Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Shocking Stats from 2023 + New Rules, Grandpa Jokes - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/20

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Surprising stats on today’s fantasy football podcast! James Cook, Rachaad White, Lamar Jackson, and others! Find out which NFL team made fantasy football history in a bad way. Plus, special rules that should be considered in fantasy football leagues everywhere! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for February 20th, 2024. Get the lowest price on the 2024 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Order before March 1st for an entry to win a Listener League Spot! Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

Tuesday episode of the show. Jason Moore is here. Yellow. Mike, the fantasy hitman Moore is here. Yellow. Mike, the fantasy hitman present accounted for. Blue. No. No. No.

I was hoping you weren't going to do that. Why? I'm Andy Holloway. Why? I don't know. I don't know. I don't like fun.

Is that fun? Was that fun? Yeah. I had a good time. Any joke? That's my kid's policy. Any joke is a good joke? Any joke is a good joke? Any joke is a good joke.

As long as you're not being serious. There are a handful of jokes that are not good jokes. I mean, I just can't stand when they're sad. And we're pretty close on that last one because it's like- It's a color joke. Did you get your hair cut? If you say, oh, I've got lots of them cut, I'm going to slap you. Yeah, see, that's where it was.

I'm going to slap you in the face. Really? Yeah, because you're- That is an ultimate dad joke. That is a dad's dad joke. Yeah. That's a grandpa joke. A G-Pod joke.

It's unacceptable to me. Those are, you know, oh. Did the deuces like the color joke that Mike made? Were you down with that? Yeah, it was good. Yeah. Oh, boy. That's a man who's not sure which boss to

please it's it's not a joke that's gonna get deep belly laughter probably shouldn't be discussed really it's just more of a yeah yeah no i mean say hi mike hi mike oh my god just just get rid of my life those there's a handful of those jokes that just irritate me like crazy. Okay, I'm making a note. Wait to say them more or say them less? No, making a note to point out Jason's jokes to himself. Oh, no. Thank you.

Oh, no. They're going to be good. No. And you will have to look in the mirror and you will have a reckoning of, are they funny or do you tell bad jokes? We'll find out. Well, we got an episode for you today. We're diving into I think we have six shocking stats from 2023.

They're electric. They're very interesting, and they all have follow-up questions that we'll discuss on the show today. As we look forward to 2024, it is a great time to head over to ultimate draft kit.com. all have follow-up questions that we'll discuss on the show today. As we look forward to 2024, it is a great time to head over to ultimatedraftkit.com because if you pick up the UDK before March 1st, you are entered to win a Listener League spot, a chance to come and play with the three of us in the Listener League. You get the lowest possible price. If you get the UDK Plus, you get a chance to jump right into the Dynasty Pass.

There are three releases of the Dynasty Pass, the pre-combine, post-combine, and post-NFL draft releases with rankings. We've got all the college production profiles in there, rookie mock drafts, team opportunity pages, trade targets, a lot of good Dynasty content. And the UDK Plus also unlocks the draft analyzer when we released that this summer. And the Ultimate DFS Pass, you'll get access to that throughout the 2024 season. All of that's available at ultimatedraftkit.com right now. So please check that out. And let's jump into the quick question of the day. What is one uncommon rule you think should be added to every league and how?

That's very strong, though. The every league part? Yeah. To some leagues you're saying? I like my answer. First, it's a fun thing, but I'm not mandating this. Well, the second part of the question was, how do you know where to draw the line of trying to implement new rules,

which I also relate to that question because there are people in our league that just, they're just always coming up with some new, new craziness. I think the, you just don't need to add things to add things. If you find something that makes your league better, then vote and consider it. And a lot of times what we've done in our league is we've done kind of what the NFL does, which is, hey, we're going to implement this this season. It's not like a forever rule change, and then if we like it,

we'll cement it and make it a forever rule change or not. Since I'm talking, I'll answer mine. This has shifted for me, Mike, to I want it in every league. Every single league I play in, now. I want it in every league. Yeah, I'm good with that one. Every single league I play in, now that I've played in this format enough, I prefer playing against the league median as well as the head-to-head matchup. I wasn't sure prior to really experiencing it if I would – because there's something fun about anyone beating anyone on any given week.

The worst team can surprise the number one seed. And so I thought maybe, and what playing against league median is, what that means, is basically every single week you're playing two wins and losses. You're playing against your opponent, and then also you get a win or a loss if you're in the top half of scorers that week or if you're in the bottom half of scorers that week. So you can go 2-0 on a week, 1-1 on a week, or 0-2. And I thought it might take a little bit of that randomness away

in a negative way, but I'm telling you, I never, ever, ever cared more about the rest of my league and how they were doing and how their matchups were going and I like I paid more attention in those leagues where it was like okay I'm not just looking at my matchup I'm saying okay I'm I really want my guys to do well and I want his guys to do bad but I'm looking at the whole league oh am I going to cross that threshold? Am I going to be in the top half? I need to score more points or whatever.

It was just more fun for me. You probably couldn't find out until the next day because of how added complexity and where you knew teams would end up. Well, I mean, you're not going to find out until the last snap of the week, but that's probably the same for your matchup as well. So it didn't. You can project. It wasn't like a bit of a, you know, I guess it's not quite in that tier,

but the whole argument like the participation trophy situation, right? Not at all. Where, like, you lose some of the extremes of emotion, win or loss, because you've got this consolation prize of the median. 100%. That was my worry. Things like that. I really genuinely did not.

