Bold Predictions for 2020 + Rojo, Fantasy News - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/3

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Bold Predictions for 2020 + Rojo, Fantasy News" | September 3, 2020

Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Release Date: September 3, 2020
Episode Title: Bold Predictions for 2020 + Rojo, Fantasy News

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1. Introduction and Overview

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright dive deep into bold predictions for the 2020 fantasy football season. The discussion encompasses critical player analyses, team news updates, and strategic insights aimed at helping listeners dominate their fantasy leagues. Skipping over advertisements and non-content segments, the trio focuses on delivering actionable advice and entertaining analysis.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Running Back Conundrum

A significant portion of the episode centers around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' running back situation, specifically the impact of Leonard Fournette's signing on their fantasy football value.

Key Points:

• Leonard Fournette's Acquisition: Leonard Fournette joins the Buccaneers, raising questions about his role alongside Ronald Jones and LaShawn McCoy.

• Ronald Jones vs. Leonard Fournette: Andy Holloway argues that Ronald Jones remains the superior fantasy option due to his reliability and work ethic within the Buccaneers’ offense.

  Andy Holloway [06:21]: "Number one, it doesn't seem like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a minimum, trust Ronald Jones... I do believe that he is the better running back than Leonard Fournette for this offense."

• Predicting Roles: Jason Moore aligns with Holloway’s perspective, forecasting Ronald Jones to handle the majority of first and second downs initially, with Fournette taking a smaller share.

  Jason Moore [09:07]: "I think 2/3 of the first, second down work go to Ronald Jones, 1/3 to Leonard Fournette. LaShawn McCoy locked down the third roll."

• Fantasy Implications: The hosts discuss the risks associated with drafting both Fournette and Jones, highlighting the uncertainty in their roles and the potential for limited fantasy returns.

  Mike Wright [10:14]: "I am out on this. I have Leonard Fournette projected to eventually take over the job, have more rushing touchdowns."

3. News Updates and Player Injuries

The podcast provides timely updates on several key players, influencing fantasy football strategies.

A. Alvin Kamara and Amari Cooper:

• Alvin Kamara's Status: Alvin Kamara has resumed practicing amidst ongoing contract negotiations, alleviating concerns about his availability and performance.

  Andy Holloway [12:42]: "Alvin Kamara has practiced... 'Life is good,' he did write in all caps on his Twitter."

• Amari Cooper's Health: Amari Cooper is dealing with a hand injury, with the Dallas Cowboys closely monitoring his condition using advanced muscle scanners to prevent further injuries.

  Jason Moore [13:29]: "They're talking about how they have the technology... He's at a point where the higher odds of tearing it."

B. Dwayne Haskins and Tyrod Taylor:

• Dwayne Haskins Confirmed: Dwayne Haskins is set as the week one starter for the Ravens, providing clarity for fantasy managers.

  Andy Holloway [15:01]: "Dwayne Haskins is the week one starter."

• Tyrod Taylor's Role: Tyrod Taylor is confirmed as the starter against the Bengals, solidifying his position in fantasy lineups.

  Andy Holloway [15:05]: "Tyrod Taylor is also the week one starter against the Bengals."

C. Patriots' Running Back Injury:

• Damian Harris' Injury: Damian Harris of the Patriots has sustained a hand injury, potentially missing the opening game, which impacts fantasy managers considering him as a late-round pick.

  Mike Wright [16:45]: "Damian Harris has a hand injury. Could miss the team's opening game against the Dolphins."

4. Patriots' Running Back Concerns

The Patriots' running back situation adds another layer of complexity for fantasy managers.

Discussion Points:

• Damian Harris' Availability: With Damian Harris potentially out, the Patriots may rely more on Ronald Jones and other backs, affecting their fantasy value.

• Fantasy Implications: Andy Holloway expresses disinterest in drafting Harris post-injury, while Jason Moore assesses the diminished fantasy prospects for Saul "Sony" Michel.

  Andy Holloway [17:33]: "I have no interest in Damian Harris now. None."

5. Bold Predictions for 2020

The centerpiece of the episode is the "Bold Predictions" segment, where each host shares audacious forecasts for the upcoming fantasy season.

A. Jason Moore's Predictions:

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a Fantasy Bust:

   • Rationale: Moore points to overvalued players like Tom Brady, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. He predicts that the Buccaneers will underperform in fantasy despite potential team improvements.

     Jason Moore [26:11]: "It's a shortened off season where you have the greatest quarterback of all time, but an old quarterback who has known one system coming to a new system."

2. Marvin Jones Jr. Matching Kenny Golladay's Fantasy Points:

   • Rationale: Despite being drafted later, Jones has the potential to rack up receptions and touchdowns comparable to Golladay's performance last season.

     Jason Moore [38:20]: "Marvin Jones Jr. Scores as many fantasy points as Kenny Golladay even though there's such smooth routes from Kenny G."

B. Andy Holloway's Predictions:

1. Matthew Stafford as a Top Five Fantasy Quarterback:

   • Rationale: Stafford’s consistent yardage and touchdown potential make him a reliable top-tier fantasy QB, especially with an improved offensive scheme.

     Andy Holloway [31:11]: "My first bold prediction is that Matthew Stafford will end the year as a top five fantasy quarterback."

2. Joe Burrow’s Record-Breaking Rookie Season:

   • Rationale: Burrow's dynamic playstyle and the Bengals' improved offensive line could propel him to set rookie touchdown records, simultaneously boosting the team's competitiveness.

     Andy Holloway [44:08]: "Joe Burrow breaks the record and the Bengals are competitive."

C. Mike Wright's Predictions:

1. Brian Edwards as the Number One Rookie Wide Receiver:

   • Rationale: Despite dropping to the third round due to an injury, Edwards' potential for high target shares and consistent yardage make him a standout rookie.

     Mike Wright [34:13]: "Brian Edwards, rookie wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders. He will be the number one rookie wide receiver for fantasy purposes."

2. Chris Thompson as a Top 20 Running Back:

   • Rationale: Thompson’s secure role in Jacksonville's backfield and his pass-catching prowess position him as a valuable late-round fantasy asset.

     Mike Wright [48:05]: "Chris Thompson by the end of the year can be a top 20 guy and a real fantasy difference maker."

6. Listener Predictions and Host Opinions

The hosts review and handicap bold predictions submitted by listeners via Twitter, offering percentage odds on their likelihood of success.

Highlighted Listener Predictions:

• Gardner Minshew Top 10 QB:

  Mike Wright [51:35]: "I will put it down at like 15%."

• Justin Jefferson Outscoring Adam Thielen WR:

  Jason Moore [51:45]: "0%."

• Anthony Miller as a Top 15 Wide Receiver:

  Mike Wright [51:59]: "1%."

• Jonathan Taylor as a Top Five Running Back:

  Mike Wright [52:03]: "35%."

7. Tools and Resources Mentioned

• Ultimate Draft Kit: The hosts recommend the Ultimate Draft Kit for fantasy managers looking to optimize their drafts with up-to-date information and comprehensive cheat sheets.

  Jason Moore [22:08]: "The Ultimate Draft Kit. That's what I was using during the Listener League draft. It is phenomenal..."

• Megalobol League: Mentioned as the largest fantasy football redraft league, encouraging listeners to join via JoinTheFoot.com.

  Andy Holloway [04:28]: "If you want to play in the Megalobol..."

8. Conclusion

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts reiterate their bold predictions and encourage listeners to engage with the Fantasy Footballers community through social media and their website. They express optimism about the insights provided and look forward to refining their strategies as the season progresses.

Jason Moore [53:38]: "Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter the FFballers."

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Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [06:21]: "Number one, it doesn't seem like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a minimum, trust Ronald Jones... I do believe that he is the better running back than Leonard Fournette for this offense."

• Jason Moore [31:11]: "My first bold prediction is that Matthew Stafford will end the year as a top five fantasy quarterback."

• Mike Wright [34:13]: "Brian Edwards, rookie wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders. He will be the number one rookie wide receiver for fantasy purposes."

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This episode provides a blend of in-depth player analysis, strategic forecasting, and engaging discussions, equipping fantasy football enthusiasts with the knowledge to make informed decisions for the 2020 season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foot Clan. We're all kind of looking for a bright spot right now, are we not? Mm. Well, I got one for you. There's a hilarious new series on Apple TV plus, starring Jason Sudeikis called Ted Lasso. It's about an American football coach who heads to England to take a shot at managing one of the world's most competitive professional soccer teams. It's an age old story, of course. If you like a show with big laughs and a lot of heart, then this is the one you've been looking for. Watch Ted Lasso right now on the Apple TV app. Subscription required for Apple TV Plus.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, this is Austin Eckler and you're.

[Jason Moore]

Listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in Thursday, September 3rd, the fantasy footballers. One week.

[Mike Wright]

One week.

[Andy Holloway]

One week.

[Mike Wright]

1 week. 1 week. You know what I was doing last night? Watching the Patriots play the Ravens.

[Andy Holloway]

Were you really?

[Mike Wright]

I was. It was. Was spectacular.

[Andy Holloway]

Sometimes I just. It hits. No preseason. Right, right. And so that must have been. Oh, yeah, football.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it was, it was. It was a joyous occasion.

[Andy Holloway]

Who won?

[Mike Wright]

I don't want to tell you.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I don't want spoilers here.

[Mike Wright]

I want to spoil that game for you. But it was definitely the game where the Patriots were undefeated.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And it was the. Lamar Jackson is burning everything to the ground. Can he take care of the Patriots? And he got the couple rushing touchdowns that came through for another big fantasy day.

[Andy Holloway]

We had our listener league draft yesterday, and for the first time in my life, I have Lamar Jackson on a fantasy roster. I just plain wanted to see what happens when you have Lamar Jackson. We talk about the quarterback and when you take them in drafts and. But we also say, look, if you knew, I would say, this is my advice on that. If you knew. Lamar Jackson will give you what he gave you last year. If that's what you believe in your heart, you should take him wherever the heck you want.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, statistically speaking, his gap between him and the number two quarterback would have been big enough, not to mention his consistency would have been big enough to justify taking him at the. At the one on one if you want.

[Mike Wright]

And also statistically speaking, it's not going to happen. It's impossible that he does it again.

[Jason Moore]

Right? Yeah. He's not going to throw for that many run for that many.

[Andy Holloway]

I was, yeah. 9% touchdown percentage.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's not happening.

[Andy Holloway]

I was laughing because I remembered last year when Mahomes began the year, we, for the first two or three weeks.

[Mike Wright]

We were like, oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no, he did it again. Ends up with a injury and the 5.4% touchdown percentage. Because, of course that's normal. You're still the greatest player on earth. But. But what if, right? The what? Every time somebody else takes Lamar Jackson, I'm like, hi, you took a quarterback early. Oh, crap, they have Lamar Jackson. That's. That's what I end up thinking. We had some big news break late yesterday. We're going to talk about that at the top of the show today is the Bold predictions show. So we will each be bringing you a very spicy.

[Mike Wright]

Why is it spicy?

[Andy Holloway]

Because it'll be wrong, that's why.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

I will say this. Last year, and keep in mind, these are bold. We're trying to find things that are against the grain. That means low probability. But last year we hit on several of these.

[Andy Holloway]

Low probability. Maximum glory.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

What a great phrase. As Mama used to say. Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

About all your predictions. No, last year there were some hits. The year before, not so much. We'll get into that when we begin that segment. But we have a few reminders for you. Number one, if you want to play in the Megalobol, which is the largest fantasy football redraft league there, is all the Foot Clan members a part of the Megla Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

I'm in it.

[Andy Holloway]

And Jason.

[Jason Moore]

And you're in it, Andy, which I.

[Andy Holloway]

Hope counts towards it.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, for sure. If you win, you get in the listener league next year.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, congratulations.

[Andy Holloway]

JoinTheFoot.com for that. So that's exciting. Appreciate everybody who's following on twitter@the ff ballers subscribing on YouTube. That's YouTube.com the fantasy footballers. And everybody that leaves the reviews on Apple Podcasts listens on Spotify. We appreciate you. All right. Oh, by the way, by the way, lots of drafts were happening last night. Oh, man. We were looking at the ultimate draft kit. Like user accounts that were in there. You can see when drafts are.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. We got to keep those servers strong.

[Mike Wright]

And what was wild is it goes right into our quick question because I was, in fact in the middle of two drafts.

[Jason Moore]

Oh.

[Mike Wright]

Last night, Leonard Fournette just sitting there at. Because look, he's still at the top of the list because of ADP and he had been cut from Jacksonville. What do you do with Leonard Fournette? Where do people end the game of chicken? And you draft Fournette hoping that he lands somewhere. And then in the middle of both of those drafts, boom. Leonard Fournette signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, he had already gone in the draft of like, you know, eighth or ninth round by the time the news broke. But also a few rounds earlier, Ronald Jones had been drafted. And everyone in the chat is pulling their hair out going, what is, what does this mean? Who's the lead back? Is Ronald Jones gone for fantasy now? Is Leonard Fournette still gone for fantasy? It's so, Andy, I'll throw it to you because you have been the Ronald Jones guy of this show for multiple years. How are you feeling? Or walk us through, how did you feel when the signing happened and how are you feeling after you slept on it and had some time to think?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I've been, I've been thinking about this pretty constantly. Everybody wants the quick take. Got to take part in the CBS St. Jude Telethon last night. Want the quick take on the Fournette situation. And after thinking through this, looking at what's going on in the backfield, I'll make my case for what I think is going to happen and then you guys can weigh in. Tell me if you agree, disagree, how you're looking at it from a rankings perspective. Number one, it doesn't seem like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at a minimum, trust Ronald Jones. When you trust somebody, you probably don't draft Keyshawn Vaughn where they did. You probably don't sign Lashawn McCoy and then you don't come along and you sign Leonard Fournette. So there is a trust issue there. Number two, Bruce Arians loves experience. This team is an experienced football team. This is a team with a small window to win. So when somebody like Leonard Fournette is out there and you can go acquire him for less than Carlos Hyde money to come in and stabilize a running back room, why not go do it? That's the, that's the take I think Bruce Arians has for this team. Number three, we are nine days from the season. All reports from beat writers out of camp. Take Bruce Arians own word for what you will, which is not much, which is not much. But even like LaShawn McCoy talking about Ronald Jones and the steps he's taken and the way he looks in this back. Bruce Arian is coming out this morning. Rojo's our guy, blah, blah, blah. Here's how I think the backfield breaks down. I think Ronald Jones starts the year as a starter. I think he gets 2/3 of the work. But on first and second down, I think Fournette takes the other third of first and second down. Work. And I think McCoy is primarily their third down back. If he can get it done in that role, Keisha and Vaughn is irrelevant. He will return kicks and stand on the sidelines. So I don't. I have Ronald Jones ranked in my top 30 still.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I do believe that he is the better running back than Leonard Fournette for this offense. The kinds of boxes they're going to face defenders and the big playability of Ronald Jones I believe is superior than that of Fournette. So that's how I break it down now. It was panic alarm and if you don't want to draft any of these guys because you don't have conviction that way, please don't count me in. I passed on Ronald Jones in our listener league and I'm super happy I did. Like, I don't feel great with that situation. But if he comes out and John Paulson pointed this out, he's going to come out as the starter. There's no question in my mind that he's going to start week one. If he has a nice week one, he has a soft week two matchup. You could have two strong weeks from Ronald Jones establishing himself. But I don't blame Bruce Arians for wanting to add depth to this running back room that contains the experience of Keyshawn Vaughn and The age of LaShawn McCoy makes sense for them.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. What you were saying and how you described it is 100% identical to my belief. I think 2/3 of the first, second down work go to Ronald Jones, 1/3 to Leonard Fournette. LaShawn McCoy locked down the third roll. That's how it starts the season. I do project that Leonard Fournette will take over that role. So after the start of the season, which means I'm out, gone. I am. Like, who should you draft? No one. That's. That is my opinion. That's where I'm landing. I am. I am gone. Bye bye. See you later. Backfield of the bucks.

[Andy Holloway]

So would you say that those with Ronald Jones and Fournette already, which is a large amount of fantasy football players, is there hope for them, Mike? Is there hope for them, Jason?

[Mike Wright]

Well, you're doing the old fashioned Andy Holloway bar hang. Just how long, how long can you stay up there? The answer is a lot shorter than you actually think.

[Jason Moore]

I. Yeah, I think that by the definition of the word hope, this is the situation where you need it. You need hope.

[Mike Wright]

But I'm with Jason. I am. I'm out on this. I have Leonard Fournette projected to eventually take over the job, have more rushing touchdowns. So maybe that's the guy you want to draft and hang on to.

[Andy Holloway]

But it's possible you could get both of those players for almost nothing from the desperate owner.

[Mike Wright]

You could. And then you could end up with two players on your bench and you have no idea who you should ever be starting this. We are. We're back. We are back to Ronald Jones and Peyton Bar.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we are. We are.

[Mike Wright]

Last year, yeah, Ronald Jones was the Wink Wink starter.

[Jason Moore]

He had some good games and he.

[Mike Wright]

Had some great games. You never knew when it was going to happen. He was on the field like 45% of the snaps. It was an absolute just. It was a trap for fantasy purposes. So it's, it's hard to give the advice of saying completely avoid a backfield. There's at no point in the draft where these players have value to add to your fantasy team. But that is 100% where I am. I'm.

[Jason Moore]

If you.

[Mike Wright]

If you want to stick your hand in the mousetrap and you get the cheese without snapping your fingers, good for you. I'm not doing.

[Andy Holloway]

That's now where I get my cheese.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm going to the fridge.

[Andy Holloway]

I like that though. And the funny thing is is the way it ended up in my rankings. I think Ronald Jones ended up at 26. He ended last year at 26, which is in the barber system. And you did have a problem knowing when to start him. So yeah, it's almost like you'd rather him completely collapse in week one or two. So you had one definitive starter in Leonard Fournette, but this is a high value backfield potentially. That is the one thing I will say. It wasn't necessarily a high value backfield last year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I agree with that. And it sucks for Keyshawn Vaughn. He clearly has not shown enough. He was off to a rough start because he was on the COVID list for longer than most of these players were. So he was already behind. Plus Bruce Arians not really giving rookies the reps that they need in camp. So it's very unfortunate situation for the third round running back.

[Andy Holloway]

I would go get him in dynasty though, because LaShawn McCoy and are probably both gone after this year and who knows if Ronald Jones is around right beyond this season. So Keisha Monk could just be the starter instantaneously if he shows out in some of his kick return work or something of that nature.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, looking at the news today, Alvin Kamara has practiced. So on ongoing Contract negotiations. He did write in all caps. Life is good on his Twitter. So that is really all we need to know. Right.

[Mike Wright]

Well, and he's powered up. He's got a star power. It was just a.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that a shot in the back?

[Jason Moore]

I will say this from a. From a fear standpoint, him being back at camp, saying the right things, doing the right things. I'm less fearful of the holdout. Obviously, the information with the back issue and the pain that needs an epidural, which I'm usually familiar with that during childbirth, childbirthing, which is a little painful.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you get an epidural when your wife gave birth?

[Jason Moore]

That's right. That's right.

[Mike Wright]

I was feeling a little tense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I was starting to sweat. I was like, duck, give me that ep. Give me that episode.

[Andy Holloway]

Sir, please leave. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I have my doubts about the health, but Alvin Camara on the field is a top three running back. Yeah, Alvin. I'm sorry. Amari Cooper, Ltd. For now. Four consecutive practices. Jason talked about this on the show yesterday. The Cowboys have downplayed it. They say he's good to go. We've been in the same spot with Amari Cooper, though, where it's like, everything's fine. Everything's fine. To the point of a bad. Amari Cooper on the field.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, that's the issue. I did move him down a little bit just because we. We've seen him hampered by injuries, play through them, and suck on the field. And this is a minority report situation. I don't know if you've seen what Jerry Jones has been saying, but they're talking about how they have the technology.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, because of the pre injury.

[Jason Moore]

This is the pre injury that they're tracking his muscles and the tenseness.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait, this is a thing?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And the reason he's doing individual drills and not out there team is because they're seeing that he's at a point where the higher odds of tearing it. So they're giving him rest. So this is. This is like walking, but this is precautionary.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow, that's one. That's cool. Two. I've always thought of Jerry Jones as Elon Musk. I mean, those two are just together. That's pretty neat, though.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I don't want that scan. I don't want to know what's going on.

[Jason Moore]

Here's how I view it.

[Mike Wright]

It turns out the scanner actually ripped the muscle, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, crap.

[Jason Moore]

If this technology is right, this is so good for players like Amari Cooper to be able to keep Them healthy. I don't trust it will.

[Andy Holloway]

Fuller's like, can I get me some of that machine? All right. Dwayne Haskins is the week one starter. Ron Rivera confirmed it against the Eagles, so that's what we expected, but it's set in stone. Anthony Lynn confirmed. Tyrod Taylor is also the week one starter against the Bengals.

[Jason Moore]

Look at this. Coaches just announcing who their starting quarterback will be for week one.

[Mike Wright]

What have they done? Jason? Their entire competitive advantage, it has been completely spoiled, but the defenses will know exactly what they're going to do.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Matt Nagy, I mean, he's really ahead of this.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Way out in front.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, this is really good news. Chris Herndon back at practice. So I love Chris Herndon's opportunity in PPR formats to soak up targets. And then Denzel Mims. Denzel Mims. Let's not forget a second round wide receiver going to a team that has no outside wide receivers. Right now with Prashad Perryman hurting. Mims is a player that in the very, very beginning of this offseason, I thought would have a great chance at being out there. And now he's practicing again. Yeah, it's interesting.

[Mike Wright]

The jets did draft him in the second round. He's not a player you're going to draft for your fantasy team. This is great news for, for dynasty leagues because he was a, you know, often an early second round rookie pick. But he'll. He will be a name to pay attention to because he's, he's talented.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a big guy.

[Mike Wright]

He's. He's very talented. In his athletic profile is that of. Could turn into an elite outside wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, why don't you take this next one?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. All right. ESPN reporting. Patriots running back Damian Harris. Hand has a hand injury. Could miss the team's opening game against the Dolphins. This sucks, man. This, this is terrible news. Damien Harris, if you, if you haven't been following along running back for the Patriots has been tearing up the Patriots training camp. All signs looked like he was going to be the starter. Now he's back up against it where someone else will have the opportunity. Week one. Sony, Lamar, who knows? But it, it really stinks for that late round chance at a starting running back.

[Andy Holloway]

I have no interest in Damian Harris now. None.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, me, me too. I. In our listener league draft, we were so late. I mean, we're taking the, you know, the Chris Thompson's and Boston Scotts of the world and here's Sony. I was like, will he make it back? He was so far down that he was like the crazy late lottery pick and he is currently.

[Mike Wright]

Are you still draft. Would you draft Sony now?

[Jason Moore]

That late 100. Who's the week one starting?

[Andy Holloway]

I would draft Sony now, absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

I wouldn't. I'm not going to draft Sony.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no, I would. I thought it was great value last night.

[Mike Wright]

But James White, you draft him.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this worth the discussion? I don't know because I know he's going to dig in.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

But you went like 0 RV yesterday.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

You had Sony Michelle in those late rounds would have been a great guaranteed week one starter for you. And by great, I of course mean mediocre. Yeah, but that's better than some of those odds that you have in those late rounds.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe because I'm taking you drafted Zach Moss. Yeah, look, I'm taking a guy that should see the high value reportage. He will take the high value reps for the Buffalo Bill.

[Andy Holloway]

You would start Zach Moss week one over Sonny Michelle today? Knowing what you know about Damien Harris, I.

[Mike Wright]

Are we 100% sure that Sony Michelle is the starter?

[Jason Moore]

Let's say yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Well that's.

[Jason Moore]

No, I'm saying, I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. I think, I think we think he's the starter.

[Mike Wright]

I, I don't. Honestly, I don't know at this point. I do not know. I don't trust Sony Michelle at all.

[Jason Moore]

I will say this about my strategy. When you're going 0rb, the theory is anti fragility and actually, you know, you're taking players who could get better as the season goes along. So it's not so much about week one. It's not about getting the guy who's going to get those early volume. It's. It's as the season goes along, what could happen to make Sony better? Not, not much. I mean, you know what I mean.

[Mike Wright]

Like speaking of anti fragility, would you put Sony Michelle on the list of people you want to target? I would not.

[Andy Holloway]

247 carries last year. That's nice to know that you're going to get that. If you're waiting for other players like Zach Moss or Naeem Hines or Chris Thompson to figure out what you got.

[Mike Wright]

It's something I would start Chris Thompson week one over Sony Michelle. That's for sure.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Mohammed Sanu was released. The Patriots are not perfect. They have traded a second round pick for a box of nothing for a.

[Jason Moore]

Half a year rental of. Wait for it, Mohammed Sanu.

[Mike Wright]

It didn't go well.

[Jason Moore]

That is a bad transaction. But this is, you know, you were talking recently on the podcast about Nikhil Harry, about the upside of someone and when I look at Nikhil Harry, I was like, man, I'm not even sure he's ahead of Mohammed Sanu. This brings clarity to that situation where a late round flyer on Nikhil Harry I think could I agree with that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Josh Gordon re signed by the Seahawks. We don't really care for fantasy purposes. He was not that involved last year and probably will never be fantasy relevant again. I don't think.

[Mike Wright]

Look, there's not enough to go around when for Russell Wilson's work for D.K. metcalf, Tyler Lockett, who are both going to be great, there's nothing left for Josh Gordon to have. Weekly value before we get into the super spicy bold predictions for 2020, want to thank today's sponsor Manscaped. Look fellas, I've been talking about manscaped for a long time. If you haven't gotten in, look, shame on you. You got to check it out. They are the best in men's hygiene. Their body hair trimmer is elite. Look, when you're, when you're taking care of the body hair, you don't want to have nicks, you don't want to have snags, you don't want to have injuries. And that's what The Lawn Mower 3.0 brings you. It's the best hygiene tool for the modern man. It's got a ceramic blade skin safe technology. Like I said, it's going to keep you protected. They forever changed the grooming game with their Perfect Package 3.0 comes with the new and improved lawnmower performance boxer briefs, a travel bag like look and they've got you, they've got you covered. You got nose hairs manscaped got you covered. You got, got the fingernails you need to clip with a, with just a perfectly sized travel thing. Manscaped has you covered. And for a limited time, subscribers get two free gifts. The travel bag and the patented high performance anti chafing manscape boxer briefs get 20% off and free shipping with the code [e-mail] that's 20% off with free [e-mail] use the code footballers manscaped.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, go ahead, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

I was just going to make sure that the Foot clan is aware that it is not too late for your drafts. If you're in the Megala Bowl. If you're, you've got a draft coming up this weekend. Our draft is the day before NFL kickoff six days from now. The Ultimate Draft Kit. That's what I was using during the Listener League draft. It is phenomenal to be able to look at so much information quickly at a glance, have principal cheat sheets, have everybody broken down in tears and we.

[Mike Wright]

Are still updating it. So like when the chaos was going on last night, we were jumping in as soon as we possibly could to update Fournette, Ronald Jones, the whole Buccaneer situation.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You want to make sure that you aren't the fool at the draft. There's always a couple fools whose information is outdated. Don't let it be.

[Mike Wright]

What's the rule of like if you don't recognize the fool in the room, you're probably.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So check it out at ultimate Peter the Fool.com youm won't regret it. People get it. Once you, once you're in, once you get the Ultimate Draft Kit and you're like oh, that was really helpful. I like that. Next year I'm doing that again.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I believe it's something 90 something percent come back every year because it's such a valuable tool for them. All right. I just, I almost jumped in because just to add some more to the Aryans statements about Ronald Jones again, maybe meaningless. He said it's his job, nothing has changed for him and added that Fournette was a heck of an insurance piece so they'll find out what role he has out of camp. That's the latest out of Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Land. And also just because perfect timing for stubborn Mike. The Buffalo Bills according to the Athletic talking about Devin Singletary's fumbling issues and if they continue into the regular season, you could see Zach Moss take over as the lead back almost immediately.

[Mike Wright]

Okie dokie.

[Andy Holloway]

So your 0 RB team would be appreciative.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, they would.

[Jason Moore]

Ridiculously bold predictions.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. We said it earlier. We actually hit on some of these last year. I shouldn't sound so surprised. They are informed, bold predictions. They're not random bold predictions.

[Mike Wright]

That is still hard. I mean you are. You're throwing haymakers out here.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we've hit on plenty over the years.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I have a my annual article, the 32 shamelessly bold predictions article coming out very soon. Last year I had some hits in that one about Lamar Jackson leading them to the division title being a steal. Jared Cook having his career high in touchdowns, Jameis Winston throwing a monumental amount of touchdowns, juju regressing.

[Jason Moore]

I also had some interceptions. Was actually your.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, did I say both? I said intercepts.

[Mike Wright]

He did both.

[Jason Moore]

You Predicted a bold call of 20 interceptions and he's like, hold my beer.

[Andy Holloway]

I did have a couple of whiffs like this one. Kaylin Belage not relinquishing the starting running back role and putting up 1100 total yards last year.

[Mike Wright]

He could go for it again this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Do we have a report on whether that panned out?

[Mike Wright]

I still don't even know what team Caleb Lodge is on.

[Andy Holloway]

He's on nobody's team. All right, who wants to kick it off with their first bold prediction for 2020?

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'll kick it off. I'm excited to do this one because look, this is five years running. Every year. If you're new, welcome in. If you've been listening for a long time, every single bold prediction episode since 2016, I have come up with my fantasy bust team as a team. The team that I look at and I say, you know, we're getting it wrong and it's not going to go as well as we think. In 2016, it was the Panthers, Cam and Kelvin drafted super high, Both stank. In 2017, it was the Washington team with Terrell Pryor, Jordan Reed, Jameson Crowder.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

All those names that were being drafted high, they all stunk. Then I had the very infamous in 2018, the beginning of the end for.

[Andy Holloway]

The Patriots, which they won the Super Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

They did win the super bowl that year. However, this is a fantasy show and I was spot on. Then Gronk was a second round pick. Hogan was a fourth round pick. Josh Gordon was a fourth round pick, Brady was fifth. They all stunk for fantasy even though they went on to win the Super Bowl. And then last year was the Cleveland Browns. They were being drafted so high. Baker as the quarterback four, Chubb as the quarterback, eight.

[Mike Wright]

Beckham wide receiver five, running back eight.

[Jason Moore]

That, that too. Sorry. And so, you know, it's one of those questions of I knew I was going with a team, I got to stick to it. And I almost, at the end of everything went with an opposite. I almost went with the breakout team back Browns. But sorry, Browns fans, I couldn't justify not that this year's team after being close to looking at Arizona and the Falcons. And I go through my process that I do every year for this and the team was clear as day to me. It's. And I've talked them up narrative street and I'm talking them down now. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are my bust fantasy team of 2020. You have. And I went to the ESPN live.

[Andy Holloway]

Drafts, the most very timely as well.

[Jason Moore]

The most common, you know, platform that's being played on right now and the most recent real drafts that are happening. Tom Brady is the quarterback seven in the sixth round. Now, we've talked, I've talked recently, like he didn't go there to game manage. He went there to prove how great he is. But you want to know really why he went there to win a Super Bowl. To prove that he can win elsewhere. And when he's not throwing picks, he's not going to need to throw the Jameis Winston numbers. Godwin and Chris Evans are the wide receiver six and seven right now, their second round.

[Mike Wright]

Mike Evans.

[Jason Moore]

What did I say?

[Mike Wright]

You said Chris Evans. You have. Dude, you have the Avengers on the mind.

[Andy Holloway]

Deep breath.

[Jason Moore]

Harris.

[Andy Holloway]

Hilton wants you to calm down.

[Jason Moore]

Goodness, look, they're both being drafted as top 10 wide receivers right now.

[Andy Holloway]

I could see Mike over there going like, man, I really don't want to interrupt him here. You would say Chris Evans.

[Mike Wright]

You can't draft Chris Evans. Captain America.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, the captain. Captain. And look, Chris Evans. This would not be my bus 101.

[Andy Holloway]

That was calling for an Avengers bust.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I know for sure. I'm Drafting Chris Evans 100%, I think too hard to tackle. Incredible speed.

[Mike Wright]

I dare say impossible to tackle Captain America.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like maybe trip him. No, probably no way. He just jumped to the end zone. Gronk. Gronk. Right now. This blows my mind. He's being drafted as the seventh tight end. He's in the sixth round. He is splitting time with three other tight ends. I think it's absolutely madness that all of these players are being drafted this high. That's not to say I don't.

[Andy Holloway]

Not a lot of room for error.

[Jason Moore]

No, no room for error. And this is a shortened off season where you have the greatest quarterback of all time, but an old quarterback who has known one system coming to a new system. And that new system which has thrived with other quarterbacks, they usually struggle year one. Carson Palmer struggled Year one. Like, you know, we've talked about that before, you know, and the running back situation, we brought that up at the beginning of the show. There's. I think there is way more risk and little upside here with almost any player being drafted from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You're drafting everyone at their ceiling outside of Chris Godwin, you know, at the current average draft position. I think this is a team to avoid for fantasy in 2020.

[Andy Holloway]

I posted a give me your bold prediction thread on Twitter and I'm reading through them and the amount that are Tampa Bay related is incredible. And then the amount that are like this, you know, Mike Evans breaking the single season touchdown record that Randy Moss holds with Tom Brady was a bold prediction. Next person, Mike Evans finishes outside the top 25 wide receivers. It does feel like, you know, there is a wide range of outcomes for them, but you're drafting them at the top of those.

[Jason Moore]

The Buccaneers defense is so much better than what they were at the beginning half of last year. And if this team is actually good, which I'm not saying that they're going to be a bad NFL team, I'm saying that they, they're not going to pay off at the fantasy value of where you're drafting them if their defense is better. Tom Brady's not going to want to throw 5,000 yards. He's going to want to hand it off to this running back group and slow the clock down and win the game. That's what he's there to do, is get W's.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, My bold prediction, my first one, I should have worn a hat today. I would have turned it around backwards for this.

[Mike Wright]

I got you covered over here.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike's got it.

[Mike Wright]

We got the snap back.

[Andy Holloway]

My first bold prediction is that Matthew Stafford will end the year as a top five fantasy quarterback. How does that sound, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

That sounds delicious.

[Andy Holloway]

He has been a top 10 quarterback. This is a little bit of a history lesson. Matthew Stafford has been a top 10 quarterback six times in his career, but it hasn't happened since 2017 because last year, while he had a nice start, he went down with an injury. He has always been a yardage machine. When you think about the players that you can almost pencil 4,000 plus in for, it's like Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford. You know, those guys are going to get it done. Here's a little bit of a reminder of what happened last year in Detroit. Through the first nine weeks, Matthew Stafford had more top five weeks than Patrick Mahomes. He had more top five weeks than Dak Prescott. He had the same amount as Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. He was not good. He was great. He was elite. He has elite deep ball weapons. Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, he has elite red zone weapons. With those bigger wide receivers and now TJ Hawkinson in the mix, we talk about letting Russ Cook. What did Detroit do last year? They completely changed what they do as an offense.

[Mike Wright]

They throw out the cooking book. Yeah, these are bland.

[Andy Holloway]

They just Daryl Bevel changed everything in 2018. They went deep on first half, first downs, 5% of the time. They didn't let Matthew Stafford be Matthew Stafford. Last year they did it on 30% of attempts.

[Mike Wright]

Wow, that's nice.

[Andy Holloway]

And you know what the other thing that people don't realize is it worked. And they won ball games. This was a very competitive team last year. They started the season two 0 and 1. If you remember, they tied Arizona in that third game. They lost by four points the next week to Kansas City in a shootout. They lost by one point the next week against Green Bay, who ended up 13 and 3. And then all of a sudden, the Matthew Stafford goes down halfway through the year and they obviously derailed the whole season. So you look at the final record and you say this team stunk. But the aggressive Matthew Stafford wins them ball games. He has all the weapons to do it. What does it equate to? Let's remind you of the pace. 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns. That was his week one through nine pace last year. I think he picks up where he left, left off. I think they changed their scheme completely. I do not think that their running back room is in any better shape than it was last year. To succeed Matthew Stafford is how this team will win ball games. And if he does what he did last year, you've got a top five fantasy quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

I like it. I like snap.

[Andy Holloway]

And you can wear your cap backwards.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All year long.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You get the snapback, you throw it on backwards. All right. My first prediction. That is part of.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know any of yours.

[Mike Wright]

The bold prediction. Number one, Brian Edwards, rookie wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders. He will be the number one rookie wide receiver for fantasy purposes.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

At the end of the year. And you might say, why is that spicy? Look at the first round. How many wide receivers were drafted in the first round? Rugs by the Las Vegas Raiders. You had Justin Jefferson to the Vikings. You can Jalen Rager, Brandon Iukin, Jerry Judy, CD Lamp. That's six guys in the first round. And maybe I'm forgetting one off the top of my head. That's a lot of elite talent. That's a lot of very high NFL draft capital spent on a wide receiver. Brian Edwards was drafted in the third round. He's 6 3, 2 12. So he's got the frame to get it done. He has the lowest breakout age of all the rookie wide receivers. My man Brian Edwards in South Carolina in the SEC. SEC broke out during his age of 17 and 18. The dude was 17 years old, pulling in a 20% target share in the SEC. He went on to become the all time leader for South Carolina in receptions and receiving yards. This dude was locked and loaded. He was going to be a very high draft pick. What happens? He tore some cartilage in his knee. It happens every single year. We see top, top prospects end up dropping in the draft because they have an injury right before the draft happens. It's a bummer. But Brian Edwards dropped down to the third round. Now I want people to remember Derek Carr is Derek Carr. It's just he's a fun guy to kind of like tell jokes about. And you take your, take your cheap.

[Jason Moore]

Shots, send in the car.

[Mike Wright]

You take your cheap shots at Derek Carr. It's a national pastime now. It's just, it's a fun thing to do. But he has supported some serious.

[Jason Moore]

Send in the car. Send in the car.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

He had a long time.

[Mike Wright]

He has supported some serious fantasy wide receivers. In 2015, Michael Crabtree was the wide receiver 18 with 146 targets. And Amari Cooper was the wide receiver 22 as a rookie. That's an important thing to notice. Wide receiver 22 as a rookie the next year, Michael Crabtree a top 12 wide receiver while Amari Cooper, wide receiver 13, almost had two wide receiver ones from Derek Carr. Henry Ruggs, the Las Vegas their first pick. He has elite traits. He has elite speed. Even by NFL standards. He's a player you have to take in the first round. But now everything that has happened with Terrell Williams out for the season, Brian Edwards, the steady drum beat that has been beating all entire training camp long. I think that Brian Edwards is going to be a target machine along with Darren Waller and Henry Ruggs will just be there to, you know, hit the big play occasionally.

[Andy Holloway]

He has the wide receiver. He was the 15th wide receiver off the board this year. So that's how bold that call is. The 15th rookie wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

Such a good show. Just the fantasy footballers because I do this for a living. I had no idea that breakout age. I had not come across that yet. And that's, that's a really good piece of information. That's an important stat for.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, it correlates very strongly because just to like here's a brief history of breakout age. If a player is going into college as a. Still as a growing human being, they haven't reached like they all are. Yes. Like he's not into his full grown man body yet. And he's out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Me either.

[Mike Wright]

You got to get the maturation look and he goes out there and he dominates other, other college players. Who are already 20 years old. That's a big deal compared to someone who turns 21 and then they dominate. On college players, it is a very, very big deal. So I'm all in.

[Andy Holloway]

Brian Edwards, not just talent.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Voice of public opinion.

[Jason Moore]

Will you guarantee he's the best rookie on his own team this year?

[Mike Wright]

Well, if I'm calling for him to be the top rookie wide receiver, I guarantee it. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

You have to have the opportunity. He has it right before him. Thank you, Tyrell Williams, for that opportunity. Get well soon.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Jason, I like that. I knew you were doing that this whole week. I didn't know your argument, but I knew that was one of your picks. I think that's a really fun, bold pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Just to follow it up, though, like, where would you draft him?

[Mike Wright]

Look, you don't have to go crazy just at the end of your last round. You could be or even, you know, this one of your three final picks.

[Andy Holloway]

Positional or in the first round if you're in a draft with Mike.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's fine.

[Mike Wright]

I'll just take Antonio Gibson then.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I'm going to stick with another wide receiver. And I'm actually putting your two bold predictions together here between Matthew Stafford.

[Mike Wright]

I can't believe you are doing this.

[Andy Holloway]

I can't either.

[Jason Moore]

Marvin Jones Jr. Scores as many fantasy points as Kenny Galladay even though there's such smooth routes from Kenny G. So.

[Mike Wright]

Let me hear what you're saying here. Marvin Jones, top five fantasy wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

No, I am not saying that. And I don't have Kenny Golladay as a top five wide receiver as well.

[Mike Wright]

I don't like it.

[Jason Moore]

This is a bold prediction, but let me lay out my case for you in a couple of quick bullet points. Last year, Kenny Golladay was tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns in the NFL with 11. Marvin Jones was on pace to score 12 touchdowns with Matthew Stafford. And this actually makes sense if you look at the last three years combined, Marvin Jones has the fifth most receiving touchdowns in the NFL and he's missed 10 games during that time. So over the last three years, he's missed, you know, not a full season, but more than half of a season and he's got the fifth most receiving touchdowns. Fantasy points come from touchdowns. Now, sometimes they come three in a game and it's not very consistent, but they come for Marvin Jones. Last year, Kenny Golladay dominated. He only had 65 receptions and he was on pace for 70 with Matthew Stafford. Marvin Jones was on pace for 84 receptions with Matthew Stafford, that's better. So the receptions are there, the touchdowns are there. And here's the thing. It's not like Marvin Jones is a slot wide receiver dink and dunk guy. So the receptions are higher. Marvin Jones has averaged 15.1 yards per reception, which is the 11th best of qualified wide receivers, those who have at least 33 receptions a year over the last three years. And you know that that's a really good number. Now Kenny Golladi's is even better than that. So Matthew Stafford to Andy's bold prediction. He's going to air it out. Both these guys are going to get touches. But here's the way I view it. Will Marvin Jones be the number one target? No.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no.

[Jason Moore]

But will he lead the team in receptions? Yes.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I believe he will. You know, before this, before this argument, before this bold prediction, I wrote that down and I go, you know what? I know this is. I know I'm being, I'm finding a bold prediction, but I wanted to know how far off I was. I went to my numbers that had already been statted out. Marvin Jones leading the team in receptions, a few ahead of Kenny Golladay. So he won't be the number one target, but he will lead the team in receptions. Will he lead the team in receiving yards? Probably not. But will he lead the team in touchdowns? I'm going to say yes. Is he being picked 65 players after Kenny Golladay? Yes. Should he be? No.

[Mike Wright]

That is my taking a test right now.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like I'm shocked. And then I'm telling myself, of course I should be shocked. It's a bold prediction show.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Also I have Marvin Jones with more receptions than Kenny College. There you go.

[Jason Moore]

Because it makes sense for these players. Experience, history, archetype, everything.

[Andy Holloway]

I had the. I traded for Kenny Golladay in one of our leagues last year. So excited to get him in the lineup and I had him for two weeks and both weeks were quote unquote, Marvin Jones weeks where it just the touchdowns go his way. Marvin Jones, do you remember a couple years ago that insane 50, 50 ball percentage? Like where on the deep passes he came down with like all of them.

[Mike Wright]

I think he was a. He was a top 12 wide receiver that year. Right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Marvin Jones is.

[Andy Holloway]

I love that. Yours backs up my Matthew Stafford take, though. I really appreciate that both of these.

[Jason Moore]

Guys are great teamwork. Here's what this isn't. This is not an anti Kenny Golladay take. Kenny Golladay is great. This Is a pro. Marvin Jones take. Marvin Jones is being drafted too late. And yes, he will be less consistent than Kenny Golladay. There's rationale, you know, people aren't dumb in their drafts. And, you know, there's rationale why he's being drafted so far behind. But at the end of the year, I think their fantasy points will be so extremely close. Or wait the same. Because that's the bold prediction.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that is the bold prediction. And yeah, they got Marvin hall there, too for deep balls. It's going to be fun to watch Detroit, see if they lean into Matthew Stafford's skill set again this year. All right, Am I up?

[Jason Moore]

You are.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. I'm pretty stupid.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you're stupid because of the take you're about to drop.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, I just don't. I could have picked anything out of a million different bold predictions and I'm deciding to go down with this one. Do we have.

[Jason Moore]

Can I. We have breaking news. Breaking news. I just wanted to double check because, Mike, you looked up yours. Andy Holloway as well. Has Marvin Jones the leading.

[Andy Holloway]

Do I really?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so it doesn't sound very bold then.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, okay.

[Jason Moore]

All right, that's fair. That got me. And yet everyone was like, this is crazy bold.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the bold prediction we all already had apparently received but didn't know it. My second bold prediction. I might as well lean in here. I mean, I've already got Joe Mixon as a my guy. AJ Green might as well be. I've talked up Joe Burrow, his camp performances, how he's been impressing me. So why not go with Joe Burrow? A record breaking rookie season breaks the touchdown record at the quarterback position. And the Cincinnati Bengals find a way to challenge for a wild card spot this year.

[Jason Moore]

So they get it? Do they get it?

[Andy Holloway]

I knew that question was coming. And of course they do, because this is a bold production. It's a bold prediction episode. So why not?

[Mike Wright]

Look, they challenge for a wild card spot, eventually they fall a little bit short.

[Jason Moore]

Boom.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, listen, I like the fantasy outlook for a number of these players. I even think Tyler Boyd could very well surprise. He's being largely ignored in fantasy football. And what I like about this, I like Zach Taylor. I like the fact that Joe Burrow is going to have a chance at this. There are situations as a rookie quarterback, you don't have a shot if you're Dwayne Haskins, you have no shot at breaking rookie records or being fantasy relevant in an offense that was handing the ball to Adrian Peterson. Four times every three plays. But the Bengals do have that shot. They dropped back their passers last year. Dropped back 665 times. That was fifth in football. I think he breaks the rookie record, which is 27 touchdowns. That's Baker Mayfield. I think he can. The one rookie season I don't think he can top fantasy wise is that Cam Newton rookie season from 2011. That's just going to be. You're going to need to have somebody come in that has the rushing capability that Cam Newton did to break that record. But they have. This is. According to Warren Sharp, the Bengals project to face the number one fastest schedule by pace of play, which fits right in with what Zach Taylor is doing. They have the number eight easiest schedule and projected defenses in terms of passing efficiency from the 2020 season. And the reason I actually believe in the team having some success is because unlike previous years in Cincinnati, they actually went out and they spent a lot of money on their defense. They had a bit of a spending spree on that side of the ball where they struggled. They still have Geno Atkins in the middle and they've improved their secondary quite a bit. So, look, it's a bold prediction show. You see teams go from, you know, the bottom tier in terms of projected wins out of Vegas into that surprise category. This one feels like a tough one. I mean, they're projected for five and a half wins as fourth worst of any team. But I really believe in the fantasy options in Cincinnati. The way they play football is going to be conducive for that. So I'm putting it out there. Joe Burrow breaks the record and the Bengals are competitive.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Last year on this show, this is where I dropped the. Austin Eckler is going to be a running back one at the time. Mike, for the record, insane.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me. Let me do this for you, Mike, because you don't.

[Jason Moore]

Ah, yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike went 2 for 2 on this show last year.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you. Bold.

[Andy Holloway]

Both variable. One was Cooper cup having leading the league in touchdowns. And then the second one was Austin Eckler top 12, which we were not really on board with last year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I was on an island about that one. I know I won't be so much on an island with this one. And look, it's not as hot and spicy as a top 12 pick for Austin Eckler, but it's still pretty spicy.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait, are you going back to Austin Eckler?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I'm calling for the new Austin Eckler. Chris Thompson will be a top 20 running back. By the end of the year. Jacksonville Jaguars. And here is why. Let's look at that backfield. What do we like?

[Andy Holloway]

Chris Thompson, top 20.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Chris Thompson. I'm just processing.

[Mike Wright]

And Jacksonville has created a murky backfield situation. These are the places that you can take advantage and find a breakout candidate. Who is the starter right now for Jacksonville? Is it Rykwell Armstead? He's got his supporters, his believers, Divine Ozigbo.

[Jason Moore]

It's Chris Thompson.

[Mike Wright]

Even James Robinson has people in his camp. The rookie whose role is secure, Chris Thompson. Since 2015, Chris Thompson has averaged over four and a half targets a game. That's a 74 target a year pace since 2015. Even with my man missing 20 games, he still has the 11th most targets to the running back position since he has, since he has started really playing this team had Leonard Fournette see 100 targets last year. Now let me ask you this. Do we believe that Jacksonville will be seeing more positive game scripts or more negative game scripts?

[Jason Moore]

Their defense. Look, spoiler alert for our week one episodes. Play against Jacksonville. Start your guys against that defense.

[Mike Wright]

So that sounds to me like they're going to need a running back who is a pass catching specialist on the field more often than not. That is Chris Thompson. He averages over nine yards per reception. That is an elite number. In 2017 when he really broke out six of those first seven weeks, he, he was a top 20 guy. He was top 15 in five of six of those games. He was a fantasy superstar off the waiver wire in 2018. He started with two top two or top 10 weeks yet again, but unfortunately went down to injury. 2019, he was in the top 20 in two of the first three weeks. Unfortunately an injury stopped him yet again. That is the only thing in the way of Chris Thompson.

[Andy Holloway]

Feels like maybe the bold prediction part of this is staying healthy.

[Mike Wright]

Look, he does have a, he does have one year where he was healthy for all 16 games in 2016.

[Andy Holloway]

But he's not finished the year as a top 20 before. So that is something he hasn't done.

[Mike Wright]

No, he has never done it. But the opportunity is so great in front of him. The offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, that's who Chris Thompson has done all of his damage with. Jay Gruden convinced the team we need to get Chris Thompson into this backfield. Releasing Leonard Fournette is, is huge for the opportunity, in my opinion for Chris Thompson. His ADP has taken a bit of a jump for people drafting this, you know, right now in this weekend. But I believe that Chris Thompson by the end of the year can be a top 20 guy and a real fantasy difference maker.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I don't. I don't like it. I love it.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes. Let's go.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. I totally. I get it. I mean, look, you totally tricked me. Yes. That was my acting. Yes. I got you so good as an actor.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my gosh. All right. Hey, I'm going to read you four bold predictions from the listeners on Twitter. I want you to handicap them for me. Okay. So just give me percentage odds of it happening and that's all I want. Gardner Minshew Top 10.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh.

[Mike Wright]

Top 10. I think it can happen. I will, but I will put it down at like 15%.

[Jason Moore]

That was the exact number I had.

[Andy Holloway]

Justin Jefferson outscoring Adam Thielen.

[Jason Moore]

0%. Well, injury no. 5. 5%.

[Andy Holloway]

Anthony Miller, a top 15 wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

0%. 1 1%.

[Jason Moore]

20%. Wow. I almost. My bold prediction.

[Mike Wright]

Anthony Miller.

[Jason Moore]

My bold prediction was so close to being Anthony Miller is. You know how I had Marvin Jones scores as many points as Kenny Golladay was the Anthony Miller scores.

[Mike Wright]

Anthony Miller, your Allen Robinson fade knows no bounds. Darn Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Last one, Jonathan Taylor. Top five, running back, top five.

[Mike Wright]

35%.

[Jason Moore]

20%. But I will say this. I immediately went to the schedule already looking at the who Jacksonville is playing week one because I was going to try to get my start of the weekend for week one already.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

They play the Colts.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

You want to give an opportunity for the young gun to, you know, I mean, I was like, do I make it Marlon Mack? Do I go Jonathan Taylor?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Marlon Mack could end up being like the best running back in week one. And serious, nobody plays him. We want to thank Pristine auction for supporting the show today. Daniel Jones signed logo football, $74.49 for an up and coming quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

And no, it wasn't me who bought it.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, not yet.

[Jason Moore]

He'll buy it off you.

[Andy Holloway]

He'll buy it off you for $200.

[Jason Moore]

Contact him at Ffhipman Auction.

[Andy Holloway]

That could be a whole industry flipping stuff. You get on Pristine Auction straight to Mike. Just buy your Gibson, your jarwin, your Daniel Jones, your Chris Thompson gear. Get it cheap on pristine [e-mail] use the code BALLERS, then flip it to Mike for double the money.

[Mike Wright]

I've heard worse ideas in my life.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, guys, start buying it up. All right, that is it for today's show. Thank you for the bold predictions on Twitter and look forward to the Bengals winning the Super Bowl.

[Mike Wright]

See you tomorrow. Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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.