Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Free Agent Frenzy! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 3/12

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Lots of big name players on new teams! On today's fantasy football podcast, a recap of free agent signings so far! Will Saquon Barkley dominate in Philly? How much will Kirk Cousins elevate the Falcons offense? Reactions and fantasy football outlooks following the first big wave of free agency news. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for March 12th, 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. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. It's Tuesday, March 12th. We're the Fantasy Footballers.

Welcome to the show the cardboard bear you see is not jason moore he is not with us too much free agency too much uh he he decided uh he just wasn't ready to talk about it that's right he just wanted to tweet about it. That's right. He just wanted to tweet about Justin Fields. And then be subbed in for by a big bear. I did see you guys talking. Because I see everything right now. I am plugged in. I am Neo right now, man.

I was unsafe driving yesterday. Whoa. I was. Allegedly. Allegedly. This is not the place to proclaim your crimes i i don't know if i committed any crimes i mean is that a crime to come down a mountain traveling with your children checking twitter um some would say some would say it's not somewhat those being the police, but if someone did that. If it's on a mount and I'm just refreshing it. I don't have it in my hand.

I don't have it in my hand. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Because that's what it was. I mean, I was. You did it as safe as you possibly could. My car's got some automation for moments like this uh but no look this is the show you all want to hear and we did not record it yesterday because we knew we knew

that that would shortchange everybody which we've done that before and you're like man it's gonna be great you get to the show you're, two people have signed a contract yesterday and even this morning. Pure pandemonium. It is fabulous. Frenzy of frenzies. Yeah, it's great. Absolute madness. I mean, it's not an understatement to say, like, if you weren't a part of yesterday,

you legit don't know who's playing for who. I mean, there are so many changing teams, changing faces, and huge implications. Like, we're going to go through it all on today's show. Mike and I are going to break it down, our raw reactions to these moves. And I will say this at the top, like, you don't have to have it all figured out today on March 12th in terms of how every single backfield is going to play out guaranteed. We're not even to the draft yet. There's more free

agents that news may break in the middle of today's show. I'm driving into work this morning and the Joe Mixon news breaks. I'm sitting in my seat to hit record and Darnell... You mean the second part? Yeah, the second part of the Nixon news. Because Joe Mixon news breaks. I'm sitting in my seat to hit record in Darnell. You mean the second part? Yeah, the second part of the Nixon news. Because Joe Mixon already had news yesterday.

Darnell Mooney found a new team while we were getting ready to hit record. So there will be more news, and there will be more players drafted, and we will have a better picture. So we'll give you our reactions today. We'll let you know what happened if you didn't pay attention to twitter every four seconds yesterday congratulations for your mental health yeah yeah it was uh it was not like like our family has spring break with the kids so we decided to take one extra day on the weekend knowing we recorded this morning that was just not it was not the right decision because i woke up yesterday

going this is just such a huge day for fantasy that's all i was paying attention to i told you i was in the matrix yesterday yeah yeah i don't blame you i mean it was it was crazy um but our team is all over it we've got the ultimate draft kit the dynasty pass the updates have been constant and they will continue to be. Free agency is tons of fun. I mean, this is the musical chairs at running back. I do laugh at it because there are several situations now, Mike, where I don't think that these were.

I think they're neutral. Like you lose one guy, and you get another another guy and i think it's the same thing but different names right yeah no the the nfc north in particular is uh it reminds me a lot of you know like the high school relationships where where one couple breaks up and then like they get back at the other one well no it's like that dude's best friend now he's dating the ex oh yeah this yeah the friend group they all date each other yeah and you're just like no this it's this is totally normal this is what we do yeah it's crazy okay so uh the dynasty past part of the udk plus go to ultimate draft kit.com to pick that up you can get the mobile app and uh stay up to date the news. Stay up to date with what's happening in free agency, all the dynasty rankings.

I even got a little bit thirsty with all the Twitter news and I started firing out dynasty trade offers all weekend. Like it's getting me in the mood, Mike, the mood to trade. No takers though. No, you haven't found one yet.

No. And you won't reply to mine so you're just leaving i told you i was busy yeah for two weeks two weeks is too long i was to not respond to a trade i was uh that's my bad deucer's alley no i agree two weeks too long yeah two weeks is too long all right just saying i probably expired by now i don't know i don't know if i resent it but you did did here. I got you declined. Yeah. Thanks.

That's see, that's not okay. Yeah. Don't push me. The fantasy hitman has rejected the tray. You give you the, give me more time. You needed more time.

That sucks so bad. Fine. All right. Anything else at the top here, Brooksoks before we jump into all this free agency madness let's go free agent frenzy we don't have a a big agenda for today's show other than to talk about everything we can talk about and then there'll be another show later this week where we'll talk about more of it. Just reacting.

But I forced the crew to move the running backs to the top of the list today, so we're going to start there. Running bags. I will say Okay. Just judging by the actions of yesterday and today,

because that's what we say. Part of the fantasy football process is careful what the talking snakes will say with their mouth. Look at their actions. See what they are doing. And yesterday was running backs. I think the first news out the gate was running backs, and then that became the story of the day to me saying the these teams are not seeing a lot of true backup plans in

the nfl drafts of looking at the running back crew that's coming in like no we would rather give some of these players a contract we that last year we would not have given these players. And the wide receivers are slower. They're going to get their money. But it's slower because there's a lot of options in the draft. I completely agree. We said it on the show a couple weeks ago. We thought that this might be the case.

