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2021 Dynasty/Fantasy Preseason Wk3 Game Analysis: Dolphins 29, Bengals 26

We got to see Joe Burrow for the first time in a game in the preseason here…while the great Tua Tagovailoa got to sit – remember when about half the analysts made the case on how much better a prospect Tua was over Burrow a year ago? Oh, that was so less than a year ago…that’s ancient history.

We got to see some Bengals 1st-teamers here…facing more Miami backups and future-to-be-cut guys. We got to see some interesting young players here on both sides, and I have a tease for a newfound deep sleeper star in the making. Emphasis on tease…

Dynasty/Fantasy Player Notes…

 -- So, how did Joe Burrow (0-1 for 0 yards) look?

Well, we got to see all of three (and out) plays and two of them handoffs, so it’s hard to say. His one pass was just a quick tunnel screen. We end the preseason not having seen Burrow in the pocket and reacting to things muddy around him. If he has some kind of ‘yips’ coming off his major injury…we won’t really know until the regular season.

I’m inclined to think Burrow is fine, but that’s just speculation. We tend to over-worry about injuries the past 2-3+ years…and then these guys come back fine, sometimes better than ever. If Burrow has been cleared by the medical team, and he was a long time ago…I’ll go with that. I’ll assume Burrow will snap into focus when the real games start. All just assumptions right now.

What’s funny to me is…it’s possible Joe Burrow is the best QB prospect from the 2020 or 2021 class, it’s just Justin Herbert go to roll all year and we lost Burrow too soon in 2020. But a year later, Burrow is like some random OK QB now…barely mentioned glowingly. Burrow is definitely better than any QB prospect in 2021, but I bet people are more geeked about Lance-Fields-Lawrence for FF than Burrow, today. Gimme Burrow.

I’d trade my mid-round Dynasty pick in the 1st-round, like pick #5/6-12 to a team to get Burrow and let them take whatever rookie QB (or anything else they wanted)…especially if you play in a 6pts per pass TD league and/or with bonuses for performance.

Burrow, from the best I can tell, was moving around fine on the limited movement he did in this game (rolling out after the handoff, etc).

Burrow is an interesting ‘buy low’ right now and a great 2nd QB to grab before others take their 1st QB…if you’re in a QB-friendly scoring system.

 -- Burrow threw one pass…and it was dropped…by ‘you know who’ – the great Ja’Marr Chase (0-0-0/1). I believe Chase has dropped all but one of his targets this preseason.

May I remind you – Chase was the best/highest graded WR in eons for many analysts. I never understood what they were seeing in his work to say that. I’ve been doing this long enough to know – they didn’t see anything, they just run with whatever they ‘hear’ from consensus and saw on a 2-minute highlight reel. It’s the problem with ‘analysts’ (who do almost no work, nor have any trained eye to see it)…and it’s the problem with the whole society – unstudied, unaware, followers of the crowd. Followers of ‘you know what THEY say...(on ESPN, NFL Network, etc)’.

People who do this (football analysis) for living are supposed to be the front line doing the lengthy, tedious, dirty work to give to their audience or clients or whatever the quick summary of the situation, so that the busy executives/people can take the research/analysis and make informed decisions.

NFL scouts are garbage, and they feed that garbage to the GM…who doesn’t have time to study all the players. Football analysts are supposed to do the same for Fantasy GMs…we work for you. We’re supposed to give you the ‘skinny’ – and instead you get 100% lock step agreement on Ja’Marr Chase…and Tua Tagovailoa. Those aren’t minor misses…those are massive misses, and it’s just not those two…it’s about every top prospect at their position every year. How can people be so bad at their jobs and still stay employed/worshipped?

…that can be said about football analysts and Ja’Marr Chase.

There exists a wide receiver who played in this game, who is a virtual unknown who is a better prospect than Ja’Marr Chase. I’m not joking. Who is it? That’s the tease. Going to discuss in a Subscriber Extra Note – it’s too hot for the general public. Look for that note later today/tomorrow.

 -- Each week of the preseason, I’ve started to wonder if I underestimated RB Chris Evans’s (3-10-0, 1-29-1/2) skillset translating to the NFL. I think I was wrong (it happens to even the best scouts :)…he’s not irrelevant C-D grade back, he’s more a C with possible B hopes…but more a solid ‘C’.

It’s also more evidence that the #1 destroyer of young football talent in America is football multi-millionaire Jim Harbaugh, coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan’s representation in the NFL Draft the past few years has been a joke, by and large…especially in offensive weapons.

If my son was an ace football recruit, on offense, especially a QB, Michigan (if Harbaugh is there) might be the last of the top 50-75 D1 programs that I would send him to. Ditto if he were an RB-WR-TE.

 -- Preston Williams (0-0-0/2) made his debut in this game and looked fine coming off his injury/surgery in the offseason. Still, he also looks like he doesn’t matter to the team…or mattered to the 3rd-string QB (Stinnett). This once bright outlook rookie, a UDFA-to-Week-1 starter as a rookie, the best WR Miami had in 2019…his NFL career seems to be closer to ending than thriving.

Sad. But Brian Flores is a challenger to Jim Harbaugh for that destroyer of football talent title. Actually, Flores isn’t destroying talent…he just can’t see talent at all. His mind sees things opposite of reality – thus you get Gaskins-Tua-Waddle-Fuller etc.

They want to try and trade for Deshaun Watson to distract you from seeing the collapse.

Earlier…did you think I might be teasing Preston Williams as the better WRs than J. Chase? The plot thickens…

 -- Rookie RB Gerrid Doaks (16-56-2, 0-0-0/1) had a fine game here, perfectly solid. He’s like a thousand other competent RBs…which means Flores will cut him and try to put him on the practice squad, and he’ll be forgotten over time. It’s a shame, I think he’s one of the better, most well-rounded RBs from the 2021 NFL Draft – not a star, just very useful/solid like a Jamaal Williams type.

 -- I saw some Hunter Long (1-8-0/2) action in this game.

My analysis of my first look at him in the NFL If he played in other games, I didn’t notice), my opinion as a scout: Ummm, no. No thank you.

Very slow and uninspiring.

 -- Let’s end on a kicker…

Cincy rookie kicker Evan McPherson (1/1 FG, 4/4 XPs) has had a perfect preseason and blasted a 57-yard FG before halftime here…that had 65+ yards potential. He’s a very good-looking kicker. The top kicker selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.