Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - “What If” Players + Fantasy Fears - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/3

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

Kickoff week is here! On today’s fantasy football podcast, undrafted gems and waiver wire pickups that could have a major impact right away! Plus, the latest NFL News, and Andy, Mike, and Jason reveal their biggest fears for the 2024 fantasy football season. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for September 3rd, 2024. Get the 2024 ULTIMATE DRAFT KIT and Draft Analyzer at UltimateDraftKit.com Compete in the largest fantasy football league! Megalabowl.com (00:00) - Intro  (09:20) - Waiver Wire - Undrafted Gems (17:20) - NFL News (23:30) - Mailbag (24:00) - Diversifying teams over multiple leagues (26:20) - Christian Kirk outlook (38:35) - Biggest fantasy fears (30:50) - Keeper costs (34:20) - Chuba Hubbard or Trey Benson as James Conner manager (36:00) - Where will DJ Moore finish? (45:45) - Shane Falco or Johnny Utah? (46:00) - Chase Brown or Brian Robinson Jr.  (46:55) - Will Dissly and Hayden Hurst Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Waiver Wire presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Visit youtube.com/fantasyfootballers News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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! two more sleeps okay grandpa what i like it yeah we got football this week mike's not going to talk on the show today. That way his football time can be maximized. Yeah. Volume, tone. This is the first time ever. This is just realizing in my brain right now because we were talking about this. Yes. There will be two It's Football times this week for the first time ever.

Wow. Because we're walking there. Yeah, time ever. Wow. Because we're walking there. Yeah, I was. Wow. Because there's a game on Friday. Yeah. The NFL's trying something out, I guess. Well, they always do.

Sometimes the first week, Monday, they do a doubleheader. I am laughing at the idea that they're trying something. Because, yes, they're having a Friday game in Brazil. I wonder how it's going to work. That's all I'm saying. I bet you they know A plus B equals money. Yeah. Well, they do weird stuff like start two

games on Monday at the same time. That's true. We have criticized that. They try things out and generally speaking, Monday night does not get its own. It's football time, but I don't know, man, for a Friday standalone game. You just said there's going to be two this week. Yeah, it's happening.

I mean, it's done. Tuesday, September 3rd, two days away from meaningful, actual, real NFL football that's going to count for your fantasy roster, and we're here to help you through the entire season. It's amazing. So our week one rankings are live, and I was working on them more this morning. And just before the show, I'm literally looking at the order of these players

and who I would start and all of this, and it dawns on me. I go, the answers are days away. Like, we get to know who is the better player this week. Like, it's not all, you know, you spend these months of just all this hypothetical, all this analysis, all this talky-talk-talk nonsense, and now it's like the points are coming. They're here days away. I'm so, I'm just jacked.

I mean, this is not part of our normal plans today, but is there a singular player, and I'll give you a second to think about this, that you are the most excited to see play football in week one? I will put Malik Neighbors out there. The rookies are always in that category, and then compounded with just the my guy and the anticipation for him on the field.

Is he the next Jamar Chase? Mike? It's Caleb. Yeah. And I have. Team captain, Caleb Williams. I currently have, you know, very little personally fantasy invested in the Chicago Bears other than, you know know making my projections and

everything it's just it hasn't worked out for me although I did we were in a our league of shadows I did just double up my QB I took Caleb with my second to last pick nice just in case yeah just in case uh but watching him like the pre-seasons is was very impressive for Caleb, making really difficult throws. What's going to happen, though, when it's an actual NFL defense and not a preseason defense? Will he still be able to do it? I would say the first player that just naturally came to mind that I'm very – like I think everyone in the world needs it to work.

Let's say it together. Colby Parkinson. CJ Stroud. You can't, dude, you can't fail. I mean, you can, but please do not because there is so much writing on you leveling up and being that dude. The whole team, front to back, the Texans are supposed to be an awesome offense. Nico goes high.

Diggs is, you know. You got to build that foundation on rock, Jason. Right. Can't be sand. I mean, it's just got to work. Please, C.J. Stroud. How do you ask? You're petitioning him to do what he does.

Be great. Be the player that everyone thinks you're going to be because we were here. We were here with Baker going into year two when he was. Oh, don't say that. He was the dude he was you know oh man that what do you get odell beckham um added to the roster yeah landry was on that roster he was going to be the next greatest quarterback was that still was that freddie kitchens that year yeah yeah that was yeah i believe so too many kitchens in the kitchen

yes um we have a lot going on we got news to talk about we got a waiver wire segment where we're talking about the undrafted gyms that you can pick up i just took one of them actually i don't know if it's in this list but i took one of these guys with the last pick of our draft uh our league of shadows great pick so we'll talk about some names some players that you may want to hot swap off of the back of your bench and maybe put somebody else in there that has some upside. And then we'll jump into the mailbag. We got voicemails.

