Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Level Up Players + Super Bowl Picks, Kelce Reaction - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/6

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

Travis Kelce oh no! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Andy, Mike, and Jason preview the Lions at Chiefs matchup, with Kelce injury implications. Plus, Super Bowl predictions and Level-Up players for the 2023 fantasy football season! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for September 6th, 2023. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Visit https://www.ubereats.com/ 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.

Ah, Travis! Travis! Ah, yes. Pain. All I know is pain. Welcome into this podcast. It's not even week one. Pain.

Why do I play this stupid game? Yeah. Heal up, Travis. Heal up. Take a break. Take your time, brother. Take your time. Make sure you just, you don't want to rush things.

Your knee's a little hurt. Just take, let's say, one game off. It's a long season. Just take the, so many people are mad at you right now. I know what our job is, but I hate fantasy football. I mean, I'm so excited for the start of the season, and I just happen to be the manager in our main league of record with a keeper. I didn't draft him in the first.

Everybody out there trolling me. He was a keeper, Travis Kelsey. Maybe you've heard of him. I have. He's awesome. Plays Thursday. Zeus, does he? So what Jason's little giddy, stupid attitude is,

is the fact that he realized this morning that we play each other week one. Oh, do we? And so instead of like sympathizing with the millions of Kelsey managers out there, he has chosen to sympathize with, once again, himself. Yes. And his hopes of beating me. And I also have him in the in the dynasty league and so I can't even get one week of just looking forward to game one I've got to be back in the mire to be fair back in the injury bog of sadness I have him in the listener league so So it's, you know, but if I had to pick

one league, it's the League of Record, obviously. So, you know, we just try to look for the bright side of things. We will talk about the Kelsey injury in the news. It's not that bad. If you're just hearing about it, it's not that bad.

It's just a little bit bad. He says to himself in the mirror. No, it's not that bad. It's just a little bit bad. He says to himself in the mirror. No, it's not that bad. Okay, we'll talk about it now. The ligaments, all of the knee parts are intact. That's great. His brother came out and said he thinks he's going to play Thursday. His brother who had this same injury.

Yeah, from kicking a piece of firewood. That was a great interview. I will say that his brother plays the exact same position right right knows knows what the the rigors of what happens to your body playing tight end that being said um running routes and such he did jason kelsey did say that his knee did not swell up when it happened uh he got the bone bruise ligaments were intact but he didn't have swelling and he did mention that kelsey does have swelling right now so they're trying to get the swelling down we'll know tomorrow night yeah well i think we'll know later later today i don't i think we'll know

at game time like he'll be a game time we'll know more yeah i think we'll know more because he's supposed to test it out today and so i think that'll get reported um but the kelsey look it's just a let me transition this into purpose, meaning. Something other than just vitriolic hate and sadness for this stupid game. Here's your warning. Here's your red alert. Here's what's about to happen for 17 weeks. We all go into the season.

We have our drafts and we draft healthy players and then we are dealt we're dealt hands that we didn't expect and we've got to play them fantasy football is part of it is the draft but then a huge part of it is how do you react in the season because things happen players don't work out players get. Players break out out of nowhere. How do you react? And that's what the season's all about. In other news, Jason got us an HOA violation. Yeah, whoopsie doozles.

Here at the studio, I got an email last night. Your 15-foot championship flag pointing people to the studio was against HOA terms. I'll pay the fine. I'll pay the fine. I'll pay the fine and be happy to do it again next year when I'm champ again. For my 20-foot flag. So I do apologize to the HOA for Jason's championship.

Sorry for having fun, HOA. I know, but that's what HOAs are for. Yeah, fun killers. Fun killers. The site rankings for week one, the Start Sit tool, all up on the website right now, thefantasyfootballers.com. All the articles for the in-season starting to hit. All the in-season stuff is available to you.

You can go check that out. And then, of course, this is your formal invitation to the Foot Clan. Come support the show and receive a ton of in-season tools, resources. Your start-sit tool gets better. You get to join all of the Discord channels with over 30,000 Foot Clan members. You get the Stream Finder, which I use all the time. The Flex Rankings, if you're really wanting to compare cross-positionally all of our strength of schedule, red zone reports, everything that we use ourselves, it's all in there.

And that's jointhefoot.com. And then you get an extra episode of the show every single week. And if you get in there quick, assuming you hear this episode before, I believe, 4 p.m. Pacific today, you will have a chance to join the Megalobull. So if you haven't been in there, that's also a perk of supporting the show at Join the Foot. This is our in-season.

It's the place to be, Jason. You two are doing your Megalobull draft in 45 minutes. Yeah, it is great. We've got to get the show on the road. Is that not what we're doing? Is it not on the road yet? No, it doesn't feel like it's on the road yet. We also have a new segment. Let's kick it off.

Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. It's a pretty good job on that drop, Mike. We are hungry. Yeah. And Jason is hungry from seeing the video. For the donuts. Yeah, those donuts in that little intro looked pretty good. You don't want to turn around, though, here in the studio and see the back wall. I see it right in front of me.

We've got a monitor. I see that delicious food. I am hungry for more. So this segment in the season is going to be taking a look at players that had kind of outlier breakout performances on that week and then talking about whether we believe they will continue to ascend right now the season hasn't started so we are looking at players that finished strongly some players that have the ability to level up tier-wise. Maybe you've seen flashes.

Maybe you've had some nibbles, Jason. Are you hungry for more? I'm hungry for more. Who's your guy? My guy is someone that we saw just absolute brilliance from after two-thirds of the season of irrelevance from. Sure. That is Christian Watson um from week 10 on a 22.3% target share 2.58 yards per route run eight total touchdowns which obviously that is unsustainable

but he what first of all just as an athlete he is better than you. And when I say you, I mean other NFL defensive players. Like, he is the supreme of the supreme athletes. He's one of those, like, you know, when Debo Samuel is out there with the ball in his hands, sorry, defenders, he's a better athlete than you. And this is what Christian Watson is. He is a big... Oh, yeah! Yeah, among rookies, rookie wide receivers with 50 plus targets since 2014 he ranks seventh in yards per route run uh the the list there is you know odell beckham aj brown

justin jefferson jamar chase chris olavi olavi whoa how dare you chris ollave and Tyree Kill. Oh, yeah, Chris Olave, eh? Good, good player. It's an impressive list of bona fide superstar wide receivers. I do believe that his opportunity is going to be very good with, right now, Romeo Dobbs still kind of dealing with his own injury. And even if Dobbs is there and he was the preseason hero, Christian Watson's their best wide receiver. They have a lot of vacated targets, and they need a new identity on offense.

I think Christian Watson has the chance to really, truly break out in a special way. And week one, it's off to a good start. We're actually going to talk about him a little bit more tomorrow. Okay. I believe Al Borland picked up Christian Watson in the draft. Is that accurate? He did. The Packer fan? I think it's a great pick. Coincidence.

I'll jump in. Go ahead, Mike. I'll jump in because I also have a Packer and a player who has been talked about very little over the offseason because the expectations were very high last year and they were not even close to met for A.J. Dillon, backup running back of the Green Bay Packers.

But I just wanted to highlight kind of the end of season, what happened. The split between A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones was actually, it was very, very close. This was not Aaron Jones taking over. From weeks 12 through 18 Dylan at 11 and a half attempts per week Jones at 11.7 basically dead even Dylan at 2.8 targets Jones at 3.8 that's not a surprise that Aaron Jones had more but made almost three targets a week that's interesting and then over that time periodillon, six rushing touchdowns to Aaron Jones having none. A.J. Dillon actually had 229 opportunities this past year, only finished

as running back 25. So that's where things were disappointing. He's entering the contract year. There's the, what is, as Jason said, what is the identity of the team? Sure. It could be all this. Jordan Love is fantastic. The new era begins because Green Bay just hits on quarterbacks. That's what they seem to do. Or maybe they turn to A.J. Dillon a little bit more. There was the Whispers and the Bushes. Yeah, the Jonathan Taylor. They placed their hat in the ring saying,

we'll trade for Johnny Taylor. Not successfully, but if you're trading for Jonathan Taylor, I mean, you're going to run the ball a whole bunch. Maybe they're going to run it a little bit more, and perhaps A.J. Dillon is the guy who carries the ball more than Aaron Jones, who's now getting a little bit older. So I think that he's interesting because he's going so late in the draft, especially compared to last year.

And he still has that situation that if Aaron Jones falls off or if Aaron Jones misses time, A.J. Dillon gets a whole bunch of opportunities on a weekly basis. Can he capitalize? Is he good enough? I don't think we know just yet because we've seen him be very hot and very cold, but I think that he is a name worth monitoring. Thank you.

Oh, man. He was not worthy of that drop much less. No, no. The end of the season was really great, though. Yeah, that's always tough when you've been disappointed and you spend draft capital on a guy and it happens later. For me, the hungry for more candidate this week is Damian Pierce, running back for the houston texans uh i made a controversial selection in our league of record

you did so i i it was surprising i don't know that it was controversial but i was shocked because you took this player over joe mixon who you have uh been a proponent of. Yeah, and my main reason for that is our three-keeper league of record. The main reason was based on my draft picks and the players on my roster, to me, I needed to take a shot on a player ready to level up, not a player on the backside of his running back career

with a bunch of opportunity, which I think Mixon is going to go out and give you a RB 10, 11, 12 season. And that will be fine. But I wanted to take the 23-year-old running back that is entering the prime of his career that maybe has more opportunity for ceiling to give you the surprise Josh Jacobs-esque type of season. I tried to identify that. And Damian Pierce, to me, he's hungry for more.

He had a season last year where the preseason, the hype was there. We all saw it, right? He was him. I mean, this is a – He went from like a double-digit rounder due to his draft capital, which was – he was a day three pick, if I'm not mistaken. Correct. He was round four. And then just over the off was, he was a day three pick, if I'm not mistaken. Correct, he was round four. And then just over the offseason, he went from, I mean, it was just like Antonio Gibson,

where it was, this guy's going in round 13, and then by real draft time, mid-August, he was up into round five, round four. And the truth is, this was not a good football team, but he had a very good season for a rookie considering the situation he was put in. What surprised me was some of his reception numbers, despite losing 52 targets and 37 receptions to Rex Burkhead, who is now gone. He had a 43 reception pace from week four on. He ended the year with 30 receptions because he missed four games at the end of the year. So if he could upgrade that number, if he ends up at 45 to 50 receptions, that would be huge. That would be a level up possibility. He had a seven game in a row run before he got hurt where he was on pace for 1,700 rushing yards.

That's the kind of thing that I'm looking for in that potential level up. And here is a really interesting stat, and it's nearly foolproof. Over the last decade, we have seen 20 different second-year running backs that got 275 touches. Okay? Mm-hmm. second-year running backs that got 275 touches. Okay? Mm-hmm. All 20 finished in the top 18, and 17 of the 18, or sorry, 17 of the 20 were RB1s. So, you know, only four of those were on teams that made the playoffs,

so it didn't matter if you were on a winning team. He had, he was on pace for 338 opportunities last year so you don't have to get 338 275 is the bar for that number and 17 of those 20 guys in year two because that's the year for running backs right it's your prime opportunity for heavy workload athleticism is at its peak and you that stat only four teams made the playoffs. So it's an opportunity here, I think, to get higher upside than maybe people believed. I think he is being, you know, the Texans as an organization and as a roster and as an offense and with the quarterback. I think that that drives him down draft boards. But I think he has the possibility to level up.

So I made that choice in the draft. I mean, I took him over, not just Joe Mixon, but took him over Najee Harris and made that decision. So I think he is a candidate for an upgraded season. And I think there's some other guys. Pacheco, Javante Williams, if he's healthy, is going to be a draft day value. So some interesting names to mention.

And this segment will continue, like I said, with players that have big performances and kind of whether we see them continuing through the season. We'll comment on those throughout the year. That was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Jason. We need some Uber Eats right now. I am a big fan of

with Uber eats get anything delivered not not running backs unfortunately but baby backs oh yeah flapjacks you got it you can order now right now you can order now right now in the app product availability may vary by

region see the app for details all right let's talk right, let's talk. Let's talk some news. Let's talk some more news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Did you hear about this Travis Kelsey guy? Let's just put a ball on the conversation slash cry fest from earlier.

Hyper extended his knee in practice. His status is in doubt. The ACL and ligaments are intact. Matthew Betts, our injury expert, his comments. The bone bruise leads to pain, swelling, and stiffness. Usually multi-week injuries depending on severity. Week two is not a guarantee, but the nice thing is he would have a tremendous amount of time before week two.

You saw this last year with George Kittle. I believe he missed two weeks. Was that last year? No, maybe it was a couple years ago. Missed two weeks. As soon as he came back, dominated. This is not going to be a long-term injury. That's why it is good news.

Yeah, and Kadarius Toney, Chiefs wide receiver, limited, but expected to play on Thursday. So we think we'll see Kadarius Toney out there for the kickoff week. You realize that Travis Kelsey on a per-game basis is going to vacate 52 targets, 700 yards, and two touchdowns. Per game. Per game. So there will be a lot of – it's one of those things like –

You could take a shot there. We're going to be building DFS lineups this week. Would you say that sky's the limit jason i sure wouldn't but you guys would yeah sky mores there's an opportunity there isaiah pacheco's off the injury report he's gonna play uh jerek mckinnon could could take some of those targets we do have a thursday night breakdown coming up well look i know i know i'm telling the people they want to hear it all whenever i want to say it uh but yes we'll talk about the thursday night game i guess then i will save the the line movements until that preview uh commanders wide receiver sarah mcclaren progressing towards recovery day to day they're still hopeful he can play against arizona it's good news the last time

he got on the field and really tested it, it went well. So I think it's trending towards him playing as of this moment. Week one injury reports will come out today and we'll know more. Mark Andrews is supposed to practice today. We'll have, like Jason said, more news. Yeah, we are on Mark Andrews' watch now. Yeah, but you don't want your superstar tight end to miss a game, Mike? I'd prefer not.

Oh, yeah, because that would suck, huh? Pick up Isaiah Likely. If you have Mark Andrews or Travis Kelsey, pick up Isaiah Likely in case he is the starter. Yeah, all right. All right, that was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Thursday Night Breakdown.

The Lions, the Chiefs, it's Thursday night. The DraftKings Sportsbook line has the Chiefs minus 4.5 now. Oh, what? The over-under is 52.5. It used to be 6.5 and almost 55. Almost. Almost. Almost. 55!

I actually think it was 55. It says 54 and a half in here, but I think in some books it was 55. But the line has moved by two points. By a Kelsey. So this should be fun. It's hard not to just pick the Chiefs at home in this game,

which I'm doing. Yeah, me too. Coward. But I do think that there's a possibility that we see, I mean, the fourth highest odds in the NFC. Yes, this blew my mind. To win the conference. Is the Detroit Lions.

Okay. Basically, you've got three great teams in the NFC, right? You've got the Niners, the Eagles, and the Cowboys. Those teams, I think most people look at them and say they are Super Bowl contending teams. And then you go, okay, fourth place in the NFC. It's, oh, man, there is a gap. But it is according to Dragon Sportsbook. The Cardinals are the fifth highest.

The Lions are the fourth highest odds to get out of the NFC to the championship. And that's really, really cool. But for this game specifically, when Andy Reid has time, when he is coming off a bye week or an offseason, things go well. Patrick Mahomes, right now in five- season openers, he's 5-0, 73% completion rate, 18 touchdowns, zero interceptions. Here's their points scored since 2017, courtesy of Matthew Betts' tweet. 42-38-40, 34-33-44.

He's just twisting the knife on that freaking Kelsey being not out there. But it is crazy because no Kelsey and obviously still no Tyree kill. This is going to be a real test to see, okay, can you do it without all of these superstar weapons? Is Mahomes that good? The answer is yes. So where does it go, though? Like if Travis Kelsey is not out there and you're saying –

I think McKinnon – like I said, I think McKinnon's going to have a week one that makes people say, oh, that wasn't a last-round pick. I think Isaiah Pacheco will have his opportunities. Kedarious, Tony, Sky Moore. Justin Watson will probably have a huge game. No one will play him. That's probably where it will him because people will play Justin Ross in the hopes and the dreams

Richie James has his fan club they'll play MBS or Rashi Rice but it'll be Justin Watson Noah Gray would get the start if Travis Kelsey wasn't out there but I'm not afraid of Patrick Mahomes without Kelsey I think he'll figure it out

and then the Lions this is a where look Chris Jones is not going to start on the defensive line for the Chiefs he has not reported he's still holding no yeah he's holding out and and the team is kind of the team made transactions to to kind of bolster their defensive line and they're just they're in a stalemate right now. There's not been discussions or updates. He said he's willing to sit out through week eight. So that's according to him. He was his own source there. So when you look at the offensive weapons, you're going to get to see Jameer Gibbs for the first time.

It's exciting. Kansas City's allowed the fourth most running back receptions last year. He's going to have a ton of them. So exciting. Kyle just threw this stat in. Over the past five seasons, this is via ESPN, with Chris Jones on the field first in NFL quarterback pressure percentage. Without Chris Jones on the field, 28th in NFL quarterback pressure percentage.

This is a really good offensive line that the Lions have without Chris Jones. They should be able to stand in the pocket, have Jared Goff be the statue he wants to be, and deliver the ball a lot to Amon Ross St. Brown. A lot. Yeah, and I'm going to tell you right now, if you want the Justin Watson for the Lions in this game, it's going to be Josh Reynolds.

Josh Reynolds, they could have cut this guy and saved a bunch of money. They didn't do it. They lose Jameson Williams for the year. They signed Marvin Jones. And then this is what we're doing now, right? Yeah, but how fun was that? I mean, he's two years older, I think, than Thielen.

No, they're the same age. Oh, they're the same age. Yeah, okay, if you turn 33, that was super fun. Wait, wait, wait. Marvin Jones and Thielen are the same age? Why is that reaction there? It's because Thielen's older or Marvin's younger, you thought? No, it's Marvin's younger than I thought.

Yeah, I thought Marvin Jones was a good two years older than Adam Thielen, but you forget how old Adam Thielen is now. That's why I always do it because it's really fun. But yeah, anyway, Josh Reynolds will be involved. You'll get to see Sam Laporta and Jameer Gibbs, two rookies in this game. David Montgomery,

he didn't take a snap in the preseason. Am I right? I don't think he was on the field. Kyle, are you there? I don't recall. I don't think he took a snap in the pre, are you there? I don't recall. I'll look it up. I don't think he took a snap in the preseason. So there's a lot of people. There's a handful of these running backs that didn't get a chance to get on the field, and I think it's reflected in drafts.

Like David Montgomery seemed like kind of the resistant – that's not the right word. Eventually he had to go. People were just, well, I guess I have to take him now. It wasn't excitement. But he's going to have a huge role in this offense. Yeah, it's dumb to be like, oh, well, I guess I have to take David Montgomery. David Montgomery is going to get a lot of goal line opportunities with this offense when they get inside the five with that offensive line.

I think they'll help assist him into the end zone. He will be more touchdown dependent, but some of the beat writers are talking about how these guys are being used somewhat similarly. I think David Montgomery might surprise with his involvement in the passing game when they talk about what David Montgomery can do that Jamal Williams couldn't. That's the first thing that they talk about is just an upgrade in the passing game. And, you know, with right now with the wide receiver core and the the suspension to

jameson williams i i do think that these running backs will be very involved in in this specific game tomorrow night the lions have lost both season openers but they lost with 33 and 35 points the last two years and it's going to happen again yeah i think we're going to see a really good first game it would have been better with kelsey but we're going to see a really good first game. It would have been better with Kelsey. But we're going to see a really good game. I mean, this is a 52.5 point over-under. That's still a great number despite the change in the line. And I'm excited about it. I think our listeners, they're submitting start-sick questions on the website.

Were you going to add something there, Jay? I've got more to talk about. But, no, I mean, what questions are those? Well, I'm just going to throw something there, Jay? I've got more to talk about, but no. I mean, what questions are those? Well, I'm just going to throw a couple of the questions, the most popular ones about this game. David Montgomery playing him on Thursday night against the Chiefs without Chris Jones.

Or Khalil Herbert against Green Bay's defense this week. Ooh. I think that's a pretty close one. That is. That is very, very very close I lean David Montgomery in general but then when you factor in that this is opening kickoff if it's close if I've got a guy where I'm like man I really genuinely don't know who to start I can make good arguments for either I'm not not playing the guy playing on opening day I want I want my

players in there I'm I'm gonna be watching this. I want my players in there. I'm going to be watching this game. I want that excitement. So even without that, I would personally start David Montgomery over with the line in this and my expectation that it hits the over. Touchdowns are where David Montgomery is going to make his fancy points. I expect him to get one today, tomorrow. Okay.

All right. What were you going to add on the game? You had some more comments. So I have a little bit of worry about Isaiah Pacheco. And the reason for this matchup is simply because, and obviously teams change so much from year to year, the total defenses, total team defenses are not sticky. But we have to remember how good the Lions actually were

last year against the run. When you were talking about on the ground against running backs, they were really, really good. Number two in terms of fantasy points given up. So bad in the secondary, and now you have Patrick Mahomes with good pass-catching running backs in both Jarek McKinnon and the name we don't mention often, McLeod Edwards-Alaire, will be on the field, will be involved, and I think he's going to catch passes.

I think you're going to just see Patrick Mahomes spread the ball out and throw it a million times and up the gut on the ground to Pacheco might not be as successful. Yeah, it's definitely possible. They're going to have to distribute to a bunch of other targets. And if you want to say one thing that could, you know,

you said Andy Reed, he's, he's a great, you know, give him a lot of time to prepare. He comes out and he delivers. He does have less time now because this Kelsey thing happened two days before and he's come out and said – like you don't run that offensive plan

with Noah Gray. The offense changes. Yeah. You can't do the Kelsey thing. So he is having to reconfigure the offense. So I think we'll see a good game. I completely agree. This is not going to be a blowout at all.

I think the Lions are going to be in this game. And what a statement it would be if they won it. Yeah, in Kansas City to go to Arrowhead Stadium and win, that would be awesome. Chris Jones, if this team loses week one, he's just going to show up in a limo. He'll be like, okay, here we go. He's going to say, here's my terms.

He's going to call the vault guy and have him put another one in. He's like, build me another. Full Scrooge McDuck. Yeah, especially if those running backs are the reason why. All right, quick break. I'm back with some mailbag, including Super Bowl picks. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference.

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All right. We are going to jump into the mailbag here. Mike's going to give us a sexy drop and then pick our. Yes, I will. Pick a Super Bowl pick and answer your questions. Mailbag. Mailbag. It's a little sexy.

TheFantasyFootballers.com. If you have your own question you want to submit to the show, we'd be happy to answer them, help you out. Click the submit a question button or dial the voicemail hotline 302-464-TFFB. Before we jump into the voicemails here, it has been requested. Big bold print right here in the mailbag. These go well.

Was this a question from you, Brooks? Yes. Was this a Judge Giamatti question? It was a Brooks question. Yes, sir. This is the first year I can remember that our Super Bowl picks, we don't have one single overlapping, not just the winner, but we don't have the same team in the game as one another.

Well, Andy's already revealed his winner, so he can't change now. I made a bold prediction, and I am going to just finish the other side of it. I have the New York Jets winning the Super Bowl over the Dallas Cowboys coming out of the NFC. I do not hate the Cowboys pick. Their defense is sensational, and I continue to think that Dak Prescott and those guys are underrated. And now that they can score fewer points to win more games,

it's going to go really well for the Cowboys. That sounded better without the L.A. crowd to boo me. that came off the way I didn't feel them you know Al can I can hear him from here can I make a request we have an applause button on our little soundboard here I would love a crowd booing button we could just sample the LA crowd that's what I was gonna say if you want to just grab it from there we've've got a great free license. Bring back some PTSD. I have another NFC East team also losing in the Super Bowl and also doing it again because they did it last year. I've got the Eagles making it back.

Congratulations, Philly. Congrats. Unfortunately, I have you just a little bit below my AFC champion, Super Bowl champion, Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow getting it done. That would be a – like Joe Burrow getting back would break a long string of first-time Super Bowl appearances by quarterbacks. As would Jalen Hurts. This would be the anomaly of both of those guys getting back.

Bengals over Eagles. By the way, I almost went Jets over Packers as the dark horse out of the NFC. The world could not handle that. It'd be the highest rated Super Bowl ever. Roger Goodell. In either direction. If Rogers beats the Packers. Amazing.

Amazing. If Jordan Love beats Aaron Rogers. Amazinger. Yeah. All right, Mike, who's your pick? Love it. I have the Buffalo Bills finally getting it done. Yes.

Okay. Mr. Joshua Allen. And I feel like I have no choice but to put the 49ers in. But much like Andy, I have my dark horse. And my dark horse is the Seattle Seahawks, who I think are a better defense than people realize. Yeah, no, that's a good pick. We need a certain safety to be healthy again,

but their offense is going to be potent, potent potables. Well, I feel like if I've got a dark horse that the Packers are making it and you have a dark horse that Seattle is making it, Jason needs a dark horse. And you were looking at these this morning. There had to be some other teams you were considering. Any of them a dark horse? It is a really gross, very nasty dark horse.

Oh, Cardinals. That's that gross. Come on, man. That horse is dead. It was the New Orleans Saints. Okay. I think they've got a winnable division if Carr could get it done and to be clear dark

horses can only come out of the NFC because yeah yeah yeah the AFC is just riddled with elite quarterbacks the AFC it's really unbelievable that you've got like Jalen Hurts

in the NFC and I mean who's the second best quarterback in the NFC instead is it Dak. I mean is it is it cousin best quarterback in the NFC? Is it Dak? I mean, is it Cousins? I need an actual team list. Is it Brock Purdy? Is it Geno Smith?

It's unfortunate. I mean, it's probably. It's Kyler. It's probably Kyler. But he's not playing, and he's on the worst team. And then you go to the NFC, and it's like. Burrow. Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes,

Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson. They're all there. Deshaun Watson. I mean, this is why with the Jets pick, I have a hard time. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers. I have a hard time. Like Aaron Rodgers couldn't get the Packers to the playoffs in the NFC. I know the defense is much better for the Jets.

It's a good point, though. It's a good point, though. It's a good point. Well, he says he's not going to be so snappy. That's probably for the best. No one liked you last year. He came out of the darkness, and he realized there was some darkness in him. Deep.

Justin Fields? Yeah. No, he would not be in the running. No, Al. Your league of he would not be in the running. Not yet. No. No, Al. Your league of record quarterback is not in the running for best quarterback in the NFC. He could be the best fantasy quarterback. Yeah.

And our opinions, look, last year Jalen Hurts wasn't the best quarterback in the NFC before the season started. He sure as heck was when it ended. Yeah. So Justin Fields could do that. All right. All right. Into the mailbag we go got a voicemail

question here hey ballers drazen cacos here love the show quick question i've heard you guys mentioned this before when it comes to having a player playing on thursday night if that player is a wide receiver running back for instance should they be started in the rb1-rb2 category vice versa wide receiver or should they be started in the flex position thanks guys love the show yeah you got to put them in the positional spots what's really funny about this is i i made that adjustment this morning on my league of record team i put isaiah pacheco in the rb spot because look we just saw what happened with travis kelsey if an injury happens you need flexibility to move positions in your flex spot. There's no reason to lock a player in there,

but it did feel like an emotional, like I'm the coach. And I told Isaiah Pacheco, you're in my starting running back spot. And I moved James cook down into my flex and I, and I drafted them in different orders. So I felt like I was disrespecting the man. No, you've got to humble people sometimes.

James Cook needed it? You've got to let James Cook know. You've got to earn that starting job. I mean, the Houston Texans are all about this move. But, yeah, it's a good question. It's a great reminder. Yeah, this is the time of year where you've got to remember because everyone just, for the most part, what's going to happen here?

We're going to cover the week one matchups the next two days here on the show. But week one is usually pretty simple. You're going to start the guys you drafted. That's pretty much how it goes. And so your starting lineup. Unless you have Travis Kelsey. The start or Cooper Cup.

The starting lineup is usually like in the order of how you drafted, and you need to change that you need to make sure that you don't have guys playing early in that flex it's a it's an important reminder can I can I do a quick Travis Kelsey fantasy follow-up question for you guys I'll allow because there are I mean we're about to enter a megaloball draft there are other drafts taking place today there'll be drafts taking place tomorrow. Sure. Where does Kelsey go? Because this injury doesn't project to be a long-term injury, but I don't think he goes 6, 7, 8 overall anymore.

I'll still take him in a second. Yeah, I would take him in a second. That's what I would say too. Well, let me throw out some names. We could get news, but. Let me throw out some names. Okay, so let's assume he's not going around six or seven so would you take um stefan diggs aj brown type or would you take travis kelsey i'd

take those two wide receivers i would as well personally okay it's part of it is because kelsey is older it concerns me it puts a little bit of of the needling in my brain of like, is he going to break down? Is this injury going to hobble him and he has another injury or something? Okay, middle, second round running backs. Would you take Travis Kelsey or would you take Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard? I'll take the running backs. I would as well.

Man. I think he's a late second round pick now. Yeah, he might be at the back of the second. And then if you want to look at the later second round wide receivers, Garrett Wilson, Jalen Waddell. I'll take Kelsey. Chris Salavi? Chris Salavi.

I'll take Kelsey there. Yeah. Because those guys are not bona fide guarantees, I don't think. No, but I'd still go Garrett Wilson. Are you taking the wide receivers? I'd definitely go Garrett Wilson. I find myself taking Garrett Wilson over the guys way ahead of him.

I've been taking him over Amon Robb and taking him over Devontae Adams. I'm just trying to shoot for that breakout. All right. Another voicemail. Hey, Ballers. Who do you like week one? Rashad White or Christian Watson in the flex? Half point PPR. All right. Rashad White or Christian Watson in the flex, half-point PPR? All right, Rashad White plays Minnesota on the road.

Christian Watson plays Chicago on the road. Both are good matchups. For me, it's an easy Christian Watson. I'm a believer in the talent, and I have not been a believer in Rashad White, but I think a lot of people might say the opposite. I'd go Rashad White in week one. Let me watch Jordan Love from the sidelines. I mean, it really

feels like a roster construction. Chicago's favorite in the... I think they're favorite in that game by two and a half points. Yeah. Chicago? Yeah. Wow. That's correct. Yeah, that's correct. Confirmed by the Borgogans. It's Jordan Love. Vegas doesn't know.

We just have to reset the brain, though, because you think of Green Bay playing Chicago. Yeah, for sure. Well, you think of Chicago alone, whoever they're playing, Chicago of last year that was. Yeah, Rodgers has a lot of equity in Chicago infrastructure. He owns most of that city. I think that.

Sorry, Chicago. Have we heard. Turn the podcast back on. Have we heard an update on Dobbs at all lately? I'll look into it. Because that would certainly factor in. Would it? It would.

If Dobbs is out, then it makes it much easier to play Watson. That's fair. I'm going to go White right now. Mike, what's your vote? Watson. It seemed like you were trying to avoid answering. Watson. I was just trying to break out the process.

I lean Watson, but rashad's rashad white's volume should be very secure all right this instagram question comes from martin thoughts on before season trades in redraft uh are you is there anyone you're targeting in a before season trade i mean not usually but usually, but I don't mind it if you got a player that you know that another team actually really desired and you want to package someone who's like a four

and a little bit later of a pick to move up to maybe that third rounder that you wanted, but generally, I'm not doing this right now because I've talked myself into my team. I am angry about this next question. Oh, get mad. And you will be too.

Instagram question from Rajia. Trade cup for Olave? This trade was vetoed by the commissioner. Note, we drafted after the cup news had already broken. What are you doing? This commissioner. Note, we drafted after the cup news had already broken. What are you doing? This commissioner. What a joke of a commissioner. I mean, I.

They probably sent us the HOA fine about your big celebration flag. This guy is president of an HOA. I mean, get out of there. For sure. Your light bulb is broken and I'm vetoing this trade. When you said trade cup for alave, I didn't like the question because I was like, dang it. Which one would you take?

Yeah, which one would you take? I mean, if this was a startup draft right now, I would probably be drafting Olave over Cup. I think Cup misses a month. There's so much risk that early in the season. And when he comes back, does he re-aggravate it? But there is absolutely the world where even if he misses a month, the right pick is Cup because the gap on a per-game basis

between him and Olave is phenomenal. In other words, it's a super fair trade. It's a super fair trade. Vetoed. I don't like this trade. Goodness gracious. Yeah, the trade is i mean you just heard both sides your commissioner i would like to trade him for a bag of beans being a commish is it is a thankless and difficult job there's a lot more to going into commissioning than you think but

this is ridiculous take vetoing fair trades off your plate and maybe it won't be such a burden. Right. It's so hard. I have to veto so many trades. That is one of the worst I've seen. Way to put a big wet fart in the start of the season too. Love it. Your league's trying to be active, which you love. And then it's a commission space. So the commish ever vetoing their own trades? No. I doubt it.

No. No. Yeah, he completes a trade. He's been working on it for hours. Oh, that'd be the best. Completes it, puts it in the system, and goes, hmm. Puts the commish cap on. He's like, this is not fair.

No. It's too good for me. Vetoed. Oh, please don't do this. If you're a commissioner out there get help you know find find someone just stop it get some help quit the hoa too uh instagram question from nicholas how do you guys watch football on sundays is it together as a group is it red zone only generally everything yeah it's it's all the the master command center has nine televisions so we have uh the eight on the sides they have the actual games on we put the red zone up in the middle just to make sure we don't miss anything

and yeah generally we watch it as a group and we still do miss things because the nfl has dumb dumb scheduling where sometimes they put gosh nine games in the early slate where we we've got eight TVs to watch independent full games and red zone in the middle and sometimes there's nine games and then and then what happens when you got nine early slate games you get three in the afternoon it's like wait you can't you can't divide that up just a little bit more even. Yeah. But obviously the game we're skipping is the one that is –

there's always an irrelevant game. All right. Before we close things down today, a reminder, tomorrow is starts of the week. Yep. I hope everybody's got them in. And then matchup previews begin tomorrow. They go through Friday.

We have fantasy faceoff on Friday. We'll be reacting to the Thursday night game. We'll be talking about Kelsey's miraculous recovery and how he dominated Thursday night, right? Yeah. Right? Yeah. We will be talking about how good Mahomes looked.

I love that injuries and delusion have now entered already before the season. Update on Dobbs. There is no update. Basically, he had – Okay, he will wait for the report. Yeah, he's I'm sure the report's going to come out and say what we would expect, which is he's kind of questionable for this week. We don't know. It's a hamstring injury. He sat out their last preseason game with a hamstring. It's just one of those things you can't rely on. And I would not start Dobbs in week one if he is active just for fear of the re-aggravation. And we don't know if he'll be active.

There's a new Dynasty podcast episode available right now, the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty pod. Please follow wherever you are listening to this podcast. It was a great show. We each gave kind of something that we've learned and I kind of unleash on the running back position and Dynasty bold predictions. Fun.

Delicious. I like it. It's a good time. You can follow us over on Twitter slash X at the FFBullers. Follow Mike at FFHitman. Follow Jason at JasonFFL or myself at Andy Holloway. And we'll be back with another episode of the show tomorrow. If you're looking for other ways you can help support this independent podcast,

leave us a five-star review over on Apple. Follow us on Spotify or Apple. Talk to you later. 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.