Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Fantasy Time Machine + Jonathan Taylor Fallout - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/30

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

Find out which players will surprise in 2023! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Andy, Mike, and Jason jump into the Fantasy Time Machine! Which QB will have a career resurgence like Geno Smith? Who is this year’s Josh Jacobs? Plus, fantasy fallout from Jonathan Taylor missing the first four weeks of the regular season! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 30th, 2023. Dive into the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit + Draft Analyzer! UltimateDraftKit.com Compete in the largest fantasy football league! Megalabowl.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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,

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Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Great Scott. If my calculations are correct, you are listening to this before your fantasy football drafts have taken place. I've been to the future, and those that followed the advice from the Fantasy Footballer's Ultimate Draft Kit

had a spectacular season and withstood many victories. It's almost as if Biff had given each of them a copy of Grey's Sports Almanac. I'd highly recommend heading over to www.ultimatedraftkit.com without any further delay. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Wednesday, August 30th, the Fantasy Footballers. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, back with you. If my calculations are correct, we'll be entering the fantasy time machine today which is always a good time knowing the future that is yeah and uh we'll try to let you know who Ari Cooper is the 2023.

What do we got next? Josh Jacobs. Okay. The 2023 Geno Smith. What I love about this show. All very surprising. Is we do, we have actual time machines that we get to use just for this episode. That's what you love about this. Yeah.

So everything we will be giving you is 100% factually correct. Perhaps not in this universe, but at least in one of them. Yeah, if it does become true in this one. Yes, yeah, jump in a black hole and you might end up where? In the multiverse. These are hard to call, we we take a look at situations and try and compare so you know there's there's a little bit of feeling of how that player was uh looked at last year during the draft and just say this is it this is the person who's going to

be this or uh by next year it's confusing man there's too much yeah i mean time travel is very confusing uh jason knows a ton about it yeah no i uh a lot of people would be surprised i built it i built the time machine yeah with the science a lot of people think al would do that for us right but he's too lazy uh can i get uh i need one of the deuces to let me know the current count for the Megalobull at some point during the show today. But it is growing. It is mega. It's getting more mega.

It's becoming more mega. Megalobull.com, come compete with us and play in the largest in-season tournament in all of the lands. Yeah, and if you win that tournament, you will be in our listener league with us automatically, which we are drafting today. Today is our listener league draft. Are we really?

Yeah, we are. Yes, Andy. It's on the schedule. What time is that happening? That is happening at 5 p.m. Eastern. Well, I'll be darned. Yeah. I hope you're there.

We have a fantasy MVP episode tomorrow, by the way. We use this. You could call it a time machine or you could call it a calendar. Okay. And that's where it's penciled in? Yep. Look, my family is in the middle of a move right now. I'm not even alive at this point in time.

That's fair. I am living in the mist. And I don't know why we chose to move in the middle of the football season. I'm sorry that I made that decision for you. We're a bunch of idiots. The Dynasty podcast, special episode released this morning, live from NFL Studios. We did Dynasty My Guys and Rookie Fever.

It was a fun episode. I don't really know how long Jason and myself argued about Bijan. Not long enough. But it was a long time. Remember that? Because this weekend is a blur. Or last weekend. And I knew there was

something that we ended up really digging into it and it was it was bishan yeah the range of outcomes for bishan robinson well kyle normally hosts the the dynasty pod i i uh pinch hit this week and hosted it which was the first time i've hosted the dynasty pod myself first and uh i mean clearly based on Jason's behavior Kyle lets him get away with anything and I had to push back for a long time the Dynasty show is a lot of fun because

we just let ourselves go we'll talk forever in fact there's a very long episode talking about my guys and the rookies 13,773 participants in the Megalobol so far so hop in there Megalobal.com. The quick question of the day.

Do you like to use a late draft pick to grab the backup running back to your RB one as an insurance policy, or do you view it as a wasted pick? I would say the vast majority. I view it as a wasted pick. It's, it's drafting for your floor. Look, should something happen to your starter, maybe you have a plug-and-play running back

who's going to come in and give you some production. The problem is we remember very fondly when it works, but it has only worked a small amount of times. It's great for a week or two here or there. You know, like, oh, Dalvin Cook is going to miss a couple weeks here with his shoulder. Alexander Madison then looks fantastic in those situations. But if you're talking whole season, then it's not likely the answer.

It's hard to say for sure who is the true backup, and it's going to be a committee more than likely. Brooks, you made a good point in the Slack. What did you just say? I always actually do this where I, not always, but I draft my backup and then I regret it because I'm afraid to drop them every week. If my RB1 gets hurt.

Fully committed to them. Yes, exactly. Yeah, that's a good point i mean think about the scenarios that exist out there you let's say you take give me a player that has like a clear defined backup situation that would go in the last round uh i don't know if it's last round but let's say uh derrick henry and tajay spears okay um because it should henry go if henry went down down, Tajay Spears would be the hotness on the way for one. That's a good example, and that's a player you could potentially get with the last round. The trap would be, one, you take Tajay Spears because they are the backup

instead of a player that would have more season-long value in general. So that could be a mistake you make because you could take Raheem Mostert, who's a starter for the Dolphins in the last round. And if you think about if Henry went down, are you going to have enough confidence in Tajay Spears? Maybe over Raheem Mostert, but there are just some pitfalls to it. And if the value of the backup is assured, like if you know they're going to be great,

they generally go higher in the draft, and then you're committing two higher draft capital picks on the same backfield, and then you're super committed to them when you talk about like a backup going, like for example. Like Charbonnet. Yeah, that's a good example. If you were to draft Kenneth Walker, and then you want Charbonnet, so you've kind of got the whole backfield,

you're spending a lot of draft capital on those two guys because the backup is really good. So he gets drafted highly. I think the only situation where I would consider drafting the quote unquote backup, the insurance option for my player is when I know my player's not going to start. And I spent higher draft cap on him if if Jonathan Taylor um is someone you end up drafting and you know you're not going to have him or or uh Alvin Kamara someone like that then okay maybe I'll grab Kendra Miller because I think I'm going to be able to start him right off the bat it's like an it's an insurance policy that I can claim right away it's more like a band-aid right yeah

it's it's going to help me get to the player but But, you know, if I draft Eric Henry, it is – I don't think you need to draft Tajay Spears. Not that Tajay Spears is a bad pick. Like, I like him in general. But it's not a need. You don't need to be, you know, grabbing your insurance option at the draft day. You didn't benefit from the Hassan Haskins backup pick last year when Henry went down?

Oh, we played him. We sure did. Which was a dynasty league. But yeah, we played him and it was not a lot of production. The other challenge is when you have these kind of backfields like Miami, like Philadelphia, where if you take multiple options in that backfield, I've done it before, long time ago. It's a nightmare. Not because you don't want to have the one that breaks out,

but because sometimes no one breaks out and you're stuck with all of them and you don't know which one to start. Or if someone breaks out, you're afraid to drop the other guy that you had. Like, you know, if you ended up with Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker, you're never dropping either guy, even if Charbonnet breaks out. If you've been around the fantasy football landscape for a while,

Carolina, many moons ago, had two fantastic running backs. They had D'Angelo Williams and Johnny Stewart. And when they were both healthy, it was like, what do I do here? I have two great options. Should one of them miss time i have a an actual fantastic fantasy running back but when that didn't happen you were just getting low output it's it's not playing for first it's like i'll wrap the conversation saying for that drafting your backup as the last pick as opposed to drafting someone else's backup you're not playing for first.

You're playing for, well, I just don't want to have a terrible season. Who cares? If you're last or you're third or you're second, your goal is to get first place. Your team does not get better when you lose your starter and the backup goes in. Exactly. But your team gets better when someone else loses their starter

and you add a great asset to your roster. Yes. One final wrinkle. I don't mind it. Obviously, Dynasty is completely different. I like having the backup in Dynasty. That's way different. Because I'm guaranteed to have a starter at that position,

and you don't have the luxury of taking these late rounders that might be starters. So it is different there. Let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. The bomb dropped at 4 p.m. Eastern yesterday. Man, Twitter was... It was a dirty bomb.

For the final 20 minutes, as we sat waiting for the news on Jonathan Taylor, I mean, how many times did Twitter get refreshed just from the fantasy community? I was sitting there just spamming it. I wanted to be the first one to see it, and we knew there was a time limit. We knew it had to come out.

The news did come out. No trade. Jonathan Taylor remains on the Colts. Jonathan Taylor remains on the PUP list, meaning he will miss a minimum of four games. Jonathan Taylor remains on the Colts. Jonathan Taylor remains on the PUP list, meaning he will miss a minimum of four games. And I think we start with the Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, exactly.

And here's where you have to dig in. Oh, we're in the whole day of training on this one button. It's warm in these rhinos. We're in the Seinfeld apartment right now. Or Kramer's. The Kramer's with the chicken place. See, Al wants to blame me, but there's only one button that does it that way. All the other buttons I got to turn off. So to Jonathan Taylor, he will miss the first four games.

Those four games count towards him accruing a season. Jonathan Taylor, like I, I'm pretty sure that he has to work with the team. The team will be like, are you ready to go? And he'll think, no, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to come off the PUP. And he only has to get to six games to become like he has fulfilled his contract. As long as he stays on this PUP for six weeks, yes, the Colts can technically franchise him, but I'm saying he has now moved through his contract and he gets to figure out what's going on during the offseason. This is a disaster, a disaster.

If Jonathan Taylor wants to do essentially a hold in, he has a free pass to do it it was really dumb of the Colts to leave him on the pup it's it's bad strategy even if his ankle is hurting um if they were to trade him if a team wants to come and get him that team will not have him for the first four weeks either so you know if you're know, if you're thinking, oh, well, when he goes to Miami, they'll take him off the pup. It doesn't work that way. He's officially on the pup, can't come off through the first four weeks. This was never a good faith situation with Jim Irsay and Jonathan Taylor.

In Las Vegas, they wanted Josh Jacobs back. They both sides did. Yeah, they just needed to reach that point. We won't see Jonathan Taylor most likely play for this roster. jacobs back they they both sides did yeah they just needed to reach that point it doesn't we won't see jonathan taylor most likely play for this roster is the way it's feeling right now it feels and things can change with with dollars and cents but you know you are going to have the overarching jonathan taylor is he really hurt question that is going to be layered on top of the potential trade or returning to a roster that, look, the enthusiasm,

before we even knew this situation was happening, Jonathan Taylor was lower in our rankings than the consensus simply because of the data associated with a rushing quarterback and Anthony Richardson and a roster. And a rookie quarterback. Yes, exactly, and a roster that is questionable. So at this point, you're looking at the draft, and I've been asked a ton over on Twix. I saw somebody mention it. Yeah, I did. I did combine it. Do I go and I invest on Deion

Jackson? Do I invest on Evan Hull? I'd love to have Evan Hull in a dynasty just to see what happens. But the truth is, is Zach Moss is going to be back from a broken arm. Maybe not week one, maybe not week two, but soon. Deion Jackson and Evan Hull both had opportunities to start. Deion Jackson started the final two preseason games, but Evan Hull rotated in with the starters at different points in the game. Evan Hull is a fifth-round rookie out of Northwestern. You're not going to be happy. You are maybe not going to be super happy with Jonathan Taylor in this offense.

It seems like a landmine to try to start one of these guys right now. I can't imagine to start the year you're in a position where you have to start a Colts running back from this triad. No, I agree. Week one, you will have no idea. You are just flat guessing when you want to say, okay, it's going to be Evan Hall or it's going to be, even if Zach Moss is active.

If Zach Moss is active, I would presume that he will be the starter. As would I. If I was to target one Colt running back, it would be Zach Moss because I think that's who's going to get the opportunity to touch the ball the most. And that, coming from Jason Moore, ladies and gentlemen, Jason saying he would target Zach Moss, that is, that's a big step. To be fair, I said if I had to target a Colt, I would target Zach Moss. This is like a forced targeting situation.

I still do not believe that it will be a good situation, kind of like what Andy was saying. We had Jonathan Taylor on the bus list in the UDK all offseason. Five-point home dogs in week one against Jacksonville as well. So it's something that I would – it's like the backup running back question. Like, are you going to invest a final pick on Raheem Mostert or Brian Robinson later in the draft? Are you going to try to shoot your shot on one of these three?

I mean, the problem is last year during the final week of the season, Zach Moss had a number two overall finish. But then Deion Jackson had all the receptions and he was number 11 on the week. And now you have a guy in Evan Hull that actually catches the ball really well. And then week one, it'll be Kareem Hunt as the starter. Oh, right, yeah. You just don't know.

Yeah, speaking of Kareem Hunt, four teams offered him deals. He has not signed one. Waiting for the right offer. So, you know, right now he doesn't have a team. Jerry Judy, not going on short-term IR. He said he hopes to play week one. Okay. Look, it's good news, at least forward-facing,

that he wasn't placed on the short-term IR. You know what this does? I can't imagine week one. This makes it more complicated to take the later round shot on Marvin Mims to me. If Judy's not back, like Mims is going to start week one. And you're like, Hey, cool.

You got an opportunity there. We like his film. I did at least his production profile. And so great opportunity, but then Judy could be back. I don't think Judy's going to be back. And, but he will be within a couple of weeks.

Sure. Not putting them on the pup is a very good sign that he, he will be back before week four. But I doubt that he is there week one, which gives Mims an opportunity. And if you look at what the Broncos were calling around, looking for wide receivers this week after the Judy injury, that says to me – Well, they're like – I think they have – They only have four on the roster.

Yeah. So, Courtland Sutton, Judy, Mims, and then who am I forgetting as the fourth? But even with everything that's going on, they don't have healthy guys to play. It's very strange. DJ Chark, optimistic he can play in week one against the Falcons. That is surprisingly good news. Okay.

Dwayne McBride waved, running back for the Vikings. They signed Myles Gaskin instead. The gas man. Only one day. He just needed to fill up. I'd be lying if after the Dwayne McBride release yesterday, I was like

here comes freaking Leonard Fournette. Nope. And it wasn't. It was Myles Gaskin. We're good. We're still on track with Madison. Albert Aguivanom was not released. He was actually traded to the Eagles. A late round swap. Not that important. And then players waived

yesterday. Melvin Gordon. Goodbye. Yep. He was on the Ravens, everybody. Bailey Zappy. Zap, zap, zap. It wasn't just... Smartest move ever by New England, in my opinion. Really? I completely agree.

Smartest move ever. I was telling Mike the same thing. Galaxy brain genius, super smart. Don't put the fans and the team in a position where you might have questions about who you're going to start at quarterback, confidence problems with Mac Jones. Just make your Mac Jones bed and sleep in it. I don't know if the sleep's going to be good, but just do it.

I would imagine they'll try to sign him to the practice squad should he clear. Right, but this is a huge risk by the Patriots. I saw some beat writers talking about what are they doing, and it has to do with other injury system or other other injury uh concerns throughout the team that they're they had to make some really hard decisions because as of right now mac jones is the only quarterback on that roster and you you can't go into a season with only one figure that out i just personally didn't i don't think it's healthy for that team to have the situation they had on the table last year.

Fan favorites versus what you should be doing. Like, Mac Jones is the better player. Mac Jones needs confidence. Make it obvious. But if he's the better player, he shouldn't be concerned at all about being these Abby's. No, that's not how the world works. Yeah.

Human nature. You're always going to love the backup, especially in New England. Or, you know, there's certain cities where it's like there's not going to be a lot of patience no not with a loss they expect to win they expect to you know it's like oh you're you're not playing well you're a bum get out of town i mean did you not see doug prescott how furious he is right now with the trey lance trade they didn't give him a heads up you're adding a you're adding a dramatic piece to that roster right now. No, that's not what I read from Trey Lance. Trey Lance is saying he's happy to have him there? Have you watched Dak Prescott talk about this?

No, I guess not. Dak's interview is as controlled fury as you can get. Wasn't told about it. No heads up. Furious about Will Greer being let go, who was playing well for them and a friend of the team. That's fair. He can be mad about that.

And then there's the component of, look, you're adding a high draft capital pick to your team that if things turn, look, no patience in Dallas either. If things turn, you're just going to have the whispers in the bushes, and every whisper affects confidence. This is just my personal opinion on what I would do as a franchise. It fits perfectly with what you were railing against yesterday, which was if you have two quarterbacks, you have none.

If you don't go out and definitively tell your team who the guy is and give the guy the ability to make mistakes, because even the best quarterbacks in football make tons of mistakes, in my opinion, it saps you of the ability to have that guy succeed. Yeah, and if you've got Pat Mahomes, okay, go out and get the best backup you can so that your team can. But if you've got a middle-tier guy who's not proven and you're unsure, you can't put a lack of confidence.

I would say that if that's truly the situation for Mac Jones, it doesn't matter who the backup is. But you know that Bailey Zappi was, I think, a fourth rounder. He was 2-0 in his starts. So it was like, you have a really cheap backup who could come in and actually win games. And if Mac Jones is that fragile,

it doesn't matter who the backup is. The crowd will turn on him regardless. Also, Cardinals... No, they won't turn on him to, say, go put Brian Hoyer in the game if you get a veteran backup. Bailey Zappi was getting chants from the crowd last year. Yeah. Cardinals go get Zappi. Yeah, that's actually... He should

start for us if we wanted to win. Chosen Anderson, goodbye. Malik Davis, see ya. Corey Clement, bye. Didn't know you were playing football still. Running back. Sorry, the Malik Davis one, which we knew it was going to happen, but it is official.

They've said they're going to try and bring him back to the practice squad. We're talking about the Cowboys running back situation, but Rico Dowdle is officially the backup. Maybe if you're in a dynasty league that fell asleep at the wheel, perhaps he is out there,

but this is also like you need to have this information of just in case like know the name rico dowdle should like if week one comes out and he's getting 30 of the work that won't be surprising how healthy has james connor been in recent years about the same as all the years most mostly so So you're one James Conner injury now from Keontae Ingram in Arizona having an opportunity to start. So keep that in mind. Yes, but that is trusting the process. That is 20 carries at running back midway through the year

is something anybody would dream of from any player anywhere. Yeah, but I don't think he's good. Keontae? It don't matter. I actually think Keontae? It don't matter. I actually think Keontae Ingram's not bad. It just doesn't. I mean, is Deion Jackson great? He's better than Keontae Ingram.

No, I think Ingram's all right. Do you know what he did last year? Dineric Prince? Dineric Prince for the Chiefs? Darling? Running back? Goodbye. He's been cut.

Yeah, there's only one Isaiah Pacheco. All right, that was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Quick break, back with the Time Machine. 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. Why you got to dunk on Keontae Ingram, Mike? Due to his 27 carries turning into 2.2 yards per carry. He's a short yardage guy. Literally.

You can only get a few yards. My can do a few yards that's like my point wasn't he was good or bad the point was a james connor gets hurt every year and i totally agree with and in a dynasty league put him on your roster you're gonna be desperate for a start at some point in time he was highlighted in the nasty boys of summer episode of the dynasty podcast so we talked about it i don't like that show i never listened to it all right moving on marty you've got to come back withimes do the chimes finish up. I honestly thought the drop might go forever. I kind of hoped it would. I wish I could go back in time and re-listen.

I'm a little sad that we're up now. I want to just keep listening to that. The premise of this segment is if we could travel forward in time, who would be this year's version of players that flat-out surprised last year? Amari Cooper, amazing start to the season. Josh Jacobs surprised everybody but Brooks. And then you had Geno Smith, who people did not have high expectations for. So we want to talk about what made those players special last year

and how we can apply those same filters and potentially narrow the field to identify them as candidates to be that player this year. Amari Cooper was, let me give you the resume for last year. He was drafted as the wide receiver 26. So that was late sixth round in drafts. He ended up the wide receiver, 26. So that was late sixth round in drafts. He ended up the wide receiver nine. 132 targets, 78 for 1160 and nine.

He had as many top 12 weeks as A.J. Brown. He had one more than Jalen Waddell or Amon Ross St. Brown. His start was shocking and it was great. Briefly speaking to him, he still might be a tremendous value this year. Yeah, usually when a player is a good value like three, four years in a row, it just keeps happening, like Tyler Lockett. Every year he's undervalued and overperforms, and for some reason the world does not love Amari Cooper.

I love hanging with Mr. Cooper. Yeah, and he keeps dropping in drafts that we've been in. Oh, you're mad because you didn't get this? Yeah. Thank you. Feeling better? Much better. I was pleased to be able to claim this gentleman as my Amari Cooper for this year

because Jason talked about him quite a bit. He was a bus pick for Jason last year. He is Cooper for this year because Jason's talked about him quite a bit. He was a bus pick for Jason last year. He is not that this year. He's a value for Jason this year. Completely agree. I've taken him in two drafts recently and that would be Deontay Johnson, wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers,

who is going as the wide receiver 35 right now. So he's going 11 spots, or I'm sorry, nine spots further than where Amari cooper went last year we have them ranked higher than that uh the taste of last year's stinky steelers souffle which is what that offense was i like that um it's still in the air and that's being reflected in his draft position uh he has been a wide receiver one before, so that's part of the recipe to me is, you know,

when you look at that value, Omari Cooper has had a history of success. Deontay Johnson, I think you just have to watch him play football to know what he's capable of. He's a great route runner, go-to type of first down receiver. The flashy player is George Pickens on the other side, but Deontay will have more targets. And this Pittsburgh offense, all signs point to it being vastly improved. They have two running backs that are going to be contributing in this offense. They have Pat Fryermuth at tight

end, and you've got two wide receivers that are very good. So I think Deontay right now stands out as the player that goes late in drafts that all of a sudden like if you just end up in a situation where maybe you did draft a quarterback in a tight end uh because you got they dropped to you and then you drafted some running backs like i legitimately have zero problem slotting deontay johnson is my wide receiver too on a draft where wide receivers just came late and uh kenny pickett we've talked about it he looks good he's the highest graded quarterback this preseason in his limited playing time uh dionte targeted on 29 of his routes he is a very very good wide receiver who had a very outlier style year last season didn't score

which was insane but you don't find wide receivers every day at wide receiver 35 that are guaranteed to get 120 targets in an offense. And if Deontay stays healthy, there's just no way he doesn't have that. So, you know, he had 147 last year. They were so low value receptions because he didn't end up in the end zone. I'm just very excited about picking him up late in drafts. It just feels like you stabilize your entire wide receiver core if you've already taken a few. And like I said, you could sneak late and take a guy like this and end up with a home run. Yeah. Well, let me mention a guy who's going much later than I'm glad it's not me. Earmuffs, Mike. Earmuffs, don't listen.

I'm going to throw Cortland Sutton's name into the mix. This is a player that has not been talked up by the fantasy community. Contractually, there is a reason why we have not talked him up.

Yes. I mentioned his name and you probably are reminded of the specific trash can that you threw those dirty pants into those stinky dirty poopy pants oh no you had to take that trash can and then you had to put it into a different trash can you had to put the trash can in a dumpster yeah that's how bad the mess was last year and i get it but i went back and I looked and to me there's there's a lot of Cooper

vibes here the first five weeks I don't know if you guys remember this because he had a terrible week one but then he was actually okay he was averaging nine targets 83 receptions 12 and a half fantasy points per game you go to week six and he's sitting there as the wide receiver 14 in fantasy football. Now, for whatever reason, things fell apart. The entire Broncos offense was really that's what you were putting. That's the real poop that was in the pants was the Broncos offense. Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett and Cortland Sutton. I mean, there was no goodness from the Broncos offense last year.

And it's rare for things to repeat in the NFL. Like, changes are the normal in the NFL. When you've got Sean Payton coming in, and you've had really good camp reports of Cortland Sutton. In fact, like, August 9th, here's a report from Zach Stevens. Said, today's practice was all about Russell Wilson and Cortland Sutton. Sutton caught every single pass thrown his way, including a 30-yard pass from Russ with Pat Sertain in great coverage, another catch with Damari Mathis all over him. They capped off the day with a short touchdown.

He's had a good camp. And now we talked about Jerry Judy's injury. He probably won't be there week one, maybe, maybe not. But that depth chart at wide receiver it's him and that's kind of what I was trying to think like Amari Cooper last year was the beneficiary of being the only dude and obviously Jerry Jude is going to come back we hope but again we saw it last year with Keenan Allen where when you're coming back from a really bad hamstring injury which it appeared to be when he was carted off that late into camp, you're going to try to

come back and you could re-aggravate the issue. Cortland Sutton has a path to be a very relevant fantasy player. Nobody wants to have him right now because of the way that last year went. But Rich Rebar, good friend of the show, this tweet, uh, Sutton ran 183 routes last season with Jerry Judy off the field and on those routes, 2.2 yards per route. That's great. 29.7% of team targets. That's great. 39.9% of air yards, 23 and a half targets per route run.

Like he was, he was the dude. So I think you're going to be able to get off to a quick start if Jerry Judy is off the field, just like Amari Cooper got off to a quick start, and then maybe trade him away. My worry with him is the history. You're going into year six

with Cortland Slutton, and we're still waiting for the package to get delivered. When you check the tracking code, and they're just like, I was supposed to get it today. And they're like, it's stuck at the facility. Oh, that tracking code. We're at the, it said it was delivered. Yeah, that's the one.

That's the one. It says it was delivered. I'm doing laps around my house. There is just, it is not here. And they left a picture of the delivery, but it was just my front door. Yeah, there was nothing there, right? Look, the problem there is i love i love

those uh target for outrun air yard all those numbers except for they didn't result in production the production did not connect to those numbers that's the part that freaks me out but right now you are you are limited in your options there and so the to me it's the if then this if then if this then thatthat of Peyton, Russ improving. Then I think those other numbers can translate. And look, for what you have to invest in him, throw that dart. Chuck that dart. And the hamstring injury for Judy, we can be enthusiastic about his early return,

but then will there be another return and another? Like Judy has been. It could be way worse. I mean, wasn't he hurt as a rookie and then he was hurt last year? And so we've – that package hasn't been delivered either. Let's put it that way. I need to change shipping companies with Denver. You had the three solid games at the beginning of the year

and then you had the two games that Jerry Judy missed last year, weeks 11 and 12, and it wasn't spectacular, but Cortland Sutton had over 10 points in a half-point scoring format both of those weeks. Like, that's 10 points. I'll take that. All right, I'm jumping in here because my vibes, this is a very vibey pick for me because last year, Amari Cooper, I believe my quote was,

he could be great, he could be terrible, and I'm just, I don't care. I was so willing to be wrong on Amari Cooper if he comes out and he has a great season, and he had a really great season to start, and I still was like, yeah, I knew this was possible. I just didn't want to go in on it. And that's where I am with DeAndre Hopkins, who is now on the Tennessee Titans, an older player, a player who has historically been great for fantasy football. He's easily the number one target on the team.

He's going right around that same area. Right now in the back of the fifth on sleeper, the wide receiver 20. He's only 31. It's not necessarily the end. The probability is against him, but we do have a couple guys in their age 31 season. Emmanuel Sanders was top 20 in points per game. Julio, of course, and me, Jason.

Adam Thielen. When I was a young spry 31, I was the wide receiver 16. Do you remember those days? The good old days. I wish I could go back in my own time machine. Last year, Hopkins averaged nearly 11 targets per game. He's so much younger than you.

He's so much younger than you, Mike. He's so much younger. Not in my heart. heart no not in football players on the field last year hopkins got insane volume i don't expect i changed my pick to adam theelin for this category oh please do he's starting for me in a dynasty league so i have to believe uh but deandre hopkins and i just i can see the path for him to be very solid I can see the path for it to like all the Tennessee Titans arguments of like oh no it's not a great season for Hopkins and I just I'm really indifferent on him where is at his ADP and that's where Cooper was for me last

year which is funny there Mike is that you were indifferent about Amari Cooper but that was a mistake right yeah so are you going to remedy the mistake? No. I will remain indifferent about DeAndre Hopkins. Okay, that's kind of the message I got there is that you're going to just – they say you learn from your mistakes. Oh, the foot plan learns from Mike's mistakes. From Mike's mistakes.

Mike remains in them so you can learn from them. I told you this is a very vibe-heavy pick. All right. Yeah, I mean, I get it. Traylon Burke's supposed to be back pretty soon. I have been staring down DeAndre Hopkins in drafts, and I acknowledge that I could have a gold mine, but I could also regret it.

Have you drafted him in many places? I took DeAndre Johnson instead. Legitimately. I was looking at both of those, and I went with the younger player i would go dionte johnson as well all right let's find 2023's josh jacobs who was drafted as the rb22 and he was number one in standard scoring talk about an absolute steal i don't have the numbers of like most common player on championship teams in front of me but i know josh jacobs was involved in that equation. I think he was the highest.

There you go. I mean, when you get the RB1 in standard scoring, the RB3 in half point in the late fourth round, where Brooks was keeping that torch burning for Josh Jacobs, and he ran for 1,653 rushing yards, that's stealing. And that changes your entire roster because you've already drafted high draft capital players, hopefully well.

To me, this is Damian Pierce. This is Damian Pierce of the Houston Texans. He is going at RB18 right now, so close to that RB22 range. I watched enough Damian Pierce last year to honestly there's some similarities to the way that Josh Jacobs ran between the tackles broke tackles and the way Damian Pierce runs I mean violent he's just a ferocious uh eater of souls I'll say uh Damian Pierce is so far and away the best running back in Houston. That has become very plain and very clear in the fact that he plays every single snap with the starters.

He ran eight routes. There could be some doors opening on that side. The biggest difference between Pierce and Jacobs, if you look at the time machine and what could happen, is you need to involve yourself more in the passing game. But Damian Pierce will have an opportunity to do that if he's in on all three downs and they don't have the Rex Burkhead third down, I don't know, concession that they were doing last year.

He is a very, very talented player. He came out and talked about how many routes he's running in this offense, this new offense now, and the fact that he went to lose some weight so that he could be more of a participant in the passing game i like that i think damian pierce might end up being in contention to lead the league in rushing and that's what josh jacobs did last year so um that's where i'm at yeah if if if you weren't in the dock first, I probably would have gone Damian Pierce. I'm so in on Damian Pierce,

his current draft day value based on what we've seen in the preseason. The only weird thing is if you look at last year with Josh Jacobs, it was the utilization in the preseason that made us go, I don't want to touch Josh Jacobs at all. So that's where it's a little bit opposite there.

The player that I want to bring up is based upon the fact that Josh Jacobs got everything. He was good, very good in his own right. I don't want to take anything away from how electric he was on the field, but the reason that he was an absurdly good fantasy option is because of the total amount of touches he got they didn't utilize anyone else in the backfield we went in thinking yeah it blew our minds we thought Brandon Bolden they brought Brandon Bolden over you know he's he's that coach's favorite guy coming from the other system he's gonna catch the ball you got Amir Abdullah ooh uh you know uh Zamir White yeah he's a, you know, a rookie. He's going to, this is a messy backfield.

And it turns out all those guys are unused. They barely, they barely were on the field. And when I look at depth charts around the NFL, Kyron Williams, Zach Evans, Ronnie Rivers and Matt Colburn to me say that, yeah, that says that Cameron, Mr. Akers is going to have an enormous workload on his shoulders. I think this is a volume play. I've been drafting him in live drafts over the last couple of days, where he's going right now in the sixth round, it doesn't cost you that much to gamble. He's the running back 22. Probability says he's going to be an okay fantasy asset, but around that range, there's very few guys that you can see a clear path towards being like a top six, a real breakout player.

And I see that for Cameron. I've talked about him recently, but he reminds me in those ways of Josh Jacobs. I think that he could be that league-winning type of pick. The difference I see for Cameron is just how we both view Kyron Williams. And I get that we don't have a ton of production on the field for Kyron Williams, and it's all speculation. But the fact that there was chatter after week one when Williams got hurt, that, no, he was a huge part of the plan all along.

We just weren't allowed to talk about it. So I think Kyron Williams, I like the Cameron Akers pick, but I think that Kyron could factor in more than you're anticipating. Right, but that's Brandon Bolden. That's what we thought of Brandon Bolden last year. That's what I'm saying. Kyron Williams is Brandon Bolden. You're saying

just accept things at face value. There's nobody to compete with him. Don't speculate about maybe. Just take what's on the plate exactly right all right i'm jumping in my pick it is alexander madison of the minnesota vikings look the vibes i'm going down with this ship i'm going everyone's like grab a lifeboat and i'm like i want to i want to hit the bottom of the ocean i really do and what what i like about this pick are the vibes. They aren't overwhelmingly positive. He became the starting running back for the Minnesota Vikings,

and he's landed in the sixth round as the running back 21 because you have people on my side, and then you have people on Andy's side of, well, he's going into year five. He's never really made an impact on a field. Even with Dalvin Cook being older, Madison couldn't really get himself on the field. We have some history of him taking over for Dalvin Cook.

You have eight career games with 15 opportunities. Most of those were when Dalvin Cook was out. He averaged nearly 17 fantasy points per game in that time. That's fantastic output. And you could say, well, look at the teams that he was playing. He played the Lions in a lot of those games. Well, he's still going to be playing the Lions because he's still in that same division. The point was just when Madison has seen opportunity,

he's come through for fantasy football. And last year's Minnesota Vikings was very different. Last year, Davo Cook ran the third most routes among running backs. He was used as a true workhorse running back. And this is me looking at the depth chart behind him where I think that Kyron Williams got – I've heard him talked up as a potential backup. The Minnesota Vikings in

this offseason everything was well Madison's the guy who is possibly going to be the number two in this backfield it seems that Ty Chandler has won that job yes and uh but the point was through most of camp they had no idea and then Ty Chandler had that one preseason game where he really showed out. And I think that's how we got the job. But Madison has been treated like the locked in guaranteed starter, as in not being used in the preseason. Alec Lewis, a beat reporter for the Minnesota Vikings, for the athletic, on the athletic football show, he said, quote, from the outset, Kevin O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings staff are very committed to Alexander Madison being the guy. Even talked up the pass catching opportunities that Madison is getting. Because if he's going to get goal line, which the depth chart would signal that, and if he's going to actually get

the pass catching, this is an outrageous deal for a high-powered offense getting their starting running back in the sixth round. So the nice thing about Madison is either when the ship either sails, like it turns into a cruise ship and the fantasy points are plenty, I'm going to be on there with my free beverages, and then Andy will be at the bottom of the ocean, or I will be in the bottom of the ocean or i will be in davy jones locker because i just was wrong on madison it is really tough because this

feels like i don't believe in the talent of the player i don't think it's i don't think he's a top half back at all but his opportunity looks secure. So it is really challenging because it's kind of how I end up never drafting Najee. It's because Najee, to me, has never really impressed me. However, he's had seasons of value because he just gets every opportunity. Madison feels like Minnesota Najee to me, and I could be caught in a bad situation.

But here's the thing, if that's the case if Najee if what you know about Najee if he was going in the sixth round correct even you have it you would be on top of that of course yeah and if Najee you'll be happy to know I stared Najee down and won a couple of our drafts this past week and I moved that mouse over that but about I didn't do it of course and if Najee were playing for the Minnesota Vikings and Kirk Cousins at that offense that you expect to be better. Najee's much better than Madison. That's a good point.

That is true. Don't care. I know. I know. You've got to have one team, Mike, with Jacob Dobbins and Madison as your two starters so I can watch from afar and be your best buddy that is I mean that is like just you you print out that sheet of your roster you soak it in kerosene and you just see what happens

you leave it near a candle yeah yeah that's not you know and honestly you should you should we should buy a nerf hoop and you should get one of those mini trampolines and you should dunk as hard as possible right on me if both those players come through because I am a stubborn man all right let's find 2023's Geno Smith undrafted by everybody not only undrafted by everybody but he ruined the value of Metcalf and Lockett in people's eyes. Ends up leading the league in completion percentage, 30-plus passing touchdowns, a quarterback five finish. That's insane, but it's what happened. It's a little inflated due to the—

Well, he didn't get hurt. That's what I mean. If he didn't get hurt, a lot of other quarterbacks did. In a regular year, he would not have been the quarterback five, but last year, he was. Let's go with my pick for this year's Geno Smith, which is a player drafted a year after Geno Smith. Send in the car. Send in the car.

Derek Carr, quarterback for the probable division champs, the Nor Orleans Saints. I was making the comment to Jason, and this means nothing, but Derek Carr looks as cut as he's ever looked. I was going to bring it up that this man, he spent his offseason not throwing a football. He spent his offseason only doing curls. I mean, he is in great shape. I think he has a yoke right now.

He has a, an agent, a chip on the shoulder from the departure, a competitive chip, not a misguided, angry in the, you know, he's,

he said a lot of positive things about his time in Las Vegas, but it was time for a new, to turn over a new leaf and quarterback 24 been there, done that with Derek Carr. We've seen it for year after year after year. You feel like he's eternally doomed to be outside the top 12. Look. So far he has been.

Geno Smith had two lives, the live before and the live after. Life after. And I think the stars. Just like Miley. I think the stars. Just like Miley. Yeah, good point. I think the stars like Miley, I think just like Miley. Yeah. Good point.

I think the stars might align this year. I think our confidence in the weapons in this offense, you're going to have Derek Carr with some equipment, you know, Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara coming back, Kendra Miller and Jamal Williams and a very, very beatable set of teams in this division. And I think Derek Carr could have a lot of impressive performances. He also has a bunch, like a whole stable of touchdown scoring tight ends.

Jawan Johnson, who I've thrown onto my watch list on Sleeper every single time I draft, just in case I want to punt to the last round. Taysom Hill and Jimmy Grandpa and Foster Moreau. Wow, you included Jimmy Grandpa. Yeah, because he's going to score five times. Did we talk about Jimmy Graham's preseason game on this show? No. Dude.

What? Jimmy Graham? Dude, pull up the footage and watch Jimmy Graham look like vintage Jimmy Graham at his age 78 season. Like it is – it was – I mean, that had to have been it. That had to have been all the gas he had left in the tank. He used it in that one matchup. Weren't we surprised about the age? How actually young he is?

Yeah, I'm watching the clip, the touchdown clip here. Dude. Because that's all he does is – yeah, he boxes out and scores. I am not surprised by his age. He's 36. Wait, he is? Yes. All right.

I'm not surprised. Oh, my gosh. How old was Antonio Gates during the final productive seasons? Figure that out for me. Probably right around there. But the weapons are solid. And look, a player like Chris Olave and all those other peripheral weapons, I think Derek Carr could have a very surprising year.

Although I like both your picks more for the comp. Yeah, the comp, my comp for him is uncanny. He has so much in common. A highly drafted quarterback who flamed out and was a bust. Then he's just in a camp battle where you start the offseason assuming it's going to be the other guy that's the starter but he wins and looks good in camp and he's got two great wide receivers that's exact in in you know DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett or Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Baker Mayfield is this year's Gino Smith.

He's looked very good. He's surprised everybody. And kind of like I talked about with Gino and Miley, I don't think Baker's a bad quarterback. We make fun of Baker a lot because, well, it's fun. It's low-hanging fruit. You want the apple near the bottom. It's delicious.

I don't want to get on a ladder. No. Or get that pole thing. we're too old for that let me grab i want to be able to eat it without touch without using my hands just go right up and like bob yeah like bobbing for apples just grab it and that's you know baker is the most perfect pick uh he he has every opportunity to come out here and you know restore his career he's got great weapons to do it with what was he like 15 of 16 in the preseason like you talk can you pick it gets all the praise for the preseason but baker was like almost perfect

yeah baker was baker was fantastic in the preseason similar to gino he's completely undrafted like what's his uh adp on sleeper he doesn't have it he's not drafted um if you're just so you know 14 for 15 106 yards two touchdowns 89 PFF passing grade on 15 passes yeah yeah so uh you brought up some stats Andy when you were talking about Mike Evans you're you're my guy that that matches very well with Baker's skill set. What Baker does well, Mike Evans does well. So those things could work tremendously. He also is a check down quarterback. He basically checks it down or chucks it deep.

Oh, a checker chuck. A checker chuck. And with Rashad White there, a capable check down guy, you know, he did it with Brady. I think Baker could really surprise and be a good quarterback this year. If I'm in a two quarterback league, I'm targeting Baker as my third quarterback.

All right. I like it. That one's spot on. By the way, we haven't even talked about it, but Mike Evans did miss the final preseason game due to... I just checked groinind index.com and he is a member oh no he's on there but he did say like the um his head coach came out and said he would be

playing if it was a regular season game but i didn't didn't make me feel any better that's part of the mike evans experience that's part of the Fantasy Reaper experience. That too. All right. I will lose it. My mind. I am jumping in. And my job. I was shocked when I got into the show, Doc,

that this was not Jason's pick. Just tell us when you need us to contribute. It was actually written in to my name before I got there, but Baker was just too perfect. Go on. Which is fair.

But this one. Go on. It is Sam. How? How? Oh, yeah yeah we got the triple how the wolf pack is in effect i think he's gonna be good i think he's gonna run i just watched every one of his pre-season opportunities i think he's gonna be a good player i think there is a very strong welcome aboard gentlemen i think there is a very strong chance that Sam Howell is actually a top 12 quarterback. Can we get a deuce for Howell? Oh, yeah.

Hey, boys, you want to try it out? Let's try it out. There we go. On three. One, two, three. Howell! Yeah. All right.

We had, like, multi-tones and everything. Beautiful. So here's the deal. Downfield passing. That was one of the reasons that Genino Smith was so successful last year. Looking at the Washington situation, uh, last year, dead last in first half pass rate. Meaning meanwhile, Kansas city was number one and that's Eric B enemy is coming in. He's the new offensive coordinator.

Granted. Of course, everyone is screaming. Yeah, but Patrick Mahomes. Yes. Of course. We know that Patrick Mahomes is the reason you throw so much, but the enemy could be bringing that system over. If Terry McLaurin is good to go, I mean, we're still dealing with that toe situation.

Don't need him. You got Dotson. Don't worry about it. But with McLaurin and Dotson on the field, that is a really, really strong wide receiver one and two combination. And Sam Howell, he unleashes the wolf, like the hair. He's got it, and he runs wild. So watch out for the moon schedule?

You want the full moon situation? If we get Sam Howell in a night game with a full moon. Let's get the Foot Clan to let us know if that's on the way. Some of you are probably moon watchers. Are you kidding me? I think the blue moon is like the super blue moon is like tonight. Yeah, that's tonight. Well, I'm saying, but is he in a primetime game where there will be a full moon? Because that could be a serious danger for the other team.

In college, in his final year, Sam Howell ran a ton. He ran for over 800 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. I mean, that is absolutely ridiculous, and you saw it on display last year in Week 18, Dallas, five carries, 35 yards, and a rushing touchdown. That is the secret for fantasy success at the quarterback position, QB seven in that particular week. And he's being drafted very, very late. He looks to me when he is escaping the pocket and breaking through. He looks a lot like Josh Allen. When it, when you come, when it comes to escaping the pocket. So obviously not the

same physical stature, I don't think, as Josh Allen. But very, very quick feet. And you hope that that translates to some success. And look, don't forget, like I know we've been isolating the consolidation around McLaurin and around Dotson. But like Curtis Samuel is still on this roster. Sure. And he's kind of a champion. He's a multifacetedeted talented player who's had great

involvement before and uh yeah your champion antonio gibson who could be involved more with the check down there that was one of the things i liked from some of the the tape on sam hell was he did check it down when he got in trouble sometimes didn't take a big hit all the time and he is so sam hell 6-1-2-20 so, I mean, he's a sturdier fella. Yeah, he could take a hit. Yeah. All right. So, guys, about this blue moon.

Wait a minute. It's a blue supermoon. Yes, tonight. Yeah, and it won't happen again until 2037. Correct. And we're talking up Sam Hill. This is going to be his season. I don't know.

A blue supermoon. What happens to a werewolf during that? I do believe they have unlimited like unlimited power a lot of killing silver bullets not during a blue supermoon my friend they're invincible yes but just tonight oh yeah and they're not even playing a regular season game yeah that's unfortunate it's really wasted he's trying to get people out to the field and no one wants to come out oh you don't want to go by a werewolf wait so wait what's the deal with this blue supermoon

moon though for like so it's a blue moon which happens you know how often rarely every blue every blue moon a blue a blue moon is a full moon twice in one month but you oh that's all it is that's all it is oh come on it's not not blue nope it doesn't actually turn blue and it's a super moon but how often does this happen a blue moon happens and don't say every blue moon it's not uncommon it's like once in a blue moon yes i hate you both but yeah the moon's gonna be like 17 000 miles closer than normal and look so it'll look a lot larger it'll yeah it'll look a bit bigger and it'll be very bright wait a minute you're telling me it's not blue jason son of a gun jason's heart i was looking forward to seeing a big that just means he turns into a werewolf twice this month instead of once

correct it look it's it this is not like a blood moon where it actually looks red no it's regular but it's gonna be a harvest moon is red? I'm getting blue tinted glasses. Or orange? Yeah, that orangey. But then there's also a blood moon? Yeah. Is that more red? Yes. Do we get any green moons? No.

I think a blood moon is from an eclipse of some kind. Mike knows quite a bit about moons. I like space, man. It's fun. Jason knows about moons over Miami. Moons over Miami. Yeah, sorry. Moons over Miami.

I got it wrong. And moonshine If you come to me for those Talk to Mike about moons Alright tomorrow Join us Special guests galore The Fantasy MVP Show

Don't miss it Goodbye Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast Join our fantasy football community podcast join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers