Daily Short #45, August 18th, 2017: Three For Friday
1) This Week in the Short
TUESDAY - Kirk Johnson Reminder and Preseason Fantasy Fallout
WEDNESDAY - The Jean Delance Truther
THURSDAY - Mid-August Depth Chart Updates
2) Enjoy the 2017 Texas Offensive Line While it Lasts
It's an odd place Texas fans find themselves in regarding the way they should feel about the Longhorns offensive line.
For years it has been a bit of a weakness on bad teams -- only last year becoming a sneaky and undercover strength which helped pave the way for D'Onta Foreman's historic 2016 season. In 2017, I'm on record as saying that the offensive line, barring injuries (particularly to Connor Williams), will be the best Texas has run out onto the field since I started covering the team for Orangebloods in 2013 and providing my analysis of the units.
But as I did the depth chart update yesterday, I couldn't help but think that the losses of Jean Delance (to transfer) and Elijah Rodriguez to (presumably) season-ending surgery made that thing start to look thin, thin, thin. It's amazing how a few players can impact the overall look of a depth chart.
And when you take it a step further and project out to 2018, when Connor Williams will be playing in the NFL, you start to wonder what a 2018 Texas offensive line will even look like.
Urquidez or Rodriguez - Vahe - Shackelford - McMillon - Okafor?
That's presumably four returning starters (should Okafor hold onto a starting job over Tristan Nickelson), so it's not the absolute worst you could imagine. John Bianco and company in the SID should have no problem painting the unit as reasonable in the media guides. But even in the most optimistic of projections -- one that assumes that Denzel Okafor develops in-season to a plus-player on the right side -- you still worry immensely about the left tackle. Elijah Rodriguez was having the best camp of his career before going down, but he's been below-average-to-#bad in all observable action previously. It's hard for me to imagine Urquidez being ready for starter's duties as the cornerstone of the Texas offensive line either.
And should any one of those guys get hurt? Yikes. Now we're talking about the Garrett Thomases and Samuel Cosmis of the world possibly being thrust into real action. The interior of the Texas offensive line should be fine for the foreseeable future. The future of the tackle position is largely still up in the air, however.
So my advice to Texas fans in 2017 regarding the offensive line is simple: Despite a few warts you'll notice from the right tackle position, enjoy it while it lasts.
3) Preseason Fantasy Fallout
A few fantasy thoughts from Thursday's three-game preseason slate:
- Jaguars QB Blake Bortles is absolutely awful and the only way that WR Allen Robinson will hold fantasy value in 2017 is if Bortles is benched immediately. He's broken, and he is garbage. He has been for a while now. Thankfully, HC Doug Marrone declared an "open competition" at QB immediately following Bortles' pants-crapping on Thursday. Robinson is in a contract year, has a ton of pedigree and is also a very gifted athlete. With Chad Henne under center, I have simply no doubt Robinson will pay off his currently plummeting 4th round (sometimes late-4th) ADP. With Bortles under center, all bets are off.
- Good news for any remaining Devante Parker truthers out there: New Dolphins QB Jay Cutler seems to have a penchant for trying to get the ball in his hands. I had a sneaky suspicion that this would be the case given Parker's similar physical and scheme-based profile to Alshon Jeffery who Cutler would pepper at times in Chicago.
- Sometimes I hate being proven right in the preseason because it means average draft positions are going to shift higher on players I was enjoying getting at value when the masses catch on. The PPR cheat sheet at RosterWatch.com has been directing drafters to take Bucs RB Doug Martin at immense value, sometimes as late as the 9th round (!!!) in PPR drafts. His ADP has slipped immensely due to his impending three-game suspension and ominous reports from the Tampa beat that his job may not be safe upon return. Anyone who saw him last night will be reminded of a motivated Doug Martin like we saw in his 2015 contract year, and would also notice that he's doing all the running with the first group. I couldn't believe the outrageous and cockamamie reporting earlier in the month that 5'6" JACQUIZZ RODGERS OF ALL PEOPLE posed a threat to Doug Martin's starting job ... and it sounds even stupider now.
- New Eagles RB LeGarrette Blount has looked like sluggish, hot garbage at every turn of the 2017 preseason and I want no part of 2016's leading TD rusher in his new role in 2017. First off - I hate the way that Doug Pederson lies about RB usage in games and the way he deploys his backs situationally in such backwards and poppycock fashions. I don't want to own a back in that offense, period. Last season was a nightmare in projecting guys like Ryan Mathews because Pederson never gives one guy volume or sticks with his publicly stated plans. Even worse, they're using Blount in the most ridiculous ways imaginable: as a receiver out of the backfield for check-downs and on run-concepts like sweeps and -- unbelievably -- outside-zone stretch plays which accentuate literally every shortcoming one could find in Blount's game. It's a round peg in a square hole and I'm 100% hands-off in all formats.
