Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Players to Forgive + Eat Your Fantasy Veggies! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 5/6

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Fantasy Football show for May 6, 2025. Who should be forgiven after a down year? Andy, Mike, and Jason pick players they are giving another chance in 2025 fantasy football drafts! Plus, keeper league talk, player outlooks, and more! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.Get the lowest price on the 2025 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Instant access to the Dynasty Pass with the UDK+(00:00) Introduction(4:02) Players to Forgive(5:11) Christian McCaffrey(9:45) Marvin Harrison Jr.(15:06) George Pickens(20:00) NFL News(23:05) Mailbag(23:25) What to give up for keeper players(27:50) Jonathan Taylor outlook(32:55) Can the Chargers win the AFC?(39:20) This year’s fantasy vegetables(40:45) Marvin Mims outlook(42:45) Most disappointing NFL team draft(48:25) Patrick Mahomes or Trevor Lawrence in 2025?(49:20) Drafting Rashee Rice as a WR2Connect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in! Tuesday, May 6th, the Fantasy Footballers, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, back with you. What a day. What a day to talk fantasy football. The front part of May. Yeah, I mean this is the grind season for us. I don't know how your guys' process is going, but I've been in them sheets. You have? Been in them sheets, statin' out,

researchin', readin', and writin', and typin', and all sorts of... You are a freak in the sheets. Yeah, that's what they say. The Google sheets. Yes. I hope. We mean. Well, at least. At least.

No, no, welcome to the show. We are in the midst of... Obviously, he's also good at Excel. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And with countless other spreadsheets.

There's got to be more, right? Probably numbers. He's good at numbers. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Numbers. No. Has anyone ever fired up numbers?

I accidentally. I've had to open stuff in numbers on accident. Yeah, you open it on accident. So that you can copy and paste out into Google Sheets. Has anyone ever opened up numbers like oh I'm about to just absolutely crush this data with numbers. Nah nah nah I think half of it is the name of the app. You know what I mean? Right. It's just numbers. Yeah, I also use letters, but I feel like I can't. Not in that app. Stupid. So yeah, it's the beginning of May. We're in the process of projecting 500 plus

offensive players for the UDK. Each of us goes through and gets all of our player projections together for the launch of the UDK on June 1st, and so we're in the midst of that, because we also need to record 100 plus player profile videos this month, which means we need to know exactly what we think about every single one of these players. And with the draft now over, we have a lay of the land,

and most often, Mike and I complete this task, and Jason is behind. Oh yeah, weeks, weeks behind. And not this year, this year Jason is out ahead. He is, which just, it just adds to the lore of Jason becoming a new human being after the age of 40. That is true. Yeah, I still am not confident I will finish first.

Probably not. I've got a lead, but I, my process is slow. The tortoise hair thing here. Yeah, it still am not confident I will finish first. I've got a lead, but my process is slow. The tortoise hair thing here. Yeah, it's a tortoise hair. So before your 40s, you were a larger man who hated sweet potatoes and reading, sitting in the morning. Yeah. And also doing his work on time. No, that one I take on. No, I'm just kidding. But you were very thorough and therefore took longer due to your fastidiousness. Yes. I go deep. But now you're out ahead of it. So I took a cabin trip where all I did for 24 hours straight was bleed my eyes.

That's a phrase on Google She sheets. Okay. Okay. So we're on our way. UltimateDraftGit.com if you want to check that out. It'll be here before you know it. Our quick question of the day before we jump into some of your questions on today's episode, if you're still listening to us, is this. Who is a player you are willing to forgive in 2025? Did you lose your spot? I, a little bit, yeah. And I just felt like I needed a filler word

in between there. Who is a player you're willing to forgive as we head into the new season? So forgiveness, it doesn't come easy in fantasy football. No. We have the burns. When a player has cost you, when you've invested your offseason building your perfect roster and a player doesn't deliver on their promise or maybe it's injuries that have happened more and more, whatever the case may be.

Forgiveness can be hard. Well, and oftentimes you shouldn't forgive because it's the second burn that you're like, you know, I should have known better. so yours is Breeze Hall then no that is the clear layup answer that is not true I have not forgiven you ever I would love to forgive him but that comes earned that comes he will earn my forgiveness it will not be given yes with grace he has to perform yeah I perform. He has to go out there and dominate and I will lovingly forgive him but until that happens, no. Things that make sense in fantasy football but if applied to other areas of life would

be quite destructive. Yes, correct. The player who has proven nothing, in fact you could argue has proven that I shouldn't forgive him, to me is Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey was an injury. We've seen injured seasons from him in the past. He's 29 years old, which is older for a running back, but that is not an age cliff for the elites. The elites don't just stop performing at 29 years old. He is healthy right now. And so... By all reports, yeah. By all reports, he's healthy right now, not dealing with any issues. He was pretty much

healthy at the end of last season. And if he's on the field, you know he's going to dominate in fantasy. This is just a question of injury. So I have to ask myself, do I believe that he has either aged out or is guaranteed to be injured? And I don't. I don't think that's a guarantee at all. He takes incredible care of his body, and he's going to be used in the Chanahan system the way he always is, which is as a complete bell cow.

So I'm going to draft him unafraid, and I'll take it on the chin if I'm wrong, but I forgive his injuries. Three of the last five years lost to injury for Christian McCaffrey. That's the- How are the other two? Very good. Very good. It's also encouraging to hear you say such positive things about a 29 year old running back because that must mean that you love 28 year old running back, Joe Mixon.

Well, he did say the elites. He didn't just say olds. Look it's um we all know what Christian McCaffrey can do on a in a healthy season. I think some things that are in question this year are you know will the team at 29 use them in the exact same fashion? Will they be that good of an offense? These are things that we don't know exactly. No Debo, no Iuke for a while. They just locked up Kittle who they apparently were rumored to have been offered a second round pick for. Yeah, heard that. So look, most of the time I think you can trust that San Francisco gets it figured out. They're, you know, we joke about Tomlin always being above 500. The 49ers are always a good bet to, you know to perform no matter what the odds are. Yeah, they lost a lot of players in free agency and their win total is still 10.5,

which is pretty important for running backs. Over the last four years, top five fantasy running backs are on teams that average 10 wins. I don't think you have to forgive Christian McCaffrey though. You can, but I'm saying I don't think every fantasy player needs to do that. No, I don't either. fantasy player needs to do that. No, I don't either. Do you think they need to? No. If you felt the burns and you think, look, this is an old running back who's been dealing

with injuries, I'm not going to buy in again, you're going to feel so good if he gets injured, not in a happy for his injury way, but just like a, whew, dodge the landmine sort of way. But I mean, this isn't a player where people are going to be lukewarm on. We're going to know at the end of the season whether he was an awesome pick or a terrible pick. I don't see a world where he comes out and is just like, ah, we drafted him as the running back 10

and he turns out he was the running back 10. Like that's not gonna happen. Is that where he's going right now? Around there. Usually I can look that up. He's gotta be going above running back 10. Maybe eight, I'll check it out. Let me know because that's actually the point

I was gonna make about McCaffrey was can he meet expectations? He's the running back eight right now according to Sleeper. Yeah, and RB5 on underdog because you're seeing, you're factoring in the upside of Christian McCaffrey. The last time we saw Christian McCaffrey

was in that game against Buffalo, where it finally looked like, oh, Christian McCaffrey is healthy. So his final stat line in that game was 25% of the snaps, he was 7-for-53. The injury happened, for those who didn't have Christian McCamery on the team the injury happened while he got a like a shoestring swipe of his foot as he was breaking free for a gigantic touchdown run and just happened to come down on the knee so

He had I'm with Jason that it is it is going to feel like a really, it's gonna feel like a big weight on you as you're looking at selecting him, but I think that you should. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that his risk rating in the ultimate draft will be very high. It is a risky, risky pick, but no risk it, no biscuit. I will forgive Marvin Harrison Jr.

for what was an underwhelming rookie season at wide receiver. Underwhelming compared to expectations, being drafted in the NFL draft as high as he was, being drafted in fantasy drafts as high as he was. Whether that was rational of fantasy players or not, it is what happened. And therefore he is in a position where a lot of people

I don't think wanna mess with that. We also need to be honest. Like I have Kyler Murray in a dynasty league. I'm happier to have Baker Mayfield in a dynasty league. There wasn't a world two years ago that I could have comprehended saying that sentence. Right. But I feel more-

You'd be, you would have been locked in a room. Yeah, I feel more confident and my expectations, of my expectations being met in Baker Mayfield than Kyler. Laser Mayfield. That was a little late. But Kyler... They said Baker somewhere in there just hit the button You know, maybe maybe I'm wrong in this but it's just Kyler's You know the fact he can have a great game. He can disappear. It does reflect on our opinions of Marvin Harrison To put it all in perspective and Jason you've said this before but I'm willing to forgive. It's a rookie season. He's one of only six rookie wide outs in the last decade to put up 880 and eight. So his company in that group, AJ Brown, Michael Thomas, Jamar chase, Jordan Addison and Brian Thomas.

So in the history of, of rookie wide receivers, he still put up good numbers. It wasn't Malik neighbors and it wasn't what we expected for fantasy. This was a situation where we did to the math was too simple And it and it betrayed fantasy players and what I mean by that is We took away the weapons for Kyler in the offseason We added the first-round draft pick and we just piled on all the expectations and targets and expected everything to go piled on all the expectations and targets and expected everything to go to Marvin Harrison with no problems And instead he would the truth is in that offense. He was a decoy half the time He really truly took the top off the defense

They didn't throw him underneath stuff it opened up the middle of the field for Trey McBride to have a breakout campaign But it was very evident the whole season long He was not fundamental for Marvin Harrison to have a good game for the Cardinals to succeed. Yeah, and his target market share should go up. He was only at 21% this rookie season. If you look at other rookies that are like that, A.J. Brown was 19.5%, C.D. Lamb was 19%. This is a normal rookie season. We're just disappointed based on expectations. He was not a bad wide receiver. He didn't come out and bust. He was disappointing, but sometimes the process of,

I mean, I would say most oftentimes, the process of wide receivers is to take a big leap forward in their second year. Now, what's changed is in recent history, we have a handful of rookies that come on and dominate in year one and so we're like, ah, he sucks, he's a bum, but he should get better. It was an expectation issue for sure. I mean, if you had been able to draft him last year and he had been a flex player that you can bounce in and out of your lineup, people drafted him to lock him

in as maybe their wide receiver one. No, he as wide receiver eight. He was being drafted as a one. He was going to be your one on your team and he was not that. So what did he finish at? Wide receiver 28 and half PPR, which is, that's not that bad. It's not. I mean, obviously crushing defeat for where you drafted him. It was super inconsistent too. He was very, this was interesting, he was very, very similar to actually DK Metcalfe's rookie season.

Very similar production. Metcalfe was 58 for 907, and Harrison was 62 for 885 and eight. Now the eight was, the eight's a great number. It is. I mean, Malik Nabors couldn't hit that. Eight, if that's predictive of what his future is as being this double digit threat, a wide receiver,

which I think it is, especially in this offense, then that's gonna lead to very good things. Because the volume should become more consistent and the underneath routes and the more force targets, we need to see more of that for Arizona. The confidence that the team showed that they have in Marvin Harrison Jr. by literally not drafting offense.

It was like they took a look at their defense said, Hey, our offense is young. We've got a good core. We're going to get better. We don't need to draft offense. They, they It's funny because I feel like that was a mandate on Kyler. You're saying like, I feel like that was a way of saying like, Kyler, here you go. You got another year with this group and we'll rebuild the offense if we have to after that. And that part scares me about Marvin,

but I think we all should forgive a rookie wide receiver that disappointed a little bit. He'll be drafted more appropriately this year with upside. Yeah, I think that's fine. I'm gonna talk about George Pickens. This one's interesting. Pittsburgh Steeler, and this is because the, like these. What do they say, forgive and forget?

I was moving towards forget with George Pickens. I already forgot. That's where he is. Okay, Christian McCaffrey, we said he's an underdog, whatever, whatever, he's a top 10 running back. I don't remember where he was. Marv is going as a top. You're talking about a draft pick?

Yeah, yeah, ADP-wise. Yeah, it's RB8. Yeah, so eight, Marv right now on sleep top 20. You're talking about a draft pick? Yeah, yeah, ADP-wise. Yeah, it's RB8. Yeah, so eight, Marv right now on sleepers, wide receiver 19, George Pickens in best ball, right now, is going as the wide receiver 43. And so this, me saying I'm gonna forgive George Pickens is not, I'm looking at, you know, hey, the ceiling is still there.

It feels like things are much different now the scenario is not great with who is the quarterback is a Mason Rudolph is it Aaron Rodgers we still don't know and DK Metcalf is there with a brand new bag of money but the point being like we've seen stretches of George Pickens come out here especially if you're talking about a best ball league a guy who can you know on on a given week just randomly explode and have a huge stout, a huge stat output. He's 24. He's in the final year of his deal. Last year we had weeks 4 through 11 where he was almost 12 fantasy points a game. Wide receiver 15 in that span. So to see, like I feel like this is a is an over correction. Sending him down to wide receiver 43 is like, you're saying it's close to impossible that he's gonna do anything great for you and there

are wide receivers being drafted right ahead of him where you are, I mean you're hopeful and you're projecting an upward trajectory for some guys, but to leave Pickens there, I think, is a bit of a mistake. Have you statted Pittsburgh out, Jason? I have not yet. Mike, have you statted the back? No, I got seven teams right now. I do not expect my ranking to be much higher

than 43 for George Pickens. I don't mind taking a shot on a 24 year old talented wide receiver. I think that's the biggest point. And that's fine but. 59 for 903 last year pre-DK. He will definitely be the wide receiver two for this team. What they have done in trading for DK

and giving him that monstrous contract, they view DK as the one they needed. Now George Pickens, you know, if he were replacing T. Higgins over in Cincinnati, he would dominate. He could be a great wide receiver too for a team. The issue is the quarterback play. I feel like I would agree that this is too low if it's Rodgers, but I think it will rise if it's Rodgers.

Let me ask you, because I'm just looking at the ADP. Are people operating under the assumption that it's not Rogers? Well, only because he's not officially said it. But I think most people think it's going to be Rogers. Yeah, I mean, that's how I'm not going to, I can't stat it to be Rogers right now, because he's not there.

I mean, he was rumored to be traded, too. Well, there was an update on that, if you missed that one, Andy. Just a little, you know, rumors from the bushes and things of there was some. Yeah, he said he's happy to be there. Yeah. I saw that. Essentially, like, he's the one saying, no, I pulled back on any of those things. I want to be in Pittsburgh.

So I mean, he's at least publicly, it looks like he wants to be in Pittsburgh. So I mean he's at least publicly it looks like he's he wants to be there. Let me ask you the wide receivers going right in front and behind okay and and see who you would rather have George Pickens or Jameson Williams. I go Jameson Williams there. George Pickens or Jordan Addison? Oh. That. I'll probably take Addison. That's really close. It's close. So those- I thought you were gonna say Darnell Mooney. That's very-

Those are the players that are right ahead of Pickens, right behind Pickens, Jerry Judy? Would you rather have Jerry Judy or Pickens? Judy. I think Pickens. So I feel like he's going to, when draft season comes around, I think he'll be right around here.

And if Aaron Rodgers is there, it might be too low. Is he going into year four? Yeah, yeah, he's in contract year, and a super small sample, because we have four games of George Pickens with Mason Rudolph, and I mean, like, look at the Titans last year, when Mason Rudolph came in, that's when you were pumped to play Calvin Ridley.

Mm-hm. I don't think Mason Rudolph's a good quarterback for a real-life NFL team, but he at least gives us some of that, I don't care, I'm gonna just chuck the ball up stuff that we want from quarterbacks. In those four games that Pickens has played with Rudolph, and I don't have the surrounding cast in those games, but in those four Pickens was over 90 yards a game Oh, he was great in those games. So he didn't have DK Metcalf yet And so that's that's the issue is if it's Mason Rudolph and George Pickens isn't the one is like, ah, I don't want

Sloppy seconds for Mason Rudolph. Yeah, but you could you could have a really strong consolidation of targets if we get targets. It seems like a good time to take a break. We'll come back with the news. All right, let's get into the news. News and notes from around the league. Well Matthew Stafford finalized the new deal with the Rams. He'll earn $44 million in 2025. And if he is on the roster at the start of free agency the following year, he locks up another $40 million.

So they are clearly happy with Stafford you know McVeigh came out and said that he thinks he can play forever but he's hopeful he's got a couple more years. He's 37 he's the oldest starting quarterback in football. The Browns restructured Jerome Ford's contract he will make less money he will secure a roster spot and Nick Chubb's days as a Cleveland Browner officially over. It seemed like the chance of Ford leaving was Chubb's chance to maybe be on the roster. It definitely was and the salary potential gets cut in half but it did move to a fully guaranteed 1.75. I'm expecting it to be Judkins and Ford as the runners. And then this,

the writing was on the wall in the draft for this news, but the Houston Chronicle reporting that Tankdale will more than likely miss the entire 2025 season and be placed on the physically unable to perform list. They grabbed Christian Kirk in the off season. They drafted a couple of rookie wide receivers and Tankdale's future as an NFL player is really in question. It is. And it's sad because he's very talented, close friends with CJ Stroud. Did you see his leg tattoo? Tankdale? Have either of you guys seen? No. Oh my goodness.

What, like a new one or it's already... His leg is a piece of art. It's kind of like Dak Prescott where you've just got this insane tattoo. What is it? What makes it... You gotta look at it. It's nothing to do with the injury? No. Oh, okay. It's a horror movie. It's sleeve.

Incredible. Like this look, that's Michael Myers. I just saw it yesterday. This is just a unique ghost face. And I don't know how many times we're gonna be able to talk about Tanked Out. Well, how'd they have the surgically repaired knee look in the tattoo?

That's the, they look okay? They worked the stitches into the tattoo. Zay Flowers did not have knee surgery. He's feeling great in his off-season work. There was some concern that he may need to have surgery after missing two games last year. Yeah, well he missed the playoffs because he got hurt right at the very end of the season.

And the Chargers applied the unrestricted free agent tag to J.K. Dobbins, which I believe was the same tag placed on Elijah Moore this which just guarantees them compensation if you sign someplace yeah before training camp yeah I think that's all it is is they're trying to build up their compensatory picks but that's it I think that's all we have by way of news unless you guys have anything else it's all I got Aaron Rodgers make a decision yet no no no not till minutes before camp. Maybe after. Here we go.

Mailbag. If you have a question for the show you can go to the website the fantasyfootballers.com click the submit a question button or you can dial our voicemail hotline the number there 302 464 tffb we're actually gonna kick it off with a voicemail question. Hey ballers this is Tom from New Jersey how do you determine someone to be a keeper? In our league we keep two every year but we lose the draft spot one before where they were drafted so someone was drafted round six we lose round five this year. Thanks Ballers. So it's more of a

question about establishing the value that you're going to give up to keep that player on your team. Our league of record, our restrictions are more positionally based of we have a player that you get to keep no matter what and then you select three players to randomly get two of them on your team but they there's positions cannot match the the locked-in keeper I'm good with this I like the rewarding people for drafting get one round discount of either where you took them or you can go off of ADP and say you know I get if ADP's in the fifth round,

this guy cost me a sixth round. The biggest thing when you're- This one is one round higher than where you drafted him. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so this version's not a reward. I don't know. Totally, but- If you got Bucky Irving- Yeah, then you're still getting a heavy reward.

In the 12th round, you get to keep him for an 11. Yeah, and usually in leagues like this, they will, that rule keeps you from having a player forever because then the next year it'll be worth more and then worth more. The biggest thing is if you're talking about players off of the waiver wire, because I like these systems because reward a draft.

Reward people for taking chances in the draft and calling your shot and getting it right. For guys off the waiver wire, I'm either on the team of you can't keep them or they cost their ADP. I completely agree. Nothing infuriates me more. It's not like your last round, you're like, oh I got them off the waiver in week one. And it was like a lot of people with Bucky. Oh, I got them off the waiver. Now I get to keep them for a 14th round?

Getting, absolutely not. I mean, those situations certainly stack if you're having multiple keepers, too. Like, if it's a league with one keeper or something like that, then the advantage is not as pronounced. And it can be exciting and fun to have a situation like that. But if you're keeping multiple keepers, and you get them at,

you know, and they're multiple free agents that hit, then you're really stacking the deck in your favor. Maybe you do a round behind ADP as a reward for that. You know, Bucky is going to go what, in the second or third round this year, so. Something like that, yeah. So maybe you get it a round behind that, maybe you get them at ADP like you said as an option.

Yeah, a slight discount from ADP I think is the right way. There's a lot of ways to do keepers that are fun, but I think this is a good time because keeper leagues, in my opinion, are the best. The best format. It's better than redraft, it's better than dynasty. It takes what you love from both of them, the draft season, and that's still exciting, whereas in a keep, in a dynasty league, it's not.

It's a very small rookie draft window every year. You don't have that big draft ever again. Which, I mean, our dynasty league just did it, and it's over, and we're done until the season starts. But in the season, the waiver wires, the action that you don't have in dynasty, in the off season, you can still trade picks. So if, and this is the time of year right now,

if you're listening and you don't play in a keeper league, maybe talk to your league or find some guys and gals to start a new keeper league and try it out if you haven't played it. It is so fun. I have never felt like our draft day experience wasn't as fun as a pure redraft. Yeah, right. It's actually, in a lot of ways, it's strategically more engaging because you

have some keepers, the league has keepers. When you think about how they're going to draft, it's even more strategic. And there's so many trades that happen prior to the draft. Like, when we come into the draft, the draft board is wild. Maybe someone has traded some of their keepers for you know the first round pick, a second round pick, something like that early on and so that's something you can't do. I mean sometimes in a regular redraft it's like I'll trade you these two picks for that one. It doesn't make as much sense though. Yeah it doesn't it doesn't fly. It's not as much action. All right, Instagram question from Betty Marshall.

Does Jonathan Taylor still have potential for B. John Gibbs and Saquon Value? I think on a redraft level, yes. If you didn't experience Jonathan Taylor's end of the season, he looked just like the running back that was the running back one to start. Those last five games, it's a five game stretch. It's not what you would bank on, but that was a 2,500 rushing yard pace, 20 rushing touchdown pace. He rushing touchdown pace.

That was, he was just dominating. He played also though, for some context, he played the team with the first pick, the, what is it, the Giants were third, the Patriots the fourth pick, Jacksonville was the fifth pick. Like, he played basically the fifth, the first, the worst teams in the league. And he was the one giving them those hot picks in the draft. They were done, as well.

And so that was, the quarterback situation last year went to crap for Indianapolis. I'm with you, Jay. When you pull up those numbers, against Tennessee, 29 for 218. He did do that, but you have to factor the context in at least a little bit. This is not him dominating top half defenses at the very beginning of the season. Yeah, if you're talking about the breakaway runs, that's not easy to project, but the opportunities at the end of the

year, that's what I loved seeing. And I think whichever quarterback it is, they're still going to put Jonathan Taylor in there. You know, 25 carries, 22 carries, 29 carries, 32, 34. Like they, this team. It's a pace of 482 attempts, which does not happen. Couldn't happen, but the point is that he. Kyle, what's the highest rushing attempts ever in a season is it the team and the coaching staff like that hasn't changed he will be like the guy in the backfield barring injury they they did lose I believe two of their more experienced offensive line starters

Ryan Kelly I think will freeze also left but But yeah, I mean, what is the potential for those seasons? It was 2021 when he was the RB1. He showed you in that stretch what he can do with volume. I don't know, probably a 5% chance that he could beat those three guys for me. But the fact that he, but his chance to be an RB1 is probably 75%. I think it's still strong, but Bichon gives Saquon level. I just don't like the team that much.

I like Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor. I don't like Daniel Jones. Jonathan Taylor is amazing. The issues, you know, I'm talking him up, but the, you know, the reality that you have to look at with Jonathan Taylor is you could see a Saquon Barkley like season last year where he didn't catch a lot of passes and he was the running back one. But the difference is he was on an offense that scored an obscene amount of touchdowns and you can't project that for the Colts.

And you can't project him to have a ton of receptions like Bijon and Gibbs. So really I think the most likely outcome is that he's going to be an awesome player getting a ton of opportunity and not scoring enough touchdowns or catching the ball enough to be top three style running back. But he has the talent to be in the tier with these other guys. The funny thing about Saquon, and maybe we've never said it like this, but was he a better player last year than he was the years before? Nope. Was he more talented?

No. No, he was the same. That's the amazing thing about the Saquon Barkley season, is that this is Saquon Barkley. It was a change of scenery. It was a change in situation. Does that show you how bad Deandre Swift is? Yes. Yeah, because he had this offense.

He had this team. He had that offensive line. He looked. And he looked pretty good. He looked pretty good for a lot of those games. Man, he made some money. Thanks, thank you. He should write an affiliate check

to the entire offensive line of Philadelphia. Larry Johnson had the most attempts. I remember it. Grandma Ma. No, I'm just kidding. Played for the Charlotte Hornets. So I guess we've only had five players over 400 attempts. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I remember the Larry Johnson season, 2006 Was that had to, that was that right before it just all fell apart? Come on Shane, give him the ball. On the 416th carry all his legs just fell off. It was after, all of them. 416 that was the last big year for Larry. Everything just broke down after that. Come on, Steichen. Don't be a coward. All right, uh... It's so wild though of Beck, you know, what was, 2021 for JT? Jonathan Taylor at the top was so short-lived. Yeah, well, I mean, look...

He was definitely the dine as the RB1 at that moment in time. He had 383 carries that year and he followed up with two injury riddled seasons. That's what's gonna happen. That's what happens when you give players that much work. Unless they're named Derrick Henry. Wild. TAYPOBS on Instagram, can the Chargers win the AFC? Absolutely.

Not. Absolutely not. You think absolutely not? Correct. I believe the Chargers. The entire AFC? The entire AFC. The AFC West?

I mean obviously right now you've got the. What about the KFC? You've got the Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs clearly ahead of them. According to sports books, you've got the Bengals a little bit ahead as well. And the Broncos. And they're right there with the Broncos.

But to me, the Chargers, talent-wise, roster-wise, coaching-wise, quarterback, I don't see any reason they cannot compete with every single one of those teams that I name. I'll put it, I'm gonna write my odds down on the board. What does that mean? I'm just showing you their odds of winning the AFC are 0%. Wow.

Okay, so tell me why. No, no, no, no, I'm not, I don't agree with Mike. Tell me why you think that they have a zero percent chance of winning the AFC. Well number one Patrick Mahomes is in there and so is Josh Allen and it's just so like Lamar Jackson So is Lamar Jackson so is Joe burrow and then and then factoring in just how over all The unit of the Denver Broncos like as a team because, because I'm like, oh, Bo Nix is, I think Bo Nix is gonna be a good quarterback and take another step.

I just, I don't think that, I don't think the Chargers with the current team. So is this more about the other teams? Yes, 100%. I'm not saying the Chargers are bad. I have tried, I'm on a 10 year run wanting to pick the Chargers to win the ding. AFC, the whole thing, I'm giving up.

Yeah. It's a weird time to give up, man. I don't know how he's gonna get through those four quarterbacks. Charger fans, I'm not disgracing your team, just saying the other ones are a little bit better. The Chargers could win the most games in the AFC this year. That could happen.

They can't, I don't think they can win in the playoffs against those four quarterbacks. Well that's not, yeah, I mean, but the question is who wins the most games in regular season, right? No, it's who wins the AFC. That would mean they go to the Super Bowl. Yeah, that is what that means. Oh, that's funny. I was interpreting this completely as... Oh, backtrack! Backtrack! No, no, no. As like they are the number one seed in the AFC. That's not what winning the AFC means, man. Regardless, I'm not backtracking because I definitely think they could come out

of the AFC as well. I think they could beat those teams. With Harbaugh, they are a different team. They are well coached. The playoffs mean the playoffs. They're going to have a great running game with Amarian Hampton and Najee. I still think they need a wide out. Oh, that's because you don't love.

I do love Lad mitash Cronkite. No, I'm talking about Trey Harris. Trey Harris is not the key to them winning the AFC. Yeah. Famous last words. What's your percentage? Let's see how bold you are. I'll put mine back down. Mike said zero. I'll do it again.

Of coming out? Of the... Of winning the AFC. Do we have to say it? The team that goes to the Super Bowl. holy balls dude what 18% Wow 18% I do need to go back to chargers yeah that's a really high number I had written 8% down we were very close I just had a little line. Also, new expression, Mike. You unlocked the new expression. All right, gmarshall27 on Instagram, have you ever made a trade with your biggest rivals?

Oh yeah. Of course. Andy is my biggest rival because we were in division. Yeah, how's it feel now? Totally different, right? It feels totally different to not be in your division. We used to be, for 10 years or more, probably what, like 13 years, division rivals.

Yeah. And when we made trades, they always worked out perfectly for you. Oh man, all I know is, we get asked questions all the time, like, oh, what's the best trade you've ever made? Oh, what's the worst trade you've ever made? And it's hard to remember, and I will never be able to forget the trade I didn't take from Andy. Oh, I forgot. I thought you were going back

to fitness. Oh my goodness. It's the worst whiff of all time. I mean, right in the middle, two years ago... Are you talking about when I went out with you, Saquon Barkley for Eckler and a couple firsts? Yeah. Yes. Basically, the highest draft picks that we can trade in our keeper league. He had two of them. he offered two of them, plus Saquon Barkley, who became the running back one for Austin Echler, who at the time was on fire. He was doing great. His playoff schedule was great. I was trying to repeat as the champion of the League of Record, and I just decided, no, that's a lot of values good. You talked about it. Me and my co-manager, we went and shut the door, we talked through it,

we looked at the schedule, we dove deep, and we made a mistake! Because, oh my goodness, if last year I could've had, instead of Eckler, Barkley, plus two of the best picks in the draft. You would've been better for it. Yeah, I think so. Kyle does want you to know, Jason,

the books, 18%, that's where the chiefs are. Okay. So I don't, I think- It's okay to have a hot take, Danny. I like the Chargers. I genuinely think it is a complete toss-up for who wins that division. Like a coin flip.

I see them in the Chargers, and I'll put the Broncos in there too, those three teams. I mean, I think I legitimately might go Chargers, Chiefs, Broncos, but I think they're in the same tier. It should be very interesting to see, like last year was defined by these Chiefs games that they just had no business winning. Over and over and over. Oh my gosh, that was the worst.

And we got another year older for Travis Kelsey. I think it'll be very interesting in that division. I worry about the playoffs, but if they had home field somehow, maybe they'd get it done. So yeah, in terms of trading with your biggest rival, yeah, Jason and I for many years, I would say that Mike and I

have made very few trades historically. But I've traded with everybody. Yeah, I don't think that any of us are like, is there anybody in any of our leagues you're like, no way? No. No, there are people that. Al? There are people in the, oh.

Don't do that to me on the air. OK, OK, OK. All right, all right. Oh, man. But no, I don't have anybody. It doesn't matter the team. If they have players that I want or I need and we're compatible for a trade then it's fine make a trade. Yeah. All right

we'll take a break and we've got a blast from the past question coming up. All right back into the mailbag and for those of you that have been listening to this podcast for quite some time, it's time to go back in history. I'm seeing a picture of the Big Salad shirt, and the question is, who are this year's fantasy vegetables? And I do have a very quick to mine answer. I have two very quick to mine answers. One wide receiver, one running back. Yeah, I got a running back. Look, Big Salad, that was Sean Drones name. It was just, we made the point that sometimes you just got to eat your greens.

You need that tried and true, nutritious player that just gets the job done. It's not flashy, it doesn't taste great, but they do the work and that is Brian Robinson. Oh, that's a great answer. Brian Robinson is the big salad. That is a great answer. Who do you got?

I have at running back, Chuba Hubbard. That's a very big salad. That was my name. He is not, I still don't really want to draft him. I'm not excited, but he's way better than we think he is. Like he's very good. And then Darnell Mooney, he is. Oh yeah, that's some.

You don't have great upside and he's gonna be drafted low because when you look at, do I want Darnell Mooney. He is... Oh yeah, that's... You don't have great upside and he's going to be drafted low because when you look at, do I want Darnell Mooney who's a two or another player that, oh, this guy could be a boat? You always try to take the boat but Darnell Mooney is just going to go out there and get it done on a week by week basis. Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. You got anybody Mike that you want? Chuba was going to be my answer. Okay, here's a Broncos question from Anderson Love. Outlook on Broncos wide receiver Marvin Mims after the draft, it looks on paper like Cortland Sutton is obviously there

and then there's Marvin Mims who got involved late in the season, you got Vailay, you've got Troy Franklin still there, you drafted Pat Bryant, you've got Evan Ingram in the equation now. Let's not forget Evan Ingram. So Marvin Mims, are we? The Marvin Mims experience of just over and over, verbally, us hearing from Sean Payton that,

I gotta figure out how to get Marvin Mims on the field. We've had two years of that being said for him to average 27% of offensive snaps. Yeah, he was healthy. This year. He played all 17 games. And he can hit a big play on any given game, but I feel like now we're being two years into it, the Snaps actually

went down from his rookie season to his sophomore season, and the fact that they added a third round wide receiver in Pat Bryant, I would say he is a, he can help the football team, but for fantasy football he is, you're putting him into your DFS lineup and hoping that's the week that he goes two catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. It is absolutely foolish to believe after the amount of games we have seen him used and that he would take a massive step up

to fantasy relevance. And again, I think Marvin Mims is a very good player and just like Mike said, will help the team. He plays on special teams, he's a good returner, he can come in on a package and just fly down the field, but I don't see them changing what they've done for two years with him. All right, let's-

And you've got Troy Franklin there, who's gonna step up any minute. Instagram question from Taylor Stewart. Which team had the most disappointing draft from a fantasy football perspective? That's a good question. Cowboys probably. Dallas, no day two.

Or day one. You didn't get the wide receiver we were hoping for and you didn't get a running back with draft capital. Not like Jaden Blue's. The Cowboys are going to be fascinating when you're trying to figure out who you're going to draft here because it's Givante and Miles Sanders. It is the just a conglomeration of underperforming

guys on that team who are making very very little money and then you got Jaden Blue who I think it was a fifth round pick, but he's a smaller guy. So I have no idea who to draft from that team. But I know that someone on that squad will have running back two-ish value. Well, and the sad part is, sometimes when a team does not draft

the high draft capital running back that they were maybe projected to, it's really good. You're like, whew, good, my veteran escaped. But you're not even excited about Gervonta there. So Brian Robinson, I like the fact that the commanders didn't take a running back when they were, that could have been a big threat. And it's like, oh, well, there's a winner.

I don't view Gervonta as like, he won, but I don't view him as a winner at all. But we lost. But we lost. We lost. And it's like, so. Any conversations for Gervonta in Fantasy Alliance, which will now be necessary, we lose.

And it's, the check marks for Gervonta are, he is the projected starter right now because he's making the most money. But it's not by a wide margin over Miles Sanders. It is, it'd pay him a lot. And it's, I watched Givante, I watched both of these guys play last year and they were both extremely disappointing, but I feel like Miles was not as disappointing as Givante.

You know who I was disappointed in? It was Denver. Because it's not that I can't get excited for R.J. Harvey to potentially be valuable, it's just that I don't, that is all coming from Sean Payton. That is not coming from, you know, our pre-draft player evaluation excitement, the way we were for Hampton or for Henderson.

It was a reach based off of Mocs. It was them falling in love with a guy, and it's just such a good opportunity. They were sitting there with Henderson and Hampton, available to be picked, and that was the dream spot for everyone. Oh, with their first round? Yeah, it was go to Denver, and they was the dream spot for everyone. With their first round.

Yeah, it was go to Denver and they had the chance and they bypassed, so I completely agree. They were, even more than the Cowboys, they disappointed me. They came back and tried to make good by taking RJ Harvey with good draft capital, but I really wanted one of those guys. There was not a running back home run spot.

Because the only one that you can point to and say I think that is is Hampton in it with the Chargers but even that I think the Gentie spots a home run. Oh okay you know what's funny? Based off of he's not a rookie. Yeah it's like it's like Gentie in the league for four years. It's like Gentie the lock yeah I'm sorry absolutely Gentie. Okay. But of all the other destinations that we thought were home runs, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, even the Chargers, like the Chargers, it will be a home run. But I don't know if it is in year one.

Yeah, that's fair. Though it might be. It is funny, the fact that Genty will not come up in many conversations, like when you're having conversations of who's the rookie running back that's gonna do great this year, like, just avoid the name, because he doesn't count. No, I mean, where's his, is ADP gonna be four?

Gentie? Yeah. Pretty close. Oh, man. And who doesn't wanna take him? I have gone through and I have statted out the Raiders and hoo-ha, I want to take him. Let me guess, can I make a guess on total yardage? Oh my gosh. Total? Combined? Total scrimmage yards?

Yeah, scrimmage yards. Sure. Fifteen hundred and fifty. You would be short. I have him at sixteen fifty-three. Wow, man. Twelve thirty-two on the ground, four twenty-one. We've got some Gen-T fans nodding and days out in the air. It's hard to not project that.

It is hard because of the passing work. When you look at the expected pace, the Chip Kelly offense, what we've seen Geno Smith throw total, and then you just say. Hold on. Hold on. The Falcon in Dusers Alley has a projection for his total yardage. What do you have him down for, Mr. Guy who drafted him in his rookie draft?

Yeah, 2,300. 2,300. Sorry. 2,300 have him down for, Mr. Guy Who Drafted Him and his rookie draft? Yeah, 2,300. 2,300? Sorry. 2,300 total yards. 2,300 total yards. So, at least 1,000,000. Yeah, absolutely. Okay.

20 touchdowns. Wow, that's pretty good on the Raiders. Ashton Jenty is going to finish as the running back two, and people are going to be furious. Man, it's just how does he feel he's not in shape oh he's in shape oh no I don't know no no I'm just checking that one off oh yeah you can't feel that way anymore yeah yeah if he stopped working out from now until kickoff, I think he I don't think he could He can't get out of shape that fast. You don't think you could dodge it. Oh

In football we call that an Eddie Lacey, yes, yes. Yes Man Where are we more questions? Here we go. YouTube, Eric, who finishes higher this year in fantasy? Mahomes or Lawrence? Lawrence will have Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas. Mahomes will get Rashi Rice back. Worthy, Hollywood, Kelsey. I think it's gonna be close.

I haven't done my projections yet, but I bet you these guys are like 11 and 12. Hollywood, Kelsey, I think is gonna be close. I haven't done my projections yet, but I betcha these guys are like 11 and 12. I've got a decent gap between Lawrence and Mahomes. I've got Mahomes. Which direction? Mahomes on top. Still, we gotta just still believe. I mean, he's not a top five quarterback to me. Mahomes is not. Okay, all right.

Maybe it's more an indictment against Lawrence than it is. Mahomes was the quarterback 11 last year. I think that's about, I mean, I haven't finished the whole league, so I don't know where he will land. But I have Mahomes behind to Bo Nix. Well, let's wrap this up then with this follow up from YouTube.

Malachi writes, and are we scared to drown for Oshie Rice's wide receiver too? Because those things are connected. And I am a little bit nervous about that. So I am very much not at all nervous about Rashi Rice when he's on the field. The only question of drafting him and where his risk will be is about whether a possible suspension comes this year. I think by the time draft season is upon us, we'll have a little bit more clear expectation of the timeline because there's rumors that this suspension could be pushed another year. We still assume it is coming.

And so obviously, this isn't an injury risk. This is just, he can't help you when he can't play football and there will be risk there. You have no distribution of target concerns? Because last year when he was killing it, Worthy wasn't established and Hollywood was hurt. So to me it's like, this is an under 4,000 yard team. I guess I'm just not quite.

I looked through the first three games and actually what was really telling, and granted obviously Worthy was a rookie and Hollywood was not there, yes. However it was really Travis Kelce who took the hit. Travis Kelce was down at like 14% target share during those first three weeks of the season when he should be at his best. Rushy Rice dominated in the target market share. And it was the same area of the field that Kelsey is usually working.

So that's, to me, when I started this out, Kelsey has a pretty big fall from fantasy superstar status in this year's rankings. I think this is the year where I've got him going to a very difficult to swallow 15% target share. Travis Kelsey has never been, I mean, he was still 26% last year. But when you look at the games when Rushy Rice was healthy, he was not as involved, he's older, and then you bring in Worthy and Hollywood back. Patrick Mahomes has never had multiple top 50 wide receivers. Because of Travis Kelsey. Worthy and Rashi Rice will be drafted way higher

than top 50. They'll both... Oh yeah. Right now they're in the wide 20 range. I mean that's just gonna be a push-comes-to-shove situation for them. So essentially I think what I think we're working through here is someone is going to take a tumble. Right, and it could be Kelsey. I have it being Kelsey, you have it being Rice as... I just think Rice is probably around a wide receiver 20-25 guy. Sure.

But that is to be determined. I am moving rapidly towards just projecting Rice to... To dominate? Or, no, I'm just being games played. I think he's looking healthy. I'm not that worried about the suspension. That's saying the... I just want to know what I got.

Both health and suspension, I think, will be not concerns of this year. If they... Sorry. Then it's what do you believe about the player? But to have all those things of like, how many games is it gonna mess up in the air? That changes everything. But if you're approaching the season like,

he's gonna be there day one, then now what do you think of the player? Do you think the team is lying when they say they wanna throw the ball again down the field? Because to me, obviously, Hollywood and Worthy are very, they're made for that. Obviously, you need the underneath stuff, you need everything else. But I guess I'm curious how you project Worthy relative to Rasheed Rice.

I have a projected amount, but the way that it's working in my head is the hit, a hit will go to Worthy. Like Rashid Rice will get his place in the offense back where he operates. Cause I think he's better at it doing that than what Worthy is doing and Worthy has got speed and can, can open things up and be a distraction. But I do believe them when they say that, I think they look at the last year's games where I think that they could be objectively honest and say, guys, we won a lot of games that we should not have won. And going back to those games, we should not have been in a close game.

We have to be able to put up 30 plus points on any given week. If that's how we have to win. So I do believe in a little bit. Oh yeah. Breaking news. Whoa. Justin Tucker has been released by the Ravens yeah yeah seems like the right move you did draft a kicker yeah peace goodbye goodbye the show's over that is it for today's episode you got a month less than a month.

The Ultimate Draft Kit, June 1st. Available. Get it at a pre-order price right now at ultimatedraftkit.com. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.