Fantasy Fallout: McKinnon, Lev, Cuts & Breaking News

Summary

Fantasy Fallout: McKinnon, Lev, Cuts & Breaking News – Detailed Summary

In the September 3, 2018 episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast titled "Fantasy Fallout: McKinnon, Lev, Cuts & Breaking News," hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright delve into the latest developments impacting fantasy football as the NFL season kicks off. This comprehensive summary captures the key discussions, insights, and conclusions drawn during the episode.

---

1. Jerick McKinnon’s Injury and Its Impact

The episode opens with significant attention on the recent injury to Jerick McKinnon, a pivotal player for many fantasy teams.

• Andy Holloway shares his personal experience during a money league draft:

  “...McKinnon has unfortunately gone down with a non-contact injury. It looks serious.” ([03:08])

• Mike Wright emphasizes the severity:

  “We're going to tackle the fallout from the very devastating news that Jerick McKinnon has suffered a torn ACL.” ([05:07])

The hosts discuss the ramifications of McKinnon's injury, highlighting the necessity for fantasy managers to stay updated and make informed decisions promptly.

---

2. Alfred Morris vs. Matt Breida Debate

A substantial portion of the podcast centers around the debate between selecting Alfred Morris and Matt Breida in light of McKinnon's injury.

• Andy Holloway presents statistical arguments against Breida:

  “...running backs under 200 pounds just don't get it done.” ([10:31])

• Jason Moore counters by highlighting Breida's potential:

  “I have Burrito significantly ahead of Alf in just fantasy points scored.” ([13:45])

• Mike Wright aligns with Moore's perspective:

  “Jason and I both side with the Matt Breida side when it comes to who to go with in this situation.” ([10:46])

The discussion delves into Breida's explosiveness and potential role in the offense versus Morris's reliability and experience. The consensus leans towards Breida being a more affordable and high-ceiling option, while acknowledging Morris's proven track record.

---

3. Team Updates and Player Cuts

The hosts provide a thorough rundown of player movements across various NFL teams, essential for fantasy managers to adjust their rosters accordingly.

• Arizona Cardinals:

  • Signing of Bryce Butler, with a preference expressed for Chad Williams over Christian Kirk.

• Baltimore Ravens:

  • Farewell to Brashad Perryman:

    “He is working out with the Jets and irrelevant for further conversation.” ([20:20])

• Buffalo Bills:

  • Release of Corey Coleman and shift focus to Nick O'Leary, who has been cut.
  • Nathan Peterman named starter to protect Josh Allen:

    “This is not good. Nathan Peterman is the best quarterback of all.” ([23:06])

• Chicago Bears:

  • Acquisition of Khalil Mack, positioning their defense as a strong fantasy asset.
  • Adam Shaheen placed on injured reserve:

    “Trey Burton is going to miss at least the first eight weeks.” ([27:21])

• Dallas Cowboys:

  • Cutting of Dan Bailey and Bo Scarborough:

    “Dan Bailey has not lost a step here. This must be a money situation.” ([29:02])

• Denver Broncos:

  • Release of Paxton Lynch and handling of the Henderson players.

• Los Angeles Chargers:

  • Signing of Antonio Gates, adding depth to their tight end position:

    “Gates stabilizes that defense is something to pay attention to for fantasy.” ([26:47])

• Miami Dolphins:

  • Jason Sanders wins the kicking job over Greg Joseph.

• Pittsburgh Steelers:

  • Ongoing saga with Le'Veon Bell, who did not report to practice, leading to considerations around drafting James Conner as his replacement.

• Seattle Seahawks:

  • Ed Dixon placed on injured reserve, with Nick Vannette stepping in as the starter.

• Oakland Raiders:

  • Release of Martavis Bryant, signaling turmoil within the team.

• Philadelphia Eagles:

  • Confirmation of Nick Foles starting Week 1, affecting their offensive projections.

---

4. Mailbag: Listener Questions and Advice

The episode features a segment where the hosts address listener questions, offering tailored advice to specific fantasy dilemmas.

• Question on Dropping Players:

  “Where or Wilkins? I have both Spencer Ware and Jordan Wilkins... Need to drop one for a temporary quarterback.” ([50:30])

  Jason Moore advises dropping Spencer Ware in favor of retaining Jordan Wilkins due to his role as a potential starter.

• Kicker Selection:

  “I need to drop one wide receiver to pick up a defense for Week 1. Who should I drop? Either Kelvin Benjamin, Chris Godwin, or Michael Gallup.” ([50:47])

  Hosts recommend dropping Chris Godwin, citing his performance and potential over other options.

• Commissioner’s Power Play:

  “As the commissioner of a dynasty league, I was asked to use my commission powers to add a player from the free agents to a team's IR spot...” ([51:22])

  Jason Moore and Andy Holloway caution against circumventing standard league rules, emphasizing fairness and adherence to established protocols.

• Playoff Schedule Consideration:

  “When do you start considering playoff schedules? I always finish top three regular season...” ([51:50])

  Mike Wright advises starting to consider playoff schedules around Week 8, once more data becomes available.

---

5. Notable Highlights and Insights

Throughout the episode, the hosts interject with humor and personal anecdotes, enriching the discussion with relatable content for fantasy football enthusiasts.

• Humorous Segment: The hosts engage in a mock "fantasy court" to arbitrate disputes, injecting levity into the episode.

• Snack Preferences: In response to a listener's question about draft day vs. game day snacking, Jason Moore humorously suggests:

  “My go-to snacks for sure. Oreos on draft day. Double stuff. Get out of here with that single stuff garbage.” ([49:05])

• Player Performance Predictions: Andy Holloway and Jason Moore share their perspectives on player performances, such as Nick Foles' impact on the Eagles' offense and Antonio Gates' role with the Chargers.

---

6. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode wraps up with the hosts reinforcing the unpredictable nature of fantasy football, urging listeners to remain adaptable and proactive in managing their teams amid injuries and roster changes.

• Mike Wright emphasizes resilience:

  “It's part of the game. Sometimes your players get hurt... it's the nature of fantasy football.” ([46:08])

• Jason Moore encourages maintaining optimism:

  “Every single year, people lose round one running backs, round one wide receivers... they win the championship.” ([46:31])

The hosts conclude by promoting their community resources and encouraging listeners to stay engaged with the latest updates to enhance their fantasy football strategies.

---

This episode serves as a crucial update for fantasy managers, providing timely insights into player injuries, strategic drafting decisions, and essential roster adjustments. By addressing real-time developments and offering expert analysis, the Fantasy Footballers equip their audience with the knowledge needed to navigate the complexities of the fantasy football season effectively.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, foot clan. You can get equipped for fantasy football season with your own personalized fantasy football team gear including custom T shirts, hats, hoodies, coffee mugs and awesome personalized football figurines from fantasy football figures. These figurines are incredible. We all, we always want to customize things and why not have your own football man rocking your fantasy football team. You can go to fantasy footballfigures.com use the promo code footballers to get 20% off off. This offer is only for our show listeners and goes until the end of September. Fantasy footballfigures.com promo code footballers.

[Mike Wright]

This is Melvin Gordon from the Los Angeles Chargers and you listening to the fantasy footballers podcast.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Mike Wright]

Oh, we don't know how holidays work.

[Jason Moore]

We don't take a holiday mostly because.

[Mike Wright]

We don't know how they work. Welcome in. It is Labor Day and we're back. The fantasy footballers laboring on your behalf, getting you ready for week one of the NFL season.

[Andy Holloway]

Our pain is your gain.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we did it wrong. The roads were empty today on the way in.

[Andy Holloway]

That part was pretty sweet.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that part was cool. What if we worked only on holidays?

[Jason Moore]

That would be great. Driving situation. Other than I won't have a car. I won't be able to afford.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I see a vehicle. Well, we're here. It's Monday, September 3rd. And you know what? I'm glad we're here. I'm glad we're here because there's. There has been a lot of news, a lot of news and a lot of things to debate and talk about and get you ready for. I mean, this is week one of the NFL.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. This weekend was crazy. I remember Saturday, I'm out to lunch with the family.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And then it's like everything is going down. People are getting injured.

[Mike Wright]

People are trying to update the ultimate draft kit.

[Jason Moore]

I'm literally at lunch with my family, pulling out my electronics and. Sorry, I got to go to work on the ultimate draft kit.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, guys, I got.

[Mike Wright]

Wasn't even a holiday.

[Andy Holloway]

I got a story to share.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

From this weekend. I was at a draft. I was, I was at my money league draft.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And we're talking. I don't even know if it's five minutes before the draft starts. I can't remember if it's the first round of the draft. My sleeper app sends me a notification that Jerick McKinnon has unfortunately gone down with a non contact injury. It looks serious. When we all got the news, clearly the people in my league did not get the memo that they need to be checking news. And what do you.

[Mike Wright]

What are you supposed to do?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, here's the thing. I did my fantasy football industry duties. I tweeted about it. I said, we don't have information yet on the injury, but you have. You have to draft Burrito and you got to move forward. Like, McKinnon's going to be injured for the season. So I tweeted it out, and then I sat. And then I sat on that news, and I apologize for nothing. And the third round or so rolls around because it's a keeper league, so things were a little weird. His name goes out. I am full poker face. But inside, I am just like, you got to pay attention, man. You got to pay attention. And then somewhere around the sixth round, someone else in the league happened to catch the news, and they went, wait, did you guys know about this? And I was like, I may or may not have known about this. Maybe you should follow me on Twitter.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

No mercy.

[Mike Wright]

Did you draft? No, I didn't breathe.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I did not. Because the. I was.

[Mike Wright]

You didn't know if the news was right.

[Andy Holloway]

Of course, we didn't know if he was going to be out for the year. And it was also. I'm pushing this to the end, but I was already planning on. Okay. With one of my last picks. I'm going to grab Alfred Morris. But I was on the turn. So once the chatter started in the draft room, then both of those guys got selected right away. I wasn't able to sneakily grab them. But I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that had a very similar situation. And if you chose to hold on to the news, I stand by your decision. It's a.

[Jason Moore]

That's completely fair game. 100% fair game. That's very different than the news breaks and you go try to trade him or something. This is. That's. That's you being shady. It's not your responsibility for people to have the latest breaking news.

[Mike Wright]

Mike's not responsible for being the sleeper app for them.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, no, that's fair. Look, we're going to get into that. That'll be one of the first things we tackle is all the fallout from the very devastating news that Jerick McKinnon has suffered a torn ACL. On Saturday. We'll get into it momentarily. And we're also going to walk through each of the other teams. The fantasy fallout from injuries, surprising cuts. I'm Going to take my cohort's pulse today about some teams and situations, how they're feeling heading into week one. And obviously, as we inch closer to Thursday, we'll be breaking down all of our starts of the week. Everything you need to know. You'll find it on this podcast and on the Website the fantasy footballers.com youm can follow us on Twitter in case you don't want to miss any of that very important news. I just that you do@the ff ballers and then YouTube is YouTube.com the fantasy footballers. This weekend we put up a video. We recorded the loser punishment in our league of record. People have. We've talked about the wheel of water and the loser spins the wheel 11 times and then drafts soaking wet. And so we filmed that and put it on YouTube. It's pretty cool. And you can check it out there. All right, let's go ahead. Oh, by the way, Jason's Deal with it rankings article. Yeah, Jason is up on the website.

[Andy Holloway]

Congratulations.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Deal with it. It's highlighting the players that I disagree with you two gentlemen on according to our consensus rankings. Now you.

[Mike Wright]

You did. You paid for a full Grammarly subscription.

[Andy Holloway]

I was just going to say now over under Grammarly red lines in your. While you're writing it up.

[Jason Moore]

Here's the deal.

[Andy Holloway]

30.

[Jason Moore]

I'm starting. The article starts right off with a very purposeful.

[Andy Holloway]

Morism.

[Jason Moore]

Morism. Mistake. So enjoy.

[Mike Wright]

And it goes from there.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's go.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, the fantasy court with Judge Giamatti. Plaintiff Mike Wright is accusing Jason and Andy of overlook Alfred Morris with criminal intent and being in love too much with Matt Burrida.

[Andy Holloway]

That is absolutely true and I'd like to focus more on the second part.

[Mike Wright]

Well, by the way, the judge works on holidays as well. So he's here and he's gonna.

[Jason Moore]

He's got the.

[Andy Holloway]

He's got the face up and everything.

[Mike Wright]

Judge Giamatti is in the building. He's going to declare a ruling here. And this has been a hotly debated topic all weekend. Who do you draft? Who do you put your confidence behind, Fantasy wise? If anyone in San Francisco after the McKinnon injury.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you were on Twitter this weekend, honestly, the way I saw it was really close to about 50, 50 people saying Alfred Morris is the guy to go with. Matt Burrita is the guy to go with. And we have. We've kind of taken our sides. I'm actually somewhat neutral because I believe that both of these running backs have value, but I absolutely believe that Alfred Morris has value and so here's some things that I wanted to talk about for Matt Burrida. This is what I wanted to focus on last year. Matt Burrita, who were throwing all the pass catching duties on the Matt burrito. Okay, McKinnon's out. He was going to be the pass catcher. Well, McKinnon Burrito Profiles is that he's a smaller guy. Satellite back last year on 36 targets, he only had 20, 21 receptions. A catch rate of 58.3%. That's incredibly low. John Paulson from 4 for 4 went through all of the targets for Matt Burrida. He said he counted at least four or five drops, just straight drops. For Matt Burrita, which is on 36 targets. That is definitely troubling. You had Carlos Hyde, who is not considered a great pass catcher. He had 88 targets, but he still managed to catch 67% of his passes. Oh, by the way, Alfred Morris, who's considered one of the worst pass catching running backs. His career cash or catch percentage is higher than Matt burritos.

[Mike Wright]

Well, yeah, three of four.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, 75%.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it's, it's actually, it's more targets. But I just. Historically, here's why I'm betting against Matt Burrita. He's 190 pounds. Maybe he's 195 pounds now.

[Mike Wright]

196.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, 196.

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm just making that up.

[Andy Holloway]

He just, he's listening.

[Mike Wright]

He's small. He's a little guy. 59195.

[Andy Holloway]

On Pro Football Reference, he is listed at 190 pounds. I went back and since the year 2000, running backs under 200 pounds, there has only been 11 players, 11 running backs under 200 pounds that have carried the ball over 200 times in a season. There's only been 10 running backs since the year 2000 who have had over 1,000 yards weighing under 200 pounds. There's only been 11 guys under 200 pounds that have ever had six or more rushing touchdowns in a season. This is why I'm betting against Matt Breida. It's not that he's a bad player at all. I went back, I watched a lot of him over the weekend to get ready to talk about this. I'm just betting historically running backs under 200 pounds just don't get it done.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's fair. I mean, look, I'd like to say that my opinion has been. And I'll let Jason first chair, I'll second chair real quick, toss it over to Jason because Jason and I Both side with the Matt Breida side when it comes to who to go with in this situation.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Neither of us are debating, I think the workhorse viability of Matt Breida. So that would be the first thing I get out of the way. They cut Joe Williams, they cut Jeremy McNich. This is the Morris Breida committee and I hear a lot of comparisons of Matt. Matt Burrida needs to be the Tevin Coleman role. That's what he was carved out to be. You had Devonta Freeman, aka Jerick McKinnon and then you have Matt Breida, he's the Tevin Coleman. Well, you know what, if you go to Atlanta and you drop Alfred Morris into the Devonta Freeman role, I'm feeling a lot better about Tevin Coleman. And that's kind of the situation here. It's about explosiveness, utility and if you look in the off season, look, Matt Breida, yes, he was not the most efficient pass catcher last year, but he did catch a lot of passes relative to his playing time. He had 10 or more touches, I'm sorry, 10 or more carries in four of the last five games of the season. And he's flashed a lot in the preseason. A lot of positive talk to him. The preseason, sorry, in the training camp. He has not done a single training camp. Training camp. I'm saying Shanahan talks highly of him. Yes, it's more a matter of believing that the 23 year old that will be put in a position to whether he can do it well or not, he's going to be in the position to catch a lot of passes. And it's a 30 year old Alfred Morris. I'm going to go with the more explosive Chris Thompson than the Rob Kelly esque Alfred Morris. And ultimately it's a price thing. I've seen more Morris talk than Breida. Therefore I think that the most affordable waiver wire fab pickup is Breida.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Obviously Andy, since we're being accused on the same side here. Yes, I agree that Twitter, my Twitter timeline is at least 75% Alf, you gotta diversify your followers burrito. And it's not just the follows, it's also the people following that. Everybody's talking up ALF because he's the new shiny thing and he will get the first crack. And I will grant you this week one, week one. I much prefer ALF because you've got Breida still coming off of the shoulder separation. So I don't know how much he'll be involved. But I see this situation very similar. This is like a poor man cleared to practice.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he's just so people are aware.

[Jason Moore]

I see this as a poor man's Tennessee Titans situation where you've got Derek Henry who is the first and second down back and you've got Dion Lewis who's, you know, more the third down back. He's the pass catching role, but he's also going to be involved in first and second from time to time. They'll split the carries, but the targets go to the smaller guy. And I would always prefer to have the guy involved in the passing game. I have statted both of these guys out and I have alf leading the way in the carry count. But at the end of all the stats, when you factor in both the carries and the targets, the receptions and that work, I have Burrito significantly ahead of Alph in just fantasy points scored. Now, if this is a standard league, that definitely switches.

[Mike Wright]

Alf has averaged nine receptions per season in his career.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. The receptions are not going to be there. It's is.

[Jason Moore]

This isn't. This isn't a young alf. This isn't a Washington Redskins offensive line. Agreed. You know, this is. This is not as good a situation. People even go, okay, well look at Alf last year. Yeah, the Cowboys offensive line was also very good. You're with the Niners offensive line. They're getting things better. But it's agreed.

[Mike Wright]

I will rebuttal.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, my rebuttal.

[Mike Wright]

You got two of us and one of you. You get to talk one more time.

[Andy Holloway]

Alfred Morris. I can't argue against the age of 30. So things are against him. But as far as a running back goes, he is a younger 30 year old. He he. His rookie season he was 24 years old. This isn't a guy who's been in the league since he was 20 and he's only got 1400 carries on his body. That includes the playoffs. That's not anywhere close to the danger area for someone who's 30. And I saved kind of my last piece of evidence because you guys are very interested in the pass catcher for San Francisco. You know who caught more passes than Matt Burrita?

[Mike Wright]

Kyle Use Check.

[Andy Holloway]

Kyle Jus. Check. Yeah, they'll use him on 42 targets. So more than Matt Burrita with a catch percentage of 78.6%. A far more efficient trucking. 20 points better.

[Jason Moore]

I love Kyle Juszczyk.

[Andy Holloway]

Kyle Juszczyk is. He is the problem. He is the biggest problem in my opinion for Matt Burrito.

[Jason Moore]

The one thing I will say. The one thing I will say, I'm still placing my cheaper bets on Burrito because like Andy said.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's fine. I'm fine with that.

[Jason Moore]

Burrito will cost you less than ALF right now on waivers in trades. But I do think ALF has the higher ceiling in the sense that I don't believe Matt Breida can be in every down. Like, if one of them were to be a fantasy star this year, it would probably be alf. I don't think either one of them are going to be a fantasy star this season.

[Andy Holloway]

And the last thing, because is he still. Is ALF still down at like 39 for you, Jason?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, he is.

[Andy Holloway]

Because I just believe that touchdowns in itself will take Alfred Morris.

[Jason Moore]

I have him with six.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Last year, Burrito only had two carries inside the 10. They did not want him being used there. Carlos. I did 27.

[Mike Wright]

You want to know what I. I'm interested in who the judge would take.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh.

[Mike Wright]

In the late round ruling. Let's get a ruling from the judge. Can we wait? You didn't know this was coming, Brooks. You didn't know this was on the way?

[Andy Holloway]

Did you know there was a Judge Giamatti segment happening?

[Jason Moore]

It's a big decision.

[Mike Wright]

I had to listen to the arguments. Very good. All right. It's out of respect for you guys.

[Jason Moore]

Let'S get the ruling.

[Mike Wright]

Rule in favor.

[Jason Moore]

Slightly of Matt Breda.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Any form of ppr.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. First off, we're going to need another ruling from a judge who can pronounce his name right.

[Mike Wright]

It's like cheetah.

[Jason Moore]

That's how you need cheetah.

[Mike Wright]

It's Brita. Like cheetah. But that's okay. I mean, your job is not to. Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

No legal thing.

[Mike Wright]

Here's what I think. Baby Josh. Dang it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I came in this morning and I went. I went in to use the restroom and guess what? The water was on in there. And you know who that must have been.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's a baby Josh.

[Mike Wright]

That's a baby Josh. Move. Leaving the water on wasting the water.

[Andy Holloway]

My goodness.

[Mike Wright]

Here's what's funny. In 2012, the top three rushers in the NFL were Adrian Peterson, Alfred Morris, and Marshawn Lynch. And we're still talking about ridiculous for a month.

[Andy Holloway]

Fair enough.

[Mike Wright]

It's funny, though. It really is. And here.

[Jason Moore]

Here's.

[Mike Wright]

Here's what I want to know. I'm going to bring this up. Should the Redskins have just kept Alfred Morris.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

After all these years and their struggles behind center or, you know, at the running back position, possibly. Well, they have Adrian Peterson as their starting running back this year.

[Andy Holloway]

To be fair, it. It wasn't trending. Well, was not trending like Alf. I mean, he went down a production every single year and yeah, they just figured we're not gonna pay this guy.

[Mike Wright]

It's just a funny thing.

[Andy Holloway]

It is.

[Mike Wright]

It is.

[Jason Moore]

Weekly rewind.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we're gonna catch you up on some of the bigger cuts, some of the signings that have taken place, injury news, depth chart news. We're going to give you a quick run through just so you're primed and ready to make good decisions this week. Don't forget Footclang giveaway dot com. There's only three days left. You can win an autographed DeAndre Hopkins jersey, a couple copies of Madden or the UDK for life. There are some of you I know that are still drafting this week. So get the ultimate draft kit while you get, while you have a chance. And we were on there updating that thing the second this news broke. So it's up to date. You can print the cheat sheets out. All right, let's start in Arizona, the Cardinals cup Bryce Butler off season wide receiver signing. This is interesting only because we, you know, we've had to decide between a few guys in Arizona. It looks like Chad Williams, Christian Kirk locked in and Ricky Seals Jones.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm placing my chips on Chad Williams. I think that early the, in the earliest parts of the preseason games, that's where Chad Williams was involved. Bradford looked his way. You know, I long term, I like both guys but if I had to pick one to be a viable wide receiver, two in Arizona. Right now I'm leaning Chad Williams over Christian Kirk.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

Are you?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

Okay. So I thought you'd go Kirk's way. Mike.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Chad Williams. We do need to remember it was a long time ago, but he was a third round pick and he's one of these guys that blows up the athletic measurables. He needs a real chance and I think he's going to get one here.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

Only other Arizona news worth noting, Jermaine Gresham did come off of the pup. He's not expected to be ready for the opener. So if you drafted Ricky Seals Jones, you're good to go. But keep an eye on it because he will be back before week six.

[Mike Wright]

Looks like Alfred Morris went for $33 of Fab in our listener league.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was. It's upsetting to me because I had that beat at one point. Our listener league is a 14 teamer, so a starting running back is extremely valuable. But I pulled my bid down and I think I lost like five bucks.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Baltimore finally said farewell to Brashad Perryman.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

He is working out with the jets and irrelevant for further conversation.

[Andy Holloway]

That is 100% agreed. Sorry, Perryman.

[Mike Wright]

Here's more significant news in Buffalo. Say goodbye to Corey Coleman. There is something 24 years old farewell.

[Andy Holloway]

Something we don't know about.

[Mike Wright]

You know, it seems like Coleman has gone from budding star to maybe out of the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he.

[Jason Moore]

Someone will. I believe someone. You think he'll.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think he's done. He'll end up some on somebody's practice squad. He'll go the route of Greg Little.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's. It's not good when you've got that kind of draft capital in you and you're traded for a seventh and then can't make the roster with Calvin Benjamin and Zay Jones, you can't break in Jeremy Curley. Right.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, the roster right now in Buffalo, like I think Curly is a speculative ad, to be honest with you. In deeper leagues and in Dynasty, I don't mind it. I. They just don't have a lot of pass catchers. But let's talk about Mr. Very necessary, say goodbye. Nick O'Leary no longer necessary.

[Jason Moore]

Your services are not needed.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, tight end Nick O'Leary who filled in for I almost Cassius Clay. Oh, how funny is that?

[Andy Holloway]

That's a different person.

[Mike Wright]

Little Muhammad Ali reference. Yeah, no, Charles Clay last year. He's not on the roster. But here's the deal. Nathan Peterman has been named the starter in Buffalo for week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the real deal. Start the Baltimore Ravens defense everywhere you can.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to be a bloodbath.

[Mike Wright]

This is not good. Nathan Peterman, famous for a high quantity of intercept interceptions and a half. This is, in my opinion, for Buffalo, a move to protect this Josh Allen.

[Andy Holloway]

This is. The staff of the Buffalo Bills are going with a full Mayan sacrifice. Nathan Peterman is. Look, man, I. I know you think you earned the job, but this.

[Mike Wright]

You earned something.

[Andy Holloway]

This is. You are the sacrificial lamb he's going to get.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, he's going to get the first three weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, no, he'll get the first because. Because Josh Allen's not ready.

[Jason Moore]

Not. Not because of that. It goes Baltimore, it goes Baltimore, Chargers, Vikings.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry, Nathan.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no.

[Mike Wright]

Wow. That is not going to be.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no.

[Jason Moore]

Week four. The packers will see Josh Allen Or.

[Andy Holloway]

Nathan Peterman is the best quarterback of all.

[Mike Wright]

Those are the best three starts for defense of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Josh Allen will get in there, but not for a while.

[Andy Holloway]

Nathan.

[Mike Wright]

And the offensive line is atrocious.

[Andy Holloway]

Do some push ups.

[Mike Wright]

By the way, before we grab the move on to the Panthers and some news with them and the Bears. Big news with the Bears. I want to thank Pristine Auction for sponsoring today's podcast. Pristine Auction. Well, they're just the best. Yes, they're the best. So much incredible daily content that they have on there. Stefan Diggs signed football $49 yesterday. Todd Gurley signed photo $51 yesterday. JI signed jersey $67. All JSA witnessed, authenticated, legitimate signatures. Hundreds of daily auctions. The best way to outfit your office, your man cave, your room, your friend's room, your friend's man cave, your friend's office, outfit everything. No, they have the best deals. Joe Mixon signed jersey yesterday, $70. JuJu Smith Schuster signed jersey $70 yesterday. Just check them out every day. It's free to sign up and browse pristineauction.com P R I S T I N E auction.com all right.

[Jason Moore]

Oh. Oh, man. Guys, what is wrong with you here? Here's what is going on.

[Mike Wright]

Waivers.

[Jason Moore]

Is that what you're looking? Darn right.

[Mike Wright]

It's waiting for Jason to talk.

[Jason Moore]

I'm sitting here. Yeah. Oh, no. James Connor got signed. So we're going to. We're going to talk a little news here because we have to. There's a terrible part. I'm going out of order here on the show. But as a Le'Veon Bell owner in the Listener League, Le'Veon Bell did not report to camp today, which was the first, you know, essentially the first day of practice for week one last season. We saw his lowest carry count of the season, week one when he had held out. So even when I traded for Le'Veon, I expected a down week, week one, but it might be worse than that. You might need to fire up your backups in this situation. So I was trying to snag James Conner, a guy that Mike just dropped to waivers.

[Andy Holloway]

I did like a fool day.

[Jason Moore]

Too early.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but he pulled a. Andy, what do you think?

[Jason Moore]

Before looking, I would just want to ask, what do you think? James Connor.

[Andy Holloway]

I already saw it and it's ridiculous.

[Jason Moore]

It's ridiculous. James Conner went for $40 of fab.

[Andy Holloway]

Congrats, listener. Of losing $40 of fab.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. All right. Hey, you want to know what else is awesome, though?

[Andy Holloway]

I do.

[Jason Moore]

Indochino Indochino is a fantastic custom made tailored to your actual body suit company. I've said this forever. Since I got mine. I've literally never had a single thing in my life fit better than this, which makes sense because it's made to measure for my body. And now they are making made to measure chinos. These will quickly become your go to pant easily pairing with anything from a suit jacket to a sweater. They're perfect for any time of year, any occasion, whether you're in a boardroom meeting or just a Sunday brunch. Your Sunday best. And they are available for an introductory price of just $79. And all the premium Indochino suits right now our listeners can get for only $359 at Indochino.com Just enter the code Footballers at checkout. That is 50% off the regular price for a made to measure premium suit. And shipping is free. So go to Indochino.com, use the promo code footballers to get any premium suit for just 359 plus free shipping. It's an incredible deal for a premium made to measure suit.

[Mike Wright]

All right. The Bears made a big splash on the defensive side trading for Khalil Mack, linebacker formerly of the Oakland Raiders. They traded a lot and then they signed him to a record setting deal. This is a good defense. They were already a middle of the road upside defense. Cleo Mack stabilizes that defense is something to pay attention to for fantasy. And Adam Shaheen's been added to ir. Tight end Adam Shaheen was supposed to be splitting some time with Trey Burton. He's going to miss at least the first eight weeks. Is that correct, Shaheen? Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's if they even designate him to return.

[Mike Wright]

So this is Trey. Boo Boo. Full stream ahead, it's all Trey Burton.

[Andy Holloway]

And I really like the Chicago Bears defense. I had them just outside of my top 12 before the Khalil Max raid even happened. So I'm very interested in the Chicago Bears. Here's the problem. Week one, the Chicago Bears go on the road to Lambo.

[Jason Moore]

That's not a defense. You want to play week one, play.

[Andy Holloway]

The Green Bay Packers. No, thank you. No. No, thank you. And people are going to be very interested. They're going to want to pick up the Bears because this, this could be a really strong DST to play for fantasy football. But I'm not playing them on the road. Week one against Mr. Millions, Aaron Rodgers.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my gosh.

[Andy Holloway]

What are you looking for over there?

[Mike Wright]

Nothing. All right, we'll talk about it later this week. By the way, if you have purchased the ultimate DFS pass and you're waiting for that content to hit the release schedule for the DFS pass starts on Wednesday. And so, as you might expect, we want to be as accurate as we can with our week one projections and our rankings, and so that content comes later in the week. We'll get it out there as soon as you can. I know you're eager and excited, but if we poop out rankings early in the week just so that you have them, hey, poop is poop. Poop is poop, as Mike would always say.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right.

[Mike Wright]

Just be patient. We're not ignoring it. The content's all coming. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be huge. I promise. Dallas has surprisingly cut Dan Bailey.

[Jason Moore]

That was shocking to me. I mean, Dan Bailey has not lost a step here. This must be a money situation.

[Mike Wright]

But Brett Mayer, they felt comfortable with Brett Mar. He's won the job. So that's the starter in Dallas if you need a kicker there. They cut Bo Scarborough.

[Jason Moore]

He got injured, so they cut him. They're hoping that he lands back on their practice.

[Mike Wright]

And then they did keep their center, Travis Frederick, who's dealing with the illness, on the active roster.

[Andy Holloway]

That's pretty big news.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But they still don't expect him back soon.

[Jason Moore]

No. In fact, pro football doc, if you've seen his prediction, he basically said there are much higher odds of him missing the entire season than him being ready for week one. So he's not going to be there for, you know, the beginning of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

This is.

[Jason Moore]

This is a serious illness he has, but he'll get. He'll get back eventually. It's. The question is just what is the timeline? And that's something that, because of this illness, completely, completely unpredictable. He could be back soon. It could take him a year and a half. There is no way to know that.

[Mike Wright]

The Broncos have cut first rounder Paxton Lynch.

[Jason Moore]

Whoops. Whoops.

[Mike Wright]

Career in a nutshell. Four starts.

[Jason Moore]

Whoops.

[Mike Wright]

Not good.

[Jason Moore]

One star.

[Mike Wright]

Barf. So Chad Kelly gets the backup quarterback job instead of Paxton lynch behind Case Keenum. A couple other cuts. They let go of the Hendersons. Oh, is that both of them? Brooks?

[Andy Holloway]

No. Well, D'Angelo. Wait, hold on. Brooks.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

So the Hendersons were cut. Who got added to the practice squad? Now I'm confused.

[Mike Wright]

No, D'Angelo Henderson, running back, former running back of the Broncos, was signed to the jets practice squad.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that.

[Mike Wright]

Wide receiver, Carlos Henderson was signed. If your name is Henderson, you're on the chopping block in Denver.

[Andy Holloway]

Look out, Harry.

[Jason Moore]

Very good.

[Andy Holloway]

That's, that's a real current reference for the kids out there. That's a very Harry and the Henderson reference.

[Mike Wright]

Let's talk about something more significant. Antonio Gates has strategically missed all of camp and signed a one year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers. Antonio Gates is a shell of his former self, but now he gets to come in with Philip Rivers. And does he threaten the upside of Mike Williams, who I have really liked as a breakout candidate. But now Antonio Gates gets to be large and in the red zone, which is his two best things he can do.

[Jason Moore]

That is exactly who he threatens. I mean, you've said for a while that you see the double digit upside of Mike Williams and you know, let's say he gets 10. There's no way that Gates is not going to take away two touchdowns. I mean, that's what Gates does. Gates has not missed. You know, I know he hasn't been there for camp and hasn't been there for preseason, but he doesn't need to. He, Philip ruins the playbook career has been with Antonio Gates is going to be just fine down there in the red zone. And those opportunities, you know that that's going to make a big difference for a guy that isn't the volume receiver on the team.

[Mike Wright]

So last season Antonio Gates had 30 receptions on 52 targets for 316 yards and three touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. However, okay, I was going to point out, Mike Clay had tweeted out about it as well.

[Mike Wright]

Snap count.

[Andy Holloway]

No, but the snap count. But it sent the final two weeks of the season when Hunter Henry was not there and it was the Antonio Gates show.

[Mike Wright]

6 for 81, 4 for 46.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. So 10 receptions, 127 yards, a touchdown and he was the number one fantasy wide or tight end over those two weeks.

[Mike Wright]

The number one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. That's what, that's what Clay had tweeted.

[Mike Wright]

Out over the week 16 and 17.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's not the most impressive lines. I mean 4 for 46 and no touchdown in week 17 is not impressive.

[Andy Holloway]

No. But 81. 81, 6 for 81 with a touchdown. Yeah, that's a, that's a big week for a tight end. I'm not, I'm not calling for Antonio Gates to resurgence.

[Mike Wright]

Let's answer that question. Where, where is he in your rankings?

[Andy Holloway]

He. I think he is just outside of my top 12. He is very interesting to me. I had mentioned on Twitter because I really have Gronk almost everywhere. That's How I've handled my drafts. But in my money league, I ended up having to punt the position. I grabbed Ricky Seals Jones at the very end of the draft. I have a speculative ad of, of Antonio Gates on that roster and I want to see week one what happens.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Okay. Minor note in Miami. Jason Sanders won the kicking job over Greg Joseph.

[Andy Holloway]

Hooray.

[Mike Wright]

This is called learn your kicker names. Learn your kicker names.

[Andy Holloway]

This is why kickers should not be fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

Because you have to learn their name.

[Jason Moore]

That's right.

[Andy Holloway]

Because you don't care. You just don't.

[Mike Wright]

How dare you. They're part of the Labor Day show.

[Jason Moore]

You don't care. Just like the NFL teams.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Where Dan Bailey can be one of the best and still cut because of money. Look, it's the wrong stuff in Minnesota, Kendall. Right. Sayonara. The wrong stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it.

[Mike Wright]

That's not very important. I suppose if somebody gets injured though. What? Treadwell steps into an opportunity with Kirk Cousins. New England. They cut Mike Gillisley.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Gilly. Gilly Gumdrops.

[Jason Moore]

And much more importantly, Gilly has signed. Yes, with the New Orleans Saints after they surprisingly dropped Jonathan Williams. Gillisle is, I think he is a legit four week play. I picked him up in the Listener league when I missed out on James Conner this morning. I have him in my lineup. I have him.

[Mike Wright]

What do you mean a four week play? Please, please try to reset my insanity over here. What do you mean a four week play? I'm saying that when, like you will play him.

[Jason Moore]

He's in my lineup. Over Carry on Johnson right now in the Listener league. Interesting.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't blame you.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so over Carry on Johnson. I can see that, I can see that argument. But like he's not going to be ranked in your top 36 running backs in week one, is he?

[Jason Moore]

Well, we haven't done those projections. Those will be out at the latest by Wednesday. But I would be, I would be completely unsurprised if he is in my top 36. He is, in my opinion going to inherit the very valuable goal line type of role. This is a guy who's got, you know, double digit touchdowns over the last two seasons coming into a situation with a good Week 1 matchup against Tampa Bay.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I guess. I don't agree. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that, that, I don't think him being signed on September 2, walking into that situation is going to guarantee him that work. No, it's going to be Alvin Camara. On the goal line. It's not going to be Mike Gillisley.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, Tim Hightower, you know, walked right in. People, people have. I mean, Camara last year as a rookie.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't. That's a weird face. For factual information, Tim Hightower came off the street and then was the man for that team a couple years ago.

[Jason Moore]

Won me a championship. Thank you, Timmy.

[Mike Wright]

And now Jonathan Williams was resigned to the practice squad by the Saints, I guess. Circling back to the Patriots, they claimed they only had three wideouts on the roster after the cuts. And that was Chris Hogan, Philip Dorsett and Cordero Patterson. They then claimed Chad Hansen and Amara Darbo, who. Who were both released by the jets and the Seahawks. They're really not relevant players right now. I would put them in the category of how we felt about Dorsett last year when they picked up Dorsett. It wasn't. It would take a lot. It would take a lot for them to become relevant because by the time they could acclimate to any offense or move up the depth chart due to injury. Julian Edelman will be back. Look, James White is going to catch a lot of pass.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Rex Burkhead gonna catch a lot of Rob Gronkowski. That's who you need to pay attention to in New England as a fantasy owner.

[Andy Holloway]

The thing for Hansen is Bill Belichick signed a. I will allow it. But my point was going to be. So you're telling me that Bill Belichick has signed a divisional opponent's wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Not surprised.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's gonna gleam some information. Of course he is, because he's Bill Belichick.

[Mike Wright]

He just signs them for the knowledge.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

For the brain dump.

[Andy Holloway]

Of course he does it. Brain drain in full effect.

[Mike Wright]

That's a pretty good strategy. The big news. Big news. Oakland Raiders have cut Martavis Bryant, as has the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

It is not.

[Jason Moore]

It is.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Martavius Bryant, which.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. He's got some very strong personal demons that the man has not been able to overcome and he will not play in the NFL again.

[Mike Wright]

Third round pick the Raiders gave up for him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

My point was going to be John Gruden is doing some weird stuff. Weird stuff in Oakland. If I was a Raiders fan, I would not be very pleased with the direction of my football team.

[Mike Wright]

Only 10 years left, though, Mike. Only 10.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not be very pleased with the direction of my football team.

[Mike Wright]

We'll see. We'll see what happens. The Khalil Mack move. Regardless of popular opinion today, that's One that's going to take years to see the fallout.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

They've acquired a lot of picks and they've saved themselves a lot of money. If there was a lot of controversy as to whether Jon Gruden and Reggie McKenzie and all them, whether they are on the same page, we'll see what happens.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. The thing is, though, you got a lot of picks.

[Jason Moore]

Cool.

[Andy Holloway]

You got to hit on those picks. Khalil Mack was a hit. I mean, it's locked and loaded. Cleo Mack is a superstar.

[Mike Wright]

I'll say this. If you sign Jordy Nelson and Doug Martin in players to win now and then you let go of your win now defensive player of the year. It's strange.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Then that's. That's the other part of what's strange is for Oakland is the roster just keeps getting older and older and you threw a third round pick in the dumpster with Martavis.

[Mike Wright]

So Martavis is gone.

[Andy Holloway]

But you know. But you know who's there now? Agent McCarron.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. A.J. mcCarron, quarterback. Traded to the Raiders to be a backup to Derek Carr. But with Martavis gone, do you have any more confidence in Jordy Nelson?

[Andy Holloway]

None more than I already had, which is. He's interesting in.

[Jason Moore]

I do. And I would say that you probably don't have more interest in Jordy because you were already appropriately in on Jordy. I have been completely discounting Jordy as an NFL player. I mean, I. I haven't considered drafting him in a best ball draft or anywhere. No matter what round I'm in, I just skip right past his name and I think that's been a mistake. Especially now with Martavis gone. He is the number two. Crabtree is gone.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's going to have surprising value. I think Jordy could. There's a world he's the better receiver there.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, that world shockingly does exist.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, all right. In Eagles news, Doug Peterson confirmed that Jay Ajayi will play against the Falcons in week one. This is good news for Eagles fans and Jay owners.

[Andy Holloway]

It's good news for Jai's lower body.

[Mike Wright]

Now, have we confirmed Nick Foles is starting week one?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

That is from the mouth of Doug Peterson because I heard he was getting very angry with people asking him that question.

[Jason Moore]

I saw a tweet this morning. It was either Ian Rappaport or Adam Schefter confirming that he was that Nick's. Nick Foles.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Doug Peterson did confirm that Foles is the starter. Nick Foles did not look good in the preseason. Nick Foles how does he affect the rest of the outlook for this Eagles team? There's not a lot of great starts in Week 1 for the Eagles.

[Andy Holloway]

No there it depends on which Nick Foles shows up. Normal, regular Nick Foles or playoff run Nick Foles. Because if it's the regular guy, that's. That's the quarterback that got Alshon Jeffrey 0 points in championship week last year.

[Mike Wright]

Are they going to live to regret not trading him this off season when they had the opportunity to get high draft capital for Nick Foles?

[Jason Moore]

I don't think so. I think they're going to be happy they didn't trade him because of what's happening right now. They need to not start Carson Wentz Week one, probably week two, maybe even week three. I mean, I know Carson Wentz is ready, but they are doing the wise thing here. The timeline, recovery of nine to 12 months, the difference in those three months at Re injuring the knee is enormous. So they're doing the right thing and even if they lose those games, they're protecting their future and that's worth keeping Nick Foles.

[Mike Wright]

Couple things to get out there. I skipped over the Colts, but Marlon Mack actually did not practice today and Jordan Wilkins would be likely the starter Week one.

[Andy Holloway]

All news is trending towards Wilkins getting the start.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. And then we move on to Pittsburgh and talk about Le'Veon Bell. He did not show up for practice on Monday. There were rumors that he was going to report, but they did not come to fruition. GM Kevin Colbert released a statement saying the team's disappointed. Now you're starting to look at the James Conner situation. You're looking at the potential punish. How confident are you to start Levy on Bell in week one?

[Andy Holloway]

Not, but I'm going to do it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean that's.

[Mike Wright]

If you drafted him when he's active, you're going to start.

[Andy Holloway]

If you drafted him with your first overall pick. I'm playing Levy on Bell.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And you might be like, well, it's, you know, look, it's a road game at Cleveland. That's great. That's exact same situation as last week. A road game in Cleveland to start the season where he only got 10 carries. You're not going to be happy, but you have to, you have to put him in.

[Mike Wright]

Do you downgrade Big Ben?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

You don't?

[Andy Holloway]

Nope.

[Mike Wright]

0% on the road Big Ben without Lev Bell, you don't downgrade him?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I do not.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

You know, you could make the argument that, you know, Le'Veon Bell has been great on the road. That's part of, you know, big.

[Mike Wright]

I just thought that having Love Bell might be a benefit to Big Ben considering he kept 80 receptions a year.

[Andy Holloway]

But James Conner has looked more than capable and I don't have the stats right in front of me because I didn't know you were going to ask. But you can look back the games in the Levy on Bell era. They score just as many points when Lev Bell is in the roster and when he is not in the roster.

[Mike Wright]

The Seahawks have placed tight end Ed Dixon on the reserve in a file list. He's out at least six weeks. Nick Vannette looks to be the firm starter in Seattle at the tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's go, Nikki. Nikki.

[Mike Wright]

V. He could surprise people.

[Jason Moore]

He really could.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he will surprise me none.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I was giving Mike credit this morning. I have been an anti Nick Vanette guy all off season, but I've completely come around moved him up this morning. I think he'll be a fine start these first couple of weeks, especially while Ed Dixon is out. If you watch the preseason. Tight ends are one of the most telling positions in preseason football and they clearly needed him and used him when Russell Wilson was in the game. So Nick Minette is a legit option.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. He's interesting.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's get into the mailbag, spend a few minutes on listener questions.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

I'll throw this in there. Josh Gordon did return to practice today.

[Jason Moore]

Whoo.

[Andy Holloway]

We got some good news. Yeah, finally.

[Mike Wright]

Not too bad. All right, let's go ahead and jump into a voicemail question. If you have one for the show, go to the website thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline 302464, TFFB. Hi guys. Love the show.

[Jason Moore]

Just had a question, actually.

[Mike Wright]

Our Commissioner drafted Jerick McKinnon in the.

[Jason Moore]

Third round and since the draft already happened and the season hasn't started yet.

[Mike Wright]

He'S trying to say that he is.

[Jason Moore]

Allowed to pick up his backup before free agency starts.

[Mike Wright]

Do you agree with this? Do you think this is fair?

[Jason Moore]

Thanks, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

What? Wait, why? What rule is that?

[Jason Moore]

If you have. I will say this. If your league has like documents of your league rules and there is a rule that says if I draft a guy and he gets injured, I auto get his backup, then clearly you should allow it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You will also be the first league that's ever had that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. What? That's.

[Mike Wright]

That's, that's abuse of power and you can just go ahead and Vote that down.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's. Here's the deal with the McKinnon injury. It sucks. It sucks. But this is the nature of.

[Mike Wright]

Period.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

End of sentence.

[Andy Holloway]

I have nothing else to add for you. I. I'm sorry, but it sucks. This is the nature of fantasy football. Sometimes your players get hurt, sometimes you're in a championship weekend and your running back gets injured on the first carry of the game.

[Jason Moore]

This is a.

[Andy Holloway]

It's the nature of the beast. It's the part of the game that really sucks.

[Jason Moore]

And if you lost McKinnon, if you're out there and you're like, man, if you're the commissioner here and you think you have to, you have to get this backup immediately in order to win. It's not true. It's just not true. Every single year, people lose round one running backs, round one wide receivers. They lose their first pick, they, they scrape their. They claw their way to the playoffs. They win the championship. Don't get down.

[Mike Wright]

I want our dynasty league on my third quarterback. Look, Mike said it, it's part of the game. If you approach injuries as they disrupted my normal season, then you're approaching it wrong in fantasy football because injuries are always going to happen. So you have to plan on it as part of the thing that happens to your league. That means drafting appropriately. That means having depth. That means being nimble on the waiver wire. It's just part of fantasy football anymore. It's not a disruption of the. Everybody wants their on paper draft day team to. To automatically get 16 games. It just doesn't happen in the NFL. I got something to say.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, fantasy football isn't fair.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true. Deal with it.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, whoa.

[Jason Moore]

Words from the judge.

[Mike Wright]

It is not fair, that is for sure. Here's another voicemail question. Hey, ballers. Most drafts have already happened at this point, but I got to know what your go to snacks are for kickoff football weekend and what is the differentian for you differentiation goodness for you between draft day snacking and football day snacking. Let me know. Thank you. Very complicated snack question that I'm going to direct towards Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Look, this is. There's a lot of differences here between draft day snacks and otherwise draft day snacks. You don't want anything on draft day that can impair your ability to make wise decisions. Be that sugary foods that will put you in a coma or beverages that are for adults. You don't want that on draft day. Those things are going to make you have a worse team on game day. You have the pizza and you have the wings. You eat up because your decisions have already been made. This is the time now to enjoy, to sit back, kick your feet up. Unless you're us. And then we got to work and take notes. But yeah, my go to snacks for sure. Oreos on draft day. Double stuff. Get out of here with that single stuff garbage.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, and then why are those still around?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they just need to do what? Like what's happened with PPR and getting rid of standard. Standard is now, like an option. It's not standard anymore. They need to say, would you like to downgrade your Oreo?

[Andy Holloway]

Would you like to eat a regular Oreo? And it has double the cream.

[Mike Wright]

So regular Oreos are now double stuffed.

[Jason Moore]

They should be.

[Mike Wright]

The other ones are like Oreo juniors.

[Andy Holloway]

Nabisco.

[Jason Moore]

Diet Oreos.

[Mike Wright]

Diet Oreos. How come they've never. Have they ever come out with one where it's like cookie, cream, cookie, cream, cookie.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, double stuff.

[Mike Wright]

Like the Big Mac.

[Andy Holloway]

Like a Big Mac.

[Mike Wright]

Like a Big Mac of Oreos.

[Jason Moore]

Triple double.

[Andy Holloway]

I believe that's just.

[Mike Wright]

It seems like that might be the right proportions of everything.

[Jason Moore]

I can tell you. I've made one.

[Andy Holloway]

It seems like that is just two Oreos stacked on top of each other.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no, no. You put two on top of each other, you got too much cookie in the middle.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, give me the. Give me the layers again.

[Mike Wright]

Cookie, cream, cookie, cream, cookie.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, so otherwise it would have been cookie, cream, cookie, cookie, cream.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, I gotcha now. You could go way too much cookie.

[Mike Wright]

You could go cookie, double cream, cookie, double cream, cookie.

[Jason Moore]

Now we're talking.

[Mike Wright]

This is important stuff. All right, this question comes in from Casey in Missouri. Where or Wilkins? I have both Spencer Ware and Jordan Wilkins on my team as sleeper handcuffs. Need to drop one for a temporary quarterback because I have wins. Which one do I drop?

[Jason Moore]

Not even close. Yeah, it's Spencer Ware. One of these guys looks to be a week one starter already out the gate. If he comes out and has a great game, if Marla Mack has a hard time getting recovered, then maybe Jordan Wilkins is the starter this season.

[Mike Wright]

Mark in Toronto, Canada.

[Andy Holloway]

Bonjour.

[Mike Wright]

I need to drop one wide receiver to pick up a defense for week one. Who should I drop? Either Kelvin Benjamin, Chris Godwin, or Michael Gallup. I would drop. Not Benjamin.

[Andy Holloway]

I would drop Godwin.

[Mike Wright]

I would drop Godwin. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Unanimous.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. Kurt in Iowa. As the commissioner of a dynasty league, I was asked to use my commission powers to add a player from the free agents to a team's IR spot. He doesn't Want to have to drop a player to add a guy who is IR eligible and we'll go straight to ir. I have my thoughts, but let's hear yours.

[Jason Moore]

That's what is happening right now.

[Mike Wright]

Just stop. Stop trying to circumvent the rules on a one for one basis.

[Andy Holloway]

You want a player on your ir, they go on your roster, then they go to the ir. This is the gamble you got to take.

[Mike Wright]

Stop. Stop this trying to figure out a. The way the normal mechanisms of your league work. Unless everybody gets it, it's an all or nothing.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you can't. You cannot do that. That's so. I don't blame the guy for asking, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, but you're gonna.

[Jason Moore]

If he. If the commission said yes, that would create a way bigger problem.

[Andy Holloway]

No good.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Jeff in Indianapolis, when do you start considering playoff schedules? I always finish top three regular season, but I can't seem to get that championship ring. Thank you. Not now. You don't know what the defenses are going to be like. You don't know what injuries are going to take place. You don't know what waivers, all that stuff. So I would say you start to get a lay of the land past week eight.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's the number that was in my head, too.

[Andy Holloway]

Middle point minimum.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Don't forget to check out draft.comballers. by the way, if you want to grab a. I just talked to somebody yesterday. They got in their first best ball league yesterday. So it's not like it's too late to do some best ball [e-mail] ballers. We'll be here all week long. Make sure you subscribe and listen, review, support the show. Jason, you got a grimace on your face.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, there's one piece of news we didn't talk about that I don't like because it's not news. It's anti news.

[Mike Wright]

Anti news.

[Jason Moore]

Anti news.

[Mike Wright]

That sounds troublesome.

[Jason Moore]

Did you see who the Detroit Lions cut?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's the problem. Amir Abdullah. Oh, still on the roster. They actually have five running backs right now. Talent will win out. Someone trade for Amir Abdullah, please.

[Mike Wright]

You did not say talent will win out with the same conviction that you've said it in the past.

[Jason Moore]

Talent will win out.

[Mike Wright]

You also just said that you would play Mike Gillis over Carry Jon Johnson Week one.

[Jason Moore]

I will. And he'll be great.

[Mike Wright]

Tells you right where Karon is right now. That is it for the show. Thanks for spinning supporting the podcast. We will talk to you tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

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.