Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Surprise LIVE Episode! Bounce Back Players + Ask The Ballers - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/6

Episode Date: April 6, 2024

Special LIVE edition of The Fantasy Footballers Podcast! On today’s episode, Andy, Mike, and Jason answer fantasy football questions live from viewers! Plus, a tough choice on bounce-back candidates for 2024, NFL News, Draft Hype, and more! Subscribe for year-round fantasy football goodness! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for April 6th, 2024. Get the lowest price on the 2024 UDK at UltimateDraftKit.com - Dynasty Pass content available NOW with the UDK+ Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Oh, welcome in. What's this? Surprise, suckas! Little bonus episode of the show. Welcome in, one and all. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. We were bored.

You know, we're like, hey guys, why don't we just give the people another show right now out of the blue. Just an extra show. And not only that, we're doing something unique today. We're recording a bonus episode. We've got bounce back players.

We've got some NFL news to talk about. And no one saw this coming. But we actually have live questions on the show today. So we're paying attention to the chat on the various live platforms, and we will be answering questions that you have as they come in. The chat is very much on Jason just cannot keep his mouth shut. Yeah, baby.

You're welcome for everyone who clicked that bell, turned it on, and is with us right now. It's exciting to have the Foot Clan part of the show here. So a live mailbag on the episode today. We have lots to talk about. Fantasy football drafts, rookie drafts coming very soon. NFL draft in less than three weeks uh the excitement level i would say it rises by multiple percentage points per day yeah i would i was going by the hour

like every hour that gets closer i get more excited learn more about the prospects i think you need to build one of those uh you know like construction paper oh the chain links the chains the paper chains, and cut one off every day closer to the draft. Any excuse to build one of those things. We just don't build them enough. Could you do it by the hour? Could you just make like every hour?

That chain would be so long. It would be glorious. You would be making that up until the draft. That's true. It would take way longer to make it than it would to cut it. Well, a quick reminder, ultimate draft kit.com. If you want to be prepped up for the draft for all of the rookie breakdowns, we have three releases of the dynasty pass. That's part of the UDK plus.

There's one that happens before the combine one after the combine, those have been updated. And then there will be an update right after the NFL draft. Just a few days after, right? I mean, we kind of get all the ducks in a row, Mike? That is correct. Dude, I'm so pumped for this upcoming release. The draft is going to be incredible.

It's going to really shake up the rankings, at least not the top three of the wide receivers. But after that, who do the Bills take? We kind of alluded to that with the Stephon Diggs trade, that whoever the Bills take, they're going to skyrocket in value, and it will be that what do you do with a first-round wide receiver who's taken in the later 20s versus maybe someone who was taken in the teens,

not as an optimal situation, but your evaluation of, well, that player's better, but this situation is better. It's always incredibly fun to break those down. We brought up Cincinnati, and it's like, okay, they don't even have to trade T.iggins to draft their next, uh, partner in crime with Jamar chase. And that, what does that do to rookie picks, right? You have somebody probably waiting in the wings for one year of T Higgins to go away. And then that player can step up. I mean, they lost Tyler Boyd this off season. So some big, uh, quarterback

wide receiver combinations that could happen in the draft. Uh, if you're new to the show, if you're catching it live, a reminder, this is the time you want to go wherever you're listening, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Make sure you click that follow button. It's going to let you know when new episodes come out. It helps the show if you follow the show on those platforms, and then you can leave us a review, which also helps us out.

YouTube.com slash TheFantasyFootballers if you want to be alerted to any live special events. We've got a lot planned for the draft. We'll let you know about it very soon, hopefully next week. And then you can follow us on X at TheFFBallers. Now, today's quick question, we're going to have some fun with it because we'll be breaking it down, but we're also going to post this live, I believe, on the YouTube chat, on Twitter, and then we'll go ahead and let you know what the people are saying, whether they agree with our takes.

But it is a question about bounce-back candidates for 2024. Very important. And the question is which of these four players are going to have the biggest bounce back campaign in the 2024 season? But they are four names that are pretty interesting. And I saw a tweet from one of them this morning about the next chapter in his career. So one of the four names, Austin Eckler of the Washington Commanders. This is a player that last year, running back 23 at 11 points per game,

coming off of the previous two years where he was the running back three and running back one. So Austin Eckler. Josh Jacobs moving to the Packers. He's got a good situation. Was also one of the least explosive players in the NFL last year. Ended at RB18. Looked pretty downhill in his career.

He looked like Mike prophesied in offseason where he didn't work out. Fat Thor. It's like you don't work out, you don't work out. That's the truth. Oh, I see. I see what you said. Because let's be honest, how easy is it to not work out oh i do it all the time yeah i'm like i am i'm so good at pro level not work outer

i don't do the walking or pretty the exercise for our show don't work out does work out you know what i mean well yeah it's more time behind the spreadsheets. That's right. You get a mental sweat. Thank you. Thank you. You caught me. You got your gains in the algorithm?

That's right. Yeah, what does bulk season look like? Bulk season is just another tab, man. So when you're one of the psychos who has, you're like Al Borland. How many tabs you got open right now, Al? Oh, that's scary. There's 92 in this one. Oh my god, what are you doing? But I have two browser windows.

There's 48 in the other. That's absolute insanity. You can't possibly tell what's happening in any tab. You can't see what any tab is. You're a monster. So you have like almost 140 tabs open. Yeah, that's a monster. So you have almost 140 tabs open. Yeah, that's right.

