Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Breakout Picks + Megalabowl Announcement! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/21

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Fantasy football breakout players for 2023! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Andy, Mike, and Jason each pick difference makers and league winners! Plus, your chance to join the largest fantasy football league on planet Earth: the MEGALABOWL! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 21st, 2023. Dive into the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit + Draft Analyzer! UltimateDraftKit.com Compete in the largest fantasy football league! Megalabowl.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Hey there. When I'm not filming high-end action movies, punching bad guys, or battling prehistoric sharks the size of Rhode Island. I like to kick back and think about other stuff. Things like fantasy football

and setting my sights on a fantasy football championship. The commissioner says I'm not permitted to punch my league mates directly in the face or kick them in the groin so I turn to the ultimate draft kit to truly dismantle them in a more understanding manner while I don't get the same adrenaline rush as racing through narrow streets

with no regard for those around me I do get a particular satisfaction as racing through narrow streets with no regard for those around me. I do get a particular satisfaction from watching my league mates leave the draft in a puddle of sadness after I win round after round after round. Do yourself a favour and kick your league mates in the face by picking up the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. I'm laughing at this Monday time.

Welcome in one and all Monday, August 21st. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Mike Wright. Jason Moore, I'm Andy Holloway, and we're back with a breakouts episode of the show. Another weekend of preseason football in the books. We got news to talk about. We've got regular-sized news. We got itty- regular size news. We've got itty bitty news. And we've got some optimism around some players returning to camp today that we'll talk about as well. However,

we do have a big time announcement. The Megaloball is open. it is ready to be signed up for what is the megaloball you ask what is the megaloball jason well it is the biggest best fantasy football league slash tournament slash contest slash thesauruses that has ever existed. It is, to our knowledge, the largest regular managed season-long fantasy football league. And the winner of the Megaloball gets into our listener league next year. So you can join. You're in a 12-team league with Ballers Preferred Scoring Settings.

You're in there with other Foot Clan members. It is an awesome time. You left out the eternal glory part. If you win, you do get eternal glory. That's true. I feel like the eternal glory comes from then playing in the listener league with us. That's really the –

I don't think so. You don't think so? You think it's more winning the – I think it's more than 20,000 played last year. I don't know so. You don't think so? You think it's more winning the... I mean, I think it's 20,000, more than 20,000 played last year. I don't know what the total was. It might have been like 22, 23, but thousands of Foot Clan supporters, players in the league, megalobowl.com. Megalobowl.com.

For all the rules, all the stuff you need to know. Where you sign up, how you sign up. Make sure you sign into your existing Sleeper account if you already have one. When you're signing up, the drafts will be on September 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. And it will be a very good time. I will be in the Megaloball as well. I always am. So pick your draft slot wisely.

I've already signed up. Maybe I'll be in your league. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. A lot of you have been asking, is the Megaloball coming back? We were just biding our time before we made the big announcement. Do I get, like when I win, do I get two teams? I think that's deserved. Yeah, we were about 22,000 last year.

I think we go to a 13-team league. Oh, I just kick someone out. Yeah. Okay. And you get an extra. Very exciting. Megal someone out. Yeah. Okay. And you get an extra. Very exciting. Megalobull.com. If you support the show over on Join the Foot, you get an entry.

So it's time. Go ahead and pick your draft spot. We have a whole bunch of them. That way you can pick one that works with your schedule. More improvements to the Megalobull this year. We try to refine that every year. We know that we get all of your feedback every season. We try to make it better, and it's going to be awesome.

It will be a lot of fun. And then all things mega, we are going to be having a Megalist show out in L.A. on Saturday. Ballerslive.com for tickets there, and the Ultimate Draft Kit available right now at ultimatedraftkit.A. on Saturday. Ballerslive.com for tickets there, and the Ultimate Draft Kit available right now at ultimatedraftkit.com. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

We do have one more preseason game for week two, Baltimore-Washington tonight. Oh! Thank you. Is that your first howl? That's my first howl. It was five out of ten. I was raised never to howl until a man's made a starter.

So I wasn't willing to do it until he was declared the official starter. Is he actually playing tonight? I don't know. It's been weird, actually. We've had quite a few teams that absolutely don't play starters. The Saints last night, it was Jameis Winston starting, Kamara and Jamal Williams sat down. Kendrick Miller got a chance to get back out on the field, which is great.

But other teams, they do play their starters. You saw them for a large portion of the game. I received a very entertaining tweet directly at me saying, are we ready to give the Steelers their respect because they shut out the bills? Huh? In the preseason? Yeah, in the preseason. Did Josh Stallion even play?

He did. Okay. I got a lot of catching up to do. Yeah. So, no. I'll give you of catching up to do. Yeah. So, no. I'll give you credit in the season, though. I think that's going to be a good team. I think it's going to be a great divisional battle from all four teams there.

But, yeah, the preseason, the wins and losses, they don't matter to me. We had an injury, Jason. Dolphins running back. Devon A. Chain. It was, if you didn't see the play It was It was the entire Was that the play he got hurt on?

Yes, that was the play he got hurt on It was a shoulder injury week to week right now Front to back it was the entire Devon A-chain experience Because you saw that he was A little smaller Then you saw his shiftiness, his burst through the hole. He was so fast, rips off a huge run.

Then eventually, defense catches up with him, grabs him. Lifts him up. Picks him up like a little child and slams him to the ground where he injured his shoulder. And this is the problem. We've talked about how for fantasy football purposes, in order to get enough touches, enough carries, enough workload, you usually have to have a certain weight.

Otherwise, you can't withstand that punishment. And then you saw it on that play. You saw everything. I love Devon A. Chain. I think he's going to be electric and succeed. But his weight is a scary proposition because he can be tossed around. Week to week right now with the shoulder, so avoided a severe injury. We have Mostert and injured Jeff Wilson right now.

We have Salvin Ahmed, who had a big game. We have the gas man, Miles Gaskin, and we have Devon Aitchie. Can't believe Miles Gaskin's still there. To me, that feels like... He's always on... This is like the episode of Seinfeld where I think George has been fired, but he just keeps showing up at the office.

I feel like Myles Gaskin's walking in there and he's just looking around, hoping he still gets to hang around. Can I get some touches today, coach? I mean, he's just... Someone's going to eventually count in season and be like, they got 54 players on their roster. Cooper Cup resuming practice.

That's great news. George Kittle, Elijah Mitchell supposed to return to practice this week. Hey, the only way they can get banged up again is to get back out there. Here's big news for you, Andy. Josh Jacobs. It's being widely reported he's expected to report before week one josh mcdaniels didn't comment on the situation we had an article in the las vegas review journal we had another um comment from on the eisen show from i want to say vic to four who's a beat out there, who is reporting he's going to be back.

We had the general manager signing autographs saying he's going to get a deal done. Hopefully this is all leaning the right direction. We did see Zamir White have some quality touches in the preseason game yesterday. About four a carry, scored a touchdown. But Josh Jacobs is the dude, so we need to see him back out there. Now, I'm sure Andy doesn't want this, but Jason, we are aligned often in sometimes wanting to see the world burn. Oh, yeah.

That's real fun. There is a part of me that I hope Josh Jacobs just is Fat Thor and shows he walks with the contract signed in hand and he has just let himself go. And he's like, I'm here for my money. I love the fun of that. I'm guessing he wants money next year too, though. Yeah, but he'll work his way into it.

Oh, gosh. I'm not yet in football shape. Give me a few months. What do we think about the hype train surrounding Kenneth Gainwell right now? I think it's interesting. The Eagles are a mysterious team with how they use their running backs. We've been trying our best to track what they're doing with the guys in preseasons. For example, week one, it was Rashad Penny and DeAndre Swift

Boston Scott Kenneth Gainwell they were the players that got to sit go to the next week Gainwell is playing DeAndre Swift is not playing I still think I think that Kenneth Gainwell is the is the running back to target when you factor in everything of upside and ADP and downside because there there certainly is a downside of taking DeAndre Swift in the sixth round. There's an upside. Maybe he ends up being the guy, and pass catching is kind of his specialty. But where everyone is right now, and Rashad Penny got to play again this week, but he was kind of the last man up.

So Kenneth Gamble is a very capable player who the Eagles seem to really appreciate his skill set. I'm guessing this team is going to have four running backs, and all of them will be somewhat involved. I find myself just O-U-T here for fantasy. I mean, last year you had Miles Sanders, who was pretty much the dude. I mean, Kenneth Gainwell was a little bit involved.

Boston Scott carried it a few times. But, like, Miles Sanders finishes the running back 13 in fantasy football. You can't ask for much more than that. And you didn't like it. It wasn't a good process. You couldn't start. You know, he wasn't consistent. He wasn't involved in the passing game because that's not Jalen Hurts' style.

And, obviously, they don't need to change that. It kind of worked for them. They got to the Super Bowl. So, to me, it's like I just don't – I think there's going to be too many people involved. And even if someone finishes the season okay, it's not going to be a fun process. In best ball, that's fine if you want to go that route.

But in your redraft leagues, I'm not drafting anybody here. And just because we've got to get Bill O'Brien back into the news here. He believes Ezekiel Elliott remains capable of contributing on all three downs in New England. You wouldn't have signed him if you didn't believe that. NFL teams. We think you cannot contribute on first or third down. He's a second down back.

Ooh, is there ever been a second down back? That's what he is. Wow. What would that skill set be specifically for an only second down back. Ooh, is there ever a second down back? That's what he is. Wow. What would that skill set be specifically for an only second down back? You're probably someone who can get... You're really good at play fakes. Yeah.

Your play action style is absolutely incredible. I guess he's more of a fourth down back. He might be a fourth down back. So you protect the punter? No, you just get the one yard game. You get the fourth down. To Zeke's credit, last year when the schedule got very favorable for him at the end of the year, he was an absolute touchdown machine.

Only Kyle could drum up the best second-down backs in football in under 30 seconds. But these are just running backs. But look, it's very fascinating to me that there are backs that are ranked better on second down. Austin Eckler, McCaffrey, Jacobs, Henry, Chubb. Okay, these are all the good running backs. Wait, you mean the good running backs were also good on second down? It's who you expect.

