiple perspectives?
21:22>> Yeah.
21:23>> Yeah.
21:24I think it really was trying to I mean first of all, it's a good way to it's a good authorly trick to have a mystery
21:30story because then you get to introduce the perspectives a lot of a lot of suspects.
21:35>> Right.
21:35>> So in some regards it's just the mechanics of trying to write a mystery story. And then but I do think it's
21:40something about um the way to deliver an overall message. One way that you can deliver an overall message is
21:50not by having the whole story told by one person but instead be giving all these different perspectives of the same thing and not everybody's going to
21:59quite have the same perspective. It becomes like a mosaic.
22:01>> Yeah.
22:02>> And the more you kind of you know, you're trying not to hit the same note over and over with different
22:07perspectives. Obviously, you're trying to have them be different. And uh hopefully though that they all kind of come together, the mosaic comes
22:14together, all the little pieces that maybe don't look like they would fit and then you know, they all kind of fit and
22:21you get an overall look at what I'm hopefully saying about the place of a football in American culture, the sort of the unkillability,
22:30the the the golden goose that can't be killed, these billionaires who were born on third base and think they hit a
22:35triple and you know, they're they're geniuses because football's successful.
22:39In fact, nothing else they do is successful but they so you know, they it's an unkillable league at least so far
22:46despite all its problems. Um So I thought the reason was to try to give that picture but not have it be
22:53coming from one character but kind of have it be the sum total of all the character perspectives.
22:59>> It kind of the way you talked about you know, doing that, at first I have to admit at first as I'm I'm reading
23:06through all the perspectives, there's a part of me that was thinking about I'm going, I'm a little overwhelmed with how many people are going through that. But
23:13then >> How many stories?
23:14>> Yeah, how many different stories. But then I think about the way you described the building and described that there's 53 players and that there's all this
23:22coaching staff and there's all of these things going on and it's such a huge operation and it's like you want to be
23:30overwhelmed on. It's It's like the first time you actually if you did play football and you're the and it's the first time that you're running down the
23:36field on a kickoff and there's all these things happening and it's like >> kickoff.
23:41>> You know, >> [laughter] >> exactly. You know.
23:44>> It's It's chaos.
23:45>> Yeah. And that's what you That's what you did a good job of showing is that is it's chaos even during the season and
23:53also just like the utter ridiculousness of some of these coaches. Like >> [laughter] >> that That That I've always felt as well,
24:00too. So, there's There's comedy in it. It's funny and then you have these touching moments where you didn't realize it was going to
24:07be touching like that and then you also have all the different ways that a human being could [ __ ] over another
24:14human being.
24:16>> [laughter] >> There is kind of >> A lot of that.
24:18>> There's a lot of that, too. But it's like but it is fascinating because there's you know, there's you have ambivalence about some
24:26characters and I always think that that's a great That's always great because it's telling the truth. When you feel ambivalence about human beings,
24:34someone's writing from a place of truth most of the time from that. So, yeah.
24:39>> Thank you.
24:39>> Yeah, absolutely.
24:41>> I mean my thing my thing sorry, we'll wrap it up. I mean the folks who don't feel conflicted and are just like football's awesome. I
24:49don't know what you're talking about.
24:51You know, I get it.
24:52I have cognitive dissonance about a lot of things, too. I don't know how I feel.
24:57>> I do.
24:58>> [laughter] >> Yeah.
25:01>> Um but I don't want it to come across as though it's a hatred. It's It's like you said, you know, there are times I'm
25:07reading this and I'm like, does Chris hate football? But then other times you're like, oh no, he obviously loves it. And that's how I feel all day, every
25:13day. It's my job. I'm I I would say maybe this is like an effort to take it back. I Maybe this
25:19book is my attempt to take it take football back from from the people who think they own it. Like I've said this a
25:25bunch as I've been talking with people about the book. Like we own it. The owners think they own the game, they
25:31don't. They make money off the game. We own the game. And like I I I want to I want to make the people who charge $25
25:39for a pretzel give me the game back. You know, fine, take the money. But like I want to I don't want them to be able to ruin my
25:47experience, if that makes sense.