I thought it would make it less fun. More fair, but less fun. There you go. And it made it more fair and more fun, which is why I think every league should have it. I like the point, Jay, of pointing out that your rooting interest going into Monday night is no longer just that person's matchup. There could be a bunch of things that could change. And the overarching, to me, the reason you go with that is,

I guess, to eliminate, you were worried it was eliminate fun, but it's eliminate the really bad beats of, you're the second highest scorer in the league. You just happen to play against the first. Meanwhile, some turd over here wins a weekend with 68 points. Meanwhile, you have 150. And it's just like –

Some turd? Oh, that's a turd. That's got to be Josh. It feels so, so bad. And it does happen a lot. So in the leagues that I've played with the league median, it doesn't seismically change everything, but it does prevent a little bit of the weird where, like,

the team scored the seventh most points and they sneak in with the sixth seed because they just happened to get that schedule this year. You guys are somewhat persuasive here. I feel like on this one in particular, I'm stuck in the maybe too much of an old ways mindset. Whereas, you know, it does,

it does really, really suck to be the second highest scorer and not get any credit for the week. It also, you know, I haven't done it. We haven't done it in our main leagues. However, I could see it making the weekend more exciting in the respect that

sometimes you face an opponent and it is an unmitigated blowout early and the weekend's over. Whereas if you are fighting for a median score, you are rooting. Like, let's say you already know you're going to lose your matchup. At least you're rooting for something the rest of the weekend. Yeah. I'm telling you, if you haven't played in this, look to add it in your leagues.

I will be bringing it up to vote in our league of record probably the next four years until I convince everyone to do it. Ooh, the odds of that going through are low, huh? I don't know. Third year is the third time's the charm. Yeah, sounds like No, I don't know. About 30 times the track. Yeah, sounds like we've got three yes votes potentially here, but it really is fun, so I highly recommend it. Yeah, some turd already said decline.

He's already voting against. It makes sense. It makes sense for him to not want that because it makes it more fair and takes away his illegitimate wins. To me, that's the rule that I think does actually improve things. Your other idea is more like fun. It's first downs, and it's been gaining more and more in popularity, and the argument for it is simply you're – Well, like half a point or what?

Yeah. For a first down? I don't know what it needs to be, a half, a full point. Because just like a PPR, where you get a whole point just for catching the ball, that to us over time felt like that's too overpowered, where if a receiver is catching a pass for two yards, they should not be getting more points than an RB who just carried the ball nine yards. You know what I mean?

So you have to find the balance. But that trying to at least – So just to be clear, you're talking about rewarding players when they gain a first hit. Yeah. So it's third and one. Running back carries the ball. They only get two yards. But those in the NFL, that's humongous.

So you just want to make Jalen Hurts even more powerful. And they're more difficult to get. That could be a problem. Not every two yards is as easy and difficult to get. When the defense is stacked up against the run because they've got to stop you for one yard, that's a tough yard to get. So the point being,

fantasy football is not real life NFL football. But if you can find some places where it starts to match a little bit more, I'm not opposed to it. According to Mr. Borgannoni himself, he said it double rewards touchdowns because touchdowns count as first downs in the NFL. Yeah, they shouldn't in this type of a scoring format.

Yeah, you'd have to make that adjustment. I don't know if you can. You can very easily. You make touchdowns worth five points. Yeah, that would fix it. You solved the problem, Jason. A problem was put in front of you, and a mere moment, you solved it. Yeah, well, to be fair, I already knew that solution.

He was figuring that out while you were thinking more color jokes. Yeah. Well done. All right, let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Alright, we are into the

offseason mode. A lot of chatter right now around the NFL, around players and whether they'll be on the same rosters in coming weeks. Today's the first day teams can designate franchise and transition tags. The franchise tag deadline is March 5th. Wow. Free agency less than a month away. So you already have teams talking about, you know, like Kirk Cousins' situation is an interesting one to watch, right? Unrestricted free agent.

Yeah, I mean, I think. Can't be franchise tagged. I think half the league should be going after him. He's talked about giving the Vikings a discount, but I mean, if I'm another GM and I am a quarterback away, there's not quarterbacks out there to get. So he'll get a bunch of money offered to him. See, the only reason I could be surprised the other direction

is because we sat here last offseason expecting an actual battle for Lamar Jackson and the league ignored him. Like if the league knew last year that Jackson was going to come back and the league knows this year that he just prefers to be with the Vikings, maybe you won't get competition. It wasn't really. This is a different battle because Lamar Jackson was I believe non-exclusive

franchise tag. Would you say that there was a mistake made by the rest of the league? Oh yeah. We said it then. It was a mistake by the I guess not because the Ravens won. But I was like, this is a mistake by the Ravens. How am I another team? And all I got to do is give up two first-round picks.

If I don't have a quarterback, I'm probably willing to spend one first-round pick on a QB. Then it's just one bonus one to get Lamar Jackson, and I give him the new contract. But in addition to that, you are doing a lot of the team said they didn't want to do the work for the Ravens because the Ravens could then just say okay I'm going to sign that deal. Which that's so lacy.

That's unbelievable. Well here's the thing. We could maybe get you know a franchise changing quarterback here but Red tape but I got tea time tomorrow morning. I got to be out of the office by 3 p.m. today. I can't

possibly make it happen. That's why they need AI to write these up. How many people are doing the work here? Do they have one part-timer? We kind of said it. I think everybody just knew it was going to happen. Jimmy G suspended for the first two games of 2024 for violating the performance-enhancing substance policy.

