Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Top 10 Quarterbacks + Sneaky Good QB Values - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/9

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

How early should you draft a QB in 2023 fantasy football drafts? Find out on today’s fantasy football podcast, as Andy, Mike, and Jason discuss their top 10 quarterbacks! Plus, favorite late round targets, potential streamers, and the latest NFL news! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for August 9th, 2023. Dive into the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit + Draft Analyzer! UltimateDraftKit.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. I have long watched the people of Earth and I have witnessed their capacity for greatness. They know that in any draft, there are calms between storms. There are days when their league mates turn against them, but the day will never come when they forsake their fantasy draft and the quest for ultimate glory. Rankings, sleepers, breakouts, values, together at last, united within the Ultimate

Draft Kit. The Ultimate Draft Kit stands ready, waiting, watching, protecting, and making your opponents look like stupid, dumb, dumb idiots compared to you and your magnificently hot roster. Will you use it to build your team and win a championship? I do not know, but yes, you probably should. The time for courage and world domination is now at UltimateDraftKid.com. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in! The Fantasy Footballers Podcast for Wednesday, August 9th.

Happy to be with you, Mike. The Fantasy Hitman Wright is here. Hello. Jason Moore, present, accounted for. Also hello. Doing a bit of a head nod as he tends to do. I don't know if you've ever not done a head nod in the intro part of the show. I don't know if you've ever listened to our intro music. if you don't do a head nod yeah with that music banging get pumped then you have no soul

you have no soul i'm andy holloway alex toussaint would say go to sleep and try again okay all right little alex toussaint what's up alex i'm sure he's listening I'm so sure do you ever get on your on your bike and hope for the shout out oh I have I've tried it several times he has ignored me every time this would be a peloton bike ride I've done pretty much

all my milestone rides I'm like this is the time then you're going to get the shout out and then you go 20 minutes and you're like he doesn't care. This ride doesn't matter to him. It's like he doesn't even know I did 400 rides. You know what's depressing to me on the bike is that I'm aiming for like 100 rides here soon. And then it's like, I'm hearing the shout outs.

And they're like, 35,000 rides for Joee bob in nebraska yeah us 100 rides we stand no chance there's no way these people aren't riding eight to ten times a day million rides uh sorry mike no shout out a little peloton humor yeah jason's left out i'm sure all the peloton over your head jason all the peloton people are really enjoying this bit and everyone else i don't think they're a sponsor right they have been a sponsor historically a sponsor yeah well they didn't pay for this we'd welcome them back um yeah well somewhere to aim but uh welcome in we've got the top 10 quarterback rankings today we're going to talk about some deeper quarterback value options for your roster heading into the draft um it's hard i mean the quarterback position

is i find it to be one of the harder positions to go into a draft with a plan and not be disrupted because sometimes you begin to construct that roster and maybe one of the top tier quarterbacks drops to you and you know last year it was very beneficial to have josh allen patrick mahomes jalen hurts like that was a difference maker every single week predictably uh you had that advantage traditionally on this show like we've been doing it nine years a lot of the years have been focused on late round quarterback opportunities you know josh allen was a breakout six seventh round lamar jackson was a breakout um kyler murray was a breakout, 6th, 7th round. Lamar Jackson was a breakout. Kyler Murray was a value at one point in time. Even last year, Jalen Hurts was a later round pick that shot up.

Yeah, and so make no mistake here. If you can do that, that's way better than spending the high draft pick. If you can get the Jalen Hurts later on in the draft. But when you're in the draft what I'm saying is is it's very difficult to see you know the Josh Allen name there the Patrick Mahomes name and kind of have it disrupt your game plan it's funny this show specifically like the top 10 quarterbacks over the last several years has been one of my least favorite shows because the quarterbacks I want are the later quarterbacks. I don't want to spend up on these high ones. So it's like, we're telling you all about these quarterbacks that are good

that you, you don't want to draft, but it's different this year. It's very different. These are the guys you need this year with, uh, you know, and, and what you're saying, Andy is very true. When your plan goes awry, right? Like there's a top six or seven people. For most people, they want one of those top six or seven quarterbacks. And as soon as that tier is gone, you go, oh, no. What do I do? Yeah, you could end up reaching for another player because maybe you only like one or two of the later guys

and then you reach for them and make a mistake that way. Right. So we're going to give you the answers. Yeah, we'll do our best and we'll talk through it today. So we got that going on. We got some news to talk about. Quick question.

Ultimate draft kid.com. Head over there. The UDK primed, ready to go. All of our rankings being updated every moment of the day. We've been paying close attention to camp battles, camp reports.

If you are looking for updated Kyle Trask Baker Mayfield type of rankings and that battle. Baker's going to start preseason game one. Kyle Trask is going to start game two. It's not really fair. Game two is a pretty tough matchup. I feel like they're setting Trask up for failure.

Wait, did you? Is this real? Yeah, this is real. Real preseason. Tough preseason matchup for Trask. Are you making pre-excuses for Kyle Trask? Yeah, he is. That might be.

A tough preseason matchup? Mm-hmm. Whose twos are really, really good? If you can't handle preseason week two yeah you should not be a starter it's i i believe he's gonna be facing ones all year long i'm really worried about that i believe he will be playing against the jets okay who will probably be playing their starters i'm just saying that's a tough matchup did do you know that you play starters throughout like the year yeah but not every week is an audition to win the job.

Yes, it is. When you're Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield. We have other rankings, too. Join the Foot.com community. That's where you get a bonus weekly episode of the show, premium perks throughout the year, access to the premium Discord server where you can get into Foot Clan leagues.

You can ask questions, trade reviews, get that sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet validation that you need when you make a trade. You want people to give you the thumbs up, so you're like, yeah, I won the trade. There are people in there that will give you a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Yeah.

Be careful what you wish for. If you get the thumbs down, you just delete the thread. Not a discord. Don't worry about it. And you say, no, my friend did that trade. Yeah. I was just getting a review for him. If you get the thumbs down, you just delete the thread out of NIS score. Don't worry about it. And you say, no, my friend did that trade. Yeah. I was just getting a review for him.