I want a running back that only go in on second. Yeah, his contract, he says, I'm not out there on first down. That's a risky down. Second down's a little looser yeah third down also high risk because you got to get a first down or that everyone's gonna be real mad but second down everyone loves the second down running back anything can happen you still got a third down after that you got a chance of it not being 10 yards you have to gain your first downs like you always got to gain all those yards second down it can be easy yeah and if you fail it's okay

yeah we got third down. Oh man, we're a second down kind of show. I want to be a second down running back. That's not too bad. Alright, that was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Before we get into the breakouts, a couple quick things.

The ultimate draft kit, we are updating it constantly. I did a huge audit this morning. Saw that. Which included some adjustments on Khalil Herbert that apparently I hadn't made until recently, adjusting kind of where I see Foreman and Roshan Johnson and a bunch of other players this morning just kind of, you know, looking at things like I noticed you adjusted Khalil Shakir, right? Because he's looking like fifth in the depth chart in Buffalo.

There was optimism around him. Now it's Deontay Hardy and Trent Shorfield who are getting opportunities. Westie Boy. Hardy. Yeah, I mean, here in Buffalo, just to speak to that, like Deontay Hardy getting third wide receiver opportunities, that has had a ton of value. Like Gabe Davis, even if Gabe Davis has a good year,

Gabe Davis is a what 60 to 70 reception type of player I mean maybe mid-70s if you're lucky kind of old school Vincent Jackson volume so like Isaiah McKenzie Cole Beasley these are players that have had value in this offense so uh if you've got a slot receiver now maybe you know maybe dalton kincaid kind of nerfs that for you but it's worth paying attention to well but hardy i look great this weekend i know yes hardy uh for dynasty is a true nasty boy who should be uh just check if he's out there but hardy for josh allen is this is absolutely incredible he is and He is a sensational deep ball or deep route runner. He's so fast and he can win down the field.

Right, which also... It's for Josh. Joshua Allen will find him. Well, as you say, and so can Gabe Davis and so can Stephon Diggs. Well, Gabe Davis kind of lumbers down there. Hardy will actually beat the defender. That was pretty... That's kind of rude. I didn't know you felt this way about the defender. That was pretty, that's kind of rude.

I didn't know you felt this way about the Babe. I mean, he's just, he's there. Wow. Okay. Wow, strong words. We got a bust episode this week. We got Gabe Davis coming in. No, no, no.

We might have Gabe Davis on this episode, fellas. No, I like it for fantasy. I'm saying like, but player. You think he's a lumberer? I think he is. How big do you think this man is? Gabe Davis? Yeah.

He's a decent size. You know who looked like he was lumbering in preseason? Kyle Pitts. Oh. Looked like he was doing the poop walk. He was running around. He's full. He's clenched.

He was running around and he looked like he wasn't. Yeah, he's a little clenched. Hmm. And did you see the target he caught, too? Yeah. Four yards behind him. He caught it, though. He did catch it.

But you don't understand what the mental toll is when you have to do that every single time. He even tried to run slower, apparently, to make it easy. Get back to the huddle. Okay, I know I caught it. Just don't do. Just a little closer next time. A little bit. Maybe.

Maybe. Maybe in front of where I'm running. Yeah. If you lead me, I can go score a touchdown. But okay. You do it wherever. Wherever you want to throw it, I'll handle it. All right.

Let's move on to the breakouts. Breakouts. It's a lot of guitar for one word. Yeah, but these are breakouts. That's true. You got to build it up. Mike, why don't you kind of give the TLDR of how we view breakouts for all the brand new listeners, which, by the way, thank you for tuning into the show.

Anybody that's joining us for the first time this year, very happy to have you. So to me, and I guess to us, a breakout player is someone who not only exceeds their ADP, but they take that jump, a teardrop. So when you're thinking about, where will they be in a draft next year? Well, it's probably multiple rounds earlier than they went this year. Just a ton of success from what you're expecting. But it can be wherever in the draft. So, like, last year in the Ultimate Draft Kit, in our breakout section, guys,

we had highlighted Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb. CeeDee Lamb was still an early round draft pick, but he paid off in a big way because he himself took a big jump as a player, as a focal point in the offense. And Jalen Hurts, of course, just cannot be stopped. Did he do well? He did okay. Truthfully, I don't think we've ever used this descriptor for a breakout,

but it certainly holds true where these players will never be drafted at this ADP again. This is the one time that you can get them at an average job position this low, and you expect them to make the jump into a higher tier in next year's UDK where they're ranked by everybody in the same spot. So, you know, game changers, superstars in the making. All right. Volunteers to go first on their breakout candidates for today's episode. I can jump in here first, fellas. Why don't you?

My breakout pick is Chicago Bears running back, starting running back, Khalil Herbert. Now, the path for Herbert has taken some time. He is a little bit older, but his opportunity is through the roof this year. Kyle apparently went back and kind of previewed what we were saying about Khalil Herbert before the draft actually happened. Fun fact, Jason debuted the phrase Dynasty Pants.

Oh, yeah. Oh, that was last year? No, this was back in 2021. Oh, yeah, Dynasty Pants had been around for a while. Jason just could not stop talking about Dynasty Pants. And I mentioned on that show Khalil Herbert was one of my favorite running backs. His production profile is great. And apparently I said he could find himself as a three-down back

if the universe works in mysterious ways, which the universe certainly does that. It continues to do that. And Khalil Herbert has an opportunity to actually be a three-down running back. David Montgomery is gone. I get it that David Montgomery is a good enough player to keep Khalil Herbert off the field,

but look where we are right now. Through preseason, he played every snap. Khalil Herbert played every snap with Justin Fields in week one. That included a third and long, which turned into a screen that went to the house. Again, I don't really care that he housed it, even though the play was great. It was more of, holy crap, it's third and long, and Khalil Herbert stayed on the field, and they threw him the ball. That's really good news.

That's very interesting. Go to the next preseason game. Justin Fields, he didn't play. Neither did Khalil Herbert. And Deonta Foreman was the next person up for the Roshon Johnson Hive. Very excited for that running back. I understand that he looks like a skilled player who could make some noise. But it's not his time.

Not yet. It is Khalil Herbert, and right now in drafts, people going ahead of Khalil Herbert, a starting running back on sleeper, DeAndre Swift, A.J. Dillon, Brian Robinson, Jamal Williams, Rashad Penny, and meanwhile, over the last decade, running backs who have averaged five yards per carry through their first two years, it is a very, very small list, but Khalil Herbert is on there. Big plays are possible. Huge rushing opportunity is possible. Chicago last year ranked first in rushing yards per game. Yeah, Justin Fields had a lot to do with that, but first in first half

rush rate, first in rush rate on second and long, third in expected points per rush attempt. This was a team that could run the ball pretty well, and Khalil Herbert, I believe, is going to be the first man up. And in drafts, like I said, sleeper running back 38, going in the ninth round on underdog ESPN. He is going a bit higher on Yahoo, but still at the back of the seventh round for a player who is a starting running back for an offense that's very interesting. The Khalil Herbert situation, and tell me whether you agree or disagree, but when I look at the backfield in Chicago and the fact that Justin Fields is going to probably push for 1,000 yards on the ground,

I kind of wonder how similar this will be to the Baltimore running back room in respect to very limited receiving work has materialized in that in Baltimore over the years. Like I'm looking at the receive, like Khalil Herbert's, he caught 14 passes. Then he caught nine passes in his two seasons. Sure.

You look over to Deontay Foreman. He's never caught more than nine in a season. Deontay Foreman. And then like Roshan has a little bit of that in his, you know, Sure. You look over to Deontay Foreman. He's never caught more than nine in a season, Deontay Foreman. And then, like, Roshan has a little bit of that in his profile. He caught 14 passes, but he was behind Bijon in Texas. Yeah, that's not too bad. That's not too bad. So I'm just wondering if the receiving work in the Chicago backfield

is going to be akin to how Baltimore's been recently, which is you just can't find a lot of value there because it's not like Deontay Foreman is going to come in and provide that. I mean, I, I'm trying to give Khalil Herbert the benefit of the doubt in my rankings and I've given him the most receptions in that offense, but we're talking about a minimal amount, which look, that's, that stifles your upside as a fantasy running back um if you

don't have the ability to get into the at least into the 30s in total receptions i've given him 29 yeah i i think he can i don't necessarily believe he will but i i definitely think he can get into the 30s if you look at what happened last year you have david montgomery who does have past catching background you had a year where it was 68 targets 54 receptions but now with Justin Fields last year 34 receptions that sixth lowest check down rate for Justin Fields in the NFL and so that's just something to pay attention to he also has like Mooney and DJ more back so I'm not saying LeClewell Herbert's going to be a top 10 running back, but for his ADP, I think he will

break out. Just coloring in the lines. I have him ranked very high too. Look what David Montgomery has done for the Bears the last two years. Running back 21 in 13 games. Running back 23 in 16 games. And to get someone who can, I think Khalil Herbert can easily finish

in the top 24, but he's not being drafted anywhere close to that. Very interesting stat he pulled up, Kyle did, over the last decade, running backs who averaged five-plus yards per carry through the first two years, like Khalil Herbert did, and then how they did in their third year. Matt Burrito was one of those guys. He ended up at 5.1 in his third year. Alvin Kamara at 4.7. Aaron Jones at 4.6.

Nick Chubb went up. Of course he did. Gus Edwards stayed around 5. Jonathan Taylor stayed around 5. So two years seems to be a decent enough sample size on that yards per carry. Obviously the amount of work you get is going to impact that a little bit. But you know, Killaherber

is going to have every opportunity. That's what I like. And if he can secure it, like the competition to me, I don't care about Deontay Foreman. I don't think Deontay Foreman represents a true, like, ruin your draft pick possibility for Khalil Herbert. I feel like that would be Roshan. I agree. But we haven't seen anything yet that says, you know,

he's ready to take that step, at least in the beginning of the year. Second half of the year, all bets are off. Yeah, I believe the note on Roshan was he's basically fourth in line right now. He will earn his way up, but as of right now, it's Khalil Herbert's job to lose. All right, quick break and back with some more breakouts. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you 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. All right, I'll hop in here with a man with a Madonna-style nickname. I'm talking about Cameron. That's it. It's just Cameron. I wasn't sure where that was going, but it's the one name? It's the one name.

It's Beyonce. It's Cameron. It's the most... I just heard Al cackling across the studio because it's the most opposite to the word Beyonce you could ever... Cameron? Cameron. Cameron. And of course, everyone knows who I the word Beyonce. You could ever Cameron Cameron Cameron. And of course, everyone knows who I'm talking about.

Yeah, but reservation for Cameron. We've like Britney could be in there. Yeah, Madonna. And then Cameron. Wait, have we said who we're talking about yet? Well, they already know Cameron Kobe. I mean, some people might call him Cam Akers running back for the Los Angeles Rams, but everybody knows him as Cameron.

Can't wait for him to be on. Just not his parents. On the t-shirt. Cameron. The nickname t-shirt will just say Cameron. We've really stepped down the nicknames. Anyways, to talk about Cameron and Wyatt. So Cam Akers is a breakout candidate.

He certainly is. You need to kind of follow his career he it was like who's better jonathan taylor or cameron acres uh that was that was what people were wondering and some people were on the cam acres side because of pass catching some people were on the jonathan taylor side that was the type of prospect when he was coming out he's dealt with injuries in fact not just injuries but a catastrophic usually careerending injury for a running back. He tore his Achilles. There are almost no running backs that have ever come back from that.

Deonta Foreman did it, and he took years to get back, and now he has never been given the opportunity to actually succeed. Yeah, James Robinson hasn't been the same guy. Arian Foster's career ended shortly after his recovery. Right. And then, so you lost basically an entire year with that. And then you thought he was done. And he got back.

And he got back quicker than we expected. And then, last year, you had the weird thing where it was like, they're infighting. We don't know the details of maybe it was he wanted the ball more or had a bad attitude, but it was like Cam Akers was done. He was not going to be a Ram anymore. He was not even activated. He was sat out for personal reasons, like just go away.

They were going to try to trade him, remember? They couldn't trade him. They made up, and then they put him back in the lineup and said, okay, you're healthy. We're just going to use you. And what did he do? Because all of a sudden he became kind of a workhorse back. And from that point forward, the last six weeks of the season, he, he dominated me. And he was, he, he, he was a running back two or better every single week. He was a top 10 running back

half of the time. He was the running back one, one of the times. In fact, during that stretch, he was the running back four in fantasy football. I mean, he was not, you know, he wasn't just good. He was great. And he was in one of my favorite things. He was drafted to be great. And this is the first opportunity he was ever given to do that after that injury. And he was, it was Christian McCaffrey, Austin Eckler, Jarek McKinnon, and then Cam Akers right there as far as the top four running backs over the last six weeks of the season. Over the final month, he, on average, was carrying the ball 19 times.

These are not small numbers. He was carrying the ball 19 times over the final month and averaged 5.5 yards per carry, and that included a game against the Denver Broncos. Yeah, I mean, he's built for that kind of a workload. He's 5'10", 216. He can take that and handle it. He played on 70% of their snaps in five of those final six games.

That is a number that very few running backs can hit. It was so weird. Yes. It was super weird. I'm not discounting the performance. The opportunities are amazing, but it legitimately felt like the Rams said, and we're done with the season. And then it was like, let's just give it to Cam Akers every game,

all game long, get this season over with, get Matthew Stafford back, and then let's start anew i completely agree i think that's what they did they're just like hey just leave him out there give him the ball of time we'll run him into the ground we don't care about this season but then what cam acres did with those carries has proved oh well dang okay so he's really good oh yeah we drafted you yeah we drafted you in the second round and you're you're you're dominating out here. If he can get 70% of the snaps, last year only four running backs hit that, Dalvin Cook, Saquon Barkley, CMC, and Josh Jacobs. If you get 70% of the snaps, you're great for fantasy football, just period.

And the depth chart is really begging for him to be a 70% workload type of guy. You're not worried about Zach Evans, Royce Freeman, Ronnie Rivers, and Kyron Williams, who hasn't even seen the preseason? No. I mean, it is one of the most solo type of backfields. I know that some people really like Kyron Williams. We loved his tape in college. He hasn't done anything forever. He hasn't even

seen the preseason football field. There are a handful... Does that mean he's the starter? Right. There are three or four backfields where I feel like when they go into the running back room to review tape, they make everybody but the starter sit in the back row. Like everybody in Cincinnati, there's Joe Mixon up front and everybody in the back gets to sit back there. This is one of the – Austin Eckler's up front.

