Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Players We’re Embarrassed to Love + CeeDee Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/27

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Find out who we’re embarrassed to love for 2024 fantasy football! On today’s podcast, six Embarrassed to Love players, and CeeDee Lamb finally gets a big contract! Plus, another Undrafted Gems edition of the Waiver Wire and lots of NFL News! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 27th, 2024. Get the 2024 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT and Draft Analyzer at UltimateDraftKit.com Compete in the largest fantasy football league! Megalabowl.com (00:00) - Intro  (03:45) - Waiver Wire - Undrafted Gems (04:15) - Chuba Hubbard (07:07) - Denver Running Backs (08:56) - Isaiah Likely (11:55) - NFL News (12:05) - CeeDee Lamb (23:50) - Players we are embarrassed to love (24:34) - Mike’s Embarrassing Players (33:58) - Jason’s Embarrassing Players (40:20) - Andy’s Embarrassing Players (47:50) - Mailbag Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Waiver Wire presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Visit youtube.com/fantasyfootballers News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

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Welcome in! Tuesday, August 27th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, back in the building. Lots to talk about, but not a lot of voice left. Jason has. I might or might not have over screamed at the live show. You always do this. Every live show we've ever had, you remind yourself mentally beforehand, don't destroy my voice running out on stage.

And then. I don't know how it happens, man. I mean,'m backstage we're about to go out and i'm telling myself i'm not gonna do it this year i'm not i'm and then i go out and i think i am being conscious of it like i i when i was out there i have pictures of you that say otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, I mean, it's a fact because I just, I black out. I scream hard and then I'm, and then I can't talk anymore. You did some things with the t-shirt gun.

He was firing. He was firing on all. I mean, you jumped and did a splits thing in the air, which I'm sure. Extreme athleticism. Yeah, I mean, it was a good time. So hopefully you got to watch the Megaloball show over on YouTube and take in some of Jason's adventures on stage. The big headline today, the big reminder, because there is still time left, the Megalobol is open available

uh i just got a count this morning 12 962 of you so far have joined the megalobol so um play with us come be in leagues with us their drafts will be going from the end of the month august 31st through September 4th. So you go to megalobowl.com. There is the link there if you're in the Foot Clan to sign up for your draft slot on Sleeper. And then you'll have your draft time established. Do that draft play in the league. The league is going to be awesome this year. We've made a lot of improvements. It's our League of Records scoring setting. So you're going to play exactly how we play half of you get in the playoffs and then whoever wins whoever wins you are in the listener league next year with us and you also get an ultimate tier

membership for the rest of your natural life so it's a pretty cool prize we had over 25,000 competing last year. We're at 12,900 so far. So go over to megalobowl.com and join us in the largest, most fun league out there, the tournament-style super league called the Megalobowl. You can follow the show over on X at the FFBallers to be kept apprised of everything going on here, along with breaking news, some of which i know mike and i will be very excited to talk about today yes that happened yesterday and um the community as always the foot clan mighty and strong is over at join the foot.com welcome to the waiver wire presented by presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.

Well, I am excited to talk about all five of these names. We're jumping into the Waver Wire before the season begins, looking at some undrafted gyms, as we like to call them, or players you should be very aware of. Maybe they're drafted. Maybe they're drafted late. Maybe they're not. And we got some clarity in a few situations this weekend which leads into some of these names i'm going to start with a player

that i have been propping up uh feels like by myself for a while but chuba hubbard the running back of the carolina panthers who was the running – Excuse me, sir. Yeah, Mike, you've been – It's really the – At worst neutral. It's been Mr. Jay Brooks over here telling us how great of a draft pick this guy who's going to not play at least four games is going to be, sitting on your bench. It's true.

Yeah, Chuba Hubbard was not just the de facto accidental starter. He was the player that averaged over 13 fantasy points a game for a six-week stretch to end the year last year with an offense that I think is going to be a little bit fixed in part due to Dave Canales, in part due to the addition of Deontay Johnson, and Bryce Young looked very good this weekend. But Chuba Hubbard's the starter. And Jonathan Brooks, as Mike's alluded to,

he's going to be on the PUP for at least four weeks. So Chuba Hubbard needs to be paid attention to in the same, in my opinion, in the exact same breath of the Zach Moss conversations. Ooh, that's mighty high praise. I'd put him more in the Jerome Ford conversation. But look at that six weeks. The six-week stretch was great. And he will have at least four weeks to be like that,

just a supplemental running back for you should you go real heavy wide receiver. Chuba will be there for you late in drafts to to be that RB2 for four weeks as you try to figure out who's going to be permanent because Chuba is not a permanent solution for your fantasy team right for your fantasy team I don't think for the first season long because Jonathan Brooks will come back eventually the question for Brooks is does he does he take over the, or has he slowly worked in and it's a timeshare? That's what I mean by it's not permanent, where once Brooks is back, it's going to be messy in a timeshare. Yeah, I don't mind at all taking Chuba Hubbard at the end of your drafts

or if you've already finished your draft, swapping him out. Especially, I mean, we talk about if you went 0RB or if you don't have starting running backs because you were a little bit risky up top, Chuba should be able to get off to a hot start. Jerome Ford is the perfect comp because we got word that Nick Chubb is also on the PUP. Chuba Hubbard, like we give that six-game sample,

but if you actually look at the majority of the season, from week six on, he was on pace for over 1,000 yards, 90% of his passes. He can catch the football. Seven touchdowns in that anemic offense. It was pretty good. It was double digits. That's how Mike had often described Jerome Ford.

It was like, he's going to get you double digits. It seems like that's on the table for Chuba Hubbard. We also got the release of Samaj P. Ryan in Denver, which means the impending. Yeah. Well, yeah, they means – The impending. Yeah. Well, yeah, they're going to release him if they can't find a trade for nothing. Audrick Estime and Jaleel McLaughlin. McLaughlin last year, 5.4 yards a carry,

sixth best in missed tackles force per touch, and caught a bunch of passes. So McLaughlin and then Estime is their fifth-round draft pick who they have confidence in. Both of those players are very interesting late in drafts yeah I'm I'm trying to ask myself like which one would I rather take the shot on with Samajai Pirine not being there and I I think I lean towards McLaughlin I know Mike you were higher on Audrick Estime than than I was I think that both Andy and I in the draft process. But I just look at Samaje.

He caught 50 passes last year. Yeah. So there's going to be room for a pass catching back. And even though Estime will have the goal line opportunity, he is always, like from day one, Sean Payton has talked about Estime as, well, he's a first and second down back. He's their big bruising back, and they're going to use him, but I think I'm wanting to soak up the targets, you know,

that are vacated here from Samajai Piran. Yeah, McLaughlin will have the standalone value, where Estimé, he's probably just an insurance back for Javante, which it's a, even, look, the Denver Broncos offense is not inspiring for fantasy football, but the running backs, just the whole group of them, they're going to catch so many passes because that's what Sean Payton does. It looks like that's what Bo Nix is going to be perfectly fine moving forward with.

So McLaughlin has standalone value where if giovante should miss time i think estimate will be a real serious pickup and then one more name i want to bring up for sure is isaiah likely the baltimore tight end this is a team that has a great deal of need in the passing game for reliable weapons mark andrews we brought it up uh at live show. He has started as the tight end two, three consecutive years through the first six weeks. The last two years, he has precipitously dropped. He's been outside the top 20 at the tight end position from week seven on over the last two years,

which you can blame on injury because that is a fair thing to blame it on, but it's still been a pattern. So Isaiah likely came in. Well, speaking of injury, I mean, right now Mark Andrews is not on the field. The Baltimore Ravens play the first game of the NFL season. That's a good point. They have the least amount of time for him to get healthy, and this is one of those, like, if you were later in your drafts

and you grabbed Pat Friermuth, or even if you're the guy that has David Njoku or Ferguson, for me, if I'm that type of, I've got that tight end on my roster, I'm going to drop one of my dispensable last round picks, and I'm going to pick up Isaiah Likely, because Likely, when Mark Andrews is out, is awesome. And if I get to have that, look, it's stupid, it's silly, but we do this for fun. When the ball is kicked off, I want players in that game. And if Mark Andrews isn't there and I can put Isaiah Likely into my lineup

and watch and enjoy, I'm definitely doing that. It's more than fun. I mean, if Isaiah – if Andrews is out, I would rather play Isaiah likely, I think, for a couple weeks over probably Ferguson. So, I mean, Mark Andrews, what is his consensus ranking on our website right now? Got the tight end position. I haven't moved him yet.

No, we haven't moved him down. The news is just that he's still not practicing. So you two have him at number two. I have him at five. The question is, if he was out for the year, where would Isaiah likely slide in? And I think he would be competitive with Dalton Kincaid for that spot. So, yeah, it's a good name to bring up ahead of that first week game.

He was a tight end three from week 14 on last year when he got that opportunity, 56 yards a game. So pretty important, and he's still out today. So Mark Andrews is. I expect Andrews to play, but if Andrews is back on the field tomorrow, whatever, then drop likely and move forward with whatever tight end you had. But just hold on to them for now. All right.

Thanks again to NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Watch every game every Sunday when you bundle NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. Sign up today at youtube.com slash fantasy footballers, local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes the digital-only games. Device and content restrictions apply. News and notes from around the league.

Presented by USAA Insurance. Money, money, money, money, money. Oh, we did it. C.D. Lamb and the Cowboys have agreed to a... You mean I did it. C.D. Lamb and the Cowboys have agreed to a four-year. You mean I did it. Sure. You take all your contracts and add them up.

They're probably not even the one contract that I got my guy. Now, see, he's my keeper, Mike, in League of Record. You don't know this, but it was me again. Four years. Gosh darn it. $136 million. $100 million guaranteed. Get our Yuka contract, man.

And so C.Dee Lamb is – Get him a team first. He got paid. So that's good news. We can rest easy. We've got some time before the season, and CeeDee Lamb will be back out there soaking up so many targets. I think it's worth noting as well that Jamar Chase,

while not getting the money, he has been practicing. He's been on the field. I mean, the worry to me with Lamb, Ayuk, and Chase has just been, are they going to be not necessarily out of shape? I don't think they can get out of shape. But, you know, like when you're not going full speed and then you snap your fingers and you're at game speed. Yeah.

I worry about the hamstrings. Yeah, some injuries. And then just what you wanted here, Mike, the Cowboys are hosting Dalvin Cook for a visit, which you'd say, hey, that doesn't really impact the depth chart unless your depth chart already has Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle and unproven players at this stage of their careers. So if Dalvin Cook does sign a contract and factor into a very dumb,

dumb committee, you're starting to feel like Baltimore a couple of years ago could be where, you know, what was it? Uh, Devonta Freeman and Latavious Murray and Lev Bell were a trifecta for Baltimore. And they're just fighting their way through the season with that.

It would, you know you know, some people like Royce Freeman, like who's involved in that offense that's four names that are you know, were all draft picks 15 years ago. The Cowboys depth chart remains ambiguous even if they have Dalvin Cook

this doesn't change my upside stance for Rico Suave. Dalvin Cook, this doesn't change my upside stance for Rico Suave. Dalvin Cook has been available to NFL teams all year long. And at the end of August here, coming in right before the season starts, that's not the biggest threat. As I mean, it's not going to be dalvin cook here are some players uh to add to the list we mentioned earlier that will start the year on the pup and missed at least four games nick chubb four game pup at least uh jonathan brooks tj hawkinson and then uh keaton mitchell

who had a brief moment last year in Baltimore, and then a major injury. Tyler Higbee had the major injury. And then Kendrick Bourne as well in New England. So opportunities like New England is – they're a really interesting situation because it seems like Drake May is emerging as a favorite to start. And then Jalen Polk, who I think is very talented, seems like he's going to have an opportunity early with Kendrick Bourne on the shelf. And this is a team that let go of Juju.

So they're moving forward with the youth movement. They're only projected to win four games by Vegas. So if you're the Patriots and it's about experience, it's interesting to see Jalen Polk to start the year. Yeah, I like Jalen Polk a lot. I was caping for him pretty hard during the rookie draft process. It's going to take some time. He's been playing with the twos. They're really making him earn it the Patriot way. So it could take a few weeks. I'm saying if you're drafting Polk,

you're going to need to be patient. I think it might take a couple weeks. They have not named the starting quarterback, though, right? Correct. I loved the quote from Drod Mayo just recently of saying, he said, quote, it's a true competition. And I would say at this current point point Drake has outplayed Jacoby which at this current point is when you have to name a star like isn't that saying that yeah

there's another headline that basically said yeah May has outplayed Jacoby but other things factor in I'm like what factors other than playing football uh the what also factors in is that their offensive line is bad. Like, Jacoby Brissett, part of this discussion is Jacoby Brissett got dropped on his shoulder in a preseason game because the offensive line is so brutal. So there is, I think, something fair of don't put the number three pick out there to be the sacrificial baby for the New England Patriots let let a veteran be out there try and calm some things down before you get him

in but it it's still up in the air uh we mentioned the Broncos are expected to move on from Samaj but they're also expected to move on from wide receiver Tim Patrick Fireball Jones weird so wild because he had a great preseason. He looked like the number two target. He had established himself. Had a good connection even with Bo Nix. And then it's like and we're done.

I don't blame them in the sense that he's still got a bigger contract. He's not the future. This is a youthful rebuilding Broncos team team and if they could get something for tim patrick on the market i would do that if i was the broncos i don't think they're going to get anything on i don't i don't know that someone's going to trade for him but it is a surprise it is and um what else do we have going on marsh Marshawn Lloyd. The Marshawn Lloyd news. Expected to be on IR to start the year with the hamstring.

It has been, from the moment of the draft, every day it's a little worse for Marshawn Lloyd. Yeah. But they also have A.J. Dillon, who was held out last week due to a stinger, who is the second role in the running back room, had that injury last year, and suddenly you're starting to talk about, in deep emmanuel wilson oh yeah we are because um you know he's he's next man up and he was 11 for 52 on the ground in the final preseason game and you're talking about josh jacobs i mean yeah one of the reasons i had been against josh jacobs is how adamant this coaching staff has always been that he employs a committee well if you don't have other healthy backs you sometimes your hand is forced like Josh Jacobs can start

the year he was a hot starter we just talked about that on a recent show and if he starts the year getting a large volume while they're waiting for these backs to come healthy for a great offense like he might be he might be. He might be real good. Real, real good. He was the number one running back in all of football last year on percentage of his team's carries. So when you talk about capability to a workload, number one, teams are willing to give him everything,

and he's able to handle everything. That's one of the big discussions it's not today's not the day but when you look at you know we look at the yards per carry and the efficiency on that team but there should be some additional math done based on workhorse running backs it's not a surprise that julia Julia McLaughlin's at 5.4 a carry or Devon A. Chan's at 8. Well, that's a surprise. 8's pretty high.

Or Lamar Miller was at 6 before he became a workhorse. You know, there's Nick Chubb and Jamal Charles, and then the rest of them don't really do that over 300 carries. And when you look and you say Josh Jacobs gets every carry of every down, of every situation on a team that had no offense, obviously the Packers, who have a great deal of trust in their team building, looked at Josh Jacobs and didn't go, well, let's just hyper-focus on his efficiency numbers right there.

They didn't. They went out and gave him the bag to be hit the running back. And the confidence level is not in, wow, did he, you know, when they're stacking the box against Aiden O'Connell and he runs for one yard, it's all his fault. That's not how the team looks at it. And I think it'd be educational, I think, on some degree to look at workhorse and, you know, just total carries,

short yardage, goal line. If you score from the one, it's one a carry. Sure. Right? I mean, all those things factor in, and he gets a ton of those opportunities too. So I'm not just speaking about Josh Jacobs. I'm speaking about anybody who gets massive workload,

and it looks like, I mean, Rashad White got everything for that team with a bad offensive line. The team has a different view than we do on that number. I'm just bringing that up um chief signed juju bringing him back he knows the offense they do this all the time they bring back guys that you know mccall hardman came back mike williams returning to team drills and we had jameer gibbs back at practice Laporta back at practice, Najoku back to practice. And the only one that wasn't Mike, Jalen Waddell.

No, no. He was seen. He's a non-contact jersey. You couldn't miss him. He's at practice. You couldn't miss him because he's wearing a bright red jersey that says, don't hit me. What?

Here's a. What? Yeah, he has a. What is happening? That's red. The panic alarm is red, too. What do you mean what's happening? This is Jalen Waddell's entire career. Oh, it is not his entire career.

I don't know if you noticed, half the games last year, he actually wore the red non-contact jersey out onto the field on accident. Yeah, that would be awesome. That would be awesome. You can actually do that. No, you can't touch me. Yeah, I mean, having had the Waddle experience all year last year, he doesn't miss the games, but he misses parts of all the games.

Last year and this year. He played 16 games as a rookie. He played the entire season the next year. Two out of three years. I'm just talking about two out of three plays. I'm not talking about the game. You know it. He goes out injured every

fourth play and then he's back last year that did happen but I'm saying more of what is happening of like knee soreness back soreness concussion it's undisclosed it was an undisclosed injury like where are the beat reporters

out of Miami when this is like really starting to take off like there's it was just whispers you know it's not if the superstar wide receiver on any other team is missing that much practice i feel like reporters should be able to be saying very loud hey guys he's not here they're used to it they're too used to it. They're like, this is not news. Look, I've had the same experience. It was very, very frustrating. And some players, for some reason, they just get banged up. I hope that's not the case.

I hope that's not his story moving forward. Feels like, you know, we need some long stretch of healthy games. All right, that was today's News and notes presented by USAA insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break and we're coming back with a brand new segment boys. It's going to be fun. All right. We are,

um, All right. We are – I feel like we almost had a consensus level of embarrassment moving Josh Jacobs higher and higher in our rankings as things work in his direction. He was a player that didn't get a lot of love from this show early on. But we are talking about players that we might not want to admit that we're kind of into this year. Players we're embarrassed to love. Andy, why don't you start us off with Tank Bigsby? That's not one of them.

Sorry. Did you or did you not just this morning draft Tank Bigsby? I did draft Tank Bigsby. Let's go ahead and qualify that really quickly. No, no, no. Move on. No, no, no. Let me see what round.

No, we'll start it because he's on my list, Jason. Maybe you should read the show, Doc, and see what's about to happen. So he was a 15th round pick for me. It was the right place. So, Mike, go ahead and start. Yes. I will start with – because, look, watching Tank Bigsby play on an NFL field last year was embarrassing to all people who believed in him.

It was embarrassing to – Mr. and Mrs. Bigsby were also embarrassed. Yes. Anyone who was associated with Tank Bigsby we're also embarrassed yes uh anyone who was associated with tank bigsby last year watched what happened and it was awful it was the second lowest rush success rate amongst the rookie running backs he caught one of his four targets all of them were caught though he's not he turned he turned many of them into interceptions somehow. But for me, for Tank Bixby, it's going back to what I believed in him about when he was a collegiate prospect.

And he has looked much, much better in this preseason. And I will jump in before anyone else says it because, yeah, he looked pretty good last preseason. 5.7 a carry last preseason. He was excellent. 97 of 105 rushing yards were gained after contact. That's per Jacob Gibbs. For me about Tank Bixby, it comes down to, again,

I thought he could be a good player coming into the league. The Jacksonville Jaguars also thought he could be a good player coming into the league. The Jacksonville Jaguars also thought he could be a good player coming into the league, spending day two capital on him, and just saying over and over and over, we don't want Travis Etienne to have to be this player. He has had to be that guy for them. They don't want that to be the case. And looking at the rest of the roster, if anyone is going to be the player that can actually spell Travis Etienne,

it has to be Tank Bigsby. I don't know if he can do it. It's embarrassing that I have to keep talking about him. Super embarrassing. But I like him, and I think that he could be a huge reason why Travis Etienne is not the it doesn't come through with his ADP what does that mean for drafting Tank Bigsby like Andy just took him in the 15th round of a best ball that's fine you're you're drafting the insurance running backs who you know if they

get a week or two later in the season then then they hit what are you doing in redraft leagues with with Tank Bigsby Tank Bigsby is only an insurance draft pick. Blake Corum or Tank Bigsby in a draft? Corum. Blake Corum. This is both, honestly, both of my players that I'm embarrassed that I am into their opportunity

this year. It's more about what does it negatively do to the other players? What was your second player? It's Bucky Irving of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was drafted in the fourth round. There's, you know, Bucky Irving, oh, he's too small. He's actually like the same size as James Cook, maybe even a little bit thicker than James Cook,

and he excels at pass catching, 56 receptions, his final year at Oregon. I think that if Rashad White doesn't come through, it's because of Tank Bigsby. 58% of his runs this preseason. You mean Bucky Irving? Sorry, thank you, Bucky Irving. 58% of his runs this preseason have gone for five or more yards.

This guy has gotten it done. Not in our news because it's embarrassing to mention news, Chase Edmonds, the perceived backup for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is expected to go on IR and miss the entire season. So if anyone is stepping up for the Bucs, it's going to be Bucky Irving, and I think that he's going to come in and make Rashad White not not torch him but make it so that his ADP that you're drafting Rashad White at you're a little bit disappointed I feel like you're not embarrassed like this is embarrassed to love these players you're embarrassed to love I feel like this is almost a reverse embarrassed to hate on Travis Etienne and Rashad White.

Sure, you can look at it that way. You're like, I'm down on those guys because of their backups. I watched every preseason Bucky Irving snap earlier this morning, and Sean Tucker also had a really strong preseason. The biggest thing with Irving's size is not, to me, that it's prohibitive for him to have a role on the offense with Rashad White healthy. It's more that taking him or believing in him,

I don't think that there's any chance under the sun where if Rashad White went out, it's all Bucky Irving. I would think it would be a committee behind them. Yeah, I could agree with that. He's 20 pounds under where Rashad White is, a couple inches shorter, and he looked pretty good, looked pretty spicy. I still don't see a world, like I know I'm,

like I've been demonstrative about Rashad White. I don't see the world where the team trusts Irving above White on third down. And Irving's, one of his special skill sets, ironically, also one of Keyshawn Fonz, also one of Chase Edmonds, everybody that's been part of this depth in backfield. Edmonds was a prolific pass catcher in Arizona, never really came together in Tampa Bay.

They're trying to find a complement there. But Irving seems like a very talented player. I just don't know what spelling Rashad White translates to for fantasy. I think if he does spell him as a pass catcher a little bit, you know, let's say a target and a half a game end up going to Bucky. That's a big deal. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about 24 targets that you would lose.

So that's dropping you from 70 down to the high 40s or the 50s. What are your thought processes with these two guys, Jason? Because Mike might be embarrassed to love them, but I would like to hear what you think. Yeah, I don't personally think that Bucky will really spell White. This team views Rashad White, I believe, as their bell cow. They drafted Bucky Irving because he's a talented, explosive, short-area burst guy that I think just at value where they were in the draft and they needed depth.

Seems like a smart pick with Chase Edmonds being out on IR for the year. I don't think it's a bad pick at all, but when push comes to shove and the games are being played, and this is also a team that is they're not that good but they still as they are fighting for playoffs obviously they made the playoffs last year shockingly um but my you know they're going to want to do everything they can to retain their jobs like this this staff thinks that white is their best chance to win these games so i have a hard time believing that he's going to be pulled off the field when he wasn't last year yeah i think the point there is great i mean this is a playoff team they didn't just make it they destroyed philadelphia in the playoffs that's

what happened this was not a failure of a team. This was a team that had a recipe for success that they literally spent the offseason committing money and capital to repeat. They believe that the weapon that they have is the weapons that they have are what they needed to win games. So if this was a team that really needed

a change, I think that would be a different discussion. I thought Rashad White was incredibly successful for this team. Yeah, he was, and it was great for fantasy for sure, but I do totally understand the point that what Bucky Irving does

well is the exact thing that caused Rashad White to be good for fantasy. So if that does, if that is what, you know, is changed, then Rashad White will be a disappointment but I go back to the things to remember episode where it was like if someone is really good on the field them drafting a backup is not going to pull them off yeah which but I don't apply that here I don't I don't look at what Rashad White did on the field last year and go, that's an elite player.

He is excellent in pass catching, absolutely. But, I mean, on the ground, I know, Andy, the workhorse, you're talking about it, but for a workhorse to be under four yards, you destroy Najee Harris whenever you possibly can for his inefficiency. He's more efficient than Rashad White on the ground. I don't question Najee Harris getting the workload in Pittsburgh

to some side backup. Najee gets the work. Sounds like you should love Najee. I would be embarrassed to love Najee. That's for sure. To wrap it all up, I still have Rashad White at RB14. He's being drafted as the 13th.

So this is not a panic alarms in the streets. This is I'm looking towards the end of the season, and if things go wrong for Rashad White that's that is what has happened I get it and because of the inefficiency on the ground his situation to me is more fragile I think I think there are there are definitely people in your camp of being very worried about Rashad White yeah I mean that that was uh I mean that was us last year and we took the L on that. So I'm going to learn my lesson, and I'll be in on White. Barry White, that is.

Yes. You will become him. Let's talk about another guy. I am embarrassed to love this guy. He's a nasty boy of summer. Another running back. It's Zach Moss and oh no I have I've joked this whole off season that he's my dude and I've always loved him um if you are new to the show or you didn't understand

the joke I did not like Zach Moss as a prospect I think that's that's not that's not that's not telling the whole truth I thought Zach Moss as a prospect was terrible yes there we go and I loved being proven right for his whole career until all of a sudden last year in uh you know backup form for Jonathan Taylor he was awesome you know he started the season he He was really, really good. Obviously, when Jonathan Taylor came back, the whole Zach Moss experiment was over. And now he goes. He signs a new contract with the Bengals. He's 26 years old. He's entering his fifth year in the NFL.

And I like him. I really, really do. I think that he's going to be the replacement of Joe Mixon I think he fits the Zach Moss fits the Bengals running scheme really really well and there's just you know there there's there is um I think there's two camps right like you're either on Chase Brown or you're on Zach Moss right I'm I'm on the Zach Moss side I I think there's two camps, right? Like you're either on Chase Brown or you're on Zach Moss. Right. I'm on the Zach Moss side. I think he is the veteran that they will put in place for protection,

for short yardage, for everything. I think Brown profiles as a change of pace kind of explosive backup versus having the veteran presence of Moss in there. What do you do when Samaj P. Ryan ends up back on this team? That will be very... Vomit. He vomits. I will no longer be embarrassed to love Moss because I will not. The Zach Moss history is so wild.

I mean, we've talked about Devin Singletary in New York. Devin Singletary lost the battle with Zach Moss in Buffalo. You've got to go back and remember that. Like, Zach Moss was the one that kept Devin Singletary off the field. He seems to be beloved by these. You know, we didn't like him. We thought he was slow and Jason made it very vocal. But, like, Zach Moss has – he earned that role in Buffalo. Then he moves on. He's a backup, and he takes it very vocal. But Zach Moss, he earned that role in Buffalo.

Then he moves on. He's a backup, and he takes over the league. And now he goes to a great situation. I won't lie. I mean, I put a lot of stock in what Zach Taylor said about Chase Brown. He has shown a great deal of giving him a lot of praise as far as what the expectation expectation is i'm mostly worried that there'll be a a committee of disappointment yeah i mean that that's the truth you don't have to be

in one of the two camps where you're either chase brown or zach moss you could also be in the third camp which very well might be the right camp to be in which is these two guys are going to platoon and and make it irrelevant but mike talks talks about how bad Joe Mixon was, how inefficient. And it's like Joe Mixon was the running back five with all of his inefficiencies because the offense is good. They're going to pass to their running back. I think that will be Zach Moss. He's so late in drafts. So that's one of my two guys that I'm embarrassed to love. And who's the other one? The other one, I'm hanging with Mr. Cooper. Amari Cooper.

This is like I... I think he's really, really good. And I think the reason I'm embarrassed is... I don't think that's an embarrassing statement at all. No, it's Deshaun Watson. Because I don't think Deshaun Watson is good. I do not think he's good. I think's lost it you think he was good I think he was no he's not good a good football player and um yeah Amari Cooper you look at his 17 game pace with the five full games that

Watson played last year and it was I mean it was it was world beater stuff 95 for 1632 yards and seven touchdowns that was the guy he was looking for in the offense and even when Deshaun Watson was playing putridly he still found Amari Cooper because Amari Cooper is a really talented wide receiver I don't think he's aged out so I where he but every time every time i'm on the clock i'm like do i really want to put it the eggs in the basket you would have to watch watson play quarterback in order to watch your wide receiver yeah and i don't want to do that yeah marie cooper is like put your hand up cover cover that over half the screen i guess usually the quarterback's in about the same spot.

Just put a piece of tape on the screen. Can AI blur him? So you just see the ball come out of his blur mark on the screen? You could see the offensive line, and then all of a sudden the ball is whoo. What if we AI in Joe Flacco? It's the same play, but we just put Joe Flacco on the camera. Would that be – because that was a good time. It but also you know Amari Cooper he was good with both players and the reason is because Amari Cooper is is super he is a very very talented wide receiver

he's always open he's always in the right spot he's got great hands. And this depth chart, like I know they're trying to fix it, right? They go out and get Jerry Judy. Jerry Judy is not that good. He is just a guy. He was supposed to be this great, you know, otherworldly wide receiver, and he's not. He is an average NFL wide receiver. He's a starting caliber NFL wide receiver.

But Watson has his eyes set on Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper or Tee Higgins? Tee Higgins. Okay. Higgins is two spots later than Amari Cooper. I'm big fan of Tee Higgins. George Pickens or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Terry McLaurin or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Zay Flowers or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Calvin Ridley or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Zay Flowers or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Calvin Ridley or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Rashi Rice or Amari Cooper? Rashi Rice.

Okay. It's not as bad as you thought it was. I am embarrassed to love a player that has finished wide receiver 28, 21, 25, 14, and 28. 14? All right. I am embarrassed to love Terry McLaurin this year. I think it's going to be the year for Terry McLaurin. I'm also embarrassed to love Will Levis this year.

And I think Will Levis is... That one's way more embarrassing. I think it would be kind of impossible for me to be as bullish about Calvin Ridley without believing in Will Levis. I don't think – Bananarama! Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, Bananarama himself, I think he's way better than people think he is, and I think you're going to see it this year. I think if you're in a two-quarterback league and you're deciding how late to wait for that second quarterback, which is something that Mike loves to do, is to kind of push that down the draft a little bit. I just like to feel alive. Yeah. how late to wait for that second quarterback, which is something that Mike loves to do, is to kind of push that down the draft a little bit.

I just like to feel alive. Yeah. Well, look, Will Levis will make you feel alive. Yeah, he will. Never been so close to death as drafting Will Levis. Tennessee was a different team last year. This was Derrick Henry. This was Mike Vrabel. This was a disappointment of a season.

It was also a season in which Will Levis took over halfway through the year. No offseason, no practice, no Calvin Ridley. To me, he's exciting. He has the opportunity to come out and be a gunslinger. That's what you want to see. So is he dangerous? Horribly dangerous. Is he going to make some mistakes?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. But so does Jameis Winston, and we love the ride. So Will Levis, to me, I think he's sneaky. I think when you look at the very last third of quarterbacks in ADP and you say, can this player do anything for my team in the range of outcomes? Like Derek Carr's range of outcomes, right? Bryce Young the range of outcomes and like Derek Carr's range of outcomes right Bryce Young's range of outcomes Bo Nix's range of outcomes Gino Smith's range of outcomes like to

me Will Levis has some of the hot like you look at him and Matthew Stafford like Stafford despite the weapons we've been on the ride for a really, really long time with Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford spent the first seven weeks of last year almost repeating quarterback 15 every week. Will Lovis is going to have some games, man. He's going to have some three or four touchdown games this year. I'm booking it. Like his first game when he tricked us all and he goes out there and first game as a starter just throws for four touchdowns he he is a gunslinger

he is not afraid to throw the ball downfield he has much better weapons this year and adding calvin ridley so he was under pressure so much last year and not if you ask him yeah he had no idea he had no idea uh he can't see it um but they they did improve their offensive line i i don't mind taking a shot on Will Levis. I am curious, though, where he's going in drafts. Would you rather have Baker Mayfield or Will Levis? They're going on the edge of undrafted territory in a regular redraft. Levis is two spots behind.

I think I'd take Baker still. What about Deshaun Watson or Will Levis? That's a good one. I would probably take Watson because despite the frustration displayed, he played a handful of full games, and three of the five games he played, he was a top ten quarterback. Yeah, for fantasy he was a top 10 quarterback yeah for fantasy he was all right you you would have to cover your eyes and watch it but he ended up okay uh but terry mclaurin you know we saw dj moore emerge from the mist right this this kind of

perpetual we know you're good but it doesnatter list, and there are certain players on that list. DJ Moore came out last year with Justin Fields at quarterback and redefined his story as a fantasy weapon. And McLaurin has four straight 120-plus target 1,000-yard seasons. He just hasn't had the ability to put it together week after week. No Jahan Dotson. Diami Brown on the other side. We're figuring out Luke McCaffrey.

There's one guy. There's one guy and then there's a big gap. I believe in Jaden Daniels obviously. He's a my guy. These both have correlation. Jaden Daniels is my guy and so inadvertently i love terry mclaurin calvin ridley's my guy and inadvertently i love will levis um i'm embarrassed

because i've spent most of those five years telling you that mclaurin wasn't going to produce for you as there was hype going into every season so you know we got to stay water with what you believe about these offenses i think washington is going to be a little bit of a better team than people think they will be, and I think McLaurin is that guy. He's a dog. He's going to go out, and he's going to give you wide receiver one opportunities every week with a much better quarterback plus probably 24% target share in the offense.

I hope it comes together for him. I mean, the touchdowns have been a major problem. That's not something you generally get from a rookie quarterback. But you're telling me you can't get to six? You can't get to seven? If you get to seven touchdowns, which is well within the range of outcomes for a rookie quarterback, you're going to have a much, much better year than his ADP.

He is going in the late sixth round right now and he's also a player with great fatigue in the fantasy community so i don't think people want to take him yeah he seems like he'll be a wide receiver too let me see who's going around him and who's sexier name wise okay pickens i would probably take Pickens, but much sexier. I would go McLaurin there. Okay. Pickens is currently three spots higher in ADP. Keenan Allen. I'd go McLaurin.

I'll take Terry. Yeah. I mean, Christian Kurt. McLaurin. And then you've got to decide between McLaurin, number one, for Jaden Daniels or Tee Higgins. Tee Higgins. So that's a tough call. Tee Higgins has-

I feel like Tee Higgins needs to be in this list for you, Jason. I'm not embarrassed, man. You know what I mean? I love Tee Higgins. Tee Higgins has 2,000-yard seasons. Last year was a disappointment with only playing 12 games. But they're kind of similar. Higgins normally scores a touchdown or two more than McLaurin.

He'll catch fewer passes. He'll get fewer targets. Yeah. is a touchdown or two more than McLaurin. He'll catch fewer passes. He'll get fewer targets. Yeah, I mean, we talked about this last week of just whether or not wide receiver twos on good offenses are worth it, and they're usually very good picks. Who should be most embarrassed about the names mentioned today, Al?

I want to know your opinion because you've heard all the names. Who should walk out of here most embarrassed that this was put onto a podcast? I think I'd have to go with Mike. Yeah, he went deep. Yeah, because I put myself out there. The players I talk about are Jarosz.

Why do you love them? I'm embarrassed. I already told you why. No, that's fair. I have put my shame out into the world. Man, I hope Tank Bigsby can redeem himself from last year yeah you know what and you don't get to be on the ride you're banished i will watch from afar you are banished yeah he's my my guy that's true that's true all right let's jump into some mailbag

mailbag um okay uh we have some questions here erica in palm beach florida what's everyone's temperature on brandon cooks this year it's a good question i just saw him go in that 15th round as well uh he's currently on my bench as a wide receiver for in redraft. I haven't heard anybody talk about him. And I was wondering if I should drop somebody... Drop him for somebody like Wicks or Mooney. So I wouldn't drop him for Mooney. I wouldn't drop him for Wicks either, honestly. I think he's in the

same tier as those players. I think that if everything works out for Brandon Cooks this year, he'll be a solid player. It's just if you're going to chase the upside where Dontavian Wicks, if it works for him, a lot of things have to happen on the chessboard. But if it works for Dontavian Wicks, then you're like,

oh, man, I stole a top 24 wide receiver where I don't think Brandon Cooks, he's not going to jump into that range. He'll just be a solid flex player. Yeah, and Brandon Cooks, to me, is a very good best ball pick. You know, if you look at how he's kind of converted into more of a touchdown guy, not a volume play. So if he gets a touchdown, you're happy. If he doesn't, his lows are really, really low.

Like last season, he finished as the wide receiver 36, but he had games of 5.7, 4.7, 2, 1.8, 1.2, 2.7, 3. Like he's just not an integral part of the offense. So you get the spike weeks when the touchdowns happen, but I don't want I would rather have a guy at the end of my bench be more the Dontavian Wicks personally where I'm going to move on from this player no matter what unless he comes out and says oh he he did level up he is on the field he is the guy that you know is the next big thing versus the you know used to be a thing um i can keep either kyron williams aaron and nashville writing and i can keep kyron

williams in round 10 or sam laporta in round 11 i've been going back and forth kyron i think we'd all say kyron in that one uh logan and utah hayballers just wondering if you are avoiding players with the same bye week or avoiding onesies with the same bye week. Well, I'm – Onesies being tight end and quarterback in most leagues. I mean, generally, I'm not drafting multiple onesies. There are times when I'm going to have two quarterbacks if I take them very late.

I mean, I imagine – But I don't really – I think what he's asking is you draft multiple onesies every draft because you draft a quarterback and a tight end. And so because you don't have depth at those two spots, you would have to sign off the waiver wire. So maybe you avoid having them on the same bye week because then you've got to sign two guys.

No, I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about that at all. I'm trying to grab the best players for the weeks they're on the field. And my roster is going to look so different. if this is not like a best ball league if this is just my home league my roster is going to look so different by week four than it did leaving the draft that I don't know what my bye weeks are going to be by the time bye weeks start rolling around unless you spent up on the two onesies that would be the one situation you might want to keep in the back of your head if you if you spent up on them two onesies. That would be the one situation you might want to keep in the back of your head if you spent up on them both.

But I'm not really thinking about it either. Sure. I mean, obviously, if you spend up and you get that Mahomes-Kelsey stack, I promise they have the same value. Yeah, that's a good point. Hey, we'll take a quick break and answer some more questions. All right, the next question comes in from Brandon. Have you ever left a fantasy draft where you were unsatisfied with your team,

and what did you think about it? Oh, yeah. Of course. I was the auctioneer of an auction draft that I was participating in, and that was impossible for me. I left that draft going i i don't i don't know why i drafted any of these people generally if it happens it's because there was a player like in the middle of the draft that i want that was my target i'm not prepared properly

for for them to be drafted and then i tilt and when you make a tilt pick right in the middle it usually turns into a second tilt pick and then you're upset with yourself in your draft so that's why you be ready be it's okay if your target gets taken from you have the other players ready all right bob writes in from ohio uh where are your tier-based draft rankings located? Yeah, so the Ultimate Draft Kit, you can go to myudk.com if you have it. That's just a quick URL, so you can always pull up the UDK. But all of our rankings, by default, in the Ultimate Draft Kit are going to show up in their tiers based on your scoring setting. Yeah, positional rankings.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's worth mentioning because people ask about like where are the tiers in dynasty where are the tiers in top 200 uh dynasty is so uh the reason we don't have tiers in dynasty is because you can draft your team for about a hundred different potential strategy types so like there's a there would be a different tier grouping if you were going to build a long-term team there's a different tier grouping if you were to build a team to win tomorrow yeah at some at some teams, Derrick Henry is an incredibly important dynasty

asset. At some teams, he is a very expiring, not valuable dynasty asset. Jose writes in, Mike, he says, Hey, Ballers, love the show. What would be the biggest change in strategy between drafting in a 12-team versus a 10-team league?

I'm going to throw one more in there. Somebody had asked recently on Twitter about a 16-team league. So what's the biggest difference in strategy that you find between a very large league or a smaller league like 10 and 18? So the 10 and the 8s, that's where everyone's team, their starting lineup is going to be awesome. So you have to find the small edges, which is the easiest one is your quarterback in your tight end position. When you are in the larger teams, I'm a little more focused on, I don't like the cost of spending an early round pick on a quarterback. Because depth, you lose it so quickly yes and and and then that might be a league where

I'm more likely to take the two quarterbacks at the end I'm taking you know I'm taking Jaden Daniels I'm taking Jared Goff uh just trying to find some upside at the position because I bypass it but and I mean this may sound like common sense but it's you need to be more informed about the nfl you need to be deeper in the weeds of paying attention to all these the cuts that are happening because there are there are there's movement happening right now in fantasy players it's not top usually top tier guys who are getting affected but it's those depth guys that are getting changed right now and you need to be on top of that news in a 16 team league suddenly you're talking about josh reynolds in denver suddenly you're talking about greg yes greg dorch in

arizona like those are names that are going to be not just oh maybe i'm getting maybe it's the last round pick that it gets lucky no these are like players you're probably playing like um it does like that's a good point mike i don't think we say that enough with the big team um the big leagues is just you need to go deeper. You're going to have to have more intel. All right. Website question from Garrett in Wyoming says, how many fantasy leagues are you guys in and how many of each kind?

Yeah. I mean, it depends on my number is always depending on what do you mean? Like, because are these the leagues I really care about? Then there's like four. There's four leagues that I really care about. Well, I'm probably in six, seven, eight leagues total. But there's a big four. We try to keep it that way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a hard thing to maintain, but I think this shows going to always benefit from us being dedicated and committed to a core small group of leagues where we are emotionally invested like every one of you and that's what we enjoy about fantasy there's not a lot of fun to me about having every player on every single team in every single league because then because I'm in 20 of them yeah you know so this play that you know oh he got a touchdown that that's good for me that's bad for me for every player across the league I think seven or eight years ago we both we all started um adding more and more and

more leagues and and we experienced that and so we we've cut down and we're trying to always be committed and dedicated to our primary leagues. My tip for people who ask, say, how do I know if I'm in too many leagues? If you get to Tuesday's waiver wire and you're not excited. Such a good point. If you're not excited to go into each and every league and be in the weeds. Because waiver wires, to really be successful you have to have a view of the entire league it's not just you know your team looking at what do you

need you have to be looking at what everyone else in the league needs because that's going to affect what you should bid if you're in fab that's going to affect when you know to. I'm burning the priority this week. So if you are not excited, you're in too many. If I have to go into 20 different waiver wires and cut Tink Bigby in 20 different waiver wires. All right. That is going to do it for today's show. A reminder, the ultimate draft kit available right now for your weekend drafts, for your weekday drafts. I mean, people are drafting all throughout this week with the NFL starting next Thursday. Head over to UltimateDraftKit.com

Get yourself equipped to dominate your drafts. Set that foundation for your season so you can go win a fantasy championship. We have the Fantasy Time Machine this week on one of our episodes. Great Scott! I got that right. Great Scott!

We got another mock draft. our final mock draft of the draft season. And then we've got a fantasy MVP episode, which is always very fun. And then next week, guess what? It's going to be football time. Oh, man. It's going to be football time. I can't freaking wait for football. I need the real thing.

It's coming. It's coming very quickly. All right. Catch you tomorrow. Goodbye. Bye-bye. 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.