What are you doing? You can't exist in that world. That's the equivalent of, they should do TLC hoarder show on tab users. That's a house that does not function. If you accidentally close a window, do you freak out and immediately

do the reopen with every tab that I had? There's no doubt you do. There's no doubt he does. I do. Don't want to lose anything. There's no way you can find your eighth tab open. You've already lost everything. When you have created the haystack,

you have to find the needle. Listen, you do you. I'll do me. So Austin Eckler, bounce back candidatein eckler bounce back candidate josh jacobs bounce back candidate and then let's move on to another player that will be hotly debated all offseason long cooper cup who had back-to-back wide receiver one seasons in points per game and ended up at 26 with an injury-riddled campaign last year. The headlines went to Puka Nakua in the offense, Kyron Williams in the offense.

Cooper Cupp just kind of got lost, and I don't know how often he was playing hurt. I know that was a part of the season, but this was wide receiver 26 in points per game. What was the opening, the preseason injury? Was it a sprained ankle? Yeah, that happened right before drafts. Yeah, but where he did miss the first four weeks and

you know, he was coming off the injury. The first two games were actually sensational off of that, but that's at least something to keep in mind. Not that the guy doesn't seem to get injured all the time. Yeah, well, I mean he spent the last two previous years

finishing as the wide receiver one in points per game. I've got some good data on Cooper Cup when we come back to him. What's the final name, Andy? Well, by the way, Cooper Cup, almost 31 years old as well. That'll be factored in. Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers, who Mike, before the show, exasperately, exasperated?

No, that's not a word. That's not a word. Wait, wait, wait. Don't. No, don't tell him. Don't bail it out. Try it again. Before the show, Mike said.

How did he say it? No, I don't think the word I was saying is a real word. You can't say exasperatedly. Oh, yeah, you can. I just did it. Yeah, there you go. But is that a real word? No, no.

It's real now. I said disgruntledly on the last show that's not a word either i try to add an ly to just about anything uh justin herbert mike before the show commented that he was the quarterback 14th it looks like a real word to me exasperatedly exasperatedly? Exasperatedly. You bet he did. In an extremely annoyed way, especially because you cannot do anything to improve a situation. Yes. Would you say that you said it exasperatedly? I don't know that I was annoyed.

I was more shocked. Okay. Shockedly. Shockedly. Shockedly. That he is the QB 14. That's his ADP right now in basketball. Justin Herbert, the next big quarterback as of just a few years ago, not even being drafted as a one right now.

So what's fun is we have those four names, Eckler, Jacobs, Kup, Herbert. We'll break it down. We'll give our picks. But I'm watching a poll live. Oh, is it already up? Well, in the youtube chat uh every single vote it just moves uh immediately so like right now immediately into the vote josh jacobs is at 54 percent cooper cups at 26 percent herbert at 17 and eckler the belief is proportional to the

pain it's at five percent which is the amount of people that were happy with anything he did last year. Yeah, so my big question, what I wanted to know coming into this show, wasn't even our picks. And it wasn't even who the Foot Clan thought was going to bounce back the most. The only thing I wanted to know was how low is the percentage going to be on Austin Eckler? And this was lower than I thought. Sway the votes. See if you can make a move. I don't know what your opinion is on these four names.

So here's the name that I was really interested in did a bunch of research on cooper cup was the name i was curious about he's been awesome he he was injured last year he played some games without cooper cup last year so it was like i remember him without matthews he did play several games without himself that's that's true he missed He missed a handful of games. But I wanted to know just the truth. I genuinely was like, did he have a really bad season? Did he have a really good season? What's the actual legitimate truth? He had

10 games last season total where he played 95% of snaps or more. I'm taking out games that Matthew Stafford did not play, and I'm taking out games that Cooper Cup was injured in and didn't really... So how many did he play with Stafford did not play, and I'm taking out games that Cooper Cupp was injured in and didn't really. So how many did he play with Stafford at 95%? With Stafford at 95% was 10 full games.

That's a lot of games. That's the majority of the season. And his 17-game pace over those 10 games specifically would be 147 targets for 95 receptions, 1,152 yards, and 8.5 touchdowns. That's not bad. That's not wide receiver one. That is not a wide receiver one, let alone the wide receiver one. In fact, that is 12.7 half PPR points per game.

That would have basically been identical to what Amari Cooper did last year as the wide receiver 16 in points per game. So given the age, the rise of Puka Nakua, and the obvious downturn in production, I don't think Cooper Cup is irrelevant. I've drafted him plenty in like the fourth round when he's there in best ball. But he's certainly done being the, I don't think there's a bounce back to where he goes to 2022 cooper cup level let me ask you a slightly different question what are the odds then if he's not your is he not your pick of these four i think based on what after i did that research if i said

who has the chance to bounce back my pick would probably be josh jacobs that's my pick as well but my my kind of sideways question on on cooper cup isn't can he be the wide receiver one again it's what percentage chance do you have with a healthy cooper cup that he is the better pick between him and puka nakua zero oh well wait wait wait zero wait, wait. No, no, no. You're factoring in where you're drafting them as well, right? Because then certainly. How about where he's factored in,

but also the ability to put up more total fantasy points. If they were both the same cost, there's no chance Cooper Cup outproduces Puka Nakua in my opinion. So you're saying statistically you see no chance for Cooper Cup to have better stats? Right. That's what I would say. Okay, Mike, do you have it at 0% chance? No. No, I wouldn't give 0%.

Cooper Cup has been a fantastic player. Last year, when actually healthy, had some great games as well. The first two back, wide receiver 12, wide receiver 3, then kind of has a down tick and then has another three-game stretch, wide receiver 21, 5, and 4. So I think that the greatness is still there for Cooper Cup. So I would not say at even cost it's a 0% chance for Cup versus Puka. I would lean Puka Nakua just because of him being – Cooper Cup playing at 31 this year is wild.

It does not feel like he has been in the league long enough to be 31, which he came in as an older prospect. I'd put the percentage chance for Cooper Cup to have the better season than Puka. I'd put it at, let's go like 35-ish, 35 to 40. Okay, so that's pretty high compared to zero. Yeah, it's infinitely higher. Jacobs is the pick to me, and it's pretty simple because Josh Jacobs is at an age where you're still a prime running back.

And so I think he's 26 years old. He's on that edge. He's been given the opportunity on a good team in a good offense. With a terrible depth chart. With a terrible depth chart. How dare you. Well, no, this is the same as – Still standing up for the villain? No, I terrible depth chart. How dare you. Well, no, this is the same as, this is like.

Still standing up for the villain? No, I'm going to be honest with you. It's identical to what happened in Kansas City. Both Kansas City and Green Bay said, we'll just bring Clyde and A.J. Dillon back to be nobodies. So that makes Pacheco and Josh Jacobs the guy. And so, you know, what's the real floor for Josh Jacobs? In a healthy season, I think he's an RB 12 floor in Green Bay. He's going to see so much volume.

And targets. He'll see a lot of targets. Everything. I mean, the way that the Green Bay Packers talk about, specifically Coach LaFleur, talking about Aaron Jones. I don't know if you guys saw a video recently came out, and it was, I don't know the age of it, so maybe it came out earlier, but it was talking about what is kind of like, who's that dude? No, that was very recent, yeah. And it was Aaron Jones.

The team loved him, the coaching staff. And, I mean, clearly the GM did not like whatever the money situation was. So for them to move away from Aaron Jones, I think is such a large move. Just everything, like, you know, emotionally for this team. To bring Jacobs in, like, he's goingacobs in like i the raiders didn't want to lose the guy they didn't want to lose jacobs and the packers didn't want to lose jones that's the that's the interesting thing about the offseason because you can say well they went out and got the guy but then you know like if you listen to the head coach of the raiders they're

like that hurt losing jaco Like, we wanted him here. Can't believe we lost him. And then the similar thing happens with Jones. And there was a cool quote recently from LeFleur talking specifically about Josh Jacobs and what they saw in him and why they grabbed him. And for fantasy football purposes, what was so great about it is he said that he could be used a lot more in the passing game, that he's got the options to do some really good stuff.

Like he sees on tape some really good stuff that was underutilized in the passing. So that's like he's actually coming out saying, hey, guys, we're going to throw the ball to him in better ways than the Raiders did, and that's just great for fantasy. A pass, a target is worth so much more than a carry. By the way, I'm reading the live chat and somebody said andy has josh jacobs in dynasty that must be why i'm saying that i do not he traded him away i do not have josh jacobs i just think of these candidates like i don't have hope

for eckler who does who does oh who has josh jacobs in fantasy come on all chiming in with the jacobs flex go pat go is it the guy that has the number one pick? I will say this. If this was reversed and it was what are the percentage chances of any of these guys busting, just being done, DUN, washed, I could see it happening easily for Eckler. I don't see it happening for Cooper Cup. Despite me saying like 0% chance that he is on a per game basis more valuable than Puka because I think Puka has taken that role over um Josh Jacobs I see a route that he could be done like he is his efficiency his efficiency was so bad this last

year yeah that if it continues to get worse and they've got AJ Dillon and then they time share it and he's not what Aaron Jones was and he's just bad this is basically a one-year deal if he's bad the way the contract is set yeah I mean he was very bad last year and you can make excuses for him with quarterbacks and head coaching changes and the offseason or you can just take it at face value and say look there's a risk there we need to take a quick break and then I'm going to come back and talk about where these poll results are and get your final answers. All right. Which player will have the biggest bounce back in 2024? It's staying pretty much the same right now. Herbert's at 15%, Cupps at 30%, Jacobs at 49%, and then Austin Eckler at 6%.

I do want to talk about Justin Herbert for a second. I think there are two situations right now in fantasy football where the pendulum is swinging too far. And I'm really, I'm going to bring one up. Obviously, it's Justin Herbert, where I think, you know, Diggs leaves the Bills, and nobody cares about how it impacts Josh Allen. The Bills became a run-first team, and nobody cares because we have a few games of him being fine in a run-first team. We need to give more credit, I think, to Justin Herbert.

This is one of the top arm talents in football, evasive in the pocket, can run the football for 200 or 300 yards, might do it more with this new offense. We don't like the current way. We can't draw the map right now in our heads of how Justin Herbert's season goes well. And so because of that, I think the pendulum has swung too far just because we can't say, okay, we don't like huge, and Josh Palmer's not a one, and they like to run the football. I think Justin Herbert is a very, very good quarterback. And so I think that pendulum might have swung too far. But how far?

Because he's being drafted as the wide receiver 14 in basketball. What's the ceiling case? The ceiling case for Justin Herbert is top seven. Okay. So it's not that I think he will get there. It's just that's where I think the pendulum has swung too far. I think people have discounted the possibility that Justin Herbert is still a top five, top six quarterback in production. I still think that could happen.

He could be efficient enough. He could throw 35 touchdowns. He could run the ball enough where that happens. I'm not that could happen. He could be efficient enough. He could throw 35 touchdowns. He could run the ball enough where that happens. I'm not saying it will, but I do want to bring up real quick. I do think the pendulum swung too far on Drake London. Oh, look in the mirror. Yeah, you take responsibility. I no longer believe that Drake London will factor into anything I do this season

because the pendulum is swinging too far. He is the new hotness. Everyone's excited about the potential. If you went and broke down everybody not named Justin Jefferson that's been associated with Kirk Cousins historically, his ones, it doesn't look good, guys. He had the best season he ever had from a one. Pierre Garçon?

Did he have Garcon? Yeah, he did, but he was always double digits or well beyond in fantasy finish with Kirk Cousins. The best finish with Kirk Cousins, I believe, was Adam Thielen. One time was wide receiver seven. Otherwise, it's all been double digits. I'm just saying if he's priced at something that has been only done by Justin Jefferson, you might be in trouble.

Yeah, that just comes down to what is Drake London? Is Drake London a – He's not Jefferson. Is he a top 10 NFL wide receiver or is he not? And right now we have guesses, you know, hypothesis, but we're going to find out this year. You're just saying that you put your percentage odds of him being that not as high as the people do. His draft cost has gone so wild that I'm now going to work actively to lower it.

That's what I'm saying. Okay. But anyways, back to these four. My final answer was Jacobs. Jason said Jacobs. Mike, why don't you put a bow on it? Give us your name. Because it says biggest bounce back,

that is the technical language of the question. I will say Cooper Cup because Josh Jacobs, in points per game, was the running back 18. Being drafted as the nine, I don't think is as large of a jump. He still helped people last year, whereas Cooper Cup actively didn't, so the bounce back is larger. Cup hurt people because it was just so excuse me so hot so cold and and the missed games and as someone who had cooper cup a lot of places what really

hurt was just starting the season without him for so long that it was like oh this this is yeah you know my season's off to a terrible start yeah and and and to prove my point here, I'm looking at the live chat because we're going to be doing some live mailbag on the show today, and it's London top five wide receiver. So that's the kind of – Hey, people are pumped. Let them be pumped. And also, Andy's losing his mind because I said something negative.

I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. You can't take a player at a position that it's like your percentage chance is going to be very, very low that he hits. I'd rather take some other players like, I don't know, bounce back candidates, Garrett Wilson and Jalen Waddell at reduced costs. Right? Yeah. Fantasy is not about drafting guys and then hoping that they perform up to that level. When you're drafting at where Drake London is going, your margin for error is very small.

We are getting some updated news that we should discuss briefly, just that there are some additions to the Rashi Rice case. Don't we have the news draft? Yeah, let's get into it. Oh, yeah. News and notes from around the league. Show goes live and forgets how to host. Thank you, Mike, for stepping up. I need those drops.

Well, I mean, you did post it. You posted it in the Slack. It's not in the show doc. That's not my job. We found out that Rashi Rice was driving the Lamborghini that was involved in the pile doc we found out that rashi that's not my job we found out that rashi rice was driving the lamborghini that was involved in the pileup yeah um and then you post did you post the update moments ago yeah well yeah it is it is now breaking on twitter that there was uh 10.8 grams of marijuana found in the lamborghini that rashi rice was, which the reports I'm looking at, that is considered a felony, a state jail felony amount in Texas. He also fled the scene.

Yeah. He says he's cooperating now. I'm actually a little bit surprised that we haven't heard more from authorities in specificity about what charges may arise so that we can extrapolate the impact to his availability. But I would say that, you know, Dynasty Leagues, we haven't thrown a lot of shade on the situation because we believe long-term he'll be okay.

But in a redraft format, do you start to like, do you get a glimmer in your eye for hollywood brown all of a sudden or it also checko and this news coming out right now being even just the fear of okay the chiefs could lose um you know half a season maybe they lose eight games this season from rice then we're a couple weeks out from the draft. This is another one of those situations that could make them use their first-round pick on – Oh, no, another McColl Hardman? Maybe a McColl Hardman if they want to grab out a Nye Mitchell, or they could grab Troy Franklin or Xavier Worthy, have a really good draft pick.

So they'll be – Tried to sneak that one in. Dallas police, there will be charges. So we'll just have to wait and monitor and discuss that as they come. Let's get back to that Diggs situation, right? The trade? Yep, because we had an update.

And the Texans removed the final three years of Stephon Diggs' contract in the transaction, making him eligible for free agency after this year. And they moved some money around so that he will make more this year. Yeah, all the guaranteed money that he was owed in futures, they just gave it to him now and said, hey, play your best. You're going to be a free agent. This is a great move for Houston.

You think so? That was a little bit of a question mark at the end of that. Okay. All right. So I think that the trade to get Stefan Diggs is a great move for Houston. They don't carry a lot of risk. They had the money to spend this year. He's not a long-term prospect.

If he comes over and he stinks, whatever. Now that they've canceled the contract beyond here, they don't worry about it. If he comes out and balls out and he's a free agent, he's going to go get the bag wherever he wants. At first I thought, oh, this would be great. You get a third round compensatory pick and you basically gave up less than a second to get him. So it's almost like a free rental. But he's a 10-year vet, so the best they could get in a compensatory pick would be a fifth round pick. Right.

So, I mean, it's good for Stroud it's good for the Texans in being better as a football team this year but specifically canceling the contract I don't know I think the things you do to just like motivate players is like if you have to do this to motivate them it probably won't work if you don't have to do that to motivate them then it's irrelevant I think it's a good one-year move for them I mean the second they lost Tank Dell last year you saw the change in the way the offense functioned like Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz wasn't going to be enough for them to make a playoff run so at least you had depth in that regard I'm on the camp that you guys are we're like Nico Collins is the biggest worry to me he's an outside wide receiver

he unquestionably will give up targets to Stephon Diggs. That has to happen. Whereas Tank Dell, younger, certainly has a connection with Stroud and plays from the slot oftentimes. And so I think his role is more secure. It's going to be fun to watch. Prior to Diggs coming over, I had Tank Dell ahead of Nico Collins in my startup ranking. So this season I expected it to be fun to watch. Prior to Diggs coming over, I had Tank Dell ahead of Nico Collins in my startup ranking.

So this season I expected it to be better. Then you add in the fact that the kind of position that you expect Diggs to play impacts Nico more. But I do have the glimmer of all of – you remember the huge games where Noah Brown just exploded because it's like people are focused on these other two good wide receivers. It's like that third guy gets loose behind. Well, now maybe if Nico Collins is playing the Noah Brown role, it's like bomb city.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it could go bounce back candidate-wise, Stephon Diggs. Maybe. What I'll throw out, though, is – That's going to be a hard one to predict. My couple thoughts are the Nico versus Stephon Diggs this year will be fascinating because if Stephon Diggs still has it, he'll get the extension.

If Nico Collins is a better player than Stephon Diggs this year, then I would put my money that Nico Collins gets the extension and Stephon Diggs goes to free agency. I'd be shocked if Diggs went back to Houston no matter what. I put my odds at like 5%. But the question for you guys, though, of like, you know, before Diggs was there, I don't mind. You have Tank Dell ahead of Nico?

That's fine. The larger question will come with how do the Texans manage their personnel? Because they were, if I'm remembering it correctly off the top of my head, they were not like a huge 11 personnel team where you have the three wide receivers on the team or on the field at the same time. So when there are two wide receivers on the field, to me it will be Stephon Diggs and Nico Collins.

It will. So that doesn't make Tankdale go away, but now the more snaps that Tankdale doesn't even have an opportunity to get a target, it matters. I agree completely with both of you. The only caveat being that you would imagine now that you add Stephon Diggs, you're going to be in three wide receiver sets a lot more. Your personnel has three great wide receivers.

You're probably running out a lot of them. You trust Stroud more than you did last year, maybe in the 12 personnel protection sets. It is an offensive philosophy, though, of you feel like, we want to have greater protection for Stroud. I'm really excited to watch Houston play football.

Yes. And former Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson, the last piece of news to discuss, maybe not discuss, just say out loud, it was a little bit interesting that he said he'd be ready for week one. Like, that seemed like it should have been a foregone conclusion. Yeah, the expectation, when I saw this news, I pulled up the ultimate draft kit, looked at our injury report that Betts puts together,

and the expectation that he should be fined by training camp. And that's a long time before week one. That's training camp, then preseason, then you're going. So, yeah, it was like, don't say that. Yeah, I don't know. Is he saying that he's going to remember how to play quarterback by week one? Okay. Oh, he'll be ready mentally. I'm going to remember how to play quarterback by week one? Okay. Oh, he'll be ready like mentally.

I'm going to remember. I'm going to get it. I was good at one time. I knew there was danger in bringing up this kind of non-news news. And I don't know if I secretly wanted all those comments or not. But we are going to jump into a live mailbag. We don't have any more news to talk about. So you can submit your questions wherever you are watching.

If you're watching live, we're going to answer them. If you are not watching live or if you're listening on the podcast app, you can just enjoy the debates on these issues. So let's do it. Mailbag. Mailbag. Oh, it's live. All right. mailbag all right um you know it wouldn't be a live mailbag if you didn't take your first question from someone named poopy butt so yeah yeah i wrote this this is my question yeah poopy butt Saquon a top five pick. And what do you think?

A top five pick. Again, we don't have our full projected rankings out there. We are very close. Off the top of my head, CMC. Tyreek Hill.

C.Dee Lamb For the top five I could see a debate between Between a top running back and CeeDee Let's just look at running backs first Because he might not be in the top five Jonathan Taylor or Saquon I think I lean Saquon

I lean That's really close Christian McCaffrey's obviously above him. Yeah, McCaffrey's above him. Brees? Yeah. Give me Brees. Above him.

Bijon? Yeah. Yeah. Kyron? That's the edge for me, man. For me, I'm Kyron. Jameer Gibbs? I'll take Saquon.

So Saquon's a round running back five. Yeah, he's a round running back five. So he's not a top five pick. You add in a couple of wide receivers, and yeah, he's not. Okay. I do think that this is a very exciting season for Saquon. You know, which we haven't... It is.

Having to see him on a good offense? That's awesome. Yeah, getting that opportunity. Seems like it'd be fun. All right. Well, do we have the Gus bus drop here? Can we get... There it is.

Mike says, is Gus Edwards more valuable than Cortland Sutton in a dynasty league? Yes, this is where I'm at, Mike says. Yeah, he is. What? I don't hate the question. Gus Edwards, I think we were talking about him on the footcast, of he is fascinating because everyone, the entire world, expects the Los Angeles Chargers to spend a higher draft capital pick

on a running back. But what if they don't? What if they take their first running back in the fourth round and now it is a proven veteran with an OC who likes him on a team that is high T and run first? I don't care if they draft the running back. Because even if it's Blake Corbin, I think Gus Edwards will be relevant for fantasy this year no matter who they take. Because think about the possible outcomes for drafting a

like a a running back like they're one of the higher um like the third is the earliest i see for them because they are drafting very high in the first and second round and i don't think that's where running backs belong i don't think they're going to force that when they're trying to build an offensive line and uh they spent the money on Gus Edwards. So I think worst-case scenario is you get a third-round pick at a running back, and maybe you don't. And if you do, it's a rookie that doesn't have the trust of Greg Roman, that doesn't have the pedigree that put up 13 touchdowns

in the top offense last year. I think Gus Edwards is very valuable this year. I will say that in defense of what you're saying, if they were to grab Blake Corum, who was Michigan's running back with Harbaugh, who scored 27 touchdowns, and they take him as the first running back off the board, you can go back to last year at Michigan and see that Blake Corum was very, very good, relevant, could be the first running back drafted, but he was in a timeshare somehow still for Michigan, and they used another back a lot.

So you could very easily have Blake Corham come in as the number one back and still have Gus Edwards involved in a system like this. So I don't discount that, but he's a running back, he's older, I do think he's going to be supplanted on the depth chart, and you've got Cortland Sutton who... Who's throwing the ball, though, Jay. Well, the NFL draft's going to be supplanted on the depth chart. And you've got Cortland Sutton who's throwing the ball though, Jay. Well, the NFL draft's going to change a lot. I mean, it might be a rookie coming in. How many receiving yards did

Cortland Sutton have last year? Do you know off the top of your head? I'm guessing 750. Jason is a legendary guesser for everybody out there. 772. He had 59 catches. How many touchdowns? He had 10 touchdowns. Double digits! Double digits!

He had 10 touchdowns and he finished it wide receiver 35. Where's Jerry Judy? Not on the roster! Jerry Judy wasn't on the roster all last year! He was just running around on the sideline. You're doing a Cortland Sutton brag session. This dude's

been 181, 46, 43, and 35. Give me the guy that makes a difference on my team, not the guy that I might regret starting. I will say that it is a comically fair debate between Gus Edwards and Cortland Sutton. Cortland Sutton is going to turn

30 by the time that a quarterback will be stepping up into relevance for the Broncos is the most likely outcome. by the time that a quarterback will be stepping up into relevance for the Broncos is the most likely outcome. We might need to get a louder bus horn if he delivers as the number one in Los Angeles. Yeah, that sound. Give me the sound again.

Because that sound, that's backup running back sound. That's compliment running back. He can make a difference. Who's better, Zemir White or Gus Edwards? Zemir White. No, he's not. I'm saying for fantasy. I'm not saying as a running back.

Who's better, Alexander Madison or Gus Edwards? Gus Edwards. As a running back. As a running back. As a running back. And also, last year, we were sitting here going like, just because they have the job, they're the guy. Madison was the starter last year, right? I mean, there's a handful of guys that are just the default starter.

Miles Sanders was the starter last year. I'm going to just be slightly on the more bullish Gus side. Okay. You're allowed to have. Because they believe in him. They just like the cut of his jib. Well, I mean, and they've worked with him. He was signed really fast.

He was with Greg Roman in Baltimore when they used him as a touchdown machine. So he's coming over, knows the system. He will have goal line opportunities. He's better than Christian McCaffrey is what I'm saying. That's what the people are hearing. Do you hear what I'm saying? Wait, who is? Say that sentence.

Gus Edwards is obviously clearly, this is a real take, so much better at playing running back than Zemir White. Okay. Oh. I was ready to cut it up. I was ready to cut it out. All right. Let's move on here.

We got a question in the chat from Colton who says, is Christian Kirk a buy or a sell? I've asked this question to myself, and I don't – I know my answer for sure, and I think he's a buy. I really do. He's not someone that you need to go buy high on, but I feel like right now he's undervalued. Like I've drafted a lot of Christian Kirk in best balls right now. So when I look at,

is someone a buyer or someone to sell? It's essentially saying, are they more valuable? Do you believe than where their average draft value is or less valuable. And I think right now he's being undervalued. He is a very good player. His opportunities with Calvin Ridley being gone will go up even if they bring in a rookie. This is a guy who two years ago was a wide receiver one. He was the wide receiver 11 in fantasy football. So it's not like his ceiling isn't to be able to be really good for

fantasy. You like him more than the fantasy opportunity for Gabe Davis? Oh yeah. So I mean that tells you like if Calvin Ridley had re-signed there, you'd be drafting Ridley over Kirk. Correct. But because Gabe Davis signed there and they've said all the flowery things like Gabe's going to let us do all these amazing things as the pretend Calvin Ridley we signed. But we all, I think we all look at Kirk and say oh interesting or Zay Jones interesting right yeah for sure I think Kirk is is and the fact that they went out and got Gabe Davis says they might not invest in some rookie wide receiver that's going to come in and impact Christian Kirk Christian Kirk's their one and what's going on come in and impact Christian Kirk. Christian Kirk's their one. What's going on? Dave Davis is a great blocker, so good news for Trev.

Sorry, I'm following the chat, and I'm going to have to throw over to the Deucer's Alley camera here. But somebody said, where's Walmart Borgannoni? Is he fired yet? And I think they're referring to our new guy. Walmart Borgannoni. Walmart Borgannoni. Get rekt. to our new guy walmart borghese get wrecked so that's matt sitting over there in deucer's alley helping us out the falcon yeah we call him the falcon he's new to the team but uh if you want

to call him walmart borghese you can't oh man that's good josh was very displeased by that. What a compliment. The only problem I have is what a compliment it is to Kyle. To Kyle. Because it's like, I don't think Matt's a bad looking dude. Right. And so it's like, wait, but you're the Walmart version. I thought it was more the roll. I didn't think it was a visual thing. Okay.

Oh, I was going visual. Yeah, I thought it was visual. Glasses and a beard. All right. Well, congratulations, Matt, for those few moments here. Get bodied, Walmart. Somebody said. Get bodied, Walmart.

Oh, boy. Dollar Store Kyle. Yeah, no, thanks. Very nice. Deucer's Alley. You never know what to expect over there. Nope. Good work.

New faces all the time. Timothy did want to know if he can get the UDK song. Yes, you can get the UDK song because it's great. Stop asking for this. Never stop.

Only four more seconds, Mike. Now, are you kind of opposed to that song just because you weren't the one that actually made it? No. And you make so much of the show that you kind of feel like your glory is being stolen? No, not at all. Like that song was made by Walmart, Mike Wright? I enjoyed it very much. It's just, you know, if the people want it, I guess the people want it.

Can't stop the greatness. That's what I'm seeing. I've just, I've moved on. All right, let's take another quick break and answer some more questions. All right. Llama Two-Face would like everybody out there to know that if they win the Powerball, because I know, did anybody win the big billion? Oh, is it up right now?

I think they won the money, but I guess in the future if llama wins powerball he's going to throw a massive foot plan party at llama's house fantastic okay uh Kent wants to know keeper wise would you go with Jason or would you go with Zay Flowers I think that is a good question it is so good that Jason is struggling immediately yeah I exhal. I don't like the question. It's Zay Flowers for me. It is Zay Flowers, but I don't want it to be Zay Flowers. I understand that. And that's why the exhale, because it should be Jason. It should.

This feels like saying, correct me if I'm wrong, this feels like saying an old-school question of, who's a better keeper? Is it Jarvis Landry in his heyday, or is it a great outside wide receiver in his heyday or is it like a great outside wide receiver in his heyday because I think I think we would all say like doesn't Jason have a higher ceiling

in a career in a career wise like that yes but I think it still might be two years before he gets to be the one so have you seen the comments regarding the offensive philosophy in Baltimore and how it's going to change no so last year so two years ago, Greg Roman, all those years, it was run, run, run, run, run.

And then last year, Todd Monken, they changed. Obviously a very competitive season. Oh, that they want to run the ball more this year? Yeah, and we were disappointed in the yardage numbers for Lamar last year under the Todd Monken excitement levels. Andrew's going down. Zay Flowers here, there, sometimes not, sometimes he is. But they have talked about offensively, like, we're going,

they brought in Derrick Henry, and we're going to run the football more. Now, it's not going to go to Greg Roman days, but I do think you may have a slight balancing that happens, and that does concern me a little bit for, like, Zay Flowers benefited from no Mark Andrews and the first year of todd munkin's situation like over under six touchdowns for zay flowers oh that's a good that's a great line um we just did this whole courtland sutton experiment with like you know

yardage and wide receiver numbers and like is a flowers over under wide receiver 26 no it's i'll take a better finish than 26. I'd take the under on that. Yeah, your lines are pretty good, and I think what you're saying is that his ceiling is a little bit more limited than you think it is. That is my – Flowers, yeah.

Oh, yeah, no. That's what I'm worried about. He 100% is. Like, role player for the rest of his career is in the cards, whereas Jason, I think, still has an unproven ceiling. He does. But I was trying to find it, and I unfortunately can't because there was also then a Seahawks report very recently of,

we're going to get back to running the ball. So that's where Zay Flowers. Maybe they're both just capped. Let them both be run-heavy teams, but Zay Flowers is the number one wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens. That is locked in. And JSN, you're hoping that in the second year

he gets better. He should see more opportunities than Tyler Lockett, who it certainly seemed like Lockett had finally started to show some signs of decline this past year, even though they brought him back. So it's a strange situation because every argument you make for JSN of like, don't worry about the rookie year.

He was drafted to – he was a first-round pick. He was drafted to be great. He's going to improve in year two. All of those arguments are Zay Flowers arguments as well but he's already the number one so I'll take him over JSN okay I guess fair I think both are very interesting players long term

because I think we're going to learn really quickly like if both those guys struggle in year two it's going to be a really hard sell going into year three with just the statistical backing of like players don't generally break out that late in terms of big numbers. And then just another point for Zay Flowers, not that Jason can't, of course, but last year you at least had a few times throughout the season

where you got a spike where like a huge play happened. Wide receiver three in week 12, wide receiver seven in week 14, wide receiver nine in week 12. Wide receiver seven in week 14. Wide receiver nine in week 17. Yeah. So those weeks do exist for Zay Flowers. I think it's more of a he's a nice steady floor player than you're always hoping

for ceiling, but it does. It will happen a handful of times. Would it surprise you that he was only about 200 yards over Jason's number last year? Is that about what you would have expected? Yeah, that's what I would have expected. Jason didn't have a terrible season. Wasn't Jason like...

