Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - AFC South Breakdown + Pessimistic Hope - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/8

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Fantasy Football show for July 8, 2025. Will C.J. Stroud bounce back in 2025? Texans, Colts, Jaguars, and Titans fantasy preview! Find out which players are value picks in fantasy football drafts! Get a full breakdown for the AFC South division. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.2025 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT is available now at UltimateDraftKit.com(00:00) Introduction(06:00) Double flex strategy(07:45) NFL News(15:45) Divisional Breakdown: AFC South(16:00) Houston Texans(27:10) Indianapolis Colts(37:30) Jacksonville Jaguars(47:20) Tennessee TitansConnect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday July 8th, the Fantasy Footballers, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Welcome in everybody. We're up to three shows a week. We'll have an episode for you today, Thursday, Saturday through the rest of the month will be three shows a week and then it's on to five a week in August. And then? 30 a week in September. Oh, and it's under actual football. Yeah, we have Hall of Fame game at the very, very, very end of this month.

And then, yeah, we'll be off to the races. And you're already starting to see speculation on certain depth charts that are probably scaring. Oh my goodness, yes we are. Scaring people. Talking about that Denver tweet? Yes we. Goodness gracious. people. Talking about that Denver tweet? Yes we- Goodness gracious.

We can talk about that. I believe that should be in the news. If it's not, we'll get to it. And we have an AFC South breakdown on the show today in the divisional breakdown episodes. We began last week. Hopefully everybody out there had a wonderful holiday weekend.

Got to enjoy it. I know we can't get July 4th on a Friday every year. That's not how things work. But it was nice. But it would be nice. It was really nice to have that be on a Friday. I feel like that one and New Year's, we need to get those locked down to a day of the week.

Do your best, Jay. I've been trying. Those ones are pretty tough. The New Year's Day. The New Year's Day. That's a tough one to get to go on the day you want. That's probably the hardest one of the year. And Halloween.

We gotta get. Thank you. We gotta get Halloween on Friday. That one though is legit easy. That one, well. That one should be, like you can't move the first of January. You could actually move the first of January the easiest.

Wait, you can move the first of January, but you can't move the 31st? Because you could just make the rule that of January the easiest. Wait, you can move the 1st of January, but you can't move the 31st? Because you could just make the rule that it starts on the day you want it to start. That the year starts on the day. That the year just starts on the day you want it. Or just, we observe. Okay, Halloween's the 31st, fine.

That's the date, but we're gonna observe it. The last Saturday of the month. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, good luck. No, I know people. They'd rather have their children be just or or what about a rule where sugared up that night where the rule is is whatever day it falls on from that day all the way through to

where a weekend hits you get all that time off. Okay. So if it falls on a Monday, you're goodbye. That's you got the week off. Al Borland would love that. Al would like that. Is he back? He is back in the building. We have not started a new one. OK.

Let me see. Not yet. Wait, what do you look like again? Oh, yeah, I remember you. Oh, my gosh. We didn't do the last show with him? We did. Oh, yeah.

It's still a good bit, though. You could still body bag someone. Yeah, no, you did. YouTube.com slash The Fantasy Footballers, subscribe, click the bell, make sure you do that now. We got more shows coming out every week. We got live episodes and we have Sunday live and you'll wanna know when those are going on.

If you wanna help the show out, an easy way to do that, if you're listening on a podcast app, click that follow button. Make sure that you are following the show and you can leave us a five star review if you are so inclined, that would be awesome. ["Breaking News"] Who hit that button?

I did. Halloween's on a Friday this year, guys! We did it! I thought something really cool was about to be announced. That's pretty cool. So Halloween's on a Friday? Yeah. Okay.

So that means that, that means that 4th of July on a Friday, Halloween on a Friday, that'll always happen at the end. Wait, is that true? I cannot confirm that at all. I don't know how that works. Yeah, cause both of them fall after a, after when leap year would be.

I'm choosing to believe that. Yep, I mean, who cares? It's true now. What day is Christmas this year? We'll talk about that later. Google it. Andy did, did you mention the draft analyzer? Not yet. Okay. Would you like to mention it? I would. Okay. First thing Josh, Papa Josh said is we're off for Halloween then right? Yeah sure Josh. The ultimate draft kit which which is like that's the the living breathing draft prep it's the only draft tool that you need to get ready for this offseason. If you bought the UDK Plus the draft analyzer is now live where you can go in and just simply

click a few buttons and import your teams if they're on sleeper, NFL.com, ESPN and Yahoo. Look at your team, analyze it, break things down, maybe, you know, strengths, weaknesses. Who likes your team the most? Hopefully it's me, because that means your team's pretty good. But it's just, you know, it's fun. It's a good time.

It just means they drafted Christian McCaffrey. Daddy, yeah, that's so true. That's all that means. That's so, who got him in Scotty Fishbowl, Jason? We did. Yeah, you're right. And who did you have to ask permission to draft? You had to come to me yelling from the other room,

can I draft Christian McCaffrey? And I said, yeah, because you want to win. Yeah. That's the proposition with McCaffrey is, if it works, it works really, really well. If. It's just what percentage you attribute to if. We'll see.

But yeah, I would get into the UDK right now because we update it constantly all throughout the off season, and you'll get more mileage out of it the sooner you get in there at ultimatedraftgate.com. Today's quick question, you can go to the website, you can click the submit a question button if you wanna send one in.

Today's quick question comes from Erica in Florida. Howdy ballers, how should your draft strategy pivot or change when your lineup has two flex spots? So they're in a league with two running back, two wide receiver and two flex. How does that change your mindset? Well, it doesn't change much because every league I'm in has it, but I think what it changes from- Is that a weird flex?