There's four or five running backs in the NFL draft. We don't know which one's going to go first. We don't know whether even a running back will go in the first two rounds. It's probably not going to happen. And so you have value out there on the free agent market, and you've got big names like Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs who have been already franchise tagged and have done the dance. So let's start with Saquon. That's the biggest news of the day.

Yes. Saquon Barkley. Boy, I thought they were going to make a splash. I just thought it was going to be Derrick Henry. But the Philadelphia Eagles go all in on Saquon Barkley. Three years, $37.75 million. Could be worth up to $46 million. 26 guaranteed.

He's 27 years old. Here we go. I think the first reaction is Saquon behind an offensive line. What would that be like? It's going to be fun from Pro Football Focus's 30th-ranked run-blocking unit last year to the third. Now, of course, that offensive line does lose Jason Kelsey, but it has been something that the Philadelphia Eagles have been able

to figure out, at least in recent memory. When you think of the Eagles, you think of a strong offensive line, and you think of DeAndre Swift's success where we'll talk about Swift in a little bit because he got himself a bag of money too. But it was when you would watch Swift versus Kenneth Gainwell, it was because Swift was fast. The Eagles could create a truly sizable lane to run through, and Swift was fast enough to get to it.

And I think that's what they are really hoping, that Saquon Barkley still has the juice. And, of course, he's a three-down running back, which there was a report floated out there. This was shocking for the Eagles to spend this much at the running back position. But, you know, saying, hey, we're looking for – it would be nice to have someone like LaShawn McCoy, who we had years and years and years ago,

to be a true three-down running back. And at $37.75 million, 26 fully guaranteed. This dude better be a three-down running back. And I know that the Giants fans out there, I mean, it's just – You all need to calm down. What are people doing? How can you be mad at Saquon Barkley? I'm not mad.

No, that's not – I'm saying the Giants fans. Well, that's silly. But the problem is. They didn't give him the money. Right. You had a whole year. But what would you pay to not have the Eagles have Barkley?

That's the funny part to me. It's like, okay, let's say, Saquon, you set a cap. You didn't want to spend more than $21 guaranteed. Well, is $5 more dollars worth your opponent in your division that you're fighting with to not have this guy? I'm guessing it would have been a lot more than five. Yeah, I mean, maybe. The way that they treated him, the way that he feels he was treated,

combined with the opportunity to win, you've got to pay the loser tax. And the opportunity to stick it to his old team. So this is an upgrade for Saquon Barkley. People will be concerned about touchdown numbers due to the fact of the tush push. It was the first thing I thought of. It will impact his opportunities on the goal line. But, I mean, look, he didn't score in New York.

New York was not on the goal line very often. Saquon was not giving you a ton of fantasy value on multi-touchdown games in New York. I mean, last year he had six touchdowns on the ground. You're telling me he's not going to score six times in Philadelphia? He will, for sure. I'm going to, I'll take the over. And the Swift plays you're talking about, like part of it that was comedic is we didn't know how much credit to give to DeAndre Swift.

Yeah. Because he'd gained six yards before he was touched. I think it was decisiveness as much as it was speed. Saquon has good vision, right? And Swift showed good vision in that offense. If I have Saquon Barkley in a dynasty league, if I have him in a keeper league, I'm enthusiastic. Yeah, I had a chance last year to,

I mean, it would have paid the a chance last year to, I mean, it would have, you know, paid the tax to get Saquon Barkley. And part of the concern of why I didn't go for that trade was I'm like, where, where is he going to end up last or next year? Because of all the teams could have been a commander.

Yeah. It could have been, you know, it could have been a really terrible situation, but you won the, uh, could have been a commander. It could have been a really terrible situation, but you won the fantasy lottery just this year. Yeah, and it makes it fun for dynasty trades that happened before the free agent period too when you gamble and all of the emotions you go through.

So goodbye, New York. Hello, Philly. Yep. And they have themselves, you know, they're a high-scoring offense. The Giants have been 30th, 15th, 31st, 31st, 18th, and 16th. Barkley is in,

I'm not going to say he's like, he is in the category now of running backs that could end up one. Yeah. In fantasy finish. He couldn't have done that in New York. Yeah, I mean, just the initial reaction is like, yeah, Saquon's easily a top-five running back. Josh Jacobs. This was one of the shockers of the day and it continued to unravel but we were waiting for the shoe to drop on Josh Jacobs I thought he might go to Chicago they made a different splash at the running back position in DeAndre swift we'll talk about it momentarily jacobs goes

four years 48 million dollars to the green bay packers so just 26 years old some would have uh some would remind you that they signed a four-year 48 million dollar deal that's where i would go with aaron jones when he was 26. And then now Jacobs is four years, 48 million at 26. But it's a four-year, $48 million deal. That sounds fantastic. But the 12 and a half million guaranteed is very curious where Saquon, 26 fully guaranteed. DeAndre Swift, 15 guaranteed. Yes, the Jacobs, the overall numbers, which when you look at it on paper, Jacobs got way more money than DeAndre Swift. I mean, twice the amount of money, but Andrew Brandt tweeted out saying,

just highlighting, the reported deal, four years, $48 million. When you really break down the deal, one year, $14.8 million, and then three Packer option years, which puts the team full. It's very strange to me that I think it's compounded by the DeAndre Swift deal that Barkley, we expected him to get paid. He did it. Swift, I don't know that anyone expected him to get paid the way he did. And then for Josh Jacobs to get such a low guarantee, it's strange to me.