25:48>> Yeah. No, it absolutely does. And it's um >> Yeah.
25:52>> you know, and I think that that's the that's the thing. I mean, you look at this you look at this story and it's far
26:00more than just a mystery, you know, it's >> Well, thanks.
26:02>> And so I you know, definitely worthwhile. It is It is definitely well written.
26:08Um you know, and you get the you know, you kind of you really get a good sense of some of these characters and then
26:15like the narrator's point of view about some things that I think are that are that are fun and and add to add to it
26:22overall. So, yeah, so where can people get it?
26:26>> Anywhere you get books. Amazon or bookshop.org or Barnes & Noble or Yeah. I mean, I think mostly mostly you'll find it online and uh
26:37I hope people like it. Thank you for Thank you for asking me about it. And thanks for reading it.
26:42>> No, absolutely. I've enjoyed it. I just, you know, you know how August gets, so I'm looking forward I but it's a little
26:48week zero. We're at week zero, you know, right now. So I think this weekend I'm going to get a chance to do a little bit
26:54more reading, so that'll be awesome.
26:56But, um yeah, with week zero in mind, what are some thoughts about you know, anything that come to mind to you about
27:04this year? Like for me, an example would be I think the 49ers are the most volatile team in in the league right now. Like
27:13they either are going to be in the playoffs again or they're going to be like one of the top five teams picking next year, just due
27:20to the the aging of these players and what's going on with them.
27:25>> Interesting.
27:26Yeah, such a good coaching staff. I think we probably all admire the coaching staff and it comes with the 9ers, it just comes down to
27:34health. They're just can't Last year the defense was just destroyed and some of the offense, too, and now they lose their best receiver before the
27:41season even before training camp even gets going and you know, Mike Evans had like five soft tissue injuries in August and
27:50like McCaffrey, cool. I hope he can do that again cuz, you know, if I I I I hope he can, but yeah, the the
27:59electrical substation sure does have a lot of authority over the 49ers.
28:03>> Yes.
28:05>> Yeah, I I can see where you're coming from. It's it's it's too good a coaching staff to to be constantly, um
28:12fighting so many injuries and it does make you wonder not so much about the substation, but about like training methods or
28:19something. I guess it's just can just be bad luck, but it's a lot of bad luck, for sure.
28:24>> Yeah, without a doubt. So, what's a what's a take like that for you that you look at and say, "Okay, the this is kind
28:30of what's been forming in my mind as I've been keeping up with how things are developing over the off season and the summer?"
28:37>> Like a team that I have a a strong take on, um you know, I I'm very close to the Patriots. I am a
28:45Patriots fan and I do have like people who are close to the team that I like have a little bit of insight into, and I
28:53think they think um they're going to be good, and it's not going to be a typical Super Bowl loser tank of a season.
29:01Uh but, I think there's real questions about that defense. Real questions about that pass rush.
29:08Uh and if they're you know, we're all going That's going to be the first game we're all going to get to see on Wednesday
29:13against the Seahawks in Seattle. That's a tough ask, really tough crowd, really great home environment, and a you know, a banner raising kind of Lombardi
29:22celebrating type thing, and that's going to be a hard ask to win that game.
29:27Um I just don't know who rushes the passers for the Patriots. And maybe in some weird roundabout way that leads to better offensive numbers for
29:38the offense because they wind up giving a lot of a lot of points they didn't have give up last year. You know, they played from
29:45ahead against a very easy schedule the entire season last year. And may you know, a lot of times for the purposes of fantasy, people say, "Cool,
29:55I want the team that's I want the Jacoby Brissett Cardinals playing from behind and constantly needing to throw."
30:02If playing from behind were always a prerequisite for fantasy goodness and great stats for an offense, you know, the the Saints from
30:11you know, a few years ago or the Browns should have tons of great fantasy weapons. You know, they they do not. So,
30:19uh I would say like from a from a worry perspective, the reason that the Patriots might not live up to my
30:27expectations for them is that they just didn't really address pass rusher.
30:32>> Yeah, that makes sense. So, so who just for any reason, who are some players or teams on your mind for whatever reason
30:40that you'd like to share some thoughts about whether it's you think they're going to rebound, they're going to emerge, they're you're worried about
30:47them regressing, or that you think they're overrated or underrated. Just what whatever comes to mind.
30:55>> I mean, the first thing comes to mind is a dude who could have been ripped from the pages of a pound foolish, unfortunately, Josh
31:03Jacobs, and what that means for the Packers. There's all of this philosophical conversation going on beyond the you know, ridiculous nature of why are you doing
31:14this and getting yourself essentially like, you know, canceled for a season, maybe. Um and and having that trickle down to okay, so now we have to remember
31:24what we thought of Marshaun Lloyd as a prospect, and then we have to guess whether Marshaun Lloyd and his stream of
31:31injuries these last 2 years have changed him and he's not going to be the same prospect that we remember. And then we
31:37have this notion of what the Packers were like last year, and I don't know. That was a weird experience, Matt LaFleur, watching that
31:45team last year. I thought he was going to get fired.
31:48I mean, certainly the way they blew the playoff game, that could have been the the cherry on top, absolutely. But so
31:54often watching Packer games last year, I would have the feeling of like rope-a-dope, they were trying to do the thing where they just run run punt
32:06and let you screw up and mess up and like let they let teams hang around hang around hang around for way too long. And I think
32:14Jordan Love it appeared to me, not knowing anything, but like just watching the games, that he got really frustrated. And there were times where
32:21he would like bristle and just say, "Ah, screw it." And then he would you know, then he would take the shot
32:27down the field and sometimes ill-advised. And it wound up being this weird misshapen sort of mis- misbegotten good season. Like they were good and
32:36they lost a home game, so you know you you you can Actually, no, it wasn't a It was the lost a road playoff. It was in Chicago.
32:44But anyway, they lost a game they should have won, obviously. Um So, the philosophical question comes down to, okay, so now you don't have
32:52your very, very good running back to fall back on.
32:57You're talking about trying to run a more you know, pass-oriented offense anyway.
33:02Maybe this is the kick in the pants to let Jordan Love cook a little more and let some of those receivers flex
33:09their muscles, and maybe we get to see the offense that we've kind of hoped for out of Matt LaFleur from the McVay tree.
33:16Why are we not getting this swashbuckling that we typically get out of the McVay tree?
33:20I have my eyes on that uh to just kind of like you have to process, metastasize, whatever the Jacobs' absence is going to
33:29be. That's a huge part It's the most important offensive player they've had these last 2 years. And now that you don't have him
33:36how does the rest of the tree go or go grow around that wound, I guess.
33:40>> The um and for sure. And you know, when I think about this team, I do think about Jordan Love. And maybe it's
33:45because I had such concerns about a certain aspect of his game at Utah State.
33:52But he reminded me of not athletically, not anything one-to-one, but just a a certain trait of his that wasn't so good. It reminded
34:02me of Jimmy Garoppolo in the sense of like Yeah, as the game became tight and you had to process the field
34:12with a level of clarity and be um disciplined about what you saw and didn't see and what you should try to do
34:21and not try to do Jordan Love got super reckless, as you alluded to. Um you know, at times. He was one of those guys that you watch him
34:29at Utah and he'd make three or four mistakes in a row that were like should have in the NFL they would have been
34:37down by like 17 points within the span of 3 minutes with the types of plays that he made. In college football it was
34:44more like he made two straight mistakes and he lost the game, but they should have probably, you know, if it was a NFL
34:50team they would have been down a a fair amount. And it was always throwing off his back foot and kicking his feet high in the air and not really
34:59seeing where he was throwing and making making throws into coverage that were trying to go through the player, the defensive player, rather than, you know,
35:10just not targeting that coverage at all, just not seeing it well. And it's like he does well all game or for a lot of the game, and then when
35:18it the game gets tight it's either the coverage that he's misreading or he gets impatient under pressure and he ends up um just making
35:28desperation calls where it's like he tilts, you know, and so that's my concern with him is that they've have you're right, they
35:38have a nucleus nucleus that's that's promising in a lot of ways, but they needed, you know, to me I look at Jayden Reed and I go,
35:46"Okay, you have a top 20 player the first 2 years, he got hurt last year and tried to play through it, which I don't
35:52know, you know, they didn't need to do that, but they did. He got hurt again.
35:56But he's not even their starter technically and hasn't really been their starter technically, you know, and then you look at some of the talent that they
36:05have and that hasn't fully developed in in certain areas, but you can see like every once, you know, there's a player that will have a huge
36:14game, you know, Christian Watson will have some huge weeks, you know, you look at a player like like that or um
36:22you know, Dontayvion Wicks, you know, before he got sent off, you could see moments where you'd say, all right, they they've got the chance to really develop
36:31some talent. But, um but yeah, you're right I'm going with the run game. Is it Marshawn Lloyd? Is it Christopher Brooks, possibly, who can cuz like I see
36:41this team you mentioned New England and I think this could be a poor man's version of Rhamondre Stevenson and Christopher Brooks.
36:48And and TreVeyon Henderson and Marshawn Lloyd, if Lloyd keeps fumbling the football like he did at USC or tries to do what Travis Etienne or um D'Andre
36:59Swift did early in their careers, which is just not be disciplined between the tackles. And and and he kind of had some of that in
37:07him where I'm going to out athlete everybody. Um so, if he can fix that, it's you know, really high potential there, but there's like three ifs with
37:15him. And when you look at like the the Edwards Institute stuff, you don't know whether or not that's a trial and error process. He may feel
37:23great right now, but the those specialists know not everybody's the same, not every injury's the same. And maybe we set a baseline with him, but
37:33let's see what happens when he starts, you know, doing certain things that favor parts of his body that that he shouldn't and now he's run down
37:41or having those types of issues. So, yeah.
37:45Um all right, so how about what's your thoughts on Matthew Stafford? Cuz this is one that just it boggles my mind that
37:54we're looking at a player who was what, the second best or third best quarterback in fantasy football, and he's got two elite receivers,
38:02but he's he's going outside the top 12? I mean, is I is that as inexplicable to you as it is as this me?
38:11>> It is absolutely It It seems like just a cheat code for this year. I'm just waiting forever and taking Stafford in the ninth
38:18or 10th round or whatever and I think it's going to work out great. I I've had the debate many times on other
38:25people's shows and I've had people on my show and had the debate about you don't understand that there's just a statistical there's
38:33proof in my numbers that say running quarterbacks don't go high enough in drafts and non-running quarterbacks go too high in drafts and I
38:41guess I understand that in the aggregate. I don't think those numbers can account for the small sample size of oh, I don't know Hall of Fame
38:48quarterbacks.
38:50There's like Matthew Stafford's going to regress this year. You don't say. You mean he's not going to throw almost 50 touchdowns again? Wow. The I've said
38:59this a bunch and I apologize for repeating myself, but like you know what happens if he regresses by 11 touchdowns?
39:06He still leads the NFL last year cuz he won by 12.
39:09>> Yeah.
39:09>> Um like yes, he's going to regress and he's still going to be good if he stays healthy because he plays for one of the true offensive
39:18geniuses in the league and one of the offenses and if you know me, you know, it's not that many. I generally don't
39:25try to pretend I know what these offenses are going to be because they reinvent themselves every single year, but it's one of the few offenses that
39:32are in the circle of trust like kind of no matter what I think it's going to be pretty good.
39:36You don't say Matthew Stafford had an unsustainable touchdown rate. Okay, but is it unsustainable if every time they get inside the 10 Davante Adams just
39:45gets open like he's wide open. I think he's going to throw it sometimes in those situations. And yes, he's not going to throw 48 touchdowns, but he
39:54throws 35 and he's still a top-five quarterback. He doesn't need to run at all.
39:59If you have worries about Stafford, of course, it's related to age and injury and I understand it could fall off, but
40:06it's not in most leagues a scarce position.
40:09And so I don't need to really worry about it. I'll find replacement if he gets hurt. It reminds me so much of
40:162020 and 2021 Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
40:20Nobody wanted to draft him. Everybody made the exact same arguments then.
40:24Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs. Brady won a Super Bowl and was awesome. Led the league in touchdown passes the next year. So, um I would be in on Stafford,
40:33yes.
40:33>> Yeah, I was recommending it and giving the same reasons. And you have to think about you know, Matthew Stafford Matthew Stafford has contacted Tom Brady
40:42to like pick his brain about the workouts and diet and nutrition that he he did. He's 37. He looks better than
40:50the doughboy at the University of Georgia. He used to eat too much fried chicken, probably, um while he was there. Okay? And I know probably where
40:58he went um cuz I was there when he was there um as, you know, working there.
41:03And he definitely looked like he had one too many um probably you know, six-piece Guthrie's chicken tenders with the with the
41:11>> Or just beer.
41:12>> Or just beer.
41:13>> Lots of it.
41:14>> You know, and he looks he looks he's in shape. The game slowed down for him. And when people when you bring up the
41:21numbers, I laugh about that because it's like well, can we say that also running for 500 or more yards is sustainable year
41:29after year? I mean, I you know, Jackson Dart is that going to be Yeah, is that going to be sustainable? Um was it
41:36sustainable for for Lamar Jackson year after year? He's had some good years.
41:41But the other reason is, oh, he can win from the pocket. He can actually throw the ball. And the guys who, you know,
41:48you did do have that added number, but Jared Goff's underrated every year, and he only rushed for 45 yards. But he has
41:57three players who give you top 15 production at their at their position.
42:02You're really going to bet against a quarterback who is seeing the field slower, that's slowed down for him, than pretty much
42:10any player in the league because of his age and his experience.
42:14Who's healthier than he's ever been cuz injuries that he had were like bones broken. They were in his back, which sucks, but like he was playing with it.
42:23He's not like it's you know, the injuries that he had he's able to recoup from. He's in one like you said one of
42:30the best offenses in the league and oh, I don't know has two of probably eight of the two of the eight best
42:37route runners on his team. I mean, can you I don't know if I would name a duo that I would want more of than Davante
42:45Adams and you're going to tell me you're not going to pick that guy. Like to me that's that's that's inexplicable and
42:52when you say context, you know, they don't have the context to look at those numbers and say say that because you
42:58look at you look at top players who were able to if they had two or two top players who could be like top 15, you
43:07have a lot of older players like Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner and you know, guys like that going all the way back to
43:14Dan Fouts if you want to say, but like who who were able to produce like this.
43:19So, yeah, to me that's dead on. It's a total cheat code.
43:24>> Yeah.
43:25All right.
43:26>> Yeah, so um How about any you know, are you are you Are there any players that you just feel
43:35are going to rebound this year that you were um you either out on last year or they they just had a they've had a tough stretch
43:44and you're looking at them saying I'm kind of hopeful.
43:47>> I'm hopeful for DJ Moore. That's the first name that popped in my head when you just said that. We're we're like
43:53just flying by the seat of our pants.
43:55We're just talking. So, uh we don't have prep, but the the name that flew into my head was DJ Moore.
44:01I I don't want to get too aggressive drafting more because I understand it it's been it's been a lot of people like me, tape
44:09watchers, who keep saying he should be better than this. He should be better than this. He's really only ever had one excellent season.
44:16Then again, so is CD Lamb. But um and it was you know, it was Justin Fields year. It was a Tyson Bagent year.
44:23That's not really what you want. You want the quarterback to be good at football.
44:27Uh last year was very disappointing.
44:30Disappointing to me, disappointing to Bears, disappointing to fantasy managers.
44:34Um I think I'm not breaking any new ground by saying it seems like a better fit with Josh Allen as opposed to Ben
44:43Johnson. That you know, the Ben Johnson really wanting you to be where you're supposed to be offense versus the Josh Allen fairly impro- Like I think the
44:51improvisation would be gets overstated, but it is fairly late in the down improvisational and that's why one of your guys, Khalil
44:58Shakir, has thrived there cuz he's just smart.
45:01And I think DJ Moore's really smart, too.
45:04He's just a little bit of a freelancer and that drives some offensive coordinators crazy.
45:10I don't think it'll drive the Bills as crazy. Um so I I can't tell you I'm positive because last year was rough and I have some
45:19emotional skin in the game. I don't want to get hurt again. But uh I'll I'll I'll say DJ Moore bounces back.
45:24>> Yeah. I think that that's a I I definitely think that makes sense and you in the way you described that makes is
45:32good. I mean, and that's why he had such a good season with with um Justin Fields cuz Justin Fields could would improvise
45:38a fair bit and they would lean on that.
45:40But yeah, when you want a highly structured offense getting to where he was supposed to be, that was frustrating for the Bears and
45:46let me go on from there. But I always joke that Josh Allen is kind of the NFL's Ricky Bobby. Um >> [laughter]
45:53>> you know, it's you may you know, depending on you where you're from. Like I had I had a Bills fan really complain
46:00to me cuz he thought I was really insulting Josh Allen in saying that, you know, but if you really think about the
46:05that movie, you know, or maybe from a Southerner's point of view about some of it, it's it's it's kind of like the fool play, you
46:12know, catching, you know, playing the fool to catch the wise a little bit with that with that character. And so, you
46:20you know, you look at it and say, "Yeah, I mean, sometimes Josh is that brash, like 'Merica, you know, kind of
46:27>> [laughter] >> kind of way of playing football. Like and but at the same time, you also see where he he's he's become very technically
46:35sound and very much a student of the game with a lot of aspects of his play.
46:40And that the Bears the Bills also said, "You know, we don't want you just leaning on one player. We need you to
46:46delegate. We need to And we're going to influence you to do that cuz the more the less you delegate, the more you
46:52start doing the the crazy stuff Ricky Bobby's doing and then you're running around in your underpants and calling for Allah, you know, Gandhi, [laughter]
47:00the Jewish guy, you know, things like that. So, um you know, it's So, I think with with Moore, there's just enough of
47:08that improvisational skills where they they mesh well. And, you know, they asked Josh Allen about it. He's like, "Yeah, I don't have a
47:15problem at all with him. I just think that Moore got a little bit more criticism because folks like me were like,
47:22'He's not running the right He's not running the right adjustment to this particular thing.' And he's like, 'What are these bloggers now?' And then the
47:29quarterback for the team turned he came out in force and basically said, 'No, you're not You know you're not doing this the way you're supposed to be doing
47:36it.' But again, it doesn't mean he's a bad player. He's a very talented player. It's just fit can be helpful. Not everyone can be
47:44everything at the position. There's only one Jerry Rice or, you know, you know, one Marshall Faulk or things like that. So,
47:52so yeah. But I mean, listen, this was this was fantastic. And I again, I want to recommend to people, you know, check
48:00this out. You know, you can check it out at a place near you.
48:03Pound Foolish, I'm you know, again, I'm about 210, 220 pages into it. Really enjoying it. And you know, Christopher has four other books that, you know, are
48:13worth checking out too. And we'll, you know, Looking Out the Mirror, Slotback Rhapsody, The Big Clear, War on Sound, and Tulsa. So.
48:24>> Yes, sir.
48:25>> Yes. So, definitely multi-talented and good friend of ours. And you know, we're glad to have you on. And you know,
48:33best of luck with with the book. And you know, I know we'll be catching up during the season.
48:39>> We will. Thank you for having me, Matt.
48:40It was really, really fun. I appreciate it. And thanks to everybody.
48:43>> Take care, y'all.
