The Dumb Zone FREE - DZ 8-21-25 PREVIEW | Fantasy football with Mike Marshall and the Cracker Barrel rebrand with Jimmy Nelson

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Hear the entire episode by subscribing to the show at DumbZone.com or Patreon.com/TheDumbZoneHere's a brief fantasy football preview with FF guru, Mike Marshall, and Blake has to do what for his new job? Ubeuerline? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Hey now, what you were about to hear is a free preview of one of this week's premium episodes of The Dumb Zone. If you would like to hear this program in full, along with the full archive, ah, shit. If you would like to hear this program in full with the archive of all of our past episodes, you can subscribe at dumzone.com. CD's obviously first rounder, right? Yes, he's top five. I think he's four or five right now. 104, 105. and uh what do we think of george pickens yeah he's he's been uh every single year on um i think i think i had a name for it at one point because we've done this thing for a decade uh our

podcast action is the juice um it's uh i think it was like all shithead team where it was just dudes that like i couldn't like trust myself drafting um because it would just drive me insane to go like you idiot. Why'd you believe in this man? And Pickens was on that for a long time. But the one thing that motivates grown men better than anything, I think is money. And so he's in a contract year. So I think he can be cool probably for like five months. And that's always been the question because he is an alien. He doesn't demand like a high target percentage, which is concerning as a guy that you are hoping. I don't think he's ever going to be a wide receiver one, but I think it'll be a super high end wide receiver two, which is valuable if you can get him at the

right spot. Or if you're a heavy wide receiver drafter, um, you could even slot it as your wide receiver three. And then you got something that's like, yeah, if you, if you're a piss boy, um, but pickings, I'm, I like pickings a lot this year. Uh, we did our like my guys list, uh, last night and he's on, he's on mine and on, um, who else had him, uh, Chuck had him as well. So I was like, okay, that's, that's almost consensus on a dude. Um, so he's fourth rounds right now. Uh, You might be able to catch them top of the fifth round if you have, if you're on that turn down their draft-in. So I like Pickens a lot. I think there should be, it should be a thousand yards.

It should be a handful of touchdowns. Dynasty, I'm not investing long term. I absolutely never will. But for him to be chill for 16, 17 games, like, I think it can happen. Do you do well in drafts with like a lot of cowboy fans in it? Rubes, fools. Just because you say George Pickens is like fifth round, I'm like, not in my league, I'll bet you he's third round, for sure.

Yeah. Our league is famously, yeah, did, what is it, Julius Jones, 1-1? Yeah, one year. That's a true story, right? Yeah, because he had the second half of his rookie year. I think he had 800 yards rushing in the last eight games. And, you know, if you project that over 16 games, you know what that is? It's unbelievable.

so yes he was the first overall draft pick the next year because our league is called the landry cup so it's it's uh all cowboy fans and everything and so yeah dack will be a second round pick you know all all cowboys early it'll be great knowing knowing who you're drafting with and it's really funny because like different sites have almost like different demographics like if you're on underdog that's all these junkies that are like streaming all day and it's like to win. Like, it's just so hard to win, like, best ball mania. And it is like a heavy piss boy room. And so, like, you can get running backs really late and in quarterbacks even later. So just like knowing what you're jumping into, um, FFPC is like a bunch of boomers. Like,

they are really, really into running backs. Like, they just love it. But if you know you're drafting with this collection of people, you can hedge for it, right? And you can draft around it. And a lot of other sites and other places, I mean, you know when you go into a room and a dude's like opening a magazine for the first time. Like, you know, like the year in leagues like that, where it's the guys is like cracking the thing open and like, look at this magazine from three months ago that has, you know, Lamar Jackson on the cover and like he's going to take him 106. You know what I mean? Those are called, basically, there's a term for that person too, and it's called a slapy. Because there's guys, there's guys that are,

setting the market because they are doing so many goddamn drafts a day. I mean, in best ball mania, you can do, I think, 150 teams. No, it might be more than that. People will draft about 1,500 teams, like, throughout a drafting season. Dudes that are, like, really into this. So if you do that much, your influence on the market, you're shifting ADP. If Dan really likes a guy, two rounds higher than what he's going, and Dan is a streamer, and all he does all day is, you know, enter $10 leagues.

He is pulling the market up with him. It's just like the lines, right? Yeah, you're just tracking the public a little bit. Yeah, it's a super interesting market to watch because someone will say one thing on a podcast. And yeah, it's like a line shifting because, you know, whatever, Schaefter says somebody's got like an ankle thing. And then the line, you watch the line actually moves.

But there's guys that set the market, the streamers, and then there's like people that watch the streamers. And they end up chasing after the ADP or before the ADP is adjusted. And those are called slapies. Like they're just, they're just working off of like really soft knowledge. So are you in so many leagues where you're not really trading during the season? Or are you a big trades guy?

In my dynasty leagues, I love to trade. I'll just have like a day of the week that I'll just go out there and send like three or four trades. How many leagues are you in? I got two in the main events. which is the FFP main event the two or three million dollar payout one

five six seven eight dynasty leagues which don't take as much work I have you know you carry over the same players they're like there's like a work league I don't know I'd say like

comfortably 12 um that are for money well the reason I ask is because once I draft my starters I from then on I'm trying to draft guys that I think could be tradable later.

Like high upside quarterbacks and whoever is backing up Christian McCaffrey. And that way later in the season, I kind of have some chips to barter with. So are there any names like that, like guys that you're grabbing in like the last couple rounds knowing that they could have value later in the season? Oh yeah, for sure.

They're handcuffed bets. Usually that term is designated for backup running backs that are that are the obvious. Replacement if a starter goes down. But the trick to me is like look at the draft board and if there are two running backs from the same team that are going later like Aaron Jones Jordan Mason, right? They're almost going in the same exact spot. They're both like eight nine tenth round. Okay, the younger guy that just got there and the team told you that they wanted is going I think almost the exact same spot as the veteran who's on a one year deal, I think. So I almost want both those guys, but I'm always choosing the younger dude in that scenario. But back to like the super late round stuff, rookies peak late. So the guys that are trying to win in weeks 13, 14, 15, these giant tournaments, they always have a bench full of rookies. Because the first four weeks do not matter.

You're not looking to start them. You're looking for to have the best roster. And this is specifically for like best ball and managed leagues as well. But, you know, a guy like Luther Burden for the Bears, like he was a really high pick, right? He's top 50 pick. I don't expect him to do shit the first like four to six weeks. Like I just don't think he's going to be anything. But he's going to turn it on late and he might hit your lineup because injuries later, whatever it may be.

And he might prove that he needs a role in this offense. So rookies, I always look at late specific. If they're top 50 picks that can roll out there. But to answer your question a minute ago, Blake, about, like, sending trade offers, I'm the dude that'll, like, you know, it's like testing the fences as a Raptor. You're just, like, walking up and you're like, just making sure that's still on. Just like, I'll send, like, if someone's getting a lot of buzz, I'll start sending that guy around.

If I think I can get good, like right now, uh, Jekori Kroski Merritt for, the commanders. They're talking about trading Brian Robinson, to Corey Kroski Merritt, I mean the starter. No one knows anything about him because he missed his final year at college football. Like there's just like this mystery box. And there's so many headlines about him and he's like the darling of fantasy right now. Well, I picked him up a month ago because I thought it was interesting and I don't believe in Brian Robinson. And I'm sending that dude to every team, trying to cash in like right now, just testing the fences, just walking up and going like, all right, the electricity is still on.

and just seen if anybody will fall for it. Yeah, like, I don't know. The guy I had my eye on, like Taj Brooks, he's the 13th highest rated rookie running back. Oh. And there are a ton of rookies ahead of them that I know might get a catch or two or a touchdown here and there.

But Taj Brooks is one injury away from being a workhorse. You know, they're not going to run it with P-Rine. So I think those are, like, those are the targets I'm looking at where you're one injury away from being able to ship this guy who took in the 10th round for a, I don't know top 15 guy like that's an incredible return of value to me that's that's a good call especially when like the third running back is a rookie he was drafted later and he made the team

like breshard smith if he makes the team on the chiefs the path in front of him like is not that scary right uh and he plays like he catches enough balls and is enough of an offensive weapon that's what that team's looking for if chase brown goes down they are not giving the ball 25 times to Samaj P. Ryan. Right. It's just not happening. So they're looking for answers. Maybe they sign somebody.

And there's still, that really sucks when you take like a rookie and you're like, here we go, wheels up. And then week one or heading in week zero, they sign a whatever, a Kareem Hunt or something. Like that is such like just the wind out of your sales immediately. But Taj Brooks is a good call for sure. I like, I like that one because I also don't believe in Chase Brown that much. He was like a six or seventh round pick. So finding those situations and those backfields that are kind of like murky in the backup situation and taking a rookie because they've told you they give a shit about this rookie by drafting him, by keeping him on the team, those are bets I like to make.

Got any other names like that that pop out? Let me look at my Cam Scadaboo with the Giants. I know everyone's probably aware of him from Arizona State. He's a real wild boy, my kind of guy. How familiar with him are you, Dan? What does that mean that he's a wild boy? I guess not. I think we should start.

This is a fun one to plan out throughout the year, guys that you interface with for the first time that you're like, whoa, it's going on here. But Arizona State's running back from the last couple of years. He is a white boy built like a bowling ball, but also super athletic. His parents are crazy. His dad's like real affliction shirty.

My son goes to Arizona State looking. if I recall correctly. Talks a lot of shit. Lifted trucks. Oh, yeah. He's a lake person. Lake person who wears like iced out diamond necklaces or diamond, iced out necklaces and like grills, but, you know, now he's in New York.

And he's white. Yeah. All right. Yeah. And his name is that UT ruled. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

That was a lot of fun. Yeah. And Dave has already been like saying that he reminds. him of like dable at that age oh my god day ball they got to get day ball out of there before he catches a case that's how yeah horny he gets looking at cam yeah and dude he was awesome like his production if you look at it and you like compared against the rest of the dudes that went like round one running back wise you're like take the names off like scadaboo looks better like he just he just fucking rules dude yeah he's he's a ton of fun another name for me i don't want to jump in

front of you, Mike, but Ollie Gordon, like, H.N. has heard all the time. Jalen Wright's hurt all the time. He's in an exciting Miami offense. And, you know, before last year, he was one of the top running backs in the country. Everyone thought he was a Heisman frontrunner. Then Oklahoma State was terrible. So his draft just cratered. And so, yeah, and he's surrounded by guys who you know will not do anything. Yeah. So that's a fire. The thing I worry about with, with, with the dolphins situation is so say if you owned enough

dolphins over the last two years you know how bad their offensive line is and you know that Tua is probably going to get a little brain bruise again at some point right and that offense just turns to absolute ass water like immediately

and so if it's that ugly is there anything to even be gained by throwing that guy out there I like Ali Gordon like long term. for sure, because he does remind me of another Oklahoma State dude, Chuba Hubbard, who just was like, yeah, give him the Heisman, why not? And then his senior year he came back, I'm not sure why, and had a terrible year.

And so Ollie did the same exact thing. And Chubas turned out fine. It took him two or three years to find a team that believed in him. But Ollie's a good call, especially with H.N. Already having some kind of lower body issue. And it's just offensive line isn't good, and the offense can flat line. number two is not there and you're just like there just aren't that many points to be derived out of that backfield but i like that bet yeah but adp i mean he's like right above dalton sholtz

we know what he's like last round we know what justice hill is you know we know what a lot of these guys are and they have no pop in their game at all so late in the draft why not yeah and taking dudes that late like Dalton shultz is a good example of a dude that i'm like i'm just drafting this guy to cut him like i don't know what i'm doing yeah i don't know what i'm doing taking dalton shultz i've no business doing that. Like, why not take Ollie Gordon? Why not take, you know, Jacori Kroski Merritt's rising up.

But before that, like, why not take him? Why not take Harold Faynon, and some of these younger dudes that they could be anything. They could even be Devon A-Chane if everything works out. So you're in 12 leagues. Yeah. Are you in any leagues that have league punishments? Because that seems...

No, they all have monetary back. which is punishment enough having to explain why you can't go on the vacation next month because you didn't cash this year or you have no seed because you left it all at the bank you have 20 bucks a pop

no there's no big punishments what was it we had a couple that were like funny for Are you doing a punishment this year Blake has lost his league twice at a Justin Bieber window whatever What do you call that?

Back window decal. Like the full back window. Oh, yeah? For a year was Justin Bieber. That's awesome. Yeah. And then one year it was... One year it was a nipple piercing.

Yeah. I got a belly button piercing one year. Oh, that's the one. It's a gnarly one. I got last place in a fantasy league. And the first place guy got a picket. So it had a big fake diamond on it and had a dangly thing that said, bitch.

Yeah, respect. We're looking at the 75 hot dogs in a week, I think. In a week, I haven't heard of that one. Yeah. We're kicking it around. We vote at the draft. We want to do a, we're kicking around panhandling until you get $20. Ooh, yeah.

Or around a golf and drag. Okay. You don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, we've done that. A little breeze on the boys? Oh, no. Terrible. there was there is one being kicked around in a uh that truck kicked around the other day

which is like a 24 hour like torture chamber thing and I think it was four categories um I think it was like walking so you have to choose a um what was it was a 612 1824 quantities of these things it was miles beers donuts and joe's that's great this is like the choose your weapon or your fighters with these animals yeah damn it was you have to do it in in a 24 hour period man all of them that's a great one but you can choose which which number you want to apply to each thing and just like your mind so working through that i already is i love the i love the $20 in Vegas one you got to stay 24 hours in Las Vegas with just $20 right i've heard that one before and it's really interesting because

Vegas is, there's a lot of free stuff there if you know where to go and how to play it. But also, do you, can you win in roulette on the first one? How much do you want, yeah. Do you want to even gamble at all? I would first 45 seconds, I'd put $20.

Yeah, of course, right away. Exactly. You'd Angelo it. I think the hot dog, the hot dog one is interesting. Do they just have to be regular hot dogs? Because I think you're also going to, you're going to be excited by everything that's happening in the hot dog space.

Hot dogs are different and better now. They got, you could mix that up. I mean, that's a part of it, but you got to go hot dog and bun. Now, if you want to smother it in chili, that's up to you. Or all the things you can do. But still, that's 75 hot dog, a completto. It's like avocado, tomato, tomato. Whatever you want to do.

Manage. Man, I just would go on the hot dog diet. We were going to do last year. I think I accidentally did this in Chicago last time I was there. Last year we were going to do, like the fitness conference. competitions, the muscle ones. Oh, like bodybuilding? Bodybuilding.

I forgot that word. It's a good one. There you go, man. I'm parted sometimes. But I thought that we had a couple of fat guys in the league that you were just like, come on, baby. So you just have to commit to it and train or you have to just? Oh, he didn't end up doing it because it turns out it was expensive.

Yeah. Yeah, we were like, out of it. So the switch was a calendar. You need to make a calendar of himself. Dance participated in a sexy calendar for a, pay off for it. It was very good. Yeah. Yeah, we're always in the, no AI here. We're always in the, in the mode for good bits. I like the panhandling one. That's interesting. Yeah. Until you get 20 bucks. But, you know, just being as wildly famous as we are in Dallas,

I think it'd be too easy for us. That's when you dress like a Mormon, a little white shirt with the tie. Oh, yeah, get a bike and a helmet. But then just kind of be a dirt bag, lean into the bit a little bit a little bit like talk shit to people throw around some slurs I don't know it'd be easy you know all you have to do is

get your fireman's helmet stand out there at a corner we'll fill the boot yeah yeah like the boot out there they put up that fireman force field

I can't criticize you now you at least appear to be somebody who could save someone so I got to be nice to you yeah it's Dan's out there Dan's out there like all right I get to get to

$20, somebody's, like, getting out their wall at the hand of the one, and he's, like, already, like, down on his knees. I do, no, like, we don't... You're not going to have to do any of that. I'm ready for the whole hundred. Are you sure? Yeah. Well, Mike, this has been a pleasure.

I know you have a power lunch to get to. So tonight, we're going to put this... Your show is in the can, ready to roll on our YouTube page? Yeah, I got to send, Blake, the two of them are in a drop box right now, but I got to put the other two in there, and then they'll be ready to go locked and loaded. Okay, and I want to put it out, we're going to put this out in audio form for, just for our, we're off tomorrow. So our business Friday will.

Congratulations, that's dope. Yeah, you know. Congrats. Just thank Blake, because he just said, I don't want to work Friday. That was not me. I got a rant of time. I was trying to help my friend. If Blake's not here, then I can't.

This guy's eating gourmet french fries tomorrow. It's not, I'm not the reason we're off. I got a random child's birthday party to rest for. It's right. It's right. All right, yeah, so go to our Dumbzone YouTube page or just listen to this feed tomorrow, and you'll hear how to win your fantasy.

I can't wait, actually. I'll be watching it. I'm always bad at fantasy. And, you know, this year, though. The only problem is, like, half our league probably listens to this, and so they've already got Taj Brooks marked it. That's going to be like the second pick in the whole draft.

Hey, Machine, did you hear that Blake's taking Steve Burline to work now? I don't know what that means. Is this another homeless guy? No, he works for, he works for the Compass Media, the broadcast. Oh, I knew that. Yeah, he works for the Cowboys. Yeah, and he takes him the games. Yeah, and they ask me if I would pick Steve up and not going to be a game.

He's the color commentator for the games, but he flies in every week. So they're like, Blake, can you pick him up on the way? you're on the way to the stadium and he's like yeah that's the plight of the youngest dude on the radio show like of the traveling radio broadcast like Ted told me about this where he was traveling to do like

Cooper flag games or whatever and and the older dude that makes ESPN's top 100 whatever you'd always be like so can you pick me up and so you just become yeah you just become doesn't matter a human waymo I'm just shuffling old, crusty ass men around.

What are the good ones we've had T.C. T.C. picked up Gibi Haynes from Butthole surfers. Yeah. From the airport when he was going to be on our show. And I think Ghibie is like 50 or 60 at the time, whatever he was. And he made him stop at a liquor store to get a tall boy on the way. Yeah, I think he had a house of gas station, a little house. Was this at the Oakland location?

Yes. Yeah. I remember, I was there that day. It might have been like my first day because I was exiting and there's this old man standing there trying to get out of the parking garage and like cannot figure the shit out. He's just like physically standing there like pressing buttons. And I was like, what is happening? And then I like put two and two together when I got to look at him. And I was like, oh, that's butthole surfers guy. That's Mr. Pepperman's son, sir. Put some respect on it. No, I love it. But living the, uh, the stereotype. It's like meeting Steve-O and hearing that he's off drugs. I don't want to hear that. It's Steve-O. But Gibby Haynes, you pick him up from the airport, and he's like, I need a tallboy.

I feel like that's a great experience. And just imagine the experiences you're going to have with Steve Berline. I love you. It's driving your grandpa to the grocery store. It's kind of the same vibe, dude. All right, man. All right, boys. Love the show.

See you. So I need to leave. this or do y'all kick me out what happens about Blake there's uh there's mic mute you and you can do whatever you want I'll just mute me and I'll just Mike mute marshal Mike the mute marshal yes

um all right good stuff good times yeah was that good I feel like it was I was I was into it oh I hope so I don't know you're not a fancy guy I want to try this year but I don't know you can't tell all the condescending remarks he's got

over there I have no I would be making more condescending remarks if I wasn't into it. Some of that stuff's really interesting to me, like, that the boards are being projected by the market, and if certain leagues value the time, it's like when your grade was worth more in high school, like a 1.1 AP grade, but if that's factoring into what everybody is looking at on the board, then I didn't know that. Yeah, his ADP.

It's like playing with different lines. Research is interesting because everyone that's already drafted is not a sure, not, they're not even looking at that board. Like, you don't draft. You need a filter, like turn on, turn on. off like filter out that's really interesting i'm into it dan i'm happy i've i've been wanting you to join fantasy for many years i will just warn you by week four you might just be totally out oh yeah that often happens i'm in three leagues and there's always one you're real good one you're okay

and one you're like i just don't even need to turn this one on anymore the last time that's how you end up with a belly piercing that's how you end up with your belly button pierced i was out the last time i was in and I was out by week four, I believe Jake DeLone's elbow was involved. So that's how long ago it was. Geez. 13, 14 years. Panther's finest. Yeah. Do you want to continue this trek to try and get to 10 wins, or do you want to grab a break?

I'm just going to bail on it like they probably are. Bail on what? The idea. But no, I just spent the segment, like, take a break. I thought that was a smooth. Like, do you want to keep going? And I said, bail on it. Like we'd go to break at the normal time we'd go to break. Is he being so mean to me? I'm not. I thought I had a smooth thing.

Didn't hit.