Fantasy Football Today - BONUS: Antonio Brown is Released (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 20, 2019

The Patriots released Antonio Brown. Is he worth rostering in a redraft league? How about a keeper league? And now what is the value of the rest of the Pats? Brady, Edelman, Gordon, Dorsett, Michel, White and Burkhead are all discussed. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bonus podcast here for Fantasy Football today. We'll get right to it. Antonio Brown released by the New England Patriots after one game with eight targets and 56 yards and a touchdown on four catches. Yeah, he had eight targets in one game. Josh Gordon had nine targets so far in two games. Welcome to Fantasy Football today. So, Jamie, how you doing? Wonderful. How are you? Ready to go home and start your weekend? No, no. There's no weekends in football season. I guess not. Yeah, Antonio Brown, we are reacting to it.

And we're not going to make light of the situation. It was obviously very serious. And I guess my first question is, is he worth rostering still in fantasy leagues? Not in seasonal leagues. I can't imagine the team is going to sign him. Our colleague, Pete Prisco, said that he spoke to several general managers before Brown was signed by the Patriots after the release from the Raiders. And they said there was no chance that they would touch him. And he was surprised that anybody would. So, you know, under the circumstances now that we have this looming

investigation from the NFL, I can't imagine that he's going to be signed. He went from a situation where he was going to make $30 million from the Raiders to $15 million from the Patriots to now nothing. It's an unbelievable success. It's been crazy. It really has been crazy. And if you just look at it from a fantasy standpoint, and just two things real quick. One, we already recorded the mailbag with Ben.

So if you hear that show, there's no Antonio Brown talk because we didn't know about it at the time. Two, when I ask, you know, is he worth rostering? I'm leaving all of your moral decisions and whether or not you want to roster a guy like Antonio Brown based on the allegations. No proof, but allegations. So I'm leaving that out of this equation. I understand what you're saying, but allegations. So I'm leaving that out of this equation. Just fantasy. I understand what you're saying, but I just don't see him being signed. I agree.

I agree. I just wanted to say, I didn't want anybody to be like, how could you even ask a question like that? He's not worth rostering. I'm going to let individuals. It's a fantasy show. I think our audience is smart enough to understand why you're asking that question. I think most of them are, yeah.

And look, take it a step further because keeper leagues, dynasty leagues, those are the decisions you have to make. It's the same decisions you had to make last year when Kareem Hunt was released before we knew a team would sign him. My guess is that he's probably played his last down in the NFL because he's a 31-year-old receiver that's going to command a high price tag. But you never know. And he looked good in the game against the Patriots. I would imagine he still has something left in the tank that could

help a team, but given the off the field circumstances, the off the field drama, I mean, you think about what the Patriots have gone through of all franchises in the last 11 days and signing him and the questions they've had to ask and the upset nature of Bill Belichick and how he's had to compose himself, you know, for a guy that doesn't like to be in front of the media to begin with, and he's walking out of press conferences. This was, I think, a good move on their part because they don't need Antonio Brown. So I think from another NFL franchise taking the chance on him, I just don't see it. So I don't think it's worth it for your fantasy team. And I definitely think there's a scenario where Antonio Brown doesn't play again. I also think we don't know how this is going to play out.

So in dynasty leagues, don't drop them. As Jamie said, in, in, you know, redraft league. Yes.

Dynasty league. He might, he, maybe he'll take a one year prove it deal. Maybe this, maybe the allegations don't end up being, um, substantiated.

We just don't know. So anyway, it was look at the rest of the Patriots here as they get ready for the jets. Do you adjust your week three rankings yet? I did. I did it quickly just to take Antonio Brown out. So I didn't really move them dramatically in non-PPR.

I have Gordon ahead of Edelman just because of the touchdown potential. So they're both in the early 20s. So Gordon is like 17, 18, and Edelman's right behind him. But I could see a scenario where I move them up over the course of the next couple of hours. And in PPR, Edelman is back to a borderline number one guy, and Gordon is just outside the number two range.