1) This Week in the Short
TUESDAY - Kirk Johnson Reminder and Preseason Fantasy Fallout
WEDNESDAY - The Jean Delance Truther
THURSDAY - Mid-August Depth Chart Updates
2) Enjoy the 2017 Texas Offensive Line While it Lasts
It's an odd place Texas fans find themselves in regarding the way they should feel about the Longhorns offensive line.
For years it has been a bit of a weakness on bad teams -- only last year becoming a sneaky and undercover strength which helped pave the way for D'Onta Foreman's historic 2016 season. In 2017, I'm on record as saying that the offensive line, barring injuries (particularly to Connor Williams), will be the best Texas has run out onto the field since I started covering the team for Orangebloods in 2013 and providing my analysis of the units.
But as I did the depth chart update yesterday, I couldn't help but think that the losses of Jean Delance (to transfer) and Elijah Rodriguez to (presumably) season-ending surgery made that thing start to look thin, thin, thin. It's amazing how a few players can impact the overall look of a depth chart.
And when you take it a step further and project out to 2018, when Connor Williams will be playing in the NFL, you start to wonder what a 2018 Texas offensive line will even look like.
Urquidez or Rodriguez - Vahe - Shackelford - McMillon - Okafor?
That's presumably four returning starters (should Okafor hold onto a starting job over Tristan Nickelson), so it's not the absolute worst you could imagine. John Bianco and company in the SID should have no problem painting the unit as reasonable in the media guides. But even in the most optimistic of projections -- one that assumes that Denzel Okafor develops in-season to a plus-player on the right side -- you still worry immensely about the left tackle. Elijah Rodriguez was having the best camp of his career before going down, but he's been below-average-to-#bad in all observable action previously. It's hard for me to imagine Urquidez being ready for starter's duties as the cornerstone of the Texas offensive line either.
And should any one of those guys get hurt? Yikes. Now we're talking about the Garrett Thomases and Samuel Cosmis of the world possibly being thrust into real action. The interior of the Texas offensive line should be fine for the foreseeable future. The future of the tackle position is largely still up in the air, however.
So my advice to Texas fans in 2017 regarding the offensive line is simple: Despite a few warts you'll notice from the right tackle position, enjoy it while it lasts.
3) Preseason Fantasy Fallout
A few fantasy thoughts from Thursday's three-game preseason slate:
- Jaguars QB Blake Bortles is absolutely awful and the only way that WR Allen Robinson will hold fantasy value in 2017 is if Bortles is benched immediately. He's broken, and he is garbage. He has been for a while now. Thankfully, HC Doug Marrone declared an "open competition" at QB immediately following Bortles' pants-crapping on Thursday. Robinson is in a contract year, has a ton of pedigree and is also a very gifted athlete. With Chad Henne under center, I have simply no doubt Robinson will pay off his currently plummeting 4th round (sometimes late-4th) ADP. With Bortles under center, all bets are off.
- Good news for any remaining Devante Parker truthers out there: New Dolphins QB Jay Cutler seems to have a penchant for trying to get the ball in his hands. I had a sneaky suspicion that this would be the case given Parker's similar physical and scheme-based profile to Alshon Jeffery who Cutler would pepper at times in Chicago.
- Sometimes I hate being proven right in the preseason because it means average draft positions are going to shift higher on players I was enjoying getting at value when the masses catch on. The PPR cheat sheet at RosterWatch.com has been directing drafters to take Bucs RB Doug Martin at immense value, sometimes as late as the 9th round (!!!) in PPR drafts. His ADP has slipped immensely due to his impending three-game suspension and ominous reports from the Tampa beat that his job may not be safe upon return. Anyone who saw him last night will be reminded of a motivated Doug Martin like we saw in his 2015 contract year, and would also notice that he's doing all the running with the first group. I couldn't believe the outrageous and cockamamie reporting earlier in the month that 5'6" JACQUIZZ RODGERS OF ALL PEOPLE posed a threat to Doug Martin's starting job ... and it sounds even stupider now.
- New Eagles RB LeGarrette Blount has looked like sluggish, hot garbage at every turn of the 2017 preseason and I want no part of 2016's leading TD rusher in his new role in 2017. First off - I hate the way that Doug Pederson lies about RB usage in games and the way he deploys his backs situationally in such backwards and poppycock fashions. I don't want to own a back in that offense, period. Last season was a nightmare in projecting guys like Ryan Mathews because Pederson never gives one guy volume or sticks with his publicly stated plans. Even worse, they're using Blount in the most ridiculous ways imaginable: as a receiver out of the backfield for check-downs and on run-concepts like sweeps and -- unbelievably -- outside-zone stretch plays which accentuate literally every shortcoming one could find in Blount's game. It's a round peg in a square hole and I'm 100% hands-off in all formats.
