Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Ezekiel Elliott to the Patriots! Drop Rhamondre Stevenson in the Rankings? (08/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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Starting point is 00:01:18 and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Ezekiel Elliott to the New England Patriots, 28 years old, coming off a year with 231 carries, only 17 catches. But I'm going to do my best to scare you, all right?

Starting point is 00:01:47 I'm going to scare you right off the bat. Jamie, hide behind your covers. You're about to tremble with fear. Oh, no. Inside the two-yard line, or including the two-yard line, Ramondre Stevenson, six carries, one touchdown. Zeke Elliott, 11 carries, eight touchdowns. He's coming for your goal line touches, Ramondre Stevenson.

Starting point is 00:02:07 I don't know. I'm just saying. It's the only angle I can play here. What's your thought on this? You've been the high guy on Stevenson all offseason long. I'd have to say you were ahead of the curve, and now Stevenson's like pick 24, basically. You still comfortable with him at the 2-3 turn? No, but I'm not going to panic.

Starting point is 00:02:24 I think this is clearly a knock on what the upside could be because, you know, if he struggles in any capacity and if he fumbles, you know, then they'll probably give Zeke more carries than we expect. Obviously, this is, I think, an indication of, like you said, the short yardage work. And, you know, I think everything you're reading in the aftermath of him signing, you have to be concerned that that's going to be the the problem i think if i if i remember the stack correctly they had 10 rushing touchdowns as a team last year from the running back position and then 24 the year before and eight the year before that though

Starting point is 00:02:53 uh right but you know i i think just looking at better quarter better uh offense coordinator better just offense overall that they would would get closer to the 24 number than they would be where they've been. So I think just by, you know, the natural, you know, trickle-down process, he's going to score even with Zeke there. I don't think Zeke's going to take him off the field in the passing downs. The question is, is somebody else going to take him off the field, excuse me, in passing downs?

Starting point is 00:03:20 So I still think Stevenson's got top 15 upside. I'm not going to drop him probably further than that but he's no longer going to be a top 12 guy yeah I said only eight the year before 2020 eight rushing touchdown from running backs they actually had 12 from Cam Newton so they had 20 rushing touchdowns overall in 2020 I think they had 25 in 2021 and then a down year last year all right so I put up a Twitter poll. Ezekiel Elliott, the Patriots are signing Ezekiel Elliott. What does this mean for Amandre Stevenson?

Starting point is 00:03:51 I just put it up, 312 votes so far. No change in value. Move him down a few picks, down at least around. And right now, no change in value, only 18%. Move him down a few picks, 47%. Down at least around 34.8%. Where would you fall in those three categories? I mean, like I just said, move him down a couple spots.

Starting point is 00:04:14 I think you take him now after, for sure. You asked us on our Monday show, the start, Justin Jefferson, the combos. Justin Jefferson, Stevenson, and a receiver. I think it was Devante Smith or the other receivers. I mean, it's easy to go to the other receivers. It's easy to take quarterbacks over him at this point, you know, if you're so inclined. And then I think, you know, he goes to where behind

Starting point is 00:04:36 the next group of receivers, even, of Chris Olave, T against Chris Olave, whatever order. He's closer to, for me, he'll be, you know, in the Najee Harris, Travis Etienne range. Mixon? Mixon, for sure, over him. Over him.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Okay. Jameer Gibbs? Probably so. I mean, you know, I'm a big Jameer Gibbs guy in PPR, and I think that Gibbs might have more upside. What role does Zeke play? You know, he's been, last year only 17 catches, but in his career he's been really good,

Starting point is 00:05:07 at least reliable as a blocker, as a pass catcher. Now the last three years, his yards per catch, and when we talk about his yards per carry, his last three regular seasons, he has two carries over 27 yards. He's clearly lost something. But his yards per catch have also been terrible the last three seasons.

Starting point is 00:05:24 But guess what? Ramondre Stevenson was really bad there last year too. So I wonder what Zeke does. Does he do short yardage? Does he just spell Stevenson? Does he work on passing downs? Is he just 28 years old and crappy and does almost nothing? What's your best guess here?

Starting point is 00:05:38 What's his role? I hope he's 28 years old and crappy and does nothing because I'm, like I said, you know, I was really excited about Ramondre Stevenson. So, you know, if, if Zeke is washed up and can nothing because I'm like I said, you know, I was really excited about Ramondre Stevenson. So, you know, if Zeke is washed up and can't get the job done, then, you know, they'll stick with, you know, Ramondre and what seems to be a pretty high level role. What was the expectation? You know, so I know we had I want to give credit where credit's due.

Starting point is 00:06:00 We had Joe Pizapia from Fantasy Pros on and he was talking about, you know, having Romandre in bubble wrap for the majority of training camp. You know, it seemed as if they were treating him as the feature guy. So we kind of knew that this was a possibility of bringing somebody else in. They also worked out Leonard Fournette a few weeks ago as well. And so there's clearly something that either they don't like about Stevenson, or hopefully, more so, they don't like about the guys behind him. You know, and this is more of an indication of the Kevin Harris's, the Pierre Strong's, the JJ Taylor's, those guys that are not going to be able to spell Stevenson

Starting point is 00:06:32 or potentially replace Stevenson if he misses any time. So that would be the hope. But I think, again, you got to look at pedigree. You got to look at reputation. You got to look at some level of contract. I know it's a one-year deal up to $6 million, but for running back these days, that's not something to completely overlook, even though it's probably very incentive laden, but there's also a reason why he was let go by the Cowboys, which, you know, seemingly even as, as, as late as last year, it didn't seem like it