But there's so many good receivers this week, it's just splitting hairs where they are ranked. You're starting them. You said early 20s, but you meant before the 20s, right? You said early 20s, 17, 18. Well, yeah.

In the last hour, I've gotten thrown so many different things in my direction now. I'm so sorry. No problem. My immediate reaction was like, oh, well, Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman just got a hell of a lot more valuable overall, rest of season. Oh, rest of season for sure.

Obvious reaction there. If anybody over the last 11 days since Brown became a member of the Patriots sold Edelman or sold Gordon and sold them low, you probably benefited. So the person that bought Julian Edelman or sold Gordon and sold them low, you probably benefited. You know, so the person that bought Julian Edelman or bought Josh Gordon

is probably pretty happy right now because, yeah, it should be good. And, you know, I've seen in a bunch of leagues, certainly the analyst leagues that we do, the race to get Philip Dorsett has been on because you saw in week one what he could be. You know, it's not going to be a week-to-week thing with him, but, you know, 95 yards and two touchdowns. This is why I didn't think they needed Antonio Brown, because not that Philip Dorsett's better than him, but this was a luxury for them. This was a player that was going to make them better,

but they didn't necessarily need to fill that role. And so Dorsett's numbers will be decent as a number three receiver in deeper leagues. Sure, I guess, right. Dorsett's kind of interesting because he's available. He caught a touchdown in week one. He actually going, he caught two touchdowns.

That's right. He only had four targets. He caught all four of them. He caught two touchdowns. So that means going back to week 17, uh, that game plus three postseason games plus week one, Philip Dorsett had five touchdowns in five games. Uh, he did not have a catch in the Superbowl, but he had a touchdown in each of the three games before week one, Philip Dorsett had five touchdowns in five games.

He did not have a catch in the Superbowl, but he had a touchdown in each of the three games before that week 17. And then the two playoff games before the Superbowl. So he's, you know, I haven't picked them up anywhere, but could, right.

Could be a number three receiver. You're saying for Dorsett. Yeah. And look, if you have Antonio Brown on your roster, that's an easy guy to pivot to. If he's the best player available, you know, there, there are a lot your roster, that's an easy guy to pivot to if he's the best player available. There are a lot of other receivers that we've talked about over the last 10 days or so.

If either of the two Chiefs guys are still available, Demarcus Robinson or Meikle Hardman. Debo Samuel is available in a lot of leagues as the potential number one guy for the 49ers. Terry McLaurin, if he's still available for Washington. If you extend it a little bit deeper, we've had some news. I don't know if you and Ben talked about it, but Deontay Johnson is now a starting receiver for the Steelers. For what that's worth, he's only owned in 2% of leagues.

We'll come to Tuesday once we get to the next waiver period, and DJ Chark is owned in 60% of leagues. He's obviously played really well. Kevin Smith, Randall Kopp. Those guys are out there too. Let's say you could pick up Deontay Johnson or Philip Dorsett. Who are you digging?

I'd probably take a chance on Dorsett first. Just because of the quarterback situation in Pittsburgh. All right. The number three guy in Pittsburgh is probably better than the number two guy. Number three guy in New England is better than the number two guy in Pittsburgh. Are we back to where we started? I mean, I think we are. Tom Brady is a low-end number one quarterback.

Josh Gordon, or Julian Edelman is in PPR a borderline number one or a high-end number two. And Josh Gordon is a number two receiver in non-PPR and 2-3 in PPR, basically. Yeah, I think so. You might be a little bit more, maybe you should be a little bit more optimistic with Brady because what we saw from him in week one, I don't know if that's going to be the norm.

He carved them up. 341 yards and three touchdowns against Pittsburgh. It's still a, it went from just, if you just go full circle with the Patriots receiving core, from where they started right before the NFL draft to where they are right now, it's still a huge improvement, you know,

from, from where they were with Edelman, Nikhil, Harry, Maurice Harris, you know, Don't roll in men to, and the Mary's Thomas to now having,

you know, a hundred percent out of Josh Gordon and, and Philip Dorsey at the time, you know, just, I guess it's just Josh Gordon still changing the tenor of what it was, but, uh,

they're going to get Ben Watson back in a couple weeks. We'll see what that does for them in the tight end position if he's able to produce at any semblance of a productive level. And this helps James White too. He'll be a significant role out of the backfield as a pass catcher. Okay. The reason why I was so high on Josh Gordon before the Antonio Brown trade, he played three games without Gronkowski last year,

had 100 yards, 130 yards and a touchdown and 81 yards. He had seven, nine and 12 targets. I know he only had five targets in week one, but I expect a pretty big role from him and I expect a pretty good season from Josh Gordon. That said, you know, people are probably very excited about Josh Gordon. So like I made a trade offer of Josh Gordon for David Montgomery in the Podcast League, 14-team PPR. I made that offer, obviously, before the Antonio Brown news,

and it got rejected. And now I wonder if that's a more fair trade at this point. Right? But I'd still take Montgomery. But now if you have doubts about Gordon or whatever, stock's up and people know it. So it wouldn't be a bad time to offer him for a buy-low running back or something like that.

Well, sure. And in Gordon's case in particular, hopefully he plays 16 games. But we saw last year, everything seemed to be fine. And then his personal situation got back in the way, unfortunately. And he wasn't able to finish the season. So, you know, I hope that he plays 16 games. And if he does, like you said, he was averaging 100 yards per game

in the three games that Gronk wasn't there. So there's a lot to like about him. There's a lot to love about Edelman again. And, you know, I think, you know, just in terms of Brady, I wouldn't panic that he's all of a sudden going to fall off just because Antonio Brown's not there. I wonder, has he moved ahead of Jared Goff? He's definitely moved ahead of Cam Newton, you'd have to say.

Has he moved ahead of Jared Goff? Yeah, I think so. That may not be the case by the end of the year. Maybe we see Goff flip his season a little bit. Last year, he was off to the great start and then struggled to the finish line because he didn't have Cooper Cup, which I think impacted things. But I think the Rams are still feeling their way through this

with not playing in the preseason and getting cut back and not knowing what girly is going to be. But yeah, for right now I would take him over Goff. You can make an argument that if Carson Wentz doesn't have his top two receivers, he might be better than Carson Wentz for the foreseeable future.

He's behind Dak and Lamar Jackson, but that's not saying much because those guys have been awesome and are better than most of the quarterbacks on the table. So he's in that top ten of quarterbacks, and I think he's not a bad sell-high candidate if you picked him up as a second guy just because we've seen from Brady his get-off-to-a-good-start.

Usually it's the slow start, strong middle, do what they have to do to win just at the end. And so if you think maybe the big stretch is coming, ride it out. And then when you get to the middle of October, early November, maybe sell him. Last question. Do they go back to being more of a running team? And does that make you more

interested in Rex Burkhead? I don't think it's a bad idea to pick up Rex Burkhead either way, because he'll still catch some passes too. So, you know, he's the hybrid running back for them, you know, where Michelle is strictly running downs. White is basically strictly passing downs and Rex does a little bit of both. But I think we saw what they want to be. This game, I think, is going to come out, and we don't need Antonio Brown. So I wouldn't be surprised if they just thrashed the Jets through the air and maybe Dorsett.

We've talked all week, not only on our podcast, but on CBS Sports HQ about Nelson Agler kind of being the free space. I wonder if you could make a case for Philip Dorsett as well, just because he's going to be so cheap and, you know, all it takes is one touchdown. So if you're talking about a third receiver or your flex or whatever, he's not a bad, bad play.

But, um, you know, I think it's, it's kind of just rewind to what it was before, you know, he got Antonio Brown, got the text.

I'm free. I'm free. He's running around his backyard and then we find out five hours later that he's on the Patriots. Rewind back to that time and how we thought of this team. Right.

And that's essentially what it is. Yeah. Okay, great. Jamie, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Have a good weekend. Get it started right now.

We will talk to you while you're here at the Saturday Mailbag, which again was recorded before this Antonio Brown News. For Jamie, I'm Adam. See ya.