Transcript of Mike Ryan Curses Out Matthew Berry | Hour 2 (feat. Matthew Berry and Kevin Clark)

Against the Spread. Against the Spread.

Against the Spread is presented by DraftKings Sports. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Mike.

Against the Spread. Against the Spread. I mentioned it already. We're putting the town on alert. I think this is the biggest game of the college football season. It is going to be a game that is cited. I am talking, of course, about Ole Miss and— Against the spread. And against the spread, I'm going with Jeff Brom. Oh, he's taking Louisville.

I know LSU's dominant at home at night, but that's just a lot of points. We don't really know much about LSU, how they're going to look with Lane Kiffin. Clemson going in there +10. Just give me the points. Give me a close game. Clemson +10 at LSU.

Against the spread.

Against the spread.

I get to do one?

No, you don't have to.

Yeah, yeah, if you want to.

You got one?

Give me the Huskies over Wazoo.

We did a third. Uh, we're about to have Matthew Berry on the show, but real quick, I do have my definitive top 25 list of the best people I know. And if you're listening to this and you think, Mike, you rushed it, maybe you forgot me, no, take this list personally.

Okay, before you jump into it though, because there could be some hurt feelings here, these are— you're doing the best people you know?

The best people I know.

Or I— it's more in my head a vibe.

It's all-encompassing. It's okay.

It's not best I'm taking all these down.

No, no, it's not moral. Most, most, a lot of these people are very immoral.

Okay, okay, that's what I'm getting at.

Yeah, all right, uh, I'll just rat-a-tat-tat it because Matthew Berry is so gracious with his time. Number 25, Unda. Number 24, John Isner. Number 23, Rose. Congratulations. Number 22, Tom Bogert. Number 21, David Sinopoli. Number 20, Mike Ratigan. Uh, number 19, my Nicaraguan friend Joel. Number 18, Billy Lucci. Number 17, Kane Gorby. Uh, number 16, Brian Monroe. Number 15, not Ethan Bedowski, but his dad Rob.

I like that guy a lot.

Number 14, uh, Number 13, Dan Dokich. Number 12, Mochetta. Number 11, Manu. Number 10, Sabo. Number 9, Dominique Foxworth. Number 8, Morty Fish. Number 7, Kevin Clark. Number 6, Eagle Eye. Number 5, The Bear.

Number 4, The Watermelon Man.

Number 3, Dave Damashek. Number 2, Mina Kimes. And number 1, College Mike.

Wow. Wow.

Take it personally.

I'm 3?

Yeah, dude. I like you.

You're a good guy.

I like Matthew Berry, Roy. Likes him even more, apparently.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry.

Oh, fuck.

He's the founder of FantasyLife.com and host of Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry on NBC Sports and Peacock. He's Matthew Berry. What's happening, man? How's the offseason treated you? And more importantly, How are the drafts treating you?

Dave, they've been going well. There's a lot of them been doing a— been a ton of them, you know. Um, uh, I'm, uh, I'm the owner of guillotineleagues.com over at Fantasy Life, so I'm doing a ton of those. I've been like in 16 of them. We did not run back the Dan Levitar Guillotine League show because they all— Dave, you would have been embarrassed. I know you're a longtime fantasy player, and I played a league with these guys all last year. About half of them took it seriously, the other half terrible. And then I ended up winning the league. And so, I don't know, it just didn't seem a lot of interest to get their butts beat again. But honestly, the offseason, there has been no offseason, but it's been great. Everything's good.

Everything's good.

And I'm good.

Happy to be back.

I'm pleased to hear all of that. And I do wanna say, as a man of justice, this does need to be shouted out. A Lannister pays his bets. So too does a Matthew Berry. The last time I saw you was on Media Row. at the Super Bowl about 3 years ago, and our mutual pal from way back, yours from the 'Cuse, David Feeney, said, wait, tell Matthew Berry he owes me $20. And you took $20 out of your pocket and said, give this to Feeney, tell him to suck on it, something like that.

And Dave, did you in fact give that $20 to Feeney?

I did, I did, yeah, yeah.

There you go, debt's paid, good, fantastic.

Well done, Matthew Berry. And as far as that goes, you pay your debts, are you in your own top 25 people?

I would like to think so, but I take issue with I, I think Kevin Clark should be higher than 7. I know Kevin Clark. He's fantastic.

More— but Dave, you know me a little bit.

Yeah, everyone loves Kevin Clark.

Yeah, I hear you, but you know, he's not as good as Eagle Eye Nicoletti. I'm sorry.

I disagree.

Well, as somebody who does rankings for a living— Make your own list.

I think your rankings are terrible, Mike.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, here's where Kevin Clark fits: right above Marty Fish, not as good as Eagle Eye. Don't test me on it.

