Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley didnāt reach a long-term deal
Star NFL RBs tweeted through it
NFC East 2023 Betting Breakdown
Ianās favorite last-round fantasy picks
Itās 7/18. Take it away, Ian Hartitzā¦
Monday was franchise tag day and another rather massive L for the RB position.
Each of Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley hoped to get a long-term deal done, but none wound up inking an extension with their respective employers.
Good news for Cowboys fans and fantasy faithful: Pollard already signed his franchise tag and is fully expected to work as the offenseās undisputed No. 1 RB in 2023.
Bad news for Raiders and Giants nation: Jacobs and Barkley have yet to sign their tags, meaning they can skip training camp without getting fined since they are not under contract.
This effectively leaves Jacobs and Barkley with two choices:
Accept the franchise tag and play football this season for $10.1 million.
Hold out for the entire season and make zero dollars.
Assuming Jacobs and Barkley report to the Raiders and Giants before Week 1: They should work as their usual workhorse selves in 2023.
Three of the only four RBs to actually play under the franchise tag without a long-term deal wound up getting force-fed the football (via Over The Cap):
The utter lack of additional offseason moves at the position makes it hard to believe Josh McDaniels and company have any intention other than force-feeding the reigning first-team All-Pro again in 2023.
Similarly, Barkleyās bounce-back 2022 campaign flashed the sort of explosive big-play ability that had been lacking during his injury-riddled 2020 and 2021 seasons. While Barkleyās efficiency numbers and pass-game production werenāt on the same level as the first two seasons of his career, the reigning PPR RB5 on both an overall and per-game basis is still firmly inside any discussion surrounding the gameās best fantasy ā and real-life ā options at the position.
Ultimately, Jacobs and Barkley were already enticing Round 2 and 3 options considering just how far the gameās top RBs are falling down fantasy draft boards this season ā now they might just shape up as (wait for it) league-winning caliber assets should their ADP fall even further into Round 4 alongside guys like Najee Harris and Travis Etienne.
Thereās at least some level of risk with either RB choosing to stick to their guns and not give in; just realize money talks, and neither Jacobs nor Barkley seems to have the sort of long-term leverage to leave $10.1 million on the table.
Overall fantasy football summary and what to do moving forward: Buy the dip.
The NFL season is quickly approaching and the futures betting market is heating up. To keep us in the loop, Matt McCuen has already broken down betting angles for every division, starting with the star-studded NFC Eastā¦
The NFC East has been one of the most competitive divisions in football over the last decade. And we should expect nothing different this year as three of the four teams in the East made the playoffs a season ago.
With most of the divisionās teams looking like solid bets to make the playoffs, letās dig into each squad to find the right bets to make for the ā23 season.
It should be no surprise that the Eagles enter the season as the favorites in the NFC East. Philadelphia was the best regular season team a season ago, and they will attempt to defend their NFC Championship.
The Eagles knew that they would have some turnover on their roster this offseason with multiple contracts expiring. However, GM Howie Roseman may have had the best offseason of any GM as he was able to retain both of the Eagles' starting cornerbacks and multiple starters on the defensive line.
As if that was not enough, Philadelphia landed one of the draftās best prospects in the form of Jalen Carter, who fell in the first round due to off-field issues, though most are looking at how the offense will perform after a strong Super Bowl run last year.
Jalen Hurts will attempt to continue his success after inking one of the largest contracts in NFL history, as heāll get back a similar roster on the offensive side of the football with a few new faces.
On top of this, new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson will have an opportunity to work with some special talent to see how the Eagles stack up this year.
š° Pick: Philadelphia Eagles to win NFC East (-110, BetMGM)
The Eagles will look to repeat and win back-to-back NFC East championships for the first time since 2003-2004. Somehow, the division hasnāt had a repeat champion ever since.
Surprisingly, they somehow have a better roster entering the 2023 season than the one they had last year. Hurts has another year in the NFL under his belt and should be in the MVP conversation all year long for the second-consecutive season.
On top of this, Philly was able to retain multiple key players on defense, most notably Darius Slay and James Bradberry.
This was the number two defense in football a season ago and if they can perform at a similar level this year, this will be an extremely difficult team to beat.
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Itās pretty difficult to feel overly confident about the players going in the final round, considering just how barren the pickings are at that point ā but that doesnāt mean we canāt try to find some value outside of the top-200 picks.
What follows are Ianās favorite last-round darts heās made a habit of throwing after completing 100-plus drafts over at Underdog Fantasy. As always: Itās a great day to be great.
In case you havenāt been watching much Titans football over the past four seasons: Tanne is good.
EPA per dropback: +0.12 (No. 9 among 39 qualified QB since 2019)
Passer rating: 100.5 (No. 6)
Yards per attempt: 7.9 (No. 4)
Adjusted yards per attempt: 8.09 (No. 6)
Completion rate: 66.9% (No. 10)
TD/INT ratio: 2.7 (No. 10)
This passing efficiency and ability to rack up rushing scores (20 since 2019 ā more than Lamar Jackson!) has helped Tannehill post QB9, QB9, QB14 and QB22 finishes in fantasy points per game during the span. The latter number did occur in 2022, although the veteran deserves some slack for playing with one of the leagueās worst WR rooms and dealing with ankle injuries throughout the season.
That specific issue received a recent boost with the signing of former Texans and Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins, although thereās newfound uncertainty surrounding Tannehillās stranglehold on the starting job after the team used the 33rd overall pick on Kentucky QB Will Levis.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said in March āOf courseā we expect Tannehill to be our QB in 2023 and added that heās the first man on the depth chart after the draft.
Only Patrick Mahomes ($39.6 million) has a higher 2023 cap hit than Tannehill ($36.6 million).
Maybe things get dicey if Tannehill and company simply fall apart and fall out of playoff contention sooner rather than later, but this is a team that managed to go to overtime in Arrowhead with Willis under center and held a late fourth-quarter lead in a must-win Week 18 against the Jaguars with Joshua Dobbs under center.
Does Mike Vrabel really seem like the kind of coach happy to phone in the season and tank? I sure donāt think so ā Tannehill is pretty much the only QB available outside of the top-170 picks who has any sort of track record of high-end fantasy success.
Donāt be afraid to add him as your QB2 or QB3, especially on squads that already managed to add Hopkins, WR Treylon Burks and/or TE Chigoziem Okonkwo.
The only worthwhile TE handcuff in all of fantasy football, Likely showed what he is capable of achieving in his only three games with a snap rate north of 50%:
Of course, the presence of Mark Andrews limited Likelyās weekly role and made him a non-viable fantasy asset for the rest of the season.
Fun fact: Itās impossible for players to score fantasy points if they arenāt on the field.
Still, Likely profiles as one of, if not the only, player available outside of the top-200 picks certifiably one injury away from working as a potential weekly top-six option at their position. Drafting players purely because of contingency value isnāt ideal, but itās more okay when using literally the last pick of your entire draft.
The plethora of WR additions in this offense has many envisioning new offensive coordinator Todd Monken centering his passing game around them, although the Georgia Bulldogs did make a habit of featuring both Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington under his tutelage.
Look ā you arenāt drafting Likely to be your No. 1 TE anyway, so why not sign up for a lottery ticket?
Guys like Jake Ferguson, Michael Mayer, Jelani Woods and Noah Fant are each probably multiple injuries away from even beginning to sniff the positionās top-12 options ā let alone from being someone who needs to be in your starting lineup like Likely.
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