63 for 628 and 4. Yeah, it was just disappointing for what you were expecting. I will say this. If both of them have a mediocre season this year, for dynasty purposes, if Zay Flowers comes out and is mediocre this next year as the one,

and JSN comes out and is mediocre as the three, JSN will hold value because Lockett will be— You'll feel like he's more blocked right now. He had a reason. So unless you are confident that Flowers is going to have a great season this year, long term, the value still holds on Jason's side. I do have a question from Caitlin. She writes in and says, should I try to sell Tyreek Hill right now

or keep him for one more year? Right. I mean, usually when you have a really really good wide receiver uh it is a great task a great uh strategic uh option to trade them like i we got there we got there felt the panic exasperatedly yeah thank you you you. You know, I traded Julio Jones for a rookie seedy lamb plus a first right when Julio was on top and turned into nothing the next year, and that works great. But I do think that Tyreek Hill is such a difference maker

in total fantasy points versus the field right now this year that I want him on my roster. This is the type of player you need to win a championship. It's how I treat McCaffrey in Tennessee. Exactly. And they are outliers. They are not the – you don't prescribe this towards other good veterans. You only prescribe holding on to them until the end for the elite of the elites,

the one or two at the position group. Trevor, Mike. Sorry, Trevor would like to know, Mike. Sure. Not Trevor, Mike. Trevor, Mike. What is Mike's favorite tattoo? I mean, they see.

I feel like the whole world, they've seen your right arm for like 10 years. Right. Yeah. So, I mean. They're both. Can you swap? You can't swap the. My arms?

All we got to do is you guys sit in different spots for one show. What about a mirror on the back wall that shows Mike's left arm? Maybe. Are you hiding? I mean, is it possible? Are you hiding tattoos on that arm? He hates those tattoos on the outside. The left arm is much older.

I sleeved up my little. Sorry, the tattoos. I came out left arm is much older. I sleeved up my little... Sorry, the tattoos. I came out left arm first. Then I was stuck for a while. The tattoos on my left arm were... That was my first sleeve, so the right is newer. But my favorite one is my... Oh, is that a rocket ship?

Yes, the space shuttle. Oh, okay. Where... Did you laugh at me? Is the rocket ship the kid way of saying space shuttle? Yeah. All right. Yeah, but it's just where a very common traditional Americana tattoo is the ship.

It's like a pirate ship. Okay. And I think those are very cool, but that's not who I am, so I just figured out- You're a space pirate. So you went with what fits you better. You went with a rocket ship. There are several people who believe Jason has never looked more awake, and then also Jason's blood sugar is at a good level right now.

So is this the morning recording going on? Are you caffeinated? I've got a coffee right here. Yeah. He's not burger-nated. Have we seen metabolizing jason is not making an appearance post lunch recordings are a different they're a whole different thing man well the good news is i mean regular season five days a week yep yep in season i'm always morning caffeinated

jason yeah yeah a little behind the curtain yesterday um we we try. I mean, we try. We don't try. We do. We think about it. We occasionally think about trying. We think about trying. We consider thinking about trying to eat healthy. For lunch. Yeah.

And we cater lunch for the crew here. And so it's always like, who wants to go where? But yesterday, what was the phrase decided when you said, where do we want to eat? And somebody said- It was a Patton Oswalt quote. Avalanche level. Yeah, avalanche level of fat. Something like that. Yeah. Mike asked the question of like, do we want to go healthy or not? And it was- Tragic avalanche fat.

So we had burgers and we had fries. And let me ask the deucers over there, who would you say is the biggest ice cream fan of The Office? Oh, you, 100%. That's going to be Andy Hall. Yeah, and who has the most desserts on a regular basis? It's also Andy Hall. You or Rob, actually.

Yeah, Rob does that too, but he's in good shape. So he's allowed. But yesterday, we order burgers and fries. And I make a comment that there's shakes on the menu. And then I'm like, I better not do that. I want to keep my girlish figure. Smart. You alerted me to it, though.

And lo and behold, we're sitting there. We're just eating our lunches. We're all having a nice time. And who pulls out a shake but jason moore who smuggled the shake into the order without disclosure oreo it was a malt malt fantastic and then drank it with just an evil overlord cackle the whole lunch he was very proud i have never tasted a better shake than tasting it with your sadness it really was like a salt in the sweet i drink your tears and so it was it was the best shake of my life but what you were yeah

where i was story yeah is coming up is because yesterday we recorded an episode of the spitballers our our comedy show and uh we did that right after lunch. And I was... He started walking into the studio. And when I say walking, I do mean dragging his legs behind him. My shoes were squeaky on the floor. And I said, you know, just desserts, huh? Yeah, it was a great show.

So what are you going to do? Yeah, it was pretty good. All right. I think we're going to wrap this thing up. Surprise episode of the show. Hopefully you enjoyed it. If you tuned in live, most of you will be listening after the fact, either on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.

We told you to subscribe. Yeah, sometimes we like bringing a little extra. You know, when we noticed we take Jason's blood sugar in the morning. Yeah. If it hits a certain range, sometimes we go live. Yeah. I mean, that's the way it works. I was like, 90?

Come on, fire it up. Let's go. Yeah, so that is it. Make sure you subscribe. We're here year-round, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Check out the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. Until next week, farewell, one and all. Continue debating all of these bounce-back players with your friends,

and we'll get some answers in the draft soon thank you everybody goodbye thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers