Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Free Agency Winners & Losers + Jason’s Voice Mystery - Fantasy Football Podcast for 3/26

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Is the Drake London hype already out of control?! On today's fantasy football podcast, Andy, Mike, and Jason highlight the biggest winners and losers of free agency! How bad is the outlook for Justin Herbert? Will D’Andre Swift dominate in Chicago? And what happened to Jason's voice? Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for March 26th, 2024. Get the lowest price on the 2024 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Dynasty Pass content available NOW with the UDK+ Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord 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. Tuesday, March 26th. Greatest day in history. Why is that? Welcome into the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. He just is, Mike. Whoa. Oh. Something.

Sounds like a pretty big deal. Something really good happened a long time ago. That's all I'm saying. On the 26th? Yeah. Uh. Uh. Okay.

Yeah. How long ago? Yeah, I'm caught up now. How long ago, uh, Andy? Like, are we talking. Four score. Four decades ago? Forty years ago?

I think. ago? Yeah. One score? How long is a score? Two weeks? Seven points. No, no. No, that's a fortnight. Yeah, thank you.

I thought a score was- I honestly have no idea how much- I thought a score was 40 years. Al probably knows. 20? Okay. Yeah. Two score.

Two score. Yeah, I'm 40. What happened to you? What's it to you? It's fantastic. Welcome to the club. Drove in in a Miata this morning. That's right.

That's right. Top down. I mean, and you know how tall I am. I don't fit in that. No, the top has to be down. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome in, one and all, the fantasy footballers.

Free agency winners and losers on today's show. You heard no bear on the intro. We finally have the gang back together and our first chance to talk through winners and losers of free agency together. And we'll get into the news, some mailbag. And I'm glad everybody's back again ultimate draft kit.com you can get it right now the dynasty pass being updated daily and the full ultimate draft kit releases on june 1st so you can pre-order price uh or it's at the pre-order price right now.

I have to get to the quick question on today's episode of the show. Yeah, I missed out on quite a hullabaloo. Today's quick question was submitted by millions of listeners, millions. But in lieu of reading all of the comments, I will allow Grant to be a representative for all of them grant in atlanta says quote is everything okay with jason on the show march 24th march 21st his voice sounds substantially different than any time i've ever heard him. Apparently, people really know my voice very well.

And better than the people in this room. Calamity ensued when last week, apparently, I did not know it at the time in the moment. I knew there was something going on, but I had what's called strep throat. That'll get you. My voice was not its usual silky, buttery smoothness. Instead, I think I was up here more or something like that. I think my range was higher. I don't know what it was. Which, on one hand, some people thought it sounded like Mike,

so I don't know what that's saying. That's me, Mike. How's you doing? I've been accused of many things in my years. Having a really high voice is not one of them. What's funny is whatever change happened on that episode to my voice, which most people around here couldn't really decipher. They're like, I don't hear anything wrong.

It was like the comments the dms oh people told messages it was like it was like a village on fire and everyone looting it was like just it was pure man pandemonium in the streets over my voice so uh i hope are you okay yeah i mean i'm maybe i'm like% back to my normal voice. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we'll find out. Because we wouldn't be able to know because the people in this room

didn't know when it was happening. I mean, people thought AI was doing your voice for an episode. People thought it was Mike's voice. Soon, people. It'll be AI. We're working on it. Yeah. So there you go. Jason just had strep throat yeah which uh you tried to give to me i'm over i didn't get it this time yeah thank you you're welcome um but he's you're better they gave you the medicines i got the medicines and i got better

quick i feel like work i feel like ever since we like pronounced the fact that we had never had two people sick at the same time or two people out on the same day, ever since then, we've been tested. We have had some real push comes to shove near one-man shows. When you poke the bear. Yeah. It bites. Yeah. All right.

Let's talk some fantasy news. News and notes from around the league. The worst is going to be when the Foot Clan starts diagnosing us before we feel it. Right. Because if this show goes live and then the comments are like, oh my gosh, Andy's voice. Yeah. What's wrong? I'll know i'm sick with something all right andy better check that prostate whoa whoa i have to do that anyways

you're at the age that's what i'm saying they've heard the age and now they're hearing the inflections of your voice everyone's asking you to get checked out everyone yeah that's the people want it uh live stream i'm pretty disturbed right now, to be honest. Pretty scared. Yes, Al, you are overdue. He was asking if he's overdue. Yeah, you're very old. I thought it was like mid-40s or 50s. Yeah, I think it's 45.

Okay. Is it 45? Yeah, they also do old man health. Yeah, one second. I think they do some blood, some pre-check now for numbers in your blood too. Now I know for a fact Josh- Because I did that and they're like,

you're good. Papa Josh is- Fantastic, I'm fine. He's the oldest man here. How many are, Baker's dozen? Wait, of what? Prostate exams.

What? Mike is in true form now. Back on the show. He's never done it. Yeah. Papa Josh, three score. And 13 prostate checks. I'm sorry, everybody.

We're just happy to be back together. Yeah, it's the Adam Thielen hour. All right. The NFL will officially not ban the tush push. We have known this for a while. I think we've mentioned it once or twice, but it's nice to have conclusive evidence. The touchdowns will come from the one-yard line, regardless of sake. I don't know.