It is a little bit odd. I think it shows you that he wasn't worth what he thought he was after the inefficient year last year. The franchise tag was what, $10.5 million last year? $10 million? Something like that, yeah. So $14.8 is what the one-year payout will be. And then the Packers have option years.

So it's kind of like an expanded franchise tag to a degree. Yeah. Chance to renew your value. And the team immediately let go of Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones, they tried to negotiate a new contract. He's 29. So this is an age reset at running back. A.J. Dillon,

not going to be part of the picture, right? Did he sign yet? Do we have any A.J. Dillon news? You know what? The big crowd of GMs did not gather for A.J. We didn't miss it? We did not miss AJ Dillon. I could have sworn we missed it.

I don't know if we report USFL stuff. All right. Be on that team. Yeah. Lock in. AJ Dillon news. I got my Dillon alert set. Thank you.

Thank you. Because some dynasty managers need AJ Dillon to get a job. You need to. Yeah. I don't know. Probably not a big deal. So, Josh Jacobs, what do you think? This offense, very impressive. Jordan Love at the end of the year.

For a team, it's fantastic. Yeah, I mean, for a landing spot that no one saw coming, I thought there was probably panic immediately because of shared backfield. Yes, yes. And then now Aaron Jones leaves and immediately signs a one-year deal with the Vikings. So Aaron Jones, one year with the Vikings, but he's older. Look, to me, in a one-year window, Aaron Jones is a better running back

than Josh Jacobs. I genuinely believe that. Jones was great last year. I think Aaron Jones, when healthy, is a top six running back in football. Problem is he doesn't stay healthy. And you don't have very long for that. The Packers should really stick it to the Vikings and bring Madison in. Right.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. That's the backup. So Aaron Jones, though, going to the Vikings, the Ty Chandler excitement, which I didn't have, by the way. I mean, I did not believe that them letting go of Madison was a big, enthusiastic pat on the butt to Ty Chandler no matter what they said. Ty Chandler is little. He's a little dude. He's a 200-pound

running back. So it makes sense that they would add somebody to the equation here. The Ty Chandler excitement was the same as the Tajay Spears excitement where it was at this very moment in time there is a path where this dude is just the guy. And it's talking about Ty Chandler. But that path is not there anymore. Yeah, I mean, if you were excited about Ty Chandler, where are you now?

For Ty Chandler, I mean, I think he is still a speedy backup, and at least the way that Kevin O'Connell was talking about him. Again, be careful the way that coaches are talking. But O'Connell talked him up a lot right before the Alexander Madison release. So I think he will be involved, but this will be Aaron Jones' show. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. So that was big news.

DeAndre Swift got a three-year, $24 million deal in Chicago. 15 guaranteed. They clearly identified the 25-year-old DeAndre Swift as their target. Yeah. He was the first splash. They were going to overpay. Like Chicago had the money. We were not going to be surprised.

I think that this running back free agency, let me see if you agree with me on this. This is a cursory tale of low draft capital running backs that things change quickly. And what I'm saying is people wanted to talk about Tajay Spears and Tony Pollard signs in Tennessee. They wanted to talk about Ty Chandler and Aaron Jones arrives in Minnesota. They wanted to talk about Khalil Herbert all offseason last year

but doesn't have the draft capital or financial backing to be a guaranteed starter, and now he's one of four, where Swift is obviously the guy. Like, you gamble. If you think that those guys are going to – they have to really establish it. They have to be like there is no debate with 10 GMs in a room would have to all agree that Khalil Herbert's the guy or Tajay Spears is the guy for this not to happen.

The Roshon Johnson truthers, that's going to be who is bummed the most. Because if we had it in the next season with Chicago not really making a splash and it's Khalil Herbert versus Roshon again, I think most people would have been on the Roshon Johnson side, but that is not going to happen. I think it was J.J. Zacharyson

that pointed out this morning, DeAndre Swift was a lion now a bear. David Montgomery was a bear, now a lion. Aaron Jones was a Packer, now a Viking. So we're playing musical chairs in the division and just hoping it works out. But what did you think about Swift's fit with the Bears and what they're planning on doing. I think everybody expects it to be Caleb Williams. Yeah, the hard part is the good probability bet for running back, like when there's a rookie quarterback. Now, yes, C.J. Stroud happened,

and it's going to get a lot of people excited. But the bet for basically everyone on the team when there is a rookie quarterback is you have to lower your expectations. So that's probably where I'm going to go just because of that's the probability until I feel like there is a true seismic shift and not just an outlier here or there. Then Swift will be a running back too. He'll have spike weeks because he's very fast. He had very few opportunities due to the tush push around the goal line.

We are always joking about it. Scored five times in Philly. 47% of his yards came before contact in Philadelphia. He will not have that offensive line in Chicago. But he is just 25 years old, and so I think it will be interesting with the new offensive coordinator there, who obviously they identified Swift and said, look, they could have gone out and paid whatever.

Could have paid for Jacobs. Could have taken a shot at Saquon. They went younger and more explosive. But I don't know if we, I mean, workload-wise, who's going to share the time with him? Herbert? Roshan? I think all three will play, but Swift.

All right. Let's take a quick break. Come back with more running back news. Well, I said it a minute ago, the Titans. They were one of the early moves during the day yesterday. Tony Pollard, three-year deal worth $24 million. Some people were joking about the fact that this is the retirement home for early down backs for Dallas because DeMarco Murray went over

and finished his career out in Tennessee. They pay Pollard $24 million over three years. What is the guarantee on that, Kyle? Do you have that? I'm looking it up. Okay. Not a good year for Pollard last year. Nope.

