The Ringer NFL Show - Le’Veon Bell, Trade Targets, and Fantasy C*ckblocks

Episode Date: October 14, 2020

We discuss Le’Veon Bell getting released from the New York Jets and question whether or not he could still be fantasy relevant, offer up some players to sell high and buy low on, and discuss the most talented players in the league whose coaches are obstructing their ability to score. We finish the show with another edition of Bad Beats. Le’Veon Bell (3:11) Trade Bait: Mike Evans, Buccaneers (14:35) Marquise Brown, Ravens (17:53) David Montgomery, Bears (20:34) Zach Ertz, Eagles (26:10) C*ckblocks: J.K. Dobbins, Ravens (35:07) Antonio Gibson, Washington (36:49) Drew Brees, Saints (37:54) Chase Edmonds, Cardinals (41:10) D'Andre Swift, Lions (43:28) Damien Harris, Patriots (44:44) Allen Robinson, Bears (45:21) Andy Isabella, Cardinals (46:44) Bad Beats (48:49) Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode, we talk about Levi-on-Bel. We actually had this conversation before he got cut by the Jets, but we still give our thoughts on everything going on there. We also go through some trade bait with players who suck, but might stop sucking soon. And we talk about players who are getting cock-blocked by their coaches. Stick around. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show.

I am Danny Hyphitz here with Danny Kelly and Craig Coralbeck. And D.K., are you recording? I am recording this time. I apologize for the little audio snafu last week. That's what happens when you record. I'm going to record late at night. I kind of got thrown off my game. We recorded on Sunday night instead of normally on Monday. And turns out the cord was not connected completely into my recording device. So it didn't not work. I had a little mini heart attack at the end of the show. But Craig managed to figure out because he's a smart guy. I also want to take some responsibility because I'm OCD about it. And if this podcast, if every episode had a negative 10 second mark, what people would hear before we begin is me saying, are you recording? Are you recording? Am I recording?

Let's go. I know. I'm usually so good about it, too. I do the whole test, test, test thing. Craig is like, I know. I hear you say that every time. For some reason, I did not do that this time. Well, maybe Craig has fostered a culture where now it's like we feel uncomfortable to ask

and that if there was a more open thing, then it wouldn't have happened. So I actually think Craig saved it, but it was his fault. I think it was Craig's problem. It's an impressive pivot on both of you to play this on me. We'd clean up your own mess, Craig. By the way, just let everybody know. Before we start, we all go, three, two, one record.

Danny Kelly hit record, and it still didn't work. I don't know what else I have to do. It recorded. The cord just wasn't connected. So you literally, so you literally had to record it. There you go. Okay, fun fact time. This is from Corey.

Fun fact, it is impossible to hum while you plug your nose. I knew this. I tried this. I tried it immediately, and I was cackling myself. You do make a sound, though. I don't know how I would describe the sound. And now everyone's trying this. I hope you're trying it if you're listening.

In fact, you know what? If you think you know what the sound should be described as, can you email to ringer fantasy football at gmail.com? It's like if you're drowning and you're trying to get someone's attention. That's the sound you make. Should I do it on this podcast or is that just awful content? Try it. No, I'll take it out if you do it.

And then it's like, It's like a whale underwater. It sounded like your phone vibrating on the counter like 10 feet away. Okay. Well, thank you for Corey. Take it to Corey for that one. That one's great. But enough with the no hum.

And let's go to a situation that is ho-hum. And that is the New York Jets, my trade Levi-on-Bell. That was all right. That was great. That was good. And you get a Levion Bell. Oh. That was better.

Wow. Yeah. That was the best one I've ever had. Okay. Levy on Bell. has not been doing great and then liked a bunch of tweets that was like, I want the ball more

and they should trade me. And now the Jets are reportedly trying to trade him, which is kind of hilarious. We're trying to win a million dollars in a contest of 780,000 people. Roughly equal odds. Yeah, I was going to say, who's got a better shot?

I mean, we're still, you know, we could be in first place. You know, and if anything, we've got the odds here. So this is hilarious. And I kind of, even before the fantasy stuff, I want to hit the real life part here of just how ridiculous this Levion situation has been.

Do you want to do the fantasy stuff first or the real life stuff first? Hit the real stuff. I just want to reiterate, aside from the whole thing of he held out with the Steelers and that whole situation, which I actually agree with the premise of what he was talking about, which was, they're going to give me 400 touches.

They don't care about my future. I want to play for a team that cares about me beyond the next three months. I actually understand that. The hilarious part is the Jets signed him to this deal last year in 2019. And in that offseason, they gave out the most guaranteed money ever in NFL history. It's like $100 plus million combined. And then they let Mike McCaghan, the GM, draft the class of players. And then they fired Mike McAggen.

So the guy who signed Levi-on-Bell and gave out $100 million to guarantee contracts was fired like immediately afterward. Which I don't even, it's like giving someone. It's like giving your best friend your debit card and being like, you know what? Just like, I don't know, go gamble online, go shop with my go on Amazon, buy whatever. And then they come back, they hand it back to you. You're like, you're not my friend anymore. But also all that stuff is still being delivered to their place.

I don't even know what you could compare it to. And then the same day McCagnan was fired, there was a report that Adam Gase never wanted Levi-on-Bel to begin with. So this thing wasn't going to work from day one. And in case you're wondering if it was going to work from day one, Levy on Bell liked a tweet saying that was never going to work from day one. And then there was the whole, like, lying about the injury thing where, like, Leveon's,

like, my hamstrings are fine. Yeah. And they weren't. And then he missed time. And now he's back. It's bizarre. So this is absolutely ridiculous. The only part of this that's funnier is they're trying to trade him now.