Quick question of the day. Look, if you don't draft one of the top 10 quarterbacks we're talking about today, which we'll get to shortly here on the countdown, who are you targeting at current average draft position? So let's say you are punting the position. Sometimes you go in with the plan to get a top guy, but then a different running back value drops to you, a wide receiver value. You have to pass if you've got somebody that you love

dropping at another position that you play more than one of. So who are you targeting right now? Yeah, so if I don't get one of those top guys, what I have found my strategy that I have been going to the most, because in today's day and age in fantasy football, you need an elite quarterback. You need someone that is scoring crazy amounts of points that differentiates themselves from your average quarterbacks

who at the end of the year will accumulate stats but won't win you weeks and so i'm taking a shot on anthony richardson to be more than rookie from the colts rookie yes uh rookie dual threat quarterback 255 yeah he's built he's a greek god he really is. He is the Cam Newton-iest player since Cam Newton. A real true alpha human. If you walk by one of the mannequins for the Under Armour, that was actually him. He was standing there. He's so big. But because I think he might get off to a really slow start, and I would not prefer to play Anthony Richardson week one. I want to see,

see it a little bit. I don't need to start off with losses. Um, I'm, I pair him with Gino Smith. Gino Smith is going really late. Mike, I know you love Gino Smith. I do. He's one of your targets as well. Uh, last year finishes the quarterback five adds JSN to the team. I think he has a chance to be really good. And the fact that you can get, it's funny, I'm getting my backup first in Anthony Richardson and then waiting a couple rounds and grabbing my starter in Geno Smith, pairing those two guys together.

It's a rare time where I will roster two quarterbacks. And then Geno's schedule to start the season, week one against the Rams, week two against the Lions. You can't get much better matchups for a quarterback than those two specifically it's worth saying briefly that if Anthony Richardson does hit like we've talked about this is a possibility it will mean a lot for like Michael Pittman yeah like if it's a better than expected year I think Michael Pittman ends up a value I'll say two I mean two has been my target I think Michael Pittman ends up a value. I'll say two. I mean, two has been my target.

Um, I think he has fantasy MVP potential. Um, I did hear, I don't know if we got it in the news to Jason. You were talking right before we hit record about Jalen Waddle limping off, but with his full allotment of weapons in Miami, I think to, uh,

proved last year that he has a ceiling that is, you know, uh, you know, he had a six touchdown game against Baltimore. He has a receiver in Tyreek Hill that breaks football. And so I'm not going to presume injury. And I think Tua in the eighth round, ninth round is very, very interesting. So that's kind of my target as a player that has top five potential. All right, and I will jump in. And I'll say it is – it's funny that we're talking about – these are guys – if we don't get one of our top ten,

these are the players that we're going to fall back on because one of the players in our top ten is not going in the top ten anywhere near that in ADP, because we're going to be talking about four-point passing touchdown scoring. But I want to talk about Dak Prescott, who has essentially always been a fantasy force. We're just a couple years removed from almost 4,500 yards and 37 passing touchdowns last year. Yeah, he did throw a lot of interceptions, but for fantasy football, once he came back,

he broke his thumb week one, and then from his second game back, because I'm eliminating the first game back after a broken thumb, so this is weeks eight through 18, Dak was averaging nearly 20 points a game. He was the quarterback six in total scoring. He came back, and he was still a very solid fantasy starter. And it's looking at the Cowboys.

What can the Cowboys actually be? Because we have the chatter of, well, we're going to be a run-heavy team. You sure about that? Because you have CeeDee Lambd lamb a top five wide receiver brandon cooks a guy a absolute burner who doesn't look like he's lost a step and whenever he has a quarterback brandon cooks comes through um and then you have the guy you gave the money to michael gallup now a year removed from his acl injury who has been in camp apparently having great rapport with dac that right now so you have

three like I think this is a really strong wide receiver room and then at the running back position Tony Pollard is going to be the starter Tony Pollard is undersized you have Malik Davis he's undersized you have Ronald Jones if he makes the team he's undersized as of right now a feller named Rico Dowdle is in line to be the number two running back because he's actually 215 pounds. If you've never heard that name, I don't blame you because until the unofficial death chart had come out for the Cowboys, he's not someone I had really ever paid attention to

due to the fact that in his entire career spanning back to 2020, he has seven attempts in his entire career because he's floated on and off of the team. And maybe this is the year that it all comes together for Rico. That's TBD. But my point being, if Tony Pollard's your main guy, you're not going to be able to run him 20-plus times. He will break down.

And you have three great wide receivers. So this team, I think, is going to throw more than they're letting on in the public. Or than the assumptions. Yes. Just based on the change. Look at the team. And Brandon Cooks was not just a – they picked him up. They traded for him.

Like they went and got him. All right. Let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, this was a big surprise because we had multiple reports yesterday from official sources that Kareem Hunt simply needed to pass his physical with New Orleans and would sign.

M. Night got the script, though. M. Night got the script, though. M. Night got the script and threw a little twist in there. Apparently. A twist. Apparently, he was called by the Indianapolis Colts before stepping onto the field with the Saints. Now, are we sure? And was offered more money.

And so right now, he is visiting the colts both teams could use him the colts probably more i mean jonathan taylor if he's not with the team he's on the pup he's got an excused absence he's dealing with the contract dealing with the ankle which the ankle is the same ankle that bothered him all last year and i will say the the videos of johnny taylor when he was been at practice and he's just in street clothes, like, not a doctor, but the guy's just, he's not moving around like someone who looks like they're ready to play NFL football.

So Zach Moss broke his forearm. Deion Jackson has missed time in camp and was the de facto starter last year. Evan Hull's a rookie. They could use Kareem Hunt, and if Kareem Hunt signs in Indianapolis, he could be the starter at least until Zach Moss comes back. Oh, if Taylor's missing time. If Zach Moss and Kareem Hunt are there,

and Jonathan Taylor is not, Kareem Hunt is the starter. I think they'd share the time. Sure, I'm not saying he would be a workhorse back, but you know how I feel about Zach Moss. I do. I'm not saying he would be a workhorse back, but I, you know, well, you know how I feel about Zach Moss. I do. I do know. We've talked about it.