Not a good outlook for the offense in Tennessee, at least the way we look at it now. Mm-hmm. You fire your head coach, your weapons. There aren't a lot of them. Some people believe in Will Levis, but Tony Pollard is just taking the money it seems like. This is where the most money was going to be.

Yeah, money. There should be opportunity. I would not. Here's what you were going to say. You were going to say, here's what you were going to say. You were going to say, I'm not going to bury Tajay Spears. Yes. Because I think Spears is a good player. The problem is, is if this is a bottom five offense in football,

which has every chance to be, or at least let's call it bottom third. That's fine. And you break up scoring opportunities across two undersized backs. Yeah. More concerning. I'm not excited. I don't think either of these guys, the

path of us ending this season with like, oh man Tony Pollard or Tajay Spears, it seems like it's out of nowhere. I feel like that's just that's really low, low odds. Yeah, and I believe there was I feel like that's just that's really low low odds yeah and

I believe there was some talk about dynasty trades of Tajay Spears and what you would do a few weeks ago and the advice was kind of get rid of him while the iron is hot like trade him while people assume he could be the guy so hopefully

that's what you did if not hopefully in your case you think Pollard is kind of washed and doesn't resume a solid career and Spears gets more opportunities, but this is not a running back room I'm excited about. We're not. So we can't find the guaranteed for Tony Pollard. It's not being reported, huh? Yeah. Their reporters are still trying to find it. Three-year deal, $24 million. I bet you it's $11 million. It's not going to be good. $7 million.

$6 million. Stop me? The Josh Jacobs guarantee took, in terms of usually the guarantee comes out immediately or right after. The Josh Jacobs one took some time yesterday too. Yeah. And then when it came out, you went, oh, that's much lower than I thought.

It's a good reminder, right, to not let the first headline hit you too hard. Yeah, very few players ever see the top end of that money. So the Commanders made a decision to let go of Antonio Gibson and bring in Austin Eckler on a two year deal worth just $8.4 million. He's 28. He'll be 29. He'll be 29, which is what?

That's the same age that Aaron Jones is, right? Yeah. And the one year deal for Jones at 29 was up to $7 million. There's a two-year deal worth $8.4. It was a lost year in many ways for Austin Eckler. Brian Robinson, he's going to be a big part of this offense with Cliff Kingsbury. Eckler will handle third downs and probably spell Robinson. Is that how you see it?

Yeah, that is how I see it. The hope still for Brian Robinson is that Cliff Kingsbury is the offensive coordinator and we know very well firsthand when Cliff was in Arizona. Once they get close to the goal line his favorite play of all time was run the ball up the middle, and if it doesn't work, the next play we should run

the ball up the middle. Oh yeah, go back up the middle. And we will get there. We will get there eventually. Yeah, if we go up the middle. Yeah, because that's where the action is at. So I still think that there's huge touchdown upside for Robinson. I think Robinson is a better player right now than Austin Eckler.

Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that. But the fact that Eckler, the team can't have signed him saying, we foresee a whole bunch of groundwork for Austin Eckler. He's still a good pass catcher with reliable hands usually. Over the back half of the year, he had one gain of 10-plus yards on 77 attempts. Yeah. And it was 10 yards.

They're crossing their fingers hoping that was because of the ankle. News this morning. Well, let's go to the news we got yesterday first. The Bengals signed Zach Moss to a two-year deal worth $8 million. I love it. By the way, that's the same deal that Austin Eckler got, two years, $8 million. Moss is 26, and they re-signed Travion Williams, if you noticed, and they were really proud of it.

I mean, they put it up on their Twitter, Travion Williams coming back for a year six or whatever. The Travion Williams is so baffling. I mean, you realize it's like year five or six for treyvon yes yeah like he's almost 50 years old and he's still yet to do anything i believe that he has never scored a touchdown he must be the most charismatic yeah he's never scored a touchdown funniest locker room guy they were so proud of him. But the announcement of first it was the Bengals were going to

cut Joe Mixon and then the signing of Zach Moss. It was like simultaneous. It was so cold-blooded by the Bengals of I don't even know which one was first. Joe Mixon should be happy they didn't do it last year. That was the rumor. And then he went out and he put up –

do you want to know what he finished last year, Joe Mixon? Do you want a refresher? Sure. He's the RB – guess it. I want to hear you. He – let's see, RB 9. 5. 5.

So he's gone. Offense is great. Zach Moss proved without – uh I almost said uh Jonathan Stewart but Jonathan Taylor that he could get it done and Bengals save money at running back they said that they were going to cut Joe Mixon and then this morning we got news that nope the trade bait worked Joe Mixon to the Houston Texans in a trade, not a release in sign. And now the Texans have Joe Mixon. So if you're in Dynasty, Joe Mixon looked dead,

which I believe you have Joe Mixon, Brooksy. Yes, sir. Yeah. And how are you feeling? I don't know. Him and Pollard are my running backs. Oh! Yeah.

I guess not good. Yeah, actually, I'm in your division. I feel great about that. But it was just the hilarity of it with Devin Singletary. That's the next bit of news. He signed with the Giants for a lot of money. A lot of money. Devin Singletary. So you had this brief moment of time where it was, okay, Damian Pierce,

Singletary didn't come back. What if? What if Damian Pierce can – nope, we got Joe Mixon now. It's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. And so Moss to the Bengals,e mixon to the texans he's he's still 27 years old and he's the only running back to finish top 12 for three straight years so he's got an opportunity in houston you saw singletary get it done is he better than

singletary i don't think so okay I don't think so. But this is... People ask us all the time, when should I do a dynasty draft? A startup draft? Because you're juiced up from the season. You want to branch out into dynasty. And we tell people, look, if you want to do it now,

it is very high risk, very high reward. But you could have some people who, if they've never played Dynasty before, who end up really, really upset because things over the next couple months are going to change in a way that just nukes the value of some players. So this is why we talk about that. Because if you had drafted last week. Yeah, talk about a different world.

And no, we're not close to being done with running back. Devin Singletary, who excelled in Houston. Three years, 16 points, $5 million deal with the Giants. Okay. Get that money. Yo, I'm pumped for Singletary. Yeah, I mean, talk about. He was not worth close to this amount of money before what happened last year.

He was good. Now he's going to the Giants. Okay. Any thoughts there? He should be the primary guy. I think that he is a capable player, but let's see what happens with the offensive line. Okay. Gus Edwards, two-year deal with the Chargers.

Thank you. This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. Do you disagree with me on that? I think this is the worst. Explain it. This is the worst dirty, messy, running in the mud signing you could ever have because Gus is not enough to be your only guy at all in Los Angeles. But he is enough to ruin somebody. And if they go, I mean, I think Blake Corum might as

well get fitted for the jersey. I think Blake Corum and Gus Edwards is going to be your backfield in Los Angeles. Greg Roman, Jim Harbaugh, they're going to tie Justin Herbert's hand behind his back and make him hand off with the left hand, and he's going to have zero

passing attempts. Just so he doesn't think about throwing? No pass attempts this year. To me, Gus Edwards is just people like him too much. He's not good enough to be your number one. He certainly isn't at 29 years old. He might have been at 26 when he was going to have a chance and got hurt. I just. He still has a career average of 5.2 yards per carry.

Yeah, I know, and it was all fourth quarters in Baltimore. So I don't know. So you feel like it's the worst case because of the trap? It's the worst case because nobody, I mean, you don't think he's the starter, right? No. Okay. So now.

No, but if I have Gus Edwards on my dynasty team, I'm hoping and wishing and praying. Yes. If I have Gus Edwards on my dynasty team, instead of burning that roster and praying. Yes, if I have Gus Edwards on my dynasty team, instead of burning that roster spot, at least I have hope. Yeah. But to me, they're the team. They're the team that's going to go draft a running back.

Stay away from Trey Benson? That might be it, too. They're going to take somebody. I wouldn't say stay away. I mean, it's a good situation for a rookie coming in. I just feel like I would rather have a guaranteed knowledge that one of these guys is going to be

the guy. I mean, you could say that you weren't afraid of, like if Gus was still in Baltimore and they signed Derrick Henry, I guess you wouldn't have been afraid of Gus. No, I would not. But I'm more afraid of a rookie coming in and Gus just being – I mean, he was with Greg Roman in Baltimore. Yeah.

So they like him. I can see that. Patriots, they signed Antonio Gibson on a three-year deal, base value of $11 million. Ramondre's in his final year of his rookie deal. Ramondre's value when he was good was in the passing game. This is a problem. Antonio Gibson will be taking passing downs.

It's very messy because that's really the best part of Antonio Gibson's profile, and that's the best part of Ramondre's profile. So maybe they just won't run. That'd be nice. Just throw it every single time. Not nice for Ramandre managers right yeah you don't want to see them i mean the the contract is not that big so it's not that splashy but antonio gibson is still to me a player that if the right scenario was around him you could

thrive oh i still believe in the player it's so cute still believe in the player. It's so cute. Still believe in the player. I know. When would that stop? Never. Does it stop for A.J. Dillon? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Oh, yeah. You can reach a point. Antonio Gibson, what's funny, another funny part of this is, yeah, it's not Uncle Bill. It's not his Patriots anymore, but we'll see how much of the Patriots culture will be continued on the ingrainment because you know who likes to fumble? Antonio Gibson. Yeah. Kind of his favorite. Well, Bill's not there, you know.

But that's what I mean. But if it's still built in to the coaching staff of when a player fumbles, you get them off the field and you punish them. Oh, he's going to have fun with – Gibson will never play. He'll have fun with Ramondre, too, because I remember him ruining my season two years ago with fumbles. Chase Edmonds, one-year return deal with the Bucs,

so they didn't lie when they said they liked him. And then Naeem Hines getting a chance to come off of multiple catastrophic injuries with the Browns, a one-year deal. Neither of those are very consequential other than the Bucs. Like Rashad White back with the quarterback he's used to. Seems like maybe we get to re-roll that. Honestly, the Chase Edmonds signing is great news at this point for Rashad White of the do we get to re-roll.

Because if you get to re-roll last year's running back depth chart, then Rashad White, I mean, you can – they kept saying they like Chase Edmonds, but they would never put him on the field. All right. Are we done with running backs for the moment? Any other news break in the meantime? I think we're good.

Derek Henry didn't sign? Mike has been pining over a Derek Henry signing for quite a while. If Derek Henry doesn't sign with the Ravens, I'm going to die. Okay. Can I pick? Let me pick a team. Let me pick a different team. There's only two teams where I end up thriving.

The two teams you're happy are Dallas. Yes. And the team you're happy are Dallas. Yes. And the team you just mentioned. That is correct. The Baltimore Ravens, who you've been looking to have sign him for a while. So let me think if there's anybody else that could really sign him. Okay. Not Arizona, not Seattle, not the Rams, not the 49ers.

So you're good in the West. Panthers? No. Falcons? No. Saints? No. Buccaneers?

No. I don't think so. No. It's not going to be the Bears, not going to be the Vikings, not going to be the Packers, not going to be the Lions. Okay? You're almost out of the NFC. Not going to be the Commanders?

No. Not going to be the Giants. Not going to be the Eagles. Could be the Cowboys. So you got one NFC team that even makes sense. I'm just trying to calm your fear. And everybody out there with Derrick Henry. Okay.

I like it so far. Chargers? They could do it. It's possible. Would you be unhappy? You'd be probably happy. I'd be okay with it, yeah. Broncos?

I would not be happy with that. I guess that's a possibility, but I doubt yeah. Broncos? I would not be happy with that. I guess that's a possibility, but I doubt it. Raiders? That's a real possibility. Yeah. And then not the Chiefs. So in the AFC, you've got the Chargers, Raiders, probably not the Broncos,

not the Titans, not the Colts, not Jacksonville, not Houston, not Cincinnati, not Cincinnati, not Pittsburgh, Cleveland. You could keep them in contention. Probably not. They would have to cut Nick Chubb. Yeah, I don't think they're doing that. And then Baltimore.

Buffalo? Just give them the money. Miami, New York. We're already getting the reports that the Ravens have offered him money. I think you're going to be happy is what I'm saying. I need to be happy. You won't be happy if he's not good anymore, but you won't be unhappy with the team.

I think that he's still capable. He's not what he once was. He's still capable, and if I'm Derrick Henry, I'm going somewhere I can win. That's true. He already has cash. Reminds me of Steven Jackson, late career Atlanta. Well, don't say that. No, that's what you're getting.

No. No, I am not. I reject your comparison. I don't think you're getting a dominator, man. I just need capable. I don't even think Baltimore, I don't think you should root for Baltimore. I think you should root for Dallas. That's fine. I'll take either. Remember that play Tony Pollard couldn't score on

when no one was in front of him going into the end zone? That play would be there for Derek Hennant. Let's talk some quarterbacks. Quarterbacks. The Atlanta Falcons are giving quarterback, Cole's spokesman, Kirk Cousins, a four-year,

$180 bazillion deal that includes $100 bazillion guaranteed. He has made more money than almost anybody in the entire history of the National Football League. He has one functional Achilles. He is 35 years old. What other things can we say to scare Kyle, the Borgogon, who is the biggest Atlanta Falcons fan on the planet, who doesn't know what to want?

This signing is hilarious. Somewhere, Arthur Smith is slamming his hand on a table because he went through absolute quarterback misery with Desmond Ritter, Taylor Heineke, and Kirk Cousins is the guy. And look, the jig is up. I don't think if we call him Jake Buckingham, I don't think it's going to matter.

Drake London is going to be this year's Garrett Wilson in the draft. His bags are packed. He's ready to go. Yeah, he's moving on up. Yeah, he is. Drake London is going to be the most popular pick because he should be. He's a great player. He's outstanding.

And he should theoretically have a good quarterback. I feel like my thoughts on Drake London were always built around the quarterback he has to throw in the football, and that's what made him so inconsistent. But when he got the ball, he was great. So Kirk cousins is abandoning Justin Jefferson and becoming best friends with not just Drake London, but also Bijan Robinson,

Kyle Pitts. Yeah. What are you doing? And what are you doing? Kyle Pitts, Darnell Mooney, who has been added to this roster that looks stacked if Kirk Cousins is healthy.

Ah! Ah! What? Ah! Oh, no. Ah! Did it happen? Breaking news.

Breaking news. Derek Henry is signing a two-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens. Come on. Ah! Ah! It just happened. Oh! You have. Why does it sound like you're trying to digest food rather than be excited?

Okay, I'm back. I'm invested in the show now. How did that happen just now? This is real? Two year. I just went through every team. It's a two year, $16 million deal worth up to $20 million. Nine fully guaranteed for the first year.

We ride. We ride, Henry Tribe. Oh, my gosh. 15 tutties. Well, I guess that one was on the wall. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. 15 tutties.

Thank you. I really feel like I earned something today. Derek Henry, a Baltimore Raven. Interesting. Yes. If the Gus bus could produce the way he did. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

I mean, the Gus bus was scoring what? He had like multiple three touchdown games? It was ridiculous. Ain't no tush push in Baltimore. Nope. Congratulations. Thank you. Mike is with us.

It was going to be a big problem. I thought I was trying to comfort you. There's no NFC teams. You've been on my side. When you're looking down, you're like, what's my win probability? 99.9%. Not high enough. No, I get it.

I need the hundo. I get it. My dynasty team rejoiced with the Mike Evans signing this offseason. We're all rooting for certain things, which is longevity to the assets we have on our teams. We were talking about Kirk Cousins. Okay, yeah, back to this. Yeah, Drake London's going to be a top 12 draft of wide receiver um more than likely if he's not if if you don't believe that i'll take him there drake london's gonna be a monster

it's i mean i mean jake buckingham it's it's up to kirk and how healthy he is 180 million dollars with 100 guaranteed tells me that team looked into it, and they know he's going to be fine. Which ankle was it? His plant leg. Was it? I believe, yeah. Kyle, maybe you know, because him and Rodgers tore opposite Achilles.

I thought that Rodgers was the plant leg. Was he? Yeah, that means Kirk's wasn't the plant leg. Well, we got to dive into this. But now all I'm thinking about is a leg made of plants, to be honest with you. This is my plant leg. This is my plant leg. Tom Brady somewhere is like, don't you dare.

That's my joke. Oh, it was his right leg. Okay. But he's going to throw a lefty, so it'll be fine. Oh, he's going goofy? He's going goofy. He's going goofy. He's actually always been left-handed.

All right. Kirk Cousins, big news. But let's talk about the absence of Kirk Cousins for Justin Jefferson because, you know. Absence? You mean the replacement? Yeah, Sam Darnold. Samuel Darnold? Sam Darnold is, yeah. Sam Darnold. Samuel Darnold? Sam Darnold is, yeah.

Sam Darnold's now a Viking. Viking fans this morning are rolling around screaming, remembering the days of Ponder, right? Pondering those days, really. Yeah, Sam Darnold, a one-year deal worth up to $10 million. It's his seventh year in the NFL. He will be turning 27 where do they pick oh that's a good question 11th yeah this is jj mccarthy say that could be mccarthy territory

if i'm justin jefferson if you're in a dynasty startup right now mike yeah you taking jefferson above cd lame with the mystery it you just said you know after free agency somebody scheduled their draft for today yeah the the it's interesting of you know on the dynasty podcast you know not jumping into it too deep because it's whatever but it's the did you have jefferson number one or did you have jamar chase number one and the most frequent argument for it, because it was like, I would rather have Justin Jefferson with Kirk Cousins. But the argument for Jamar Chase is you know that he has Joe Burrow. That is what the future is for Jamar Chase.

And you had this impending doom of, what if Kirk Cousins actually leaves Minnesota and there's no answer at the quarterback position? Jefferson will still be great, but it's a problem. With Sam Darnold coming in, which I saw a Warren Sharpe tweet, he was just highlighting this of how inaccurate Sam Darnold has been over his entire career. And if you're putting hope in Sam Darnold,

that is the dumbest thing you could ever do. This signing of Sam Darnold is an insurance policy to me on a rookie. Sam Darnold is not going to be the future of this team. It's a one-year deal. I agree with that, but you still have to deal with this year for Justin Jefferson. That's what I'm saying. He's the same age as CeeDee Lamb. People think he's younger.

He's not. They're 24. Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb are both 24. And Jason pointed out yesterday when we were talking, there have been many number one consensus picks in dynasties that you look back like Juju Smith-Schuster. Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas.

And I'm not saying Jefferson's not great. I'm just saying it's like one in the – what is it? Bird in the hand. Bird in the hand? Yep. It just makes it really, really scary. And we talked about Larry Fitzgerald's peak, one of the best wide receivers in the history of the NFL,

had a three-year span with bad quarterback play in Arizona. That wasn't good for fantasy. Yeah, and he was like an 800 yard guy. I want it now. I want the fantasy points now. Alright, quick break. Back with some more chatter. We haven't even talked about Baker Mayfield coming back to the Buccaneers.

He got paid. Three-year deal worth up to $100 million. $50 million guaranteed. It's a lot of money. Good for you, Baker. They're really rolling it back. They are. Brought back Evans.

Brought back Baker. Brought back Chase Edmonds. So that Rashad White's your guy. I mean, how do you not? You know, when you made it into the playoffs with that team, I don't know. I like Baker. I think he's very capable.

I also feel like this puts Tampa in a tough position of being just like in the middle of the pack. That's my concern. This is a Derek Carr type of signing. So, you know, who'd you rather have, Baker Mayfield or Derek Carr? I'd probably lean Mayfield a little bit. Yeah, at this point, yes. But Russell Wilson, one-year deal with the Steelers.

Denver's going to pay him $39-year deal with the Steelers. Denver's going to pay him $39 million to play for the Steelers. All the people getting riled up on Twitter saying, no, the NFL teams won't do this to the Broncos. They won't stick them with the bill.

Steelers sure did. Well, when I realized the way that was structured, I agreed with you. Denver, you got this? You're going to pick this one up? Cool. We're going to take this quarterback and pay him absolutely nothing. So we'll see.

We'll see what happens. I mean, did you have any quick reactions? I like it for George Pickens. I'll be honest. I went out and tried to trade for George Pickens in Dynasty Leagues, especially with rumors of Deontay Johnson being potentially traded. I think George Pickens with a deep ball throw like Russell Wilson could be interesting.

Russ is better than what they had last year. I mean, how many touchdowns did Cortland Sutton have? Double digits. It felt like Cortland Sutton was scoring. I think it was 40, maybe 60. Sutton was scoring almost every single week. 10. He finished the year with 10 touchdowns. So you're, yes.

Pickens is far more interesting now with Russell than he was with Kenny Pickett coming back to compete for the starting job. Last year, Russell Wilson, fantasy wise, had what looks to be five finishes within the top 12 on the year.

He threw for 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. It's better than what they had in Pittsburgh. Yep. And I don't like this category. Kyle put backup boys in our show doc. I don't know if I agree with that with the first name. Gardner Minshew, two-year, $25 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. I think he could be their starter.

Do you disagree? I don't disagree, but this, it feels. I feel like I was demeaning. No, no, I'm saying to me that it feels like the Viking situation. Oh, my gosh, they should have signed Gardner. If there was the Vikings, I'd rather have Gardner 100 out of 100 times over Sam Darnold. The Vikings, at least reportedly, where I don't have an inside source

inside of the Minnesota Vikings organization, it feels like they just bungled this thing. Well, you made the point they had forever to sign. Yeah, I'm saying going off the tweet, someone an insider, maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but they're reporting that Minnesota made a strong push

late before the tampering period opened up. They made a strong push to try and keep Kirk Cousins. You could have done... That's a PR piece of garbage. If you read their... To me, if that's my team and that's a PR piece of garbage. That's a... If you read their... To me, if that's my team and that's the PR they're putting out,

it makes me even angrier. They want to put it out because they want you to know that they want to win. Minnesota fans, we want to win football games. And we did our best to try to win them, but we got a philosophy. That philosophy is bigger than any player anywhere. Well, good luck, Minnesota.

But I think Gardner, he's $15 million guaranteed. He could be there with a rookie. If he ends up starting, he can play. But I would imagine that they're going to take someone. Well, I mean the mustache boys is what we should call them because Aiden O'Connell not a fan of the mustache, but he does have one. And then Gardner Minshew, very much a fan.

Honestly, if that mustache walks into the locker room and meets Aiden O'Connell's mustache, that's a battle that's already been won. Gardner's got the starting job. James Winston, one year deal with the Browns to be a backup it might close the door on Flacco

yeah who had been rumored to maybe come back Patriots Jacoby Brissett one year deal he could be the starter ahead of probably Drake May or Jaden Daniels thank you

thank you Al it's a great it's a great move yeah he's the perfect i mean like jacoby brissett should just be it's a perfect transition back up he's a perfect locker room backup he's a perfect you know starter gets injured backup mac jones is traded by the way to the jaguars for a six-round pick. Yep. That quarterback class, not what we hoped. Not what we hoped. We have baby

breaking news. Breaking news. Hopefully the truthers are all dead. But Irv Smith Jr., a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. All right. There you go. Go get a best

chance at a Super Bowl. He's their three, right? I mean. Behind Gray? Is Noah Gray under contract? That is an interesting question. Maybe that's why this is happening. Let me double check here. I don't know if he is or not, but Irv Smith never got it done in Cincinnati or Minnesota.

Tyra Taylor backing up Aaron Rodgers with the Jets. They made it a priority to find somebody not named Zach Wilson. Yeah, Noah Gray's under contract. Kelsey's under contract. And Irv Smith is. One more year for Gray. Just hanging out. Marcus Mariota, one-year deal with the Commanders.

Living that backup life. We are going to have a free agency. It's a good life. It's a good life. Honestly. The initial plan is, of course, get the cash, get the fame, be the big-time winning quarterback. That's a great life.

Also a great life? None of that pressure. Just cash and checks. Backup quarterback. And you're everyone's favorite. No one great life? None of that pressure. Just cash and checks. Backup quarterback. And you're everyone's favorite. No one expects you to win when you play. If you win, you're like, oh, my gosh, that guy got us a win. If you lose, it's like, yeah, we have our backup. Yeah.

By the way, the fact that Mariota and Winston both signed their one-year deals this offseason, and they're just mirroring each other, and they, I believe, got paid the big money before they changed the first round picks. Maybe I'm wrong about that. That might have ended with Bradford. Yes. That might have ended with Bradford. But they got paid a lot of money.

Sure. And now they're just kind of cruising around, cashing checks. So, you know, to me, the trade of Mac Jones signifies that those top three picks are going to be quarterbacks, almost guaranteed. So as somebody who would really like to see Marvin Harrison in Arizona, it gives me a lot of excitement because they can't –

I don't think New England can blow their opportunity in the top three to take a quarterback. You just can't risk it. Yeah. And they didn't sign anybody either. They didn't go out and compete for anybody that could be a starter. I think they're in a pretty good spot. You either get to take the chance or you let someone else fall in love

with one of the quarterbacks. You're saying to trade back? Yeah. You're in a pretty primo spot to trade back. But, again, let the Mac Jones – Mac Jones wasn't a top, top pick, but that crew of quarterbacks, it's a very difficult position to play. It's a very difficult position to draft and identify correctly. So while Caleb Williams is already crowned as a surefire thing, Trevor Lawrence is the best one of that bunch,

and he'll get a contract extension, but there's still questions on Trevor Lawrence. If Caleb Williams turned out to be identical to Trevor Lawrence, the Chicago Bears will feel like they failed. Yes. So, yes. But at the same time, this is what you do. You take your shots. I mean, the one good thing that –

I agree with – I'm talking like look at fantasy football. Just of being so locked in on the quarterbacks, it's tough. The one great thing Kyme did in Arizona was say goodbye to Josh Rosen instantly and just spend another top ten pick to take a quarterback. You've got to keep doing it. So I'm going to press pause there. We have a winners and losers episode that's going to come up too where we break down like if you didn't get enough, talk about one specific player.

We're going to talk about the implications for all of these moves, and then we'll get into wide receivers and tight ends, which are far less flashy of transactions to talk about, a lot of re-signs. We'll get into that on Thursday. But, I mean, Mike, you got your dream right in the middle of the show. That's right. I did it. Derek Henry,

you will. That was not going to happen without you. So fantasy football community, you are welcome. I think that there's probably, he was probably sitting there in the room, probably trying to decide between a few teams, browsing the internet. He saw my tweet. Saw your tweet.

Yeah. And said, you know what? This Mike guy. He really believes in me. He's got a point. He believes in me. He knows where my best home would be. In Baltimore.

Oh, man. Also, that team is going to be good. So many touchdowns for Derek Henry. He stays healthy. Oh, yeah. I can say that about your team too alrighty that'll do it for today make sure you watch the show

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