Uh, you guys have sent him, we've got tons of questions coming in to the show as we get ready for the season to kick off. I can feel the energy in the room. It is, it is palpable. We are ready for football.

Um, we are ready to see these teams and see our fantasy team succeed but I just wanted to say in general thank you for this past offseason it's been awesome thank you for those that came out to the live show for those of you that have joined the Foot Clan over the last month that have become a part of our

community this show is going into the 10th season of doing this. And I know I can speak for all three of us to say that we have the same excitement, energy, and joy. Also, I can't stop buying more and more things to help support the draft. Yeah, good for you. I am the champion yeah good for you i am the champion good for you and there is a rule in fantasy football that you should be delusionally rude to your league mates

when you're the champ so i have got being the champ is it is so good it's so good it's the highest high my friend it is and is. And it's also expensive. Oh, you know what? That's it. It's like. That's right. Fantasychamps.com. You know what keeps happening is I think of one thing I want to bring to the draft,

and then I put it in my Amazon cart, and then I realize I need that $25 limit to get the night. Oh, you got to get the shipping. Yeah, you do. So I'm like, oh, what other thing can I buy? And then I just keep buying them. But, yeah, I got some stuff in store. Oh, very exciting. It's going to be very fun.

But, no, the point there was not that I'm the champ, although that's always the point. It's that we're very thankful to have you along for the ride. We do have two Megaloball draft times remaining. The 5 p.m. tonight draft for the Megaloball, which is the largest fantasy football league. It's the one with all the Foot Clan members. It's going to be super fun this year.

And I actually was talking to a ton of Foot Clan people this weekend, and one of the comments was like, I always loved playing in the Megaloball, but when you guys pulled trading out, I quit. And I said, trading's back, baby. Yeah, trading is back. The playoffs are a little bit easier to make. We really mirrored

the Megalobowl to our League of Record format. So the scoring, everything is how we like to play. And the people that are in these leagues are awesome. They are our people. They are you. You listening are who's playing in it. I have not done my draft yet, so if you want to try to guess

which draft slot I'm in, we've got one left tomorrow and you can still join. 9 a.m. September 4th. There is time. Megaloball.com. Sorry, Jay. What are the prizes? That's Pacific time.

The prizes are the prizes are the winner of the Megaloball plays automatically. They are in our listener league in 2025, and you become an ultimate Foot Clan member for life forever. So that is awesome. Jason also mentioned at the top, the week one rankings are up on the site.

The start sit tool, all of the in-season things are happening right now at thefantasyfoot footballers.com and um tons of free resources for you amazing articles from a really talented writing staff coming out every single day and um it's it's go time i mean just if you're like me just soak it up all day every day no matter where you're at. And your family will totally support that. You can follow the show over on X at the FFBallers. Let's jump in. I think this is the button. Here it is.

Welcome to the Waver Wire presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I gotta graduate my button pushing to in-season mode. That was still off-season. Yeah, it takes some time. Hurry up.

All right, we're looking at week one stashes. Some players, some undrafted gyms, the what-if players, right? Like if something goes exceptionally well in week one or the hierarchy maybe at the wide receiver room or running back room changes and things that we're not expecting. What are some of these names in your mind for week one? Yeah. It's, it's really common for me to finish a draft and then look at the waiver wire afterwards ago. I would rather have this guy than that guy. You got a little more time. That's normal. Yeah. Um, one of the first names I'll bring up is the one you drafted last, um, in our, in our league,

we just did Andy at Samaj's Samajay Pirine. He's going to be very interesting. He is extremely valuable. This is a role. I mean, you know I'm all about Isaiah Pacheco, and it seems part of the news this week is that Clyde Edwards-Alaire was put on the, what is it, the NFI. Yeah, the NFI.

And so he's going to miss the first month of football, if not more. So now we know why they went and got Pirine, so I'm not as scared about Pirine for Pacheco. However, this is an important offense. We saw Jarek McKinnon have value. This is a player who caught 50 balls last year for a bad offense, and now he goes over to the Chiefs. So he's just sitting there on the waiver wire as the backup to Pacheco who will be involved he's going to be active this Thursday

already so Pirine is I think a must you know hot swap type of player yeah I'm just genuinely curious how the team uses him and how fast he gets integrated into the offense everything you said is right you you. The one thing about Pirine that's interesting to me is that you have respected coaches that seem to want him and trust him, where Zach Taylor, to our own demise, continued to trust him in Cincinnati. He was picked up by Peyton last year.

Obviously, they went out and they found McLaughlin. That was an unexpected player in the running back room and then they drafted Estimates, so there was kind of no room for him. But then Andy Reid picks him up, where if there's anybody that can utilize less talented players for greater fantasy output, we often talked about Damian Williams and whether he was a legitimately good running back or not. He was almost a Super Bowl MVP on that team. So a fun player to watch for sure. I mean, last year, this is the show where you could have brought up names like Puka Nakua and Kyron Williams, Sam Laporta, who was only 54% rostered after drafts last year.

So I think that's a good one. I'd also bring up another running back in Marshawn Lloyd. Yes, that was the next most important name to me. Running back for the Green Bay Packers, rookie running back. We talk about it every year. Somehow, some way, at least two rookie running backs seem to break into the top 24, and we're sitting here going, you know, a couple weeks ago, well, how's that even going to happen this year?

Then all of a sudden, Marshawn Lloyd's not put on the IR. A.J. Dillon is. He's also back at practice The timeline for his injury when he was going on IR it seemed like he was not going to be ready for the season I'm not positive he will be he might not be. Even if he is not active

week one, you should still pick up Marshawn Lloyd He's an explosive running back in a committee with no AJ Dillon in front of him for a good offense so he must be rostered. And Jacobs has missed a little bit of time here and there, and it's the what if, right? Like is that the kind of offense where suddenly Marshawn Lloyd,

if he was by himself too, he would be an interesting player to add to the roster. The only problem there is I don't think Lloyd plays in the first couple weeks. So that would be a longer stash. You might want some quicker return. Mike, do you have some names? I mean, the quarterbacks to pay attention to, like Will Levis from Tennessee, he could turn into a late-round guy who's really giving you points.

And Caleb Williams was probably drafted in your league, but now that casual leagues are going, I'm seeing him drop lower and lower where he was ADP atop. He was like QB 11, which that's right on the fringe of may or may not get drafted, but I think that he is a really good pickup and see with your other quarterback one. And then at the running back position, I'll say it again, Taysom Hill. Did you say at the running back position? At the tight end.

Because it should be. Yeah, it's whatever, man. He's everything. Taysom Hill is tight end eligible for a lot of platforms, and we don't know what the Saints are going to do. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, Mike. I'm with you on this.

I hate it. I have this feeling right now that we're going to come out and see so much Taysom Hill at running back in this game. I think it. I have this feeling right now that we're going to come out and see so much Taysom Hill at running back in this game. I think so. They play against Carolina in the opening week. They're favored. They're at home. If you're talking about –

I thought you were going to say it's their favorite. Like, it's their favorite team to play. It's everyone's favorite team to play against. So, yeah, I mean, you talk you talk about like i was looking at the rankings i was like oh that's great for alvin camara i think they're gonna be up maybe it's more of a grind game maybe it's more of like a jamal williams and i'm like no oh it's taste it's taste it's taste some week one and the other tight end uh i just in our family league completely agree i had grabbed it was really late and it was everyone had their starting tight end

so i took hawkinson as I'm going to stash him, and then I was going to find someone else to play. Unfortunately, someone took Taysom Hill before I was able to go, and I had to scramble, and what am I going to do? Greg D, Greg Dulcich of the Denver Broncos, he's an electric athlete. We love seeing that. And who's established for the Denver Broncos passing attack right now? Cortland Sutton. That's it. I mean, like the running backs are going to get their

targets, but no one else on this team is going to go out and that you would project, oh, this is a 20% target type of player. He had a great target share as a rookie just has been hurt. But so he is a, a very late tight end that I think you should even like if you have that one spot I think stashing Greg Dulcich isn't the worst idea other players that I think might surprise you in week one I think Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch in Arizona opposite of Marvin Harrison might be a surprise in week one against Buffalo Diami Brown's going to get an opportunity in Washington. Jalen Tolbert, what's his role going to be as a wide receiver in Dallas

in week one as he's had a good camp? And so those are some other names worth bringing up. And, yeah, I'm so excited. Yeah, I would throw out a couple of rookies as well. Adonai Mitchell and Malik Washington I and Malik Washington those are guys that I think they're kind of third on their depth chart but they've got an opportunity it's it's the surprising you know when I when I look back at like the breakouts every week one a lot of times it's the rookies I mean last year's Puka right it was like you just didn't know you didn't know he

was going to be involved that involved Malik Washington is an excellent stash right now I like I liked the player and yeah reports are now positive for Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill but they're both coming off an injury yeah it's like oh they're both finally back to practice yeah if Waddle goes out there and it really it was a really bad calf injury that we didn't know about and he tweaks it in week one Malik Washington is going to be very heavily sought after on that Tuesday waiver wire. Alright thanks

again to NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV watch every game every Sunday when you bundle NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV sign up today at youtube.com slash fantasy footballers a reminder local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday up today at youtube.com slash fantasy footballers. A reminder local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out of market

games excludes digital only games. Device and content restrictions apply. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Alright Mike, I'm going to give you the power of telling me whether I hit this button or not. But Jamard Chase, he was present at practice on Monday.

He did not participate. And Zach Taylor, who has learned a thing or two, he came out and said on whether Chase will play on Sunday against New England. Are you asking about firing the full panic alarm? Yes. I'm not at sound the sirens, but I am at the point of... Let me get the quote in there. He said, we'll just take it day by day. Go ahead.

If you haven't drafted yet, I can totally understand letting him like the other big wide receivers that we've been talking about who like like aj brown yeah he's the would you take aj brown over jamar now if it was today i would yeah if i'm if i'm drafting now i think both are great players like i i love both players so um taking one that i'm not sure plays this week over one that I – What are you cackling about over there? I am chuckling to myself because I think – I know you're not – you're giving your advice. Oh, you think –

I just know that Jason is in a unique position on Thursday in our League of Record draft. You think I'm being selfish over here. Forge, it would be beneficial to him if Jamar Chase fell a couple of spots in the draft. I don't think he's going to make it to you. Yeah, yeah. I'm too far for that to matter.

But point being, honestly, my true belief is Jamar Chase, week one, suits up and plays football. I guess that's the question. I think he does. I think he's two years. I think he doesn't. I think he does. He has two years left.

There's also still, look, we're at the 11th hour. There is a chance that a contract comes through. We were getting some rumors that they were close. I don't know what in the world is going on there. Like, CeeDee Lamb, there it is. There it is, Cincinnati. You go, hey, look, Mr. Jamar Chase, here's what CeeDee got. Would you like that as well?

Because, look, we're not going to give you Jefferson's number, but we'll give you CD's number. Let's get that done. Sometimes it does seem that simple. And then this morning we got news that Trent Williams will be back for the 49ers. That is gigantic. That is literally gigantic news.

He was not looking good for him to start the season playing for the 49ers. And that dude will hold out. Yeah. He's already proven a year, right? I'm saying if you don't give Trent Williams his money, he is not showing up to work. He has set a precedent. But the 49ers got their deals done to the point that Mike was making.

They got them done. Iuke and Trent Williams back on the roster. That's great news for McCaffrey who returned to practice today. So McCaffrey is on schedule. And again, he plays on Monday Night Football against the Jets. Oh my gosh. Monday Night Football, 49ers, Jets.

I want that game. I want that game. Yes. Oh, my gosh. All right. Mark Andrews, not on the injury report. So that's great. Hollywood Brown ruled out, but they are talking like Hollywood's back in week two.

We'll see. I would be surprised. I don't know where the optimism is coming from. I mean, obviously, they know. But this injury and the timeline to me it made sense obviously they didn't put him on the IR so you expect that he's not going to miss four weeks but I don't know man I I I am less optimistic just based on the actual injury and the normal timeline for that that he plays in week two I think yeah I thought that it came from Andy

Reed but I can't find the quote right now so so we'll see. Not that you would – like, do you put Hollywood Brown on these – like, if you're not drafting him, I feel like he should be on a roster. I really do. You think he should be on a roster? Yeah. I mean, people are sitting here throwing all season long, Sky Moore and Justin Watson. These guys are landing on rosters.

Like, Hollywood is much better than them. If you have an IR spot, that's fine. If you don't have an IR spot, I'm not personally wasting a bench spot on a guy that can't. Like, let's say he was active next week in week two since we know he's not going to play this week. Would you start him week two? First game back from this injury? No, you're not drafting him as a player that you're going to start. I agree.

I would put him on the back of the bench. I think that is a wise decision. Clyde Edwards-Alaire, we mentioned that he's placed on the NFI list. He's going to miss at least four weeks. Ricky Pearsall. Yeah, man. Oh, my goodness. I guess we went through all this all weekend long,

but Ricky Pearsall was shot in an altercation in San Francisco. In the chest. Yeah, through the right side of his chest. He has already been released from the hospital, which is outstanding news that he was that fortunate from the incident. He has been placed on the NFI list, so he will not be playing at a minimum four weeks. I think it'll be longer. Yeah, the bullet went through clean no organs which is great yeah it came out the back which is just a wild just

wonderful i mean if you're getting shot it's awful but best case scenario best case scenario terrible i mean he was an inch away from death that's just wow just insane yeah that news was absolutely wild jalen warren practice expected to play in week one. Dallas Goddard also expected to get back in practice. He actually resumed on Sunday, so Goddard should be back out there. That was today's News and Notes, presented as always by USAA Insurance. You can learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We will take a quick break and come back with your questions.

I bet we will. Still off-season mode. All right. Let's jump in. Mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag. Oh, it's week one. All right, if you have a question for the show,

you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button. You can find it in the menu. You can also dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. Lots of questions coming in, Jason. And all we've got to do is get them all perfectly right. That's all we do. All right, let's jump in.

We'll go to a voicemail. Hey, Ballers. This is TJ from Pittsburgh. My question is, when you're drafting in multiple leagues, do you try to diversify your teams, or do you want to keep them as similar as possible thanks it's a mix for me personally the question is when you're in multiple drafts are you trying to target the same players or do you want to diversify just in case the players that you're targeting they are the bus picks of the year, so you want to balance things out, or do you want to put all the eggs in one basket?

I'm not a coward, man. Well, I mean, when you say you're drafting in a lot of leagues, obviously it's very different if you're filling out 150 entries into the best ball mania. You want to diversify. That's just smart strategy to make sure your portfolio isn't just completely going to get wrecked but otherwise this isn't really a strategy thing this is a personality

it's what do you enjoy and for me basically I've got two league types the the like three leagues that really really matter and I'm just going to try to draft the best players which I end up getting the same guys because it's who I believe in this year I'm going to win everywhere or lose everywhere and then there And then there's our family league where we're playing with our boys. I really don't care about being awesome in there, so I grab the players that are fun, that I want to have, that I don't have anywhere else. Yeah, strategically speaking, if you have conviction about players, that's what the offseason is all about. I don't

approach it with cold feet about oh man this is going to be the third league i have cooper cup in or calvin ridley and i'm always thankful to get those guys at the spots that i'm getting them at and um you know your your roster is never mirrored top to bottom like if you've got the same players maybe you have two or three or four of the same players so i would not go away from them for you know that if you were drafting number two in five drafts maybe i'd split tyreek and cd up a little bit like stuff like that but later on in the draft i'm not doing that yeah and the on sunday when you don't know if cheering for a player, like if a player scores, is this good or is this bad?

I don't know because I have everyone and I'm playing against everyone. You can avoid that. YouTube question from Joseph writes in, do you think Christian Kirk's involvement in Jacksonville is concerning? Coming from a scared Christian Kirk manager. He has not been on in two wide sets. That's the same thing that happened last year. I'm not worried.

I'm not worried about Christian Kirk. He does. He has kind of turned into one of those invisible players. I believe he was dealing with an injury over these last couple months as well. What it comes down to for Christian Kirk is I believe in the talent of Christian Kirk. I think that the Jaguars do as well. So you can't keep him off the field. You gave Gabe Davis the money.

I understand. Christian Kirk is actually good and will help your team win football games. Yeah, I mean, he was last year played with Calvin Ridley. And in the healthy games, he got injured in week 13. Up to that point, he was the wide receiver 23. His 17-game pace was 130 targets for 1,100 yards. I mean, he's going to be super involved in this offense. Yeah, I think the thing with Kirk is like what you said.

This is a, to me, a low-end two type of player with some upside on a week-to-week basis, but he's not a dominator, right? He has career high in receptions in a year as 84. That's nice. But this is, we know what Christian Kirk is six years into the league

and sometimes he can feel blasé to select because you can be taking – he's going to go in every draft ahead of where Brian Thomas is going. I enjoy drafting Brian Thomas way more. It's just the truth. You're getting 10 fantasy points in a half PPR. Just book it.

You got Kritchikirk in there, he's 10 fantasy points. And that's good in some scenarios, but yeah, his ceiling is definitely a little bit more capped. But this team does not have enough options to eliminate Christian Kirk outside of injury. So Ingram and Kirk are going to soak up so many targets. I think the rise of Brian Thomas, like the noise of his second half of training camp is helping to squeeze out your excitement for Christian Kirk.

What is your biggest fantasy football fear heading into the 2024 season? That's the next question that we have. What is the biggest fear? Jason might have accidentally mentioned his. Yeah, I think I did. Which was Stroud failing. Yeah, it goes to Tank Dell as well. I'm very bullish on his unstoppability.

And so if he gets injured or gets John Dotson for some reason, that will be devastating I think that I think that it's the the CMC 101 working out the way it's supposed to he's been there and it's hard to repeat we take it for granted with CMC everything should be fine I think the 49ers in general are a question to me of like does everything just come together perfectly that the signings this week are going to help tremendously but at the same time like the vibes have been bad there for a while and now everything's coming together right at the right does feel like it's working out and then philly like a lot is dependent on jalen hurts just like cj stroud if hurts cannot step up his game in this offense,

which is a, he's going to have to make more decisions in this offense. There's a lot more option routes. There's a lot more movement. This is not as straightforward as what he was used to, and he's going to have to handle protections. He's going to have to handle things, and you're depending on him for A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith, so that's an interesting one too. Mine is selfish, but it is also related to the group of the elite wide receivers

who didn't practice, who have not done training camp. Are they still elite wide receivers to start the year? How are their hammies? Brandon Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb, Jamar Chase, and I'll just toss Justin Jefferson in there. Not that he's not practicing, but he's an elite wide receiver who we have some concerns about. That's four guys who are very early picks,

and three of them have not really practiced. They, for the most part, have skipped training camp. All right, let's turn to another voicemail question. Hey, Ballers. For keeper leagues, do you prefer keeping players at their previous year draft value or making everyone use their first and second round picks as their keeper picks? Thanks. So, keeper question, do you get to keep a player for last round's draft cost

or no matter what, it's your first or second round pick? We have hotly debated this a thousand times over the years. Maybe not hotly, but just different opinions of what we think. I think there's only one hot part because both of these formats are great. I don't really have a preference between either. Our league of record is basically... I thought you were free against last round so what i am very against is waiver wire pickups being used as a last round pick like that is the part so if

you're in the format where you keep a guy at the value of last year's cost gotcha i can't stand when you get to get a waiver wire pickup that wasn't drafted you know yeah but then what's last year's cost for a waiver wire you shouldn, you shouldn't be able to keep them. You didn't draft them. They weren't drafted. They're not a keepable asset. I hate that. Or keep them at ADP. So you're the guy that had the foresight to go get Kyron or Puka,

or I guess I should say Puka. You're right. I did. I drafted Puka last year. But you don't get to keep them because you're in a keeper league and you're the one that you pick them up off the waiver wire and you don't get to keep them? You can keep them.

That's part of being a great manager. But not for a last-round draft pick. I am fine for waiver wire picks. Two rounds behind ADP because you did something great. How about that? That's fine. I'm totally fine with that. Well, let's put that in the paper.

That's the hotly debated part of this question. Either ADP value for the waiver, or if you want to give one to two round bonus because you picked them up and kept them. Is that what you just said, Falcon? Yeah. Do you play in a league with two rounds behind ADP? No, but that would – Yeah.

It makes sense. I don't – personally, though, the first or second round, I don't love that because there's going to be teams out there that – they don't have a player that's worth being kept for a first or a second round, I don't love that because there's going to be teams out there that don't have a player that's worth being kept for a first or a second round pick and now you're already behind the eight ball against these strong teams. I have my concerns there.

I like at where you drafted them because that's in a keeper league, you're rewarding players for the future for drafting. By the way, our league of's in a keeper league. You're rewarding players for the future for drafting. By the way, our league of record is a keeper league. Yeah. There is not a cost.

No, we do in our league. What we do, we give you three players. One, you lock in as yours guaranteed. And then you pick three more from your roster that don't match that franchise players position. And we do a lottery and two thirds of them come back to your team. And one goes into the draft. and then you pick three more from your roster that don't match that franchise player's position,

and we do a lottery, and two-thirds of them come back to your team, and one goes into the draft, and we don't have a draft cost associated with it. You just have the restrictions. Yeah, I guess part of the fundamental reason why there's not a draft cost is because we try to encourage players to trade their picks all over the place. So if you are, you know, you could work that into the mix, right? Like you can still trade your picks, and then if you don't have your second and your keeper you drafted in the second, you don't get that chance to keep them.

But we just do three and no cost. Yep. All right, Kyle in Indianapolis. We'll get to your question in just a second. We'll take a quick break and come back with more mailbag. All right, Kyle's question. I have James Conner in a redraft league but not Trey Benson. Should I trade Chuba Hubbard for Benson to get the Arizona backup

or keep Hubbard since he looks like a great depth piece and a late round pick at the moment. I would be very on the Hubbard side. Yeah, I think I'm keeping Chuba. The player that drafted Trey Benson, I mean, you're going to be crossing your fingers, of course, but if three to four weeks go by and James Conner is the James Conner that has been the Arizona Cardinals running back for the past couple of years, Trey Bentz is probably going to hit the waiver wire.

Like a pure insurance running back takes a lot of will and commitment to hold onto that player. Yeah, it's hard when you are rostering those guys to see a a player on the waivers that that pops and not just drop them it's really difficult I you know I've been the most I think anti Chuba not that I'm super against true I think he's a good pick at value but I would rather roster him than Trey Benson one of these guys is the current starter every year you're shocked at how thankful you are to have any depth at running back to start on buys and injuries. And all of a sudden, if you have a starter or a high role player,

you're so thrilled because you just need them so often. And the problem with Connor is like, okay, if Connor went out for the season, Trey Benson is a spend it all. If James Connor went out for a game, it's going to be a committee. It's not just going to be Trey Benson, the rookie, taking over every snap. There's going to be other players involved. So that complicates it. All right.

Tom writes in on Instagram, where will DJ Moore finish? Well, what a great question. That is going to need the time machine. I love DJ Moore. I think that he's not going to be at number six again, like he was last year with Justin Field. But I don't think – let's ask it this way. Do you guys think he can compete to get in the top 12?

And then where do you think he'll finish? I would be surprised if he does. I think he'll finish closer to wide receiver 16, 17, 18, somewhere around there. You've got more target competition, which he didn't have last year, and a rookie that historically they won't throw as many touchdowns, and that will be the one thing that hurts his fantasy production. Yeah, I'd put him at the, the you know looking back at his career he had a season of 12 and a half then 11.9 11.2 i'd put him in that 11 points per game area all right i i have a question for our

the deuces today um because we are we just finished i, three drafts recently, the three of us, or two or three of them. First of all, have you guys knocked out any drafts yet? Like, are you done with – like, how many have you finished, Al? I've got two down, two to go. All right. What about you, Papa? Two down, two to go. All right.

Four down. Four down. So we got eight drafts over there. All right. I want to know, because, you know, you're regular people. How do you feel about your drafts over there all right um i want to know because yeah you know you're regular people how do you feel about your draft so far oh i'm thrilled so far so very um so thrilled but yet monotone uh papa josh papa josh how do you feel i feel really good uh ask me after thursday though is that your big draft that's the league of record league of record but i don't have any picks so goodness

are you not showing up? Oh, I'm showing up. I'm talking to Andy. He's like, what's Thursday? I hired a celebrity to do a proxy for me since I'm the champ. Oh. I'm getting a massage. And then what about you, Falcon?

I feel really good about two teams, but my Megaloball team is not good. Oh, no. Not good? So you're increasing the odds of the Foot Clan to make it into the Listener League. Exactly. That's good. All right. And what about the ones that we just finished?

How are you guys feeling? Pretty good so far. Listener League, League of Shadows? Oh, I feel awful about my Listener League. We told the story of that. Yeah, you were driving. Don't drive and draft? Was that the advice?

Don't hospital and draft. Don't drive and draft. Was that the advice? Don't hospital and draft. Don't drive and draft. Now, was that out or not out? Those are harder ways to succeed. Falcon, didn't you drive and draft your Megalobold team after he gave you that advice? Yes, I did. And I also hot tub and drafted, too. Oh, hot tub and draft.

Oh, hot tub. Yeah, that's fine. A hot tub and draft. Honestly, you're giving me a new idea for Thursday. Oh, yes. Please bring in a hot tub. How honestly you're giving me a new idea for thursday oh yes please bring in a how cool would that be um he just he's committed to staying in at the entire draft and by the time it's oh i'm just just wrecked dead uh ig question from brooks fangs talk about the path for drake lennon to be a wide receiver one. The path is very clear.

Kirk Cousins is very good. The offense surprises. They've got an easy path, a great – like if you look at strength of schedule tools, obviously the defenses they play they're going to change from last year. But as of now, and including just win totals and expectations going forward, especially in the playoff stretch.

They remind me of what happened last year, how the schedule lined up for the Cowboys, where you could look and you could say, man, they're playing good defenses against the run, bad defenses against the pass. So if Kirk Cousins is healthy and Drake London is his main target, he could easily, easily be a wide receiver one this year. You have been – you were very close on one of your bold predictions

to being very bullish on Atlanta. Yes. You have talked about that a lot. There is a little bit of me that looks at atlanta like we did say um when matthew stafford and the rams and we were all spending the offseason just we weren't willing to hand the baton to them yet but like let's just if you just concede that cousins is. If you say that out loud and carry it to its ends, Drake London should be great. Kyle Pitts should be good.

Bijan should be great. Mooney should be involved. If you just said he's fine, I don't think we've been willing to really say that. Yeah, who is a better wide receiver? Let me ask it this way. You're a general manager, okay, and you are on the clock, and you get to draft either Chris Olave or Drake London.

Who would you take for your franchise? That is – I am so upset that you said that out loud because that is the – those two have been the most difficult thought process for me. And I lean Olave. I'm going Drake. There you go. I think I lean Drake. And so it's one of those. You do get the benefit of no Derek Carr if you lean that way.

But that's what I'm saying is the quarterback, if Kirk is healthy, he's clearly a better quarterback. So if you're saying that these guys are the same tier, the same talent, or even that London is better. He might be a better quarterback. Fair, yeah. You know, do you remember when I was a defender of the car? Of Derek Carr?

Yeah. Yeah. We all make mistakes. I just feel like watching that offense last year was so painful. There were times, Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, that combination together, all that he did for Darren Waller, awesome. Very fun. Last year, it was just awful to watch. It was the hardest to watch team.

If you take the Jets out that didn't have a quarterback, they were the hardest to watch team because the actual offensive system was like they didn't have one. That's what it felt like. It was like, what are you doing? What is this offense? He does. Bad vibes. I've been really trying to get my head around what Chris Olave is capable of doing in this offense because we all love the talent of Chris Olave, but we have to acknowledge the

tendencies of quarterbacks and offensive systems and the schedule and the fact that you think dennis allen will be on the street soon and um like car has been able to throw the ball deep successfully in his career but last year they were not on the same page for the first half could not get into the end zone you know so there are a lot of people out there that thinks a lot that think olave will be one of the bigger busts in fantasy. That is a prevailing opinion. It could easily happen. Thankfully, Clint Kubiak is in town.

You got Kubz bringing his system. So hopefully the offense is just dramatically different looking than it was last year. Is this a real question, Kyle, from Instagram about why don't you work on Labor Day? I believe President Grover Cleveland had something to say about that when he signed that into law in 1894. Yeah. By the way, just for the record,

a bunch of us did work on Labor Day. We have been rushing to get everything for week one, so a bunch of our team did on labor day we have been rushing to get everything for week one um so a bunch of our team did work there and i get it not everyone is afforded the holiday off but there is something very ironic about here's let's celebrate the labor of america by working like what what yeah um we did have a really cool labor day release on youtube that i should mention um we had uh the biggest loser brian ketron and then brooks put together a 2023 highlights video which uh just spoiler alert my favorite highlight is when I sniped you in our mock draft and you literally raised your fist with fury and said,

you're driving me insane. Yep, you were. So that's part of the highlight video, but you can check that out. That's a fun watch. Don't worry. We're going to have five days a week for the entire rest of the season and an extra episode as part of the Foot Clan. We're going to have five days a week for the entire rest of the season and an extra episode as part of the Foot Clan. We're going to take off Christmas too, guys.

Yeah. Get prepared. I'm trying to get more Labor Days on the schedule. Talk to Grover. Not enough kids. Got to give me a Ouija board. Not enough kids named Grover anymore. No.

I wonder how many. There's got to be some. Oh, in my head. You know what I mean? Grover Cleveland. In my head grover cleveland in my head i had flipped it i was like his name was cleveland but no no his first name was grover yeah like when he he was you know the sesame street character that's what i was wondering i was rocking my brain like is it worse what's that name grover is yes yeah that is sesame street and you know i don't know like he was mr president to all the professionals a little blue guy the blue elmo yeah okay no he's not he's much larger than elmo is he i don't know these things man he's just a photograph i think that once your name is used for like a muppet or a very well-known puppet. What do you mean Josh looks like Grover? Just looks like a Grover.

Oh, he looks like a Grover? He could pull it off if his name was Grover. Not a shower. Gotcha. All right. Hey-oh. All right. Jason's jaw just dropped.

A YouTube question. Shane Falco or Johnny Utah? Oh, we're picking fake quarterbacks. These are fake quarterbacks. Make it quick. Shane Falco. Come on. Johnny are fake quarterbacks. Make it quick. Shane Falco. Come on. This is Johnny Utah's way cooler.

I mean, if you need an actual football player, you got to go Falco, but Johnny Utah. The replacements, right, with Shane Falco? Yeah, and Johnny Utah is point break. Instagram question from Gabe Holden. Chase Brown or Brian Robinson for 2024? I'm on Brian Robinson's team. I'm on the Bryan Robinson side as well. Man.

I'm going to go Chase Brown. I don't mind Bryan Robinson. It's very difficult for me to see the path to actual real upside. He'll be a very competent fantasy player, but if Chase Brown can take over, then his upside is wide. Yeah, I get picking the better offense, right? You think the Bengals have a chance to be a really good offense. Their depth chart just came out, and Zach Moss is the starter.

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I'm still on the Zach Moss side, so when I look at those two, both players are in committees, and I believe that Brian Robinson is the back I want out of Washington and I believe Zach Moss is the back that I want for the Bengals call in Tucson has a pretty good question some names we haven't brought up a lot uh when Greg Roman was the OC for the Ravens all I hear all I heard about was how he schemed tight ends in the passing game more than wide outs you have Will Disley and Hayden Hurst both both sitting on waivers in most leagues.

Hawaii. Yeah, it is a fair question. I think, Andy, you just brought up Hayden Hurst. I just drafted him with the second-to-last pick of my best ball draft, looking at another tight end. But Disley was paid off-season money to come in there as well. It's also worth noting personnel right like mark andrews might have been why he schemed tight ends so heavily because he had one of the best ones out there and now it's will disley and hayden hearst it's fair though

they don't have they don't have the wide receiver room with experience and ability that it actually kind of imitates what baltimore dealt with for so many years was that's fair like they don't have them which one would you take between the two yeah i would take hayden hearst i would um because i think disley's just gonna block the pants off of people i mean we'll say wait a minute i mean what are we doing here yeah how are you we got a Big Montana question? The show was going to want Big Montana to come through for the Chargers. Will Disley, Big Montana.

I don't think we need to change that jersey on there, by the way. That was close enough to Chargers color. The sound of football. Was doing a quick look back, because it was Mark Andrews, Vernon Davis. Of course we're going to use these guys.

It was a couple years at Buffalo. I couldn't put my finger on it. Guys, it was Mr. Necessary. Charles Clay? Yes. Yeah. Okay. I think that this is a great point.

This should be brought up. Greg Dulcich, the reason why I think he's interesting is, who are the established pass catchers for the Broncos? Who are the established pass catchers for the Chargers? Lad McConkie. Unestablished. Yeah. So I don't know.

One of those guys could come through. All right. We're going to wrap it up for today. We'll be back with another episode tomorrow. And a reminder, there are two remaining times for Megalobold drafts, 5 p.m. Pacific tonight, if you're listening on Tuesday, and 9 a.m. Pacific Wednesday morning. The final two draft times, you can get in there still,

megalobold.com. That is going to do it for today. Just going to be one day away tomorrow, Jason. Yeah. Two more sleeps. 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.