Notes: ESPN analysts think Jamaal Williams is a great fantasy sleeper

ESPN’s Field Yates, Matthew Berry, Stephania Bell, and Daniel Dopp co-host a podcast called Fantasy Focus Football, and their episode on Thursday was “Double Trouble” analysis of the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. The Lions segment begins at the 40:30 mark in the full online episode, which can be accessed on Spotify and other places.

The discussion begins with about three minutes of the in-studio joking around tweeted above about wearing Lions jerseys while they discuss the team, and then a few minutes of stories about T.J. Hockenson. The real fantasy analysis begins at around the 45-minute mark. Field Yates and Matthew Berry both believe Hockenson is near the top of the interesting players for the Lions, and Berry thinks there’s a chance the passing game for the Lions flows through Hockenson and can drive up his fantasy production.

Everybody knows Hockenson is interesting for fantasy, but a player they touch on that may not have made many peoples’ radar is Pride of Detroit favorite Jamaal Williams. The hosts quickly blow past Jared Goff as not too desirable in fantasy this year, and then talk about how D’Andre Swift should be “the guy” in the Detroit rushing game, but consider how much a two-back system will hurt Swift’s fantasy value. The hosts believe Swift’s talent is great, but that opportunities may be merely okay if the team is playing from behind a lot. That running game discussion flows into this:

Both Yates and Berry believe Williams is a great value pick in fantasy. While neither thinks Williams will have a bell cow role in Detroit, Yates goes on to say that “(Williams) has a legitimate flex ability in a deeper league, and obviously, if anything were to happen to Swift, (Williams) would be a top-12 running back.” Stephania agrees and says she “really loves” Jamaal Williams. The entire crew thinks he’s a great value pick for where he can be drafted.

The Lions fantasy discussion closes out with a discussion of what to make of the wide receivers. Each of the receivers (Breshad Perriman, Tyrell Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown) has an advocate, so there’s no clear choice on who will be the best fantasy value in that pass catching corps. Again, the entire episode can be found online from both Apple and Spotify, so check it out.

Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Justin Rogers from the Detroit News wrote about quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell’s comments regarding Jared Goff’s leadership and intangible qualities.

• In case you were wondering:

• The Athletic’s Chris Burke tweeted five observations from the week’s final practice on Thursday. Really cool tidbits about defensive backups, and positives about Tyrell Williams and Kalif Raymond.

• Bask in the awesomeness of the Detroit Lions’ wide receivers coach:

• Pro Football Focus’ Conor McQuiston would like everyone to remember that preseason performance by rookie quarterbacks has very little predictive value in figuring out how they will play in games that count. While his data are just for rookies and not veterans, it’s something to keep in mind.

• What.