And Jonathan Taylor yesterday left the training facilities with the Colts. He's no longer in Indianapolis. He's going to train on his own. So things just keep getting worse and worse. Well, they hadn't heard that one. They said he has a prolonged excused absence. Yeah. It's like, oh, it sounds like, oh, you want money and we're not going to give it to you?

There's the door. Jalen Waddell exited practice Wednesday with an undisclosed injury, headed to the locker room under his own power. So we'll follow up there. I saw a report just now that I don't know how verifiable this is, but that it was he got the wind knocked out of him. Let's hope that's what it is. And he had to go to the locker room for that?

To get more wind? Is that where they store it? I think he just left early. That was towards the end of camp. Damian Harris. Damian Harris, Bill's running back. Sore knee, missing practice. I mentioned yesterday,

goal line work right now is being split between Damian Harris and Latavius Murray. Latavius Murray has been very effective. viewed the lens of of these guys being added to the bills roster as you know uh damian harris is more valuable than murray that the bills don't look at things that way they look at it as we've got a couple productive backs that are good around the goal line and we're going to use both of them um but Damian Harris has just literally constantly been injured. Yeah. So it's not a great sign for this roster.

Marlon Mack left practice. Arizona Cardinal. Brooks, you got to get Marlon Mack news in here. This is you. Oh, yeah. I will say this. When Marlon Mack is the backup and then he is injured, there's just nobody there with James Connor, who has been reportedly catching a ton of passes in the 11 on 11.

All right. Any other news, Brooksie that you've seen coming through the wire? Not yet, sir. Watch, watch that wire over there. That was today's news and Notes presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Quarterbacks. All right. We're into the top 10 quarterbacks on today's show. Try to bring you some information that you haven't heard before on these guys because obviously household names, when you're talking the top 10 at the quarterback position, but some of the angles,

some of the directions that they can go. I mean, last year you had players like Justin Herbert, there were disappointments based on their average draft position. Players like Joe Burrow that outperform or, or met standards that some people set for them. So Mike brought up from the top 10 things to remember show earlier in the year.

That late round quarterback is changing. You know, we do discuss this statistic every year, the 45 different quarterbacks, 45. It was 45. Wow. Had a top 12 performance last year that is the second most in over a decade so that's great yeah you can find value on the waiver wire problem is is that you do have to get it right you have to um have you know predicted that outlier a week for

certain backup quarterbacks on the waiver wire which we do every year we we try to give you the the stream of the week the best matchup the best situation and i i think we we as a community we do a good job with that the difference and the reason why late round quarterback is changing is not so much because we can't find the waiver wire quarterback who can come in and throw 250 and two and crack that top 12 number we can find them still the problem is 250 and two and crack that top 12 number, we can find them still. The problem is 250 and two is just not good enough when there are quarterbacks that are throwing 350 and three and then running another 50 yards on the ground. And the gap between the elites and the back half quarterback ones is too wide to overcome right now. That's the difference you you rewind

seven years ago and you just did not have quarterback scoring at the top what they are doing right now it's true and you used to look at it and say hey 2022 points in our league format from a quarterback i'll get you by you know 2022 when your opponent's putting up 37.5 for 38 because of a top-tier running quarterback, that does make it challenging. You've got to make up for it someplace else. So at number 10, popular breakout candidate. He's a breakout in our UDK.

He's sitting at 8 and 9 in Jason and I's rankings and number 10 on our consensus. What are you doing, Michael? Trevor Lawrence. This is where he is in four point for me. For Jacksonville, Mike has him at 50. Oh, no, that's 15. Sorry.

15. He's expensive Dak Prescott. That's who he is. Wow. Oh, man. Mike hates Trevor Lawrence. I did not know that. No, I do not hate him at all.

Couldn't you look at him as like, I think Jason and I look at him as maybe like cheap Justin Herbert. Right. And you're saying expensive Dak Prescott. That's what I'm saying. So why don't you make the bear case here? It's not a bear case in that like Trevor Lawrence is going to fall on his face by any means. I mean, last year, he finished as the quarterback eight,

and he has great weapons around him. My point is that Trevor Lawrence is more of a pocket passer. He can move a little bit. We had 330 rushing yards as a rookie, 290 this past year, but five rushing touchdowns, that's overperforming, especially for 62 attempts. And I think that just the nature of him being a pocket passer and you have to project the breakout,

which a lot of people are doing, just that it's driving up his ADP to the point where I'm more nervous that he, what if it's exactly the same as last year, which is a little bit over 4,000 yards, upper 20s in passing touchdowns, and I think that's a very likely outcome for Trevor Lawrence, and that would be a massive disappointment for what everyone is expecting him to do right now. Is that true?

Is it true that that would be a massive disappointment? His ADP is where he finished. You have him ranked where he finished. Yeah. QBA. I mean, I know you're hoping you'll get better than that. When you draft Trevor Lawrence at quarterback eight, you are hoping that he takes that leap forward, that he is forty seven hundred and fifty yards and that he's cracking 30 plus touchdowns and really elevating to that next level.

So I think you would be disappointed even though you know, he won't destroy you. If you draft him at quarterback eight, he finishes a quarterback eight. You're okay. But when you're taking these slightly later quarterbacks like him, you are trying to find the diamond that wins fantasy leagues. Trying to find the touchdown outlier. Yeah, but I believe that he can do that. I think, you know, I say crack 30. If you told me he throws 36 touchdowns this year with the addition of Calvin Ridley,

with the receiving room he has, year two in this system, a year two away from Urban Meyer. That's true. I mean, I view sky's the limit for Lawrence. You know, from week nine on last year, he was the quarterback five in fantasy, and that includes a game where he was completely unneeded and and didn't score anything because it was against the Texans and it was like oh I don't need to throw the ball today so I I do think his upside is tremendous and if he were to crack the top three this year that that won't surprise me he's definitely in the category of great players that could become superstars this year.

