AFC South Breakdown + HYPE Train!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Footballers - AFC South Breakdown + HYPE Train!

Episode Details:

• Title: AFC South Breakdown + HYPE Train!
• Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
• Release Date: August 7, 2018

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Introduction

The episode kicks off with the Fantasy Footballers promoting their Ultimate Draft Kit, essential for preparing listeners for their fantasy football drafts. Andy Holloway and Dede Westbrook from the Jacksonville Jaguars make a brief appearance before the hosts officially welcome listeners to the show. Light-hearted banter ensues among the hosts, setting an engaging and humorous tone for the episode.

Notable Quote:

• Andy Holloway (00:00): “Get the ultimate draft [e-mail]... this is DD Westbrook.”

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HYPE Train Segment

The hosts introduce the "HYPE Train," a segment dedicated to evaluating preseason hype surrounding various NFL players. They discuss the credibility of hype based on sources and tangible performance metrics.

Key Discussions:

1. Melvin Gordon Receiving Ability

   • Jason Moore (06:30): Reports that Chargers' coach Anthony Lynn praised Melvin Gordon's receiving skills.
   • Mike Wright (07:01): Rates the hype as medium, acknowledging Gordon's increased involvement in the passing game but remains cautious.

2. Marlon Mack's 1500-Yard Projection

   • Andy Holloway (07:18): Expresses skepticism about Jim Irsay's optimism regarding Marlon Mack reaching 1500 yards.
   • Consensus (08:44): Hosts agree to "take the under" on Mack's projection.

3. Ryan Grant vs. Dion Kane

   • Jason Moore (09:44): Debates whether to prioritize Ryan Grant over Dion Kane, eventually leaning towards Grant.
   • Mike Wright (10:13): Prefers Eric Ebron over both Grant and Kane for flex options.

4. Jordan Howard's Improving Reception Skills

   • Charles London (10:45): Reports that Jordan Howard is practicing catching extensively.
   • Andy Holloway (11:25): Appreciates Howard's dedication but remains cautious about his performance under game pressure.
   • Consensus (12:08): Predicts potential early-season struggles for Howard.

5. DeSean Jackson's Role in Tampa Bay

   • Mike Wright (14:12): Acknowledges DeSean Jackson's value despite shifting roles.
   • Jason Moore (14:53): Updates Ultimate Draft Kit by removing Jackson as a value based on recent performance and team dynamics.
   • Andy Holloway (14:53): Considers Ryan Grant and Eric Ebron as more reliable options.

6. Cordarrel Patterson's Hype

   • Mike Wright (15:35): Dismisses Patterson's prolonged hype, referring to him as the “Snowpiercer.”
   • Andy Holloway (16:26): Suggests Patterson is only valuable in return yardage leagues or dynasty formats.

7. Sam Darnold as Colts' QB Starter

   • Jason Moore (17:02): Mentions Sam Darnold's fair shot to start Week 1.
   • Consensus (17:08): Hosts support Darnold as the likely starter, expressing some hesitancy due to his inexperience.

8. Darren Sprols' Potential Role

   • Jason Moore (17:38): Questions whether Darren Sprols could secure a significant role.
   • Mike Wright (18:14): Believes Sprols might see sporadic usage but remains doubtful about his fantasy impact.

9. Cortland Sutton's Development

   • Jason Moore (18:39): Discusses observations on Sutton’s athleticism and box-out capabilities.
   • Moderated Discussion: Hosts compare Sutton’s style to basketball rebounding, incorporating humor about sports references.

10. Carry On Johnson vs. Marlon Mack Debate

    • Andy Holloway (19:44): Advises against drafting Carry On Johnson, despite his talent, due to the Lions' offensive uncertainties.
    • Consensus (19:55): Hosts recommend focusing on reliable running backs rather than speculative picks like Johnson.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Wright (15:35): “Cordarrel Patterson has been on the hype train so long, I am going to refer to him as the Snowpiercer.”
• Andy Holloway (10:45): “I love that he's working on it. But catching from the machine is so different than running a route.”

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AFC South Breakdown

The hosts delve into a comprehensive analysis of the AFC South division, discussing each team's strengths, weaknesses, and fantasy football implications.

1. Jacksonville Jaguars

Overview: The Jaguars emphasize a strong running game and solid defense, relying heavily on Leonard Fournette.

Key Points:

• Running Emphasis: Jaguars ran the ball on 47.6% of plays last season, the highest in the NFL (24:58).
• Leonard Fournette: Considered a top-10 running back with minimal injury concerns (24:58).
• Offensive Line Improvements: Signing of Andrew Norwell enhanced protection for both Fournette and QB Blake Bortles (25:56).
• Blake Bortles' Value: Undervalued in fantasy drafts due to the offense's run-first approach and perceptions about his QB skills (26:37).

Wide Receivers:

• Target Pool: Marquis Lee, Dede Westbrook, Dante Moncrief, Keelan Cole, and newly drafted DJ Shark.
• Recommendation: Focus on Dede Westbrook for target potential, with a skeptical view on other WR options (29:53).

Notable Quote:

• Andy Holloway (23:57): “I think Leonard Fournette as a top 10 running back.”

2. Tennessee Titans

Overview: The Titans underwent significant coaching changes with Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur. The return of Dalvin Cook and the introduction of Derrick Henry are focal points.

Key Points:

• Coaching Changes: New head coach and OC bring fresh offensive strategies (31:32).
• Derrick Henry vs. Dion Lewis: Competition between Henry and Lewis may lead to a running back by committee approach (36:14).
• Offensive Line Strength: Ranked fifth by Pro Football Focus, promising better protection for QB Marcus Mariota and the running game (36:24).
• Marcus Mariota: Potentially a second-half fantasy asset due to a tough early schedule (33:39).
• Running Backs Discussion: Concerns about Ronald Henry’s draft value despite high potential (37:40).

Notable Quote:

• Mike Wright (36:14): “I do like Henry. I think he will be a very, very valuable fantasy running back.”

3. Houston Texans

Overview: The Texans boast the dynamic duo of Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, with Lamar Miller as a running back of significant value.

Key Points:

• Deshaun Watson: Highly invested in fantasy due to his high draft position, but concerns about sustainable performance (41:35).
• DeAndre Hopkins: Top-five wide receiver with a commanding target share (46:54).
• Lamar Miller: Despite aging concerns, remains a solid fantasy option due to his usage and offensive line strength (44:20).
• Wide Receiver Depth: Options like Will Fuller and Emmanuel Sanders provide flexibility, though Fuller’s value is debated (47:37).

Notable Quote:

• Andy Holloway (41:37): “Deshaun Watson will 100% be a terrible draft pick in fantasy football this season because of where you're drafting him.”

4. Indianapolis Colts

Overview: The Colts are transitioning with the potential return of Andrew Luck, aiming to revitalize their offense.

Key Points:

• Andrew Luck's Return: Expected to start Week 1, significantly boosting both his value and Ty Hilton's (50:46).
• Ty Hilton vs. Leonard Fournette: Hilton remains a reliable option, especially with Luck’s presence (51:14).
• Run-Heavy Offense Concerns: Past reliance on running limits QB's fantasy value and WR opportunities (52:33).
• Offensive Line Investments: Improved protection enhances overall offensive efficiency (52:33).

Notable Quote:

• Andy Holloway (50:46): “Andrew Luck is supposed to be healthy. There are no restrictions on him in the preseason... I am confident that he is going to start Week one for the Indianapolis Colts.”

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Interview with Dede Westbrook

The episode concludes with an interview featuring Dede Westbrook, a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Key Highlights:

1. Draft Day Experience (59:14):

   • Westbrook shares an emotional moment upon being drafted, expressing feelings of achieving a lifelong dream.
   • Quote (60:04): “I started crying in the backseat of the car... it felt surreal.”

2. Rookie Season Challenges (60:26):

   • Discusses the difficulty of missing games due to injury and the supportive team environment.
   • Highlights the importance of team camaraderie and brotherhood.
   • Quote (60:26): “All those guys uplifted me. They were pretty much there when my surgery happened.”

3. Role in the 2018 Season (61:17):

   • Westbrook emphasizes his big goals for the season and his commitment to contributing significantly to the Jaguars.
   • Quote (62:12): “If it's in God's hand and I stay completely healthy, it's going to be a really big year for both me and the Jaguars.”

Notable Quote:

• Dede Westbrook (60:26): “I have really big goals, you know, and this year... it's going to be a really big year for both me and the Jacksonville Jaguars.”

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Concluding Remarks

The hosts wrap up the AFC South analysis with reflections on draft strategies, emphasizing the importance of value and realistic expectations. They hint at upcoming segments, including a top 10 list and listener league announcements.

Notable Quote:

• Jason Moore (62:58): “Philosophical when you decide between a guy like... it's a philosophical decision.”

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Final Thoughts

This episode provides an in-depth analysis of the AFC South, blending player evaluations with strategic fantasy football insights. The HYPE Train segment offers critical perspectives on preseason buzz, while the divisional breakdown equips listeners with valuable information for their drafts. The interview with Dede Westbrook adds a personal touch, highlighting the human aspects of fantasy football dynamics.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Ultimate Draft Kit: ultimatedraftkit.com
• Draft the Fantasy Footballers: draft.thefantasyfootballers.com
• Follow on Social Media:
  • Twitter: @the_fffballers
  • Instagram: instagram.com/fantasyfootballers

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, foot clan. Before we start today's show, I want to make sure everyone out there is prepared for your fantasy football draft by getting the ultimate draft [e-mail] all the cheat sheets you need, all the coaching changes you want to know about. Everything to catch you up for this year's fantasy football is found in the ultimate draft [e-mail] this is DD Westbrook.

[Dede Westbrook]

Here with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and you're listening to the fantasy Footballers podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from Draft.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome in once again. There you go.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoa. Hey, Mike, you coward.

[Mike Wright]

Bailing out on that already?

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, no. That's a. That's never been an every show thing.

[Mike Wright]

Just for 400 in a row.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, go back.

[Mike Wright]

Jason's face says he agrees with me.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I agree with Mike here, but I'm also an idiot.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, welcome in.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the show.

[Mike Wright]

Hit the Music Again.

[Jason Moore]

Tuesday, August 7, 2018. AFC South. On the show today, a Dee Dee Westbrook interview to end the show. And we'll be climbing in to the epic hype train.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, are we?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, we are. We're.

[Mike Wright]

Tickets.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we got our tickets to the hype train.

[Andy Holloway]

Gonna have to squeeze in.

[Mike Wright]

Got our.

[Andy Holloway]

We're gonna have to get real snug in that.

[Mike Wright]

It's really just one magical dwarf per car, but we're gonna fit three size men in it.

[Jason Moore]

It's a very small train with a very small train whistle. And we'll be talking about all of the hype that's happening during preseason. All the coach speak, all of the players destined to become hall of Famers based on their preseason practice performances.

[Andy Holloway]

Dion Kane, hall of Fame first ballot.

[Jason Moore]

That sounds so close to Dean Cain, former Superman TV Superman.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Who was the Lois Lane on that show?

[Mike Wright]

Terry Hatcher.

[Jason Moore]

Terry Hatcher, that's right.

[Mike Wright]

And then she turned into a desperate housewife.

[Jason Moore]

As one. As they all, as one.

[Mike Wright]

Seems to come at me with my.

[Jason Moore]

Teri Hatcher knowledge, bro from Seinfeld fame. They're real and they're spectacular. Okay, we've gone. Gotten off to.

[Mike Wright]

We've taken the hypes right off the rails.

[Jason Moore]

Andy, Mike and Jason, the fancy footballers, welcome you into another episode of the show. We're here five days a week, and the objective of of this podcast is to get you prepared and ready to dominate in 2018 to win your league. We take a holistic approach to fantasy football, which means knowing not Only you know, not only digging into the statistics and the analytics and giving you accurate rankings, but also how to evaluate trades, how to evaluate the waiver wire, how to play against your teammates, remind you.

[Mike Wright]

That we're playing a game and the game is supposed to be fun.

[Jason Moore]

That too. How to have a great league, how to be a great commissioner, those type of things. So I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're listening. I'm glad you're subscribed. Find us on twitter@the ffballers on Instagram. We are instagram.com fantasy footballers. And Jason mentioned it to start the show ultimate draft kid.com the one stop shop to get you ready for your draft, which are. They're coming soon. They're coming quick. All right. Oh, I also want to remind you, if you, if you want to practice. Okay. You want to practice drafting, which is.

[Andy Holloway]

A super valuable thing to do this time of year. I've always said that if you're not doing mock drafts in preparation before the season, then you are, you are leaving out one of the most valuable assets to you. And you could do [e-mail] fantasy footballers.com.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And we'll give you a grade.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll give you a grade that are.

[Jason Moore]

Based off of our rankings. So you'll get a grade from each of us. It's pretty fun. It's free. Draft the fantasy footballers.com Now, Mike, I see a note here. Or is this from Brooks?

[Mike Wright]

That's a Brooks note.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I just remembered that. Thought we should bring it up. Mike, what happened yesterday? So, I mean, you're a man of the. Of, of the ink.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. So we were combing through the listener league entries. Thank you so much to everyone who over 700. Because by the way, I should say thank you and curse you for making the decision so hard because the entries this year brought it. One fella in particular decided to bring it forever.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Forever.

[Mike Wright]

Because the man put the shield. He put the Fantasy Footballers logo on his forearm in the form of a tattoo. Our first tattoo.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he was super tatted up. Right. His whole. No. Oh, he.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

This is his only visible tattoo.

[Mike Wright]

It's as far as I know. So congratulations, sir.

[Andy Holloway]

You're in the league.

[Mike Wright]

You're in the league. It's. It's a. It's a weird thing to see now. I think it's an honor and still strange at the same time.

[Jason Moore]

This was not a small logo.

[Andy Holloway]

Nope, nope.

[Jason Moore]

This was a very large logo on his forearm. We didn't believe it at first, but then he had the video to prove it. Do we need to give the disclaimer now that, like next year, if we have 20 tattoo emails, we can't guarantee you all a spot, so you tattoo yourself with our logo at your own peril. That's one of the.

[Andy Holloway]

I would just recommend taking it up a notch. Just look, the forearm tattoo.

[Jason Moore]

A forehead will get you in now, Mike, Mike, you trolled him briefly, did you not?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. I let him know we were changing our logo.

[Jason Moore]

Not true. Apparently we're not allowed to now. All right, before we get into some news and notes and the AFC south breakdown, I'm really excited to talk about a ton of the players in the AFC South. But before you do that, our quick question takes the form of the height strain. Here it comes, guys.

[Mike Wright]

Raise your feet.

[Jason Moore]

Let's help fantasy owners dig through the muck and figure out tangible fantasy news tidbit from all of the hype train. So I'm going to bring some hype your way. You guys tell me whether you buy it or whether you just let it. You know, it's just rolling off your back.

[Mike Wright]

I'm sitting high above the mucky muck here.

[Jason Moore]

Anthony Lynn, head coach for the Chargers, raved about Melvin Gordon's receiving ability. Says he's a better receiver than I ever thought he was.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. And honestly, it's. I'm going to give this a medium hype because Melvin Gordon was heavily involved in the passing game. That's the part that takes Melvin Gordon's game to the next level for fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

83 targets, 58 receptions, 58 receptions.

[Jason Moore]

He's a ton.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's just now figuring out, Anthony, Anthony, you were the coach last year. You should have noticed this by now.

[Mike Wright]

You called a lot of passes to him for a guy who you didn't know was a good receiver.

[Jason Moore]

Let's talk about the Colts starting with this one. I figured it would come up at some point. Jim Ursay said he could see Marlon Mack approaching 1500 yards.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, so they're here. Here's where the source. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. The source is what matters so much on when we're looking at hype off season news, who's saying it? Is this a beat reporter that is often known to both be positive and negative about a team? Is this one of those reporters that basically, for all intents and purposes, works for the team, has a connection with them, and everything's always rosy? Is this a coach? Is this the player himself, or is It Jim Irsay, he's in his own place. He. The hype around Andrew Luck last season was all positive from Jim Irsay.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So yeah, you cannot look, I like Marlon Mack. I definitely believe that he is the best running back on that roster. That is my firm stance. I do not think he will approach 1500 yards. And I take this news as just fluff.

[Mike Wright]

I'll take the under.

[Jason Moore]

I'll take the under as well. Peter King reported yesterday that six round wide receiver Dion Kane has been the big star of Colts training camp. And then this morning Colts head coach Frank Reich said that Ty Hilton and Ryan Grant free agent acquisition. The wide receiver that was almost signed by Buffalo and ended up signed by the Colts.

[Mike Wright]

Baltimore.

[Jason Moore]

Did I just say Buffalo? Baltimore. He said that they have really separated themselves from the other wide receivers.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'll listen to the coach here.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And Ryan Grant, they invested money in him. Not Baltimore money, but money. And Ryan Grant is a capable wideout. I do think he has some value. I know that we've, we've looked at the historical data on Andrew Luck and the wide receiver too. But it's not a monstrous sample size in his career with fair with great players. So especially with Ty Hilton being a, you know, a big play guy, I think Ryan Grant has an opportunity. He'd be somebody I'd be willing to stream this year if, if Andrew Luck.

[Mike Wright]

Is helping, it's certainly possible. The problem for Ryan Grant is that Andrew Luck can get things going with Jack Doyle and they brought in pass catching tight end Eric Ebron into the team. That is trouble.

[Andy Holloway]

And you have 1500 yard Marla Mack who could catch the ball as well.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there's so many yards to go around. Seven, 8,000 yards receiving, I'm sure. All right, so you'd take Ryan Grant over DEON Cain?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, 100%.

[Mike Wright]

Dion Kane is a darling of draft Twitter over the off season. I think he is a capable and good player, but he's still a six round pick. He's got a long way to go.

[Jason Moore]

Would you take Ryan Grant or Eric Ebron as a flex option?

[Mike Wright]

Probably Eric Ebron flex.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think Eric Ebron as well.

[Jason Moore]

All right, what about this news? Bears running backs coach Charles London says that Jordan Howard catches two to 300 balls a day after practice. Plus during special teams.

[Mike Wright]

I'll take the under.

[Jason Moore]

The Bears are very, very. They're making a concerted effort to hype up Jordan Howard's ability to catch the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

This, this is great news. This is the news you look for. This Is a coach not saying, I think he's been good? He's just saying after practice. He has been catching two to 300 balls. He's getting the, you know, the. The catching machine. And, you know, we've seen the videos of it where he's just catching a ball, ball, ball, catch, catch, catch. They change his hand position in catching. So is he going to be good.

[Jason Moore]

At it all behind the back catches?

[Andy Holloway]

Not necessarily, but if you want to get good at something. I love hearing that a player is working this hard on the clear hole in his game.

[Jason Moore]

I like that shaq never took two to 300 free throws at the end of practice. I know that.

[Mike Wright]

I was just going to say, I like that he's working on it. Strike that. I love that he's working on it. But catching from the machine is so different than running a route in. In real life, knowing that someone's bearing down on you gonna blow you up.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, you know this.

[Jason Moore]

You know, it's just a mental hurdle.

[Andy Holloway]

With all the work.

[Mike Wright]

It's the same for Shaq. It's a perfect example. Every coach said in practice they would watch Shaq drain free throw after free throw, but when the lights came on, he just couldn't do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And without a doubt, week one, the first target that goes to Jordan Howard is getting bobbled and intercepted.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no. Don't you do that to him.

[Andy Holloway]

There's just no way with all that pressure now, that first target is going.

[Jason Moore]

To be like, right off the chest.

[Mike Wright]

Nine route. We first play from snap or first snap, they need to run Jordan Howard on a 9 route from the slot. Just do it. Get it out of the way.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Do you believe that Jordan Howard will improve his reception?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I do believe that.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Tampa bay talking about DeSean Jackson, that he's been working in the slot. Why is this relevant? Well, last year's rookie wide receiver, Chris Godwin has established himself on the outside opposite Mike Evans. And here we have desean Jackson now potentially competing for snaps in the slot, moving inside at times. Adam Humphries is there. They have a pair of great tight ends in O.J. howard, Cameron Brait. Does this decrease your excitement for Desean Jackson? This bit of news?

[Andy Holloway]

It does for me. Not because I think he's not going to be great in the slot. That's a great location. But I believe the reason they're moving him to the slot is because Chris Godwin needs to be more involved. This will be desean Jackson's last year in Tampa Bay. Chris Godwin is the future there. Matt Harmon from Reception Perception, which you can, you know, you can view those reception perception inside the Ultimate Draft Kit. He was a big fan of Chris Godwin last year as a prospect. Just absolutely great at the contested catch. And so, yeah, this is the buck saying we've got to get him on the field. Let's move to Sean Jackson to the slot.

[Jason Moore]

One of the things from our ultimate draft kit that we mentioned is we update it frequently and that includes the sleepers, breakouts, busts and values which got a complete overhaul yesterday. We pulled some people out. Desean Jackson. We took this news combined with other bits of news that have come along about Chris Godwin, the Jameis Winston suspension, those type of things. DeSean Jackson is no longer a value in the Ultimate Draft Kit. There are a number of new names in there that you can check out.

[Mike Wright]

I will say it's DeSean Jackson from the slot is actually appealing to me. I agree that I think it was the right move for us to move him out of the values. Tampa Bay. I'm looking atsharpfootball stats.com and he has charted out Tampa Bay 62% of the time. They went three wide receivers, which is in the top half of the league. So we know that more and more and more 3 wide is becoming the go to formation. So he will be even if Chris Godwin takes the job on the outside, Djax is going to be out there a lot and then he's going to be matched up against an inferior corner with his speed. So it's still interesting to me.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I had to turn it back on for this one. The Providence Journal's Mark Daniels is writing that Cordarrel Patterson has been turning heads as a receiver during camp. Now, for those of you that do not know, Patterson was signed by the New England Patriots, traded for by the New England Patriots this past offseason. I want people to understand the turnover that has happened in New England at the wide receiver position. Brandon Cooks gone. He's gone. He's no longer there. Julian Edelman. Spencer for four games to start the year. Malcolm Mitchell has now been released from the team.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

Jordan Matthews gone.

[Andy Holloway]

Gone.

[Jason Moore]

So there is the potential for some gadgetry with Patterson. What do you guys do by any of this hype? Because I think that of all the hype players in the NFL, Patterson's had his day. Yeah, on the hype train. He wrote it around for two years.

[Mike Wright]

If more than two.

[Andy Holloway]

The only way that Corderell Patterson will be relevant in fantasy leagues more than Likely is if you're in a return yardage league, they'll use him in special teams. But I will say this like I have him in our dynasty league and you know, I'm flaunting this news to these guys. Yes, I Cordurrell Patterson is an excellent running back and they should use him that way. And I wouldn't doubt if, if they get him, you know, five or six carries a game.

[Mike Wright]

Corderell Patterson has been on the hype train so long, I am going to refer to him as the Snowpiercer because that's his entire existence.

[Jason Moore]

He's never lived anywhere else.

[Mike Wright]

He has only lived on the train and it's only to escape from the outside world.

[Jason Moore]

I kind of like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's a good one.

[Jason Moore]

He will have probably die on that train.

[Mike Wright]

He will. He will have some big plays. And I'm with Jason. If he's on your dynasty waiver wire, certainly you should have scooped him up as soon as he went to the Patriots. But I'm not expecting big things.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Adam Schefter reported the number three overall pick, Sam Darnold, quarterback, has a very fair shot to be the week one starter.

[Mike Wright]

He is the one QB I thought would for sure start week one.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And you know, for somebody that we. I'm a fan of Robbie Anderson. I actually, it gives me more hesitancy about Robbie Anderson simply because there's going to be growing pains with Sam Darnold. Maybe he doesn't take as many chances. Josh McCown is a gunslinger and threw it up for Robbie Anderson in a lot of circumstances that, you know, Sam Darnold may do that.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

You know, Robbie Anderson has a way of getting open, but it gives me slightly less confidence because we haven't seen it before.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

The Athletics, the Athletic reported that Darren Sprols could have a quote, real role on the offense this season. One of the best things as a player is to have a role on the offense if you're on a team. Darren Sprols, though, for fantasy guys, we don't talk about him. We talk about Corey Clement, J. Ajayi, we talk about the other offensive weapons there. But Darren Sprouls I think we think of as an afterthought, a little used player. Do you think he could have more of a role? Is there a chance that he's going to be added on fantasy rosters at some point during the season?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I think there's a chance he will be added because he'll have a big game or two, but he's going to be more of a thorn in the side of the Corey Clement truthers than anything.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. I did drop him in my Dynasty grosser last week. He was picked up so speculative ads. All right. There's been a lot of talk about Cortland Sutton, wide receiver for the Denver Broncos.

[Mike Wright]

Gonna be a beast.

[Jason Moore]

I heard an interview with demarius Thomas talking about how impressed he is with Cortland Sutton, how Sutton goes up like he's getting a rebound in the NBA and can box out and go get the ball and runs good rounds.

[Mike Wright]

I want to just warn the show we have hit two basketball references.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

So we need to be careful. If we go over three.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I'm pretty sure the table explodes.

[Jason Moore]

Shaq so far. And then we'll go with what Charles Barkley here on the rebounding.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, come on.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Be careful.

[Jason Moore]

Did Jason just change our news report?

[Andy Holloway]

I was really hoping I could.

[Jason Moore]

The last bit of hype.

[Andy Holloway]

I could hide this one.

[Mike Wright]

Jason has taken the font size down to nearly impossible to read and also changed the font color to a near impossible to read gray.

[Andy Holloway]

I couldn't delete it.

[Jason Moore]

Why don't you read it in the voice that you would you would prefer?

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so this one is out there. The lion, second round running back Carry On Johnson. He's shown well in past protection through training camp.

[Mike Wright]

So next, moving on.

[Andy Holloway]

Next bit of news, do not draft Carry On Johnson in your mock drafts.

[Mike Wright]

If Carry on is showing well in past protection, that is humongous dude for getting him on the field.

[Andy Holloway]

The reality is he is so far and away their best running back and he's talented in all facets of the game that he's going to win out there. The issue is the Lions. The issue is they've not been a quality running team in a long time. Their offensive line is good on paper but has not yet been seen in reality.

[Jason Moore]

The offensive line.

[Mike Wright]

Are you anti selling right now?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I'm just, I'm saying that Carry On Johnson is great. The issue you have to worry about is the Lions offense as a whole, their ability to run the ball. But I think he's going to succeed. I mean, obviously I think that and.

[Jason Moore]

The time, the biggest time there is to be startable. Startable, right.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, we've seen, we've seen players do it early, Dalvin Cook last season and we've seen players take some time. Alvin Camara took a few weeks. Right. We thought the depth chart looked murky for Alvin Camara last season.

[Andy Holloway]

Most people that, you know, finished the year with Alvin Camara. They scooped him off of waivers in week three.

[Jason Moore]

All right, we've got to get into our divisional breakdown. Before we do that, I want to thank today's sponsor. You've heard of them. We love them. It's Casper. Casper is a sleep brand that continues to revolutionize its line of products to create an exceptionally comfortable sleep experience one night at a time. I've received a Casper mattress a couple years ago. They're great. They have three models. The original Casper the Wave. The essential Casper mattresses are perfectly designed to soothe and cradle your natural geometry. Isn't that a nice way to put it, Jason?

[Andy Holloway]

That's very nice.

[Jason Moore]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

Double the watches.

[Mike Wright]

And in the past year, they've not only introduced a ton of new watch collections for both men and women, but they've expanded into sunglasses and fashion forward bracelets. I have the blue Brown from the 40 series and this thing is a delight. I look dapper. Yeah, I look.

[Jason Moore]

I hate to admit it. I hate to admit it.

[Mike Wright]

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[Andy Holloway]

Let's get divisional.

[Jason Moore]

All right, it's AFC south breakdown time, which means we're going to we're going to look at a division that I think is one of the most competitive in the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

Turned around.

[Jason Moore]

Jacksonville 10 and 6 last year. Tennessee 9 and 7. The Texans obviously lost to Sean Watson during the year 4 and 12. The Colts without Andrew Luck, 4 and 12. But I'm excited to talk about this division and what's going to happen and all of the potential fantasy values that exist. Let's kick it off.

[Andy Holloway]

Jaguars.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Let's talk about the Jags. I think the one thing, there's lots to talk about in Jacksonville. I know there's a lot of question marks around the pass catchers and the wide receiving core. But let's bring this up. The Jags ran the ball on 47.6% of all their plays last year. That is the highest total in the NFL. More than the Dallas Cowboys, more than the Bills, more than the Panthers, more than the Vikings. All teams that we associate with running the ball. The Jags did it the most and it's exactly what Tom Coughlin wanted. They wanted to take pressure off of Blake Bortles. They wanted to. They invested a very high draft pick in Leonard Fournette and they committed to the run and it led them to a wonderful season. They're a running and defense team. So that brings question marks forward when it comes to fantasy value. Right. I don't think anybody here is questioning the value of Leonard Fournette. I think we all believe in Leonard Fournette as a top 10 running back. Am I right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, 100%. The only worries with Leonard Fournette has been his injury history. But even, you know, I think sometimes that's overblown because his injury history has caused him to miss a game or two. You know, here and there is not something where he's, you know, had to miss an entire season. And so I, you know, they're going to run the ball. This is what they found success with last year. And last year their strength of schedule against the run was one of the hardest in the league. They had the 31st, easiest schedule against the 31st.

[Jason Moore]

I'm even more confused.

[Andy Holloway]

So, I mean, and this year it gets a lot easier.

[Jason Moore]

They also improved their offensive line. I want to throw that in there. They signed the biggest catch of the offensive line during the off season, guard Andrew Norwell out of Carolina, and that's huge. And they were a middle of the road ranked offensive line last year and they've solidified that with the best offensive guard in the game. Arguably.

[Andy Holloway]

Now they have, in theory, an easy schedule this year coming up, they have the number one strength of schedule against the pass. This is a team that should be winning and their formula is clear defense and running the ball. Those are reasons. I mean, that whole package, along with the amount of joy that people get in making fun of Blake the snake.

[Jason Moore]

Are you waiting for it? I was waiting. Sorry.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, Blake Bortles is always, you know, come under. Come under fire for not being a good quarterback, but for fantasy, he's being completely overlooked right now to ridiculous degrees.

[Jason Moore]

Wow. That's. That's not. We haven't talked about him.

[Andy Holloway]

That's why I want to bring up.

[Jason Moore]

You've not brought him up now. Is that because they throw the ball the least in the league?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, they did last year. It's. But that is part of it. That's what I'm saying. They are a rushing first team with defense and then they don't think. You don't think Blake Bortles is a good quarterback for those reasons combined. Blake Bortles is going not late, he's going undrafted. He, I mean, he is not drafted in almost every single league. Unless you're in a multiple quarterback or a best ball league where you're going, you know, 18 rounds, he doesn't come off the board. And what's crazy is the last three years he has averaged the quarterback eight. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I want to throw out some quarterbacks here.

[Andy Holloway]

The worst quarterback was last year when he was the quarterback 13.

[Mike Wright]

These are quarterbacks who finished worse than Blake Bortles last year. Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Marcus Mariota, Derek Carr, Jameis Winston, Eli Manning. I can keep going because he was quarterback 13. And that was coming off of the heels of two top 10 finishes.

[Jason Moore]

So, Mike, let me ask you this question. The offensive lines improve, that's going to help Blake Bortles as much as it'll help Leonard Fournette. Right. You get time in the pocket, you get time to make your reads. He doesn't have Allen Robinson. Allen Robinson left for Chicago. His wide receiving core is.

[Mike Wright]

Alan Hearn's gone as well.

[Jason Moore]

Alan Hearn's gone as well. I look at his wide receiver core and I say you've got a lot of talent.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

He also has weapons out of the backfield. Corey Grant, I mean, and they added Austin Severian Jenkins, tight end this off season. So I think it's an offense that for a quarterback like Blake Bortles, there's not one wide receiver that is going to demand the ball. Right. You have Marquis Lee, Dede Westbrook, who was a Rookie last year, Dante Moncrief, the free agent signing Keelan Cole, the emerging rookie from last year. And then they drafted DJ Shark. Shark, you don't have.

[Mike Wright]

I wish it was Shark.

[Andy Holloway]

That'd be awesome.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you don't wish my name was Shark.

[Jason Moore]

You don't have somebody that's going to be the des brine of the offense that says, give me the ball in every play, put pressure on me. It's going to be an as it comes to you situation for Bortles, which I think helps him. Yeah, I was gonna say that's not fair. Find the open man. Don't force the ball someplace.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's better for Bortles than it is for these fantasy wide receivers. Marquis Lee was, was fine once Marquis Lee really took over this past season, he was, he was definitely usable for fantasy football. But you take a look at his efficiencies and Matt Harmon's charting him out on reception perception. He's the only fella in the draft kit who scores negatively or under the league average on everything from how he performs against man coverage, press coverage, zone coverage. It's. It's not pretty. But the Jaguars decided Marquis Lee was their guy. They let everyone else go and they gave him the money. As well as Dante Moncrief, the hype train has Dede Westbrook having a spectacular training camp as well.

[Andy Holloway]

It's.

[Mike Wright]

It's really tough here when you're, when you're picking who you want to take a shot with it at the Jaguars wide receiver position. I.

[Jason Moore]

But here's the thing.

[Mike Wright]

I lean that if I'm going with anyone from this group, I'm going to go with Dede. I'm going to take the guy who's going to get targets.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the way I lean as well. But in truth, I don't think I'm going to be grabbing any of the wide receivers. If I'm grabbing a pass catching option, it might be Austin Seferrian Jenkins really late in hopes that he becomes red zone weapon. Yeah, red zone weapon. And one of the more targeted tight ends in the league.

[Jason Moore]

I'm taking a shot with somebody. Marquis Lee's going in the 11th round. Dede Westbrook's going in the 14th round. Dante Moncrief is undrafted. Keelan Cole is undrafted. I'm going to take shot with somebody.

[Andy Holloway]

Keelan Cole.

[Jason Moore]

No, I think, I think Dede is the right pick. I think in the 14th round, last pick. Let's go see what the role and the target share is in week one and Two with. I think you could take any of them. Take your favorite one if you like Marquis Lee, if you like the signing of Dante Moncrief. I would just take a shot with somebody because you're going to potentially see something in week one. What if one of these guys comes out and gets eight targets? 10 targets.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know. I. The investment is nothing. You know what I mean?

[Mike Wright]

And I'm. I believe that the most likely scenario for a guy getting eight or ten. So let's see.

[Jason Moore]

Would you rather have the Sean Jackson or would you rather have take a shot on a Jacksonville whiteout with the potential of being in the number one?

[Andy Holloway]

I would rather do the Jacksonville route. I would rather go take a Dee Dee.

[Mike Wright]

I'd go DJax.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. What about like Paul Richardson? Would you rather have Richardson or Dee Dee?

[Mike Wright]

I'd go Richardson.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Christian Kirk or one of those. Jacksonville.

[Mike Wright]

Jacksonville. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

I figured that that much. So is there anything else you want to talk about with Jacksonville or should we move it on down the line?

[Mike Wright]

Let's move it on.

[Andy Holloway]

Titans.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I feel like we've talked about the Titans an awful lot this offseason. Yeah, Jason, that tends to happen when you have head coaching and offensive coordinator changes. And that's what Tennessee has this offseason. That's why the Bears have been talked about so much as well. New head coach Mike Vrabel and the new offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur coming over from Los Angeles and you know the wonders that he did on that offense with the Rams. Mike is smirking. I was.

[Mike Wright]

Because when you were said he coming over from I was imagining you saying Average Joe Jim because His name is LaFleur. That's a dodgeball reference.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm so disappointed in you right now. I am all about the dodgeball life. I just missed the reference.

[Mike Wright]

All right. That's why I smirked to myself.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And did not bring it up because I knew it wouldn't land.

[Jason Moore]

Nailed it. Marcus Mariota and company. The Titans made the playoffs last year. That was the only time we had the opportunity of seeing Corey Davis perform up to his pedigree. You know, two touchdowns, 98 yards. Did it against Malcolm Butler.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

Now Corey Davis has had the opportunity to build a rapport with Marcus Mariota in camp. Corey Davis is one of my favorite players for a breakout campaign this season. Do you guys have any news on Rashard Matthews thus far?

[Andy Holloway]

No. There's no details on exactly what's going on that I've seen yet. We know that he is on the pup. He hasn't been involved in the off season program, so he's dealing with some injury that is, that is lingering, but we don't have the details on it. So right now he's dropping in drafts.

[Jason Moore]

He had a pretty significant decline last year too. I mean you went from 65 receptions to 53, 945 yards to 795 yards and the big one, nine touchdowns, down to four last season for Rashad Matthews. I've always looked at him as a very talented receiver, but maybe not one that's built to be your number one. It's going to be up to Corey Davis to take that job and maybe you could argue Delaney Walker's the number one in that offense anyway.

[Andy Holloway]

I think you would. You also have to keep in mind I believe Rashad Matthews missed a couple games last season. So some of that decline wasn't necessarily, you know, him just dropping off, but him having lower counting stats. I've talked a lot about Mark Smariota and the offense that I really like. I like that the system is changing. The opportunity for more passing volume is going to come with Marcus Mariota. If he is healthy, which he clearly wasn't last season, he's going to be running the ball. That's a nice baseline. All that being said, I had talked in the studio with the guys about maybe I'm going to make Marcus Mariota my guy, but I took that away solely because like he's not going to be because of the opening schedule. It's something you need to be aware of when it comes to the Titans. The Titans open the year on the road in Miami. That's absolutely free. So if you need him for week one, I think they'll be okay. But then the four out of their next five games to start the season are really tough defenses. Houston, assuming J.J. watt is back, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, then they get Buffalo and then Baltimore followed by the Chargers. So, and then they're bye week. So I think that Tennessee is going to be a second half of the year team that I really like, but in drafts I am paying attention to that because I, I care much more in draft season about the, you know, those opening five or six weeks. It provides so much value for being able to make moves for, for trades for, you know, we see this year after year after year the guys who pop early in the season, they get credit the whole season long when, when they shouldn't. And you know, I don't think you're going to necessarily get that from the Titans.

[Jason Moore]

Here's something interesting. I Want to bring up, when you look at electric offenses and the way that the Rams transformed their offense last year, you saw a lot of yard after the catch from the running back position. This is something New Orleans led the league in last year. They had almost 1200 yards after the catch from the running back position. Tennessee was basically dead last in the league. Dallas, thanks DeMarco. Dallas was actually last, but yes, DeMarco Murray specifically. And then Derrick Henry, not their expertise. Right. So you bring in Deion Lewis, who was dominant in this fashion last year for New England and you hope that brings more, I guess, a different element to the offense that defenses have to worry about. We've talked about Dion Lewis and Derrick Henry, but who do you want to take the shot on this year? Mike, are you still firmly in the Derrick Henry camp?

[Mike Wright]

So it's when you're talking about the quickness and the thickness. Yes, I do want to bring up the offensive line for Tennessee, which is a beastly unit.

[Jason Moore]

Now, the quickness and the thickness. Just to be clear, that is. That's the 2016 Mike. Right. And then the 2017 Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

That's. That's the thickness and the slowness. They're. They're both. Okay, yeah, they're both slow. But the. According to Pro Football Focus, they finished last year as the fifth best offensive line. Going into this season, they are ranked as the fifth best offensive line. The downfall of the Titans, I believe last year was not only the coaching and the play calling, but DeMarco Murray's hamstring he couldn't get right and the coaches wouldn't make the switch to Derek Henry. Now is that on Derek Henry that he couldn't earn the playtime over an injured demarco Murray? That remains to be seen. I do like Henry. I think he will be a very, very valuable fantasy running back. The problem is I have him as a low end running back too and he's going at the back of the third round according to Fantasy Football Calculator, as the 18th running back off the board, which is according to my projections would be a negative return on your draft value, which is very unfortunate because I think Henry's going to be good. I think Dion Lewis is going to be good. They. They will hamper each other though. They. This is not a running back one. I don't think someone's going to emerge. I think it's going to be a running back by committee the entire time. And for all the people who. Dion Lewis, he's a, he's a killer value right now. Or whatever they believe in the fifth round. He's only that value if he ends up getting more goal line carries than you believe that he will get or that I believe he will get. They got to go with Henry when it comes to the goal line.

[Jason Moore]

The DeMarco Murray, Derek Henry situation we saw last year serves as an example to me of what can happen when it comes to loyalty to a player. We talked yesterday about Miami, Kenyon Drake, Frank Gore. You have guaranteed workload for certain players even when they don't produce at the same efficiency levels. Murray was not efficient last year, but saw the field frequently. That's the concern with those situations. Jason, is there anybody else you want to throw in there? Are you. Are you ready to talk about the.

[Mike Wright]

Only got to talk Walker for at least a second. I know we mentioned his name third in the league.

[Jason Moore]

I believe in total yardage of the tight end position.

[Mike Wright]

But Delaney Walker is not usually somebody that I have interest in because he. He ends up as one of those fifth, sixth round guys, you know where right in that Greg Olson he's the.

[Andy Holloway]

Last few years he's been like the fourth titan off the board.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. But this year middle of the seventh according to fantasy football calculator might even be able to get him a little bit later and he's just so reliable. They extended his contract for two year deal.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And what we kind of thought about Walker was this was this was it. There was going to be a transition to John who Smith, the rookie tight end from. From last year. But it's still Delaney Walker and I think he still has juice left and is still the number one or at worst the number two target on the team.

[Jason Moore]

My, my comparison for Delaney Walker yesterday was to a club sandwich which is perfect because it's never the best thing on the menu but it always gets the job done. He's the new Jason Whitten of the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

It's really, really hard to mess up a club sandwich.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I could do it.

[Andy Holloway]

The only other guy I would mention here as a sleeper deeper league's best ball pick Taywan Taylor is a good wide receiver and I think that the system that's going to be implemented here is going to see a lot more three wide receiver sets. Matthews isn't right and if Matthews isn't right, you know I think Tawan Taylor is one of those names wide receiver, deeply sleeper. Yes. A deep league sleeper where if you're. If you're really wanting to dig deep he's someone that you might not be aware of yet who could pop this season.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Texans.

[Jason Moore]

Let's talk about the Texans last year. We got to observe the magic that was Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins. The hype is real for these two heading into 2018. And this is a team that could quickly turn around that 412 record with the return of their quarterback and J.J. watt and J.J. watt and company. It was more than J.J. that was hurt last year. Merciless was hurt as well. So let's talk about it. This offense last year, it's hard to kind of take end of your stats and appropriate it the same way. It's difficult to do that with Green Bay and your expectation for this year. But deshaun Watson, I think the message we're sending to fantasy owners is have a reasonable expectation for desean Watson. I think he's a good quarterback. I think he's a good NFL quarterback. I think he had unsustainable touchdown efficiency last year and it's going to be an impossibility for that to repeat over the course of his career. But I still think you're going to get games that are weak, winning league, you know, defining games. But he's Sean Watson, he's the second.

[Mike Wright]

Quarterback off the board.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the biggest.

[Mike Wright]

Only Aaron Rodgers being drafted ahead of him at the position, meaning a high draft capital investment into desean Watson. A high investment into a position that is easily replaceable in most leagues. That that's my problem with Watson. If he was going off the board, say right around where he was like the sixth, if where Cam Newton is going, then I would say, okay, I generally still wait even longer on quarterback. But if people are wanting to go in on Watson at that value, I'm not going to blame you or say you're making a terrible move by doing it.

[Andy Holloway]

I said this early in the off season, but we have so many, you know, people coming in August for the first time and they might not have heard this. I have the Sean Watson as my number four quarterback. That's really, really good. And so I am not anti Desean Watson, but Desean Watson will 100% be a terrible draft pick in fantasy football this season because of where you're drafting him. He is being drafted right now at his ceiling. He's being drafted right now to where if he comes in and has that Aaron Rodgers year, then it won't be a problem. But you're still not going to actually be getting value at that point. For him being the second quarterback taken off the board and what he did was completely Unsustainable. His touchdown rate, he's going to be fine because he, he's going to run the ball and he'll have that baseline.

[Jason Moore]

We should give him credit for that too. Like unsustainable, but absolutely incredible. Like an amazing player.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's why I led with the fact that he's my number four quarterback. I would love to have DeSean Watson on my team, but give me the.

[Jason Moore]

Odds that he is better than Cam Newton fantasy wise. What? I mean, how would you even handicap that? With the value difference?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean I would say at the end of the year, 70% chance Cam has a better season than 70%. Yeah. I've got Cam as my number three quarterback.

[Jason Moore]

There you go. So value, it's all about value. And when you look at the offensive line, we know how atrocious that the Seahawks were. Right. They, I believe they gave up pressure on the quarterback 25% of plays, which was far and away the worst in the league. The second worst was Houston. So that's going to be something that. Yes, drawn Watson, just like Russell Wilson has the agility and ability to get out of the pocket and make plays with his legs and get himself time. Still not something I want my quarterback to have to do is, you know, last season they ended up 32nd in the league by PFF's ranking. This season going into 2018, they're still ranked 32nd in the league. This is a problem.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And it's a problem also for relying on anybody in the running game because Devonta Deonta Foreman is hurt. Alpha Blue is still there and Lamar Miller is still slow.

[Mike Wright]

Lamar Miller is a tremendous value in fantasy football right now. Sorry, not sorry. I've. I've had to move on from my off season. Early hopes on Deonta Foreman. Lamar Miller is currently going as the 22nd running back. He is the starting running back for the Texans as of right now. His quarterback, it should be healthy. We know that there are. When a quarterback is very mobile, it is very positive for a running back. And when Deshaun Watson was on his hot streak, Lamar Miller was a running back. One for fantasy. It's hard to remember that he's being drafted in the back of the fourth round and if you're going, if you're going to start your draft with a couple wide receivers, it's going to feel gross. It's not going to feel safe. But you should pick up Lamar Miller.

[Andy Holloway]

He is only 26 years old and even though he, you know, he feels like he's 32, watching runs like.

[Mike Wright]

Runs like a 36 year old.

[Jason Moore]

He's also not 26. So that's really the thing. Is he not? No, he's not.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, are we. Do we have a J.

[Jason Moore]

Aging so he's 27 years old.

[Mike Wright]

Hold on, hold on.

[Andy Holloway]

I was off one. I apologize.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I was just saying the biggest.

[Andy Holloway]

Thing about my point is he's not a 30 year old running back. That's hit that age gap where it's like, look, he could just be done. 27 is still in that, you know, age for a running back where you're, you're at the beginning of the, of the downturn, but you're still a valuable fantasy athlete.

[Jason Moore]

He's just had those declining numbers for several years in a row. He was. He's been in the league. This will be his seventh full season. He's got about 1200 carries under his belt. But the last few years he went from 5.1 to 4.5 to 4.0 to 3.7. Declining yards per carry.

[Mike Wright]

Ouch.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, let's move on.

[Andy Holloway]

Colts, let's go back Texans.

[Mike Wright]

We haven't even talked about the wide receivers or the tight end position. So let's make the tight end very fast. Steven Anderson had some relevance, had some big games this past year. And C.J. fedorowicz, the mad Hatter, the tight end for the Texans this last year. He has had to retire from concussions. Stephen Anderson, a hyper, athletic.

[Jason Moore]

Not sure. He has a monstrous role.

[Andy Holloway]

I was gonna say that's ex.

[Mike Wright]

Is he worth flying? Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

He's worth a dynasty pickup for sure.

[Mike Wright]

So I think we don't have to talk about DeAndre Hopkins very long on this segment. He's a locked and loaded top five wide receiver. I see some target regression because it was absolutely ridiculous. He had a command at a 33% target share, which is.

[Andy Holloway]

That's outlandish.

[Mike Wright]

That's number one. And number two, according to my stats, was AJ Green at 28%. There's a 5% difference between one and two. Just. It can't happen. But Will Fuller is going in the middle of fantasy drafts. He was. He was the reason that desean Watson had such an unsustainable touchdown rate. How do you guys feel about Will Fuller? Are you in for the price?

[Jason Moore]

What's the current round?

[Mike Wright]

So right now, right now, Will Fuller is going at the back of the sixth round.

[Jason Moore]

Give me some names around Will Fuller. Okay, so here's the PPR average.

[Mike Wright]

This is the ppr. So these are wide receivers. You would be making the choice between. For Will Fuller. Will Fuller, Manny Sanders. Emmanuel Sanders from the Denver Broncos.

[Andy Holloway]

Emmanuel Sanders.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Pierre Garcon, Will Fuller, Randall Cobb.

[Jason Moore]

I'll take Fuller.

[Mike Wright]

And Jameson Crowder.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Fuller.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so that's the guys at the back. That's the easier decision now, slightly in front of Fuller.

[Andy Holloway]

Who?

[Mike Wright]

You would have to take Fuller over these guys. Sammy Watkins.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'll take Sammy.

[Mike Wright]

Julian Edelman. Suspended for four games.

[Jason Moore]

Still take Julian.

[Andy Holloway]

Take Fuller. Oh, I just don't like rostering guys that are suspended for four games.

[Mike Wright]

I get it. And we know Jason's answer, so we'll throw this over to Jason. Or we know Andy's answer. Michael Crabtree or Will Fuller.

[Jason Moore]

My answer, by the way, is Will Fuller.

[Andy Holloway]

My answer is.

[Jason Moore]

I'm aware I'm letting the people know my answer there.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, it really would be a roster construction. If I felt like I needed volume, I would go Crabtree. But if I had some quality wide receivers already on my roster, which probably by the sixth round, I do, then I'm probably going to lean Fuller there for the upside play.

[Jason Moore]

We'd all take juju over Will Fuller.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I certainly would.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Mike. I don't want to move.

[Mike Wright]

Permission to move.

[Andy Holloway]

Colts.

[Jason Moore]

That was a frightening.

[Andy Holloway]

I should have covered my mouth.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Thank you. The Colts, 4 and 12 last year, this was a bad, bad offense. If you watch the Colts last year, if you had Ty Hilton, if you had a running back, here's. Here's what you realized. They were never on the field. They really weren't. They couldn't convert first downs, third worst in the NFL. Jack Doyle was already converting first downs. They. They scored 15.8 points per game. Not very good. This was an offense missing a quarterback. That's what it was. You know, that Bears, Browns, Giants, Colts, Dolphins, those were your bottom defense or offenses last year. They barely threw the ball. 3rd lowest total pass attempts in the league. And so you got a couple boom games from Ty Hilton because his talent could not be contained. A couple of times we need Andrew Luck to come back, and we need to figure out where the ancillary value is on this roster. From a fantasy construction standpoint, the head coach, Chuck Pagano, is gone. They've moved. They've moved on. Frank Reich is there. Dante Moncrief, they've moved on. Frank Gore, they've moved on. So there is going to be newfound value in Indianapolis, especially with the potential return of Andrew Luck. They're all signs right now. If you want an update, if you haven't Been listening or following Andrew Luck right now. He's supposed to. He's supposed to be healthy. There's no restrictions on him in the preseason. They're going to take it easy. They're going to keep him in his program. But I think at this point, are we all confident that Andrew Luck is going to start Week one for the Indianapolis Colts?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Even me, who's been the biggest hesitator. I am confident what he's been doing and the fact that they're saying he's playing preseason says that he should be good to go and that's huge for Hilton. I'm not a big fan of the ancillary pieces. I probably won't take Doyle, I won't take Ebron, I won't take Ryan Grant. But it's for me, it's Ty Hilton.

[Mike Wright]

Last time he played with Andrew Luck, he led the league in receiving yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, people need to remember that.

[Andy Holloway]

They have a great. And the thing is, is Andrew Luck and Ty Hilton, if Luck is healthy this season, which we just established, we believe it will happen, then they will be a value on draft day. Like when your draft comes around, they're not going to get all the way back up to the value they had two years ago.

[Mike Wright]

You talking about Hilton?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, Hilton was when he was drafted. Just remember this. When he was drafted before last season, he was a top 10 wide receiver draft pick.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

And where is he right now? Like he is 16.

[Mike Wright]

He is very close to that. I'll pull up the wide receivers as well. But here's the deal. Going at the top of the.

[Jason Moore]

I missed that take. Did you say you don't like the value of Ty Hilton?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm saying that I think the value of Ty Hilton will be good this year because I doubt that it would get back to where it was the last time we saw.

[Mike Wright]

Well, unfortunately for you, he is the 10th wide receiver off the board. Here are guys going behind Ty Hilton.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

According to fantasy football calculator Adam Thielen.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, give me a break. Thielen.

[Mike Wright]

Stefan Diggs.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Hilton over. Diggs.

[Mike Wright]

Doug Baldwin.

[Jason Moore]

Hilton who?

[Andy Holloway]

Hilton right now because.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, because of the health. Larry Fitzgerald.

[Jason Moore]

Depends what you need.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Tyreek Hill.

[Andy Holloway]

Hilton.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I'd take Hilton there, too.

[Andy Holloway]

So Hilton is not going to be a great value to where he should be going.

[Jason Moore]

He was still fourth in the league in yards per reception. He still did all the Ty Hilton things last year. He just. You just couldn't get him the ball. More. More. Here's Let Me consistently.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me run you through Ty Hilton's game logs for fantasy points.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, we know. We know.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

But there's a difference between the. The fantasy production, whether or not the player was the same. All the reports out of camp are great. He's at the peak of his career. He's actually got a quarterback now, and he. And it's not like last year. He had to become something else or lost. You know, like, I bring up Crabtree. Like, CrabTree dropped, like, seven or eight important metrics in his performance last year. You can blame whatever you want.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

But at the end of the day, Crabtree statistically was much worse. Hilton, from a fantasy perspective, you couldn't rely on him at all. But his metrics were the same. That's all I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. No, and that's valid. All right. So at the running back position, before.

[Mike Wright]

We jump into the running back position, we. We have Brooks make up these show dogs, and he's given us the depth chart. There is a glaring omission here from the running backs. Brooks and I am very disappointed.

[Andy Holloway]

Bobby.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, the woke one is not even listed.

[Jason Moore]

Brooks.

[Mike Wright]

Get out of here with that.

[Jason Moore]

Chris.

[Andy Holloway]

Kristen. Michael.

[Mike Wright]

Kristen. Michael is still there.

[Andy Holloway]

Technically.

[Mike Wright]

We still have our weekly meetings like.

[Jason Moore]

Old mold on a rock. I mean, he's like. He's just hangs on to these rosters. You got to stop talking about him, Mike. He is so not wide awake. It's not even funny.

[Andy Holloway]

He's fast asleep.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's fast asleep. Yep. I know.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so let's talk.

[Jason Moore]

Let's talk about.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk about the three running backs that are all the rage right now. Marlon Mack, Jordan Wilcoms, and Naim Hines. Those three guys. Marlon Mack appears projected to be the starter to get that opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

He's been on the team, right?

[Andy Holloway]

He's the only veteran guy there who's 1500 yards. Robert Turban is there after his suspension just doing curls. He's just back in the. Just. He's staring at the practice, doing curls on the sideline. But Marlon Mack projects to be the starter. A lot of people really don't like Marlon Mackay, call him a jag. He's just a guy. He wasn't great last season. Didn't even get four yards of carry. That's kind of one of the narratives. I actually believe he was okay last season.

[Jason Moore]

They call that the Holloway Wright narrative.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, the Andy Holloway, Mike Wright narrative. You guys believe that. I'm fine with that. I don't think Marlon Mack is a world beater. But I do believe he's the best running back on the roster, and I think he was better than he gets credit for last season. I went back and watched a lot of film. The offensive line was atrocious. He was still the best yards per carry on the team, which kind of matters, you know, what they're all dealing with. And that was without Andrew Luck. So my money is on Marlon Mack to have a decent season, but it could absolutely be a Paul Perkins situation where he's the default starter. He's just not good enough to get it done.

[Jason Moore]

I look at it more like the. I look at him as like Kenyan Drake light in the sense that I worried about. I worry a little bit about Kenyan Drake situation, and I think Drake is more talented than Marlon Mack is. You know, they invested draft picks in Jordan Wilkins. Camp reports have been good. Naim Hines, they invested money and obviously he's an undersized, more of a court draft.

[Mike Wright]

He's the pass catcher.

[Jason Moore]

So I don't. I don't see a world where it's impossible for Marlon Mack to vastly outperform my expectations. I don't. I think that's possible. I mean, Andrew Luck's going to change this offense, but I don't believe that he's going to carry the load.

[Mike Wright]

Here are the. Here's the decision you will have to make, though, if you are wanting to grab Marlon Mack in fantasy drafts. Carry on. Johnson or Mack.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, get out of here. Carry on. Unless it's a mock draft.

[Mike Wright]

Tevin Coleman, a Mack draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Then it's a Mac draft. That's right. Hey, if you're out there and you're wanting to draft, carry on. Just draft Marlon Mack.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, this is the new placeholder.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's the placeholder.

[Jason Moore]

If you draft Marlon Mack, we'll know that it's. Carry on in your mind.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I want to see Marlon Mack's ADP rise and carry on.

[Mike Wright]

Johnson's Tevin Coleman or Marlon Mack.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Marlon Mac.

[Jason Moore]

I think I'd take Mack in this situation, too, just for the potential.

[Mike Wright]

Marshawn lynch or Marlon Mack?

[Jason Moore]

Marshawn.

[Andy Holloway]

That. That's close. I think I would go back.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

I would go. Marshawn. Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

We were about to get a bet. Crowell or Marla Mack?

[Andy Holloway]

Crowell.

[Mike Wright]

That's the decision. Like he is. He's not crazy expensive for the people who are in on Marlon Mack, 33rd running back off for average draft position. But the guys going around him are far more exciting for me.

[Jason Moore]

We talked about what the Return of Andrew Luck means it's hope for the running game. You know what else is hope for the running game? Investing early draft picks on offensive linemen. They invested in finally first round and got rid of second round.

[Andy Holloway]

Terrible gm.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

On a pair of guards. And so that's going to help matters for whoever gets the opportunity to tote the rock behind center, whether it's Mack or somebody else.

[Andy Holloway]

And the word is we'll be seeing Luck play for about a quarter during this preseason. Week one on Thursday. Wow.

[Mike Wright]

A quarter.

[Andy Holloway]

That's.

[Mike Wright]

Must watch tv.

[Jason Moore]

That's a report anyway, that's actually really interesting for game one for Andrew to get out there. Does he. Is he going out with the bubble? The bubble boy thing from Seinfeld?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. They better have the starters.

[Andy Holloway]

Playing once.

[Jason Moore]

Have you ever used those things, Mike, where you get in the. Get in the bubble and you run around the field?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know what it's called. Knocker ball.

[Jason Moore]

Knocker ball.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I have. I have played it.

[Jason Moore]

The future of the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

I will tell you what. After one sprint with the ball on you, you are gassed.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. Is it heavy?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I feel like it's so fun.

[Andy Holloway]

So many necks would break. Because your head's sticking out, right? Because.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, no. You're inside of it.

[Mike Wright]

The only thing sticking out are, like, your.

[Jason Moore]

Your legs.

[Mike Wright]

You're from about your knees or your shins down. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, heck, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You can roll over completely, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. When you're knocked down, getting back up is part of the problem.

[Jason Moore]

Harder to throw. Harder to throw a football with that on, huh?

[Mike Wright]

I played. I got to. It was for a men's event, and I got to go up against my father.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, dear. Oh, did you take him out?

[Andy Holloway]

Pops took a tumble.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Pops took many tumbles.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

No remorse, no mercy.

[Jason Moore]

All right, wrapping up our AFC south breakdown, let's talk to Dede Westbrook, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[Andy Holloway]

You talking to me, Dede? Tell me what it was like, your experience on draft day last year.

[Mike Wright]

What was.

[Andy Holloway]

Was it like, the experience? Where were you? We always like to hear everybody's draft day story and get. Walk through that.

[Dede Westbrook]

Well, actually, my draft day story was spent in a car ride on my way to Norman, Oklahoma, from Dallas. I came down the night before to, of course, celebrate with my agent and my family and friends here in Dallas. But my mother was back in Norman, and so I was actually in a car ride driving back to her whenever I got the phone call from Coach Caulfield. And it was pretty much a crazy experience, a crazy day for me. I started crying in the backseat of the car, you know, because it was just. It felt surreal, you know what I mean? Just a dream finally coming true. Something you've always wished for, dreamed upon whenever you was a kid, watching the older guys, you know, all the hall of Famers before you. And now you get that opportunity to, of course, travel along that same journey and become a Hall of Famer as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's. That. That's always fun to hear those. Those stories. You're the first one I've heard in the backseat of a car so far. So your rookie year gets off to a slow start in the sense that you weren't playing, you weren't able to get on the field. What was that like to start the season not playing and wanting to be out there? Was that hard, or was that a good learning experience?

[Dede Westbrook]

I mean, it was tough. It was tough, you know, and for me, that was the first football game I've ever missed. You know, I've never set out in a football game, you know, and then, of course, I had to go down because of the injury that I had. But it was a learning experience because I didn't think, you know, the guys were making so much as a brotherhood as they did, you know, because at the end of the day, it is a job, and we're all in competition with one another. But whenever I went down, you know, you thought some people, you would have different guys, like, treat you differently because they get the upper hand now. But in the room, it wasn't nothing like that. You know what I mean? All those guys uplifted me. They were pretty much there when my surgery happened. They all text me during the surgery. They kept me up to date with everything as far as the plays go. You know, they would call me over, we would sit down, talk about the plays. So, I mean, we were just 100% in, you know, and I respect those guys for that. And it was a great learning experience because they taught me the brotherhood of it.

[Andy Holloway]

Very nice. Now, once you got in the second half of the year, you were over a 100 target pace. So you seem to be kind of the primary target once you got in this year. You know, do you have personal goals, everybody? You know, we talked to David Johnson, and he says his. His goal is a thousand. A thousand. He wanted a thousand yards rushing. A thousand yards receiving. You know, every player has their. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's been done twice. You know, every player has their personal goals. You don't control the coaching staff and all that. But what would your goals be for the 2018 season?

[Dede Westbrook]

Well, I really don't like to discuss personal goals, you know, because I feel like whenever I speak about it, then you guys would be like, expecting it because I said something about it. You know what I mean? And I want it to be a shocker to everybody, but at the end of the day, I have really big goals, you know, and this year, of course, if it's in God's hand and I stay completely healthy, it's going to be a really big year for both me and the Jack. The Jacksonville Jaguar.

[Andy Holloway]

Awesome. Thank you so much, Steedy.

[Jason Moore]

All right, that is it for today's episode. I, you know, I. It's philosophical when you decide between a guy like, I don't know, Moncrief, right. Which you buy into the year after year hype of a player and the capability he's with Corduroyl or yeah, he is on that train. Or you go with a guy like Didi Westbrook who you haven't seen everything from. Like, that's a philosophical decision. I still think you roll the dice with the wide receiver from that offense because I think they're going to be a team competing for the playoffs and they're going to be a team in the position to win a lot of games. So good interview there from Jason and we'll be back tomorrow. We've got some. We'll get into our top 10 list by the end of this week. We'll announce our listener league winners and check out draft.comballers if you want to play some basketball.

[Mike Wright]

We will see you tomorrow. Full clan.

[Andy Holloway]

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 @the ffballers.