Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - The TRUTH: QBs Part 2 + Playoff Reactions! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/23

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

More TRUTH about the QB position on today’s fantasy football podcast! Get a closer look into 2023 performances from C.J. Stroud, Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, and others! Plus, reactions to an exciting Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs!  Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for January 23rd, 2024. 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.

Welcome in. It's going to be a good show. A run-of-the-mill show Welcome in For whatever reason, it feels like it's been an eternity since we last did a show Well, we are down to Tuesday, Thursday release shows of our main podcast And this is that long break. This is, you know, we're waiting from our last recording, which we recorded on Wednesday, all the way to this morning on a Tuesday.

And we've had quite a time in between. Yeah, yeah. Just observing the National Football League, right? Yes, yes. There were some football games. It has been observed. Yeah. Mike is in full winter mode over there you you have you been outside i it's been crazy in arizona because it's dark it's raining non-stop yes i am i am in apparel dressed for the cold now see

part of why mike is so defensive about that right now is because there is a multi-year war going on between Mike and Jason's sensibilities. Because Jason regularly dresses in, like, summer gear. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, baby. And flip-flops often. And then occasionally will, to Mike, complain about, ooh, I'm a little cold. And Mike is always like, then put clothes on. But we're inside.

The temperature inside should just, it's not raining inside. It's not snowing inside. It should just be a normal temperature. I can wear anything inside. Right? Like, why would that make any difference? Because to get to that temperature, you have to use artificial heat, which artificial heat is the worst.

Like, it makes the air feel bad. It stinks. Everything about heat is bad. You always have to go from, you know, based on the temperature outside, it gets a little cold inside. Yeah. Then the heat turns on, or it gets a little hot inside, then the heat turns on or it gets a little hot inside and then the cold turns on problem is mike wants me to wear like sweatpants like

the joggers or whatever right if i wear that if i am out in the snow in those i am sweating so this is just there's no world where i can wear you need tearaways there we go like the warm like nba warm-ups and then whenever it's like i a little warm, I get to rip my pants off? I'm in. It's a whole spectacle. Yeah, yeah. Welcome in. Happy to be with you, January 23rd.

This is a – we normally record our Tuesday, Thursday shows a day early. It didn't work out that way this week, so we're in here recording early on Tuesday. So apologies for a slight delay on the release time. Not for me. But we had some football. We had the Ravens disposed. I mean, all the games were close at halftime. So that kind of made them exciting.

But the Ravens disposed of the Texans a heck of a year for Houston, absolutely demolishing the pick that the Cardinals acquired. Just wrecking us. But they're well on their way to a bright future. Buffalo, Kansas City. Oh, brother.

This was the most I think gut-wrenching of the games if you're not asking Al Borland. Because the history between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, Mahomes to his sixth consecutive AFC title game in six years starting as a quarterback. You must feel... Can we put a cap?

Like if you make it five years in a row... Oh, like they did with us in the podcast awards? Yeah, yeah. If you make it to the championship game five years in a row, then they name the championship game after you the following year, and the other teams get to the Patrick Mahomes championship game. You're not allowed. You have to take a year off for the rest of the league.

I mean, Buffalo had every chance to win this ball game. They just couldn't adjust on the fly well enough, in my opinion. They were running the football well. The fourth quarter, the Chiefs made a huge adjustment to stop the run. I think James Cook had negative four yards in that quarter. And, frankly, they didn't have the weapons to – I mean, they could do a little swing pass to Dalton Kincaid. Look, Kincaid's going to be a big part of the offense moving forward.

I believe that. But Diggs didn't come up with a big play Diggs is done and Gabe Davis is a free agent and so how much do you mean what you said I actually do mean it quite a bit there was this was um probably about a month ago on the dynasty podcast we were talking about Diggs's long-term outlook and since that episode i've really shifted because i was still a believer at that point in the the future fantasy uh ability and asset of digs is that because through the first six weeks he was a hundred or more yards in five of six of them yeah i mean he was great and it's it's unbelievable the the the fall off and it's you know you can you can blame whatever you want you could say oh it's age as he's slowing down he's not as good you could say

it's the joe brady and the change of scheme and whatever it is it is the new normal and it's been done so much that you cannot view stefan diggs as you know a a reliable star asset for fantasy production or for NFL production. I mean, he missed opportunities in that game, dropped what should have been a giant bomb touchdown pass. And I think moving forward, you're going to need to retool this offense. Yeah, I know that Josh Allen came out this morning in and supported and endorsed Joe Brady was Stefan Diggs in the back like no no so wave it off so just for perspective uh because uh Ian Hardit's put this out there in the last 10 Bills games Khalil Shakir has 462 receiving yards

Stefan Diggs has 422. Wow, so he outdid it. Yeah, you're like, oh, he gained more yards. Here's the targets in that span. Shakir 37, Diggs 80. That doesn't seem believable. It doesn't. You're telling me that well over double, near a triple the targets. And you're saying that you have fewer yards,

fewer total yards from Stephon Diggs. It's unacceptable. Yeah, so your future is shady. And you have an offense that needs reliable pass catchers. So, hold on a second. You know, if you didn't try to correct me i know you want to let it go so so jason in his in his discussion here he goes he goes he's well over double targets yeah almost triple is the quote you said that's fair because that's what i said and it's like i'm looking at this and it's like shakir 37 digs 80 so i put in our slack channel well over double that's three over and what did you say well i corrected you because you were super wrong it was six over which is double what you said i

feel like six that's well over double yeah thank you mike it's not near triple but it's well over double it's well under triple it's yeah it's a triple double. It's well under triple. It's a triple-double. Tomato, tomato. The point is, he had a ton more targets, produced fewer yards. That's what's happened over 10 games. I think Shakir is worthy of the inverse reaction, though. I think Shakir will be a part of the offense moving forward, where we'll have discussions in draft season, for sure.

And then, look, the Chiefs, they got it done. They got it done. They just – They tried not to. Giving the ball to McCall Hardman. The Buffalo Bills said, here, Kansas City, we would like you to win this game. Just we're done. We're tired of this game.

We're going to run a fake punt run on what, like fourth and six. Just go for the, you want to go for it? I'm not going to judge you. I get it. So you're like, I don't, we don't want Mahomes to have the ball back. We need to do something right now. Go for it. You have an MVP caliber quarterback,

but a fourth and six run on a punt is ridiculous. And then the Chiefs. To DeMar Hamlin. Yeah. The Chiefs took the gift that... To DeMar Hamlin. Yeah, the Chiefs took the gift that the Buffalo Bills gave them. They said, no, we don't want this. We have

Pacheco, who's the offense, or the engine of our offense, but we're going to go with a trick play to McCall Harmon, which Andy Reid, for all of his greatness, six straight AFC Championship games, for all of his greatness, he has so many of these just what are you doing even even when it works all the good plays you doing i've chosen

to give to read and all the bad ones i give to naggy that's what i've chosen to do well it's not just naggy though because andy reed has a history of getting way too tricky so kelsey five for 75 and two touchdowns encouraging for the future. Yeah. On the other side, the 49ers knocked off the Packers. The Packers played a better football game than the 49ers for about 55 of 60 minutes.

So the Brock Purdy won the game at the end, but he really tried to lose up until that point. I think with the digs play in the, in the previous game and then looking at this Packer game, the truth is, Sean McDermott said they don't want to tear it down to the studs. And I get that because you're one play. You're one play from winning. Wait, the head coach on the hot seat is like,

we should just run this back. We need to change nothing. Everything's good. You were a play from the title game, though. That's the facts. And the Packers were in that boat, too, but you look at what happened in this game, and really it came down to two awful missed interceptions

that fundamentally changed the game. And it was back and forth. Jordan Love tried to do too much at the end of this one. The Packers' future is exceptionally bright. It's hard to look at a franchise with more envy than where the Packers are positioned. Great head coach, great quarterback, young wide receivers, young talent. I mean, their entire team is like 22 years old.

Well, sure. But the rest of that team is so young. They're clicking, they're driving, and the truth is always just, how's the quarterback? And Jordan Love, he just looked legit through the entire playoffs until the very end. He tried to play a little bit too much hero ball, which is hard to not do when you're literally on the game-winning attempt

to drive. But he looked great in these playoffs. And the Niners, I want to go back in the season and just say how important this offense needs Debo. When they lost three in a row, that was when they didn't have Debo three in a row, and all of a sudden the Niners looked like a trash franchise for about a month. Debo comes back and they dominate in this game they lost Debo and they could not move the ball they he is super important right

now they're saying it's 50-50 as to whether he'll play in the conference championship game yeah and it matters a ton it's a little bit like when you remove pieces from Miami and all of a sudden they don't look the same. Debo is that fundamental. So, you know, they squeeze it out. They get the victory. The Lions defeat Tampa Bay. Congratulations, Lions fans, you long-suffering crew. And then Zach Ertz is like, this is, you know what?

Now's the time. Now's the time. What favor? What favor is owed to zackers like what what is he what has he done for someone on on the lions team the fact that he can just sign with them now is comical yeah like but i mean it doesn't hurt him i think it was super brave of him to do it this early and call his shot before. He didn't wait until the Super Bowl and say, well, who's in it? I want a ring.

That's right. He's going to say, I'm going to need to win two games. He's like, our Lions. Our Lions. One pride. That's the part that'll be so funny because it's like he's not going to play in the title game. I don't think. Probably not.

A couple snaps. Then his only snaps for this franchise will be in a Super Bowl if they make it. Oh, he'll be on that bus. He'll be in the parade. He has assured them. We did it, Detroit. He has assured them. I don't need to participate, okay?

Just like I'll be there. I'm going to be ready, but don't worry about getting me on the field. What if he caught the game-winning touchdown for the Detroit Lions? Oh, what a good story for him. Well, any fantasy takeaways from the Detroit Tampa? I mean, Tampa has to bring back a quarterback. They have to bring

back Mike Evans. I like the comments from Evans after the game. I did not hear them. Yeah, in the locker room, he was still dealing with the defeat, obviously, but he's just like – I believe he said, show me that schmoney. I don't know if that was a direct quote. It was, I would like to be here, but also, I would like a lot of money.

He said that it's rare for players to get to play for one franchise, and that's where he wants to be. And that Baker is criminally underrated, and they want him back, and Bowles wants him back. So, you know, I think the odds of Evans being back with Baker next year which is probably your best case scenario for fantasy genuinely like it's tantalizing to say oh the talent of of Mike Evans throw him onto Kansas City or throw him somewhere else. It just rarely works out that way, especially late stage career situations where, you know, I mean, Mike Evans, the numbers you put up this year,

it's hard to say you could go somewhere and replicate that. Being Baker's go-to receiver in an offense, you already know is probably the best thing. That's my opinion. Like as a Dynasty Evans manager, I'm actually rooting for that when when things are great change is bad that's almost always the truth he was the wide receiver five on the course of the season had 1255 yards 13 touchdowns yeah you're you're not you don't need change don't please don't change that just do that again so uh yeah there you go Brian Callahan