Like he's 23 years old, third season, elite wide receiver, potentially being added to the room, continuity for another year. He's definitely in that category. He's not priced at a great discount. I agree with that. But he's also not being projected right now to be a top five guy either so um last year finished at eight like you said first half of the year was not like the last half nice start to the year indianapolis kansas city

houston atlanta so uh we'll take a quick break and come back with a couple of guys, the only running or the only quarterbacks in our top 10 with an ADP after round six in a moment. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage for more than 65 years. Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada. insurance designed for life. All right, we are back with the number nine quarterback, Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns. Watson's being drafted two picks behind Trevor Lawrence right now. I am extremely bullish on Deshaun Watson this year.

It's been said on the show. I have him at eight. He's being drafted as the QB 10, Mike at 10, Jason at 13. This has been one of those like sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, sometimes we strongly disagree. Historically, this offseason has been a strong disagreement, in particular between Jason and myself, with what Deshaun Watson will provide for fantasy managers as well as whether he can return to form.

I have an expectation that he will. Jason has thus far said that he does not believe he will do that. This was the last time we had seen him before Cleveland, QB 5-5-5. Six games with Cleveland last year four were unmitigated disasters his first four back the final two very good fantasy finishes and production in those two games so you know his as he goes so will Nick Chubb Amari Cooper David Njoku and potentially Elijah Moore and company. You know, it's what you believe about the real Deshaun Watson,

the player on the field. He is one of the players I will be watching the most for preseason, assuming he plays in preseason. He did. I think I saw him. He confirmed he will be starting. That is great news because my issue with Deshaun Watson was not just, oh, his results were bad.

The film, watching him, he just missed passes. He looked like he was in his head and played very poor football. And I think when you're in front of a crowd and you've got all of the mental hurdles that come along with being Voldemort, I want to see him perform in preseason and say, like, he looks like his old self or this is more of what we've seen. And until I see it, I just don't want to predict. Maybe it's just, like, just anti-bias where I don't want it to work out well

and so I project that upon him but I will be watching him preseason because he does have the world where he is the most valuable pick in fantasy this year nobody really wants to draft him he plummets down if he ends up in that top five quarterback where he used to be then all of a sudden you have a late round quarterback value which is as we know a really really valuable thing in fantasy football the if if he bounces back to form I mean Andy's pointing out yes correctly last time we saw him you know when he was in Houston he was the QB5 three straight years in a row. That was 2020. I mean, that will have been three years ago since we've seen Deshaun Watson playing at a truly high level. And, I mean, a part of that is back then he wasn't running like Lamar Jackson

or Josh Allen, but, you know, he's constantly racking up at least 400 rushing yards and a good pile of rushing touchdowns. Is that still part of his game now that he's you know that far removed from it he'll be turning 28 not saying that he's in the age range where it can still be there but is that part of how he wants to play the quarterback position and so I just I I'm in the middle of of you two guys of I haven't ranked at QB 10, leaving the margin that he certainly could bounce back, but where he is going in drafts, which is a bit of a discount for a quarterback who could be a top five quarterback,

I'm still taking my fantasy bets and placing them on different quarterbacks. In six games last year, he was on the exact same rushing pace he had been on for all of his previous seasons in Houston, which is about 500 yards rushing. I mean, with five 51, four 13,

four 44. And then last year he was on pace for about 500. Um, and look, I do think it's a really tough situation for fantasy managers because we've always said this on the show. If you don't want to draft the guy, don't draft the guy.

If you've got a personal vendetta against him if you simply want to draft players you enjoy rooting for like go do it i mean that's that's always been the case it's a hard thing to like like we're never going to draw that line for you because there's like a lot of players in the nfl with various histories and decisions they've made and and things that have played out in the court of public opinion. Like, that's not my job is to tell you whether you should root for him. My job is to tell you what I think he's going to do on the football field.

And that's what we're trying to break down. And I genuinely think Deshaun Watson might be the fantasy MVP this year. I mean, but you might not have him on your team because you might not want that. I mean, that's fine. The Cleveland Browns are certainly banking on it. They gave him, what was it? Bank is the right word. Bank is the right word.

I mean, they gave him $200-plus million. They actually bought him a bank. They said, you now are the owner of this banking system. I mean, that's part of the storyline here. That's part of why I'm very confident in Deshaun Watson's performance on the field. He's 27 years old he they weren't the only team pulling up the Brinks truck to Deshaun Watson they were the only one pulling it up with like it was all in the in the actual they're the ones who almost completely

destroyed the quarterback yeah I mean they guaranteed it all but there were lots of teams that it was really obvious that like yeah the falcons and and other other teams are interested in like it's kind of a a known commodity in in the game and so unless there is a an aspect like jason brought up where like literally the mental uh impact of what has transpired has a on the field impact for the rest of his career which which, I mean, maybe that happens. Good camp so far from what I've read. I don't know if you've seen anything different. No, I have been coming around a little bit because of the reports from camp

that he has looked really good, that he's connected with these wide receivers. He's got a good connection with Elijah Moore out of the backfield. Camp reports have been positive. So that's where I say I want to see it in front of a crowd in preseason, and I will adjust my rankings up if he looks good in the preseason. I guess we missed like a Green Gots joke with the bank situation for Voldemort. Or maybe we didn't. I mean, that comes from Kyle.

I had no idea what you were talking about, but it's nerd stuff? Yeah. It's nerd stuff. Please don't bring that up in front of me. Okay. I'm too cool. Yeah. No, I had no idea what you were talking about, but it's nerd stuff. Yeah, it's nerd stuff. Please don't bring that up in front of me. I'm too cool. Yeah, no, I get it. And did you get to play any D&D this past week? No, we did some Jackbox, though.

All right, Daniel Jones at number eight. What? Well, he finished last year as... This is four-point pass in touchdown ranks. That is true. He finished last year. This is four point. This is four point passing touchdown ranks. That is true. He finished last year as the quarterback nine and do not draft Daniel Jones. Don't do it. I know he's here.

I know he's our quarterback eight. But if I may just interject for a moment, you don't want this. Don't you ever want to like order something weird from the menu? You know what I mean? You go to a place and you know that you know what they have is really good, but then you're like, what's that? Fried octopus? Yeah, let's give it a rip.

Let's give it a rip. Isn't Daniel Jones the weird thing on the menu? Yeah, and then next thing you know, you're eating. Well, look. Did you just take a bite of something? I had the salmon skin in my mouth, which is Daniel Jones. Oh, no. Salmon skin.

That's what he is, ordering the salmon skin off the menu? Absolutely. And if you haven't had salmon skin, and I have, it's not good. It's bad. Just like Daniel Jones for fantasy. So explain to somebody who would be confused by what you're saying in your number nine ranking of Daniel Jones. So on the course of the season, Daniel Jones has a very unique ability to score a lot of fantasy points in bunches he had 700

rushing yards last year and if you could do that in fantasy you're going to end up with a ton of fantasy points he finished last year as the quarterback nine you go well that's fantastic he has an F the quarterback nine has an F grade in our consistency. Not like a C where it's like, oh, he was disappointing. You don't pass the class with an F. No, only 29% of his games were games you were happy with last year. Now, when those happened, they were awesome. I mean, he'd win you a week.

He can rip off a 70-yard touchdown run and have a great game. Daniel Jones is a wonderful streamer. Daniel Jones is great in best ball. If you want to take that upside magma game ability that he does have and you don't have to make the start-sit decisions, and or if he got off to a nice opening to the schedule, but week one he plays against the Dallas Cowboys. So you're starting him week one.

Last year, two games against the Cowboys. He was a quarterback 20 and a quarterback 20. I don't want to start that week one. That's almost a do-not-draft then. He is a do-not-draft to me. I mean, if you're in a two-quarterback league where you're looking at the lower-tier guys that are going to be your quarterback two,

okay, maybe you want that volatility and upside that he has and you have to draft worse quarterbacks. So Daniel Jones is in the conversation. So maybe we call him Streaming Daniel Jones because maybe that's what he is. Yeah, that is what he is. He's a streamer. Daniel Jones is a really good streamer.

Which is also where you find salmon, salmon skin. In the stream. Ah, yes. Very nice. He was a lot better fantasy-wise over the second half of the season. He was, I mean, you've got to remember everything that happened for the New York Giants. This was a brand-new coaching staff.

You had Brian Dable come in who has received a good amount of credit for turning Josh Allen or helping to mold Josh Allen from the really raw quarterback prospect who was bad at football into an elite quarterback, one of the best in the league. So you get the second year of that for Daniel Jones learning in this system. I'm more optimistic on what Daniel Jones could do this year. Darren Waller's going to help.

Darren Waller, and that was the next point of the weapons, the passing weapons for the Giants. It was an absolute disaster last year everyone kept getting hurt you had Sterling Shepard was the de facto number one he he tears his ACL you have Wandale Robinson who was a second round pick and you were waiting and waiting had one game breakout and then he was out for the year and just the addition of Darren Waller I think is is huge for what Daniel Jones can get done in the passing game.

And then if you're still getting 500 to 600 rushing yards with Daniel Jones with rushing touchdown upside, I think that there's a world where Daniel Jones takes that F and turns it into maybe like a B-. I do want to give, like we've made some jokes about the Little Giants. Right. Because they have a lot of small slot receivers on this roster. However, Darren Waller is humongous.

Isaiah Hodgins. He's the Wallerist. Isaiah Hodgins is 6'4 and was a part of the run that Mike is talking about. Yes. Who has been lauded in camp. Darius Slayton, he's a bigger downfield threat. Jalen Hyatt, six foot. They do have a bunch of guys that can run down the field and make big plays.

And Daniel Jones, his connection with Darius Slayton historically, he pops on certain weeks, like you said. I think it's a streaming consideration. I wouldn't want to draft him and then bench him because, oh, gosh, I've got to hold him through the Dallas game. Yeah, that part is unfortunate. But let's look at the Justins. Let's move on.

I love the Justins this year. Justin Fields, Justin Herbert coming in at 7-6 on our quarterback rankings, being drafted one spot apart in fantasy drafts right now. And we've got them ranked right around here. These guys are going to win you your league. These are the two best picks, in my opinion, for 2023. At the quarterback position? Yes, at the quarterback position.

So you're fully in on Justin Fields. They add D.J. Moore to the roster another year in the system. Darnell Mooney is being added back to the roster as well. Chase Claypool might be added to the roster you know honestly I think I think Claypool like I would never I would never even touch him with a thousand foot pole in fantasy but having him there does help yes it does Justin Fields because we all know what this is going to be chase capel is going to have like 35 targets this year and and 31 are going to be inside the five yard line on some sort of like jump ball screen pass fade um and he's athletic enough to make a few of those plays and look let's not you know

cole come at big contract cole come oh got paid uh uh saxon turnovers have been a huge issue for justin fields uh more money has been placed on justin fields in terms of winning mvp than any other quarterback um he took this many sacks last year that's going to yeah look you can't take that many sacks and not end up – No, he needs to rip it. On an IR. Like, you're going to get hurt. Because it happened last year.

He did. Remember, he basically was like, oh, gosh, he's out. And then he'd limp onto the field, like barely alive, and then play another play, and then limp back to the huddle. Like, they have to protect him. They're trying to do that. They're trying to invest in the offensive line a little bit. They did, yeah.

So can he take a step forward as a passer? Yes. This is what you've been talking about. He can. Right now, the camp reports have been back and forth. He'll have a good day. He'll have a bad day. And he needs to take that progression forward as a passer

in order to really elevate up into the tier of a Jalen Hurts-style quarterback, do what Josh Allen did. But because he has that rushing baseline, that otherworldly baseline, not like, oh, he's got where he's going to run for 300. It's not from this world. 400, yeah, it's from another world. It's from other worlds. You know, he can rush for 1,000 yards.

He can rush for well more than that. When he came on. 1,700. I got to tell you this. Yeah. There's an eight-game stretch in the middle of the season, weeks 6 through 15. He's on pace for 1,712 rushing yards. It's not 1,000.

He said, I'm going to do it myself. It's almost double that. So, sorry. Go ahead. So, when you have that level of a baseline, you can do things that other people can't. You add DJ Moore, you get Darnell Mooney back, and all of a sudden, if you add passing to his galaxy,

you know, just his rushing is out of this galaxy. Oh, boy. We're just going to keep going. Got anything else for us there, Neil DeGrasse? From a multiverse. I left last season saying I have to remember that Justin Fields is like my my guy. That Justin Fields is the most important pick in 2023. And somehow I've kind of forgotten that.

We statted these guys out. I was a little disappointed with where he landed in my stats. But all that being said, remember when they made that change to really use him as a mobile quarterback, he was the quarterback three that rest of the way, and that was a long stretch. He was scoring more than Jalen Hurts scored, more than Josh Allen scored during that point.

So the fact that you're not grabbing him in the second round or the third round, he could be the quarterback one on the season and be someone you draft a little bit later. Now, in order for him to do that, he does have to take that step forward, passing the ball. I am less confident he will do it than I was last year in Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts, I had full confidence he was going to do it. With Fields, I'm like, he might.

But the nice thing is he doesn't have to still be a good pick where he's going. He just has to if you want him to be the number one quarterback overall. Yeah, I mean, he's sitting there 46 overall, 44 overall, 48 overall on different platforms right now. So I think everybody sees the value there. Look, it's been bad before with Justin Fields, but we had a good long stretch where the rushing baseline was enough to give you a guarantee every week, and that's what you need.

So Justin Herbertbert the other justin you know last year looked like it was going to be wheels up for him so i mean like he's his own case against himself is that everything can look really great for a player and then some injuries and you know uh brandon staley right i mean i got that name right right yeah coach staley coach staley like this is a hot seat coach like they don't win this year he's gone they don't win the beginning of the year he could be gone um the kind of public opinion right now out of los angeles is like great roster great team bad coach and so that could be something that holds them back because they should be a winning football team uh they should be competing for a super bowl they added quentin johnson huge help for

justin herbert keenan allen um keenan allen is a great player that will hit an age cliff so if you want to find some potential problems like if keenan allen's not if he gets hurt again he's not the guy that he has been historically, that could be a problem. But right now, you know, Justin Herbert has everything he needs, and then you add in Kellen Moore, offensive coordinator, and you don't really find flaws there. Now, he's a pocket passer.

So could you get into a game, and he throws one touchdown, and Eckler rushes two in, and they win the ball game, but you don't win your fantasy week. Yeah, that can happen. Yeah, the pocket passers are tough, but he did have 300 rushing yards two years ago and then last year broke his ribs and threw the ball. He would take the snap and then it's out of his hand. Take the snap out of his hand.

I don't know how much of that was the lack of weapons when Mike Williams was injured when they lost Jalen Guyton, when Keenan wasn't there. And it was just like, and they also had offensive line problems. How much of it was the broken ribs? How much of it was Lombardi's terrible offensive system? But I see all of that changing this season. The fact that you're going into the year with Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, and Quinton Johnston, and Palmer.

Palmer is good for being a wide receiver 3-4. He isn't the dude that's going to step up, but they've got a really nice receiving core. Add Gerald Everett in the red zone. Add Parham. This is a super offense, and we have to remember how last season started for uh for Herbert I mean he came out first game he was a top five quarterback second game breaks his ribs has a hard time loses Keenan Allen it wasn't a good season it was week two that that happened yeah I believe it was uh in the Kansas City Chiefs game uh on Thursday night football if my memory holds up yeah september 16th so um you know and

so you look at what he did in his career comes out 31 passing touchdowns as a rookie that's outrageous the next year 38 just goes north and then last year injuries to his core both his receiving core and his core right um has down year, only throws 25 touchdowns. That's not happening this year. He's awesome. It does show you, though, that you can go out and throw for 699 pass attempts for 4,700 yards, and you can still end up the quarterback 11 and hurt people. It's touchdowns.

It's all touchdowns. It's a pocket passer predicament, as they say. You look this last year, 4,700 yards. That's absolutely fine. It's just, did he throw 35 or 25 touchdowns? And this year, I think with the receiving core, he's throwing 35-plus touchdowns. So you had Fields rushing baseline.

You have Herbert. They're going back-to-back. Now you have two more quarterbacks maybe a tier above also going back to back also with that disparity in uh what they provide on the field potentially joe burrow at five and lamar jackson at uh four so you know pocket passer and joe burrow great weapons um throws the ball a ton jamar Chase is an elite touchdown scorer. Lamar Jackson, you know the rushing baseline is going to be there. We're wanting him to take a step forward as a passer.

He has not had a wide receiver room this strong in a while. How strong is it? That is a really fair question to ask. Unfortunately, you can go into the season and say hey man they gave him odell beckham and they gave him zay flowers and they gave and rashad baby is going to be back but i think it's more fragile than it appears right now like bateman's still dealing with injury thankfully the latest report running on the sideline um hopefully back soon but it is pretty fragile like you got a rookie that's a smaller rookie in Zay Flowers. We like him.

He's not gonna be able to do it alone. If Beckham's over the hill and Bateman's hurt, you're thin again at wide receiver, like right away. Yeah. You, I mean, but you also,

you can't discount Mark Andrews is the number one. So it's, we need for, for Lamar Jackson, we need one of those wide receivers to hit. I don't need the, the full trio to be absolutely top-tier wide receivers for Lamar Jackson to finally bounce back to what he was,

but he's been essentially working with Mark Andrews and the wide receivers out there lately for Baltimore, they haven't been able to get it done. If just Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews can get it done with the changes that I'm projecting for the offense for bringing Todd Monken in, then I think Lamar Jackson's going to be an absolute

incredible fantasy pick. He's still going to run a ton. That's not going to go away. If you're like, oh, he's going to be throwing more. More throws turns into more scrambles for Lamar Jackson. We don't want them doing the ground and pound. And I think they're going to completely move away for that.