Starting point is 00:06:57 was going to be possibility without Jerry Jones treated him. And then the thought of, okay, maybe the Cowboys were holding a spot for him. I don't know how much the money factored in. I'm sure it was a lot in terms of a deciding factor. Why didn't he go back there if there was an offer potentially on the table or wait to see if there was going to be an offer on the table? So, you know, you got to look at it, you know, from, I think, all angles. I just think age at this position matters so much. And when a guy starts to look like he's on the decline, it's hard to say he still has something left, even in a new surrounding. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:30 And for Pollard, you know, people were worried about Zeke coming in and stealing touchdowns from Pollard. Don't have to worry about that anymore. Is Zeke a good handcuff? Are you drafting him? I wouldn't draft him with the idea of being a handcuff. You know, oh my God, I drafted Stevenson. I got to get Zeke to back him up or, you know, even in the lottery ticket realm. You know, he's a guy that is, you know, I think going to be touchdown dependent, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:49 and if last year was really an indication of how bad this team was, maybe Mac Jones just is not good. Maybe the skill players are just not good. Maybe they're going to be a grinded out, you know, field goal type of team. I don't think that's the case, but you can certainly make that argument. Then how many touchdowns is he going to score and if he's not scoring all of the touchdowns is it now a split goal line roll or a split touchdown total scenario so i think the nice thing about it is that stevenson still showed some flashes two years ago when harris was scoring you know what was it 12 15 touchdowns i forget what it was um yeah i don't know that season 15 i think he was still productive he just wasn't as good as he was last year and you've made note of

Starting point is 00:08:31 this how much of it was the offense was just completely terrible and mac jones had nobody to throw it to he's got juju he's got you know davante parker missed time last year they have some young receivers that they like i know know Gusecki got hurt in practice on Tuesday, excuse me, on Monday. We'll see how much that factors in, but they have just better receiving options and a better offense. So how many of those receptions will still be there for Stevenson? So you just got to downgrade him a little bit. If you're still in on him, like I am, you're still going to probably look in the third round, but we'll see how the market corrects itself. Maybe he falls to the fourth round and then you're getting what could be a huge bargain

Starting point is 00:09:05 for the same type of player. All right, I have a draft in 30 minutes. Very interested to see the impact here. So you're picking fourth. Yeah, I have the fourth pick. I'm telling you, he's not going to be on my team unless he falls to me in the fourth round. You would not have taken him at the 2-3 turn

Starting point is 00:09:18 because you've been passing him up pretty regularly. If he's there, late round four. Yes. Yes. That's the thing about these names. Zeke, Fournette, Kareem Hunt. They're big names. I don't think they're big players anymore.

Starting point is 00:09:32 And the stat I gave at the top of the show about Zeke being so much better inside the two-yard line, I watched every one of those runs from Amandre Stevenson. And maybe he's slow to get to the point of attack. Maybe it's his fault. I don't know. But my opinion is he didn't have much of get to the point of attack. Maybe it's his fault. I don't know. But my opinion is he didn't have much of a chance on most of those. If Zeke were running behind that offensive line

Starting point is 00:09:50 compared to the Cowboys offensive line, he wouldn't have scored on that type of success either. So I don't necessarily think Zeke is better than Stevenson there. Although I do think if I had to say one thing about Zeke, watching his goal line runs compared to Pollard, he was really good at that last year. So I do think he could be good, but I do think the line had a lot to do with it too.

Starting point is 00:10:09 I guess my point is Zeke could be good there. Don't necessarily think Romandre can't be. I think he was a victim of circumstances. But yeah, I mean, these are big names. I wasn't in love with Stevenson there because I just don't see him catching the same amount of passes. And I want like like, in the early third round, I still want a dynamic, explosive player. And I get that with Etienne. I get that with Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen. I get

Starting point is 00:10:34 that with T. Higgins and Devontae Smith and I think Chris Olave. I might get that with Mark Andrews. I don't know if I get it with Gibbs. I might get that with Gibbs. I'm a little nervous in anything but full PPR there. I don't know that I get that with Stevenson I might get that with Gibbs. I'm a little nervous in anything, but full PPR there. Right. I don't know that I get that with Stevenson.

Starting point is 00:10:47 That's why I was a little bit more hesitant. Um, I can tell you if he's there, fourth pick of round three, I'm not taking him, taking him. If he's there, ninth pick of round four,

Starting point is 00:10:55 I would absolutely take remandre Stevenson there. We'll see. And you know what? You might win the lottery because people panic and they don't want to draft them in the first three rounds. Yeah. All right. There is a very big winner though, as a result of this draft them in the first three rounds. Yeah. All right. There is a very big winner though,

Starting point is 00:11:06 as a result of this. And that's Tony Pollard. Yeah, exactly. I love it. I mean, what's the obstacle now to drafting him in the first round late in the first round,

Starting point is 00:11:15 he's mid round two ADP and we love it. I mean, look, it's hard to say that he may not be better than I, for me, I won't change the first three guys. McCaffrey, Eckler, and Bijan. He might be fourth.

Starting point is 00:11:29 I mean, he might be better than Barkley. He might be better than Chubb. That's where he is right now for me. Six behind those guys. Yeah. I mean, he's never shown that he can stay upright for a full season. I think that's the biggest knock on him.

Starting point is 00:11:44 And it's a fair criticism. But man, he's going to be so good when he's on the field. All right. Thank you, Jamie. Appreciate it. You got it, man. Good luck with your draft. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:11:56 I love this time of year. We'll talk to Jamie tomorrow with Dave as well for Sleepers. Thanks, everybody. See you.

Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Ezekiel Elliott to the Patriots! Drop Rhamondre Stevenson in the Rankings? (08/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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