The Raiders are expected to release him already. And I saw the Raiders projected in a mock draft this morning to take J.J. McCarthy in the draft. But they are definitely a team primed to get a quarterback. I mean, the gift that the Raiders were given, because I believe, Kyle, you can correct me if I'm wrong, they can now essentially, his guaranteed money is gone because of this suspension. Sure, they probably were going to cut him, but they were going to have this huge money hit. And now because of this weird suspension, they get to say, well, we're not paying you the money,

and we get to get out of this. I'm going to be honest. They didn't work that well. Yeah. Whatever he was on. Well, I don't know what. I imagine this is recovery from his injury, but we don't know. We don't have the information.

The Seahawks informed geno smith he'll remain on the roster for 2024 for now yeah i was gonna say that that's not exactly how i had read read it but the uh the contract is fully guaranteed they could trade him yeah he's guaranteed contract now there was a period of time where it was like we knew that his money was going to go to him and they needed if they were going to for sure move on they would have done it by friday tank dell expected to be ready for otas i think we're all excited for that so um typical recovery timeline for his injury was four to six months i have officially between the Tank Dell and Nico Collins, I have officially switched 12 times.

Oh. 12 times. Where are we? Right now, I'm Nico. Right now, I'm Nico. All right. Now, you were Tank last week. That's what I'm saying, man.

I like both, and I don't know who I like more. I bet you like the one that's drafted at a lower cost by the time draft day comes around. I have seen- What if they're back to back? I was going to say I've seen them very close in some ADPs. Nelson Aguilar, one-year deal to come back to the Ravens. They were so happy. Okay.

All right. That is it for news and notes. We'll take a quick break and come back with some shocking stats from last year. Just checking in real quick, Jason. Is it still Nico? No, it's Tank. It's Tank now. You've made the switch?

Yep. Wow. I'm telling you. It's very short term. Yeah. He needs one of those reversible jerseys that's just like one's Nico and one's Tank. All right, let's jump in. How'd you do that?

I'm not even mad. That's amazing. All right, we're looking at the 2023 season at some fascinating, interesting stats that we dug up, that the research team here dug up. Dugged up? Dugged up. Oh, yeah. Doing team here dug up. Dug up? Dug up. Oh, yeah.

Doing real good. Lamar Jackson was the MVP of the National Football League. It was a far cry production-wise from his first MVP campaign in 2019. That year he had run for 1,200 on the ground, seven touchdowns on the ground, threw for 36 touchdowns through the air. This year it was 3,600 passing yards. I remember there was quite a bit of off-season debate on that number.

We were talking about whether we thought he could get to 4,000 with Todd Monken. Didn't happen, 3,600, 24 touchdowns, 821 on the ground, five touchdowns on the ground. But the numbers that are very interesting is that Lamar Jackson was almost perfect when targeting any Ravens receiver in the slot. And it's kind of wild, the passer rating in 2023. And this includes Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, Nelson Aguilar, Isaiah Likely, Odell Beckham, Rashad Bateman.

His passer rating to those players, 137, 130, 133, 154. That was Isaiah Likely, by the way. 100, Beckham was the lowest, and then Rashad Bateman, 140. So, you know, he had a dominant season targeting those players in the slot. Very interesting. It is interesting. They weren't very good on the outside. And I wonder if that, how much do you think is an indictment of the players

that were on the outside? You know, the Odell Beckham, Rashad Bateman, they're on this list, but they had very few targets from the slot because they're playing on the outside. I was going to bring it up of it may have something to do with just Lamar's comfort for learning this new system. It's a new system, learning it, and he was more comfortable in between the numbers where there's tape of go watch Rashad Bateman because that's a huge question of what happened? How is this first round wide

receiver who had a couple good games last year then then lost the season to injury how did he just vanish and there's plenty of routes of seeing him beat his defender into a like a real easy catch but for but lamar is just not looking at there was a disconnect i was hoping you'd bring that up yeah because the there were a lot of misthrows down the sideline. There were only 11 of his touchdowns to non-slot situations. So that was the 26th ranked in the league, one fewer than the Cardinals. So there wasn't – I mean, I'm sure it's a little chicken and egg,

but at the same time, like he went with his comfort level and he's also a player that, you know, pulls the ball down and runs it. And so, you know, will teams adjust to this next year? I think that's going to be a big question mark heading into the year. If you have, if you drafted Lamar Jackson after his first MVP season, you had some years of struggle and so it's always going to be one of those dart throw situations but he was dominant throwing it to you know andrews and likely and flowers in particular yeah i i think that's where he thrives a little bit more but I don't see this as prescriptive for the future of, you know, this was an outlier of just being literally perfect passer rating whenever targeting the slot.

I can't imagine that that's sticky. They struggled when their defense couldn't give them a lead. Like they were not a play from behind type of offense, which also fits in with... The reason they weren't good from behind is they couldn't throw the ball downfield. Their drives had to take a long time to get there. They really need an outside

threat. If Mike Evans came here, I don't know if they've got the money to afford it, but it would be awesome. Part of it is personnel. If you've got your two best receivers are definitely mark andrews and zay flowers well and those two guys are living in the slot so right it makes sense that that's where he's more effective if you can bring in a good outside wide receiver that would that would be something special to see all right let's turn the page here nfl Draft Gold, we'll call it.