signed as the uh they're going to be the Titans are going to be hiring Brian Callahan the offensive coordinator from the Cincinnati Bengals to be their new head coach Jason you are surprised I am surprised um I think the Titans are I think they've been a pretty well-run franchise over the long term and I don't know man I it just feels like you're going from Mike Vrabel who has been a very good coach for the roster he's been given in my opinion to an unproven offensive coordinator who I mean maybe Callahan is great he's obviously been good with the Bengals but you I have a hard time trusting offensive coordinators who have nonstop talent. And if you've got Joe Burrow and you've got Joe Mixon,

you've got Jamar Chase, you've got T. Higgins, okay, yeah, you had a good offense. And maybe it was all him. I mean, not all him, but maybe he was a big key part of that. Obviously, Jake Browning did well. So maybe that's a feather in the cap. Well, I mean, this is about, to me, Will Levis. This is about trying to take a young quarterback, give him an offensive mind,

not an defensive head coach, and maybe shape him a little bit. Sure, yeah. That's the – I get it. I mean, I hope it works out well for you. Now, was Vrabel available to hire? Would that have been a possible – He was, actually.

Yeah, I'm very interested to see where these coaches land, which we'll find out pretty soon. Quick break, and we're going to jump right into the second part of our quarterback truth episode. All right. It feels like a long time ago, but it was just last Thursday. We covered the truth of the quarterback position, looked at the top 10 finishers of the 2023 season,

Allen Hurts, Jackson, Prescott, Love, Purdy, Mahomes, Goff, Mayfield, and Tua. And we're going to jump into the second portion of the quarterback position analysis today and so you know the quarterback position for fantasy what was the give me the bullet points that we we drew out of Thursday I mean ultimately there were two you know league winning type of picks in the top 30 at quarterback Mahomes was not one of them yeah I mean basically the truth of the quarterback position was if you want true consistency you had two options you had Josh Allen and you had Jalen Hurts everyone else was

very inconsistent had plenty of bust games whether you were had a ton of great games like Lamar Jackson or whether you didn't I mean there was no one else consistent with the sole exception of really Joe Flacco. He only started four games for the fantasy season and was four for four and being very good and very relevant. And actually, Kyler Murray was more was more consistent than you felt because he really didn't have his his monstrous games his floor was higher than a outright bust most often though yeah you you were stuck in fantasy this past year pivoting your quarterback position quite a bit if you didn't have kind of a locked and loaded one of

those very very few consistent quarterbacks Burrow and Herbert were injured. Watson injured. Rodgers injured. Richardson injured. Cousins injured. Even Daniel Jones went down. And then you had a slow start for Dak and a hot finish and a hot start for Tua and a cold finish. So you were left making some decisions, even waiting for Justin Fields to get back and be uh what he was before the injury he missed some time trevor lawrence let people down so um it is i mean this is the reason we have a streaming quarterback segment right we have a waiver show but we literally pick out streamers every week because you you know, matchups, opportunity, injuries, the amount of starters every year, you know, it can look really nice sliding a certain name into your roster on a given week.

Oh, man, I got two up, guys. But, you know, the Flacco start was going to be a better one or the pivot to Jake Browning was going to be a better one. So we want to keep you informed with that. We're going to dig into the next set of numbers here. I've been informed that I did not properly introduce this segment. Is that true? Do the drop.

You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers. I want the truth. You can't handle the truth. Now I understand why I didn't do it. Yeah, that wig. You know, I didn't subconsciously.

I must have realized that I wanted to miss that drop. That wig is right out of a 1998 clip art. That is what our graphics team utilizes. We actually got a full subscription to all 1998. Clipart.net. Yeah. Work smarter, not harder, guys. Yeah.

No, it's a small assortment of options. Number 11 this year, believe it or not, Russell. I don't. Russell? Russell Wilson. I do not believe it. Wow, he's 35 now huh russell wilson uh this was not a player you wanted to play this year i mean a consistency rank of 20 by the way when we break

down the truth and i talk about great games good games bus games a great game is 26 or more fantasy points a good game 21 or more a bus game fewer than 15 he had zero great games that's a problem 20 good so 20 of games over 21 and 27 bus this was you know just as mediocre of an option at quarterback that you could have put on on a team this is like generic he's the poster child for how bad quarterback play was this season in fantasy he was a you know like you just said he was what the quarterback uh 11 through the first 17 weeks and his consistency rating on our website is an f because he just never scores enough points to be helpful for you in fantasy. Some players like this are just stat accumulators. He plays the whole season.

He has a high enough – The Phillip Rivers. Yeah, exactly, where it's like this is not a helpful player for fantasy. And you can't look at the end-of-season rankings and think, oh, he was okay last year. I mean, it's a factual statement to say Russell Wilson was a top-12 quarterback. And there will be somebody that makes that argument next year for Russell Wilson. When he goes somewhere else.

Yeah. You're talking about a top 12 quarterback, guys. That's the voice of the person. For sure. That's a future audio recording. But is it insulting to not want to say another word about him on the show? I don't think we need to because he's not going to be the Broncos' starting quarterback. They've left the door ajar that he could possibly come back, but it's doubtful.

I expect him to be cut. I expect him to sign somewhere and don't draft him. Yeah, I mean, it was bad. Do we still have the – Mike, do you got the important drop? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, hold on. Hold on. This is a direct quote. Unlimited diarrhea.

Unlimited. Yeah, that's what you got. So much more exciting to talk about this player. In fact, I think maybe this player is the most exciting to talk about of any of the top 12 we've discussed so far. At 12, 22 years old, undrafted for fantasy cj stroud with a consistency rank of seven this year 13 great games 40 good games and 40 bust games he was actually the third most consistent quarterback in the first half of the year yeah and then the second half

he had the game where he you know did not play a lot um got injured and so that kind of hurts his score he did he was started that was that disastrous jets game yes exactly so it's one of those where we don't delete that we don't take that out that that crushed you if you played him that week um but i mean we know we saw this season said it early on. I feel like we were a month into the season and we were pretty confident that like this guy's the real deal. He just he looks he sees the field so well. He puts the ball exactly where he wants it. He hits wide receivers in stride. You know, I saw Kurt Warner just talking online about how yards after catch, some of that is the ability of the

wider shooter, but that's a quarterback stat too. If you're hitting someone and stopping their route, they get tackled. If you hit them in the hands, making them run open, they keep running away from the defender. C.J. Stroud does that as good as anybody. Didn't he literally lead the league in yards

per game? I believe that is correct. He did. 4,100 yards, 23 touchdowns. Way better at home and way better against bad defenses. The Jared Goff. Significantly. But also lost Tank Dell at the end of the year and

lost Nico Collins for multiple weeks and Noah Brown and had offensive line injuries to overcome. When I watch C.J. Stroud, it is not a novel thing to be able to instantly observe the elite nature of his game. But to me, his greatest asset is that he is unflinching in a collapsing pocket. He is evasive so he can get out of the pocket, but he also will stand in there with his eyes downfield and wait and wait and wait. He'll take a hit.

Incredible arm talent. I mean, Jason and I, we spent some time, probably a lot of time, musing on how NFL teams miss. You know, like we scout for fantasy. And then NFL teams scout. And then they end up with Bryce Young, right? And there's all these questions. And then, oh, C.J. Stroud doesn't.

The Wunderlich. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah, the S2. What a joke that is. Oh, man. And now they're coming out and being like, no, no, no, no. Have you heard this? Yeah, yeah.

It wasn't a real. Yeah. Say that then. Okay. So you heard that? Yeah, yeah. It wasn't a real. Yeah. Say that then, okay? You can't say that now. It's just a strange business. People get it wrong from the professional level on down, but C.J. Stroud was incredible. I mean, there's nothing more he could have done to.

But now the question, let's go to fantasy, because I'm in full agreement of C.J. Stroud, legit franchise quarterback. But it was – I mean, he had an absolute monster game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a number one overall finish. Was that like an over 40 point – Yeah, he had over 40. An over 40 point – I mean, that's a week-winning performance.

But the truth of rookie C.J. Stroud was 13% of his games were great. 40% were good. And I want to be careful with he is such a great real-life quarterback, but for fantasy purposes, it wasn't sensational. What I think you look at with Stroud, and that's a very fair point, at least this is how I'm going to look at it, is that he's going to slot right into the category of 40 touchdown-capable pocket passers that Herbert, Burrow, that department. You go into next year, and any of those three players

can outperform the other one, in my opinion. That's where I have him. He's not a tier below that to me. But his would, and we like Nico, Tank, but Nico and Tank are not Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Correct. So that's my concern for C.J. Stroud is, despite my love for him, is people are going to be really excited to draft C.J. Stroud

coming into next year. He may not be on our teams because of that. And I agree with that. The Texans may add someone. I'm not going to put it past them to go out, be really aggressive. T. Higgins. Yeah, like T. Higgins. You put T. Higgins on

the team with Nico and Tank Dell. Okay, now we're talking. But he... We talk about the ups and downs of the pocket passers of... You find a magical year every now and then, but I just want people to be careful connecting C.J. Stroud's –

I mean, I don't know if it's the best rookie season we've ever seen, but it's one of, but will that translate immediately into he's a sophomore and he's going to be worth the draft capital because people are going to be very, very excited to draft C.J. Stroud. Yeah, with 167 rushing yards, you have to be throwing a ton of touchdowns. And next year, I think we're going to kind of see the push comes to shove on these splits because we talk about how important those splits were for Jared Goff at home.

Talking about the home road split. The home road and the good-bad defense. Those splits for Jared Goff were very, very large. They were like five-point different. He got annihilated by Baltimore. Yes. My point is, C.J. Strouds are even larger than Jared Goff's. Jared Goff, we should be talking about, is doing the C.J. Stroud.

And so next year, we'll see, is he really taking advantage of good matchups? And when you're in a plus matchup, you know, at home or in a dome, like you should be firing him up over everybody because he's going to go out there and throw four touchdowns at 350 yards, no problem. But in a tough matchup, maybe he's like the ultimate streamer,

but he won't be drafted as that next year because people will be calling their shots that he is the next greatness. If he's too high drafted, I'll be out on him, and I'll probably look towards Anthony Richardson if he's behind him. Well, and that might make more sense. You know, you go to a rushing quarterback that's five, six, seven rounds behind him. But, I mean, put those names to the test.

Like, yes, Burrow has Chase and Higgins, or at least currently does. Yeah, yeah. But, like, Herbert hasn't had – I mean herbert's weapons are similar to stroud's but i mean think about the the people that will be in discussion with cj stroud next year in my opinion will be tua uh-huh dac yeah and probably purdy and probably cousins um because cousins i think if he gets a, you're going to come in with Addison, Jefferson, TJ Hawkinson. If you had to call your shot today, Stroud or Cousins, which direction are you going to go? I'm going to bet on the guy who didn't tear his Achilles.

Yeah. Yeah, I think Stroud will probably slot in right after the Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow. Yeah. He's going gonna go back and forth depending on your league is he in the tier with those guys or is he in the tier with the with the the dac level he's also very exciting to watch because he's willing to throw the ball deep second most air yards per pass attempt second highest completion it was the inverse bryce young genuinely like watching the two of them play one look like a rookie and one look like a veteran also I've just never seen someone throw a more accurate ball on the move I that when I see him roll out of the pocket and he's running to his right and he throws it I know that ball is going to go despite him running

I know the ball is going to go exactly where he's wanting yeah and he's willing to put touch on the ball I mean I love it.J. Stroud's progression. It'll be interesting to see what the NFL does because I'm just Joe Schmo watching and I'm like, the C.J. Stroud tendency of roll out by time and then

that little float pass to the sideline. He keeps doing that over and over. Eventually a defense is going to guard for it. I think eventually a defense will try and stop it. It's like he keeps doing that over and over. Eventually a defense is going to guard for it. I think eventually a defense will try and stop it. It's just plays break down, he buys time. Yeah, Kyle brings up a good point. They could be losing Bobby Slowick as well, their OC.

He is one of the hot names for the head coaching opportunities that are out there. So that will factor in. I think that the summary of this is CJ Stroud is great and very excited to watch him moving forward, but I'm going to, for fantasy purposes, be just a little bit cautious. Maybe we're all really surprised, and CJ Stroud is like a 7th or 8th round pick, and then it's, oh, this is fantastic.

That's possible. I mean, I think it's very possible Dak goes ahead of him. I mean, I think it's very possible that goes ahead of him i mean i think it's very possible that he's seventh eighth ninth off the board i do love that it's kyle that's like oh they could they could lose bobby slowick please please lose him in atlanta yeah he's like atlanta come on take take bobby slowick let's get back to a player we don't have to talk about a lot. Yeah. That sounds awesome. Nice. 13 was Sam Howell. That was fun. That was a fun first half of the year. Yeah. Get the Howell out of here.

Am I right? I like it. I like it a lot. I mean, it's over, right? Oh, it's over. They've got, what, the number two pick? Yeah. We don't need to analyze the 30th most consistent quarterback in the second half of the year,

the 28th on the year. The empty calories. This man. He was awesome the first half. the year the 28th on the year the empty calories he was man he was awesome the first half if you played him enjoy the ride get the howl out of here and yeah he's not gonna play a couple times in the first half he was he was actually pretty consistent i mean he had his the first half of the season he was number 12 in consistency okay yeah i mean this was not congrats sam you'll be able to show your grandkids you got that one year. It was super fun. He's going to be a backup. Yes.

You said that with so much – like, if you could say that to him, he'd be excited. Because for fantasy, it's probably over. But just, I mean, he's got an NFL career. This is like Jameis Winston light season. You know, when Winston was the starter in Tampa and your defense was awful and you just chucked it around the field. You know, the thing is that Sam Howell, no matter all of his success,

he was terrible for Dotson. He was terrible for McLaurin. He was mediocre for CJ Samuel – or CJ. Curtis Samuel. So – I like this. Yeah, go for it. Go for it. So I like this. I like Kyle. So Kyle put out this tweet.

How would you describe the Washington commanders offense in 2023? Give me your best analysis. And so here are the best responses for Sam Howell Rambo with a nerf gun. Okay. But he's got the face paint, right? Fantasy celery with enough of it. You might just feel full because of the volume, but it's actually extremely nutrient deficient. A straight to VHS movie.

Those are fun. And it's like ordering a dozen cupcakes, but you receive a salad. Wow. Yeah. Good work, everyone. Which, let me just say two things. One, that sucks. But two, when you do the let me just say two things. One, that sucks.

But two, when you do the opposite, it's so great. Order a salad and get 12 cupcakes. Oh, yeah. When you order something healthy, and you're like, dude, I was trying to. That's on you. I ordered the grilled chicken on this salad. I knew that was going to be the grilled chicken, crispy chicken situation. They give you the crispy. That's not my fault.

That's Jason's. He's been down this road a couple times. I could pick them off, but then I won't get my protein. Right. Look, all I'm saying is if you are an employee fulfilling orders and you see a healthy order come through every now and then, throw in a sweet treat. You're not going to have a refund. You're not getting a refund in that situation.

No, you're not. You're not going to get upset. You're saying somewhere an employee is going, you know what, I'm going to make somebody's day. Exactly right. And please make mine. Because I want to make a healthy choice, but I don't want to eat healthy. Washington has the second pick.

They'll be taking a quarterback. Yeah, they will. End of story. Trevor Lawrence at 14. Hugely disappointing year. 19% good games. 6% great. 44% bust games.

I have the best question for you two to answer. All right. Yes, he should shave off the hair. Shave off? Just go full bald? Did you see the picture of him? They had him on the Manning cast. Did they give him Peyton's forehead?

They gave him Peyton's hair and forehead. They look a little too similar. Really? But it was very funny. But go ahead. Here's the question. Can he grow a little too similar. Really? But it was very funny. But go ahead. Here's the question. Can he grow a beard? No.

No, God, no. No, I don't think so. Not for another decade. I understand. You have that hair, but you have a beard? It might work out. All right. The question is, and this is the question I have about Trevor Lawrence.

Is he a great quarterback? Yes. Yes, Jason. Yes. is he a great quarterback yes yes jason yes because i don't think he is he is currently slotted in as a can have a great game quarterback yeah the consistency thus far in his career is it's um you know. Hashtag not good. No, it's not. And, you know, this year consistency rank was 18. That's terrible. I mean, wasted pick. 100% bust pick in the fifth round.

I mean, unquestionable. Like, you shoot your shot. Like, this is the. This is the concern. This is the, if you took Stroud in the fifth and then you're like, oh, I've now committed. Like, people committed themselves to Lawrence. And then they got 8-32, 18-16-16 as fantasy finishes for five weeks.

No, he's not a great quarterback yet. But he is capable of being the number one on any given week with the right matchup and situation. He lost some of his weapons at different parts of the year. He's certainly capable of giving you a surprise season because he's the number one pick. In his defense, the super cuts are out there of watching. The Trevor Lawrence just missed touchdowns.

There's so, so many. And some of them are Lawrence, and a lot of them are on the wide receivers too so tapping on the white line like i the the trevor lawrence season i think it could have gone a very different direction well 21 touchdowns 14 picks and moving forward i'm not taking the shot i'm not either i i don't i don't think he is and i trade him in dynasty i don't think he's a great quarterback and i and i don't say that for fantasy I mean it applies to fantasy but I'm asking like real life NFL football the more that I've watched and we've seen a lot of games now where he's he's clearly got an elite uh skill set like he he's got great arm strength um mobility mobility he's he's got the tools

and so he certainly could still develop into what you hoped you were drafting when you were drafting the best prospects with sandra luck with the 101 but we've got enough games where i just don't think he's a great quarterback i don't think he's going to be it feels like it hurts for you to have to say out loud well yeah because because i want i want him to develop into that of course i want every quarterback to like reach their potential because it's just good for the NFL, good for fun, good for happiness. Is he a starting NFL starter? Yeah, he's an NFL starter. Would you call him

like expensive Dak? Fantasy wise? Yes, I would. I mean, some have said that. Mike's two greatest victory laps are the Dak and the expensive Dak this year. Matthew Stafford finished 15th he's almost 36 years old his consistency was 13 but in the second half

he was the fourth most consistent quarterback so what happened uh you had healthy Cooper Cup and Puka Nakua together and Kyron you had the three of them when you had the three of them together Matthew Stafford was really really good you just didn't have him together a lot, especially in the beginning of the season. And to be fair, add in the factor that he was healthy. Because at this stage of his career, that is also a variable present for Matthew Stafford. He is constantly taking hits. You know, moving forward, he's not somebody that has the upside to me in fantasy to be more than a streamer i don't know if you guys disagree with that but i at this stage of his

career at this stage you know who he reminds me of i know exactly uh is it rivers no no it's not rivers because rivers never had that like weak winning potential upside type of play right when he was sure young rivers was okay but he reminds me of like 2015 long time ago matthew stafford where for fantasy purposes he was the guy that you if you were punting the position if you're like i'm not drafting a quarterback for the last round and in the last round or the 10th plus round, you'd go, well, Matthew Stafford has the ability, the upside to like really go ham. You did this all the time, year after year, Mike. You would wait until the very last round and you'd grab Matthew Stafford.

I think you won a championship one of those years doing that. And that's just kind of what it seems like. Like nobody's going to want him. Nobody's going to go hard after him. But in the late rounds, if you're really playing that late, late round quarterback, I think he's going to be a fine pick. I think I'd just be out on that. I think there's enough higher upside

options. I mean, Stafford, I think it's fair to say I think if you played him every single week this entire year, or I'm sorry, if you looked at this year, I don't think there was ever a time you could have played Matthew Stafford and been happy. There was one good week and it was a game you never would have played him in Baltimore.

Yeah. And other than that, I mean, so, yeah, I get it. I mean, maybe you go into the season with a full assortment of tools on the tool belt, and that gives you the confidence. But this team can win. The problem is this team can win a game with Kyron Williams by himself. And you don't need Matthew Stafford to throw. I mean, he threw 24 touchdowns.

Yeah, I mean, I would definitely push back on the one happy game. I mean, from week 12 through week 16, that's six weeks where he was never below a top 12 quarterback. And most of those weeks was five weeks. Most of those yes, it is. Most of those weeks were over 20

fantasy points. I mean, he had a good stretch. Yeah, but I think what Andy's saying is like against Arizona. those weeks were over 20 fantasy points. He had a good stretch. I think what Andy's saying is against Arizona, yeah, I would have played Matthew Stafford, but then against Cleveland and Baltimore, I would not have been willing to play Stafford. I missed out. Then you're like, oh, I'm back in with him against Washington.

The second best matchup of the season, quarterback 12. I think Matthew Stafford is a great QB2 and a great super flex quarterback that you can wait on. Palmer? Remember Palmer in Arizona? What, the Carson Palmer?

Was he more like that? Yeah. Well, beginning Carson Palmer was electric. Not beginning. Cardinal Palmer. Second year, Cardinal Carson Palmer was incredible. Very specific. All right, quick break here, and we'll come back with some big-time names.

All right, Justin Herbert comes in at 16. He missed the end of the season. His first half of the season was electric. It was number five in consistency. He still, even though he missed, what, four games, 15% great games, 54% good, 38% bust, lost Mike Williams instantaneously. Cuge was a Cuge disappointment. Keenan was elite. Eckler was a disappointment and he still pieced it together so i don't think there's any doubt that a healthy justin herbert is a healthy option for fantasy i would agree with that i mean keenan will be back next year

um what's the contract situation of my clubs i think he's? I think he's a free agent. He's a free agent. So they are going to need to, I think, address this position. I know Gerald Everett. Oh, wait, is he going into final year? He's got one more year. Oh, that's great. Yeah, but he's super hurt, right? Yeah, all the time, but that's part of the Mike Williams experience. But, you know, the tools should be there to at least start the season well.

Obviously, when everybody got injured, including Justin Herbert, it apart for him but the beginning of the year he was he was outstanding like when you drafted Herbert you felt really good about it for the entire first half of the season no question I mean the real thing that we'll be watching is what does this team look like new offensive coordinator potentially because if a new head coach comes in which they will because they need one they could change the offensive philosophy. You won't have a consistent running back situation because Eckler's a free agent. So I think we're going to come into the year and we're hoping that, you know, let's just let's paint the picture, right?

Let's pretend Harbaugh lands in Los Angeles. You know, suddenly there's going to be a lot of excitement and hype. And I could see a world where Herbert exceeds an appropriate draft spot because of that. Yeah, the only issue I would have there is I think that if Harbaugh comes to town, he will actually fix the defense. And that's been one of my favorite parts of having Keenan Allen and Herbert is like, oh, they're going to have to keep throwing the ball

because their defense isn't good. But in general, when you get a good coach, it's good for your team. And so Herbert's great. The first eight weeks, I just looked it up, he was the quarterback four in points per game. And really the quarterback three because that only includes one game from Will Levis where he fooled us. Well, and quarterback one if you take the other guys out.

Exactly. One of one? One of one. Justin Fields at 17. Oh, man. Yeah. Justin Fields is. His graph is perfection.

You're like multiple, multiple elite games. Some games where you're just like, this is an absolute disaster. Let me give you the numbers. I think there's very few players where the actual statistical numbers are more intriguing in the grand scheme. He passed for 2,562 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions. Okay.

He ran for 657 yards and 4 touchdowns. He busted 54% of his starts, but was great 15, good 46. He was very bad against top 16 defenses. They kind of, you know, if you want to make the case for why Chicago's, in my opinion, clearly going to take a quarterback at number one, it's the fact that Justin Fields was hit and miss, right? There wasn't a consistency when it came to, I would say, figuring out difficult teams.

And that's just been the case for his whole career. Athletically, one of the most gifted in the game that we've seen in a long, long time. And that can mask a lot of problems. But the team has to decide is Justin Fields part of their future? And then someone like Atlanta has to decide, do they want them to be part of their future?

Because there's a lot of rumors of Justin Fields. If he's obviously not going to be their quarterback, he's going to get traded. Yeah. And does he start somewhere instantly? He will be very, very interesting for fantasy. I can tell you I will probably be in on him again going into next year. We got past the bye week and the injuries.

You know, they won a lot of games down the stretch, and he played well in most of them. Now, like the final week in an important game to stop Green Bay, it looked terrible. And that's the, that's always been the knock on him is we've had enough games to figure out like you should be getting more consistent and you still have these games where he just doesn't show up. So yeah, maybe they draft Caleb Williams. The question is if they draft Caleb Williams, are they keeping Justin Fields and doing the, the, the Alex Smith, Patrick Mahomes thing,

or do you trade Justin Fields? And if you trade him, obviously the team trading for Justin Fields, I believe will probably be trading for him to be a starter. And so I think their offensive coordinator this last year was bad. Certainly a lot of this falls on Justin Fields. He holds the ball. I mean, he's so frustrating to watch because it's like snap, drop, drop back, hit that back step. Okay, let it go. Oh, go to the next read. Okay, let it go. Okay, why are you still holding this ball?

And so a lot of that's on him. But also the play designs and play calls that you just see so stupid, like all these little screen plays that they're calling over and over and over. I want to see him with a new offensive coordinator. I do, and he's going to have a new offensive coordinator no matter what. That is true. D.J. Moore did finish as the wide receiver six with Justin Fields a big part of that, so he could support a wide receiver one.

He was willing to kind of go to his best player. That was something we wanted to see. So, you know, it's interesting if you look at what percentage of his fantasy points in his career come from rushing the football. Oh, man. It's 43% historically. It was 35% in his first season, 53% in 2022, and then 35% again last year. So it's a huge percentage of the equation. It's a huge part of the equation. And that is a, um, that is a part of his game that has led to injuries in

consecutive years. Like he has had two significant injuries that have left, left him off the field. So he will be very, very difficult to assess. We'll see if it – do you have a favorite place for him to land? There are some weird – I have a weird one. Okay. And it's Las Vegas because of the DNA of that team, what they want to do on defense. They're looking at picking up an offensive coordinator that is going to be focused on running the football.

So, you know, that would be an interesting destination. But, yeah. Honestly, Atlanta would be, I think, a good spot. If you get someone like Slowak to come in, I would like to see the weapons are there you know with with Drake London and Kyle Pitts and Bijon to to be able to have if you've got a good offensive mind come in I think that could work for fantasy and I'm just gonna tell you he's still only 24 years old and he's a one of the best athletes at the

position so I'll I'll still take my it's just it's funny because you don't know if his career arc is going the way of mariota at this point yeah and um you know if he goes in and to compete someplace he might not win the job ultimately for fantasy he was a huge bust because you drafted him in the fourth round he's a fourth round pick and and you know you got six weeks where you're happy with two of them, and then he was hurt. No, it was certainly a bad pick. He was a good pick up if you got him off of waivers for the second half of the year, but certainly very bad. But he also does something that very few guys can do.

Win a week. Which is win a week. He had five top five performances despite missing four games. If you thought I was looking forward to facing him in the playoffs against Josh, you were wrong. I was terrified. He is much like Lamar in that way where it's like, Lamar has

these games where you're like, what are you doing? What's going on? One touchdown? No touchdown? But he scored 50. He can score 50 points. Yeah. Not many people could do that. Justin Fields can do it.

All right. I'm going to breeze these last guys here because I want to. Derek Carr at 18, consistency of 30. Keep the wind blowing, my friend. Geno Smith. Pumpkin. Yeah. This is not a good year.

He was drafted as the quarterback 15, but his consistency was 23rd. I'm going to throw this out there for just looking at Baker Mayfield next year. Baker Mayfield was this year's Geno Smith. Remember we talked about that early in the offseason? And he was. In other words, Baker might. Baker might pumpkin if he comes back to the Buccaneers. Kirk Cousins.

No, that's a good one. I think Baker. Kirk Cousins. No, that's a good one. I think Baker. That's very likely. Kirk Cousins at 24, but he missed, obviously, a huge part of the year. He was playing fantastic. He was the quarterback six. And not just real-life football, but fantasy-wise, this was like – it was happening. The Kirk Cousins season was happening.

Tearing the Achilles i mean we're i guess we get to have a fun science experiment here of we have two quarterbacks who will be returning from uh achilles injuries and we get to see how they perform yeah it's it's pretty different though from my understanding because you've got aaron rogers has torn his left his non-planting leg whereas kirk cousins isins is on the plant leg. Even better. Even more for science. Kirk Cousins was the quarterback six. He was playing fantastic.

He was on pace for 4,953 passing yards along with 38 passing touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. Is there a better trifecta of receivers than Jefferson, Addison, Hawkinson if they're all healthy? With a team that right now doesn't have a huge running threat and will definitely put it in the hands of their quarterback when the game's on the line. Cousins might not go back,

but if he was back in Minnesota, he's old enough to go real late in drafts no matter what. There's no way Kirk Cousins is going ahead of C.J. Stroud. That's not happening. I don't think so. But your odds of him outperforming CJ Stroud are probably really good yeah they're probably 50 50 but your odds of him being drafted ahead of him are zero yeah so they just worthy of knowing the truth of Kirk Cousins because by the time we got to this postseason you'd forgotten he played football and he was awesome and then Joe Burrow was not awesome

now Joe Burrow started to show some signs of life after the bye week but people drafted him in the fourth round and he was as much he was more of a bust than even Justin Fields was in that stretch a disastrous first four weeks the offense couldn't get it going he was he was playing through the calf injury and oh yes he was we blamed poorly we blamed the calf injury and i and i'm fine to still blame it and just say look he was he was injured he was playing poor he got it together and then unfortunately got injured again with the wrist right um he'll be back he'll be great reminder worried about him he was the quarterback four in 2022 with 4,400 yards and 35 touchdowns. So lost year, right?

Lost year. And next year the question will be, can he be as good without T. Higgins? And then I think a lost year in terms of being part of any story, really. Kyler Murray comes in at 26. When he played football, 50% good games, 25 games 25 bus never had a great game by our 26 point definition but was okay yeah he was okay i mean the the the truth metric likes kyler quite a bit because he really didn't hurt your team i think people who had him were just disappointed by two things one you know the fact that you never had a great game. You just never had a monstrous performance.

But two, if you actually watched the games, it's really frustrating. There was a lot left on the field, I feel like. That being said, he was coming back from injury, a massive injury, for a new coordinator, had no weapons really to throw the ball to. And going forward, being healthy the full offseason, if you end up knowing, like right now most mock drafts have three quarterbacks going 1-2-3, which means Marvin Harrison Jr. is often slotted to the Cardinals. If that happens, I think Kyler with his legs and a young stud like that,

he'll be a really valuable fantasy. Yeah, it could be really, really sneaky in drafts. And ultimately, I think Arizona ends up with Marvin Harrison or neighbors at four. So I think a wide receiver might be the right way to look at that in terms of like Arizona's going to probably equip Kyler. They have to. We don't know if Hollywood's going to be back, but he's a free agent on the open market. And honestly, I don't even know if you want him back.

He wasn't good down the stretch, granted he was playing with a heel injury and they don't have any other good wide receivers on the roster Michael Wilson didn't really get it together as a rookie the Dorch is just you know a run-of-the-mill slot wide receiver for the NFL I mean you've got T. McBeat Trey McBride looks to be the real deal and then uh the last name to mention is Anthony Richardson, who we gave him a full rookie breakdown on the Dynasty podcast. So if you want another show to listen to, make sure you tune into that. He only played four games.

He was a quarterback 10 in that stretch. He was awesome. Showed a lot of potential. Obviously can run the football. I mean, we've gone through 25, 26 names. This is exactly why Matthew Stafford will never be drafted by me. It's because I can craft a better story for 22 of them, including the Richardsons and the Murrays and those guys. I'll be curious what the excitement is for Anthony Richardson.

Obviously, a huge year with Steichen in general, like getting Gardner to play the way he did and the team looks good. Do they add some weapons at wide receiver? Do they bring Michael Pittman back? I'm going to call it now. Anthony Richardson will not be undervalued. A couple years ago, he's the perfect type of target where you would be like, he's coming off of an injury. People don't remember how good he was. He's a mobile guy. Draft him late. He's going to be a mid-round pick, as he should be, and I'll still be drafting him there. All right.

I think that's it. I think we did it, boys. Yep. Another truth episode in the books. And the truth is Joe Flacco was a miracle. All right. Thank you for joining us Thursday. We'll get into the top 10 running backs,

the truth at the running back position. Looking forward to it. Shout out to the deuces back there. Judge Giamatti Alborlan, thank you for holding it down. Jay Grizz chilling in the back. We'll catch you next time. Goodbye. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.