Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Evolving Player Opinions + Dalvin, Zeke News - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/15

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

Zeke and Dalvin Cook signed! On today’s fantasy football podcast, find out how Rhamondre Stevenson and Breece Hall will be impacted! Plus, a look at which players Andy, Mike, and Jason have changed their opinions on the most from this offseason! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 15th, 2023. Dive into the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit + Draft Analyzer! UltimateDraftKit.com Connect with the Fantasy Footballers Podcast: 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

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. the fantasy footballers back with you tuesday august 15th jason moore mike the fantasy hitman ride i'm andy holloway excited to be with you great episode prepared for you today the nfl season is uh just right around the corner soon very soon i think a lot of people are looking forward to this episode because there'll be some reactions to big news yesterday what something happened nothing i heard about yeah i I didn't see. I'm going to have to break some news to both of you today. I mean, I was on Twitter all day. I didn't see.

It's probably good news. Yeah. I'm going to share some good news with each of you. Thank goodness. All right. Here at the top of the show, I want to let people know a couple things. First of all, thank you for supporting this podcast. If you enjoy the content that we're putting out and,

and you want a simple way to say thank you for that content, you can go and leave us a review on Apple podcast. You can rate the show wherever you're listening. You know, it helps us out in the algorithms when you, when you do that, when you follow or subscribe on whatever platform you choose. So maybe that's YouTube.

Cause you can watch the show over there, youtube.com slash the fantasy footballers. That's the YouTube greeting, Mike. So you can click the bell over there, subscribe. We've got a live stream coming up I'm going to tell you about in a minute. But whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, it really does help the show. So we just appreciate everybody that has done that. It seems like people are doing that a lot because last I checked fantasy football and this podcast was the number one,

the number one sport show on Spotify and Apple. And, and Mike, Mike went on a local Los Angeles, uh, did, uh, news media program, and the first question he received was,

are you surprised that your show is the number one sports show? I don't know. It's a tough question to answer when you're not surprised in the slightest. Of course not. Because the Foot Clan is incredibly mighty. I had a birthday party. I have to tell you this because it's the first time I've ever heard it, which means I need to pay more attention to my family.

But birthday party for my kids. They have birthdays 10 days apart. We do them together to spare everybody two parties. Good man. Yeah, I know. I'm looking out. So we're having this birthday party. Tons of people at the house.

And we're in the middle of moving, and my uncle's sitting there. And he's been a big supporter of me throughout my life and the show. And he was actually the person that introduced me to fantasy football like 20 years ago when you did it in newspapers and stuff. And he was just congratulating us on the success of the show and going into a new year and just being very nice. And then he goes, when you started this thing, he goes, there were a lot of eye rolls.

He said there were a lot of eye rolls in the family. And I go, what? These people, they all seem like they were on board with this plan to make a podcast about fantasy football. I'm going to need a list. So apparently, not a lot of confidence out there, just like the gentleman you were interviewed by. Kind of shocked that fantasy football is that powerful. Yeah, that is fair.

When you're not as insane as we are and most listeners of this show, you don't realize there's millions of us. I mean, it didn't seem that insane at the time, but I guess it was. Yeah, it's crazy. But, you know, at this point, we're just used to it. You know, it's just like, oh, number one again. Thank you. Here we go. Jason always can be counted on.

I, too, am extremely humble. All right. We got cool be counted on. I too am extremely humble. Alright, we got cool stuff going on right now. So first, thank you for supporting the podcast this time of year. It's really important and we appreciate it. Especially everybody over at jointhefoot.com, all of our Patreon supporters. Love you

guys. Thank you so much. We are giving away an ultimate draft kit for life. The UDK, it's our pride and joy. We've poured so much effort and time into this thing year over year, improving it, building it out, helps you win your league. We're giving away an ultimate draft kit for life along with a signed Derrick Henry jersey and a signed T Higgins mini helmet, three separate winners. All you have to do to enter the contest is uh head over to ultimate draftkit.com and pick up the udk or the udk plus before our live stream on friday which will be at

6 30 p.m eastern time actually the live stream is at 6 eastern the giveaway will be towards the end of that live stream at 6 30 and we will announce the winners on the live stream. So anybody that has purchased it up to this point and anybody that gets it this week before Friday. Jason has purchased a giant golden tumbler. Oh, really? Yeah. It takes 10 men to operate.

Okay. As long as he purchased it and it wasn't on the company card. I purchased it with the company card. Dang it. So that's huge. UltimateDraftKid.com. Pick that up. That UDK for Life giveaway.

We've done this for a few years now. We got the list of people. And they just send Papa Josh a note and say, hey, it's me. It's me. I've got the UDK. Give it to me. And then he's legally obligated to hand deliver it to your house. Yeah.

Yeah. He's flying all over the country. Yeah, we send him all over the place. So that's going on. And then we have a live show at the end of August. You can learn about attending that. It's in Los Angeles, ballerslive.com, presented by Underdog Fantasy. We'll be live with a very special episode

a live Q&A and that's next Saturday Wow you got to be kidding me no I'm not I'm looking at the calendar right now and if my calculations are correct that's next Saturday I'm ready for that Mike next Saturday it's a lot of work we got to do but it's gonna be quite the show followers live.com.

All right. And, uh, deuces, I guess you guys can help out with the live show too, if you want. We'll be there. We're there. Good. Yeah. Everyone will be there. Quick question of the day for today's episode.

Uh, look, it's been a long off season. We've been talking about players from the moment after after the Super Bowl finished to now which players fit into that category of players you are changing your minds about I'll hop in here first because we talked about this player yesterday and it's just the the drumbeat and everything that's happened this offseason just has continued to be just slammed, which is Darren Waller. Darren Waller is a guy that when I first started my rankings out, he was leading the Giants in targets, but it still wasn't, I just didn't believe it was going to be quality targets, a lot of touchdowns, whether or not he still had it. And so he was like my tight end eight,

tight end nine, and I just keep moving him up. And then this morning I go and I read. I'm reading from 32beatwriters on Twitter. Great follow. Here's a quote from yesterday's practice. Darren Waller was an absolute monster at practice Monday, caught three of Daniel Jones' first six passes in live drills for touchdowns, finished with six catches on eight targets that day,

also dominated one-on-ones, which of course he's going to dominate one-on-ones. 50% target share, that's what we're talking about. There's a consensus right now that Darren Waller might have had the best camp of any offensive player in the NFL, so throughout camp. And also a note of yesterday's incredible performance, which is just a repeat of the days before. Daniel Jones, I believe, completed his first 17 passes in practice. Wow, wow, wow.

And if you throw it to Darren Waller, your odds do go up of completing those passes. I think we are all – it's one of those areas where we have all been, like, targeting Darren Waller, excited about the possibility of Darren Waller having success there in New York. Yeah, at the beginning of the offseason, I think it was a big question mark. Yeah, I mean, if I look at my best ball exposure, I'm very low on Darren Waller. I don't have a ton. I've been passing him in drafts. It's basically been Andrews in the third.

I didn't know you liked Andrews. Maybe Pitts if he falls to the seventh. Otherwise, I'm going three tight end builds late. But Darren Waller looks like he's going to be a stud this year. Yeah, I agree. And by the way, our answers to players we were building that had arisen in our rankings, because last Thursday we did that question for training camp performances.

Those answers, it was DJ Moore, Jason, you said Javante Williams, Mike, it was Zay Flowers. This is more of a not just moving players up, but actually changing your mind about their outcomes. Where are you at, Mike? First, just for no reason at all, I'm of changing my mind just just a little bit on uh Ramondre Stevenson really yeah I just had a disturbance in the force just a feeling yeah just a real gut yeah we haven't talked news so this must just be yeah I don't know I don't know

what news you're talking about uh but the player really I want to talk about is, like, I just iced out this player. I was – Yeah, he took it personally. Like, you're welcome, everyone. I motivated Alvin Kamara. He cares incredibly about the opinion of the fantasy footballers and me, A-list podcaster Mike Wright. Oh, my gosh. But Alvin Kamara, I was concerned over the past two years of what Alvin Kamara has done.

The touches have gone up. The efficiency has absolutely plummeted. But, and we try not to let too much of real positive things affect things one way or the other because coaches generally are going to speak positive about their players. But it has been an overwhelming amount of positivity for alvin camara he will have the three game suspension so that's a that's going to be a drafter's choice are you willing to hold on to that but again everything out of camp is just saying camara is explosive you watch the preseason camara look think about what's changed for you to change your mind though because we

have we have an injured Kendra Miller. Kendra Miller is definitely a part of it because part of my fading of Alvin Kamara was if he's going to miss three games and Kendra Miller is the player who was drafted in the third round while injured. A running back was drafted while he was hurt. Teams don't like to do that on a day two pick. If he came in in those first three weeks and you're like, holy crap,

Kendra Miller is looking like the real deal. That's a big problem for Alvin Camara. And yet now he's hurt again, the same knee that was already hurt. They're hopeful that he'll be ready to go week one. But if he's not getting these reps right now in training camp, week one is, he's not coming out and getting 20 carries.

Even if he plays week one, it will still be, he may not even see the field, right'll be jamal williams who is the primary uh backup so i have i'm opening uh i'm opening to the idea that camara will have another ride where he'll be at least worth his adp i'm not i'm not putting him back into the top five where he's been but he might be an okay draft pick this This is not waiting on Hopkins six weeks. You've got three weeks. You've got to wait with Alvin Kamara. And to be clear,

just to remind folks of where things stood a week ago, a week ago, Kendrick Miller was healthy. And a week ago, Kenyon Drake, or not Kenyon Drake, a week ago, Kareem Hunt. Yes, was visiting. Was about to be signing. Yeah. A contract on, Kareem Hunt was about to be signing a contract on this team. That is a

different landscape that goes well beyond any puff pieces in camp. Yep. I will whisper thy name. Yeah, whisper it for me. I will whisper at a volume equivalent to the stature of this gentleman. Oh, you don't gotta

do them dirty like that. Oh, you've been doing the little guys dirty all offseason. Yeah, but you don't. I'm the mean one. Devon A. Chain. Yeah, baby. And my mind is changing on Devon A. Chain simply because the camp performances have been solid.

The draft cost is is nothing and if you wanted to look at him as a you know a discounted uh jameer gibbs in drafts that's a fair situation like gibbs gibbs has tremendous upside i put the tweet out there like who do you think my my guys are because that episode is friday the most common answer for people who assuming my my, my guys, Jameer Gibbs was on there. And Jameer Gibbs has to compete with David Montgomery for value, high value touches. Um, and we don't know what that breakdown is going to be like. Devon HN has to compete with, uh, I think two talented, but fragile running backs in Miami players that this organization was willing to look at Dalvin Cook

pretty sincerely because, you know, Mostert has frequently been hurt. Good year last year, good camp, and starts as the starter. But the pathway for Devon Aitken, you can't make the argument that it's not similar to what Kendra Miller was facing when he was healthy or Jameer Gibbs is facing. This is an NFL full of committees. And so Devon A-chain can make his mark. And one of those two players gets banged up, falls out of favor, fumbles the football. Talent generally wins out in those situations on a good offense. So A-chain is just not somebody that is a risk where you're drafting them right now

with tremendous positive upside, collegiate production. You have to – these situations are always very difficult when you say, you know, this percentage of players at this size don't perform because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy to a degree at the NFL level it's always ammo for our arguments against players but it's also like indicative of where they're drafted like players of that stature also don't get the opportunities to give you a large enough sample size to really lean into those numbers. Yeah, okay, so small guys don't do it very often

because they don't get drafted very often. Right. So it's like you don't have 100 guys that are top five-round picks that are that stature that have had the chance and then failed. So it's always difficult to look at those things. We see Deuce Vaughn having success. We've seen the shrinking wide receiver position. You need to look at it on surface level and say Devontae Smith has a chance.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah, Devontae Smith, when he was coming out, the haters were out in full force. The historical argument against Devontae Smith was amazing because it was so universally like he can't he can't make it at his BMI he's too skinny he cannot succeed in the NFL we have so much historical evidence but the thing that was missing is kind of what you just said and he was like well yeah but you also don't have a bunch of these guys BMIs that are being drafted in the first round of the NFL draft

because they're great and Devon A-chain was a day two pick the NFL said no this guy's really good we're going to spend really important draft capital on him because he is good and if you want an example of how Andy has changed if you want to know what he used to think on May 15th oh no at 3 0 7 p.m. May, June, July, August. Okay. Okay. This is just after the NFL draft when Andy and I placed a $100 wager against one another. Andy says, A-chain, do you remember the bet?

I do not. I think, is it most are related? Nope. It's just A-chain carry count per game. Andy says A-chain will not average over six carries a game jason says of course he will i don't know that's a hundred carries now i'm gonna warn you because victory laps made when zero carries have happened yeah are not necessarily i'm victory lapping that that's a hundred carries that's why we did a hundred carries i'm i'm

victory lapping that your opinion has changed and 100 carries. That's why we did it, 100 carries. I'm victory lapping that your opinion has changed, and I would guess that if I went to see your stats in the ultimate draft kit. I'm going to go look right now. It has to be more than 100. It's probably more than 100. I'm going to go take a little peek, Ski. Mine is not. Really?

I was going to say that number is still an interesting number because if those guys stay healthy, I don't think he hits it. You're lucky that it's carries. 98! Oh, my God. 98 rushing attempts, everybody. All right. Okay.

The bet stands. It's carries. A-chain will need to get targets. Again, we have to stay water and be willing to change our opinions on what's going on i'm still not in on a chain listen jameer gibbs was drafted where what in the first round like 12 overall pick 12 if jameer gibbs was drafted in the second or third round you'd be talking about him as a Ronald Jones potential bust. He's 5'9", under 200 pounds.

Yes, he is smaller. But because the draft capital is there, I haven't heard a soul give me the historical numbers of why Jameer Gibbs is going to fail. Not a person has told me that since he got drafted at 12. Yes, because we say, oh, yeah, but he got drafted at 12. I know, but that's what I'm saying. Like, there aren't a lot of guys that size that get drafted that high. So Gibbs is also like, what, 199?

He's right on the 200 cost. Changing your mind is not the same question as saying, what's a player you're all in on? That's not what we said. Sure. I still have Mostert ahead of him in fantasy points with here, Jason. I have both. Oh, speaking of Mostert, he was just talking up A-chain yesterday,

talking about how good a day he had. He shows that versatility in bursts. He's not the biggest, so I was telling him, you've got to use that aggression to promote that speed. Oh, wait. It's nice. Teammate talks up teammate? Yeah.

Incredible. In Miami? Yeah. It's nice when the starter puts in a good word for the backup. You've done it. I'm changing my rings. Jason somehow made me. Get out of here with that crap.

Jason made me want to talk bad about the guy I just talked good about. You just made that in me. I make people feel things. Back in a minute with some news you guys don't know about. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. 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. Okay, we are back. Let's jump into some news. I mean, I've heard about it, but I'm going to break it to these guys to get their reaction.

News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. I did hear J.K. Dobbins is back. He is back. Yeah, I saw him on the field. Yeah. Both legs. Very excited.

Dalvin Cook. What excited. Dalvin Cook. What happened with Dalvin? Signed a one-year deal with the New York Football Jets worth up to $8.6 million. I lied. This one I heard about. Oh. And this one. $7 million in base salary.

This one brought me tremendous joy. Oh, did it? Oh, did it oh did it oh tell me tell me more because i look i'm a selfish man i run a lot of things through my own personal filter and jason has breeze hall as his dude in the dynasty league yeah and now not only does he have to deal with returning from acl he has to deal with Dalvin Cook getting $7 million? Eat it, Zeke. I mean, Zeke got like up to $6 million. I think only $3 million guaranteed.

And then you come in here with Dalvin. I don't know what news you're talking about. We haven't broke down news yet. Don't jump off of your news. My news is. Ain't no distraction. Look, here's the real news breeze hall activated from the pup baby he's back he's like oh dalvin's here i gotta give

i gotta get on that field that is no no no it is funny timing let yeah it's like okay we'll we'll pull you off of that i'm not feeling so good coach okay great we're gonna bring in some reinforcers we got dalvin cook come in oh i'm healed so see you soon let's talk the fantasy applications here of the arrival of dalvin this morning uh the udk always updated with all this news that you guys hadn't heard about you guys still updated your rankings despite not hearing about it right um i asked jason this morning after i did my numbers where he had breeze hall ranked and i told him we have them ranked the same exact spot oh yeah and obviously we did it independently and i have a different process i kind of break the uh the jets season specific to breeze hall coming back into three chunks, like the first four weeks.

I think they're going to ease Brees in very slowly. I think you'll have kind of a 10 week chunk where, um, it's split rather evenly between these guys. And by the end of the season, Brees will absolutely win out. He's the best player, uh, in that backfield. He's too explosive. And by the time he's fully healthy at the end of the season, he will be carrying the workload. That's how I'm projecting this. So I broke into three chunks for both players, statted them out on three-chunk basis. Andy comes in, totally different process, totally different issue. And then we end up at the same exact spot which is we have Brees Hall at running back 21. I have him at 18. I like it. I like to hear it. I still don't like I know I have the difference is

we both have Dalvin Cook at a different spot. I think I'm 21 and 24. Brees Hall and Dalvin Cook 21-24. You have Dalvin Cook lower. Yeah I'm'm 21-31 for Brees and Dalvin. I don't personally see a situation where this isn't a pure split committee for the duration of the year. I don't see any world where Brees Hall is getting more reps than Dalvin Cook in any game this year that Dalvin Cook is healthy. I believe they brought him in there. I believe he still has juice.

I went back and watched every rep he had over the last handful of games of the season. I think both players are going to make huge contributions to this roster. I don't think that this coaching staff is going to look at it as this is better than that. I think it's going to be a rotation. This is my personal take, so I look at it more even over the year. Jason's commentary on Brees Hall says, yes, he may finish at 21, but his value to your team might be 10, 12, 8 at the end of the year because you believe he's going to take over. It's just the difference in our belief about this team

and what they're trying to do. Dalvin Cook is invaluable, not just on the football field, but as a veteran and as a leader and as an experienced player heading into the playoffs, which I think the Jets will be competing for. Unless Dalvin has a marked on the field decline, that's my take. Mike, where do you sit? It's an absolute disaster. I lean more on the side that I'm interested. I'm still interested in Brees Hall. Let's see what happens to the ADP. I think it'll go down, but not dramatically. And I think that by the end of the year, Brees Hall will still be the 1A. You don't give Dalvin Cook $7 million guaranteed to bring him in to be just a backup, but I think that it will be Brees Hall at the top of the timeshare

around the 50%, 60% mark of the season. What does that do for Dalvin Cook as a draft pick? Because people have still been drafting Dalvin Cook just on the hope that some of those big explosive plays that we've seen last year, does he get onto a good team? Where do you guys think that Dalvin Cook should be drafted uh where you would feel this is this is safe this is an appropriate I'm gonna get Dalvin Cook which we just we got some word that that uh coach Sala is saying he's very confident Brees will be ready week one so that's good news to hear that doesn't

mean that Brees all is a workhorse running back week one we didn't we haven't expected that so Dalvin Cook could be a more valuable early yeah he could have real value early but how high of a pick are you willing to risk on on that early value knowing that there it could fade away like he could lose value over the course of the season yeah I mean depending on how far he goes on on each platform Dalvin Cook could be the better pick as far as draft day value just because he will have better games at the beginning of the season than than Brees like Brees week one to me I'm going to be trying to bench him I want to see what I'm going to you know wait until he gets into the rotation as far as where I would draft Dalvin Cook I'm looking at Dalvin Cook or Javante Williams? Yeah, that's really, really interesting.

I want to throw some out there. It's always helpful. I think I would go Javante. I'd go Javante. Dalvin Cook or Zach Charbonnet? Dalvin. That's a Dalvin for me for sure. Dalvin Cook or Rashad White, who is healthy?

Dalvin. Okay. So we split you there. Damian Pierce or Dalvin Cook? Damian Pierce. Damian Pierce. James Cook, Dalvin Cook. James Cook.

James. James Dalvin Cook. That's his name? That is his name. Please tell me Dalvin's middle name is James. It is. Dalvin James Cook and James Dalvin Cook. Those are their real names.

Okay. That is a fact. I don't know if this is a bit. It is a bit, but it's not a Jason Moore bit. It's a bit by their parents who named them. David Montgomery. Kyle, look into this. David Montgomery or Dalvin Cook.

Oh, I hope Jason was just lying. We'll find out. Jason's right. Okay, confirmed. David Montgomery or Dalvin Cook? I'll take the passing game potential of Dalvin. I'll go Dalvin as well. I think he's going to be really valuable in the first few weeks.

Now, he's not going to practice for another week, which means that technically Brees will be back to practice before Dalvin. He's still recovering from his shoulder injury. And worth pointing out, Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator for the green bay packers that's where he was a couple years ago and that was aaron jones we had the the lightning and the thunder you had aaron jones and you had aj dylan so that's got a big potential for that it does if that like that was his tendency when you had when you have aaron jones

and like we like dylan as a player, but Aaron Jones, he's giving this guy the ball all the time, and they would still work in other guys. It's very difficult for me because I think of one of Brees Hall's huge plays last year. It was a little screen pass, more like a running back screen that he housed from 60 out. I'm like, I watched Alvin do that a handful of times last year.

It's like if they're splitting those opportunities, it says a lot for this year. And it's great for the Jets. The Jets. Yeah. So I know some people think Dalvin's completely washed, and they're going to be the people drafting Brees Hall in every fantasy draft.

They're going to be the first ones to the table for Brees. And, Mike, this is the news that you hadn't quite heard about did you know that the Patriots signed Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year deal worth up to six million dollars guys I've been lying the whole time you have heard about this I did hear about

I've known about this news and it's did you get tagged or a little bit people are checking in appreciate everyone out there on x making sure that my mental health is okay i made it through um it is not as this news is not as devastating as dalvin cook is to breeze hall and of what that says that could be. But here's where it really stinks for Ramondre Stevenson. Stevenson was not the best at the goal line this past offseason in short yardage situations.

That wasn't really his strongest suit. Fumbled a little bit at the end of the year when I needed him to get into the end zone. You do have that. But at the time, when I was really into drafting Stevenson, no one else on that roster could possibly take that work away from him. They just weren't good enough. And it was, well, let's wait.

Who's going to actually sign here? And it's Zeke. I think that Zeke is certainly past his prime but where he was still successful was short area and at the goal line him far more successful than Ramondre Stevenson and if you have even with Ramondre still getting the pass work if Zeke comes in and he takes over 50 percent of the goal line carries which I don't think is an outrageous thing to say. It could be even more. If that happens, Stevenson's value takes a pretty major hit.

Stevenson is still the running back I want. I don't really want to draft Zeke, but it moves Ramondre. I'm pretty much at ADP market now with Ramondre Stevenson, so we're not getting a screaming deal in the draft to where I had him ranked I still want Stevenson on my team but this is a this certainly caps the ceiling yeah I still have Ramondre Stevenson at RB12 I think he's gonna be great this season you you saw this last year right he moved to 10 with with Damian Harris and Ramondre Stevenson you already had someone that

was taking the you know some of that early down work so that they could focus Ramondre Stevenson and let him really be part of the pass catching game Zeke is not the the player that would have come in to hurt him as much I definitely think Zeke has lost a step, still much better than the other backups, Pierre Strong and what they were dealing with. But he is the weaker asset in that backfield compared to Ramondre. And I'm looking here. It looks like the final two-minute drill yesterday finished with Ramondre Stevenson taking a shallow crosser 40 yards to the house. He's still a good player.

Here's a couple things to factor in. One, Zeke scored 12 times last year. 12 touchdowns. He'd scored 11 of them in 9 games. He had a run of 9 consecutive games scoring a touchdown. The schedule. The plan. He knows how to score.

And he had a pretty good fantasy season. And I agree with everything you guys are saying, except it's very interesting to look at the box scores last year of Ramondre Stevenson, even when Damian Harris was missing time. He had games where he had 11 carries, 7 carries, 3 carries, 8 carries, 6 carries. I think Zeke could get a lot of the between the tackles, first and second down work. He could.

And obviously Ramondre was still very valuable, but he finished at 11 last year, and that was on the back of 69 receptions. Nice. So, I mean, you guys laid it out pretty well. It's not as good as if he didn't sign, but he's still going to be competing every week. And the only variable that exists that hasn't been discussed is the fact that Bill Belichick and the Patriots are wild. Like, trust goes a long way.

If Ramondre fumbles, there's somebody else there that can get more work. There really wasn't that option for them. No, it was very apparent if you watched the preseason matchup and they were trying to give these backups some carries for the Patriots. I think that was the final straw for Bill Belichick. He went, nope, this is not good enough. I got to go get one of these vets. And I would also imagine now that both Zeke and Dalvin Cook are off the market

that the domino of Kareem Hunt will fall soon. And where is that going to be? Oh, my name is Alexander Madison. I'm a little yeah i'm wondering uh jk dobbins off the pup return to practice i am very excited for dobbins anthony richardson is the starter for the indianapolis colts good for you guys you guys watched all the reps during the preseason i did i saw some bad, and I saw some just incredibly great stuff. What he can do when it's good is so good. Did you hear his response? He was shocked.

Yeah, he was shocked that he was named the week one starter. Look, if I'm competing against Gardner Minshew, I'd be shocked if I beat him out too. He's just too cool. Brock Purdy will no longer require any off days. Now in practice gearing up for the regular season. Ready to rumble. Mike Gesicki, dislocated shoulder. Minor.

Mild. Dislocated shoulder. He's been having a pretty good camp. TJ Hawkinson. I don't know why you guys are laughing. I'm laughing because I've never seen it. I've never seen it. I've never seen.

He's dealing with an ear infection. Too much time in the tub. It was throwing off his equilibrium. But I've just never seen a practice report that's like, because we've wondered the whole time, is this money? Is this finances? Why has he been off the field? It was an ear infection.

And then it finally got revealed it was an ear infection. It was like, well, that's a new one. I guess the equilibrium makes perfect sense. Let's say it's new for us for football, but if you've ever had a bad ear infection, goodness gracious. Imagine getting hit in the head while you have an ear infection. When's the last time you had an ear infection? It's been a long time. It's been a long time.

It's okay, Mike. He's a tight end, so he's wearing the big pillow outfits right now uh and then uh cowboys they have their guard back zach martin zach martin wins those those pillow helmets which are so funny looking when it's on a small player like like jk tobbins yesterday watching him it just looks like how can you how can you hold your head up? I'm sure they're very light, but it looks like it would be. You look like the great Gazoo from the Flintstones. Like you put in the code on NBA Jam for a bobblehead. You're just full. The proportions just don't look right.

I already told Jason this. They're clearly better for the players, so why don't they just play all the games with those? Because the players still want to look cool. Yeah. I mean, it really is. Because they look ridiculous. All right.

That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Let's hop into the mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag. All right. If you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com.

Click that submit a question button. Or you can dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. We'll go ahead and we'll kick this off with a voicemail question. Actually, no, let me answer this one first because we haven't whispered about it yet. But one common question that came through on socials was, is the Megalobole happening again this year? Yep. There's a bear crap in the woods?

Yep. Of course it's happening. It's the biggest, best tournament of the year. The winner will play in our next year's Listener League, and we will be announcing how to join Monday. Oh, also, I mean, like right now, because if you support us at jointhefoot.com, you're going to have a free entry into the Megalobo.

Yeah, it's just the link will not be up until next week. But you could prep up. Yeah, you can, you know. You can go pledge over there, and then you're ready to rumble when I announce stuff. There you go. Here's a voicemail. Hey, footballers.

They call me Big Chungus, and I live in Texarkana. Bonjour. I have a question. If you could pick your draft slot, which one would you take? Rank them from favorite to least favorite. Thanks. Hashtag dinner butter. Okay.

First of all, I'm not ranking 12 spots in order, Chungus. Favorite spot, least favorite spot. There was a big Chungus reference. I think it was big Chungus. My favorite spot is number three. Actually, no. I'm changing that. It was four. Then it was three. My favorite spot is number three. Actually, no, I'm changing that. It was four.

Then it was three. My favorite spot is now number two. Because you won. I would like the CMC Jefferson decision made for me. Chase with the calf of burrow, re-injury risk, cup, hamstring. I'm going to remove those from locks. I guess I could say three and put Tyreek in there, but no, I'm going to go number two. You said exactly my opinions right now. 100% identical. I'm going to remove those from locks. I guess I could say three and put Tyreek in there, but no, I'm going to go number two.

You said exactly my opinions right now. 100% identical. I said my opinions, but yeah. I'm good with them. I share them. You're with them? Everything you said. I was four. Then with those other two issues, I'm two.

I'm still sitting at four. You're comfortable with Cupp? Yes. I'm comfortable with the three wide receivers christian mccaffrey and then i get you know just a slightly earlier choice for my second pick all right thank you for the the question big jungles all right twitter question from the sports fan says can you explain on the position premium in smaller leagues like a 10-team and 8-team league. Andy briefly mentioned it on the Saturday Mock Draft show. Sure. I mean, we were discussing it related to the tight end position.

When you're in a 12-, 14-, 16-team league, if you don't end up with Travis Kelsey and Mark Andrews, you still play the rest of your games other than those two teams that have those two players against people with a very similar tight end situation to you so it's not a positional advantage to the degree that it is in an eight team league where you're probably facing Kelsey and Andrews and Waller two times in a league like that where you're going to be outmanned at the positions that's that's my philosophy of it. Yeah, that's one way to look at it.

Another way to describe the same thing is to just say everybody's team in a 10-team or an 8-team league is really good. Your third flex is going to be a nice player, and so is your opponent's. And so there are only a few players in all of fantasy football that are outliers there's only one up you know you're Christian McCaffrey you're big three at quarterback uh Mark Andrews Travis Kelsey at tight end like you have to usually when you look at who wins in a smaller league they've got they've got one or two of those type of players that set them apart because everyone's roster is great.

And it goes the other way too of just looking at how many players are being drafted. In a normal league, everyone is starting at least two running backs, at least two wide receivers. So if you go from a 12 to a 14 teamer, how many running backs on average are those teams drafting? Four, five, right? Okay, now the player pool, now you have 10 running backs that are removed from the player pool going from a 12 to a 14.

And Jason's right of you need to have the guys that can separate. You can absorb the draft cost of taking the high-end quarterback or the tight end because there's fewer running backs being drafted, and so your player pool is better. Better ones are going to come back to you. Back into a voicemail question. Hi, this is Dave from Indiana. I'm in a league where it's a super-flexed league, but quarterback is somewhat undervalued and not drafted as quickly as it should be.

What's my best strategy to take advantage of that and draft quarterback high to get a positional advantage or kind of stick with a herd so I don't miss out on some value picks later on? Thanks, guys. So this is a super flex question, but they're saying that surprisingly it's not just a huge quarterback run at the top of the draft. So how would you handle that draft?

To me, this is great news. I'm going to get two awesome quarterbacks. You're going to spend your heavy capital picks on that one, but then the wide receiver and running back pool is going to be much so in a super in a super flex where obviously you're starting 24 wide receivers every single or 24 quarterbacks every single week every single quarterback will be drafted there isn't just a waiver wire where you can go and make changes you can't stream the position and they they do score the most obviously that's why we go from late round quarterback strategy to usually like the first six or seven picks in a super flex are the quarterback position. If, you know, in the second round in a normal super flex where the first round is all

these, you know, great quarterbacks, I'm almost never taking a quarterback in that second round because they're just, they just a tier or two too low compared to the running backs and wide receivers that are there. I'm not going to do that. But if this is a league where all of a sudden a really good quarterback is falling into the middle of the second round, someone that is in that tier, you know, if a Herbert or a Fields or even like a Lawrence is falling deep into the second round. That's where it's like that's worth it to me because if you could start your draft with a Josh Allen

and, you know, another one of those guys, the top seven guys, if you could start, I mean, you're going to be at such an advantage. That's the way I would personally play it. I would be really willing to take the one if you can get the true top-tier quarterback. And then it's just paying attention to the tiers. We're really saying the same thing. I would anticipate that my second pick would likely be a wide receiver

or a running back, but I think Jason's right. If you're looking at tier whatever, tier three, tier four running backs, and there's still somehow a tier one quarterback because your league just undervalues them, then just load up and kill people that way. Kill people? Yeah, with points. Okay. That just sounded really extreme.

I take it very seriously. Twitter question from Maury says, where do you find the ADP comparison tool that shows you ADP between different platforms? I checked the app and the website. I couldn't find it. We just announced this. Worth stating it again. We added a new research tool to the Ultimate Draft Kit that allows you to –

we've always had an ADP page in there that shows the sleeper ADP by scoring system, and that updates every day. We have now added an ADP comparison tool, which shows you the differentiation between ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper, Underdog. And that is found under the research ADP platform comparison tab in the UDK. It is not on the app yet. So it is only on the web version. It will be added to the app at some point. But if you looked on the app and you didn't find it, that's why I should have specified just go to, here's a little shortcut.

If you have the UDK, you can go to myudk.com. That's how I get there. And it takes you right into the dashboard, and you can click on the research tab and find it there. We will be talking about certain platforms where players can be, dare i say stolen yeah i mean dalvin cook is a perfect example because there are certain platforms that are far more active in the offseason like sleeper is usually much more active um so he's in the sixth round

right now he's the sixth pick in the sixth round but if you look at um some other platforms like he's not even registering right now on espn and yah. He's going undrafted in a lot of those leagues. And so when he starts getting drafted, it will be very, very late. Their ADP will be lagging and they will be lower. So Dalvin Cook could very easily, if you're playing in an ESPN or Yahoo league, those are the type of players where they probably won't adjust in ADP quick enough, where if you're drafting any time in the next couple weeks it's probably going to be a value all right let's jump into another voicemail question Andy Mike and Jason love you guys this podcast man you guys are great um just had a question regarding Derrick Henry he hasn't really been talked about this offseason a whole lot what do

you guys think his potential ceiling is and also also, where do you think, worst case scenario, he could end up? Thanks, guys. All right, so the question is, where do we see Derrick Henry's outlook and potential for this season? Where is he going to end up? I know everybody's been waiting for the shoe to drop on Derrick Henry, which he got hurt a couple years ago and then came back last year and stayed mostly healthy.

So what are the range of outcomes for Derrick Henry? Yeah, he stayed mostly healthy so you know what are the range of outcomes for Derek Henry yeah he stayed super healthy he would have played all 17 games last year they rested him in week 17 because they had that weird situation where it didn't matter it didn't matter so they just you know for the playoffs um he was the running back four last year he had 1538 rushing yards and almost 400 receiving yards a little bit more involved in the receiving game. The truth for Derrick Henry is when he loses it, it's gone. This type of player, we've seen it just time after time after time after time. We have not yet seen that he's lost anything. I do not believe he's lost anything. He is the center of this offense.

When they talk about this team this offseason, they still acknowledge, like after the Hopkins signing, this is Derrick Henry's team. He's going to get the ball a ton, and I think he's a screaming value right now for how he has fallen due to the fears of age and due to the fears of the team like the titans have been a team that early this offseason seem like they are ready to collapse

and fall apart this division is the jaguars to you know now and and they need to move on they drafted a banana rama at quarterback will levis will levis and so you know third stringer they're they're ready to they're ready to move on and rebuild and all that. But truly to me, the Hopkins signing was monumental. It changed what I believe this offense can be. It took trail on Berks from a hopeful upside. I mean, it hurt him for fantasy, but it put him into a great position to succeed in the NFL. Now with trail and Berks as a wide receiver to Deandre Hopkins on the outside, Derek Henry in the NFL. Now with Traylon Burks as a wide receiver too, DeAndre Hopkins on the outside, Derrick Henry in the backfield, Ryan Tannehill should be fine. They're well coached. And for Derrick Henry to succeed, you want them to win games. He is the closer. He is the four minute

running back. He is the guy that like, how many W's do the Titans have? And it looked early this off season, like they were going to be a were going to be competing for a high draft pick. Now I'm like, I think they're going to be winning games. If they're winning games, Derrick Henry is awesome. Let me make the bare case for this season, and if you agree, Mike, or I don't know which side you stand, the weapons that you brought up, they didn't have any last year. So DeAndre Hopkins, healthy Traylon Burks, Chigga Conquo broke out over the

back half of the year. Those are three viable weapons in the offense. This team also drafted a player that we haven't talked about, but in preseason, very impressive. Heck of a Derrick Henry impression on a stiff arm. Tajay Spears. Tajay Spears running back. They haven't had any viable backup running backs on this roster. Last year, when he didn't score a touchdown, he was at 9.6 fantasy points per game. So he should score a lot of touchdowns. There's not like – the bear case is not Derrick Henry's useless.

It's just that maybe Derrick Henry has a 1,300-yard rushing season and he doesn't score 20 times, and maybe you're disappointed, even though it's better than most running backs end up? Yeah, it's certainly possible the offensive line for the Titans is not projecting very well if you're into PFF's grading system at all. The Titans currently dead last. They are a 30-second best, according to Pro Football Focus. I am more on the side of... Double digit touchdowns in five

straight years for him. I am more on the side of he is the Yeti. He is a mythical creature. And at this point, he's still going to be dominating on a football field. He is a complete

outlier. He's also discounted if he were to repeat it oh yeah yeah his his adp is a little deflated but it's like derrick henry is everything about the profile of derrick henry says this is a running back that i would fade nine out of ten times he's gonna be turning 30 he's wow, he caught some more passes this past week. He's close to a zero in the passing game. But this is a different player, and he has different rules, and he doesn't care about what other people say about those things. And I think that he will continue to see, you know,

what over 300 attempts on the ground. I think that the yards and the touchdowns will be there derrick henry was the fourth running back drafted last year people were calling for the bust instead he finished as the running back four and now you can get him in the second round it does it it feels a little bit like what happened to nick chubb last year where nick chubb was he was like a the same spot in draft, and then he was the best running back for the first like 10 weeks, and we're all like, oh, probably should have seen that as a possibility. Like, Derrick Henry could 100% be the best pick in the draft. Derrick Henry is in the second round because of cowards.

Because of fear-based drafting. Fear-based drafting. Yeah, that's a new strategy that I don't recommend. I don't either. Where he's going, he might be bad. He's Superman. You just draft him.

You can only draft with no more than three seconds on the clock. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no cheat sheet either. You just have to scream a name outside. Nelson Aguilar. All right, that is going to do it for today's episode of the show. We'll be back tomorrow, Brooks. What are we doing tomorrow? Oh, Brooks. Uh-oh.

Couldn't find the button. We are top 10 tips and tricks. Okay. And then the next day after that? Mock draft mayhem. And the day after that? My guys. Yeah, we got big shows coming up. TheFantasyFootballers.com if you want access to all of our content and amazing writing staff over there

pumping out incredible articles. Check that out. Back with you tomorrow. 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 FF Ballers.