For the ninth consecutive year, a team drafting in the top eight of the NFL Draft also won their division. This year it was the Houston Texans. They went from 3-13-1 to 10-7. And eight of those nine teams that have done that. This is the real stat to me. Eight of those nine teams were in the top five of the draft so you've had eight times in nine years where if you picked in the top five one of those teams ended up winning their division which is crazy that is crazy this last year you say okay well it was because you got cj stroud i mean that that was the the massive difference maker but you

look back at at some of the others, and it wasn't always the draft pick, the first-round hit. You know, Trayvon Walker last year for the Jaguars did it. He was okay, but he wasn't a sensational rookie. But that was also the – that's going from – what's his face? Urban Meyer, right? Yeah. So you have the terrible Urban Meyer into – Well, I think you had a head coaching change for most of these.

Yeah, when you're picking in the top five. I mean, Houston did last year too. But to jump up that many wins... They jump up on average 6.7 wins. That's crazy. Just to put that into perspective, if that trend continues, here are the top eight teams in this draft. Carolina, Washington, New England, Arizona, the Chargers, the Giants,

Tennessee, and Atlanta. So if you're picking one from the top five or the top eight there to win their division, the two teams that stand out to me, if you're going top five, it would be the Chargers. And if you go top eight i'd go atlanta yeah that atlanta seems to be the most likely one because that i mean there were seven and ten pretty much contending to the for the division until the last couple couple games yeah i i think if we're going top eight i would pick tennessee uh simply because that they because they've got a beatable division.

And if we're going top five, I would pick the Chargers. But again, they've got Patrick Mahomes to worry about. I would actually go with the Cardinals. The Cardinals. I think you're right. They tore it down last year. They got rid of all their talent. They've got a ton of cap space.

Now they've got Kyler Murray back for a full season. Obviously, you've got the Niners there, so that's difficult. But we've seen that the Super Bowl losing team very rarely has a wonderful follow-up season. All right. The Washington Commanders became the first NFL team since 2015 to lead the NFL in pass attempts. Yeah. And yet did not contribute a top 20 running back, a top 24 wide receiver, or a top 12 tight end in fantasy football.

There was excitement about Eric Biennemi, Dotson. You know, you had a good start for Brian Robinson. Yeah. Everyone's always excited about Terry McLaurin. That's the default state of the offseason. Just never continues into the season. So not an impressive stat for Washington fans. Pretty hard to do.

You know, when Washington does that, and then you get top 15 wide receivers, two of them, from Houston with a rookie quarterback, talk about a surprise from fantasy perspective. If the commanders do draft a quarterback at two, which seems likely. It does. Will any of these Washington options end up worth the investment in fantasy? Oh, man.

What's their average draft position? The story would be bounce back dotson right uh-huh um mclaurin has a quarterback right number seven seventh quarterback or however many he's had the first time he's had a good one though that'll be the narrative the enemy's gone BNM is gone as well. So, no. That's my answer. Your answer is that the offensive pieces there with a rookie quarterback are not going to do it. We've got them, Jason. We've got your basketball ADPs. Oh, all right, all right. Do you want to guess or do you just want me to give them to you?

Just kidding. Terry McLaurin, wide receiver, 35. Oh, baby. I'll definitely draft him there. That's interesting. I mean, he was the wide receiver 28 this past season with... He could finish as high as 27. I think he was wide receiver 14

the year prior. That's a return. Brian Robinson Jr., running back 28. That's not bad either. That's not bad. Dotson is the wide receiver 55! And Curtis... Don't forget about Curtis Samuel

or I guess maybe we can now that Sam Howell is out of town man that guy loved Curtis Samuel what is the lesson there is the lesson that you can be fooled my takeaway here is where volume is almost everything for the running back position.

For a quarterback, which translates into your wide receivers, efficiency is a huge part of the formula. I just feel like we're going to be in the pendulum swinging, argument making. Then you've got a case for everybody, right? We went into this offseason saying, we said Washington might throw the ball a ton and be one of the leading teams in passing. They were number one.

We meant pass attempts. We said Sam Howell might throw it a bunch, and that could be good. He did throw it a bunch. It was not good. So it's like, but then if you focus on a low pass attempt efficiency team, we're like, ah, we need more pass attempts. It just feels like I've heard both arguments a lot in the offseason. Well, and you're going to have both arguments here coming into 2024

because it depends on what you believe in Drake May or Jalen Daniels. If you think those guys are great and you think they can truly see Jay Stroud. I mean, I do think, like, let's say Kirk Cousins came. They decide to go out and sign Kirk Cousins. Yeah, I think Terry McLaurin would be great. That won't happen. No, no, no, it won't.

But my point is, Terry McLaurin would be great if he had Kirk Cousins. So if Drake May is a C.J. Stroud, is a Justin Herbert, which I've heard that comp a lot for him, well then, yeah, it is a value. Now, historically speaking, I prefer to bet against wide receivers with rookie quarterbacks. It is very, very rare, Tank Dell and Nico Collins aside, for wide receivers to succeed with rookie quarterbacks, even future good rookie quarterbacks or good quarterbacks in their rookie season. So I'll be betting against a massive breakout, huge success. But given where those ADPs are right now,

it seems like they're still probably a little undervalued. All the risk is baked in. All right, stat number four for you. Kyle has titled this one Time to Wave the White Flag. Speaking of Rashad White, who finished as the RB7 on the season. However, his 3.64 yards per carry is the lowest for a top 15 running back over the last five years. His 0.7 fantasy points per opportunity was below the league average. And if you look historically, this is where it gets interesting. If you look at the last 14 running backs who

finished top 10, but below the league average in fantasy points per attempt, which he was below the league average. Here's what happened there next year. So basically, if you had an outlier top performance with low efficiency numbers, what happened the next year? 13 of the 14 dropped in fantasy points per game. The average loss was 3.4 points per game. And only three of them remained in the top 10 that was Nick Chubb Zeke and Derrick Henry I don't think we are willing to hand those no that kind of a

title to Rashad White and they they remain in the top 10 because those are touchdown scorers Nick Chubb Derrick, Zeke, those guys were scoring touchdowns in those inefficient years. Now, that is part of why Rashad White was successful this year. He found the end zone a lot, but he does not project to be someone that regularly sees the end zone a ton. He hasn't so far in his career it was a lot through the air um and this isn't you know a team projected to really be a one of the top teams in the league so i think the bet will probably be against rashad white he's currently the running back 11 in average draft position yeah it's just how much do you care about that efficiency metric and and what we're saying here i mean i feel like

what you just said about Tampa Bay was exactly what was said about them heading into the season. Right. Like verbatim. No, I think I was way lower. I said this year I don't expect them to be a top team. I did expect Tampa Bay to be competing for like a top three pick. I genuinely thought they would be one of the worst in the league going into

last year. They were pretty darn, they were, they were good. They were, they were not a bad team at all. I think the, my takeaway here is,

is just if, if Rashad White gets the exact same opportunity and his team is competent, then Rashad White will be fine. But this is the, the warning sign of You might not be happy with that. I'm saying if anybody else of

value comes into this running back room and I'm saying like anybody, you could have a huge problem for Rashad White. Because if he remains this inefficient but his opportunities go down, then it will be like you really hope that they're trailing, and Rashad White gets five receptions that week.

Okay. I mean, you talk about a tough player to evaluate. It feels like RB11 is drafting him near his ceiling, so there's a lot of risk, according to this breakdown, in taking him at his peak. And currently the depth chart for the Bucs is Rashad White, Sean Tucker, and Patrick Laird. So they will be putting someone on here.

The only – Last year it was Sean Tucker and Chase Edmonds were like, that was the competition. And while I had hopes for Sean Tucker – But what if they don't? What if they don hopes for Sean Tucker. But what if they don't? What if they don't add someone? Yeah. What if they don't?

Will you feel like just re-rolling it? I will feel like it could be worth it. But even at RB11, that still is, you're taking on a lot of risk for a player who so far in his career is not known to like he can't h and you into a strong week he only scored on the ground five weeks right you have so he didn't score he had six touchdowns he only scored in five weeks he did have a lot of these 20 carry games which look i don't that's what i mean but, those are games that you're going to have necessarily damaged efficiency a lot of the time.

Because they're, you know, they won a lot of games down the stretch. So, won, you know, four straight victories, 20, 25, 21, 20. So, you know, you're salting away games, right? Sure. And I guess I just wonder if when you watched him was he an impressive player or not i thought he was a fine player i thought he was impressive in the passing game in the receiving game okay yeah that he's gonna be a tough one next year yes because i think most people you know it was a really good experience to have rashad why you

got him at a low draft cost and he was one of the most consistent running backs in all of football. And then next year, it might not be as pretty. You should be looking for the next Rashad White, not the one who's now overvalued. All right, number five here. Let James Cook. He had 1,567 yards from scrimmage. James Cook running back for the Bills. This number really blew me away. Third in the league behind CMC and Brees Hall. I was like, what? 1,567 yards from scrimmage. And yet. Did it feel

that way to you? No. Hearing that, like... No, but that's... Hearing that he had more yards from scrimmage behind everyone other than CMC and Brees Hall, I just, I was like, I got to vet this. No, it didn't feel that way. And I, you know, he caught fire at the back half of the year, but I think a lot of people, like myself, in the first half of the year,

you felt like you understood what he was going to be and what he was capable of being for the bills and then you either moved on or lived with that i moved on and then the team moved on from their offensive coordinator and then they moved directly to james cook as the engine for the team and he is one of only five running backs since 2000 to finish in the top 12 with two or fewer rushing touchdowns. So he only

had five carries inside the five because they were forcing him to Latavius Murray and later Leonard Five-Net. Ty Johnson got involved as well. And of course Josh Allen. Yeah. Which will not be changing.

Josh Allen is the largest threat to James Cook. Kyle, pull up James Cook best ball ADP if you could. It's frustrating because this is like the opposite of Rashad White, of this guy is going to be pretty great. So running back 12. So right off the bat, who would you rather have next year at this point, Rashad White or James Cook? Rashad White.

With the depth charts staying the same, it would be Rashad White for me. Right. But I'm saying in your mind, making the – which is like that's what basketball is right now. I'm going to make some projection bets of they're going to do this. Like to me, the Bills, I was going to say, I don't think they'll add anybody splashy, but they keep being in the news tied to big-name players of like they're going to try and trade for somebody.

Maybe that's just the media and nothing's actually coming from the team. But I would expect the Tampa Bay backfield to get a little bit more shook up. So at this point, I would say James Cook. You know, I could see both teams being very happy with what they have production-wise from both running backs. I mean, I do see that as an outcome.

You know, I think last year there was a lot of – Sean Tucker's name got brought up because we all said, well, they're not going to give everything to White, and then they did. They were like, yeah, we will. And James Cook, they tried not to give everything to James Cook, and that didn't go well. So it is interesting to have that dynamic. Now, whether they trust him around the goal line next year,

I wouldn't trust it, but you're also not betting on him on the back of an outlier touchdown season. Yeah, it's one of those situations where you know he's not going to be the goal line guy. If he gets five rushing touchdowns, him being goal line guy if he gets five rushing touchdowns him being James Cook if he gets five rushing touchdowns then you know four of them were long four of them were you know 10 20 yard rushing touchdowns they they no matter what we want no matter how much we say that's the role role. They should not take that role from him.

They've already proven that they are not going to have him in that role. They run packages. They take him out when they get down there, and they're going to keep doing it. Aaron Jones was the number nine running back in football with two touchdowns in 2022 on the ground, number 12 in football with four touchdowns in 2021. That's my biggest kind of comp situation there. Let me throw this out, though.

From weeks 1 through 10, so this is the old busted offense, 10 points a game, almost 15 opportunities per game, and a targets per route run of 13.9%. Weeks 11 to 18, 15 points a game, 20 opportunities a game, and the targets per route run jumped up to 22.6. So I can't necessarily offer you more rushing touchdown, but what if I offer you more guaranteed receptions for James Cook? And if you give James Cook a bunch of receptions, good things are going to happen.

Yeah. Does that change your mind? No, good things are going to happen. Yeah. Does that change your mind? No, because that's already what I was expecting. These guys are fairly comped. The efficiency is more with James Cook, but the total receiving numbers will still be on Rashad White's side. James Cook from that week 11 would have been on pace for 48 receptions. That's a good number, but that's not one of those PPR machines

that are going to flat out win for fantasy. Yeah, and I've seen the Bills mocked to select one of the top tier wide receivers in the draft. They should. If Diggs is back and they have one of those guys, I would imagine his target per out run is somewhere in between the first half and the second half of the year next year that's fine we'll which would be high we'll take more than 13.9 but dalton kinkade's involvement

i'm just i i don't know gabe the babe will probably not be there right that's why i said that's why i said dalton kcaid. They got to resign him. I just – this team showed me that they can flip their identity on offense in a moment's notice. So, you know, I think they could do it again. They could become that pass-first team, and it would be interesting. All right, quick break. Back with another big stat. Yeah. with another big stat.

Better be big. All right. This is such a big stat, Mike. Well, this will be a good discussion. Kyle Pitts is the discussion that we're going to have. Last year, despite playing only 10 games, Mark Andrews still outscored Kyle Pitts by 2.1 fantasy points. Yeah.

He's good. Somehow, Kyle Pitts led all tight ends in air yards last year. That seems shocking to me. He had the highest average depth of target, and yet his most yards gained on a single play was 39 yards, whereas Johnnie Smith, his own teammate, had multiple 50-plus yard plays. It did come out that Kyle Pitt's knee surgery was more complex than people had originally estimated. I'm so thankful to hear that,

not because he had to go through a more complex surgery, but because there's a reason he didn't look almost robotic at times. Like he didn't know how to pivot properly. And so this is a very, very young player on a team where the majority of targets, like the highest percentage in the league, went to tight end last year. It didn't work out for Kyle Pitts. We're having the same discussion every single offseason. So is there

hope entering year four? I have my thoughts, but I want to hear from you guys. There's definitely hope because he's 23 years old. There's an offensive coordinator change and Johnnie Smith had the big long plays, but they weren't air yard plays.

I'm sick of seeing Kyle Pitts pretty much used exclusively 20 yards down the field. Where's just the regular tight end plays that all these, you know, when you watch David Njoku just get right, you're just running right across the field. You know, three yards in front of the line of scrimmage, just run across. That's where you need to get a talented athlete like Kyle Pitts involved and the fact that they're like if Arthur Smith was here this year there's things I would like I'd still like the running game I'd still be in on Bijan but I'd be 100% out on Kyle Pitts his utilization isn't right I think that even with a bad quarterback which I project they will have

even with a bad quarterback if the way they use Kyle Pitts changes he can be valuable if you watched him last year that was part of the struggle I don't think those underneath routes were going to work

because he couldn't get in and out of breaks without falling down sometimes so getting him the ball in that intermediate space I don't think those underneath routes were going to work because he couldn't get in and out of breaks without falling down sometimes. So getting him the ball in that intermediate space, maybe he's more healthy this year. So where do you land on? I land on plenty of hope. Yes. I mean, we're coming off a year where we're heralding David Njoku in year seven and Evan Ingram in year seven, like young athletic tight ends, assuming he is healthy and able to get back to full health. He has elite skills at the position that a lot of guys don't possess. And I think we can have more confidence in, you know, Raheem Morris and Zach Robinson

on the offensive side of the football to hopefully use their weapons. You know, a lot was being made of the fact that Raheem Morris instantly named, you know. Drake London. Drake London and Bijan. Like, I've seen some follow-up discussions, including ones with Bijan and them just talking about Kyle Pitts' utilization and the weapon, the special talent that he is. So, Hope, yeah, I'm not giving up Hope. He's the tight end 11 right now in best ball.

But again, remember, and I want to say this a couple times this offseason, we mentioned the best ball draft positioning because they're happening right now. Right. There's a lot of those going on. It is our best estimate of how people are valuing players. But there's also some variation in best ball compared to redraft leagues in the sense that you know when you're you're in the middle of a best ball draft right now jason when you take best ball players you're also valuing some components that are different oh for sure like upside like if kyle pitts if you if you outlaid all the tight ends in football

on a on a piece of paper with their lowest possible and highest possible seasons. You're drafting according to some of those highest possibles. You want yourself to have a chance at getting a top 10 tight end, or I'm sorry, a top 5 tight end from the tight end 11 spot. Yeah, and it's not even exclusive to how they finish the season, but how big of weeks individually can they put up? Who has the ability at tight end to put up a hundred yard, have a 70 yard touchdown despite, you know,

obviously this last year that not seeming like Kyle Pitts' cup of tea. He certainly has that in the cards from what he was drafted to be. So yeah, best ball ADP is different. I do think next year if he stays around there, if he stays around the last tight end drafted in your league. Why not? I'll probably be grabbing two tight ends, which I don't ever do. But if I can grab it.

John U and Kyle. Exactly. If I can grab Pitts as my second tight end at the very end of a draft, why not? See if they'll use him right. And if he has that breakout. And if not, cut bait and move on. Yeah, Zach Robinson did come out, their new offensive coordinator,

and talk about Pitts and Bijon specifically having formational versatility, being able to move them around. Both of those guys can be slot receivers for you based on the formation. So, no, hope is not gone, But a lot of the debate around Kyle Pitts is centered around, you know, projecting him to be a breakout in years past. And I had a year I believed, and I had a year I was more out than anybody last year. So, somewhere in the middle. Yeah, don't give up hope quite yet.

He's too young. If he looks the same next year, I'll be worried. That's fair. Because we didn't know a lot about what was going on. We just watched it and we were like, eh. Yeah, hopefully they with the new coaching staff and being a young, unsuccessful

team, I would imagine you will see Kyle Pitts in preseason and that will be, you know, he doesn't have to be involved for you to see how he's running a route and watch a couple plays and say, does he look like he used to look, or does he look like he looked last year? And it's easy to blame Arthur Smith for everything that's ever gone wrong, ever.

It's so easy. It's pretty fun. Not only is it easy, it feels good. But the truth is – Not listening. The truth is that Not listening. The truth is that no matter who your head coach is, if you are a dominant

tight end, you're not losing the amount of snaps and opportunities to Jonu Smith that Kyle Pitts lost last year. So you want Pitts to take some of the blame? I think that he wasn't the player that he could have been. No.

Okay. Regardless of Arthur Smith. All right, let's jump into the mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag. Yeah. All right, our first question here. By the way, you can submit your question on the website,

thefantasyfootballers.com, or dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. First question coming in says, full PPR redraft leak. Would taking CD, number one overall, be crazy? Yes. Crazy, no. No. Overreactionary, probably. crazy no over reactionary probably why is it why do you think it's crazy well do you think that what happened down the stretch the second half of the year is the new normal for the cowboys

i think that when cooper cup had a season most comparable to cd lambs he went number one the next year for many people that's fair but right now you know cd lam is not when i've seen when i've been in drafts um you know i'm still seeing cd lam go like third at wide receiver uh but we projected and and mike you predicted and talked about your second half sleeper being dak prescott in the middle of the year because of how bad the matchups the rest of the season were for running backs and how good they were for wide receivers and quarterbacks and obviously that happened and it and maybe that just created it to be the new normal but i i think that was like panicle peak i don't think you're going to have a season of that level of fire that they were on what is the is 2024 I still think he's going to be outstanding great a number one a top

five wide receiver but he's in the conversation where I wouldn't take him as the first wide receiver and I'm and I'm not taking any wide receiver over Christian McCaffrey. Would it be a somewhat shocking revelation to tell you that his run was really from week six on? From week six on, 206 targets, 2,000 yards, 16 touchdown pace. So first five weeks were not special, but that's a good run. That's a 12-game run. The case for going with Seedy is buying into the evolution

of the wide receiver. Maybe he took the next step because it's like Justin Jefferson, he could have a huge quarterback problem, or he could have an old quarterback returning from an Achilles injury, and you're hoping that it's not

actually a problem, and you hope Kirk that it's not actually a problem, and you hope Kirk Cousins is good to go. They re-signed Kirk Cousins. Which one are you drafting? Well, hold on, hold on. No, no, no. Just between those two. This is Justin Jefferson.

Okay. Yeah, I would too. But I'm saying I don't think it's wrong. And then Jamar Chase, for how incredible the ceiling games Jamar Chase can have, Jamar Chase has way more games than Jefferson, where he just vanishes from the scheme. The Cowboys said, we're doing it all exactly the same again. Yeah, maybe crazy is the wrong word.

And if you are super confident, if you're out there listening to Mike talk and being like, yeah, see, there's questions here. There's questions there. You know, is Burrow really what he was a couple years ago after this injury? Right. Who's the quarterback? You know, Christian McCaffrey's been injured two or three years. I didn't bring up Tyreek.

Of these guys, Tyreek Hill may have the fewest actual questions. Yeah. Besides him being what? Older. I mean, he's 30 or 31. Tyreek Hill's have the fewest actual questions. Yeah. Besides him being what? Older. I mean, he's 30 or 31. Tyreek Hill's a freak of nature. Yeah. I mean, I think we would all probably go Jefferson and Tyreek ahead of Lamb.

I would. I think so, yeah. All right. Scott in Edmonton, Alberta. Oh. Bonjour. Is that a real bonjour? That might be a hello.

Oh, I don't know. Although Edmonton, that's not in... It's in Alberta. Is that French country? I don't know. Quebec's French, right? It's all French. It's Canada.

No, it's not all French. Don't say that to our... English is the official language of the province. According to Kyle. So it is bonjour. Yes. Okay. Any Quebecians out there, you'll get a hello.

What is your suggestion on dealing with people in dynasty and keeper leagues that refuse to even entertain a trade until the NFL rookie draft? Do I just move on from trying to trade with them or continue to send them offers that I might be overpaying in order to entice them to trade. You're not going to, you're not going to move on. Yeah. You,

if, if they won't even consider trying to trade, then don't try to trade with them. Yeah, man. Don't, cause they're not going to consider it. Don't fight with a brick wall.

This feels like they just want the sense of satisfaction of pulling one off with one of these teams, but then they're going to overpay for it. Some people just need a breath, man. Yeah. And I noticed that in our leagues. Our leagues, you need a breath.

It's perfectly fine. Yeah, and some people absolutely have a stance of, I am going to wait until I know where these players are going before I value any pick. And so if that's their stance, just do the same. Yes, because some people are more afraid of the embarrassment of failing at that trade now with the mystery yeah they want to know more which i don't blame especially it sounds like your guy's probably gotten a few done in this league and uh it might

have gone to your side and then people become more gun shy all Robert Rich in Denver why do you guys hate Jerome Ford he's steady not sexy he was a top 24 running back 11 times I would imagine one of the views of hating Jerome Ford is that we didn't bring him up at all in our

running back truth episodes right we didn't talk about him he glossed over him because of Nick Chubb there's a Ford glossing that happened so i look i don't think i hate him no he was he was good but like i'm writing home to mom i'm not he doesn't come up no there's nothing that like like why do you love him so much he was was very, very serviceable. He liked steady. He was very serviceable. He was important for fantasy.

He had a stretch. He was giving you 10 points a week. He stepped up during the injury. That's very usable. I'm so proud of him. Yeah. But. He's got an expiration date.

Yeah, I mean, he's the backup. And maybe Nick Chubb, like, yeah, I mean, our guys are bringing up that Nick Chubb could be a cut candidate. No, they're not going to cut him. I don't believe they're going to cut him. I mean, if they did, then, yeah, let's talk about Ford. Sure. As the starter next year.

But I think, you know, even if Chubb is still off the injury, is it four or five weeks of steady that you get, maybe, if you're lucky? And they were giving goal line away? I'll give you the context. So he would be a dead cap hit of only $4 million. Set to earn 15.8 would save 11.8 million if they were to cut him they're not cutting him i don't think they're cutting him i think he's there he's the larry fitzgerald of that they'll overpay nick chubb to keep him and if they cut him the reason they would have to cut him is because of

that's true and i don't think they want i I thought you said Baltimore. But you said Voldemort. Voldemort is because of Deshaun Watson and the money they gave him. If they say, hey, hero of this city, Nick Chubb. The Voldemort Ravens. Nick Chubb, you are out. I know you had a bad injury, and we're going to just do you dirty and cut you. It's because of Voldemort. I just don't think they can. That's bad.

It's a of Voldemort. I just don't think they can. That's bad. It's a massive PR hit. Okay, so he is the third highest running back cap hit of 2024. Then they'll restructure. They could go the restructure route, but he's going to be playing at the age of 29.

Kyle, do I have that right? Coming off that injury, I genuinely hope because Nick Chubb is awesome. I hope it doesn't happen. But for how cold the NFL business is, it would not surprise me in the least. Look, I don't think they care about what his cap hit is relative to other running backs. It's just whether it fits with that team. And nobody works harder than Nick Chubb to get back from injury.

I'm betting on Chubb. Again, I hope you are right, but his cap hit is almost $16 million. I'd pay him $17 million. I mean, this is conclusive. Breaking news. All right, everyone needs to know this. Al Borland just watched, finally, for the first time in his life, he just watched the first two Harry Potter movies.

Oh, hey. Nerd. I know who Voldemort is now. Oh, my gosh. So now you can say his name. When did those come out, by the way? I have no idea. Can we get a release date for the first one?

The first one's got to be, what, like- I think I was working in a movie theater when they came out. Yeah. Looks like 2001. What? So 23 years oh man congratulations time yeah i thought i was a young man well how old did you think they were 10 years no i i know i thought it was like i thought it was in high school in the mid you

know yeah it was so it was so long ago it had to be in the 1900s wait a minute i know it was a long time ago you're telling me a long time ago was 2001. He had 23 years to read the books, and he didn't do it. I don't know how Jason made it through the second one. I'm not afraid of fake-looking spiders. I am very, very, very, very, very afraid of spiders, but bad CGI spiders, they don't even bother me. They don't bother you. Hmm.

Well, congrats. Good CGI spiders. They don't even bother me. They don't bother you. Hmm. Well, congrats. Good CGI spiders. They can get me. Have you seen Lord of the Rings? None of those yet. Okay. Well, we'll catch them up. All right.

That is going to do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you for joining us. Brooksy, what do we got going on on Thursday? We'll be answering more questions. And we'll see what happens. Okay. All right. All right. I'm losing you.

I can't hear the question. All right. We're still figuring Thursday out, everybody. We'll talk to you then. Thank you for joining us and check out the Dynasty Show. It releases tomorrow. Goodbye, everybody. Have a safe one.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community podcast join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers