Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Draft Worries + Breakout Hopes, Tricky Trades - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/8

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Fantasy Football show for Apr 8, 2025. Which players will lose the most value after the NFL Draft? Worrisome players, tricky dynasty trades, and more! Plus, the latest news including contract extensions for Trey McBride and Geno Smith. And what counts as a breakout for fantasy football? Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.Get the lowest price on the 2025 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Instant access to the Dynasty Pass with the UDK+(00:00) Introduction(03:35) Fantasy Draft Worries(04:00) De’Von Achane(06:35) Najee Harris(08:25) Rhamondre Stevenson(11:40) News & Notes(24:05) Mailbag(24:50) Keep Jayden Daniels or Malik Nabors? (28:40) Tee Higgins or Rashee Rice? (30:55) Tony Pollard outlook for 2025 (32:30) Zay Flowers breakout season? (38:35) Chase Brown for Rome Odunze in dynasty (43:35) Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson (48:35) Pickleball rivalriesConnect 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. Welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers, Tuesday, April 8th. The year is 2025. And we got another show for you. Is that's what we do. Show 1736. Is that true? I believe so.

It's in the show, Doc. That's a lot. That's a lot of shows. So where does that put us on? Will it be 2026 will be 2000 or 27? I don't know. Kyle, figure that out. Go to the Deucer camp.

Oh, yeah. Kyle the Borgogon's in the he's house. Kyle is here. I was trying to be a cool youth from the 90s. We got rid of the Falcon. Our DFS embedding podcast, the host of our dynasty podcast, Kyle, flying into town just to kind of sit there.

Where's Dan? What do people love it, Jason? Yeah, the people love the people. Oh, yes they do. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. That's on me. Wake up!

Dude, I told you, I'm very tired. Yeah, I was gonna say like, one minute ago, quote, I'm so tired from Jason. So- That was private information. Did you- Wake up! What'd you have for lunch?

I had a Mediterranean bowl. Heavy. Heavy on the hummus. We have a winner, is this true? Al Borland, we got a winner of the... That is correct, the Foot Clan giveaway. The Drake London signed jersey goes to Patrick McGrath. Congratulations, Patrick. I would like to file a motion for Patrick to name, change his last name to McGrathic, because Patrick McGrathic is, that's a good name. Okay.

Just saying. Okey dokey. Just throwing it out there. Oh yeah. I feel like there's some culture reference I don't understand. No, no. Just a, that's a funny sounding name.

Okay, maybe you need to wake up too. You guys both need to wake up. That is that, okay. YouTube.com says the fantasy footballers. Are you doing a joke where you made a guy's name rhyme? We would never do anything like that on this show. Look, I think we gave you more credit than you deserved. We thought. No, that was.

We don't know most references that you make. And it could have been anything from your wide range of knowledge. It could have been the world of WWE, which we know nothing about. It could have been, there could be a famous wrestler named Patrick. I wouldn't have known. What a great name, that rhymes. It could have been an 80s video game character.

I would not have known that. I will say this joke is not for you guys. So when I'm doing my real shallow dumb people jokes, those are right for you guys. Oh, you give us a disclaimer. You can follow us on X at the FF Ballers. Our quick question of the day. It's a simple one. Which player's fantasy value are you most worried about being impacted from the NFL draft? And so a chance to bring up a name, somebody that you're just kind of nervous about. Maybe they're on a dynasty roster and you're just you know You've set up a little corner every room. You're saying your prayers. You're hoping nobody gets drafted to ruin this player

I think the one that could this is easily the big boy get hurt the most I think Probably will is Devon a Chan a Chan is you know still right now? He's very very highly drafted and he will be if he is all alone. He's very high in my dynasty rankings at running back. Absolutely. As he should be, still only 23 years old. I also don't think if the Miami Dolphins go and draft a running back, I don't think that destroys Devon Aitchan. I think it'll come back to the hyper efficient rookie season versus the more Volume based still successful fantasy season of last year

But as far as the the the upside the value where he's being drafted I think who could take a real kick in the sack would be would be Devon HM I think the Dolphins could draft a very good, I think they should. I'd be like, what is happening? That was a good one. I think the Dolphins should draft a good running back in this draft class, but it will hurt HN a lot. Well, they have a 13th overall pick, a second rounder, a third rounder. They kind of whiffed on Jalen Wright last year. Rohan Mostert is gone. They have Madison. It will, it would definitely concern me because I think getting back to the efficiency level of his rookie season

is probably not happening because that so many breakaway runs in big plays. 7.8 yards per carry? That's why it would concern me. You have sometimes seasons like that happen Kerry. That's why it would concern me. You have sometimes seasons like that happen and they're once in a lifetime and you don't, you know, the breakaway runs weren't there last year. There should have been more. Um, I don't know. It would worry me if you go, you went from 140 opportunities to 2 90. And that is why he is where he's being drafted in dynasty and in redraft leagues. And, um, it'll make me nervous, but it depends who they draft, right? It depends where, what round That is why he is where he's being drafted in dynasty and in redraft leagues. It'll make me nervous, but it depends who they draft, right?

It depends where, what round, do we like them, what we believe about Tua going forward. We all picked running backs for this question. I think running backs are the... It's the position that gets hurt the most at the draft. I don't worry too much. It's like if neighbors had Teterone, Teterone and no one added. Yeah, the number one overall. Yeah, and he was drafted at three or whatever. I don't think that that would take anything away from neighbors. Wide receivers aren't really that hurt. Wide receiver ones. It's like wide receiver twos, now you can get replaced.

Yeah, that'd be more like lower tier stuff. if the Raiders take some white outs Jacobi Myers is no longer right you know a flex type of guy or a dynasty hold. Mike you went with... I'm going Najee Harris the the hot signing by the Los Angeles Chargers and that team is just so primed to draft a running back. The makeup of the team with G-Row and Hard Dog being the highest of T and Najee being 27. And just, like, Najee's best ability is his availability. 1,330 opportunities in four years. Yeah, and so he's near the age cliff,

he's got a ton of work, and they're gonna want a young guy. Was he a one year? Yeah, he's a one year contract. So this is a team that in a deep draft class wants a future running the ball, that it makes complete sense for them to draft someone. Najee right now was a huge free agency winner.

So, and look, this is not, I'm saying, I promise this is going to happen to Najee Harris. It would surprise me if we went through the draft and they didn't do anything. It's not impossible, but Najee is like a de facto, oh sweet, I still have a running back two on my team, but if a high profile rookie goes to the Chargers, that kid's taking the job, the job before the years old. What if it's a third, fourth rounder? A third- A high enough profile for you?

A third round running back in this draft class would, I would project Najee to lose his starting job by half-way through. Yeah, I think the hope for fantasy managers is that because they signed Najee to this deal and it is a deep draft class, that they'll'll use a fourth fifth sixth rounder and I won't I won't be that scared it's really just are they taken on day one or day two that those are gonna make immediate impact for their NFL team if they're a day three pick then a quality veteran should hold them off especially around the goal line for Najee unless somebody comes in that's a big bruiser. I went with the running back as well,

and it was all sunshine and rainbows last off season for Ramondre Stevenson. Signed a big contract, still under contract for three more years. But just look at the Patriots. They have four picks in the first three rounds. Ramondre, the confidence level in Ramandre, it went down, his yards per carry, down three straight years. His targets, down

three straight years. Have had some fumbling issues. They, when Antonio Gibson's getting worked in, or we're getting punitive benchings, right? Which it's just not a good vibe where the team may not look at Ramon Dre like they did last off season. I think last off season, they thought he was more foundational to the offense. I think now it's more, well, if a good player's on the board, we're going to go best player available. We need a running back. And I think Ramon Dre's value in fantasy is diminishing. This is a bad offensive line, by the way. I mean, the worst in the league last year. Yeah, he's approaching the bad age for running backs.

And they've been talking about wanting to add a pass, catching running back in the draft. There was a recent blurb there where they were saying that that will be a priority for them would you in dynasty roll the dice with these three names or would you try to capitalize on The value I think a Chan's value is as high as its his values going to be I would agree there But I I'm gonna hold on to each and I'm not trading him before the draft because of a fear that they'll get another running Back like I said, I think he'll have value.

Ramandre, I don't think you're getting anything for, to be honest. No one's kicking down the door to acquire Ramandre Stevenson. Najee is interesting. This Goldilocks? Najee to me is valuable right now because he's all alone. He signed a contract for a Harbaugh team. It looks good. He hasn't missed a Harbaugh team. It looks good. He's you know hasn't missed a

game in his career you can get something for Naji and If they were to take a day one or day two pick which would not shock any of us I agree with Mike he won't finish the season as a starter. I Think I lean a hold on Naji just in how I view running backs in dynasty. And we were here last year with the Chargers. All these exact same narratives. One of the biggest winners in the draft, J.K. Dobbins. Because Kamani Vidal didn't do anything, and they want somebody they can trust.

At this time, it was Gus Bucks. Gus Edwards was the big winner of free agency, because he actually got a contract worth a couple million dollars. And Dobbins worth a couple million dollars, and Dobbins was a, I think a vet minimum. Yeah, he was paid nothing. That drum beat took time. He still has no team, right?

Dobbins, correct. That sucks. Yeah, it does. I feel like he came back and did the max he could have done after those injuries. He did. And now has no team. Like watching Dobbins, you're like, like, it's still not right. It's

not fully back and I don't know that will ever be fully back. Yeah. It just stinks. Yeah man it's tough. Dude he was gonna be so good. And he was productive for them. Yeah. But we'll never know what the career could have been. No we won't. News and notes from around the league. Guys. Mike is feeling good. T-Mac. The Cardinals have signed Trey McBride to a four-year 76 million dollar extension.

43 million. Yes, Jason. The people love this one. It's the. Yes, Jason, the people love this one. It's the Trey McBride getting that money. Biggest contract in league history for a tight end, 19 million annual average. So just imagine if you scored some touchdowns. It's fantastic on so many levels, but I think the highest profile one is the Arizona Cardinals

don't give Trey McBride this money if they had any plans to not keep featuring him as a pass catcher. You don't look at your offense and say, well, Trey, you might take a step back here. We're going to get Marv Moore. We think we're going to get another guy. No, you pay this guy step back here. We're gonna get Marv more. We think we're gonna get another guy. No, you pay this guy, because he's gonna be a number one on your team. Yes, it's Kelsey-level centerpiece.

I mean, it's, when you look at the Cardinals, you need to make sure you look at their entire receiving group in how you look at Kyler and all of that. Like McBride, you know, sometimes you can ignore that tight end, you can look at holes at wide receiver two, you can look at disappointment from Marv. Right now today, Trey McBride is their best receiver. That's the actual truth, and that means

that they messed up a little bit, because I probably wouldn't say that if Neighbors was on the Cardinals. Yeah, that's fair. I hope you're not saying that at the end of the year, but Trey McBride is, in and of himself, just awesome. on the Cardinals. Yeah, that's fair. I hope you're not saying that at the end of the year. But I think we were saying that at the end of the year. Trey McBride is, in and of himself, just awesome. The way he goes up and mosses guys, breaks tackles.

The dog. He always got the dog. He's got- 147 targets, 111 catches. Yeah, I mean, it was awesome. And the path, you know, Mike and I, we share, you know, our champ, champ, champ team in one of our dynasty leagues.

We had Travis Kelsey. Is there two spaces at the end of that team now? Like champ, champ, champ. Blank, blank. Blank, blank. There is, but that's. I'm just trying to make sure. You can't take away the champ team team.

You need to leave the right amount of space after you say it. Well, the nice thing is, so we. How's your dynasty team championships going, Andy? How would you list them? I wouldn't say my champ champ team. You wouldn't? No.

Did you win two in a row? Did you have the champ champ? No, I wasn't. Oh yeah, yeah. Then I wouldn't have side-a-wayed either, because it didn't happen. Interesting. I'll bet if you won them back to back, you would say that.

But anyways, we had Travis Kelce for that run, and we chose in the first round to take Trey McBride because we believed in this player in his rookie year as the future Replacement how'd you feel about that? And you're in whole felt so bad because we took him over Jahan dot yeah, and If after a year someone would have offered us Jahan Dotson for Trey McBride yeah why didn't you offer us that trade Kyle yeah cuz we would have taken that really well at the time yeah I mean Trey McBride had a nice rookie there's no

way you would have offered it yeah well where's that okay now I got Johnny Smith so watch out okay Gino Smith two-year extension worth 85 Beautiful million dollars for you, Gino. I think some people would be surprised how old Gino Smith is He is going to be 35 He'll be 35 he gets a 66 million guaranteed deal. The Raiders quarterback situation is 100% Geno Smiths for a while. And so if you're looking at Brock Bowers, you feel great. Because Geno is a professional, Geno targets the tight end,

and you've got stability in a position where he produced without it. So. Wow, Kyle's chiming in here. Only Stafford and Russ are older than Gino as starting quarterbacks right now. That's obviously Rogers being there. He's much older than I think people realize.

He had like a decade off of football as a backup. And I think he's good. I think he's good as well. I think he's a good quarterback. I do believe it will overblow Brock Bowers a little bit. I think people are going to say well now he's got an accurate quarterback, and he didn't last year But if you look at Brock Bowers, you know back Brock Bowers cut 73% of his targets Like a chicken it was just But go on but my point is he

He caught 73% of his passes in his rookie year, so you can't really say that his quarterbacks were that Inaccurate and how much you know he had 153 targets you're saying that the hype will be I mean yeah How much higher can you go right? Yeah? I mean You're saying that the hype will be, I mean yeah, how much higher can you go? Right, right, that's what I'm saying. Geno Smith, for all his, you know, the confidence that we have in him, he has one season ever above 21 touchdowns.

So that, I mean that's, it's just interesting, right? I mean he had the 30 touchdown year, then he went to 20 and then 21. He's a very capable quarterback. He throws for more than 4,000 yards. The yards will be there. You hope that the touchdowns can get up into the 25, 26 range. The argument for him with Bowers is it's just

an argument for the Raiders. Right. The Raiders overall will be a better offense with Gina. I think the Raiders are going to be a pretty good team. I do too. And I was. I think they'll draft Gentie, by the way. We were talking to.

Cool man. You think so? Yes. At 6. I mean, that would be a great offense. And this division. They're visiting with him today, by the way. We were talking to, Oh man. You think so? Yes. At six that, I mean that would be a great offense. And this division, They're visiting with him today by the way. This division looks to me like,

I think we thought this when Russ came to town and it didn't turn out to be true, but this division looks unstoppable good. The, what the Chargers are doing, how they've built that team in a year, you know, they've got Herbert, obviously the back to back to back Super Bowl visiting, Super Bowl visiting AFC representative of the Chiefs. The Raiders, I think, are gonna be pretty good.

I think they're going to be a top half team. Eight and nine? I would, yeah, I mean, maybe nine and eight. The hard part is they've gotta play their division mates, and then the Broncos, with Bo Nicks, they look like they're ready to compete. So you're talking about a really good division now. Like the AFC North where all the teams are going to be pretty competitive. It's good to be in the NFC.

Unless you're in the NFC North. Yeah. In which case it's also bad to be in the NFC. But Patriots get a fifth round pick for Joe Milton the third and a seventh from the Cowboys North. Yeah. In which case is also bad to be in the NFC. But it's bad to be in football. Patriots get a fifth round pick for Joe Milton the third and a seventh from the Cowboys. This one is. They have added their their next Trey Lance backup. I do not get this. So if you don't remember Joe Milton was drafted by the Patriots I think in the sixth round last year. He had you know like he his supporters, and then he has one start there

at the end of the year where he looked real good. 22 for 29, 241 and 1, a couple highlight plays that made people turn their head. He looked like a capable player, but it's one game. Week 18. It's the very end of the year. And you have him under contract for real cheap, you drafted him to the sixth,

and then you trade him plus a seven for a five, it's... You wonder if there's more pressure from a little head scratching to me. Maybe from him. Yeah, yeah, I mean it could be for him. That's the impression I'm getting is that he's, he knows Drake May, 22 years old, he is the future of the pageant,

he's who I like, I like Drake May a lot, I think he's gonna be good. I like Drake May a lot. I think he's gonna be good. But you're right, you don't normally just toss away depth at quarterback. Like they brought in Dobbs. Yeah. But it's like, I don't know.

To get a fifth back when you have, when there's allegedly all this interest in Joe Milton is weird. Well they probably would have gotten more if there was more real interest. Jordan Mason, this is a bit of news. Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell talking about Jordan Mason's role on the Vikings.

If you didn't catch that earlier in the off season, Jordan Mason traded by the 49ers to the Vikings. Basically O'Connell says he wants to reduce Aaron Jones' workload, which makes sense. Aaron Jones is what, 30? How old is Aaron Jones? At least. 30 or 31.

Aaron Jones is older. He is, he's 30. And you know, he had a career high and snaps and rush attempts, had some injuries. And he basically said that he can be a game changer, speaking of Jordan Mason. And there's some talk about, you know, one A, one B backfield structure,

goal line opportunities for Jordan Mason, some series dedicated to, which he should. All of these things should happen. If you're Minnesota, you know, the thunder and lightning, Aaron Jones spent a lot of his career in that type of, you know, workload. It makes perfect sense. It's a great ad by Minnesota,

but it means bad things for Aaron Jones, the messy manager. Yeah, I mean, you saw this with how they got players involved in the beginning of the season. You had a committee, and then it wasn't working. We thought it was going to be one of those situations. You thought it would be Ty Chandler. Yeah, Ty Chandler started the year getting 11 opportunities, 10 opportunities, 16 opportunities. They had their bye week early in week six, and then it was like, eh, we're not helping our offense when we're doing this. Then he did nothing the rest of the year.

Wasn't Cam Akers getting snaps? Yes. Akers took the backup job. It is, Jones will be a tough draft. If he's in the dead zone for running backs this year, then he will not, he's probably not going to be a guy I want to draft. I think both. He seems like somebody to have maybe for the first part of the year, but not count on. I feel like both players will be decent dead zone

running back picks because Mason will probably be undervalued and I think that they both have the situation where their quality backs on a good offense. But where do you think, you think Mason will be drafted that high? Oh no, I mean he might be past the dead zone. No, he'll be late like double digit.

I'm just saying for where they're being drafted, you have the built-in upside of it if either one of them goes down. The other is a really good running back on a good offense. For sure. And then we do have the announcement officially. I don't know if we've talked about it on the show recently But the NFL the NFL will officially switch from using the chain gangs to camera based technology in 2025 to determine first downs

Don't worry chain games. They are still there. Yeah, how useless can you feel when you're the backup? Yeah, holding a chain your that is not gonna be used They only hire between 67 and 74 year old men on the chain gang. I have to imagine when you are completely, 100% not used at all for weeks and weeks and weeks and it's late in the third quarter and week 16 and like are you paying attention to your job? Like all of a sudden the the the Hawkeye or whatever. They're looking they're like way down the field. They never moved. It's like oh no our system isn't working let's go to the backup. Oh it is uh. They're asleep Bob. But this is just

the the measurement right? Correct. This is an is an actual, we didn't fix the spotting of the ball, which is, that's the real problem. You're right. Is making sure that, like, I know we've had a couple fiascos with the chain gang, including the, who pulled out the note card? Oh yeah, it's- Skeletor, whatever his name is. Oh man. Gene Skeletor

from the He-Man series. No one wants to jump in? I think Gene Skeletor is pretty good. Good work team. Sterator right? Yeah that's why I went with Skeletor because I wasn't sure. Now you got it. It rhymed and I know you like how things rhyme. We will go ahead and move on here, take a quick break and jump into some questions. Did we find his name? Does anyone know it? I said it. It is Gene Steritor. Okay, Steritor.

I'm all over this, Mike. Let's jump into the mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag, ooh yeah. All right, if you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button, or dial the voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. I believe we have a voicemail question today.

A quick reminder, don't forget to check out ultimatedraftkit.com, pre-order pricing available now. If you're not familiar, all the information is over there at UltimateDraftKit.com. It's our draft kit to get you prepared for your upcoming fantasy football draft season with our Sleeper's Breakouts, Bus Values, Player Rankings, and a whole lot more. A bunch of really unique tools to help you get an advantage. So check that out at UltimateDraftid.com. We'll jump into a voicemail. What's up ballers? This is Uncle Al from Greeley, Colorado. Would you

rather keep Malik neighbors for a fourth round pick or Jaden Daniels for an eighth? Love the show. Thanks guys. I'm going to assume... This was Uncle Al saying Malik for a fourth or Jaden Daniels for an eighth. I'm going to assume because this is a question that this has to be a single quarterback league. Otherwise, Jaden Daniels in the eighth, he wouldn't be in the eighth. It's a pretty easy answer for me. It's Malik for me.

Yeah, it's Malik. It's Malik neighbors just due to market. Having Jaden Daniels is gonna be so much fun. He's gonna be awesome for fantasy football. But there's other guys that you can find that can at least give you a lot of the production that Jaden Daniels is giving you where Malik in the fourth is.

The ice is crazy. Being exchanged for an eighth round pick, I mean this coulda been, even if it was Malik for a four and Jaden for free, I would still be taking Malik. Malik in the fourth is a great value right now. He's the 10th pick off the board in ADP, so. In basketball? No, this is sleeper dead.

Oh, all right. Yeah, and if, look, if you wanna take a swing on Jaden earlier than advertised, you can still do that you're saving Draft position on Malik Malik could be a first round second round pick. This is Interesting to me. I want to get your guys opinion here pulled up underdog, you know, just checking out their rankings here They have Brian Thomas at six Malik at seven as in in like a whole

almost ten picks Brian Thomas is in front of Malik neighbors that's or I'm sorry that point that's points 80 but they he's ahead of his closer yeah yeah I mean look I don't I don't blame anybody for that situation in Jacksonville is cleared up it's Brian Thomas's show. There's a quarterback there Russell. Wilson's not there Yeah, I mean that that's that is a big big distraction by addition Yeah, look you you have more stability there in in the key. You got Trevor Lawrence. Well, so who would you take? You're in a start-up. I a startup, not a dynasty draft, just for 2025. I do feel like there is a magnetism to try to take neighbors there, but I think the smarter

pick would be Brian Thomas. I agree. I don't know why. Why is it that we feel like that's strange? I can't wait to, obviously when we get working on the statting out of every player for the ultimate draft kit, seeing how those two players, the chips fall, especially after projecting whatever we think Russell Wilson's going to do, I mean you always have the potential of Jameis stepping in. Right. If Jameis was the quarterback, Malik neighbors. So, Brian Thomas was lower points per game.

I've got the numbers here. Than Malik. Yeah Malik. Malik missed a couple games. Malik was 109 for 1204 and seven. Thomas was 87 for 1202 and 10. Malik missed some time, higher volume. That volume could be there for Brian Thomas,

probably should be there for Brian Thomas this year with no more Christian Kirk. Yeah I don't think you're making a mistake I think they should be neck and neck. And it's the I mean yeah they have the quarterback but it was Matt Jones when Brian Thomas really got cooking. He was oh my goodness. From the bye week he was on pace for Brian Thomas was 127 for 16 80 and 15. The world where Brian Thomas comes out and has a slow first three games like people there will be rides in the streets for for Lawrence to be removed

Kyle Turner writes in on X if he had to pick heads up between T Higgins and Rashi Rice in dynasty who would you take I would take T Higgins I would take Rashi Rice I would take T Higgins really I would we got you to answer T. You did. Yeah. What a day. You did. What a day. So why? I think that T Higgins is just overall the better player. The like it's he's not as target consolidation to me between the two guys. He's not as gadgety where it like it'll work for a while with Rice but it's like Higgins to me is a guy that that and touchdowns if I have to project who's gonna have more touchdowns I would go Higgins. Yeah I mean I pretty much agree with that I think Xavier Worthy's the fact that he matured to be as valuable as he was the

fact that Hollywood Brown was resigned when as valuable as he was, the fact that Hollywood Brown was re-signed when he wasn't there at the beginning of the year when Rossi had success, those two players being involved with Rossi Rice, his suspension situation. The update on Rice, because he was also injured, a season-ending injury back in week four, Coach Reed said that Rice is on track to be ready for training camp. We still do have to figure out the whole suspension thing, which has been just radio silence, unless you guys saw something. No, I have not heard anything on it.

So I lean T. But don't forget that that will happen. Like the suspension talk will eventually happen. They're not as far apart in age as you might expect. No, two years different in playing seasons, but only one year apart in age. That being said, that obviously means that it's an earlier contract. How many years apart do you say playing? Two? Two extra seasons for T? Three. Really? Yeah, because Rice just finished his second season, he's got five seasons already. But very similar in age.

Mack writes in off of X, how do you guys rank Tony Pollard next year, given the Titans drafting of Cam Ward? If they do. They will. So. He was almost my answer for the quick question, because I could easily see them adding a running back, the Titans in this draft, and Tony Pollard would really, he would be off my board if they were to draft him.

It feels like a good year for them to take a running back, not take a running back. I agree, I agree completely. It's a good year to just, you've got it figured out already, you've got Spears and Pollard. Just take that year off, stack up office of linemen, protect your quarterback. Yes, that's what I would do as well. But sometimes teams do crazy things like they take the number one pick and they draft Trevor Lawrence and then they use another first round pick and

draft Travis Etienne when you have, when you had a good running back? The Titans, I'm looking at our lads right now. And the projected starting wide receivers. Oh, let's hear it. Tennessee Titans, Calvin Ridley, we know that one. But still in the projections to be a starter. Traylon Burks. Oh, this is his year, Mike. This is his year.

And hold on. Van Jefferson. See, that would be a place to target a receiver. If they took a running back and were like, no guys, we're good with Berks and Jefferson. That seems like a team just desperate enough to spend on one of the old guys still available. Like, is Keenan still out there? Keenan is still out there. And the Titans do not have a third round pick. They're not taking the running back.

Okay, IG question from Rudy wants you to see the future. Hopefully you guys can do this. Is Zay Flowers gonna break out this year? Last two seasons, his two NFL seasons, very similar. 100 plus targets, just barely over. 70 plus receptions, just barely over. He did get to to a thousand. Yeah, we're not calling last year a breakout Uh, no, I mean 74 for a thousand fifty nine three fewer receptions in the year before

And one fewer touchdown similar targets. I don't feel like it was a breakout really I don't feel like zave flowers was making People win a bunch of fantasy matches. He was the wide receiver 21 so he had a really really solid season. I don't I don't know if it was an official breakout. What do you guys need for a breakout? Top 15? I mean a thousand yards is not is not enough for me to feel like that's a breakout. No. Hmm. I mean that's look fundamentally he just wasn't that if it was 1000 yards player for them if it was 1000 yards and nine touchdowns. Okay, but I mean, it really was a mildly disappointing season for for him. I mean, you were playing him a lot. Mike, did you feel like he was mean I had him on my team an important part. I feel like if it's a breakout, then that for fantasy

football, not for the NFL. I mean, he's officially their number one guy and he's already broken out to that category. But if we're just talking in fantasy football, to be a breakout, it's got to be a guy you see as like an every week starter versus- He scored in three of 17 weeks. Yeah, versus trying to, he's pretty much a flex guy. He was a decision every week. Like, we had him on our dynasty team, and it was always a decision of whether we were going to start him or not. He had the 16th most yards at the wide receiver position.

Look at his game log, though, Mike. Oh, I know, I know, it was infrequent. I mean, even, like, if you go the last eight games of the season, Yeah, those were bad. 59 for 860 and two. He had a really solid like little middle of the season where he was kind of on fire. I just know from having him on my team, I didn't feel like I was starting

a wide receiver one or two. Did Jackson Smith and Jigbo break out? Yes. Yes. So, less than 100 yards more, and two more touchdowns for JSN. What was his, What was his receiving? He was the wide receiver 10 last year. He caught 100 passes.

He caught 100 passes. That's a lot more. Was the top 10 wide receiver in fantasy. But I'm saying yards and touchdowns is not that far off. It's holistic. And the way that it happened. 30 more catches, 100 yards and more touchdowns is yeah, that's a break-in.

You look at the second half of the seasons for both of those players, because they're both young, they're coming in and you want them to be getting better. Andy just read you the last eight game was 59 receptions for 800 yards. The last nine games for Jackson Smith and Jigba would have been 107 receptions for 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns, that's a breakout.

I mean, did he break out as a rookie? Did he flower? Yeah, flowers. No, no. No. Yeah, I mean his numbers are not very different from his rookie season. Now the question is, is this gonna be the breakout?

No, no. Yeah. He's not built to do what we would want him to do, I think. And I don't think that team is built that way. They don't, he team is built that way. They don't he's not a ball hog. He's not a game a target monster game plan build it to conquer the defense. He's very good I am not taking anything Zay Flowers is as he's as good as Zay Flowers can be. I think Zay Flowers has the ability to be a really dominant, even fantasy, player. I don't know that they

utilize their wide receivers in that capacity. I mean he only had 116 targets, which is good. How many touchdowns did Lamar throw last year? Oh like 40? So many. 40 and he had five? Five of the 40? Yeah Mark Andrews has taken them all. Yeah and Mark, I mean who knows how long that'll be? 41 passing. Yeah I don't know. I don't think we're really saying very different things we just maybe define it differently. Sure yeah yeah it was just slightly. I'm surprised to not call that a breakout. Did we persuade you that it wasn't? No. Okay, cool. Wait, but he didn't break out his rookie season? No. Okay, but when he scores fewer points per game, that

then is the break out. That's a fair point. Boom shakalaka! That is a fair point. Yeah, I don't know where that boom shakalaka is. Jeremy, hit it! That's a strong boom shakalaka! There it is, yeah. Fewer points per game. All right, you win, Jason. We'll take a strong. There it is, yeah. Fewer points per game. All right, you win, Jason. We'll take a break, we'll be back with some more questions. We said so many more words, and the only thing you needed to say was that, about the points per game.

We were talking about all that other stuff. Now, I mean, I bet in standard it's not even close. He'd scored more last year. Last year? Yeah, year two. He had one fewer touchdowns, so. But he had 200 more yards. Wait, he's still fighting.

He's still alive. Well, this is interesting to me. The fish is flopping. Because it feels like in our slack year too, He's still fighting. He's still alive. Well, this is interesting to me of, because it feels like in our slack here too, people are like, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not good. It's like, I felt like I'm totally out on flowers, but maybe I need to go trade for him

because he's still valuable and people are not actually seeing how valuable he was. You need to do. I think you should. and people are not actually seeing how valuable he was. I think you should. You just need to do more for me, I'm sorry. That's, just so you know, on a per game basis, four for 62, that's what he's averaging. And he scored in three of 17 games.

Yeah, the touchdowns. That's not a wide receiver one. Also in standard, he scored fewer points. Did he really? Yeah, 8.1 to eight. Oh, okay. Boom shakalaka! Oh damn, Jeremy hit it!

Boom shakalaka! Okay. Where are we here? Let's go to Ryan in Texas. What is your opinion on a Chase Brown for Roma Dunes, a dynasty trade? Oh my goodness. First of all, just reading that, love it.

Feel like it's a perfect dynasty trade in terms of like both parties in the trade have to make a huge judgment. Decision, yeah. Yeah, a decision towards the future. Now look, if it were me, I'd much rather have Roma Dunze. I actually love Roma Dunze. I think he's going to be a star in this league. had much of that of Roma Dunze. I actually love Roma Dunze. I think he's going to be a star in this league. He's three years younger.

He plays the longevity position for dynasty. So I'm very content with the Dunze side. But a small window of amazing running back play would also be very valuable in dynasty. And you might get that with Chase Brown. Where do you sit? We all are on the side. We debated Chase Brown a couple weeks you sit? We all are on the side. We debated Chase Brown a couple weeks ago,

and we're all on the side that we think Chase Brown will be the dude this year. He'll be very, very good for fantasy. Nervous about the draft and Chase Brown. But it is not a guarantee. It is not a guarantee. Mild concerns for the draft. Right, exactly.

As of this moment, it's not a guarantee that Chase Brown really, truly has that job all because you know, Zach Moss got injured and that's when he came into that giant massive workload while he was a little bit inefficient. So there is a guarantee that Roma Dunze will be given every chance and opportunity and target and snap to prove that he can elevate into a star player. I think that there is a, it's a non-zero chance that he outperforms DJ Moore for fantasy this season. Rome? Rome.

Man, you like Rome. I really do. I think that there's a decent chance that he puts up, you know, he can put up 12, 14 touchdowns. Like that's in his, that's in his skill set to me. We used to spend all of our years saying D.J. Moore is stuck at five and six. Now he's an amazing player, but I've watched enough Bears football

to see who Caleb Williams is glancing at inside the 20. And I feel like if Ben Johnson can unlock that offense a little bit with no Keenan Allen, I don't know, He may enter the category. Wow. He may enter the old- That's wild. The EMG, if you know what I mean.

Wow. That's funny because right now I've got two players that are like early- guys, I'm just like, I'm very bullish compared to consensus. And that would be DJ Moore for me. Oh, man. Been here before, haven't we? We have. All right. But to answer the question,

if I'm trading where the market is right now with Chase Brown versus Rome with Dunze, if I have Chase Brown, I'm asking for more for Rome. That's fair. I do think that Rome is a good trade for Target because people who drafted him, I don't think everyone is as bullish as Andy. Yeah, wide receiver 47 is a rookie doesn't help.

Yeah, I mean, when you look at Lad McConkey and what he did and neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. really hurts the kind of perception of Roma doomsday. But the way that- He just wasn't that bad though. No, that's what I'm saying. The way that I have talked up, Marvin Harrison Jr.

was an outright bust for fantasy, I have argued in no way, shape, or form did he have an NFL rookie bust season. What was his yards? Marv was in the 800s. Yeah. So 734 to 885. Yeah.

And Marv was the one. Marv was the three. Marv had eight touchdowns, though. Correct. How many catches did he have? I just can't remember. Marv was the one, Rome was the three. Marv had eight touchdowns though. Yeah, correct. How many catches did he have? I just can't remember. Marv was 62. Those are not that different. The numbers are pretty close.

Obviously, the touchdowns were the big differentiator. But both of these players, and to speak only to Rome, Rome had a good rookie season. It was disappointing compared to where he was drafted versus other wide receivers, what the expectations were for Caleb Williams, where he was drafted in fantasy drafts. Rome had a disappointing season, but he did not have a bad rookie NFL season.

So I think a lot of people out there think he's a bust and that it's been decided, and it definitely has not been. 101 targets, 121 targets went to Kenan Island last year that'll be departing so for DJ more bulls for either A bulls for coal Komet bulls. Yeah, I'm gonna stop saying bulls No Buck, buck, bowers. Buck, buck, bowers. Buck, buck, bowers.

Buck, buck, bowers. Buck, buck, bowers. You gotta get the R in there. That's amongst our finest work. Yeah, yeah, you can't. Rock. Uh, yeah, I mean, look. I like this tray, because you do have-

Sounds like the Cadbury Bunny over there. I feel like both sides of this tray could be super wrong about it, which is fun. Yeah. For dynasty. You're taking a gamble, but if I'm going to take a gamble on two questionable risky pieces, I would rather have the three year younger,

the first round, top 10 drafted wide receiver position for Dynasty. Let's talk about more controversial things. Question from the website, are we optimistic about a Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson breakout? A sneaky stack, thanks, you guys rock. No. Optimistic optimistic I think is pushing it too far I actually like Justin Fields will be over drafted you

think Justin Fields will be over drafted I do hmm his production where would that be where should he be drafted and where do you expect him to be drafted I just think some people are going to transpose 2022 on onto him and I don't know if we're going to get that level of efficiency. What round would you draft him in? Where do you think he's going to be ranked? Are you talking like ADP or are you talking about quarterback? No, I'm just saying like do you think he's going to be drafted as a top or do you think

he's going to be viewed as a top 12? Yeah, yeah I think he'll be a quarterback. So then I think he's somebody be drafted as a top, or do you think he's gonna be viewed as a top 12? Yeah, yeah, I think he'll be a quarterback one. So then I think he's somebody that's gonna go in the seventh or eighth round. Right now on Sleeper, he is in the seventh round. Okay, so in that case, I probably will be passing on that. Okay. I just, my point being is that we all were blown away

by the big prolific plays in 2022, the big long runs, but your points per game for him, how much freedom they give him, what else does he have on that team that's struggling with an offensive line? I don't know. I don't know if we get that points per game. He's the kind of player that you could draft, think you have something, stick him in there for too long, and it's just kind of okay.

I think you'll still be able to get him later in the draft though. It's like if you're saying eighth round for a mobile quarterback, because around there, you're going to be- Yeah, give me other names. So I'm just looking at underdog right now. Well, I feel like actually an underdog, I feel like he's going to go, he would go higher. He's in a rebuff.

He is QB14. OK. On underdog right now. Going right in front of him, you have the triplets of pocket passers. You have Justin Herbert. Stroud. Brock Purdy and Jared Goff. No, dude, people are out on Stroud.

Wait, Stroud's lowered in all those? Oh, Stroud's probably quarterback 17. QB 18. People are OUT. Right. See, I feel like Stroud has at least 50-50 odds of passing Justin Fields in production. Where I would push back on what happened last year for Justin Fields. So whenever it was, you had the fun Justin Fields in production. The, where I would push back on like what happened last year for Justin Fields.

So to, whenever it was, you had the fun Justin Fields experiment was, he's the guy for Chicago. And they're just like, go win. And then he goes to Pittsburgh, he has like, he has no room for error. You got Russell Wilson waiting there who was supposed to be the starter. And I think you have Pittsburgh Saying no, you're you are so managed of what we want you to do But then the Jets with the money that they have given them they're saying no, you're we're gonna try this

We want the full Justin Fields experience So I think it's but we didn't play style is closer to the Chicago years than last year I agree, but that's where I think people will miss that there's a year in between. There's a full Chicago year in between. There's the prolific Chicago year, then there's 13 games of not that good. The quarterback, 18, 17 points a game.

Then there's the Pittsburgh managed year, where it's like, even if he goes back to the Chicago days And he's 17 18 points a game. I don't know His season last year before he got pulled in week six He was basically 17.7 points per game, which is what he was in Chicago. Exactly what it was So then he had backup work that lowered his thing on the year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I don't know. He'll be very interesting So then he had backup work that lowered his thing on the year, is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know, he'll be very interesting.

But the question was about Justin Fields, Garrett Wilson combination breakout. Mike, you have Garrett Wilson in certain places. Are you intrigued, excited, nervous? I'll go with nervous optimism on there of, the teammate thing matters to me. Because of like, the Chicago. The fact that they used to be teammates together in college.

Yeah, back in Ohio State, and it's like the, the monster year for DJ Moore was because Justin Fields said, I am only throwing this ball to DJ Moore. And it would not surprise me if we had Justin Fields staring down Garrett waiting for him to get open on the bulk of plays which then that would be what do we have we had Chase and Burrow in college we had Hollywood Kyler get a chance to play together little A little bit, yeah. Who were college teammates? Yeah, the bowl case is DJ Moore's season with Justin Fields in 2023, in that in-between year

where it's like, yeah, Fields wasn't a top 10 quarterback, but DJ Moore was a number six overall fantasy player. Yeah, as of right now, I imagine I'm going to be interested in getting Justin Fields on some of my redraft teams. Okay. Nate, with our final question of the day from X, very important, do the pickleball rivalries heat up in the off season for the fantasy footballers?

They just switch time of day, you know? Yeah, but I mean, is there more heat to it? No, there's less heat. Yeah, there's less heat It's not the summer the summer is very hot in Arizona. Nice. I Did I don't know that we have we don't really have pickleball rivalries. We just have a bunch of pickleball games The rival is whoever we're playing against that moment and then we rotate. So every day we're playing in every possible combination. So it doesn't, there's no like divisions. Okay, okay. That's how I see it.

Going back to the- He's choosing to be quiet. The Garrett Wilson side, I was curious how George Pickens played. I wanted to remember. Cause obviously he was the clear cut number one for Justin Fields, very similar situation that I think they'll find for the Jets and yeah he was 7.7 points per game in those first six games. We have a brand new play caller with the Jets this year as well, a new offensive coordinator

because I can't help but think offensive coordinator when I think of Justin Fields and George Pickens last year and Arthur Smith. Fair. So you do have a new head coach, new offensive coordinator, and a kind of, I don't know. It'll be very interesting in New York. They're taking their shot. It's just like, Garrett Wilson's good, so it can work.

You're not betting on a talentless wide receiver. Plop down all of your possessions on one side of Garrett Wilson wide receiver 10. I would plop it down. Would you plop it down on the, would you plop it? Where'd you plop it, Mike? I'd give a-

Tell us where you plop it. I'd give a good solid plop to not in the top 10. Because the top 10 is just that's wild. Plop plop. But he was. He was last year. Goodbye, everybody. We are done talking football for today.

But we'll talk more on Thursday. You can also get an extra episode at joinTheFoot.com. Bye bye bye. 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 FF Ballers.