He has $6 million guaranteed on his deal. And it has been abundantly clear over and over and over again that teams don't really need running backs. Team don't need old running backs. And teams don't need expensive running backs. Leveon's all three. Even though I think he's still. solid. I don't know who's taking this on. The Jets,

I really tried to look at the other 31 teams and think to myself, who's going to take the $6 million? I don't think anyone. And I think that the Jets would have to eat at least three of the $6 million guaranteed at a minimum. I'm curious,

did you got, because I, and it's a stretch, I came up with four teams that if it happened, I wouldn't be shocked. But none of them makes sense. Is there one team that you could look at that actually made sense for Leveon-Beltrade? Not really. I was going to say,

the only team that really stood out to me was the Bears. And that's because they lost Tari Cohen to an injury and he was sort of their pass catching back. Maybe they could put Levy on Bell in there and have him be a pass catcher, have him be sort of like a de facto,

whatever, slatter see. We saw him do that a lot in his heyday. I can't believe this drop-off that has happened with Levy on Bell. And it's tough to try and separate the jets from him because, I mean, the guy was literally the undisputed, indisputed, undisputed?

Undisputed. Indisputed. No, undisputed. And that is not a, that is not a free promo for Skip Baylis, but it is undisputed. Also, can we talk how it's undisputed? It's the most disputed man in America? I guess that's the whole point of the show. He already got me angry for no reason.

Enough of that. I guess I'm going to tune in tomorrow. So he, uh, Leveon is the undisputed number one overall pick, like, I don't know, two, three years ago, is he in your guy's mind? Like, let's say, I don't know, Zique gets hurt or like Sequin or Christian McCaffer or something. And then Leveon Bell just slots in on that team. Are you now like, wow, Levion's going to be incredible?

Like, and your brain, is he still good? Or is he just completely washed to you guys? I will say this, and this is something that we always say, I don't think we have any freaking idea because he's on Adam Gase's team. Yeah. He looks terrible with the Jets. I'll say that. He looked all right last week, I thought.

So that's a... me that's like, okay, maybe, like, how do you mean like he looks explosive or something? Or what? I don't know. I guess it's just like, are you excited about him as a player in a vacuum anymore? Or are you like, no, I don't want to touch it. Like, if you could get him for free and you were, like, if you were starting a team and every running back had the same cost, where does Levyon rank? For the rest of this season? That's a very good question. It is a very good question. I think he's definitely top 15. I think it's, it's an interesting question because it gets the two things, which is how quickly running backs decline, but also like what running backs do, right? And

it's the whole like running backs don't matter thing is just this thing. But it is important to remember that running backs are the function of like seven different people's job. They're almost like a movie star where they're the person on the poster, but it took like 600 people to make the movie. But one person's the star. Just because that person, Levin,

Bill can't do his job without the offensive line and a coherent plan around him. And he went from Pittsburgh. The reason this was doomed was not just the money, not just all that stuff, not just Adam Gase. He went from the Pittsburgh Steelers where when he was playing had at worst a top five offensive line. And he went to the Jets who had one of the five worst offensive lines. Last year they were bottom five. And then they all got hurt and they became bottom.

I mean, they were abysmal. And then Adam Gase's solution is just to switch everyone around. This year they've done the same thing. The offensive line is horrible. And then you throw on Gage's coaching and his bizarre reaction to players not playing well. It was just a swap starting roles and stuff. So it's a perfect storm for him to play poorly. So I think to D.K.'s point, it's hard to know.

But I don't think he's declined as much as his stats suggest because, I mean, he had, what, 700 yards in change last year? He's not that bad. But also he's not good enough than any team should trade for him. I feel like the big thing with Bell is how good he is as a receiver. It's sort of like girly in his prime. He was so dangerous in the screen game, very, very comfortable catching the ball. and Bell himself would line up and run receiver routes. Like he was like sort of this weird hybrid of a big, you know,

he was incredible. He was incredible. Slash, you know, running back who could do it all in his prime. And I know this has been a couple years now, but like he was legitimately so, so talented. Like the unquestioned best running back in the league. And his ability to like sync up with the offensive line where his timing was impeccable. He was, you know,

he had that very signature style where he would like kind of like hang out. behind the line of scrimmage and then go. And again, it's, like Danny said, it's so situational and it's so difficult to say. I don't think he had any shot of really succeeding in New York. If he was on another team that actually had good offensive line and a good plan for him, I think he could revive his career for sure. But I just don't know if anyone's going to want to do it at this point. As I was going through the teams, you know what I realized the team that made the most sense was?

The Giants. Which I hate. For the rest of the year. just for this year because I was looking at it the only teams that make any sense are the giants, the bears,

the Jaguars, and Washington. I couldn't even figure out. I don't think it makes sense for the Giants. They're not going to make the playoffs. Why would you spend the money? It doesn't.

It just, if you actually run through the 32 teams and it's basically the combo is GMs who are going to get fired unless the team is good. And that's the Bears, that's the Giants and the Jaguars maybe. Let me ask you guys this about Levion.

Do you guys think Levion regrets holding out at all? So this is an interesting question, and I think that the entire Levyon Bell situation was really poorly framed and poorly reported in some ways because Jeremy Fowler at ESPN did a great job. And Levyon Bell told Jeremy Fowler at ESPN that I'm not doing, he's, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but he said, basically, I'm not doing this for money. I've made plenty of money. The only thing left I want is basically to be able to play football and to win a Super Bowl, but I want to be respect. did while I'm doing it. It's not about money. It's about respect. It's about running backs being paid what they deserve. It's about setting the market. It's about the guys behind me. It's about Todd Gurley. It's about

Melvin Gordon. It's about preserving the prestige at the position and someone has to do it. I happen to be in the position where I can do it. And he said that because he'd been franchise tagged twice. Well, no, but he'd been franchise tagged twice. So he had like 20 million or so in the bank. If you have five million or so in the bank from a rookie contract, you can't really make this kind of decision. He decided like, screw it. Like, I have enough money to take a stand. So in my decision, you judge it as, in my opinion, you judge a decision based off the logic he made the decision with,

which was, well, it's not about maximizing my money. It's, I'm not giving this team my work if they don't respect me. And so did he make less money than he would have if he had stuck with the Steelers? Probably. Was that the metric he was using to make the decision? No, he felt they're suspected by the Steelers. Now, does he regret signing with the Jets? Maybe. Is it his fault that the GM that signed him was fired two months later? Probably not.

So look, if anything, what he probably has seen, not in his head, but he went from one of the most well-run organizations to perhaps the worst run organization. That is probably a note for the future. But I don't think that his metric, I mean, he explicitly said he's not judging this about money. So let me ask you guys this question. And keep it in the realm of like reality. What would be the ideal place for him? to go. Like if some team just decided to trade from tomorrow, you'd be the most excited about it from a fantasy point of view. And don't say the chiefs because they're not going to trade. As I said Kansas City. So what you're saying from a fantasy standpoint, as if the starter wasn't there on the team that he's getting traded to? Like we Avengers endgame every starting running back? I want to keep it in reality. I want to keep it in reality. Like obviously the Pittsburgh. Right. I guess maybe like I'm thinking, oh, like,

Would the Browns do it until Chubb gets back? I don't think they would need to. No. They have an awesome offensive line. Would he go and be on like the Patriots or something when they're trying to like, you know, get a little bit more going? No, Damien Harris is great. The Patriots are the answer to every like, where could this person go? That would be cool.

Yeah. It's always the Patriots. But I think the bottom line is there's really no, like there's not really any teams that it would make a lot of sense to go to. No one needs a running back. The teams that need one don't need to pay. one or just don't need the productivity. It's sorry, Levyon. Okay, that's enough of that.

That's more than enough we should ever talk about the Jets. Let's get into the rest of the episode. We're going to go through some trade bait. So we're going to talk about some guys we would trade away, some guys we would trade for in fantasy, not in real life. Levyon Bell, definitely don't trade for Levyon Bell in real life or in fantasy. Although maybe, maybe. But guys, who is someone you would trade for or trade away up to you?

D.K., go to you first. this is probably going to like ruin all my potential negotiations but mike evans of the buccaneers i feel like is a pretty interesting sell high candidate because of what he's been able to do in the touchdown department throughout his first five games his touchdowns to like targets and catches ratio is absurd like he's literally had one game where he had one catch two yards and a touchdown he had another game where he had two catches two yards and two touchdowns. And sprinkle in a few actually big games. He had seven catch 104 yard game in week two. He had 120 yards in week four.

But for the most part, he's just... That line is like a Matt Azata rushing line from seven years ago. Yeah. And he is their... He's like their goal line back. He's exactly like...

He's this goal line vulture. He's the first wide receiver fullback. Where's like, where you're the one who called him Mike Allstadt? Yeah. He's that. Michael's thought. I mean, I love Evans, and I think the one thing I think that is like making me a little bit hesitant to actually pull it, like, pull the trigger on like a trade with him is that

he's been playing through hamstring and ankle injuries. So we haven't really seen him at full health. But the underlying numbers, the target share, which is only 18%, which is pretty low for a guy of his like name power. Air yard share is still pretty low. And Chris Godwin has been out three games this year. So you'd think like those numbers would have really spiked while he was out, but they haven't at all. So to me, it's concerning from a, um, just overall volume point of view going forward. Like, he's not going to catch a touchdown or two every game. At least I don't think he is. And you, you probably don't want to bet on the idea that he's going to. So, um, I think right now he's still, he's done enough in fantasy. He's, he's scored enough touchdowns. He's got the name power. He's with Brady. Maybe people will really buy into that. Like, you could get a pretty good trade piece. out of him. And I think now would be a time to sell high before he starts having, and I think he's not, I don't think he's going to be disappear off the fantasy landscape or anything, but I think it's going to be one of those things where every week, you know, it's going to be ups and downs with him. All right. So with trade bait talk comes name game. It's just like, it's a piece

of it. Anytime you talk about trade. So let's, let's do the name game with, with Mike Evans here. And I'm going to start with one in the same, in the same family, the same city, Chris Godwin. that's tough I guess the only thing that would keep me from saying yes quickly to that is the health question

do you think Godwin is going to be back and like playing and stuff or is he that's the only thing that worries me but if from a like a peer usage point of view

I think I'd rather have Godwin okay Kenny Galladay Galladay I would have Galladay Alan Robinson Robinson what about O'Dell I don't think I

think Beckham and Evans are like in the same boat so I would stick with Evans probably. Okay. Adam Thielen. Thielen. Dealing. DJ Moore, I think, is where I start to be like, nah. The numbers are like pretty constant, pretty consistent with DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson now, that it feels like DJ Moore is really the number two there. I know that I said to stick with him earlier a couple, like a week or two ago, but it's starting to be more apparent that Robbie Anderson is legit. What about Marquise Brown? It's close. I think I would stick with Evans, but...

Can you explain why that's close? Because I think, a lot of people would be shocked that Mike Evans, you would maybe think about swapping straight up from Marquis Brown. Yeah, and I'll just get into my trade four or one because that was Marquis Brown. And it's just one of those things where he, the question marks around Brown are the offense that he's in, which is a high volume running offense, you know,

and that's a factor. It makes him a little bit more volatile. But I think Brown, as opposed to Evans, has all these really strong underlying numbers that you want to look for in fantasy. His air yards, he's fifth in the NFL in air yards, which means he's getting targeted down the field.

They're just not linking up quite yet. Those things tend to like, you know, even out. He's going to start catching more of those passes. His 26% target share, which is really strong. That's 11th in the NFL. If you just watch the games, he's been target. He's like, I think in like every game so far, he's just barely missed out on a touchdown.

They just have been really, close to linking up and I think that's going to start to like regress to me and he's going to have more of those plays and so to me Marquis Brown is the perfect kind of like buy low guy because those plays are just so close to happening they just haven't quite happened yet

I still believe in his talent I still believe in Lamar Jackson and that's the big thing is Jackson hasn't like he hasn't been very efficient or effective on deep passes down the field this year and I think that he is a good deep downfield passer, and I think those things are going to link up.

Markey's Brown is going to start scoring in bunches. I think that makes a lot of sense because we were saying how the first four or five weeks is the preseason, and we just have to get over that because there were, I mean, there were what, 11 or 14 padded practices? It's not nearly as much, and the timing of downfield routes is harder. And I think we saw a lot of play-calling tendency changes in the beginning of the season, like the Chief started against the Texans running more than they ever had in like two years. and now the downfield passing was such a priority for the Ravens coming into the season.

They were talking about how Lamar, as a deep passer, is what they feel is the next evolution of him becoming like a Hall of Fame legend that is the key to their offense. Maybe it just took a month. It's okay for sometimes that just took six weeks and the practices in August weren't so fruitful. So I think that what you're saying makes sense. It's not just like, oh, it's been bad, but it'll be better. It'll get better like people have been saying with the Cowboys defense, which probably isn't going to happen.

but this is something where it's actually they're so close and it's happening so much as you're saying I think that's a really good bet Craig, you're saying spicy for us? I think you should trade for David Montgomery on the Bears before it gets popular. I like Montgomery.

I feel like he gets a bad rap. I think he does too. Because he sucked. Well, the last two weeks he kind of looks like he has, right? He's had 27 yards rushing and he had 29 yards rushing the last two weeks each of his last two games.

That'll do it. The good news is, yes, but this is why you trade for him. The good news is he played the bucks and the Colts, who are both top eight run defenses. Other good news is he's on the field all the time since Tariq Cohen got hurt. He plays over 80% of the snaps. He's also, I mean, David Montgomery's whole thing was right, like Tariqin brought him down because he didn't catch passes.

That's not true anymore. He was targeted a career high six times in week four and then saw another career high eight targets last week. He's third among all running backs and targets this year. David Montgomery is tied for third. and RB targets, only behind Kamara and Zeke. The Bears have the third easiest strength of schedule for running backs for the remainder of the season.

He's only the RB 18 right now, but I think you should really reach out and get him if you can. Does the third in targets include Mr. Chubisky sailing the ball over his head as he's running out of bounds, like just running for his life? Sure as hell does. Sure as hell does. Montgomery.

Yeah. No, I think this is actually really smart because it's just where the owner, like the manager for David Montgomery is like, you know what, screw this guy, he sucks. I mean, yeah, he's the RB 18. He's been like fine. And I think you could maybe, like, if you could do Todd Gurley for David Montgomery,

I think you do it. So, yeah. Would you do Gurley for Montgomery? I think I would. I think Craig talked me into it. You know how high I am on Gurley, which is not at all. So, yeah, like, I've got, I can't decide if I have like a, just a bias for Montgomery. Like, I liked him coming out of college.

That can always kind of, like, be the anchor that, that, you know, like, keeps you from being really, really unbiased. You was going to say, can I decide for you? Because you do just like him. I'll decide for you. Yeah, I do just like him.

And when I watch him, I feel like I get the impression from people who talk on Twitter. And this is the exact same discussion we're having about Ronald Jones, by the way. Twitter seems to just hate these guys. Like, fantasy Twitter.

For whatever reason, like with Montgomery, I think people believe he's just like running in mud. They don't see him as a loser. Shocker, Twitter's not a reasonable place. to get your information sometimes. But that's true generally, but there's like people that are very smart and good fantasy analysts

and good evaluators of running backs. And it just makes me... But these hives gather pretty quick in fantasy and sometimes there's... Have you guys watched the social dilemma on Netflix? No. Freaking watch it and they'll never look at your Twitter feed the same way ever again,

I promise you. Poison for the mind. If you use your brain, then you should look at Twitter as the way like a marathon runner looks at cigarettes. Anyway, I'm not even thinking. I just sometimes feel like I'm taking crazy pills with my take on David Montgomery,

which is that he's good. Like I think he's a good player. I think he's elusive. I don't think he looks slow. He was slow in his rookie season. I think he looks more elusive this season, personally. Go ahead. Hit me with a name game. Melvin Gordon.

Montgomery. I'm taking Montgomery. Rahim Moster. Mostert. I'm a monster guy, so I'm going monster too. James Robinson. David Montgomery. Robinson only because they use him just so ridiculously much.

Yeah, I would also go Robinson there. I think people are going to come back. I want to Zygbo and people are back on Jackson, but I think it's going to split up a little bit. Robinson's a very interesting discussion, actually. We should talk about that really quickly. Are you guys buying him? Do you think he's the real deal?

Or do you think, like, at this time next year we'll be talking about, hey, remember James Watson? I think that's more likely. That's going to be so interesting because he has looked so good so far, but it's just, I don't know, man, the whole thing about him being completely, like, no one even really knew about him until like two weeks before the season started. It was just such a weird situation. But that's the same deal with Philip Lindsay. True. And that's, you know, has that worked out? I mean, he had a couple of thousand-yard seasons.

I think you've got to say it worked out for him. Oh, for him, sure, but maybe not like somebody who invested in him in like a dynasty format. But anyway, I like David Montgomery a lot. I think nobody talks about it. He's a Stephen Glansberg of this season. Huge Stephen Glensberg. Let me throw out some tougher names. I'm going to go rapid fire.

I'm just going to do yes or no first thing that comes in my head. Okay, Miles Sanders. Miles Sanders. Daryl Henderson. Montgomery. I think I would, too. James Connor. Montgomery.

Oh. No, but that's it. No, but he hesitated. That's the end of the game. I'm just afraid James Connor's going to get hurt. That's it. Would you take him over David Johnson? What a mean question.

I know. That was directly to Craig. I was like personal. Jeez. Jeez, man. Okay. Anyway, bottom line, I agree with your take, though. I like Montgomery more than I think the consensus.

And I think the idea that he's going to be like a big pass catcher down the stretch is huge for him. He also looks good. If you, like, watch him catch passes, he looks like decent. I don't know if you saw that beautiful foals, like rainbow to him. Like, he's good. Yep. Yeah.

I agree. I agree. Hi Fitz. Some trade bait. What do you got? Well, you like Montgomery because he sucked. You want another guy who sucked? You should trade for her?

Montgomery hasn't sucked. He's been fine. All right. Well, Zach Hertz has sucked. And I think you should trade for Zach Hertz. But he's unambiguously sucked. Here are the yardage totals Zachertz has had for each game this season. 18, 42.

70. 9, 6. That's not good. Six. He hasn't caught a touchdown since week one. He's actually the 20th best fantasy tight end. He's behind Jordan Aikens and Darren Fells. Both tight ends on the Houston Texans whose coach has been fired. He's behind. And obviously the Eagles have sucked at large too. And that's why while Dallas got her, the backup tight end has been out. So you'd think that Earth would be getting even more work now. there is very, it's basically no case that he's been good or should be starting for you. And there's very little hope of it getting better, which is why you should trade for him, because it's a perfect storm for his team to give up on him. Whoever has him in your league is probably sick of him, probably costing him the team.

And it's perfect basically because it comes down to, it can't really get worse for the guy. Because obviously I'm not saying you should pay anything close in a trade value to like top five or whatever, top 10. but if basically the owner, the manager who has Zach Ertz is willing to admit like, you know what, Earths kind of sucks now and you can get any discounted,

any discounted value, I would take him because, yeah, Wentz has sucked. And actually 21 of Ertz's 33 targets have been catchable, according to Pro Football Focus. So he's caught all the stuff

that's been thrown to him. He's not worse. He's not injured. The separation on his routes is exactly the same. His speed is just as fat, like if you look at next gen stuff, it's just as fast.

He's not hurt. there's no injury. It's just, Wence has been kind of terrible. But if you at all think that the Eagles can't possibly be this bad for the rest of the season,

I actually think Ertz could be pretty good because he is another person who's just been kind of close to touchdowns this season, hasn't really gotten them. But he had more catches than any tight end in NFL history through seven seasons.

And if you can get him on the low in this season, I think that he's a really good option. I want you to rapid fire this name game. I think this is great. The Sackerts thing is great. This is exactly what this segment needs.

Well done. Okay. I'm going to hit you with guys. And if they're hurt, you have to factor that in, right? Noah Fant. I was literally knew you were going to say no, a fan.

He's back. I think I would take Noah Fent. Well, no, actually I want Earths because you, ah, fan, even though I'm breaking my rule of you generally want the healthy player always, but Fad.

But you're picking Phant? No, actually, I want Ertz. Oh, okay. Erts? Yeah, because you don't, you don't want the hurt player. As a general. rule, it's usually a mistake.

And then now next you're taking Gisicki? Yeah. Hayden Hurst. Hurst has been upsetting for me. I think I'd go Ertz. Hunter Henry? Hunter Henry, because Herbert looks amazing. That offense is so different than it was three weeks ago.

Johnny Smith. I know he hasn't played in three weeks, but... Ertz. You would go Ertz over Smith? Yeah. Rest the season, yes. I would not. Robert Tonian.

Erts. I think I disagree with all. of these name games. I think I'd rather have all the other. I think I would rather have all the other guys over Earths at this point. This is the perfect Vilo situation because you can't, like Danny was saying,

you literally can't get any lower. Dude hasn't done anything when they have no receivers and Goddard is out. He's done nothing with no receivers and Goddard out. To be clear, I understand that this is almost borderline galaxy brand, but basically this is, you're betting on the nadir of his career

and that he basically was upset with his contract in August and he told, I think Jeff McLean wrote this for ESPN, but basically he was upset with his contract. And I think that he's getting more over it now, but I think that there were some it's not an accident that the chemistry's off. He said that he allowed it

to affect his mental preparation in August and that he's getting over it. And I think that this is, when there's no physical injury and it's really hard to explain why Wents and Ertz went from the best connection on the team to the worst, that's one of the few things I do think can correct in the middle of the season.

So I'm not saying that should trade fans straight up for Earths, but I do think that if the person who has him has picked, for example, all the tight ends who are playing well, like the Jono Smith, the person who has Ertz might have that other tight down in the team. So if they're benching Ertz and they're not even playing him anymore, they might be willing to part him for basically nothing. And I think that that's, that's the thing. It's like if they're still depending on him, well, maybe don't go target him. But if they have other options, they're probably in the back of their mind like, yeah, it's no skin off my ass. I want to get rid of him anyway. And that's

that I would go get. him if that's the case. I like this. Okay. D.K. Hates it. No, I think it's a, I think it's a fun discussion. I just disagree with all the name games. I do think if you can get him for like a back of your roster guy, go for it. But honestly, I liked all those other guys more. Text your buddy and be like, I'll Venmo you $8 for Zach Hertz. Maybe it's. That's collusion, sir. Yeah. Whatever.

My God. Check with your commission. If you allow cash. Collusion is a thing. We take it seriously. God, remember February? I think trading physical items, like, for instance, old decrepit cars is a hilarious thing to do in a fantasy football league. I don't know if you guys remember this, but we talked about this like two years ago. My buddy literally traded a car for a player one time. Did it pay off? Did he win the league? Yeah, how did that go?

I don't even know. I don't think the car ran. It was not a good car, but it was a car. Well, could the player run? I believe it. If I remember correctly, it was Stephen Jackson or Michael Turner? one of those big, yeah.

Oh, God. This is old, old school. We should have a segment of just the grossest fantasy names in retrospect and you just say Michael Turner and you go,

oh, oh, God. Stephen Ridley, oh. Do you guys, have you guys seen what we do in the shadows, the show? I have not.

So there's a character in the show called Colin Robinson and he's what's known as an energy vampire. It's not the same kind of vampire that sucks your blood. It just sucks the life out of you, essentially, boring stuff and

you know just being like the wettest blanket you could imagine in any situation. They should have him talk to people about his fantasy team and just suck the energy out of the room. I was going to say that sounds like the New York Giants. That's my energy vampire. Every time Colin Robinson comes into room, everyone goes ugh. That's what happened when anytime

anyone drafted Stephen Ridley in the last five years, you go ugh, oh, oh. All right, well, speaking of we're going to get into the all cock block team. I don't know if that's speaking of a-huh, but first, today's show is proud to be presented by Fandall Fantasy, where if you have a real-life team that makes you go, ugh, you can pick your own team of players that don't make you make that sound. Because week six of the NFL is here and we are entering our fantasy lineups on Fandall,

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or download the Fandle Fantasy app to play now that is Fandul.com slash ringer fantasy. Fandle, more ways to win. All right, let's get to the all cock blocked team. We were going to call this vultures, guys who get vultured out of touchdowns and opportunities, but we're like, no, like, we're not, that's not really what we're talking about.

When Alvin Kamara gets three touches inside the 10 and Latavius Murray gets the touchdown, it's not a vulture, it's a cock block, let's be real here. So we're basically just rolling through guys who should be playing more, or should be playing less, and we're mad about it. Yeah, they're just trying to Netflix and chill and they're not getting allowed to, you know.

Try to score. These are the players whose coaches are purposely obstructing their opportunity to score. Exactly. All their coaches are like the dad in the teen movie who's like always knocking on the door. What are you guys doing in there? Yeah, but bottom line,

these players need to be playing more. It's ridiculous. Getting sick of it. And to start it off, J.K. Dobbins, top of the list for me. easy, easy, easy choice. I'm starting to get mad. I'm starting to get really, really mad that Jacob Dobbins is not playing more.

Every time he touches the football, he does something really impressive. So I looked up with stats this morning. Among players with 10 plus rushes this year, so basically all applicable running backs, he ranks first in PFF's elusive rating. He's broken nine tackles on 27 touches, which is absurd. First in yards after contact for carry. Get this guy on the field more. It's really starting to piss me off.

It's not necessarily that I hate Gus the bus because Gus Edwards is actually pretty good. But I don't know. They just need to figure out a way to get him more touches. Maybe that means giving Mark Ingram fewer. Right now, Ingram has 45 carries, leads the team. Gus Edwards has 34. And way down at the bottom, Jackie Dobbin, 16 carries.

Just 16. Come on, Harbaugh. You guys know that seen in Dodge Bowl, when Patches a O'ulah, what a name is like, you got to get angry, you got to get mean. That's how I think D.K. feels every time Mark Ingram gets a touch. Not only do I have

fantasy football teams riding on this, but he was one of my favorite running backs in this whole class, and it's just can we not, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Can you not see how good he is? Can you not see the things he's doing on the field when he touches the football? Am I the only one seeing this? Get mad, D.K. You might be. I don't know, D.K. I want to get Mal on the pod. I want to get Mal on the pod

and tell me what, what's what, because she's the we should, Ravens fan, but like, man, alive. get him on the field. D.K's the kindest person ever, and I love what you're mad. It's so refreshing. Okay. Craig.

I love when you're passionate. Antonio Gibson still makes me angry. My man's just trying to get into the end zone and play on third downs, but they're just not letting them. J.D. McKissick, the journeyman, it's just cock blocking them every step of the way. Antonio Gibson is a top 12 pro football focus running back

and a receiving back at that. And yet J.D. McKissick is getting all. the goddamn third down targets. I don't know why. The whole point of having one really good running back is then teams don't know what you're going to do. Oh, when McKissick's in, obviously they're going to throw it. But if you had Gibson in on every down,

they don't know what's going to happen. It's like the whole Josh Jacobs conversation with Jalen Rashard. Let Antonio Gibson play on third down. It will work out. It took seven weeks to go from Antonio Gibson had 34 carries in college total to why isn't he a three down back, you morons? Yes.

Unbelievable. He was also a little receiver. he was a receiver in college. Why isn't he a receiving back? That is, that's a better question. Well, it probably doesn't know the routes. Maybe, I don't know. Run out to the flat and turn around. That's all JD McKissick does. The Routes. This is, all right, mine is not, this is not strictly fantasy, but I feel like it's the elephant in the room of this conversation in football, which is the Drew Brees, Taseem Hill thing. Talk about a love triangle. No one can figure out. What the fuck is going on there? Taseem Hill is the condom on Drew Brees. I think what we'll look.

back at is like here's the thing. It looks so weird in the moment. But really what happens, Drew Brie's turned 40 and they have a quarterback who can throw downfield because he can't anymore. And also he can play tight end and play fullback and play special teams so they like him. But also he can throw deep so Drewbies doesn't have to. And obviously this has been happening for a year or two, but the one that was amazing to me was Monday and at football.

We're recording Tuesday. So this happened last night. And it was third and four. The game was basically on the line. It was toward the end of the game. I don't remember. It was fourth quarter, and they had to tie. It was 27-20 chargers.

And it's third and four. And Lewis Riddick, who's announcing the game, says, all right, this is the game. You have to run your best play. Whatever your best play is, you have to run it right here. And then Steve Levy is like, Drew Brees is on the sideline, Tast some hill.

And I'm like, oh my God. Can you imagine if the Buccaneers, the Buccaneers had like the play of the game and Tom Brady was just not on the field? Well, and the announcers tried to defend it. They're like, man, any time a big play is on the line, Tassum Hill seems to be in the game. I mean, Payton, you know, he must have some package he really likes

because Tatea Hill is just out here in a lot of crucial moments. And then he got it easily and he ran in the touchdown when it should have gone to Camero or someone. But I just, look, the annoying thing when Taysam Hill scores is he's just relevant enough in the NFL that everyone wants him on their team as like, what if he becomes the quarterback and I can play him at tight end? But in reality, all he does is,

vulture from the rest of the Saints. It's amazing. Michael Thomas has been out and no one really has stepped up on New Orleans as a fantasy option, which is annoying. But Taysa Mill has it either. I'm just mad at Taysam Hill in general because he vultures a little bit from everybody. I want to talk about Tays Meryl really quickly because I wrote a quasi-positive article about him prior to the season about kind of like the things he does for that offense. He already came into the year with like his reputation. Again, this is like, my impression based on Twitter, but people think it's a hilarious joke that Sean Payton takes True Breeze off the field and lets him do it. But I will say, Tastom Hill last year and

the year before, his success rate in key situations on third downs, this situation that happened last night. Like, his success rate on those plays was absurd. He was a really, really effective third down player for them. But this year, he's been terrible. Like, every time he touches the ball, it's like bad. It's like a negative EV situation where, you're just like, why are they doing this? Like, what is happening here? And this year it's just been terrible. So I think it was perfect that he came in and scored that touchdown because everyone's

like, okay, this fucking experiment needs to end. You know when we always say this player's better in real life than fantasy? Tacey Mill is the all-time number one in that category. There's never been someone better in real life who's worse in fantasy football than Taysam Hill. Okay. Keeping rolling here. D.K., who's another vulture cockblock person situation you're upset with?

You want some clarity. Well, I'll stick with the rookie running backs because another guy that I really like coming out that the Lions took with, I believe, the 34th overall pick, two picks out of the first round, several picks behind Clyde Edwards-Alair, who's already giving tons and tons of action. What the hell is the Lions plan with Andre Swift? My main question is just like, can we not the Adrian Peterson thing anymore? Like, seriously, first off, what is the point? Secondly, literally what is the point?

what's the point of this? Like we don't want to... Okay, I'm gonna... I'm just stepping away like a little side. He's actually looked pretty good. But, but I don't care because I want freaking Dandre Swift to play. This is pissing me off.

Get in there. Like, let him have more targets. Let him have more carries. Right now he's only played 44% of snap. No, that's his season high snap rate. 44% percent. That's the most he's played in a game is 44% of snaps. His carries in week one, three,

week two, five, week three. week three, goose egg, week four, four carries. I just don't really get what they have to lose by like playing him a little bit more. You fucking almost spent a first round pick on him. They probably have games to lose. No, they're already going to lose. That's my point. I think it's amazing that Bob Quinn hired Matt Patricia and now they're both going to get

fired because Bob Quinn spent two top draft picks on running backs that now have gotten benched for Adrian Peterson and they can't figure out any way to do it. And I think both of them are good. That's what's stupid is I think both those running. backs are decent. I don't think Swift profiles is a big carry guy, to be totally honest. I don't, I don't think that's ever going to happen as he's a 70% of the time he's on the field. Who plays longer, Adrian Peterson or Frank Gore? AP. Like, who retires first? Who has more years than the league? Who retires first? Gore. AP is still good. AP secretly also never wants to

retire. He just doesn't talk about it all the time. But I think Adrian Peterson probably wants to break like Emmett Smith's all-time record. I don't think that he sees, like we always talk about Tom Brady wants to retire when he's 45. LeBron wants to play with Brani Jr. I think AP is very much like I will never stop. Why has everyone stopped believing in me? So tough. Will you think AP retire first or DeAndre Swift?

God damn it. Levy on Bell or Adrian Peterson? Okay, wait. Let's move on here. Another situation I wanted to discuss is just Kenyon Drake, Chase Edmonds. And when I say this, I don't mean that Chase Edmonds should stop Cockbock and Kenyon Drake. I mean, the Cardinals should just call it what it is. and just bench Kenyon Drake and give Chase Edmonds the job.

Because Chase Edmonds has been so much better than Kenyon Drake in every situation. It's not even funny. At this point, there's no excuses left for Drake. It's really simple. Edmonds is catching the passes. He's just better at it. I mean, Drake is averaging a full yard per carry less than he did last year. The issue is he looks indecisive, which is weird because he was on this team last year.

He bounces things to the outside. It just, he doesn't, Chase Simmons is just thinking less, doing more. he should have the job. And I honestly don't think it would be even close if they hadn't given him Kenyon Drake $14 million this year. I don't think it would even be close. But I think that Benchian...

Yeah, it's like the start of the rom-com when the lead character's dating like the asshole and you're like, she's clearly going to end up leaving this guy to go to the other. Yeah, and you're like, just make the decision now. Cliff Kingsbury was hired by the GM, Steve Kime, and then Steve Geim gave Keni Drake $14 million

and he'll make Steve Kine look stupid if they bench him, so they got to wait. But Chechette is way better. I would trade for him in every league where the manager doesn't totally understand. I think Chase Simmons is the starter sooner than later. So there's that. The other person I have to shout out real here is talking.

This isn't quite a cock block because it got hurt. But Damien Harris, he broke his hand. Started on IR and came back, 17 carries for 100 yards. This is going to be the guy. He's going to get cockbacked. This is like the preemptive. Yeah, it's a preemptive. Like I see it happening.

He's the best running back on this team. He needed one game to show. I cannot, like, I will not stop beating this drum. The drum is, I'm going to stop. A pre-cockblock prediction. I will keep coming. They're going to have burke-head out there. His nose is going to get pinched.

He will keep on hunting. Damien Harris is so much better. Sony-Michael is going to definitely be a factor. I want to throw out one here. Alan Robinson is the number 10 wide receiver in fantasy, yet is still somehow getting cock-blocked by his team. This dude. By not getting traded.

I think there's a chance Alan Robinson is the best wide receiver in football. and honestly he might be the best football player ever. He's leading the league in targets and he's third in the league in catches and he's still only the 10th best wide receiver because my poor man can't get a goddamn good football thrown to him. He's so good.

I can't get over how good he is. If you just watch a bear's game, he looks like he's playing with a bunch of high schoolers when people throwing the ball. He's just like jumping over everybody. He looks like enlarged. I don't get it. And I just try.

If you could track balls that were thrown at a receiver but were so poorly thrown that the receiver didn't even try because it was like 20 feet off target. Alan Robinson Yeah, it's like when he gears up to jump and then he's like,

I'm not going to get there anyway. So he doesn't jump. I fell in love with Alan Robinson when Blake Bortles threw him a pass that was 10 feet out of bounds and he just said, and someone was recording it at training camp and he just muttered himself,

throw this shit in bounds, bro. I was like, this guy, This guy must be so upset. But yeah, get Alan Robinson to the quarterback. Okay. DK, do you have someone else who's getting cock-blocked? I already beat you to the future one. Andy Isabella with the Cardinals.

Wow. And this one I'm going to say, it's not even like a bias for me because I wasn't like super high on Isabella coming out. I thought he was very fast and an interesting player, but he wasn't like one of my top receivers coming out last year. But he's kind of like the J.K. Daimus thing. He's like every time he touches the ball, it's a big play. feels like. Who is the cockpock? Is it Christian Kirk? Is it Cliff Kingsbury? Who's the cockpock? Larry Fitz.

Oh, you're trying to old yellow Larry Fitz for Andy Isabella? What are you doing? Larry Fitz is still playing 80 to 95% of snaps per game. Like, I just looked at his we're really shitting on the old people in this episode. You guys, have you guys seen Big Daddy? Remember when Leslie Mann's character dating that old guy? And Adam Sandler's like, he's just so old. He's old balls. Do you think that D.K couldn't record it? Because he's, he's old. Like it was like a technical issue like Pete Carroll and Steve Kerr don't know how to do the recording. He's just so old. Well, I watched, I watched 22 Jump Street the other day and the thing where she's talking to Jonah Hill for dating her roommate. She's like, tell me a story about the war. Or like it sounds like a sprinkler going off for the first time in 30 years. Oh my God. Yeah, man. We're really going after the elderly here. Okay. Yeah.

Well, the elderly. All right. Let me throw some stats at you. real quick before we move on. In his career, Isabella's turned 19 catches into 336 yards and three touchdowns, 17.7 yards per catch. He's tied for fifth this year

with Calvin Ridley, by the way, in fantasy points per snap and his season high snap rate is 42%. He needs more time, he needs more playing time, he needs more touches, needs more targets.

They're just throwing Larry Fitz out there and I love Larry Fitz, but he's just not, I mean, I don't know, man. get Isabella some... Get more chances. It's ridiculous. I don't care about any of Isabella,

even a little bit. And I just... I take it personally that you would be upset with, like, Larry Fitzgerald in any format. So...

Duly noted, Danny. Going to bad beats. Okay, this one's from Sean. Guys, I have the ultimate bad beat for you. In my league, my friend was down 12.9 points with three points still to play. Or sorry,

three players still to play. With three players, yeah. Badgley, the kicker, and the Saints defense, the Keenan Allen injury, and the missed game winning field goal caused him to tie. Literally, tie. And he included- One of the most rare events in fantasy football. And this is a double decimal. So they each had 80.1-8 points, which I have never seen before. And the box score to this is so funny because he wrote about one team. which is called Fresh Prince of E-Lair, which is obviously more fun if it's Lair, but it's E-Lair.

But the other team is also hilarious because they started the Washington defense, which had negative points. And the other team started Kishon Vaughn, who fumbled on a five-yard catch, so he had negative one and a half points. Why do we play fantasy football? Why are we doing this? Why do we do this? I think it's an escapism from an increasingly depressing reality. Is that the communal bonding? I think these guys' team names is really funny because they're so wholesome.

And, like, my league's team names are just like, shithead man, or, like, stupid, like, dumb jokes that people. Like, it's like, it's like post-humor where someone just, like, writes, like, I hate David, which is, like, a guy in our league. And, like, that's his team name. And these are, like, a nice pun about Clyde Edwards-Halear. Yeah, the other one's scoring again, Christian. So wholesome. Is it wholesome, or is it, like, we doing a play on scoring as something else? Oh, scoring again, Christian?

I think it's scoring again. You know what? Either way, I can't believe there was a tie in a league with two decimals. That is absolutely nuts. So is that a bad beat, technically, if there's no loss. Also, you know what's crazy? I'm just looking at this now. If you look at the projections, they were projected to tie. You're right.

Oh, no, that's the finish. You're projecting the both scored. No, that's how it finished. Oh. Because it's rounding up. But it was 80.18. That's not 80. Well, no, it's the projection only was one decimal.

It's the same. It's not the pregame. projection. That's the projection of how it'll finish after the player's finish. Oh, do projections only do single decimal? Apparently. I mean, once you get to the decimals, we're talking about the difference between like 32 inches and 36 inches. Which, hey, for some people, especially getting cocked block, back and matter. Okay, on that note, we're out of here. Thank you, Craig. That was a good one. Thank you, D.K. Thank you to Sean for sending that in.

You can email us at ringer Fantasy Football at gmail.com. Please send those in. We'll see you guys on Friday.