I love that we get the science experiment of the Jason Kelsey impact. Yes. Yeah, we'll know whether it was Kelsey or not this year. I promise you, even with Saquon there, week one, week two, they're at the one-yard line. They're going to do the tush push, and we're going to get to find out. They should. Russell Wilson has, quote, pole position from Mike Tomlin says

to be the starter for the Steelers, but then said when it's time to compete, Justin Fields will be given an opportunity to show his capabilities. The draft pick that the Steelers gave up goes from a six to a four if Fields plays more than 51% of the snaps. They won't care about that change if Fields leads them to victory. I believe the DraftKings over-under win totals came out? Yes. Yeah, for teams. And the Steelers were where? Seven and a half, which would... Wait, I thought that you said

they were higher than that. No, they were seven and a half, which is, if they were to... I mean, that line is testing the Mike Tomlin never had a losing season. Yeah, I mean, if you were at eight, you have a losing season. Yeah. So, we'll see. It could at eight, you have a losing season. Yeah. So we'll see.

It could get – I think it could get messy, you know. It's just – I don't think Russell Wilson would handle being benched. Well, he got benched last year. His situation last year was contractual, not play, even though they came out and said, oh, it's play. I just mean if you get a new opportunity here, you've been told you're the starter, the team goes out then picks up Justin Fields,

I'm sure that did not make Russell happy. I only know this because he tweeted how happy he was about it. About Justin Fields? Yeah, about Justin Fields coming in. So I don't know. Brian Dable says there's no guarantee Daniel Jones will be ready for week one. Okay. That's good for the Giants. Yeah, and they did pick up Drew Locke.

So there's been rumors of them interested in the quarterback market and this upcoming draft. I don't know that they've got the draft capital to make a move. So you might end up week one with Drew Locke. There was a bit of news regarding the Gus bus, which I know this is what we're going with. Just because Gus Edwards, that goes on forever, doesn't it? There was a quote from the Chargers general manager

that they called Gus Edwards the bell cow of the backfield. His full quote was he's the bell cow, the goal line guy, the finisher, the right mentality for what we're looking for. I told you we wanted to be a bigger team, play a physical style on both sides of the ball. He helps us do that. Yeah. I mean, as of right now, the depth chart is the Gus bus, Isaiah Spiller,

Elijah Dotson, and Jared Patterson? Is Jared Patterson on the charges? Apparently. All I know is if the backfield stays the same as it is now, Gus Edwards would certainly be the very, very primary ball carrier. And if I wanted a rookie running back in this draft, I would make sure everyone knows we've got our bell cow already in tow. He's going to be everything.

He's exactly what we want. Well, it's funny. The finisher and the goal line guy kind of contradict how we interpret the phrase bell cow. cow already in tow uh he's gonna be everything he's exactly what we want well it's funny the finisher and the goal line guy kind of contradict what how we interpret the phrase bell cow like bell cow feels like you get all the totes like you get all the carries but the other two are like what he probably will really be which is um fourth downs uh third and short etc um if i had gus edwards in, I would try to trade him. Okay.

Because you probably thought you'd never get to do that again. What would you trade him for? Like, would you trade him for a second round pick? Yeah, for sure. Unless you really believe that he's going to be the guy. It's at that, you're at the time of year where he is currently winning. So, man, I don't know that I would trade him away. I think I might hold on to Gus Edwards. And I'm not predicting that we're going to go into the season

that Gus Edwards will be the only name at the running back position for the Chargers. They'll probably add someone else. But it's just at this point, like running back depth is so needy. Because even if they had a rookie, Gus Edwards with the money that he got will be involved. And Gus Edwards, what do you think right now? Top of head.

Over under on rushing touchdowns for Gus. Six. Yeah, I was thinking seven. Yeah. You heard it here first. Either keep him or trade him. Well, I'll just – people giving heard it here first. Either keep him or trade him. Well, I'm just people giving their opinion.

I would trade for him. I would hold Gus at this point. If I could get a second rounder for Gus, I would certainly cash in. I think this is a deep enough wide receiver class where if I can convert Gus Edwards right now into a rookie wide receiver, I would do that without question. I think Gus will be okay for a year. Yeah. But my bigger point is the whole identity of this entire team

is going to be hard-nosed, run the football. And I don't think you go into the season with Gus Edwards and nobody. I just don't think that's a part of fulfilling that philosophy. This is a player that's missed time due to injury before. Yeah, there's a strong chance that you would not be able to trade Gus Edwards after the NFL draft. Yeah. So, hey, look, what did he have, 13 last year?

Is that where he was? I think he was at 13 touchdowns. So, something to watch as we head into the draft and the NFL draft rumors. We heard stuff right before the show recording time about JJ McCarthy, maybe going number two to Washington. That's like been the, the rumor is that that's the guests that a lot of GMs have at number two, which puts the Cardinals at four in a position

where people will be chomping at the bit to take, if that happened. Yeah, if J.J. goes in the top three. Yeah, I guess even if he doesn't, if the NFL views J.J. McCarthy in the way they seem to, which is right in the same tier as Daniels, May, then Cardinals are probably trading out of four. I don't want them to,

but that will, and that will really disrupt your, your natural thoughts on where the big three superstar wide receivers are going to go, because it's easy right now to say, okay, we think that Cardinals will have Harrison. And then everyone seems to put aunze with the Bears at nine

and the neighbors go somewhere in between, Giants, whatever. But it would really disrupt things if there was a big trade. So 30 days till the draft? Man, it's going to be fun. Any other news back there in Deucer's Alley? Anything you got for us? No, sir. All right.

Let's jump in. We're going to win. We're going to win! Free agency winners or losers, we finally get the opportunity to talk through our favorite signings and our least favorite outcomes from free agency. We've had a lot happen this year, right? Mm-hmm. And we've each picked a biggest winner and a biggest loser.

At this point, you know, there is no sneaking this player into redraft leagues and onto your roster. To me, the biggest winner of free agency was Drake London, wide know, there are players like Terry McLaurin historically and D.J. Moore historically where the Drake London story was beginning to model those career arcs, which is super talented, upper echelon, wide receiver ability, stifled by, you know, just a rotating door of quarterbacks for the rest of their career however we did get a glimmer of hope last year right with dj moore changing teams changing quarterbacks becoming a go-to receiver at a higher um uh with a higher chance of helping your fancy team on a weekly basis we know if you have you have eyeballs, you know Drake London is a very,

very good wide receiver. I have eyeballs. Yeah, and you have eyeballs. Congratulations. I think he's a very, very good wide receiver. That's good because if you didn't. I might not have eyeballs. You wouldn't know that.

You wouldn't know. Target shares have been 29% and 23% in the first two years. Last year was 74% of the team's wide receiver red zone targets. That's number one in the NFL. That's great. So he must have been awesome, right? Percentages on a Falcons team, they don't count. No, they certainly didn't under Arthur Smith,

and he's only had six total touchdowns in two years. He's had putrid quarterback play. He's had changes at the quarterback position, low passing volume, nobody to really help him on the other side of the field, and just a team that very, very good player in three wide receiver sets. And the nice thing about this upcoming year is you're going to have a rebuilt offense, top to bottom. You're going to have a new offensive coordinator in Zach Robinson. You have, I'm sorry, they didn't line up in 11 a lot. That's what I meant to say. Thank you. You noticed that. Yeah, I was staring you down. Yeah, they need to line up in 11 more. They didn't do that very often. They lined up in 12 with more tight ends. They're going to be in a position now this year to open things up, and the addition of Kirk Cousins is the key component to the entire equation.

You're not going to be able to hide Drake Lennon in drafts this year, period. No, that's already done. Have you seen where he's going on underdog now? 14? He's in the second round. Period. No, that's already done. Have you seen where he's going on underdog now? 14. He's in the second round. I mean, he's being drafted to be a great fantasy wide receiver this season. Drafted ahead of Diggs, Debo, and Chris Olave. He was wide receiver 26 a month ago, and we did like him a month ago.

Not because of Cousins, because we didn't know that was happening, but because of the change at the because we didn't know that was happening, but because of the change at the head coaching spot and the offensive coordinator. Yeah, 26 was his floor with that change. Without the change to Cousins, he could have hidden. He might have been able to hide as a sneaky value. Now you're just going to have to take him because you love the opportunity in the player and the youth.

We all have him top 12 in our Dynasty startup rankings, but to me, huge win for his career, his future pocketbook. Yeah. So biggest winner to me. I got a question because we all – I know where the rankings are right now, but let's just talk through it. Dynasty-wise, Drake London versus Garrett Wilson, which Garrett Wilson,

he could find himself on that Drake London path here. Yes, we're supposed to have Aaron Rodgers as Garrett Wilson's quarterback for this year, but then what?

Number one, Jay, you've kind of talked about, you have concerns about Aaron Rodgers. Does he really even have it remaining to make sure that Garrett Wilson can be great for fantasy football? Because Garrett Wilson, like Drake London, is a great wide receiver. This is, in my opinion, you cannot argue against Wilson's talent but what's what's the future look like where after Rodgers this year maybe it's okay maybe it's Rodgers next year maybe you're right back into quarterback purgatory because

if Rodgers is actually good then you don't have draft capital to get a new quarterback and so it's like just the Drake London versus Garrett Wilson. Right now we all have Garrett Wilson ahead, but is that really – Before you answer, I want to give you their career numbers. Okay. Because I think it's interesting. Yeah. Two years, same – you know, they came in the same draft class.

Through two years, Garrett Wilson has 315 targets, 178 catches for 2,145 yards. Mm-hmm. Through two years, Drake London has 2215 targets, 178 catches for 2,145 yards. Through two years, Drake Lennon has 227 targets, so almost 100 fewer targets. 141 catches for 1,771 yards. Like what, 400 fewer yards? But obviously Kirk Cousins is not a spring chicken either.

But what is your view on those two? Yeah, I think it's a fair and honest debate. If you look last year, you're talking about, or over the last just handful of years, it's been, well, Justin Jefferson has been great with Kirk Cousins and Devante Adams has been great with Aaron Rodgers. So you've got a little bit more youth on Kirk Cousins side over Aaron Rodgers. And I mean, there's no target competition to me for Drake London. Now that you go out and sign Mike Williams, some of those touchdowns could come away. I think it's an honest debate.

They brought in Mooney. They have Pitts. I mean, you don't have a big tight end target in New York. Yeah, I mean, both wide receivers are great. I think what you've seen on the field makes you lean towards just keeping Garrett Wilson ahead because he's done more. He's done more with crappy quarterbacks. Yes.

I mean, they both had crappy quarterbacks, but he put up bigger numbers. Right. And so I think I've got him. I mean, I do have him ahead in my rankings, but it's a fair debate. If someone thinks it's nowhere near close and you can capitalize on a trade and get a big plus, you know, trading Garrett Wilson for Drake London plus other stuff, I would be fine with that. Six touchdowns for Drake London in two years.

How many does Garrett Wilson have in two years? Not many. Six? Seven. They're actually pretty mirrored. This last year, Garrett Wilson finished at 32. At the wide receiver position with bad quarterback play, Drake London, this past year, Garrett Wilson finished at 32. At the wide receiver position with bad quarterback play, Drake London, you know, this past year, where was he?

He was 39. So these are two super talented players, nowhere near the top 24 this past year. Could be worth noting in a dynasty setting that a full year younger is Drake London. They're very close. I think we all have them pretty close in we do to me it's been like Garrett Wilson since last offseason kind of just got put into you know

a borderline top five dynasty asset because of how young he is and how good it looks like he's going to be and it just now it was like that was locked in it's drake london's turn to be in that yeah in that spot this year but both should have brand new quarterbacks uh quick break and back with jason's uh fantasy free agency winner all right i went with drake london jason who do you have as your biggest winner of free agency? I am taking a running back that I really did not think would find a great market this offseason. Instead, he found a great market. DeAndre Swift goes out, gets a three-year $15 million guaranteed as the first running back signed once free agency opened up. And I think he has,

not only did he secure the bag, I'm happy for him, get paid running backs, but he enters into a really good situation. The fact that, you know, day one, they're clamoring for DeAndre Swift, they're giving him a lot of money. That is a commitment to him where I'm not worried about Roshon Johnson. You know, it's not going to be a Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley level. You know, you get everything. And Swift is a little bit undersized. So there'll be some working in. But when you've got a rookie quarterback, there is a lot of reliance on the running back position. We talk about how wide receivers in fantasy football, it's not usually a good bet when you've got a rookie quarterback, but it actually is a pretty safe bet for the running back

for a rookie quarterback because of that. They want to protect, they want to make sure that they've got the running game to help support the young quarterback. Since 2011, lead running backs playing alongside rookie quarterbacks with 10 starts, they've averaged 250 opportunities. They've been a running back two on average. So this is a really good floor for him. And I think that the news there for Chicago, there's so much splash

elsewhere on the roster that I do think DeAndre Swift will go a little bit under the radar. He's not going to fly up boards, but the offense could be good. Caleb Williams coming in as the number one pick in the draft and the splash of Keenan Allen, the big year last year from DJ Moore. To me, DeAndre Swift finds himself in what could be a good offense where he's going to get a lot of work. He's paid to get a lot of work. I think for fantasy-wise, I mean, you know, last year he finishes the running back 23 in 16 games, but before Philly fell apart, you know, before their bye week and they completely collapsed, he was averaging 14.3 fantasy points per game on over 20 opportunities, 97 all-purpose yards every single game. So you've got –

What is – obviously, yes, the landscape for him, the situation for him, better than expected. He was a winner. Do you see him in that same range the 20s yeah i i think he will be drafted as as a lower end rb2 maybe even outside of the top 20 i think he'll be right around the you know 24 and he that should be his floor he's only 25 years old so i I really like this spot for Swift. He was... Go ahead, Mike. How wild to me, anyways.

DeAndre Swift, the Chicago Bears, running backs, I guess they sort of got paid this offseason. But it's harder to get running backs really good guaranteed money. DeAndre Swift in his career has averaged 41% of snaps.

Yeah. And they just gave him a huge bag of money. Like last year, that was the highest ever at 55% of the snaps. Yes. It still blows my mind. How did he get this deal? They like what they saw. And he did.

He kind of took this, you know, did a, had a stranglehold is the word I was looking for. On the backfield, Gainwell started the year as everybody's darling fantasy. Maybe this guy's going to break out. It wasn't. And I was just curious because like last year, like you would say DeAndre's just a better running back than Shuba Hubbard. Yes, for sure. Devin Singletary? No.

I think in that tier, very different style of player. But your point is that those guys were both really good with rookie quarterbacks last year. Yeah, I mean, Chuba finished the year at 26, didn't take over until partway through the year with Bryce Young on the worst offense I've ever seen, and finished at 26. And then Singletary also didn't take over until partway through the year, finished at 31. He was a league winner. But he was very, very good.

Sounds like an argument for Roshan Johnson. I'm just going to tell you that. Sure. Whoever the lead guy is, because those guys didn't start that way this last year. Shoot. But the point is the running back for a rookie quarterback is a much safer bet than wide receivers for a rookie quarterback. Also much safer bet than wide receivers for a rookie quarterback uh also implied loser um Khalil Herbert who yeah yeah yeah who who yeah um Mike

uh I see you have kind of two I have two yeah because I wasn't here to talk about it but shout out to the largest winner of the free agency period jerry judy's agents yeah what's his name uh chris cabot i don't know cabot getting it done but what that guy that guy's driving a new car yeah you weren't you weren't here but i had the same exact reaction it was just like that agent's good i mean how does Jerry Judy? You're trying to get out in front of it. I understand that, but this is not working. Like, don't give these guys the money.

Let them earn the money. But anyways, the real one to me, and yes, it's near and dear to my heart because I had a very strong reaction to it, but I'm also in dynasty mode right now. So we're talking about can Gus Edwards hold on to some dynasty value as running backs are getting old, but Derrick Henry going to the Baltimore Ravens, he's going to

score so many touchdowns. Yeah, he's 30, but he got 9 million guaranteed. Last year, with Tennessee being one of the worst teams in the league, he was the running back eight. Over 1,100 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns.

And he's had double-digit rushing touchdowns for six straight years. And now he goes to a team that Gus Edwards, we just quoted his numbers on it, of how Gus Edwards scored all of those touchdowns. That's the real problem for me is I want to come back and I want to be like, but this is old Derrick Henry. But old Derrick Henry just turns into Gus Edwards at the worst. Way better than Gus Edwards.

That's what I'm saying. You don't have an argument against it. Something catastrophic would have to happen for Derrick Henry not to have the most goal line opportunities in the league. Baltimore is the highest win total or right behind San Francisco? San Francisco, Kansas City, and Baltimore, all 11.5. When does Henry do well? Wins or losses? Wins.

He's a front runner. Yeah. The idea of Derrick Henry playing a full season and not scoring double digit touchdowns feels impossible Mike found out he signed with the Ravens live on the show

and it changed his life it felt so good and you have you know there are we do have some other 30 old running backs who have had 10 or more touchdowns. We had the Cordero Patterson year. You had the Wild D'Angelo Williams year, and those were both guys on brand-new teams.

And, oh, yeah, Mark Ingram on this team when he was 30 changed teams and then came in and gave us that huge touchdown outlier year. I think that in watching, just watching Derrick Henry last year, you knew it wasn't the same guy because this was like the lowest snaps he's seen since 2018 at only 53% of the snaps Tajay Spears was working in. But you would still have so many moments throughout the season, including I believe his believe, the last touchdown run as a Titan, or second to last, I can't remember, but it makes an incredible cut. You're like, oh, yeah, no, Derrick Henry still has juice left.

How old is he? He's 30 right now. Okay, so he'll play at 30. Yeah, he'll be 30 this year. And it's the amount of juice that Derrick Henry has left combined with just such an incredible situation of a team that's going to win, be grinding out games, be scoring so many rushing touchdowns, at the age of 30 to give you any kind of life is fabulous.

I'm going to read you some additional potential winners. Tell me if you agree. Maybe tell me if it's just like you agree a lot or just a little or not at all. Will Lavis at quarterback? A lot. Yeah. The Titans are

wilding out with that bank account. They're just writing checks, which good for you as a team. I'm Titans fans. I'm happy for you. Unless it doesn't work. Because if the flame out happens and you have now all these outstanding balances, it sets you back a while.

Sell the team for $20 billion if that happens. Caleb Williams. A definite winner to me. Comes into the best situation. Keenan and Swift are the big additions uh my homes do you i don't think he's a big winner i don't either marquise brown he might suck yeah he might suck he is not a zone guy uh and that's what my home is gonna face the most so i i don't know and then you've got a year older kelsey i don't look at Mahomes as like, wow, this offseason, so good for Mahomes.

So for Hollywood, third team, and this is his sixth year? Yeah. Something's not working, man. Yeah. Tell that to Brandon Cooks. He did just fine. He was the true journeyman. Yeah.

He'd be – if Brandon Cooks went to the Chiefs, do you feel the same? That might be the ultimate bar. I might feel better. Yeah, that's weird. Even today's Brandon Cooks. Obviously, Gus Edwards is a winner, right? Joe Mixon's a winner. Yes.

James Conner is a winner. Yep. Cardinals don't have... Anyone? Anyone. Who did they bring in from Seattle? DJ Dallas. DJ Dallas. from Seattle? DJ Dallas. DJ Dallas.

Backup. Yeah. Zemir White so far. Huge winner so far. If they don't grab a running back in the draft, then I mean, I see Alexander Madison as a clear backup. Yeah, probably. Yeah.

And he loves Madison. No, no, no. He sees Zemir as the backup. Rashad White so far so good. Quentin Johnston, I don't know if you're a winner, no. He sees Zamir as the backup. Rashad White, so far so good. Quentin Johnston, I don't know if you're a winner, man. You have to be a winner in this situation. I mean, your opportunity is a winner. This is a busy – Quentin Johnston's situation is like he's one cashier

at a busy grocery store, and he had a couple other cashiers that helped get the lines down. And now they're gone, and he's got to take everything through his line, and it's very stressful. He's not trained for this. He's not ready. It does feel a lot like that. It's too much. This isn't just an opportunity to show how good at checking people out you are.

This is overwhelming. This is too much, man. Yeah. You don't want to be the focus. There's going to be people out you are. This is overwhelming. This is too much, man. You don't want to be the focus. There's going to be people putting groceries back. If you drop the ball when you've got other players to take the eyes off of you, the pressure is going to be real.

If week one comes out and he has a bad drop early in that game, his career is over. He's mentally just never going to overcome it. George Pickens. I think huge winner. Yeah. Two new quarterbacks that are,

they gotta be better than what you had. They get rid of Deontay Johnson, but you don't feel that way. So I, I, I, everything you just said makes me feel that way. Arthur Smith makes me remember Drake London.

Yeah. Better quarterbacks, but still, I'm like. He just, he has, someone can keep him in check now. When Arthur's over there, he's like, you know what they won't expect? Our third string of tight end. Wasn't Arthur Smith the offensive? The OC for Tennessee. No, I know, but wasn't he the offensive coordinator when A.J. Brown was doing stuff over there?

Yeah, I thought so. Yeah, he was. So you never know. That's what I mean, but I'm saying. Yes, it was A.J. Brown was doing stuff over there? Yeah, I thought so. So you never know. Yes, it was A.J. Brown. But I'm saying the buck doesn't stop with Arthur on the Steelers. He has Mike Tomlin to go over and be like, don't be dumb. Throw the ball to our good players.

Curtis Samuel. Curtis Samuel. Like all we talk about, don't let your children be running backs. Look at Curtis Samuel and the amount of money that he has made compared to the impact that he has really had on football fields for years. I can't believe he got the check that he got. Good for you, Curtis. Did you ever get a chance to react to that? No, he hasn't. I'm doing it right now.

No, that's what I mean. This is your first chance to comment on it. It was shocking stuff, the money that he's going to get to go be on a championship contending team. And then you have these, like the best running backs in the league. They can't get this money. And this is now his third contract. It was a better offseason for running backs. Yeah, it was a very good offseason for running backs, but it still does not compare to the wide receiver market.

But Curtis Samuel finds himself in a great position. He's a definite clear winner. He's reunited with Joe Brady. I don't know if we brought that up, but Joe Brady was with him in Carolina, and they paid a lot of money to bring him over, so I think they've got a plan for him. They're going to use him in a lot

of ways. Would you consider this offseason to be good, bad, or neutral for Josh Allen, his quarterback? No Gabe Davis. Neutral. Adds Matt Collins and Curtis Samuel, right? Yeah. I'll go neutral.

Kyle Pitts, winner. Winner. Dalton Schultz, going back home. Yeah, winner to go back. All right, we will take a quick break, come back with the losers of free agency. all right let's jump into some uh fantasy losers when it comes to what you thought you're going to get what you hope to get and what happened during free agency to me i mean this one's an obvious one, but this is why it's a gamble. When you take a low draft capital shot, dynasty, I know the hopes and dreams are out there,

and they don't all end like Rashad White did last year. Tajay Spears, former, or I'll say like brief, top of the depth chart for just a moment after Henry left and before they signed Tony Pollard, but Tajay Spears, he was a third round pick. He was 81st overall in the draft last year. He's a good player. He's definitely a meaningful offensive weapon in an NFL offense and nothing against Tajay Spears, but the way free agency went when they went out and they took that infinite checkbook and they cut a three-year deal for Tony Pollard with a bunch of money guaranteed, it automatically changes every positive outlook you had for

Tajay Spears. Now, can he be a complimentary back that makes a big play here and there? Of course, he probably will do that. But I don't expect his workload to increase just because Henry switches out for Pollard. I think it could go the opposite direction potentially or at a minimum stay neutral. And so, you know, last year, what was he? 100 for 453? No one's getting excited about that in Dynasty.

It was receptions, though. You had 52 catches, which that's fantastic. Pollard can do that better than Henry could. Yeah, for sure. So we were all rooting for the one-year trial at starting running back. Did you see his coach was being asked about how are you going to use Pollard and Spears. And the case for Spears is just in the whole quote,

it's him saying like these are – we have two really good players and I see them both as kind of interchangeable. So it at least – it wasn't, hey, we gave Tony – we knew we had to get tony pollard on this team and for him to be a foundational piece it was it was equal praise to both backs so there's i think there's a world where this is like a it's even has spears out snaps pollard in some games but you know but like a 55 4545 split for Pollard. I think it'll be close to 50-50, but that

really hurts Tajay from the hopes of him being the guy. Do you realize last year Tony Pollard played, or I'm sorry, Tajay Spears played 53% of the snaps, and Derrick Henry played 53% of the snaps. So there's going to be a similar situation here with Pollard. With question marks on the offensive side, and then he's

undersized. He has a full thickness cartilage loss in his knee, no ACL in his knee, and arthritis. So this is also not a, well, just wait a couple years for Tony Pollard to go away, and then he'll be fine. This seems like more of a you get what you get. If Pollard goes down, you have a player, but that's the case for a lot of backups.

So to me, just a brutal, I don't think any of us if Pollard goes down you have a player but that's the case for a lot of backups so to me just a brutal I don't think any of us expected Pollard I don't think any of us expected a big running back signing in Tennessee no because if it would have been it probably would have been Henry coming back we thought but they went with the younger Pollard and you know Will Levis who knows if that experiment works out this year? There you go. Yeah, they've given Will Levis. I mean, I said I think he's a big winner. They've given him every opportunity to succeed.

I expect him to fail, but I'm hoping he succeeds. Bananarama is fun for the show. My biggest loser is clearly from free agency yes this cycle's just been i i feel so bad for this incredible player justin herbert i'm so sorry man well i mean but i'm not really sorry because you're gonna you're gonna win more games like you can't feel too bad for him he's going to win more football games, and that's what he wants to do. I can feel bad for us because I want you to score more fantasy points. For the dynasty, we've had the advice of swapping out the high-scoring fantasy quarterback

and getting the next up-and-comer. I know people did it with Justin Herbert. And you were like, oh my gosh, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Quentin Johnson, a first-round pick? And now he's left just with a grocery store cashier. That's all he has left. See, the analogy works well because that's his future profession. Yeah, so you've got the Chargers here. 14% of their running back targets vacated.

40% of their wide receiver targets. 11% of their running back targets vacated, 40% of their wide receiver targets, 11% of their targets from the tight end position, 65% of last year's targets are not on the roster. We have talked a lot about Greg Roman's run heavy offense. We've talked about it multiple times this offseason. The problem is that it works for the NFL. His teams average 10.2 wins, and that's over a decade when they didn't play 17 for the majority of that. He is, you know, he only has one sub 500 team in a decade of this system working. He's going to have to be very efficient.

That's not what Herbert has been historically. He's been a volume guy. Here's, I think, the best stat to just elicit, you know, to illustrate the difference between what we've been used to and what we're about to experience with Justin Herbert. And don't hear what I'm not saying. I don't think Justin Herbert's going to be terrible. He's too good an NFL player. He's going to be on a good team. He'll score some, but he's not going to be like a top five quarterback the way he could be. In his career, he has averaged 26 completions per game. That's his baseline. That's his average. That's just what he normally does. In Greg Roman, 10 years, 162 games played. This is ridiculous. 162 games played, 16 times has his quarterback completed 26 passes. 16 times of 162 games, and that's what we have been used to with Justin Herbert. So it's going to be a change.

He's going to have to be more efficient. He's going to have to be more efficient. He's going to have to run the ball more. But when they get down near that goal line, it's going to be the Gus bus or the incoming rookie. They're going to be scoring the touchdowns. And so I do think Justin Herbert, from a fantasy football perspective, is a huge loser this cycle of free agency. 8.5.

That is the win total for the Chargers. Now, if it goes, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, and then you have the chance to draft Marvin Harrison Jr. to Justin Herbert? I know they won't. I know they won't.

Convert him to running back. Please trade back to the Arizona Cardinals. All right. I mean, look, we all know Herbert. It hurts. It hurts the way, like, his value right now in leagues has got to be the lowest that I'll ever be because it's probably being swung too far in that direction. You could argue he could be a buy candidate right now.

That's what I'm wondering, even though we can't see the future targets that he's going to throw to. Mike, it's time to hear from you on fantasy free agency loser. I cannot disagree. I think that Herbert is unfortunately the biggest loser, but a player I want to talk about because the value of this player going into his second year, I feel like was an absolute rollercoaster ride over just like the past calendar year. And it's Jordan Addison of the Minnesota Vikings when he was selected in the first round, 23rd overall,

to a team where he could go be the wide receiver two, behind Justin Jefferson with Kirk Cousins throwing the ball, it was, I don't know that there could be a better fit for him in his first year as he's starting his career. His rookie year overall, quite good. Really, really heavy on the touchdowns. One of five rookie wide receivers with 10 or more receiving touchdowns since 2014. And that list is Jamar, Odell, Mike Evans, Calvin Ridley, and Jordan Addison. That's a group of wide receivers I would like my name to be connected to.

But now we have, we kind of talked about it all at the beginning of the show with being so excited for Drake London. Jordan Addison has a Kirk cousins and a quarterback problem right now. It is scheduled to be Samuel Darnold who in defense of Sam Darnold, I've heard his head coach believes he has his best football in front of him. Oh, for sure.

He does. So that you look behind him. He can't be behind him. That can't be. So that was newsworthy, I guess. But, and look, maybe Sam Darnold is Geno Smith, and you get kind of, or what happened with Baker. Maybe there is a resurgence.

Sam Darnold is still, I think, like 21 years old. He's still like outrageous. How old is he actually still, I think, like 21 years old. He's still like... How old is he actually? 25 or something? He came in so young, remember? Yeah, he's 26. That's wild. So he will be turning 27

as he goes into year 7 of his career. It just... It would be shocking, I think, just to say it. It would be shocking if Sam Darnold actually works out for the Minnesota Vikings. Or it's the rookie. I mean, they've already made a big trade. All the smoke says that the Minnesota Vikings are going to try

and move up and get a quarterback. But now you have a rookie quarterback. You have, is it? And it's a rookie quarterback where it took a lot of draft capital to go up and get a quarterback. But now you have a rookie quarterback. You have, is it? And it's a rookie quarterback where it took a lot of draft capital to go up and get him. So you're taking on holes in the other parts of the team to just, like can that quarterback really be the guy? Rookie quarterbacks rarely hit.

What's their win total right now? On DK? What do we got? Six and a half. Six and a half. Six and a half. Six and a half. Yeah, that sounds about right. That's a darn old-ass number.

And it's one of those kind of the red flags here for Addison. His targets per route run numbers, they're not great. He scored a ton of touchdowns. And he scored, which that's great to have that in your catalog. I'm trying to read Jason's face right now, and I wonder if I have him in Dynasty face. No, I do have him in Dynasty because I think he's a great wide receiver. It's the red flags.

I brought up the name, I think our last episode, of the fear of comping him to Jahan Dotson. Oh, right. Because Dotson had the huge touchdown success as a rookie. He had a very bad target per out run, but looked good. And then you have a lot of this where it's like some of those metrics behind the scenes are really bad for Addison, but he was propped up by the touchdowns.

I still am a believer in the actual talent where I have a hard time moving on. With Justin Jefferson, he averaged 5.5 targets a game, 47 receiving yards a game. So those – I'll just – is that right? It is right, but a lot of those starts were post-Kirk Cousins. I'm going to let you defend it. He's on your dynasty team. It was because Jefferson missed a lot of the games when Kirk Cousins was –

You shouldn't have to talk that much. For the rookie-wide receivers who had all those touchdowns, here is their actual routes. Jamar Chase had 579 routes, more touchdowns than Jordan Addison, who had 606 routes. 606. Odo Beckham, 474. Mike Evans, 510.

Calvin Ridley, 465. All those guys hit or exceeded the amount of touchdowns that Jordan Addison scored as a rookie with far fewer routes. And I'm with Jason. I think he's a great player, but he's the number two, clearly the number two wide receiver on this team, unless a wild Minnesota trade of Justin Jefferson actually happens. But they have a huge quarterback problem that it's going to be really difficult to fix over the next couple of years see i thought josh jobs is going to fix all that last year but it never

happened um potential other free agent losers do you uh same as before do you agree disagree strongly agree justin fields i mean yeah that's obviously a huge... He may never be a starter again. He'll start this year. Not week one. Week four? Week four, nine, eleven. Yeah. I mean, he'll probably start some games, but I don't know that he'll be a starter.

Ramondre Stevenson. I don't think he's a huge loser here. I think he's a medium loser. His value came, first of all, Patriots are the lowest win total in football. Correct. Tied with the Panthers. When you talk about scoring opportunities and stuff like that, it's concerning. Secondly,

Ramondre is his value came from being used in the passing game quite a bit. Yes. And that's where Antonio Gibson is going to. He should. I mean, he's a better, Antonio Gibson's a better receiver to me. I think Ramondre might be just as good after the catch, but I think in terms of just speed and getting to your spots,

I personally think Gibson was signed to do what Gibson does. So, to me, he's a medium loser. Yeah, I'll go medium. Okay, I'm fine with that. I'll use a word that's never been used with him before. Small. Small loser? Yeah.

Small loser. Okay, Damian Pierce, huge. Who's that? Huge. He was a loser last year. Man, that sucks I just it's not like I was in I wasn't like in the Damien Pierce corner until I until now he's on my teams you know what I mean and then it's like he's your guy and then it's like oh gross like that that just died. The winds change. Sorry, Andy.

Adam Thielen. Hello? Did somebody say my name? Is his father time that caused him to be a loser? I mean, I don't think he's a loser. Oh, man. What? Deontay Johnson is there.

Yes, Deontay's there. Who is young and very good. But Dave Kanellis is there. So I consider it a wash. Yeah. Thank you. Dude, it's the best. It's so fun. You hadn't really done it a lot.

No, it's more Mike's. Yeah, because he tried to get on the, he's a young man with this deep masculine voice. It's amazing how dominant Adam Thielen was last year. For a couple of weeks. To start the year. Alan Lazard, goodbye. Never heard of him. See you later.

Cole Komet. I could see him. I don't think he's a loser at all. He's certainly a loser. He goes from being target 100% for fantasy. No, I disagree. Really? Totally disagree.

Yeah, I mean, obviously disagree. You could be wrong, but the truth is Cole Komet's value came from being, you know, number two in the target order. Being third in the target order is a massive, like, you look around the league at all the tight ends who are relevant for fantasy. When they are doing well, they're either the first or second target. That's it. And he doesn't have a chance at that anymore i i think that you have a little bit uh i mean look at look at um so you hate kyle pitts now like compared to what you would have because they added you know

uh darnell mooney yeah i mean the guy who cole comet was the number two over last year okay that's a fair point that's a fair point that's a fair point my but you added kirk cousins right i mean the offense is going to throw the ball more with caleb williams than they did with justin field yes the offense is going to run better with with caleb williams throwing the football presumably than justin fields could do yeah so i i just think colt i think colt commits talent his ability to get into the end zone is significant. I certainly think he's talented. He won me over last year as a football talent. Those are man catches. Dude, some of those end zone box out jump up.

That's my ball. I don't think he's a free agent winner. I'm not saying that. But if he had to be a winner or a loser, which one would you pick? No, but I'm saying you have to. I made the rule. Small loser. All right, there you go.

But think about the Hawkinson. You considered him a bigger target above Addison? Yeah. Yes. Kittle? I have always had a hard time being in on Kittle, but also we don't know what team Brandon Ayuk is going to play for. It's not going to be the Niner.

It will be the 49ers. He will play for the Niners this year. Okay. We'll see. What voice is that? I don't know. Was that the voice he was using last week? No.

Yeah, that was the one that people were wondering about. This was the we're at the end of the show voice. So you think the Niners are going to trade him? Draft day trade. That's my prediction. Okay. For, wow. A draft day.

Okay, okay. I predict he plays for them, and then by the time training camp rolls around, they will have given him an extension. Okay, well, that will be some crow to eat. Big extension crow. Nice big plate, fork and knife. I wonder where that really started.

What is crow? Is it like the bird? It's a bird. Well, I know what a crow is. When you eat crow, it's talking about the bird? That's my question. I imagined it was. What else would it be?

That's what I was asking. Let's look it up. Let's learn. What is the crow that you eat? I would assume you're familiar with it. That is not the... That could be the way to ask that. From years gone by.

That won't be the first time you ate crow on brandon iuk by the way that's true that is true i was a year early on brandon iuk have you did have you determined your i can't figure the source no i think it might be crows of course it's crows eating crow is an idiom the crow is a carrion eater that is presumably repulsive to eat in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow so it is a crow yeah it's hard to eat okay crow i always i'm gonna be honest i'm gonna be honest with you right now i genuinely thought that eating crow was a politer way to say oh poop oh really yeah i thought eating crow meant like you gotta

eat. You ever taken a huge crow? Yes, I have, Andy. Yes, I have. I play it too right after this show. On that note, good to have the gang back together again. Cheers, everybody out there. And we'll catch you on another episode Thursday.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.