I guess it kind of comes across like- I play with double flex, no big deal. All my leagues. The difference to me is two things, primarily. One is the late round quarterback, the late round tight end become more valuable as you need more depth to fill in starting roster positions

at running back wide receiver potentially tight end, but not really. And then the other thing is assuming that you're a half PPR or a full PPR. Yeah, that's the big deal. Wide receivers will become more valuable than running backs. When you go deeper, when you get to like,

you know, wide receiver 36, running back 36, and then you go past those, which when you're in a 12-person league and you've got the double flex, you will. That's where the wide receivers are pretty much always going to outscore the running backs in that range. So I'm filling my roster with a little bit, a little deeper at wide receiver. Yeah. That's the biggest change is you and you gotta know your scoring format but you want those flex positions more often than not filled wide receivers. And if you're in a standard then change. So okay don't be it change your scoring format. Yeah change your scoring format. Easy enough let's jump into some news.

News and notes from around the league. Well, ever since the day we got the news that the Denver Broncos had signed J.K. Dobbins, who had a, a surprising and very good year last year for Los Angeles and they didn't bring them back. Ever since then we've talked about how that's going to impact R.J. Harvey, who is a prolific, highly drafted running back on a team that desperately needs a versatile running back, how it impacts the rest

of the Broncos offense and just to add more fuel to the speculative fire, Cody Rorick from Locked In on Broncos, Locked On Broncos said, J.K. Dobbins will likely be the starter, R.J. Harvey seeing extensive work, and Jaleel McLaughlin being the most trusted guy from Sean Payton.

This is- Thoughts? Look, I don't have boots on the ground up there in Denver, but it is so wild to me. I'm not saying it's wrong, but like, this dude was available, talking about J.K. Dobbins. He's on the street, anybody can sign him. The team that just had him and saw what he can

or cannot do, they didn't want him back. And now you're like, oh, and then all the talk about R.J. Harvey of how excited Sean Payton was, and of like, this is our guy, we're going after him. And then to be like, the guy who was off the street, he's the starter, it is, it's not computing. Look, R.J. Harvey was drafted higher than people expected him to be. It seemed to be the selection by Sean Payton.

But the level of what you have to do as a rookie, I think for Sean Payton and for a Denver offense and a team that is expected to compete, it'd be one thing if the Broncos were a bottom third team in the NFL to expect a rookie to get everything, to me. But when you are supposed to be competing and you have a veteran presence in J.K. Dobbins, who is, I don't remember his exact age.

26 and a half years old. As you say, whatever you tell me is gonna be way younger than you think out there. So you have a player that was, played a vital role on a very good charge of team last year, comes in and is not a rookie, is a veteran, knows the ins and outs of the NFL, knows pass protection, knows those aspects. It's always going to be very difficult, I think, to project a team handing all of the reins off,

especially a guy like Sean Payton, who I think he does like Jaleel McLaughlin. You watched the games last year, he was probably the best of what they had. He's not great, but he fits a role, and I don't like having to say three names when we talk about it. I don't like having to have that discussion because, you know, you have to ask what's the upside for R.J. Harvey? That's everything. R.J. Harvey was the hand-selected golden child to be the new face of the Sean Payton running back room, and I don't know if that's true. Like, this is creating a very difficult situation. When we mentioned J.K. Dobbins on this show, The Signing,

and talked at all about it affecting R.J. Harvey, I saw a tremendous amount of feedback saying, you're giving way too much attention to J.K. Dobbins. But this time of year, it's smoke, it's fire, it's conversation. Now out of Denver, out of Mile High Sports, having the same conversation. So what is the value of R.J. Harvey in a committee?

What is the value of J.K. Dobbins in a committee? Dobbins will be free in drafts. I think both of these guys will be valuable and they will both be in a committee. I do not think that Jaleel McLaughlin or Audrick Estimé will really factor in that much. I agree with that. McLaughlin, you could say all the praises.

I mean, Sean Payton praises and praises and praises guys every single year. He just talked up Audrick Estimé this whole season. Yeah, absolutely. That does not, that means Jack Squat. I mean, you know. McLaughlin caught 31 and 24 passes and he was over, he was 5.4 a carry and 4.4 a carry in his two years.

So to me, that's some role. Well, my point is last year he was so irrelevant. I mean, 140 total opportunities. And that was with, that was with Jabante. He's irrelevant for fantasy. I thought you were saying in the committee, impacting other players, if you get, if you take 100 plus opportunities on the ground, you're going to impact the other guys.

My point is he could only get that many opportunities last year with no competition there for him. Now with Dobbins and RJ Harvey, I think those two guys will run clearly ahead and McLaughlin will have much less opportunity this coming season than he had last year. That's the way that I view this back. I think we know it's gonna be a committee. Sean Payton has always

preferred a committee approach but there's also been a lot of fantasy value in his committees. In that case we've talked about the Chargers and we've talked about you know their committee situation. Now Harvey is at least possibly in that type of a situation where Judkins on a Cleveland team that doesn't project to win a lot of games seems to be everything. How do you look at Hampton versus Harvey? Hampton versus Harvey, I mean, Amarion Hampton's just a better player.

There's a reason he was the first round draft pick he has more competition, but he is the He is just an elite prospect in my opinion and in the opinion of the Chargers since they spent their first round pick on Yeah, in Henderson in New England will have Remandre to deal with so there will be a lot of sifting through depth charts. And sometimes it takes weeks. Sometimes it takes a bit of time. You normally have huge contributions

from rookies in fantasy, but that doesn't mean it's from week one. Right. JK Dobbins, if this is, we'll see if this continues to be the rhetoric out of Denver. Like let's let training camp open and see there. But I mean, JK Dobbins, Andy, you said free, you know, it's like, yeah, can he even possibly climb into a position

in ADP where it is costing you anything and you're having tremendous upside? If they come out and say he's the starter, it's going to ruin it. But yeah, right now he's very interesting. We just need to get into training camp and stay water and change opinions and projections as they as they come. We had news of Terry McLaurin. Oh, which is, you know, continuing the same refrain, not happy with where things are with an extension for Terry McLaurin. with where things are with an extension for Terry McLaurin. Makes sense that he would want to cash in on a prolific year, best year, double digit touchdown year. Also makes sense that Washington might not want to pay him like Jamar Chase. Oh yeah, you can't pay McLaurin like Jamar Chase. We expect them to get a deal done. He's not going to pull a Trey Hendrickson and sit out games and lose money if they don't get a deal.

So I don't worry about this. Now if he misses camp, maybe you have a little bit of the fears of the hammy. People that hold out and come in late as wide receivers, sometimes that pops up. Is McLaurin 29? I believe so. He is almost 30.

That's the number closest to 30. I'm just saying, 29.8. so he'll be turning 30 pretty soon. Any minute now. But that's tough to give a long contract to a player in that situation. So maybe you see them settle for a more one, two year deal or move money around. We're talking about it in the context of Cortland, Sutton,

and Denver as well, who wants a contract. Maybe those will be very similar. But I think that's the major news to talk about, and we'll keep talking about it in the context of Cortland, Sutton and Denver as well who wants a contract. Maybe those will be very similar. But I think that's the major news to talk about and we'll keep talking about it as we get into camp and where things end up. We'll take a break and we will jump into the AFC South. All right, it is time to jump into another divisional breakdown. Let's get divisional. All right, a reminder, this is a general overview of the teams in these divisions, how things went last year, how things are projected this year What is Vegas have in store for the win totals of these teams offseason changes players rookies coaches?

What we believe individually about their upside and potential and and the AFC South is a weird division Because to me it is Like there's no conversations today I believe that will happen that will not be very two-sided very balanced I mean there's no teams that I think don't have pretty big question marks in this division even ones that you know last year the winner was 10 and 7 Houston won the division but it was not the same ride as the year before. They were 10 and seven, and an interesting note of no one in the division finished

with a positive point differential. That's right, they had a zero. Yeah, Houston won the division, they were just neutral, and then everybody else was negative, and I pay attention to those things, because when you're talking about spotting a team that can actually make a run in the playoffs. Like there was a year I think when the Titans made,

and they were getting a whole bunch of fanfare. It's like, dude, they have a negative point difference. So what are you talking about? And then they got shellacked. The rest of this division is still set up for Houston to take number one, but these are some weird teams. Yeah, if you had bet on Houston last year, their win total was nine and a half, so they beat it.

Hey! But it felt like their season was like a failure despite winning the division in a lot of ways. They dealt with major injuries. C.J. Stroud regressed in part due to tremendous, tremendous pressure. Five of their wins was the division. Yeah, well, and that makes sense. I mean, Tennessee had a negative 149 point differential,

which is the worst in their entire history as since they moved and became the Titans in 99. So no one, like you said, no one with a positive point differential. And, you know, Houston was 18th in points per game, 16th in yards per game, 235 quarterback pressures of CJ Stroud, which was the most in the NFL. And so, you know, I don't know where you guys fall on the excuse making for Stroud, you know, you know, I don't know where you guys fall on the excuse making for Stroud, you know, you know, gauge. I fall on the mostly I make excuses for CJ Stroud side.

So you're going offensive line Bobby Slowick. Yes, and then combined with Nico Collins getting hurt and Diggs out for the year and Tank Del disappearing and the world's slowest player playing tight end for you. Yeah, I give him, there's two conversations around Stroud. Well he is the slowest person. He's just living his life, man. Every time we watched a game, if Schultz caught the ball, I would just turn to Andy and watch him complain

about how the guy is so slow. It's cool, he can catch it. I mean, not everyone could do that. But- See, you know who you don't call slow? Zach Ertz, because he just falls down. He catches the ball and falls down. You have no idea how slow Zach Ertz is.

Zach Ertz beats Schultz in a 40. Oh, man. That's where beats Schultz in a 40. Oh man. That's where I'm going. Oh man. I doubt it. But CJ Stroud as a fantasy option was a complete failure last year because he was driven up very high

in average draft position by a rookie season where people were just enchanted. It was awesome. It went from a place where they were completely underdogs, no one expected anything from them, and they run it all the way to the playoffs, to a team that was expected to have a really good year, and it went the opposite direction,

because that's what happens in the NFL. Well, and they started, I believe they started five and one. So off to a hot start, which means the reason we're kind of viewing them a little bit more pessimistically is because the second half of last year, the majority of last year, they were really a 500 team. And whenever they had any kind of real tests, they pretty much failed them. Yeah. And now CJ Stroud has dropped, what, six rounds in ADP after what happened last year. So they...

Zero great games last year. So they zero great games last year that'll do it. Yeah yeah you did not have any fantasy value from him essentially. Stephon Diggs is gone Robert Woods is gone they added Christian Kirk they added Kyle the Borgo guns favorite player of all time Justin Watson if you don't know who that is that's all right you don't need to they added Nick Chubb as depth at running back and Irv Smith Jr. at tight end, who is faster than Dalton Schultz, even when he's hurt,

which is impressive. But what are your expectations for them this year? They were a good defense, and they'll continue to be a good defense. And so you wonder about game planning and what the upside is for fantasy football when you have a team that was number six in total yards given up and you know they they are replacing the offensive coordinator which is encouraging because slow it was awful

yeah he he called I mean it was it was widely documented how much he was calling a run play on second and long which is about as bad a decision as you don't never see it coming, dude. You're gonna get four yards. And that failed a lot. I lean with you, Andy, that I find myself accepting the excuses more for Stroud. I don't think Stroud is a bad quarterback.

I think he's going to continue developing and be a very, very good quarterback going forward. So that's where you have to, if that ends up being true, then we'll look back at last season and those excuses will be right. If that is true, that means that some of the best value to be had in fantasy football is on this team with the two rookies that they brought in, because the opportunity there for someone to really step forward as the wide receiver too. Talking Jayden Higgins and Jaylen Knoll?

Yes, Jayden Higgins and Jaylenalen Noll, the second round and third round pick respectively of this year's draft. Those guys are not being drafted high enough, I think, currently with their average draft position. And Stroud has had, I mean Tank Dell was a fantasy superstar his rookie year with Stroud, and that was while Nikko Collins was great. Stephon Diggs looked really good and was good for fantasy before he went down to injury. So you've got Nico as the one,

and then you don't know exactly what's going on as the number two, but the opportunity is 100% there for someone to step up and be very important for fantasy, and there is not really a highly drafted wide receiver two on this team. So that- Well, I love Jaden Higgins, and spoiler alert, he's a sleeper in our UDK. I completely agree with you.

Christian Kirk is a band-aid type of player at this juncture of his career who can go out there and give you a number of snaps and contribute, but not with the ceiling that you'd hope for. And Higgins is a player that I think is, you know, he's a second round pick, he's explosive, he's large. I'm a big fan of Higgins. I think that's where the value is, I agree. I think he is worth taking a shot on the fact that

the end of season rank for their offensive line according to Pro Football Focus, they had him at 29th. Now, going into this year, friends of the show, Sharp Football, their current projections for that Houston offensive line is dead last. Oh, they got rid of, I mean it was. Yeah, they traded away Leonard M. Tonsol because they didn't, they're trying to fix things,

they didn't want to pay him more money and all those things. But that is, I love Nico Collins, I think that he is an elite guy. Things could break the right way where Nico finishes as the wide receiver one at the end of the season. I think he's that good in the connection with Stroud. And there's chances to take here, but the offensive line is very, very scary for me for secondary options.

That leads us into a good discussion around what I think one of the biggest questions about this team is is Joe Mixon and does he does he have what it takes to volume his way back into a top 12 running back in spite of the fact the offensive line projects to be a work in progress is the most generous way to put it. I mean he was the fourth most in red zone touches last year despite missing three games. That was awesome. He was one of the best running backs the first 11 weeks of the season but you have offensive line issues. So Jay how do you weigh in? Yeah I mean they had offensive line issues last year. I do agree it's worse this year than it was last year

but through the first 11 weeks last year Joe Mixon was the running back one. He's not being drafted in a spot where, okay, if he takes a step back, you're not really like holding the bag. He's in the back of the fourth right now at running back 17. Yeah, I mean, when we've done our live drafts, we're usually seeing him go off in the fifth round.

And at that point, I feel like he is a value. I don't worry too much about Nick Chubb, who's turning 30 this year, coming off of an injury. And I do think Nick Chubb helps keep Joe Mixon from rising, because there are people that are very worried about it. Do you have any belief that Nick Chubb can return to any sort of form? I mean, he's now multiple years from the devastating injury.

What was the one, he broke something in his foot? What, you're talking the second injury? Yeah, this most recent one. Yeah, I think it was a broken foot, I believe. Foot or ankle. So it's just, does Nick Chubb have anything in the tank to challenge Joe Mixon? Because yeah, last year he was,

Joe Mixon looked great those first. Broken foot, yeah, week 15. The first few weeks, but he also didn't have anybody to challenge him, and Jay, if you're like, I don't think Nick Chubb can challenge him. I think that makes a huge difference. I don't think he can challenge him, but at least Nick Chubb could be somebody

that they make the... Like goal line? Yeah, they could make a decision to hand him the ball around the goal line, which would be a problem. That would bother me. I also would feel worse about, I know that their ranking is worse than last year, but I'd feel way worse about this team's offensive line

if they ran the same guys out there as they did last year. Running different players out when you were already pretty much dead last in the league, at least has the possibility that you have improvement. Tough when one of them is like a great tackle. Yeah, you have hope of change, but it should be it should be pessimistic hope. They don't have a lot of talent there.

Pessimistic hope. I've never heard that before. That's probably because it's the complete opposite of what hope is. Dalton, Schultz, and Slov, they're scheduled to start the year. We're on the way out, three or four. They start on the road against the Rams, then Tampa, then Jacksonville, and then Tennessee. That's a little tough to start the year. Well, not the Jacksonville, Tennessee part. That's where they thrive in division. Well, yeah, on the road against Jacksonville, though, yeah.

Maybe, maybe, I don't know. I'm assuming we'd probably pick the Rams in Tampa to win those first two. Yeah, yeah. All right, we will move on, talk about the Indianapolis Colts. It was a bumpy eight and nine season, to put it mildly. All eight of their wins were one score games.

It's an impressive eight and nine season to me. And that makes so much sense. I'm like, how did they get to eight wins? That's what I'm saying. Doesn't it seem like they won four or five games last year? Yes. Yeah, eight. Yeah, they did not win four or five games

for fantasy players. That was one of the challenges. The projected win total was eight and a half. This year it's seven and a half. Feels like a very crucial make or break type of year for at least Steichen and Anthony Richardson if he, you know, one shot to kind of stay a starter or earn a starting job.

Middle of the pack in points per game last year. Tremendously bad on defense, so they said goodbye to Gus Bradley. Shocker. You love Gus Bradley. As a head coach, Mike. Oh yes, of course. As a head coach.

That guy, that was the problem. Leader of men. He needed more responsibility. Yeah, I mean sometimes more is less, right? But they bring in Anarumo from Cincinnati, who's he had worn out his defensive welcome whose team was awful on defense But you know personnel problems for both of these teams It's gonna be yeah, there's a number of questions. I think around Indianapolis quarterback is gonna be one of the biggest ones and

You know, what does that really mean to us when it comes to other fantasy players being relevant? We have a prolific rookie tight end, a first round, top half Tyler Warren selection. And then we've got, you know, Pittman and Downs. Oh man, Josh Downs. And then you've got to say, hey, do you care if it's Daniel Jones?

Do you care if it's Anthony Richardson? That's, you're going to get one of those guys. Like there isn't a third door to open where Joe Montana walks out. Monty Hall's not offering you the third door? No, you don't even have Joe Flacco waiting in the wings like they did last year. So, to me, those are some of the bigger questions

about this team. Who do you think wins the job? The injury to Anthony Richardson currently, we have to wait because they're like, I think you'll be ready by training camp. Does that mean the first day of training camp? Does that mean a like five days in where Daniel Jones is already building up a rapport and they're already focused on that now you have to steal the job? Yeah, we'll know ahead of time. And really, making that call right now

feels foolish the more that you read from beat writers because people around the area are, it seems like every week they're very confident that the exact opposite guy is going to be the starter. I've seen a lot more Daniel Jones. I have seen more Daniel Jones, but then after the Daniel Jones, they come in and say, no, Anthony Richardson

is probably gonna be the starter, and then a little bit more Daniel Jones. You gotta time stamp it, and then you're like, no, look, I told you. I'm not sure that, and maybe this is kinda like we talked about last week, but I'm not sure that it's going to impact the draft position of these players very much.

It won't. And in that case, you know, we like Josh Downs. I like Josh Downs quite a bit. I think, I think Pittman's still a player that's gonna be out there all the time. He's not had a real nose for the end zone in his career, but he can be a PPR guy. It's hard to imagine a world where both of them are good.

That's, I think that's why you see a lot of people making the choice. Both of them being great, yeah. When it doesn't feel like it should be this real dynamic of this guy's the one, that guy's the one. I think people are choosing one because they don't think more than one can do anything.

Yeah, Josh Downs is the better value in drafts because he's later, he costs you nothing, he's had some explosive ups. He is not later. Yeah, him and Pittman are right next to each other. They're five picks apart right now. Wider three were 46 and 48. And I know both. They're both very late. Both of you guys are like very very on the Josh Downs is better than Pittman's side. Well I think he's a better fantasy player. Like it just his usage I mean the at

least the way that the quarterbacks played last year They they prefer to Josh Downs and going to him a very frequently Yeah, I do I do like that downs and would pick him over Pittman at that spot in the draft I you're also gonna have Tyler Warren whose guess what? Right there same spot in the draft Yeah, so you get to pick one of three Colts or two of three Colts. Warren is so difficult because this is he if you're just coming back to football Tyler Warren was a first-round tight end selected this year he is a he's a beast I love Tyler Warren but I don't know what to make of drafting a

he's a tight end one right now in current ADP with all of that stuff going on. You missed the Too Hot to Handle episode, is that correct? I did, it is. And I think Jason and I were both very much on the Not Too Hot to Handle. Not too hot. Not too hot at that place, no,

because you're at the very, very bottom, I mean this is lower than where Bowers went last year. Yeah. And people were passing on Bowers went last year. Yeah. And people were passing on Bowers. I think it's the right gamble to take in the ninth round. Yeah, there's not other tight ends that are, you know. If you're that late, you're getting a bad tight end, take a chance at someone that could be special

and then stream the position, which you'll do if you don't draft Tyler Warren anyways. So I'm fine with that. The issue here with Tyler Warren is last year this was a team that threw. Tyler Warren or Dalton Kinkade? Tyler Warren. I think we asked that question.

Oh did you? Yeah, I think that was actually the name that came up. And I would go Tyler Warren. Because Dalton Kinkade is, he's the next guy up. And then you got Ferguson and Tucker Kraft. Man. Some of the indifference around Downs and Pittman can, I mean, be an encouragement towards Warren. I mean, Warren is going to be the most quarterback friendly for two bad

quarterbacks. Warren is what scares me for those wide receivers. Yeah. Like last year, 71% of the targets went to wide receiver for the Colts. Only 15% went to the tight end position. Those are both kind of out of the normal type of numbers for their positions. They didn't draft a first round tight end who's a talented pass catcher to not throw him the ball a lot. They saw this hole and they said, we've got to get a tight end who can open up the field for us. So that's going to siphon a lot of targets away from probably both downs and Pittman. So I'm not quite as bullish on the passing game here as I think the two of you.

The second question that I think stands out for Indianapolis is how we view Jonathan Taylor and whether we view him as elite or continuing to be an elite option. Some things that stand out about Taylor, it was a prolific end to the season. We've seen the reception numbers decline after a beginning of his career. It seemed like they were going the right direction, but the last three years has gone down, down, down, under 20 receptions.

I don't think adding Tyler Warren's going to help the target totals for Jonathan Taylor. He had the fifth most rushing yards ever over a final three games of the season. It was unbelievable. To push him towards. He was averaging like, what, like almost 30 carries a game?

Yeah, when you watch those games, it literally felt like the team said, we don't care what's happening anymore as long as we hand it to Jonathan Taylor. And yet he was also stuffed the most of any running back on third and short last year, which is a weird thing. That is so weird.

For so many breakaway runs. So do you think elite is the word you'd use with Jonathan Taylor? I would. I would certainly use the word elite. Now if you're talking fantasy elite, he's not tier one for fantasy, but this is a running back who should be an overall running back one in fantasy football. And you know, I think he can be top five in fantasy this year. Obviously the passing has to be there. If it is Daniel Jones, I would expect more volume in the passing

game than if it is Anthony Richardson. Obviously Daniel Jones was able to do that with Saquon to a good enough degree where Saquon was very relevant for fantasy. But the Saquon numbers went down from Eli. Oh, for sure. Yeah, this is not Eli I mean man those those guys who can't move in the pocket yeah give my running back those quarterbacks. If you Jason you you probably have a the ability to look this up pretty quickly though but where was Jonathan Taylor if you just look at where he's where he was in points per game before the three weeks because that

was the majority of the fantasy season that was before they gave him 29 32 and 34 carries yeah before weeks 1 through 15 points per game where did he slide in because I've got before the bye week which is okay yeah one game different but he was still awesome he was averaging 13 and a half fantasy points per game 80 rushing yards a game. Yeah, it was just really truly magnificent what he did at the end of last year. And if you don't remember, this eight-win team should have been a nine-win team, right? When Jonathan Taylor had that breakaway touchdown run and dropped the ball through the end zone. Oh, my gosh, I forgot all about that. In the Giants game?

Yeah, that was so cruel. the oh my gosh I forgot all about that in the Giants game yeah yeah Tennessee New York Jacksonville three very good defenses to face to finish the year and I'm not trying to take that away from the you know from him but for the majority of the season I just wanted to see where it was when there was tumult at quarterback throughout a really difficult year if he could play those bad defenses every we finished at nine with those three games. I got some good news for you. Those three games he was on pace for 2,946 rushing guys. He will play a lot of those teams again.

That is true. Okay, I feel like we covered the Colts pretty well. They start at home, back to back, Miami-Demver, then Tennessee and Los Angeles on the road. And yeah, I mean, there's some other players there. Alec Pierce will be involved, Adonai Mitchell involved, but those are the main guys. So we'll take a break, come back with two more teams from the South. Oh, Jacksonville, four and 13 last year, a season in which they were projected to win

eight and a half games. Whoops. They were four and 10 in one score games. They have a seven and a half win total this year. They have a nice strength of schedule, at least on paper, sixth best. And it's a lot of change, right? There's a tremendous amount of change in what this offense is going to look like. New offensive coordinator and head coach, Doug Peterson, goodbye. They were 26 some points per game, 20, 15 yards per game. Liam Cohen comes over from Tampa Bay.

20, 15 yards per game. Liam Cohen comes over from Tampa Bay. And so, I mean horrific on both sides of the football. You get to four and 13 through really an aptitude on both sides, dealt with injuries. Why, they drafted a guy for both sides of the football. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, they did. They are trying to two birds it with Travis Hunter. He's one of the big additions, obviously.

No more Evan Ingram, no more Christian Kirk. And you add Travis Hunter and you add a play caller that is well respected and Liam Cohen. Do we still have Liam Cohen's? Do those. Do we still got his, yeah, here we go. Do those. That was pretty close. Oh man, what a goober. I was gonna say, are we enough weeks removed from that? Do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do the do do do the do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Yeah, this is will wins erase it Um, I think so it will not erase it but they will look back on it and smile

So one of the biggest busts in fantasy Travis ETN came from this roster last year one of the biggest surprises and positives Brian Thomas jr. Came from this roster last year and we still can't get our heads around what in the world Trevor Lawrence is and we still can't get our heads around what in the world Trevor Lawrence is as a player. But do you, first question, do you think Liam Cohen will be a fix-all for this offense when you have Brian Thomas Jr., Travis Hunter, Trevor Lawrence with Liam Cohen? I don't think Liam Cohen is going to be a fix-all.

I am excited. We had a quick question earlier this year of like, what team would you wish you could see how they perform? And this was my answer because there's a path here where it's a good offense. I mean, if Trevor Lawrence comes in, he's much better than Mac Jones, and he adds the hopeful greatness of Travis Hunter as a second wide receiver, Brian Thomas Jr. going into second year. And then they've got enough running backs.

I know ETN sucked, but you get him the ball in space, he can be a good asset. He was the running back three, two years ago. This could be a good offense. I don't personally, that was a long two years for Travis ETN, I mean, no one's had a longer, short period of time than Travis Etienne. But it could be an exciting offense.

Are you pessimistically helpful for Etienne? As you would say? I'm optimistically doubtful. Doubtful? Oh, okay, I feel that. I get that, that one makes sense. Which one is more positive? More positive.

Optimistically doubtful, right? I will have to get back to you. We need the English majors to let us know which one is. It's almost like these words shouldn't be combined. So, you know, with the question mark, no fix all, Trevor Lawrence questions, can he support more than one target in a way that you're happy? Yes.

Can Travis Hunter, I think I saw Travis Hunter's yardage number right now is set around 750. That is very, very low for happiness in fantasy football. Like if he crushes that and gets to 800 yards, you will not be happy in fantasy football. Yeah, I didn't know how you'd react to that, positively or negatively, or how conservative they were. Do you remember where Marv was?

Marv was 1,000 and a half. Was it 1,000? Yeah. Yeah. So. I mean, 750, that was, like, Rome, Doonze was right around that range, wasn't he? I think he was above that, yeah.

And you don't look back at drafting Rome like, yeah. 734, no, you're right, he was below. Yeah, you would not have been happy. No. I mean, he's not gonna score enough touchdowns to where that kind of yardage will make you happy, or total receptions to get him that amount of yards will make you happy, so yeah, you need it to be,

it's just kind of confusing for me, if I'm honest. I look at Brian Thomas Jr. And how much of a dominator he is and I I'm just trying to figure out what Travis Hunter can contribute. I think he could contribute quite a bit You have Evan Ingram gone You have Christian Kirk gone. There is a Very large hole to be filled here. They need other pass catchers very large hole to be filled here. They need other pass catchers. We were just talking about the same thing with the Houston Texans, where they really need someone to step up at wide receiver, too. Well, both of these teams have a rookie that has the opportunity to do that, but if you're going to ask me which rookie wide receiver is just a better... Who's a better wide receiver between Higgins and Travis Hunter. Oh yeah yeah. It's clearly Travis Hunter. It will be

very interesting to see what kind of consistency we get out of Travis Hunter. Yeah especially in the snap count department. Because that 700 yards could come with five or six games that you would have wanted to start in him in fantasy. You know what I mean? But it could be a little less predictable at least with Trevor Lawrence at times. He is a very big wild card pick. What's his AEP right now? Right now he's in the seventh round, wide receiver 35. I am personally fine taking the shot at that point. Rookies usually go up in drafts nearer August. If he climbs too

far though, you can't be having, you can't be taking him in the fifth round, no way. No, he feels like a fun gamble in the seventh or eighth. Because, yeah, I mean, that's the kind of player versus a low ceiling option that you could draft in that same spot. Yeah, and I think we need to give a shout out to Brenton Strange as well, their tight end.

The hole left by Evan Ingram, more likely to be filled by a tight end They they will still throw the ball to the tight end. I think Britain strange is actually decently good Didn't he have a game he had a game he had like one big breakout game But he's got the opportunity now and so if you're in I mean obviously is a deep sleeper He's gonna go undrafted in all your redraft leagues but if you're playing best ball where you're getting three tight ends on a roster I think he's like my favorite third tight end. If Travis Hunter doesn't get a ton of snaps then even more so. It's impossible how you can't give the

number two our will pick not snaps. Not snaps. I didn't know how to phrase to phrase it. No, I mean, you can give him a reduced snap count and target him when he's on the field and let him play some defense though, that can happen. And the days of our lives, that is the entire running back room for Jacksonville because it's just like. Yeah, I was gonna, yeah, that's where we need to go. The soap opera of that thing.

And the. ETN, Bigsby, and... And Basel Tooten, who was getting... The draft winner was very infatuated with Tooten. And recently, if you're just going on the way that the coaches are talking about him, things have shifted pretty away from Tooten. It was too early to be... I think it was too early to be enamored with Tooten.

I think it was a proportional reaction to how disappointed people were with ETN. But you gotta kinda reset here with a new offense, a new offensive system. Which one of you two is drafting Travis ETN in the ninth round? I would. At what point does he become someone you can't not draft?

I think it's the ninth round. Yeah, but depending on your build, the ninth round is pretty late. Because it's like I came into this offseason thinking, there's no way I would draft Travis Etienne. Like I don't, why would I possibly draft him? Bro, I will pay you to have Grease Hall and Travis Etienne as your two league of record running backs this year. No, no thank you.

We will let both guys, everyone in the league will combine to let them slip as far as it takes. I believe that, and that just shows you. Full league collusion. League collusion, that's right. To help someone. Everyone's gonna have to. Is it collusion and everyone agrees?

It's helping with a wink. You know what I mean? It's like, oh yeah, we're gonna help you out, sucker. Right, gotcha. Tank Bigsby could also be. Yeah, I still think. He could have a huge role. That's the hardest point about ETN in the ninth

is Tank is in the 11th and. He just doesn't catch passes. I know, yeah, I get that. So they will, I did mention they have a schedule that looks all right. They do start the year against Carolina at home, then it's on the road against Sensi, then at home against Houston, then at San Francisco.

I was reading today, San Francisco I think has the easiest schedule since 2015 of any team Oh, man, I wonder who's gonna be good if you look at if you look at the schedule and You just take out the divisional me because those will be tough games You know the Rams Cardinals, maybe Seahawks games. Those could be tough, but everybody else they play It's hard to look at San Francisco and not see a really good year Yeah, I know. It doesn't mean it will be good and he'll be healthy,

but if he's healthy, he will be good. That's what it means. And that's the hardest part. Goodness, all right. Tennessee, I said it at the top. Worst point differential in the 26 years of the Titans franchise. Negative one hundred and forty nine. They went three and fourteen. I don't know if there was a head coach that I saw more frequently because we watch every single game every single week. But the level, like I was scared for his personal safety and health.

There was no player more at risk of a sideline heart attack than Brian Callahan last year. His debut as a head coach, and he gets to watch Will Levis on a weekly basis turn his plans for this team into mush. He kept putting him out there. I mean eventually he's like screw this we're putting Mason Rudolph out there. That was it. He basically had no choice for a good portion of the year and it's like it was it was so difficult to watch. You

know if you listen to this show last offseason a bet on Ridley was a bet on Will Levis working out. It was also a bet on Brian Callahan fixing problems. If you want to look at can it go right for Liam Kong, can it go wrong? It can go wrong if your quarterback can't play football. Callahan was a very, you know, exciting name to arrive in Tennessee with the potential of making things better if you had a quarterback. Instead, you got a new quarterback because you had the number one pick. Well, so Andy, do they have a quarterback. Instead, you got a new quarterback because you have the number one pick. Well, so Andy, do they have a quarterback this year? They have a quarterback.

They have a good quarterback. But I will not accept the this year part of your question. Well, we're just. I think they have a quarterback for the future, but I think for this year, when it comes to fantasy, we're gonna have a hard time. Will rookie Cam Ward put up more than Will Levesse did last year? Yeah. This depth chart says that Calvin Ridley is still a value.

He is lower than last year, obviously older, but he put up a thousand yards last year despite how that felt. It felt awful and it was very inconsistent as the quarterback play was. But when I see Calvin Ridley late in these drafts, I'm really, really surprised how late you can get him in the drafts with humans. I don't know where his ADP is, but in the ones where you're actually doing them,

feels like people don't want Calvin Ridley too much. They don't want any Titans. Yeah, and I'm fine if that's the approach you wanna take, honestly. I think Ridley could prove to be of value. I think this team could also lean on the running game and keeping Cam Ward in situations that are gonna protect him.

It's really tough. I mean, how great can a rookie, what kind of numbers can a rookie provide? Usually not great. What's the feeling, the touchdowns and things like that. Calvin Ridley I think was okay on the field, like on the film last year, he was okay. Didn't blow me away.

Got frustrated obviously. Targets were all over the place and he couldn't, they invested in a lot of rookie wide receivers in this draft, at least a pile of them. Oh, you have them all in dynasty. Yeah, I'm so happy. Yeah. DK and Gunner Helm in the fourth and Iow Manor.

And they added Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson. So those guys. Restrepo. Yeah, they might not even see the field, those rookies, because I think Lockett and Jefferson could be out there a lot. No more Westbrook and Keeney, touchdown a week. But this was a really, really, really bad team

on offense last year. And so it's going to get a reset. Kam Ward is going to get every opportunity, but you're still looking at this team as the basement of this division, right? I mean... Yeah, I mean, it's tough. This team comes down to Kam Ward, period. Like most teams, the quarterback is everything.

But if you're looking for a team to take a huge leap forward, you know, a la the Texans two years ago, a la the Washington Commanders this last year, it's always on the back of, wow, the quarterback was better than we thought as a rookie. And so that's where I don't mind taking the shots on some of these players because, you know, look, Calvin Ridley's probably not going to be great.

But also, he was the wide receiver 30 last year, and he's being drafted as the wide receiver 38 this year while having the potential that Cam Ward comes in and has one of these excellent rookie years, which we're seeing more and more and more. You know, it was like, go back five years ago and the hit rate on wide receivers succeeding with a rookie quarterback coming in, very poor. But if you look in more recent history, basically since Justin Herbert, you've got a lot of examples of someone coming in

and Nikko Collins being great or Tank Del being great or Terry McLaurin being great. The rookie. Corliss Sutton last year. The rookie's coming in, yeah. There have been some of those. The data still says that the peak for that wide receiver one is pretty low.

And the most successful ones have been the super hyper elite players over the last 10, 15 years. You almost never get double digit touchdowns, things like that, but the price you pay for Ridley is not a lot. I think the question marks for fantasy that are going to be more relevant to people are going to be which, you know, is Tony Pollard going to prove to be of value? Yeah, that's the question is, do you believe the coaches when they have, they're saying it yet again of we want to have a timeshare with Tony Pollard and Spears,

like do you actually believe that? Because if you don't, then Tony Pollard should, Tony Pollard is a, like, where is he going in the, in the seventh round? In the seventh round, it's like, I know ETN's a little bit later, but it's like Tony Pollard or Travis ETN. I would much rather have Pollard than ETN.

I would much rather have Tony Pollard. Yeah, I mean, it's very difficult to have someone say almost the identical thing that they said last year that was not true and believe them this year. That feels like a fool's errand. Yeah, I mean, it was not close for the first part of the year. Spears had a nice finish to the season, where he had more opportunities, finally. But it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the year, people drafted Tajay Spears last year.

Yeah, right. And it was worth nothing. So, Chigga Konkwo gave you a little splash in the fantasy playoffs. Dude, I do not remember that. Did he actually? You don't remember when Andy made him? Oh yes, yes, yes, okay.

Yeah. Or a tight end three in week 16, nine for 81. That was the Britain Strange V Chigga Conquo. This is where you get in fantasy. You have all these exciting prolific names and then when you get to week 16, we're sitting here and every year it's like, was it Jared Patterson, the running back for the...

For Washington. Yeah, or years ago, Hightower. Oh yeah, that was a good one. I mean, you win with some nasty boys, Mike, you got that? Yes, Dave. Of course I do. That's why we say you don't win your championship at the draft,

because a lot of these guys aren't gonna be drafted that are gonna be in championship games. How does this team? See what a conqo can do if you're if you feature him in the offense and be like They just have too many other pass catchers superstars Out there no chig chig feels a lot like You know, no, that's exactly what I'm gonna David Najoku early career, not the snap counts that you wanted. Um, and then they, what they drafted Gunnar Helm and look, a con

quote is your best or second best pass catcher. That's the truth. He's the most athletic, one of the most athletic tight ends. So you got Ridley and then really, at this juncture of the career, you got a pile of rookies and you got the corpse of Tyler Lockett, respectfully. No disrespect to you, Tyler Lockett. But yeah, Chig is just a weekly

dart throw situation, unfortunately. It's sadness. They start against Denver in Denver, that'll be really tough. And then Los Angeles, the Rams, that'll be tough. Then the That'll be really tough and then Los Angeles the Rams That'll be tough then the Colts at home and then Houston if we're looking at the division Houston, Jacksonville, Indianapolis Tennessee Give it to me. What is the how do you think this one's gonna really trying to?

See how I can not be chalk Okay Someone needs to go first Andy I nominate you I went first last time. I know you're the leader. You're the host You at first last time so you stay first right you established the order Yeah, all right. I'll go non chalk you ready Houston wins the division. Yeah, that would know them you can't Houston When's the division? Chalk. Yeah, that would know that you can't.

Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee. Okay, so you're just gonna go for just exactly what happened last year? No, I got it. So there's multiple versions of chalk, there's the betting version, and then what happened last year? No matter what you said, I would make sure it was gone. Let me just see the way that you lead us

in this totally independent thinking version. Tennessee. All right. Yeah, let's hear it. Jacksonville. Okay. Houston. Tennessee, Indianapolis. You okay so like three years ago the order? Mike what do you got? Oh man yeah Houston to win the division. I think I'm with you Andy Andy. Houston Colts, Jags, Titans. Okay, all right. Well, I really backed myself into a quarter. Yeah, you did! I'm so happy. All right, we'll be covering the AFC East and AFC West on the next couple of shows. A reminder, we're three shows a week. Make sure you follow. Check out the Ultimate Draft Kit.

We're also going to work a mock draft episode in between some of these divisional breakdowns as well So we got lots coming your way the community at join the foot comm including the discord channel with I don't know Papa Josh has a recent number, but it's somewhere 30,000 plus 40,000 plus 50,000 plus. What are we at Josh? We're at 58 point nine thousand. Goodness gracious 30. I didn't even know there was that many people in the world. That's awesome. And yeah, check it out. Jointhefoot.com is the communityultimatedraftkit.com for your drafts and we'll be back.

We got another episode Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then football. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.