So I'm very, very excited for Lamar Jackson. And then back to Joe Burrow, they have turned this into Joe Burrow's team. And back in 2021. It's pretty wild, the ride that the Bengals have gone on with this offense of 2021. It was kind of like they were testing it out of like, well, we want to be a running team, but we also have Joe Burrow and these elite wide receivers.

Let's just kind of dip our toes into the pool, and we'll see if it works. And then they did a full cannonball into that water, and they said, Joe Burrow, this is your team. He went from 520 passing attempts in 16 games to over 600 in the same amount, 16 games. So Joe Burrow, calf withstanding, looks like he is of the pocket passers. He will be actually one of the safe ones finished

at four last year busted 18 percent of games yeah he was great he was phenomenal last year but i i he's probably the quarterback i want the least at cost i would love to have joe burrow in general but he's a third round pick right now and he's a third round pick because the big three are going in the second round. He's pushed up to a level that is above where you were drafting Herbert last year, and Herbert was a disappointment because he didn't happen to throw 35 touchdowns. It's like you're chasing the big three quarterbacks. I didn't get one. Well, I'll just take Joe Burrow instead of waiting.

Exactly, because Joe Burrow's good. And when you look at the players that are on the clock, when you're on the clock and the player's around where Joe Burrow's good. And when you look at the players that are on the clock, when you're on the clock and the player's around where Joe Burrow's going, those are much more valuable than the players you're replacing when you grab Herbert at the back of the fourth. Yeah, I mean, if you're in the third round and you're taking Joe Burrow, you're passing on Jameer Gibbs. Yeah, you're passing.

You're making decisions like that. Would you rather have Gibbs and Herbert, or would you rather have, where's Herbert going right now? 4-10. Or do you rather have Gibbs and Herbert? Or would you rather have... Where's Herbert going right now? 4-10. Or do you want Herbert and Dobbins? Or, I'm sorry, or Burrow and Dobbins? I'd rather have the Herbert-Gibbs combination there. That's the gamble. You know, Lamar Jackson,

it has been... It's been a while. It's been a while. I remind people, and I don't want people to think I hate Lamar Jackson. I don't want people to think I hate Lamar Jackson. I don't. Lamar Jackson is a D in our consistency rankings. He's been 35% of the time in his last 17 played football games,

35% of the time that he gave you a usable metric at quarterback. So it is a projection for Todd Monken for the change of pace. They're like snapping the ball at 25 seconds left on the clock right now in camp. Beautiful. They're moving quick. But it is still a projection. Zay Flowers is a projection. Todd Monken is a projection.

Bateman's health is a what? Yeah. So I'm just. You know what isn't a projection though, Andy? Demarcus Robinson's not very good. Devin Duvernay's not that great. The number three target on the team last year was Isaiah Likely. They just didn't have any weapons.

And so, yeah, it's a projection that Odell will be okay or that Flowers will be okay. But they're all better than what they had. I mean, Beckham might not be better than Demarcus Robinson. We don't know that. Beckham had a – did you see the – He also finished at 15 the year before with injury too. Yeah, the injury.

It's, to me, for Lamar Jackson. He's got a longer run of not being a top ten quarterback by a whole season than Deshaun watson okay yeah we're talking about oh he's missed all this time and not being a contributor he's got three straight years of not finishing as inside the top 10 that is that is a very fair uh and he's he's expensive now like he's getting you just made the whole argument about the Herbert situation like Lamar Jackson's going directly next to Joe Burrow so you you were paying for the premium when you could take Herbert Lawrence Fields later yeah Eileen I would if I'm in a draft ADP wise I'll probably go with Justin Fields but the case for Lamar Jackson is the first three weeks of the season when he had

Rashad Bateman healthy, he was the quarterback eight, quarterback one, quarterback one. In that time period, in three games, he threw 10 touchdowns because they desperately need someone else who is not Mark Andrews to do something for this team. The three weeks were magical. Rashad Bateman gets hurt in that game against Buffalo, and then it's pretty much just a downward spiral from there. So you get, I think the baseline is 700 plus rushing yards for Lamar Jackson. Of course, an outlier season of over 1,000 rushing yards.

That's certainly possible if they really are speeding up the pace of play pace of play is is cannot be uh understated yes understated because when you're looking like if a team is getting I don't know eight to ten more plays than other teams like over the course of the season that's a really that's a big deal that's 10 plus opportunities compared to other people so I think that the ceiling is still there the ADP is is not my favorite when there's because I'm in on Herbert and Justin Fields with with both of you guys but I don't think Lamar Jackson is a bad pick at all I think that this is the year that he does return to being a top five guy he's gonna have every opportunity this year with the offensive system and the fact they're trying to equip him.

It's not like Isaiah likely went anywhere. Another weapon in the offense. 3-2-1. Who is it? Jalen Hurts at three. Patrick Mahomes at two. Josh Allen at number one in our rankings. We got the stallion out there anywhere?

Oh, excellent. And you can put those three guys in any order you like. I don't have any problem if you want to say Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback on the planet, he should be the number one. Great. If you want to say Josh Allen was, before the elbow injury, lapping the field and should absolutely be the number one quarterback, great. Jalen Hurts has the best weapons imaginable,

is the youngest and still progressing, could be better than he's ever been, and maybe he has to do something in the fourth quarter for a couple games. Let me say this, though. I do believe that Allen and Hurts moderately safer than Patrick Mahomes. Allen and Hurts have the rushing capability. I love, love. Like, you can say what you want about James Cook,

whether you think he'll be consistent or not in the offense. He helps. I mean, his pass catching is why he's part of this offense. Yeah, he's a good pass catcher. He's going to help Josh Allen. Dalton Kincaid, another report. I mean, it took him, like, I don't know, 10 practices to drop a pass. This morning the report is that he is the full trust of Josh Allen.

They're going to run two tight end sets where he's the pass catcher. You've got Diggs and Babe Davis. So, like, Josh Allen is being equipped, and I think people might be missing that. Like, last year they had to bring back Cole Beasley at a random time of the year. Gabe Davis was not consistent. Dawson Knox was on and off the field due to injury and it's not the talent dalton kincaid is and so um i i just think that if you look at the weapons that buffalo

has they're better like they are better and then jalen hurts like you said his weapons are amazing and he's going to run the football like crazy so You can't stop what Jalen Hurts does. I just don't see a world where – I agree with you. Mahomes, even though he's the best, is the riskiest of the three simply because – Touchdown variation. Touchdown variation. He doesn't have the rushing baseline, and you are still – he has one weapon. And I know he doesn't need – he could spread the ball around.

He's unbelievable. But he has one weapon and I know he doesn't need he could spread the ball around he's unbelievable but he has one if something happened to Kelsey now you go okay can Noah Gray what's up yeah I mean can you really still pay off on that value and he's the most expensive of the three he's in the beginning of the second round I mean you are paying a premium like you paid seven, eight years ago at the quarterback position before people wised up. And so I've got like two shares of Patrick Mahomes when I did a Kelsey Mahomes stack, but he is very scary as a price. Yeah, that's where I want to turn the conversation to is because I think the big three are the big three. I don't care what order you want to draft them in.

The question is, are they worth the draft pick? And last year, they would have been. But last year was a real outlier of a season when it came to quarterback scoring. So the top three quarterbacks, this is in six-point passing touchdown. That's what my numbers are. The big three averaged almost 29 points a game you go down to quarterbacks four through six that dropped all the way to under

23 points a game so a massive massive gap and then the quarterback seven through 12 that was barely over 20 points that's the lowest mark going back at least five years. I don't know when it was lower. So the lower tier quarterbacks were getting just so outproduced by these big three, but then you go back to 2021, the point differential between the top three finishers and the middle was just two points. It was not six like it was this past year. You go back to 2020, what's the point gap between the top three and then the middle? About two points. We go back to 2019, about two and a half points.

So last year was an outlier in terms of the big three quarterbacks really produced, but the guys behind them all massively underproduced. So I'm not sure that taking one of the big three quarterbacks is going to give you the edge that it looks like. Sorry, no, no, no. I was letting you finish. What I do like is that I will get 395 or more fantasy points from Josh Allen. Because there's 395, 401, 395.

At least Allen is at that there's 395, 401, 395, like at least Allen is like at that echelon of automatic. If I ended up with what would that be? That would be like in the first round, then I'm drafting top of the second, then I grab Allen in the

third round? At the top of the third? Is that how that would... I'm doing a bad job of... Josh Allen's in the second round right now. Well, at the very, the third is that how that would uh i'm doing a bad job of josh on the second round right now well at the very very end though right yeah so i'm saying if he slipped into the top of the third that's where i'd be very comfortable taking him yeah i mean really truly that i believe that these three guys will be great picks great players and won't be on the championship winning team in your league i think the championship winning team in your league. I think the championship team in your league is the one who in the second round grabbed Devonta

Adams or Derrick Henry or Josh Jacobs, and they paired them with the quarterback to hit in one of the Justins. One of the Justins or even Lamar. I do still see Lamar. He costs a lot, but I think he has the chance to, even if they score less than the big three, if it's that two-point gap that it historically is, the gap between Derrick Henry and J.K. Dobbins is way bigger than that. So I tend to bypass the second-round quarterbacks, even though they're going to be great. And we have lots of video profile breakdowns

for more quarterbacks in these top 10, and the sleepers we talked about. They're all in the Ultimate Draft Kit. It's one of the features of the Ultimate Draft Kit we've had from the early days is 100-plus player profile videos we get on here. We even update them, and we break down players in two three four minute chunks so you can go through maybe it's a roster that you've got a bunch of players

that are keepers or you're in a dynasty league and you want to see what our projections are for those players so you know whether to trade them invest in them believe in them we break down over 100 players in the ultimate draft kit that goes along with all of our sleeper breakout bus value picks at every position our player projections which look today we're going through the top 10 that's based on our projections for for attempts and completions and total yards and touchdowns like we break that's how our rankings bear out like it doesn't we don't get on and say oh i'd really want to look this way so i put this guy. It's like we stat them out one by one. We lay that out, and then as they fall, they fall.

So there is a lot of nuance. We're trying to equip you to make a pick that makes sense for your team, not necessarily just blindly follow a cheat sheet because your league scoring format is different. You know the guy that picks after you is a Charger fan, and so he's going to take this player there that, you know, another league, the ADP is going to be different. And like the average draft position, we quote sleeper a lot of the times.

I'm going to tell you right now, sleeper is sharper. The sleeper ADP is sharper than the Yahoo and ESPN ADP. I've looked at the disparities between them. Sleeper is faster, and Sleeper is slightly sharper. So some of the times, you know, a player like Chris Olave is going lower on ESPN than they're going on Sleeper. So we're working on getting you like a more comprehensive ADP report inside the UDK where you can see the changing average draft

position for every player in multiple formats because if you go and you draft because you're an ESPN guy and your league's on ESPN, like that average draft position is going to look different for your league mates and they're going to feel that average draft position pressure and you need to be able to take advantage of that. Don't just go by

the sleeper ADP if you're drafting in a Yahoo League or something. Yeah, 100%. And those projections that we make, you can customize them to your scoring. So you've got an extra thing here or an extra thing there, and you wonder how that would affect your league. You can have it exactly what your league is.

So that's ultimatedraftkit.com. Tomorrow we have the preseason power up episode. It's preseason dreaming time. We're going to talk time. Yes, it is. We're going to talk about position battles, things to watch for. It's almost football time, baby. Almost. Join us tomorrow, and then we're doing a full PPR mock draft on Friday.

Bring in the heat. You guys are going down. Talk to you then. 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.