I disagree.

Strongly disagree. You don't know Nicoletti. You don't know Dan Nicoletti.

Listen, I know Dave Damaschak. I've known Dave Damaschak for 20 years. Dave Damaschak will tell you right now he shouldn't be ranked ahead of—

Nobody is more efficient with a funny text than Dan Eagle Eye Nicoletti. And if you don't know if something's offside in hockey, that's how he got the nickname.

Now wait a second. Wait a second here. I don't appreciate Matthew Barry trying to dupe me in and trade on my self-esteem issues by saying Dave Damashek knows he ain't no Kevin Clark because he knows that Dave has low self-esteem and will say, yeah, of course I'm no Kevin Clark.

But I'm not going to do it into a microphone.

I'm going to FaceTime Kevin Clark right now. I'm going to ask him, who's better, you or Eagle Eye?

And I know the answer. He'll readily admit it.

I'm going to be very clear. I'm going to be very clear about this. I want to be— Dave, just so you know, I would rank myself below Kevin Clark. This is not about your self-esteem issues.

Okay.

I just think that guy's really nice. I really like him. And I just didn't realize that Mike was doing his rankings based on who texts quickly.

He's like, what's going on?

It's a big part of it.

It's a huge part.

Well, Matthew, he has self-esteem issues too. And so he's vain and whoever responds to him most quickly is who gets the gold. Apparently.

Apparently.

Matthew Berry, much like a doctor is constantly asked about, what is this thing on my arm? What is the question you get the most out on the streets?

Oh, I mean, like, just right now it's like, give me a sleeper, right? Give me a sleeper. Who's your ride or die? You know, and I get a lot of— yeah, I mean, those are the two big ones in terms of questions. I get a lot of like, you know, miss you on ESPN, love, you know, love-hate, you know, Avengers. I got a lot of Avengers randomly. But anyway, so, but who does— give me a sleeper and who's your ride or die are probably the two biggest right now.

Okay, give me a sleeper or ride or die right now.

All right. Well, my ride or die is DeVonta Smith of the Philadelphia Eagles. It's ride or die is always a known player that I think takes the next level. I haven't— I'm at wide receiver 10. He's currently going anywhere between wide receiver 15 and 20. But I think he's got top 5 upside. I wrote about this last February when I, when I got out of the NFL Combine. So late February, early, early March, where I was drunk with an Eagles team source who basically told me, we think DeVonta Smith has another gear. As good as he has been, we think he has another gear and another level that he can get to, that if he would ever, ever get the kind of target share that Jaxon Smith-Njigba got last year, he could have that kind of season. And that was with AJ Brown still on the team. Obviously AJ Brown, who's had at least a 28% target share each of the last 4 years, now in New England. So then you think about DeVonta Smith, who over the last 2 years when AJ Brown has been off the field has gotten at least been targeted on at least 29% of his routes, which is a number you're like, oh, that's a lot of numbers, Barry.

What are you saying? Let me just give you an idea of some of the people that get targeted on 29% or more of their routes. It's Ja'Marr Chase, it's Puka Nacua, it's Jaxon Smith-Njigba. It's the elite of the elite. DeVonta Smith has top 5 fantasy upside. He's going at the end of round 2, sometimes in round 3. Give me all the DeVonta Smith this year.

I'm in a sort of sliding scale in my brain of how specific to go or broad. First, I'll go broad here, man. I could take it in a million different directions with you and dig in on that, on the Eagles offense in particular, but first of all, where are you philosophically on drafting a quarterback and when you should do that?

Fairly late. I mean, listen, it all depends on sort of when that quarterback falls to you. If Josh Allen is there at the end of round 3, then okay, but he generally goes to the end of round 2, sometimes middle of round 3. But quarterback this year, Dave, is so deep. It's deeper than I think I've ever seen it. I have Bo Nix at QB15, and that's not me hating on Bo Nix, who has been a top 10 quarterback in fantasy each of the last 2 years. It's just that's how deep the position is. You know, when you sit here and you go like, you know, you can get outside the top 15, you can get guys like Jared Goff, you can get Baker Mayfield, you can get Malik Willis, who I think is going to have a very good fantasy year. Like, it's just, it's the craziest, the deepest I've ever seen the position. And so I tend to wait. I did a whole draft episode of Fantasy Football Happy Hour, which is my show, and we walked you through. And just at a very basic level, first couple of rounds, I think you want to go running back heavy.

I wouldn't mind a tight end in round 3 or 4. Rounds 4 through 6 is where the sweet spot for the wide receivers. Then round 7, I really like a quarterback somewhere in the rounds 5 through 7 range, getting a quarterback there. You can get a good one there. And then you can, um, and then you can fill out rounds 8 and, uh, on with just sort of depth and wherever you missed out. But, um, if you start wide receiver early, you're not gonna like your build. It gets dicey quick at running back.

Before we go any further here, very quickly, get everybody up to speed. You mentioned Guillotine League, and I imagine a fair percentage of people don't know what that means.

Explain.

So Guillotine League is really fun. It's, uh, it's basically like a fantasy football league. You have a You have a league like normal, a draft like normal. You start a lineup like normal. There's 2 big twists. Number one is, is that at the end of the week, the team with the lowest score in the league gets cut, chopped. That's where the guillotine comes in, right? You know, you get cut and your season's over. You're done. And then you keep doing that until only one team remains. So that's twist number one. The second twist, which is really fun, is that all the players on the team that got cut Go back into the free agent pool.

I have to interrupt you real quick, Matthew. I have to interrupt you real quick because I have Kevin Clark in between hits at First Take. So I gave my top 25, uh, best people I've ever met list. You were slotted perfectly at number 7, better than Marty Fish, not as good as Dan Eagle Eye Nicoletti. And Matthew Berry was like, Kevin Clark's better than Eagle Eye Nicoletti. Kevin, is— are you better than Eagle Eye Nicoletti? Eagle Eye Nicoletti is the most important and charismatic person I've ever met in my entire life, and if I was in prison, he'd be my first phone call. That's right, Kevin Clark. Thank you very much.

Wait, wait, wait, don't let him go.

He's on First Take. All right, but I'm saying 2.

He has to choose.

Matthew Berry.

Okay, well, text him back or call him back. The next one is Matthew Berry or Dave Damashek.

I'll text him that.

All right, yeah, absolutely text him that. But here's what I would say. That's why Kevin Clark is such a good person, because of course he would say, no, no, no, I should not be ranked higher than—

Don't mansplain friendship.

He told you, you again, you don't know Eagle Eye Nicoletti. You just don't.

No flies. Maybe that's— yeah, I know a lot of people, Mike. I mean, I've been in this business a long time. You know, I'm a middle-aged man. I know a lot of freaking people. I've known Dave Damashek for literally over 20 years.

I know a lot of people too.

I know a lot of people. So the fact that I don't know him, I don't know. You know, maybe he's not as great a person as you think. Like, you know, I'm just saying.

You heard it from the source.

Dan Levitar.

World Rawr 3. Mike Ryan.

We're gonna get that off the ground.

World Rawr 3, colon, our group chat has a pretty good feeling about this one. This is the Dan Levitar Show.

Matthew Berry is right about this much at least. Kevin Clark just pulled a bullshit move there. Of course, that's what you do when asked about who do you like better, yourself or the other guy. You say, oh, the other guy's better. I only wish I could live up to that.

No, Kevin Clark thinks the world of— all right, I asked Kevin Clark, I texted him, Matthew Berry or Dave Damashek? Would you like to know the answer?

I would.

He said Matthew Berry.

That son of a bitch. He's still raw about what happened in Miami in the national championship.

Yeah, you're a Hoosier. All right, well, listen, I'm—

But by the way, Dave, I think he got it wrong. I would have chosen you.

No, no, no, you above me any day of the week.

The one day—

Absolutely not, David Scheck. Absolutely not. It is you all day, twice on Sunday. Stop it.

Chris Cody, Chris Cody, we have the rarest of treats upon us right here. Matthew, we're doing a fantasy draft.

I'm so mad. Jeremy just took DeVonta Smith. I did it right after that because Matthew said he's my ride or die.

I was up and I went, okay, let me go take DeVonta Smith.

So that's what I did.

I want the stars to align so that it is my pick while I am talking to Matthew Berry and I can take his counsel in real time. Let me know when and if My pick arrives. All right, let's talk some more fantasy. And in broad strokes, where do you come down in the year of our Lord 2026 on kickers? Should they be a part of fantasy?

No. I love that.

No, I'm anti— I'm anti-kicker. I play in leagues with them because the commissioner is stubborn and it's good for me just to have exposure to that. But no, it's, you know, there's no statistical difference. It's, it's more luck-based. Then, you know, fantasy already has too much luck involved in it. And then you add kickers, which is just all about the whims. And, and it's weird, like you get, you get more points. It's a 50-yarder versus a 49er, which— 49-yarder, which doesn't happen in actual football. And I—

no, completely, completely, completely with you. And the variance of defenses and whether they score and special teams and all of that. I got a text and I thought the guy was kidding when he asked this. He said, I have the 3rd pick in my draft. Is it too soon to take the Rams defense? And I LOL'd at him. I said, well, and then I realized, oh, he's sincere. But how early? I guess it's dependent on your league scoring and everything else, but how much are you willing to reach on the Rams defense in 2026?

See, I mean, I'm not that. I mean, like, honestly, you're probably better off, like, The defense that plays the Browns every week is probably going to score just as much as the Rams, if not. The fact of the matter is, is that as brilliant as the Rams defense will be in the NFL, fantasy-wise, defenses— the defenses that score a lot in fantasy are the ones that get turnovers and score touchdowns. And defensive touchdowns are fluky, right? Is it a pick-6, or do they just— do they make an interception, they run out of bounds, they take a knee, that kind of stuff? Fumbles are fluky. Right. I think they will get a decent amount of sacks. I think they'll hold teams to a lower score. But, you know, maybe you could, you know, reach a round or 2. But like, I'm not going, you know, no, I don't actively target defenses because I think it's too easy to stream defenses for leagues that play it. And it's also, again, there's, there's a lot of variance there.

I am interested in what you said about the quarterbacks. Because you said it is a position-rich area this season at least. And running backs, I advocate taking them early because like gold, they are rare, the guys who are 3-down backs. And so you want to take one of those guys versus receiver, which is a deeper spot there. Where are you specific with tight ends right now? It goes Bowers and McBride. Is Loveland—

You are so much better at this segment than Dan Loveland.

You are.

It's unbelievable.

You're bag-racking so much good shit right now.

Keep it going.

Don't let us bother you. I don't mean to bother you. Don't let us interrupt, but you're good at this and I'm getting good shit here. It's much better than Dan does it.

Is Loveland now a part of the top-tier tight ends or do you wait on him a little?

He's literally like— I'm trying to take him in 2 picks.

Will you shut up?

When's it my pick too? I want— I really want Matthew Berry.

You're up right before me. You're coming up in 1 pick.

Well, I will tell you, to answer your direct question here, Dave Damashek, is that yes. I mean, I have Colson Loveland at tight end 3. Uh, he was actually my runner-up for ride or die. Uh, and, and just looking at the position overall, and then I'll get back to Loveland. Verrett Cook, I want to be one of the first guys in my league to draft a tight end or one of the last. I think there's a tier there with those 3— Bowers, McBride, and, uh, Loveland— in that order. I have Tyler Warren at 4. I have Tucker Craft at 5. If I don't get one of those 5 guys, I want to wait because the difference between like tight end 6, who's like Sam LaPorta—

I was just going to say, I would assume that's who it is, right?

Yeah. Yeah, Pitts, Harold Fannon. Like, I think all those guys are fairly similar to— like, I'd much rather have Isaiah Likely in round 10 or 11. Uh, I think he's gonna have a big year. I think Kittle's gonna have a very big year, actually. I think Kittle's gonna— um, his, his price has been depressed because of the injury, but I think he's actually gonna come back strong. And I think the injury concerns are baked into the prices going like in the 9th, 10th round. So I would, if I don't get one of the top 5 guys, I want to wait and be one of the last guys. I like Juwan Johnson quite a bit in New Orleans this year as he's going to be the number 2 pass catcher. Specifically to Loveland though, like if you look at his average depth of target last year over the final 8 games where he was getting like 7 targets a game, he's averaging almost 100 yards a game. Like, and you know, his average depth of target, it's not like this line of scrimmage stuff where a lot of tight ends operate like they're throwing it deep to him.

This is a guy that was the first draft pick ever of Ben Johnson when he took over for the Bears. No DJ Moore. Luther Burden's a little bit banged up. Kyle Minonga's a little banged up. DeAndre Swift left practice early yesterday. It's just cramps. He's going to be fine. But still, I think Cole's— I think I'm all in on the Bears offense overall this year. I'm a big believer in Ben Johnson and I think Loveland is going to be the center of that offense.

Do you advocate for drafting an entire offense's skill guys? I think that that works. I know there's a fair amount of pushback on the idea of stacking even just a quarterback and his top pass catcher is that that is a mirage that you are seduced by. I continue to be seduced by it. How say you?

No. Yeah, I mean, I like it. It's not something that I'm actively trying to do unless you're like in a best ball where, where stacking is important and you're trying to optimize for, for points and you're, you're in a large tournament. But generally speaking, I don't mind the strategy because to your point, Dave, basically, look, when you're, when you're drafting a fantasy football team, you're basically trying to predict the future. That's what I do for a living. That's what we're all trying to do. And if you basically say like, I'm in on the Bears this year and I'm going to try to get— I'm going to try to get one of Odunze and Burton. I'm going to try to get Swift, Williams, Loveland, you know, 2 or 3 of those pieces. Basically, you've just narrowed down your choices, right? You basically have to get one thing right. The Bears are going to be good, right? And if the Bears are going to be good and that offense is going to be good, then generally speaking, most of the skilled players that you have around on that team are going to be good. So it's lessening the amount of decision-making you have to do.

You basically have to just get one thing right as opposed to multiple things right. I mean, you know, if you further down, like, you have to guess right on the right players, but I think that's the—

Right, the specifics matter here. If you take the entire Cowboys offense and they bust out, so too will your fantasy team. What is the, um, best you can, let's cobble together the all-time Syracuse fantasy roster. I assume the only option you really have is Donovan McNabb, right? A QB.

I would think so, yeah.

Is there any other Syracuse QB who mattered in the NFL?

Not in the NFL. Not in the NFL. I mean, we'll see what Kamakord does. Your best runner—

who's your best fantasy runner? I guess you can go Jim Brown.

Yeah, he was pretty good.

He was pretty good.

Yeah, Jim Brown was not bad. Jim Brown was not bad.

Um, Joe Morris was good.

Yep. I have to, I have to think about this. Like, I, I mostly think of, you know, I mean, like, when I think of, there weren't a lot of like, yeah, we had—

My Pitt, my Pitt fantasy team would obliterate the Cuses.

Yeah. No, Syracuse has not had great, Syracuse has not had great success in the pros. Marvin Harrison.

Marvin Harrison.

Yeah. I mean, Marvin Harrison.

Okay.

Yeah.

Kevin Johnson.

Marvin Harrison, a wide receiver.

Who? Kevin Johnson on the outside.

Oh, Kevin Johnson.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dwight Freeman. But it's still not, still not great. There's not a tight end that we've had. Yeah, I mean, like, um, you know, we had, uh, uh, we had, uh, uh, why am I blanking on the fullback's name? Rob Johnston, who is— who we had a, we had a good fullback. Um, Rob Conrad got lost. Yeah, that's right, got lost at sea, swam all the way back.

Rob Conrad.

What about versus the U?

Conrad.

You know what, hot take, Pitts.

No, don't even try it, pal.

In fantasy?

Don't even try it.

Advancing to the end? Okay, Dan Marino.

LeSean McCoy.

All right, I'll take him, Ward.

Okay, I'll have—

I'll take Larry Fitzgerald. Larry Fitzgerald's capable.

How about I go Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, and Shady McCoy?

Yeah, and you got Mark Maye opening them up.

Larry Fitzgerald. Mark Maye isn't a factor here. But I have Larry Fitzgerald.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Ditka, pick your running back.

Yeah, I mean, it's— yeah, I mean, I, I'm not going to sit here and try to defend Syracuse's performance in the, in the pros. We're a better fantasy basketball team. We've got a pretty sick fantasy basketball team, you know, starting with Melo, of course. But, um, yeah, not a good, uh, not a good fantasy.

Derrick Coleman, who's the all-time fantasy point guard? Is it Shurm? Pearl Washington didn't do much.

Pearl Washington's pretty good.

There's a lot of people that'll still go McNamara. Yeah.

Oh, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, not in the pros, but yeah, I mean, whether Pearl or Sherman.

Let's try this by division here a little bit, Matthew Berry. I was about to ask you, because I'm a Steelers fan— I don't know if I've ever mentioned I'm born and raised in Pittsburgh. I think it's come up once or twice on the show. But either way, I would ask you what Steelers you might want to have. I assume Aaron Rodgers is not the answer to that question, but let's go entire AFC North. Let's fill out the ultimate, the ideal roster from just the AFC North. Which QB do you want, Burrow or Lamar?

I have Lamar at 2 and Burrow at 5. So they're both right there. Although Joe Burrow is a proud Fantasy Life investor, so I don't wanna get in trouble there. But I do have Lamar at 2 and I have Burrow at 5.

I'd like to see Matthew Berry with Joe Burrow's hairdo. It'd be nice on you.

Breaking news from the WNBA. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has decided to retire. Retire at the end of the season. That is what they're calling it.

That's what she decided to retire, huh?

Yeah, well, you know, she's going out on top.

We're doing it.

Yeah, I want to hear passes.

Interesting, by the way, my Kathy Engelbert did not make, uh, Mike Ryan's top 25.

Just outside. I'll tell you that.

Others receiving votes. You really— right, Mike, you really should have had others receiving votes along with his daughter too. No.

Yeah, no, no family on this list.

Dan Le Batard. Hey, uh, Demacek, you know about that Jadakiss?

Dave Demacek.

No, I don't.

Okay, I figured.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

I don't need to be 3, and if I would have been 25, I've I would have been thrilled. So to be ahead of Kevin Clark, it might be controversial, whatever. I'll just take the win of being on the top 25. I'm surprised you guys who didn't make the list aren't more offended. I would be destroyed if I were sitting here.

What were my expectations, Steve Dangle?

When you have Unda 25, I just know I'm not making that list.

I know how Mike Ryan feels about me.

I think Mike Ryan might be going to hell because he doesn't have the decency to put you on the list when you're in the room with him.

No, that's— I'm a real one.

I actually appreciate it.

I'll be honest with you, I don't think— I think he put together the list very quickly and did no research whatsoever.

Matthew Barry, you shut the fuck up, dog. This is my list, all right? You don't know my list better than me. Are you that much of an egomaniac? I don't think you did the work. No, Matthew Barry, shove it, dog. I don't think you did the work.

I think you're— you know what, Mike Ryan, I think you're doing a hot take thing here. I don't think you did the work.

Yeah, no, I didn't do the work on my list.

I don't think you looked at the data.

I'm with you. You don't know Zabo.

I'm with Barry.

You don't know Zabo. His name is Wayne. We call him Zabo. And every time he comes up to a group, he goes, hey, how are ya? And I love that about him.

No.

Love it about him.

Absolutely not. Nah, you just— they just— you got called for a last-minute segment. We need a hot take, Mike Ryan. And you're like, all right, let me throw something together. That's what happened right there. That's what happened right there. There's no thought went into that. You can't defend it.

Billy Lucci is a—

It's all right, it's all right. We've all, we've all half-assed segments in our lives, you know, and just own up to this.

You know what, you, Matthew Berry.

Holy shit, Matthew Berry. Whoa, you ACC, you stupid ass. What the hell?

Wow, what happened?

Where are we gonna go from here?

Is the— here's a question for you. Is the, uh, is the top 20— is it the top 25 people that you like the most, or is it just the top 25 people that'll actually talk to you? Is that what it is? He is cooking right now.

Let me give you a list of people I'm gonna beat the ever-living shit out of the next time I see them in person. Number 1, Matthew Berry.

You know, Matthew Berry will be joining us every week for his fantasy advice. Maybe one week we can get his top 25 people.

You know, Matthew Berry, you know what else is noteworthy?

Guess who just took a shit where he eats? Matthew Berry.

You know what?

Matthew Berry is on my list also. 2 first names.

There you go.

Oh, whoa, it just happened! Matthew Berry, this is gonna be a long season if we don't fix this right now, and there's only one way you can fix it. Give me a deep sleeper, like the deepest, nastiest— the deepest, nastiest B-side you can think of. Give me the hipster's pick. Give me a guy that might be on the practice squad right now that you're expecting big things out of. I want your nastiest sleeper.

Okay.

I don't know that this guy's gonna be on the practice squad 'cause he's gonna be on the 53 and he's gonna be on the field. But he is somebody that's going outside the top 100 picks that I love a lot. And I have a ton of 'em. And that's Jonah Coleman, rookie running back for the Denver Broncos. Look, we love J.K. Dobbins, but he has never played all 17 games throughout his NFL career. The Broncos got a look at RJ Harvey as the lead running back last year and they were like, we're gonna draft Jonah Coleman. Jonah Coleman can play all 3 downs. I believe he's the best running back on that team. Sean Payton likes to use multiple running backs, so he's going to get a shot early where they can see what he can do. And my expectation here is over the second half of the year, Jonah Coleman is the lead running back of the Denver Broncos. I think he's the best guy in that room, and I think they're going to realize that. And I think he takes over this job over the second half of the season.

Play that breaking news thing. Go ahead, Chris Cody.

Cyrus Allen, talk to me.

That's not the breaking news. I didn't—

who said I had breaking news?

I thought you were about to tee me up that Matthew Berry is going to help me make my pick because it's time for the Cool Cats spelled with 2 Ks to pick. Let's have some bad chemistry.

Without any level of communication.

Some bad chemistry. That shit would never happen to me and Eagle Eye.

Did you tell me that with your eyes?

That's why I don't know.

You were flagging me as though you had something.

I was going next.

I want to know about Cyrus Allen.

Talk to me, Matthew Berry. Oh, look, Cyrus Allen, I really like— I really like the tape from college. The question is, how much can he get onto the playing field, right? So you've Xavier Worthy is somebody that I'm hearing a lot of buzz about out of Kansas City. You know, that he's gotten stronger. Remember, this is a guy that we were drafting in the first 4 rounds last year, gets the friendly fire with Travis Kelce, hurts his shoulder, spends the rest of the year running, you know, a very limited route tree to try to protect him. We're still wondering about Rashee Rice and what his usage is going to be. How healthy is he? So the question with Cyrus Allen, like the talent a lot. But if you think back, like, I feel like every single year there is a buzzy late-round Chiefs rookie at a camp. Think about Skyy Moore. Think about Denerrick— Oh, Skyy Moore. Think about Mecole Hardman. Like, I mean, I just, every year there's—

Mecole Hardman.

So I mean, I think Cyrus Allen is better than those guys, but do I think he has an immediate impact? I am not sure. I don't mind him as a late-round flyer. Absolutely not. But yeah, it's just, they got a lot of mouths to feed. And I just think with the Chiefs, they went out, they paid a lot of money for Ken Walker. They're gonna have a good defense. I think they want to be more run-heavy this year. I mean, you don't, You don't pay that kind of money to Ken Walker to just, you know, have him pass pro and Mahomes throw it 35 times a game. Like, I think they're gonna be a more balanced offense.

All right, listen—

Their defense is good. They're not gonna be in shootouts anymore.

Right, which means that they'll probably lean on Ken Walker a little bit more than they might have in past seasons. But now that I really do want to get Matthew Berry's counsel here, but all right, let's talk about Ken Walker quickly because a lot of people are buzzing about him. Where is he for you? How much more does he elevate in that Chiefs offense over what we've seen from him with the Seahawks?

Absolutely love him this year. Another finalist for my ride-or-die. I'm at running back 6 this year, much higher than consensus. I have him over Saquon Barkley, over De'Von Achane. Just when he has gotten at least 18 touches a game, he's averaging over 18 fantasy points per game throughout his career. All the reports out of the Chiefs camp is that they're going to use him in the passing game. That's something that he hasn't really done throughout his career except for the one year with Ryan Grubb. In Seattle, but he is a good pass catcher. He has that big breakaway speed. So, you know, the Chiefs have always been one of the higher-scoring offenses. They're always, you know, since Andy Reid got there in the Mahomes era, they're always one of the league leaders in terms of red zone, red zone trips, in terms of red zone rush attempts as well. So they always, they always, they're always in scoring position often. They get, they get a lot of opportunities. So I think Ken Walker just has a monster year. There's no real competition. in that backfield, he's gonna be, you know, the lead running back on an extremely good offense.

Dave, make your pick.

I mean, think about Andy Reid, right? Andy Reid, Andy Reid made Charcendrick West a thing. He made Spencer Ware a thing. Like, Ken Walker's gonna have a monster season here.

That's right. Quickly, because we have important business to tend to, Patrick Mahomes, draftable even outside your 15?

I'm at QB 14. I think a lot of people forget that 25% of his fantasy points last year came from his legs. He runs more than he gets credit for. How much does he run this year off of the injury? And again, the fact that they now have Ken Walker. So high-end QB2 for me this year.

Okay. All right, here it is. Let's do it. The all-time phone a friend. I feel like this is special. I bet you're summoned to do this quite a bit, right?

I can't make your pick for you.

That's horseshit.

What?

I said I'm going to seek his counsel. I'm going to push the button. I'm just asking him what he thinks. Matthew Berry.

Yes, sir.

The all-time whiz of fantasy football. It is now time for My Cool Kats, spelled with 2 Ks, to make their 3rd-round pick. We're adding on to Jonathan Taylor, who I claimed with the 8th overall pick. I feel like a relative steal to get him at 8. And then I came back with Nico Collins. So I have the running back. I have my first receiver. Now on the board with my 3rd pick, Garrett Wilson, Malik Nabers, Ted McMillan, Zay Flowers, Egbuka.

Skipped right over Etienne.

McConkey. I'm just giving him the receivers first, then the runners available. Breece Hall, Javonte Williams, Travis Achane. I believe that is the update now. Yeah, it's now Travis Achane.

Shut your mouth!

Or Loveland.

Matthew, do not say Loveland.

Matthew.

Or Judkins.

If it was me— Matthew, shh.

Matthew!

He's asking my counsel. I, I have a lot of Colston Loveland this year. Where are you picking in that? Where are you picking, uh, Dave?

I am picking—

What pick are you?

I am pick number 30.

What is it?

What am I?

He's the 8th pick out of 12 teams. It's the 32nd overall pick.

OK. I think that's right. So you're gonna, you're gonna pick again in like like 6 to 8 picks again.

Yeah.

Um, if it were me, I would go— I would either go Loveland or Breece Hall.

I think Loveland's there.

There's gonna be a lot of good wide receivers.

I think Loveland's there on the way back.

Is he?

He took Loveland.

You motherfucker.

Matthew, great advice.

That was great. That was really nice of Matthew Berry to help me out.

I got a problem with 2 of them.

And then, and then Dan, coming back around, I would—

I—

Dave, sorry, Dave, when coming back around, If one of those 3 running backs is there, I would take one of those 3 running backs that you mentioned. Otherwise, Zay Flowers and Ladd McConkey are my favorites of the wide receivers you mentioned.

Well, speaking of Zay Flowers, that's what I was going to ask you as we return to the AFC North conversation. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins or DK Metcalf and Zay Flowers? This should be fairly easy, right? You're going orange and black.

Give me Zay Flowers. Give me Zay Flowers. Dave, give me 1 second to tell— I was supposed to do SiriusXM. 3 minutes ago.

Oh, no. We'll let you go.

Hang on.

Get him out of here.

Hang on.

No, no, I'll just do this right away.

Oh, please stay.

Hey, can you guys push me to the next segment real quick? I'm still on with Dan Le Batard.

No, no, no. Name check me, please.

Please. All right. Thanks. All right. It literally doesn't hold the same weight.

There you go.

There you go.

That is a power move right there.

All right.

Matthew Barrymore. That goes up the charts just a little bit.

That was pretty cool.

Just a little bit.

Trying to get into other receiving votes for Mike Ryan.

You got—

that's a tough row to hoe for you, pal.

I understand. I understand. That's all right. I got a whole season to work on.

All right. Yes, you'll be counseling everybody on the Le Batard Show and beyond for the whole season here. But DK Metcalf, how say you? Oh, Christ.

No, thank you. DK Metcalf made my hate list this year. And again, hate is always such a strong word. But so I don't hate the player. I always just hate the ADP. And the problem with DK Metcalf is that he plays with a quarterback who had the lowest average depth of target last year. DK Metcalf works best as a red zone threat and as, you know, going deep, winning 50-50 balls. And Aaron Rodgers is throwing— you know, at this stage of his career, Aaron Rodgers has become kind of a dink and dunker. You know, throughout the— you know, he's somebody that throws closer to the line of scrimmage. And you look at the numbers last year from, from DK Metcalf. Now, now you've added target competition with Michael Pittman. I really like Jeremy Bernard, the rookie out of Alabama. Roll Tide. You know, you've got, you've got 2 running backs that are going to touch the ball. You've got a bunch of tight ends. I think the Steelers are going to be a good football team this year. But I think fantasy-wise, other than the running backs as sort of flexes and going back to our kicker conversation, I like, I do like Chris Boswell.

Right.

I don't think there's a lot of fantasy success to be had in Pittsburgh because I just, I don't think Pittman's going to be a big touchdown scorer. I don't think Metcalf is either. I think they're going to sort of divide the targets. And even though Mike McCarthy will be more pass-heavy than the offense was under, you know, Tomlin and his staff, it doesn't feel like it's going to be a high-scoring offense because I don't think it's going to need to be. I think the Steelers are going to be— it's going to be typical Pittsburgh football, right? You know, they're They're going to play good defense. They're going to play ball control, conservative offense, and grind out a lot of wins. I just don't know that there's a lot of fantasy value on that team.

I guess the fantasy value is in the defense. I do think if one of those 2 running backs emerges and the guy at the back end of tight ends, Pat Freiermuth, I think it swings hard back in his direction.

All right, we've reached the Freiermuth portion of this. We can let him go.

All right, I'm saying goodbye to him. I'm having a conversation with my friend Matthew Berry. Who— it's murky, right? Who ranks ahead of whom?

I'm sure of it.

Matthew Berry, you're going to be here all season long. Very exciting stuff. Founder of fantasylife.com. Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry, NBC Sports and Peacock. Good catching up, pally. Good luck to you in fantasy. I guess you don't need it.

I appreciate it. Thanks so much. Good luck with Crossing the Level.

Matthew Berry!

It's a banger of a song, even though he's a real son of a bitch.

Dave, you were complaining about Labor Day earlier. Yeah. And I know, like, the workforce, you know, we get mad about it sometimes. But I will say there was something really cool that I saw earlier this week where the Colts social media intern was doing a video and just kind of doing her job, trying to Trying to, you know, film one of the players. I guess they were handing out like different, you know, thoughts about the year. And then you can see in this video that we're about to play, but that one of the players, I believe it's Tyler Warren, ends up handing her a piece of paper. If you guys can roll this video, you could see that Tyler Warren hands a piece of paper and she looks at it and you ultimately realize you see a shocked, shocked look on her face. And you could see from this camera angle, it says, congrats on being a full-time employee.

That's cool.

So they have this super cool moment that they can post to social where they're filming her, she's filming it, and I always think it's great when you can make someone feel like the hard work that they put in has paid off. Um, so if you're a fan of Mystery Crate, you know you can apply to be Chris Cody's intern.

Yeah, I'm starting my intern brochure.

And maybe Chris Cody will one day hand one of those pieces of paper to you, right, Chris? You can hire them full-time?

That's right. You know, we might make Jeremy full-time eventually too.

Yeah, maybe one day. Maybe one day I'll also get that piece of paper.

No piece of paper for you.

Folks, that, that's worth a toast. Worth a Toast is presented by Cuervo. Keep it fun. Keep it Cuervo.