Everybody else in Los Angeles has to sit in the back. I don't think any of these guys in Los Angeles, except for Cam Akers, gets to sit up front. Yeah. So I believe he will receive the opportunity this year to be a 60 plus percent type of player. That's what I actually think will happen. But you can see the path for him getting 70%. If that happens, he'll be a true breakout. He'll be a league winning type of pick. He is not someone that you have to draft super highly. He's going right now as the running back 24 near the 6-7 turn on ESPN. It's a shot worth taking because there's very few guys that you could say, oh, he's just a workhorse back. With Stafford and Kup and Akers could actually be a good offense. I mean, we know we've seen Todd Gurley succeed with Sean McVay's system before

and be a fantasy dominator. And so I believe, I actually believe Cameron Akers, sorry, Cameron. Thank you. Will have a very good fantasy season this year. All right, my breakout candidate was just duking it out for a my guy spot where I ended up going Jameer Gibbs, but I'm excited to get the opportunity to talk about him on today's show. It is the wire-to-wire leader in the Buffalo backfield all offseason,

the coast-to-coast starter who seems to have every opportunity going into the year is James Cook. Dalvin's brother, Zemir White's teammate from college, part of that national championship team. But James Cook is going to have every opportunity to prove himself this year. And one of the surprising things about Cook is if you watched him play last year when he had opportunities, to me, he was always impressive. It's just that those opportunities were minimal. You had so many opportunities that Devin Singletary took away from him, 230 of those to be exact.

But when he was out there, he averaged 6.2 yards per touch. My favorite characteristic of – I almost said Dalvin. James Dalvin. Sorry, James Dalvin. characteristic of uh i almost said dalvin james dalvin sorry james dalvin uh was that he just found a way to be available to josh allen in the passing game the 6.2 yards per touch was the fourth highest by a rookie running back over the last decade it was camara it was david johnson you can say that because it was his rookie year. And Andre Ellington, actually. And he led all running backs.

Oh, Andre. I know. He led all running backs and rushing yards over expectation by a wide margin last year. So, you know, I didn't think when this offseason started and they went and picked up Damian Harris and Latavius Murray that he would dominate camp the way that he has. They didn't add anybody in the draft, so that was step one. We thought maybe they'd add a younger talent in the draft.

Latavius is 33, and he's going to have a role, and he may hurt James Cook around the goal line, as Damian Harris might. But Damian Harris has been banged up. He's proven nothing in camp. Week two in the preseason, James Cook was on the field for 15 of 16 plays with Josh Allen. All the short yardage snaps actually went to him. I,

you know, Latavious got on the field, but not a lot. I, I just think that this is one of those players that everything that looked like it could be against him in the preseason and in training camp has been rebuffed. He's pulled the shield out and it's just deflected off the shield.

And he has been the clear runaway starter for this football team. And so I still have some internal fears, but he is a seventh round draft pick right now at running back 31. And one of the reasons he was in contention for a, my guy was simply because the draft value is so it's so good i got him at 23 jason has him at 24 um well ahead of adp with upside and so uh you know is this guy when you look at how it can go wrong to me it's he's between the 20s somehow and they find a way to replace him inside the but i just don't think it's going to happen.

And I think they're going to throw the ball a lot to James Cook. Yeah, and he's separated himself. So I think James Cook is a tremendous pick that you can drop right into your flex and then maybe get top 24, maybe get top 15, 16 on a bunch of weeks. He's got breakaway speed. He's got great pass-catching chops. We know how valuable those are. And he really started to take snaps at the end of last year.

People, this is not like a completely unproven scenario. Like he was basically 50-50 over the back part of the year with Devin Singletary, and they obviously moved on from Singletary for a reason. So I think they have a lot of confidence in James Cook. My offseason with James Cook has been the most robust character arc of anybody for the season because it was early on in the offseason, especially after the Damian Harris signing, it was I am completely out, O-U-T, on James Cook. And then the news, the drumbeat started to pick up,

and then we got to the point of, okay, I accept James Cook's ADP. I think it's fine. He has some upside. To now to the point of I actually have him ranked above where he's going on sleeper. And the hard part is we have not really seen Buffalo Bills running backs sustain a season-long worth of value. You've seen spurts here and there.

Devin Singletary was a good player for them. He had a couple of really good fantasy outputs, especially last year. But it just was never, ever on every single week. And Josh Allen just hasn't been throwing the ball to the running back that much. But James Cook, if he is truly the guy and the talent that we saw at the end of last year on the field move forward, I think he is someone that you should actually target. I've moved from out to completely in. Give me a bonus breakout pick this year.

We all had our main pick right there. Jason, why don't you go first? You want me to jump in here? No. You got it? I think that this is a great opportunity to talk about this player. He was a my guy for me last year. The lumberer.

The lumberer, Gabe Davis. I've been wanting to talk about him, but I feel like I'm not allowed. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I feel the same way about Cortland Sutton. Gabe Davis finished last year as the wide receiver 27. It was very disappointing. It came in, you know, some big games and some inconsistency, but he still finished as the wide receiver 27. The problem was he didn't have that true breakout that I think we were calling for. And oftentimes that happens a year late, a post-hype sleeper. It's a very common thing for people to see the path of a player to break out, call for the breakout. It doesn't happen. They fall in ADP and then they break out like that happens frequently. This is a 24 year old wide receiver who camp reports have talked about how he's catching

everything, absolutely dominating in camp, and he's being drafted as the wide receiver 43 or 47, depending on your platforms, for Josh Allen. He's the number two target for Josh Allen. Like, I get it. There were burns last year. He disappointed. But where you're drafting him, there's very little risk. He's going to beat that ADP for show. he's not going to be the wide receiver 47 and there's a chance he actually

becomes a really really valuable fantasy asset and at the very least because of where you draft him because he's your wide receiver four he's just a you're injecting volatility into your lineup for big game winning performances better try to catch one of the four of 17 last year that he showed up last year I agree yeah I mean that that's you know that's still the risk right that is the risk that's why he's being drafted lower but if he ends up going out and half of his games are good that's actually really impressive for a wide receiver and he could absolutely do it. And genuinely, like every single day you're reading stuff from camp about how he's just looked great. He's just catching absolutely

everything and catching everything. That's the phrase that's constantly being used. And that's the one I like the most because his catch percentage on his career has just not been very good. He caught 52% of his passes last year last year you know if he was a 63 catch rate last year he would have been great he would have been a great pick so he gets the targets in the offense and they're valuable targets they're downfield uh in zone you know big fantasy scoring uh performance and just the final point on Gabe Davis which is why he will dominate. This is year two after a my guy. I mean, our history of having a year two my guy. So you're going, wait, this is a Cooper Cup call?

Yeah, exactly. Man, I want that catch percentage to change because this guy, I know he averages the huge yards per catch, so that's going to bring it down a little bit, but 52% of your passes, that's going to stop people throwing to you. That's got to be the transition. Yeah. I mean, there's no way he only catches 52% of the passes this year. I really think he's in line for a much better year. And you got to remember he had a high ankle sprain that he was playing through as well that he got early in the

season last year. So I think he could still break out. He's only 24 years old. Jackson Smith and Jigba of the Seattle Seahawks is my bonus breakout pick. He's so good. He's so good. Yeah, I mean, right now he's going wide receiver 35 in the seventh round. He is, people need to remember,

you can talk about Zay Flowers, you can talk about Quentin Johnson, you could talk about Jordan Addison this was the highest draft capital pick this is the best wide receiver bar none in the draft players like that just end up demanding targets and performing for

fantasy this was a player better than Garrett Wilson and Crystal Lave by their own admission when he was at Ohio State and you're never getting him at this price ever again the rest of your life. No, never. So if you're in a keeper league, one of those leagues where they're like, we get the questions every day.

The draft cost is where you drafted them. And next year you're going to be coming here going, do I keep Garrett Wilson for a second, or do I keep Jackson Smith and Jigba for a seventh? And we're going to answer JSN next year. That's what's going to happen. So I think you don't need to be smart enough to figure out how it happens, whether that takes away from Lockett or Metcalf or whatever.

Just trust that the talent will reign supreme. And speaking of another rookie, I will talk about Zay Flowers because he is my bonus breakout pick, rookie wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, currently going in sleeper as the wide receiver 44, ESPN the wide receiver 48, Yahoo wide receiver 51. This was the 22nd overall pick in 2023, a 4.4240 time. He is fast. He is shifty.

He plays much bigger than his size. There were a lot of people that I trust in the draft community who were whispering the name. This kind of looks like Antonio Brown, the way that he moves his body. And the bonus stat for Zay Jones is he has the lowest wide receiver 180p with a top five QB, top five quarterback being drafted in the last decade. That is not true. It's not?

No, Zay Jones does not have that. Zay Flowers does. Did I say Zay Jones? You sure did, Michael. Oh, I keep doing it. I got you. You got me good. But the point being, look at what you lost it yeah you got me you got me it's it's interesting for people to be

so in on lamar which i am one of them so in on what the baltimore offense could be the transition with todd monken to a pass-heavier offense, to a faster-moving offense. We want up-tempo. We want passing volume. And yet, because of how ambiguous the wide receiver room is, these wide receivers are just absolutely plummeting in the draft, which I get it.

I'm not sure. You can't be 100% confident who to take your chance with, but I'm taking my chance on the rookie. I'm taking my chance with Zay Flowers. I think he is an absolute smash pick where he is going in the ninth round. The rookies are always enticing. They're always exciting. You should.

If rookies have talent and they are in just anything that is an average to above averageaverage situation. You should be targeting them. Here's a cool stat speaking of these rookie wide receivers. Cool stat, cool stat. Since 2014, there have been 18 first-round rookie wide receivers who had 50 receptions as a rookie. All 18 of them were drafted as a top 30 wide receiver the next year.

Ten of the 18 were drafted as top 15 wide receivers like it to andy's point earlier when you when you're grabbing these guys you'll never be able to get these players again at that at that price yeah it is um i mean last year i put that rookie wide receiver plan into place i was limited on my draft picks and legal record and i added olave and garrett wilson and uh trailing burks and i just kind of shot my shot yeah yeah that's the way shooters shooters shoot and three or four of them ended up very valuable for trading for uh giving me a shot last year so two of the three here in the bonus breakout pick uh jsn and say flowers um cool i mean there there are a number of guys that i think we're all keeping our eye on late in traps um that have the ability to you know i don't i don't know where i sit at the quentin johnston looked good and

when you talk about rookies he looked good again in preseason yesterday. He's also had drops, which was a problem for him at TCU. You know, when you compare that to like Jamar Chase, that wasn't really a collegiate issue for him from what I remember. But the opportunity is going to be there, and I know we like that offense. So the rookies are going to have their shot. Let's do a couple of mailbag questions ready Mike let's go mailbag oh yeah if you have a question for the show go to the website the fantasy footballers.com or dial the voicemail hotline 302-464-TFFB with your question Adrian I'm stuck between keeping Ramondre Stevenson in round six or Alexander

Madison around 10 before Zeke had Stevenson or before Zeke, he had Stevenson locked in, but now he's second guessing everything because of course, what do you think half PPR? I will take Stevenson. I still lean to take Stevenson because I know that he is a good player. Alexander Madison being a, a really good player, that's still just a projection. Massive opportunity, but is the round six to round ten gap enough? Well, let me tell you. Let me give you examples just to make sure you guys stick to that pick. Here's what he's giving up in the sixth round in order to take that gap. He's giving up Brandon Ayuk or Mike Williams, J.K. Dobbins, Tyler Lockett, Trevor Lawrence.

Obviously, players in the 10th round aren't going to look like that. Players in the 10th round are going to be Sky Moore, Daniel Jones, Zach Charbonnet. So would you rather have a Sky Moore and Ramondre Stevenson, or would you rather have a Tyler Lockett and Alexander Madison? Yeah. And I lean the Tyler Lockett, Alexander Madison. I think the sixth is worth it. If you believe that Alexander Madison is going to have a good season, I do.

So I would go that direction. Yeah, I'm sticking with Stevenson. I want ceiling and a half PPR. I want receptions. I think Madison offers both of those. But again, knowing that Stevenson is an excellent player, I'm going to take Madison

in the 10th. Jeff in Kentucky, me and the guys at work are doing a super flex for the first time in 15 years of playing fantasy. I have the number two pick in the draft. Should I still take Jefferson or go with the quarterback because of super flex? Quarterback. At number two, I would take the draft. Should I still take Jefferson or go with the quarterback because of Superflex? Quarterback. Yeah.

At number two, I would take the quarterback. Yep. Jen in Illinois, is Josh Jacobs going to eventually sign and play in 2023? Yeah, I think so. I have. I got 10 million reasons to believe he will. I have scooped him up in every best spot. When all the news was really bad about Barkley for a week and there were the reports about how he was going to have to really consider it and he might not, you know, his only leverage is to not show up, blah, blah, blah.

He dropped a round. He dropped two rounds, and I got him in every league I was drafting at that time. I'm doing the same thing with Josh Jacobs right now, getting him in the back of the second. He'll drop to the third sometimes. Are you doing the same thing with Jonathan Taylor? So Jonathan Taylor, I'm not. I just saw him go in the sixth round of an actual draft

because all 12 managers were terrified. Yeah, Jonathan Taylor, I would certainly pick him up before the sixth round. The risk-reward, the reward there is worth it. But no, I'm not grabbing him the same as those other two guys because there's also the injury question mark there. Did see the Ursae comments or he said he made a bunch of comments around Jonathan Taylor again but the one that got highlighted that that kind of stood out was him saying I'm really looking forward to seeing if Jonathan Taylor can get back to being the Jonathan Taylor that he was before like kind of like the year before last year yeah so that

that's got an extra wrinkle where it's like, if it's just contract, I do think Jonathan Taylor's there. I just don't know how he is because we haven't seen him. What about Josh Jacobs showing up in the worst shape of his life? Oh, right. It's not going to happen. Not for him. For Jacobs?

No, I don't think so either. No, this was Eddie Lazy. All right. A couple reminders. Megalobowl.com. Come join us in the largest fantasy football league ever and the most fun. We've made some huge improvements this year. Really looking forward to it.

Play with me. Play with Jason. Beat him in a league. In a league, that is. And then we've got one other thing that we just haven't mentioned it a lot, but if you need a trophy, a ring, a championship belt, fantasychamps.com has you covered. And if you are one of the many, because I know there's lots of you,

that you do the draft board at your draft, Fantasy Champs has fantasy footballers theme draft boards so 12 team 10 team 18 leagues so the big board that goes on the wall put all the player names up there which is it's a fun way to do a draft they have those and right now they're doing free two-day air which is a 25 value so if you think it's too late to grab one for your draft it's not fantasychamps.com all you have to do is add to grab one for your draft, it's not fantasy champs.com. All you have to do is add it to the cart, the fantasy footballers draft board, and they're given free two day air. So you'll have it in time for your draft worth checking out.

That is it for today's episode of the show. What do we got tomorrow? Sleepers. I think we got sleepers tomorrow. Al, do we got sleepers tomorrow? Does anybody know what we're doing? I believe it's sleepers. All right, everyone's nodding. Talk to you then. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.