Fantasy Football 2017 - Preseason Week 2 Recap + Rising Stars

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast - Episode: Fantasy Football 2017 - Preseason Week 2 Recap + Rising Stars

Release Date: August 21, 2017

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright delve into the highlights and lowlights of the NFL Preseason Week 2. They provide in-depth analysis of player performances, identify rising stars to watch, and share valuable insights to help fantasy managers prepare for the upcoming season.

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Rising Stars of the Week

The episode kicks off with the "Raising Canes, Rising Stars of the Week" segment, where each host highlights players who showed potential during Preseason Week 2.

1. Cooper Kupp – Los Angeles Rams

• Mike Wright praises Cooper Kupp's performance, stating, "Cooper Kupp looked great. He had solid route running, good hands. He's going to be a PPR value late in your draft." ([03:09]-[04:15])
• Andy Holloway adds, "I think he's got to be a three or four reception guy a game." ([04:05]-[04:15])

2. D'Angelo Henderson – Denver Broncos

• Jason Moore expresses admiration for Henderson's preseason showing, remarking, "He was hopping and scooching, making guys miss. He looked like Deion Lewis." ([04:53]-[06:21])

3. Rex Burkhead – New England Patriots

• Mike Wright underscores Burkhead's efficiency in the Patriots' offense, noting, "Rex Burkhead is a solid player and can be very efficient." ([06:21]-[09:05])

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News and Notes from Around the League

The hosts share critical updates affecting various teams and players:

Anquan Boldin's Retirement

• Andy Holloway reports, "Anquan Boldin has decided to retire after less than two weeks with the Bills." ([09:10]-[09:16])
• Mike Wright concurs, adding, "Good for you, Boldin." ([09:16]-[09:35])

Quarterback Situations

• Andy Holloway discusses the uncertainty surrounding the Bills' quarterback situation, mentioning the potential absence of Joe Flacco and the signing of Tom Savage as an emergency Week 1 play. "There's a chance... I have to sign Tom Savage this morning as an emergency Week one play." ([09:42]-[11:23])

• Jason Moore and Mike Wright delve into the Washington Redskins' quarterback dynamics, highlighting concerns about Tyrod Taylor's health and the return of Jordan Reed. "I don't believe that Tyrod Taylor has the starting position locked down for 16 games." ([10:19]-[11:23])

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Weekly Rewind: Preseason Game Takeaways

The trio analyzes performances from various preseason matchups, extracting key takeaways relevant to fantasy football.

Baltimore Ravens vs. Miami Dolphins

• Mike Wright points out the Ravens' reliance on Joe Flacco, stating, "Their quarterback situation is a problem." ([13:57]-[15:19])
• Andy Holloway adds frustration over Baltimore's offensive struggles without Flacco, emphasizing defensive play. "If he's not there week one, I wouldn't start a single Baltimore Raven." ([14:40]-[15:19])

Seattle Seahawks vs. Minnesota Vikings

• Andy Holloway commends Russell Wilson's performance while expressing cautious optimism about Dalvin Cook. "Dalvin Cook will catch 50 passes. He better." ([24:56]-[26:22])
• Jason Moore reinforces Cook's value in PPR leagues, asserting, "I think Dalvin cook will catch 50 passes." ([25:31]-[26:22])

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

• Jason Moore discusses LaShawn McCoy's potential decline due to the Eagles' quarterback uncertainties, mentioning, "If you're taking LaShawn McCoy ahead of Antonio Brown, that's a no." ([15:53]-[17:14])
• Andy Holloway concurs, highlighting the impact of quarterback instability on McCoy's fantasy value. "You're going to need injury to find him snaps." ([16:17]-[17:14])

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals

• Jason Moore and Andy Holloway debate the roles of Spencer Ware and Kareem Hunt, ultimately agreeing that Ware is the starter but Hunt has significant upside. "Spencer Ware is worth his draft price." ([34:00]-[38:55])
• Mike Wright adds, "Spencer Ware is worth his draft price because I don't think it's Ware's job for at least the majority of the season." ([37:57]-[38:55])

New York Jets vs. San Francisco 49ers

• Jason Moore laments Carson Wentz's poor performance, saying, "He is horrifically bad. He has no business being on an NFL field." ([42:34]-[43:48])
• Andy Holloway praises the 49ers' offense and Todd Gurley's resurgence, noting, "Todd Gurley had a pep and a step that he hasn't had in about 20 games." ([51:12]-[52:45])

Chicago Bears vs. Arizona Cardinals

• Andy Holloway expresses concern over Jordan Howard's pass-catching ability, stating, "If I had to predict somebody to bust out of the first couple rounds, Jordan Howard is there." ([54:05]-[55:38])
• Mike Wright defends Howard's potential, emphasizing his role in a strong offensive line. "Cohen's success speaks to Jordan Howard having success as well." ([55:38]-[56:39])

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Atlanta Falcons

• Jason Moore analyzes James Conner's performance, asserting, "I do like him from college and I like the role behind Le'Veon Bell." ([61:03]-[61:51])
• Mike Wright comments on the Steelers' depth, saying, "Martevis Martavis is doing work." ([61:58]-[62:57])

New Orleans Saints vs. Los Angeles Chargers

• Andy Holloway highlights Alvin Kamara's impressive performance, noting, "Alvin Kamara is absolutely dynamic." ([62:48]-[63:42])
• Jason Moore underscores Kamara's value in a pass-heavy offense, stating, "He'll be fantasy relevant this year and he's being drafted really late." ([63:42]-[64:09])

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Conclusions and Final Thoughts

As the episode draws to a close, the hosts encourage listeners to utilize resources like the Ultimate Draft Kit to prepare for their fantasy drafts. They also promote upcoming live podcasts and events, ensuring fans stay engaged and informed.

Key Takeaways:

• Rising Stars like Cooper Kupp, D'Angelo Henderson, and Rex Burkhead offer valuable late-round options.
• Quarterback uncertainties in teams like the Bills and Redskins could impact fantasy strategies.
• Dalvin Cook emerges as a reliable PPR asset for the Vikings.
• Carolina's LaShawn McCoy faces challenges due to offensive instability.
• Spencer Ware and Kareem Hunt present interesting choices for the Chiefs' backfield.
• Alvin Kamara is a must-watch for his dual-threat capability in the Saints' offense.

By dissecting preseason performances and team dynamics, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast equips fantasy managers with the knowledge to make informed decisions and optimize their rosters for the 2017 season.

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For more insights and updates, join the Fantasy Footballers community at joiTheFoot.com and follow them on Twitter @theffballers.

Transcript

[Mike Wright]

Hey, Foot clan. Before we jump into today's show, we're going to take a look back at preseason week two. 1 remind you about ultimatedraftkit.com this is where you find our ultimate draft kit. It's got everything that you need to be ready for those fantasy drafts and those fantasy drafts they are coming up so you better make sure that you are prepared. Over 100 video profiles are projections for every offensive player of note. Matt Harmon from NFL.com his reception Perception, our sleepers, our breakouts, our bus. Oh my, the tears. I mean, I'm telling you that this thing is absolutely jam packed and it has everything that you need to be ready for a fantasy draft. So head over today to ultimate draft kit.com.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the Play Draft Studios with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, it's Monday.

[Jason Moore]

August is the week.

[Andy Holloway]

August 21st. I spent some time beyond the wall this weekend and I have come down with a cold.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So bear with me if you need.

[Jason Moore]

To bear with you.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I see what you did. If you need to tag me in at any moment, you just, you put the hand up. All right, WWF and I will get in there.

[Jason Moore]

Mike is used to, he's getting used to this hosting gig over on the DFS pod.

[Andy Holloway]

Doing a mighty fine job over there.

[Jason Moore]

Yes you are, Mike.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, welcome to the show. We've got a great one. We're going to go through the preseason week two highlights and kind of let you know what, what players were buying into because of the performances, what players maybe you don't need to buy into despite good stat lines. Right. We watch for different things. Sometimes in the preseason you see much more opportunity obviously for certain players than you'll ever see during the regular season. We'll try to wade through some of that with you. We've also got our raising canes, rising stars of the week. We each picked out a player that we think is rising and we want to make you aware of heading into your drafts and into the upcoming season. So very excited about that. Don't forget you can win a David Johnson autographed helmet [e-mail] that giveaway, you can enter it right up until the beginning of the season and then we're going to go ahead and give that baby away. So don't miss out on your chance there and follow us on TwitterFFballers. We are always sharing new articles, new information, new things going on. So don't miss out over there. Alright, guys. We're going to start with the rising stars.

[Jason Moore]

Raising canes. Rising stars of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, some interesting names on today's Rising stars segment. Mike, why don't you kick it off with a player I'm buying into as well?

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to kick it off because I'm kind of known as the pessimistic one when it comes towards this offense. So I want to show it some love. Show that I'm not just a cruel, hardened man.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

When it comes to the Los Angeles Rams, Cooper cup looked great. He looked like a perfect fit for the scheme. We've talked about him on the show that, that he has a great opportunity for a rookie wide receiver and he fits that west coast, that get the ball out quick, the dink and dunk. And you saw Jared Goff, Dinkin and Duncan and actually look like a competent quarterback. That if they can keep this style going, then maybe Jared Goff won't be a complete disaster this year. And a big reason for that was Cooper Cup. He had the big play, of course, it was a broken defensive play, but scored a nice touchdown, got wide open, showed solid route running, good hands. He's going to be a PPR value late in your draft. If you're looking for a wide receiver that's just going to get, you know, how many targets a game. Yeah. How many targets a game you feel like Cooper cup can get to?

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's got to be a three or four reception guy a game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Which is a lot.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, that's for latent drafts. I mean, that's, that's, that's a nice value. A guy that, you know, you can slot in as a PPR3.

[Jason Moore]

So long as Jared Goff can move the offense like he did this last week, then you know that, that's the thing is, okay, he gets three or four receptions a week. How valuable are those receptions able to be coming from Goff? But he looked pretty good. Right?

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

I honestly, I think the Los Angeles Rams look better this week than they have looked in at least two years. Like, I haven't seen one game.

[Mike Wright]

That's a fair point where it was.

[Jason Moore]

Like, wow, there they are. I'll hop in. My, my rising star is a guy that I brought up several months ago. A lot of people hadn't heard of him then, and I had heard so much about this D'Angelo Henderson character.

[Andy Holloway]

Character.

[Jason Moore]

And, you know, everything from rookie camp to, you know, early training camp was just so glowing on this guy.

[Andy Holloway]

You might want to throw a team in there now. Others might not have heard of him either.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. The run back. What would you say, like four running back, four coming into the season, Rookie.

[Andy Holloway]

Running back number one in your heart.

[Jason Moore]

It might be the two the Denver Broncos. And what I loved about him then was you've got Devontae Booker, who does not appear to be a very efficient running back. You don't know yet. He's hurt and he's hurt.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to miss time.

[Jason Moore]

CJ Anderson, who is usually hurt, and Jamal Charles, who was hurt several years ago when last he played football. And so the situation was good. I watched some college film on him because the hype train was rolling and I said, eh, I was not impressed. I am officially retracting that unimpressed college film because what he has done for the first two weeks of preseason is when you watch the film, you could see someone who looks different. There was a play that was called back on a holding that did not affect anything for him, which was this awesome touchdown reception where he just, he was hopping and scooching and just making guys miss. He looked just like on that play Dion Lewis a couple years ago where we called him, you know, butter. He was like hot, warm butter. Yeah, that D'Angelo Henderson has really impressed me. I think he's got an opportunity there too with, with the other backs to, to emerge.

[Mike Wright]

Do you think that D'Angelo Henderson is going to make Jamal Charles expendable?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, he probably does. Yeah. And Charles hasn't seen the field, so could be a problem. I mean, could. Could quickly go the way of Arian Foster last year with Jamal Charles, where he's gone. So I'm gonna go with Rex Burkhead. I'm gonna go with Rex Burkett of the New England Patriots. Rex Goat Head, you know what I saw? Oh, gosh, no. No, you're not right. But look, Rex Burkhead got the opportunity to start. Gillisle is still missing time. It's going to become a real problem for Gillislee if he misses another week of preseason play. And this is not, this is not exalting Burkhead to a high draft pick. But right now he's basically a 13th round pick. He's going around Joe Williams and I want Rex Burkhead more than I want Joe Williams. He showed a capability in the passing game. He basically ran the Deion Lewis quick route across the middle of the field, took it in for a touchdown. He looked good, he looked solid and he was somebody again. Just like Gillislee. Hand picked by Belichick one of many. It's not a nice situation there when you have to pick, you know, Deion Lewis came in with the second team. You have James White. But I like Rex Burkhead as a later round, take a shot on him if something, if something's not right with Gillislee for a long period of time. There will be plenty of snaps for Rex Burkhead in this offense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and he showed that he was capable with them. They were really wanted to see what they had out of him because it seemed like, you know, they were rushing, rushing, rushing with Rex Burkhead and then every time they went to pass it was like, oh, there's Rex Burkhead. I felt like he was the Patriots first team offense and while he won't be that in the regular season, it's nice to see that he is fully capable. I agree. My notes on him were just plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.

[Andy Holloway]

That's good, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, those were good, not minus over the offseason.

[Mike Wright]

I mean when the signing happened I was really excited for the potential Burkhead. The Gillisle signing obviously through cold water on that. And you could see that in the average draft position where Gillisle is a fourth, fifth round pick and Burkhead's kind of the forgotten man. I still think that over the course of the season Gillisley projects as the touchdown guy. He will get more snaps than Burkitt, but Burkitt is, he's a solid player and he can be very efficient. So those were the Raising Cane's rising stars of the week. Remember, game day tastes oh so much better with Raising Cane's tailgates full of fresh 24 hour marinated hand battered chicken fingers and fresh brewed sweet tea. Visit raisandcanes.com to find your nearest location.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Anquan Bolden has decided to retire after, oh, less than two weeks with the Bills.

[Mike Wright]

Good for you, Bolden. That's what I say. Yeah, yeah. Because no, when he signed a contract with the Bills, the Bills were trying to win and he said, okay, well I can be the, I can be the final piece here of this receiving core. And then the Bills are like, hey.

[Jason Moore]

We'Re not really trying.

[Mike Wright]

We're out of here. Well, we'll play for 2018. They sent away Sammy Watkins. They sent away Darby, their best cornerback.

[Jason Moore]

Who looked great in preseason.

[Mike Wright]

So if you're not for, if you're Anquan Bolden, you're going to put your body through another year in the NFL, just for a team that has zero chance. No, thank you.

[Jason Moore]

It does bump up Zay Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

Charles Clay.

[Jason Moore]

Yep. Charles Clay has been Andre Holmes.

[Andy Holloway]

You see, I never forget.

[Jason Moore]

Andre Holmes is six four.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that. Look, Andre Holmes, he may be the outside receiver there. You just have to pay attention to that. You see Matt Harmon talking about sleeper potential of Andre Holmes. But if I wanted. If I had to own anybody in that, the passing offense, it would be Zay Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

This has to move Tyrod Taylor down, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

His weapons to pass to are, you know, I mean, his best weapon is currently not healthy right now in Jordan Matthews. And I think the confidence.

[Mike Wright]

He did return to individual practices.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, barely. He's jogging and saying that when he moves his arms, his whole body hurts. That's literally what he said. So. Yeah. The thing is, is I don't believe that Tyrod Taylor has the starting position locked down for 16 games. That's my worry with you.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it seems like it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Jordan Reed activated off of the puppet.

[Mike Wright]

He's got those orthodontists in his shoes. He's ready to go now.

[Andy Holloway]

He has miniature actual dentists in his shoes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

What you're saying?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. His toes are all braced up and they're ready to go. You know, they're so straight. It's great to have him back. I think Kirk Cousins needs him back. Watching the Washington offense. We'll get to it in a little bit. They looked putrid. They did not look, you know, average to me. They looked out of sync and awful. But Jordan Reed was missing. Jordan Reed being back will be helpful. The question is, how often will he be missing?

[Andy Holloway]

T.J. eldon, hamstring injury in the first quarter, didn't return. Djuan Harris was signed by the Jaguars. So just a depth play there. I mean, you already have Yelden, Ivory Fournette. Thomas Rawls was sidelined with the ankle injury. Did not play in preseason week two.

[Mike Wright]

That's bad news. That's bad news, man. That means.

[Andy Holloway]

Why is that bad news?

[Mike Wright]

Just because of his injury history with.

[Jason Moore]

You know, the same ankle, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Said a minor ankle ailment. It's not good news. It doesn't give us any more clarity. But it might not mean much to Thomas Rawls, you know, time on the field. Lacy started in his place. Chris Carson shared first team reps with lacy and gained 27 yards on six carries. We'll talk about that later. And some rumors coming out that LeGarrett Blount might not be a lock for the final roster in Philly Nanas. How about you stop running him on stretch plays just to see. Why don't we see what he has?

[Jason Moore]

Let's see if Legarre Blunt can outrun these guys, huh? Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The answer is no.

[Jason Moore]

Don't put them. Don't try to plow them over. Just. You don't want to have a race where you can tell Legarre Blunt.

[Mike Wright]

So if this somehow happens and they decide weeks before the season they're bailing on their starting running back. Is there anyone from Philadelphia's backfield that you have real interest in or just.

[Jason Moore]

I would. I would still personally put my interest in Denelle Pumphrey because I believe he's a good player. We haven't seen him, you know, but.

[Andy Holloway]

He'S not going to take it down.

[Jason Moore]

Right? Exactly. We haven't seen him taking that role. But, I mean, if there's no other running back there, that's just bad for the entire Clement.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, yeah, he's the guy. Clement.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's the guy that's been getting some runs. So keep him on your radar, at least for preseason week three. I think he'll be an important watch, you know, you want to see what Clement does. I expect Legarre Blunt will be there. I don't think they can lose him right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Clement's 5, 10, 2, 25, 10, 220.

[Mike Wright]

That's beefy enough, thick boy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, yes, yes. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

That's like me, right? We're brothers.

[Mike Wright]

You're basically the same person.

[Andy Holloway]

Built the same way.

[Jason Moore]

Weekly rewind.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're going to walk through the preseason games, our takeaways, things that you guys like, didn't like. Let's start. In the Thursday night matchups, we had Baltimore and Miami. Baltimore won that game going away. What did you see out of that matchup? And we've talked a little bit about it already.

[Mike Wright]

It's the highlight for. Here is Devontae Parker getting those. Those smoke. And Jake Cuddy locked on target.

[Jason Moore]

It's good to see a Jay in the game to know he's, you know, fully back, close, cleared from everything and able to go once again, I want to remind everybody how bad Damian Williams is as a running back. He was horrific. And the only. The only other note that I have from that game is Baltimore is going to be a huge catastrophe if Joe Flacco is not there. Their quarterback situation is a problem. And, I mean, they expect Flacco to be back by week one. Great dandy. But if he's not there week one, that's That's, I mean, you're, you're not. I wouldn't start a single Baltimore Raven and I would play the defense against them.

[Andy Holloway]

If you want to welcome yourself to my dynasty situation, I have Andrew Luck on my bench. So you have Joe Flacco on my bench. And I had to sign Tom Savage this morning as an emergency Week one play. So there's a chance. I don't have a starting quarterback at all in Week one. If things don't go the right way, let's. Danny Woodhead. Danny Woodhead was on the field. It was nice to see him on the field and playing. We kind of talked through these Thursday games, so I'll go through them quick. But Buffalo, Philly, the Philly office didn't look very good. Leguerre Blunt looked terrible. The offensive line struggled a little bit. Lane Johnson at left tackle struggled and Tyra Taylor looked terrible.

[Mike Wright]

Just want to talk real quick because I've seen some, some concerns bubbling on Twitter of people having some now concerns in LaShawn McCoy. With the team bailing now, you have Bolden off the offense. You have very unproven pass catchers. Tyrod Taylor may get benched. There's also like these weird rumors of them actually trading Lashawn McCoy. Do you have any hesitance going into your draft of taking him in that three to six range?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you have to have some hesitation because if they're not in the red zone, if they're not in a position to score frequently, you've got a problem. And if Tyra can't move the offense, if, you know, somehow a controversy at the quarterback position happens three, four weeks into the year, which is very possible because Tyra is not the future. This franchise has already decided that. Now, I'm not saying he can't be, he shouldn't be, but he isn't.

[Jason Moore]

They have really tried to make sure he is not the future of this franchise.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, they have.

[Andy Holloway]

So essentially, you've got the potential of a rookie or a young, a different quarterback back there. That doesn't help Lashawn McCoy. None of that helps. Trading your best wide receiver doesn't help LaShawn McCoy. Putting your offense in a position where maybe you're playing catch up more often because your defense has been damaged. Look, it's not good now he's on the field and he catches passes. So the opportunity is there. But yeah, I think you could have your chances of having three or four dud games with Lashawn McCoy goes up.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would agree with every single thing you said it doesn't necessarily move him down my running back ranks. But there are so many questions of, you know, okay, I'm at that three spot or that four spot or that five spot. Do I take LaShawn McCoy ahead of Antonio Brown? That's what I'll Beckham and Julio and I think this says no, you, you need. If I'm there, at least I'm taking the big three wide receivers over Shady.

[Mike Wright]

Because even in the standard.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, even in a standard.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

So other news that I have from that game real quick, we barely mentioned it, but I have a note here. Charles Clay looked so necessary to that team. I mean, I mean that. I mean it was like necessary. Is it necessary? The reality though is that Tyrod Taylor looked for him often. If Jordan Matthews isn't there with Anquan Bolden gone, Zay Jones is a rookie. I believe Charles Clay is going to be very involved. If his knees can withstand victory this year, then I would say Charles Clay has a chance to be a low end tight end one this year.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The last Thursday game was Tampa and Jacksonville talked about the Eldon injury, had a chance to see DeSean Jackson on the field. Mike Evans is a monster. Really feel like his floor is super high. Even though he may not deserve to be in that upper echelon in my book, maybe he does. I mean, he's just a monster. And when you're that big, you've seen this with Brandon Marshall, like the targets, they don't change. Like you don't. Even if you're double cut. It's not like it wasn't double covered at times last year. The targets are always going to be there. That's the most trusted weapon on that offense by Jameis Winston and so you have a very. And he can make plays. He wins the 5050 ball. So very safe at the position. Anything from that game you want to mention before we go into the games we have not talked about yet?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm good.

[Jason Moore]

That offense looked really good as a whole for Tampa Bay and I was very. I mean, I guess it goes hand in hand, but I was very disappointed with the, you know, the vaunted Jaguar defense that is coming in this year. They looked like they are not that special so far.

[Mike Wright]

And as the Pooh Poo are on the team, Doug Martin looked great. So yeah, he looked fantastic.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, are you buying into Doug Martin?

[Mike Wright]

I am not buying into him at his draft price, but if you are, I'm. I'm not likely to draft Doug Martin. But if you're getting into that 6, 7 round round range then. And you want, and you want to hold him for those three weeks, he, he looks like, he looks like the.

[Jason Moore]

Good version of Doug Martin.

[Andy Holloway]

I've seen a lot. He had burst for sure. He was impressive to me. Cutter still came out and said, hey, there's no way I'm going to guarantee you he's the starter in week four.

[Mike Wright]

It just seems like him dirt Cutter being coaching.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And so yeah, last thing you want to do is tell Jacquist he can't win the job. I mean and not get performances from it. The one thing I'll say is when I a lot of people have drafted, they're sending us pictures of their draft. They've sent us a lot of their rosters. Every time I see Doug Martin as some of the depth on the bench. When your running back core isn't as strong as it could be, maybe you went wide receiver first, maybe you jumped on Gronkowski or Reed. It makes me happy. I think you put yourself in a good position if you can survive those first few weeks. If you've got Doug Martin on your bench. I'm a big fan.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And we also want to thank ZipRecruiter. A lot of people out there know that I, you know, I used to run a business with these two guys and hiring was the most important part of that job to make sure that the business was succeeding.

[Andy Holloway]

One would say you, you still run a business.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

About the Vikings and the Seahawks now. Russell Wilson, super impressive in this game. Russell Wilson did everything he could do. I was once again impressed but hesitant with Kassam Williams. Some big plays. If you look back at week one, I mean, I think he's a sleeper candidate that people are going, okay, the stat lines are there. What is this guy doing now? He's running with the starters. I think he's worth a dynasty pickup. I may or may not have done that myself over the weekend. He basically ran the same route four times in week one. It literally was. And they were all the same pass, you know, from Boykin. It was basically run straight and catch.

[Jason Moore]

The giant jump ball.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it was down the left sideline. Impressive catches. But if you don't have a refined route tree and you're sitting there at best fourth in this rotation, maybe you're ahead of Jermaine Kears, but you're not ahead of Lockett, you're not ahead of Baldwin, you're not ahead of Richardson, and you're not ahead of Graham in the pass catching pecking order. So a fifth receiving option, maybe a six behind pro size, that doesn't make me excited. So I would say that's one of those situations where you need to ignore the stat line and look at opportunity and say, look, it's just not there. He may be very talented. But you're going to need injury to find him snaps.

[Jason Moore]

I agree. A great dynasty stash, I will say. I mean, you want to talk about passing the eyeball test, I wrote down on my notes, I was like, look into number 18. Like, who is number 18? I was, you know, and that's Cassan Williams. He really did look special. But I agree, he's. He's not going to get in. So for your redraft leagues, someone to keep, you know, on the radar, but not, not drafting him. Right now, the guy that impressed me the most, easily Doug Baldwin. I mean, we threw a little bit of nasty. Yeah, we threw a little bit of shade, or I did. You know, just on Doug Baldwin's historical consistency when it comes to fantasy football. Always finishing well at the end of the year, but most of that production coming in a very few games. Holy moly. Did he look good? I mean, one of his routes where he was, he faked outside, goes inside, and it looked like his hip should have came out of the socket the way he stopped and came back to the ball. I've always been a huge Doug Baldwin fan and he looked great. Russell Wilson looked great. The Seattle offense, I think they're, you know, I think they are ready to rebound from last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Takeaways from the Minnesota side. Stefan Diggs looked good. Dalvin Cook was very involved.

[Mike Wright]

I wanted to talk about Dalvin Cook, why don't you? He, he looks fantastic. He is absolutely passing the eyeball test. He's passing the test of he's getting opportunity. Latavius Murray is back, though. Latavius Murray has been activated. Do you have any concerns with Dalvin Cook doing all this work between the twenties and getting you some points? And then when it comes time for the big payoff, they go, okay, put the big dude in.

[Andy Holloway]

I have as much concern about that as I do Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey. It's the same situation to me. Jonathan Stewart, Latavius Murray, they're going to get work. They're going to get some rotational work and they'll probably.

[Mike Wright]

I'm saying touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

They'll probably score. No, they'll probably score. But what you need is Dalvin Cook to be involved in that passing game the way he's been involved.

[Jason Moore]

And so, yeah, I have a note down that says cook will catch 50 passes. That's what I wrote down watching this game. I think. I think Dalvin cook will catch 50 passes, and if he does, it's. It's going to be very difficult for him to not be fantasy relevant. This year and then if they're using him in the running game, anything like what they're doing now, and I do might expect him to be taken out on most goal line situations and Latavius Murray to be in. But what Dalvin Cook has shown so far is that he might be able to score from outside the 10, you know, enough times to make him fantasy relevant in PPR leagues. If he. Well, he better.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, people are taking Dalvin Cook in like the third and the fourth round. They're taking him as a. He's a running back one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, this offense is going to move the ball.

[Jason Moore]

I think that will. I think he's more of a running back too. But I actually, you know, the third or fourth round, that's usually going to be an RB2. I don't blame people for taking them there. I'm going to be.

[Mike Wright]

Are you comfortable?

[Jason Moore]

I am comfortable with that right now. He's, he's shown everything that he showed in college and you know, their offensive coordinator now, he's as usually focused on a feature back and Sam Bradford has been, you know, notorious for checking down. Just look at last year, what the running backs combined to produce as receivers. I think Cook is starting to become safe in my eyes.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about the Panthers and the Titans. McCaffrey was in consideration for my rising star of the week.

[Mike Wright]

He is.

[Andy Holloway]

He just does a lot of bursts.

[Mike Wright]

He's the real deal. If the question you brought it up of Jonathan Stewart, how much time does Stewart eat into McCaffrey? How much time does McCaffrey get to play as an actual wide receiver? Is it a situation where he's still going to be on the field just in a different position with the possibility of getting some more targets? Because McCaffrey, like Cook, he's being taken in that rounds where you're saying he's my 2 and he's going to be starting for me essentially every single week.

[Andy Holloway]

You know my feelings on this offense and my belief that they're going to bounce back. So I do feel comfortable if McCaffrey was my number two even with the rotation. I think the big playability of McCaffrey is going to be the thing that sets him apart. He may not have the snap counts you want to see from a two or from a bonafide, you know, number one caliber guy. But you're not going to see those snap counts from a guy like Danny Woodhead either. He's going to catch the ball and McCaffrey is going to be able to make Some big plays in the running game, in the passing game. I was very impressed with him. I was equally unimpressed with Derek Henry on the other side. 16 for 36 with a long of 17, which was a 17 yard touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

Which means he was good on that touchdown, I will say.

[Andy Holloway]

But that means he was 15 for 19 for 78 yards per carry in the preseason against vanilla defenses. It wasn't impressive. Jason, you were not. I gave you a ride into work today because your battery was dead. Yeah, so was Derek Henry's.

[Jason Moore]

I'm telling you, man, I had just given him. I had just given him mad respect as saying, you know, I think he's a legitimate top 10 running back, real running back in the NFL, jogging back. That's what I've seen. But I told you on the drive in, I mean, it looked like he. Every handoff he got was. It came right after he had just finished running a mile. He finished running a mile and then they gave him a handoff. He just looked tired and gassed every single play now. Yeah, he had two touchdowns and he would have been fine. Fantasy. What that showed me was demarco Murray with this offense, with this offensive line, with the touchdown opportunities that are going to be there. And DeMarco Murray's a much better pass catching back. Yeah, I really like the DeMarco Murray. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, guys, is our my guys show. And DeMarco Murray was almost one of.

[Andy Holloway]

My my guys when all the DeMarco Murray owners, they were sweating when you were talking about Derek Henry last week. And this was the kind of performance that really, with DeMarco not playing and with Henry not producing at some otherworldly level, it was a kind of one, you know.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm just trying to crush DeMarco Murray's, you know, average draft price so I can get him in more.

[Andy Holloway]

Well done.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, before we move on from Mariota.

[Andy Holloway]

Look good too, by the way.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he did want to bring up, want to bring up Delaney Walker, who at the time of our tight end show was not in our, our tight end one area and we got a.

[Andy Holloway]

Lot of heat for that.

[Mike Wright]

I think he has, I think he's moved in there because we agreed, you know, maybe he's a little bit too low. But are you, are you in on Walker? Do you, Are you trying to draft him? I mean, because that's. He's going in that middle round range.

[Andy Holloway]

Where he always goes, no, I'm not. I don't want him.

[Jason Moore]

I agree.

[Andy Holloway]

I've been saying that for months and people are like, well, look, this guy, he always does this and that. No, he, he doesn't. He had one outlier season and then he always catches around 60 balls, 50 balls. I don't want him because he's not, he doesn't represent the upside. I want at the tight end position if I'm, if I'm drafting somebody that late. Yeah, and I'd rather have Ebron early.

[Mike Wright]

You mean, huh.

[Andy Holloway]

How early is he going?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I mean, he's mid round. He's a seventh round pick, I would assume.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh gosh, he'll never be in the.

[Jason Moore]

Seventh round and that is the problem. Will Delaney Walker finish the year as a tight end one? I think he's got a great chance to finish the year as a tight end one. He'll probably be, you know, the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th tight end. But that is usually, I mean, you know, Richard Rogers was a tight end one that didn't mean anything for fantasy because you couldn't really rely on him. And yeah, if you're giving up a seventh round pick, go look at the running backs and wide receivers that are available in the seventh round or the. I mean, even though you're sacrificing something important to take Delaney Walker, whereas you.

[Andy Holloway]

Can take Rudolph, Henry, Ertz, all going after Walker.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

Doyle, Ebron, just guys that I'd rather take the shot on.

[Mike Wright]

So Jason, with, with your temperament of Derek Henry's play, do you still buy into him as that potential RB1 if, if he's given the starting.

[Jason Moore]

I absolutely still do. I realize he looked a little sluggish, but he is a freak athlete. And you saw, I mean, with this offense, even when he was looking poor, he scored two touchdowns. I mean, you know, if for fantasy, he's going to be fine. If the Marco Murray goes down, Derek Henry is going to be a great fantasy option. And let me just throw this out, I said this before the show. If you're in a dynasty league, make sure you have John who Smith rostered in that league. I really think he will be the heir apparent to Delaney Walker. He's cheap, he's free. He looked great, I thought, in that game. And so if you're, if you're in a need for future tight end, take a look in a book.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's go ahead and talk about this Chiefs Bengals game. A lot of exciting stuff happening in that matchup. A lot of it had to do with, look, Pat Mahomes is in a wonderful one. I want to just talk about Pat Mahomes for a second.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Pat Mahomes is in a dream situation. He is. He's with the Walrus. He's with one of the best quarterback gurus, Andy Reid. In a team that can have some success, that's built the right way, coached well, he impressed the heck out of me. Don't freak out in fantasy about Pat Mahomes. This is not going to be. I think that he could end up taking snaps by the end of this year. I said the same thing about, you know where and Alex Smith. If they get off to a bad start, you may see some snaps from homes. But it'll be a while. It'll be a long time. I think Alex Smith showed that he's willing to take a couple shots down the field.

[Mike Wright]

What does a bad Alex Smith game look like, though? I think the difference looks great. I think the difference between a bad Alex Smith game and a good Alex Smith game is really not that it's about 20 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

It's called victory. It's just the victory.

[Mike Wright]

It's the win.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's the win. I mean, Alex Smith never played bad to lose his job to Kaepernick.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

He just was.

[Jason Moore]

He was actually great.

[Andy Holloway]

He was actually winning. But he didn't do things that, you know, Andy Reid has been known to do. And Andy Reid's been a field stretcher. Andy Reid's been a guy that wants to be aggressive in that passing game within the context of the west coast offerings. Take a few shots. I think Pat Mahomes is going to be incredible from an arm strength standpoint, but he's going to make mistakes. He's going to do some of the things that don't help that defense. So I don't think you're going to see him right away. I was super impressed, but I saw Brett Favre on the field again that time when he shook out and rolled to the right and laser beamed that ball. You can. Alex Smith can be more aggressive.

[Jason Moore]

Guys can do that.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Alex Smith can be all the more aggressive in the world. He can't fit it into that window. He can't make that throw. That throw is a one in a million throw.

[Jason Moore]

So let's talk about Spencer Ware.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk about some more fantasy relevant.

[Jason Moore]

And Kareem Hunt, because I think you and I, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We totally disagreed on this.

[Jason Moore]

Completely disagreeable on this. So you guys can listen and be the judge the way that I saw.

[Mike Wright]

Do we need to go to the court?

[Jason Moore]

Don't know. Don't.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think we have enough formulated arguments. For the court.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so here's. And he's reaching for a button. I don't know if this is actually happening or not. So I will just continue on and say Spencer Ware. I watched this game and Spencer Ware gets first carry. And they said they want to see what they can get out of Kareem Hunt with the first team offense, give him some opportunity. So Spencer Ware, first carry, three yards. They give him a pat on the butt, and they say, go rest. You're done for the day. This is not a bad thing. If this happened with any other starter that you know is locked and loaded for that role, water off your back. You don't care at all. You know, I mean, David Johnson played one series. That was three. He got three carries on the first series, and he was done. And nobody's like, whoa, Chris Johnson. You're going to. No, of course.

[Mike Wright]

Well, because the Arizona Cardinals did not trade up in the third round.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they're not wanting to take a look at Chris Johnson to see what they have for starting potential. And they are with Kareem Hunt. I get that. And Hunt looked great. So, you know, great. He was very involved. I think it was great. But my point in all this was I think people are overreacting to Kareem Hunt and Spencer Ware in the wrong direction. It said to me that the Kansas City Chiefs know what they have in Ware and he is their starter and he will be their starter, and they wanted to see what they get in Kareem Hunt. So Spencer Ware's draft stock, because of last game, it's going to continue to go down. And I think his role as the starting running back for a good offense is safe. So I really like Spencer Ware right now because he's going to be available in the fourth or fifth round.

[Andy Holloway]

This is going to be one of those times, listeners, that you're just going to have to decide what to believe. And that's. I mean, on this show, we're just trying to give you the information so you can make those decisions. I do not read it the way Jason does. I know that Andy Reid came out. He said he wanted to see him. He wanted to see him against a good defense. He wanted to see him where the speed of the game was, what he would expect if he's a starter. And so I think his production in that situation showed he can be a starter and could step into that role. So it doesn't help Spencer Ware. He's not. Spencer Ware's not left Bell. David Johnson, he's not Lashawn McCoy. I think he is the starter, so I will agree with that. I think Spencer Ware is the starter, but Kareem Hunt coming in, playing against first team defense and producing only helps Kareem Hunt.

[Jason Moore]

I agree with that.

[Mike Wright]

I lean on the side that Spencer Ware is the starter and will be the starter for.

[Andy Holloway]

We all agree on that for quite some time.

[Mike Wright]

So I think that he is. He's worth his draft price because I don't. I think it's Ware's job for at least the majority of the season. Now, the nice thing is Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt's going to be a top three round draft pick next year, the way I project it. So if you're. We've gotten a lot of questions for people saying, hey, we get to keep rookies for adp. Should I reach on anybody? Wait on Cream Hunt and maybe reach on him a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

8Th round pick. If you end up having to trade an eighth for Cream Hunt next year, that's going to be beautiful. That's a great point, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Real quick.

[Andy Holloway]

Joe Mixon didn't talk a lot about him last week. He was very impressive last week. This week, 6 for 16. Jeremy Hill. Jeremy Hill, 6 for 28.

[Mike Wright]

Jeremy Hill has looked.

[Andy Holloway]

Still have geo in that backfield.

[Mike Wright]

Jeremy Hill has looked good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

For two weeks. And I know that's a crazy thing to say, people, I totally understand. But he looked patient, he looked strong. He looked like an adequate running back. And this wasn't a situation where the Bengals said, okay, Jeremy Hill, take your turn. Okay, you're done. Joe Mixon, you take your turn. They kept swapping them in and out.

[Jason Moore]

I think that's what you're going to see.

[Mike Wright]

So, I mean, that's what I'm saying, that that could be trouble for the fantasy value of Joe Mixon, assuming that everyone in that backfield stays healthy because people are paying. All these rookies are getting paid up for mixing McAfee Cook.

[Andy Holloway]

Hill's a 10th rounder.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I was just going to say. Yeah, Jeremy hill in the 10th round.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, please.

[Jason Moore]

He's worth taking.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

You're drafting him next to a guy like Matt Forte who's on a team without an offense.

[Andy Holloway]

What do we think about Marlon Mack? The Colts, the Cowboys? Marlon Mack, 5, 5 carries, 45 yards. Also had two receptions. Had a spring in his step.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's got juice.

[Andy Holloway]

Frank Gore does not have. He also looked capable enough to go between the tackles a little bit more than I think I expected to see. Moncrief didn't play with the shoulder injury. Anything on the Colts side. What do you think about the Mack situation before we talk Cowboys?

[Mike Wright]

I think Mack, he looked, he looked great. I liked Mack coming into the draft process, but I still believe that if something happened to Frank Gore, Robert Turbin will be the biggest beneficiary of it. They're just, I believe they will go with this.

[Jason Moore]

Marlon Mack is not a handcuff.

[Mike Wright]

Right. If you're handcuffing Gore, if you're batting against score, it's still Turbine for me.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Darren McFadden also the passing game for the Colts. If Andrew Luck. It's like you were saying about Joe Flacco. If Andrew Luck is missing time.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, it's not good.

[Jason Moore]

It's.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I'm saying like Hilton, what do you do with Ty Hilton?

[Andy Holloway]

Last week I moved Hilton Moncrief down both of them along with Andrew Luck a little bit. Brady overtook him in my rankings. Just hedging a little bit against a one or two game problem for Andrew Luck. We don't know. I still think he'll probably be ready. Might not be.

[Jason Moore]

If he's not ready. The Los Angeles Rams are the are one of those late round defenses to grab. They play the colts in week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that is a great point. McFadden, nine carries, 59 yards, also a terrible fumble.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but it's still. If you are the. If you're drafting Zeke and you're trying to get the Cowboys going to play, it's going to be Darren McFadden. He's going to get all of the important work.

[Andy Holloway]

Alfred Morris 9 for 49, Rod Smith 7 for 53. In other words, it don't matter what your name is, you gonna run behind that line.

[Mike Wright]

But it's going to be Darren McFadden as the starting running back and also out there fantasy players. Please, please continue to doubt DEZ Bryant and Dak Prescott. Go ahead because I'm gonna scoop them up everywhere. DEZ Bryant is a monster. Dak Prescott is freaking good.

[Jason Moore]

You don't say.

[Mike Wright]

His one incomplete pass was a bat down.

[Jason Moore]

We might talk about him tomorrow. Good.

[Mike Wright]

I really hope we do because I'm, I am tired of the people Jason Des Brian's schedule.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh the court.

[Mike Wright]

Stop it. DEZ Bryant is an elite wide receiver and he will be drafted like that.

[Andy Holloway]

By me in all leagues. Mike is coming into your league and he's drafting these two players.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to walk in, give me.

[Jason Moore]

Daz draft in the 205. Yeah, I'll take that pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the thing with Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott comes at a discount. A Dak discount.

[Mike Wright]

And look, I know it's the Colts defense, so.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. I have a note here that just also says it's the Colts Deluxe. Real, real bad.

[Mike Wright]

I get it.

[Andy Holloway]

But Dak has similar late round adjustment because of the lack of multiple years of doing it. And we saw this with Russell Wilson. So if he, you know, if he's the next Russell Wilson, and I don't mean that in style, I mean that in fantasy pattern where he comes out and he's going to be a top 10 every year, we're going to learn that we don't know it yet. That's why he's a 10th round player.

[Mike Wright]

I'm all in, baby.

[Andy Holloway]

I know you are all in.

[Jason Moore]

As you should be.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a good player. I can't argue with you there. All right. The New York Football jets.

[Jason Moore]

Oh man, they are a hot mess. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I literally wrote down. I'm sorry, but I have to.

[Mike Wright]

Did you draw the whelp face?

[Jason Moore]

I. Yeah, the whelp faced. No, I. My note is Hackenberg is so entertaining. If he was the starting quarterback, I would watch every single jets game as long as he can stay in it, which who knows how many quarters that would be. He is horrifically bad. He has no business being on an NFL field. My biggest takeaway was that you should draft the Bills because they play against the jets in week one. Now, granted, in week one it will be Josh McCown. They can't possibly put Hackenberg out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, they can do it.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, if they do. If they do take the Bills at one on one. Just, just draft.

[Mike Wright]

I'm trying to find the saw.

[Andy Holloway]

His coach came out and said it was the offensive line. It was the offensive line.

[Jason Moore]

Well, the problem is the offensive line is still there.

[Mike Wright]

The. The tweet of the weekend goes to Justin Rogers, who tweeted out and he said Hackenberg said he thought the Lions did a great job studying the tape. Stafford said the team barely watched tape at all prepping for this game. So Hackenberg's over here. He's trying to do the deflection. He's going block, block, block. They were good. They were prepared for me and Chad Hansen.

[Jason Moore]

Everyone's prepared for you.

[Andy Holloway]

Hackenberg, they're born prepared. Chad Hansen led the jets with wide out snaps on Saturday. Good luck figuring that situation.

[Mike Wright]

But Blob, I was very happy to see Blau plow play because I was starting, my concern was growing with all this time he's missing with his injury, but he got out there. Powell should still be with as bad.

[Jason Moore]

As the offense is going to be with as down as they are going to be in normal game scripts, I can no longer trust Matt Forte. He is, he does not have the burst to get it done when a team is stacking the box. Still catch passes, sure. But I'm saying he doesn't have the burst. He doesn't have the speed anymore. And the defenses are going to be zoned in on Matt Forte and Blau Powell. I actually believe Belle Powell can beat those defenders right now given the wear and tear that's not on his legs. So Bilal Powell was my one takeaway from the jets side of the ball where I think it's okay. You know, for a long time I've been like, blow. Powell's being overdrafted because you know, he is essentially a backup running back being drafted as a starter. But in their games I think he will be the higher producing running back. And he looks to me to be an okay, worth the price pick right now. Yeah, might be worth the price. What about the other side of the ball? What about the. The Detroit Lions?

[Mike Wright]

I don't really have a lot of takeaways except for even as one of the main proponents pushing Kenny G and his smooth routes. This is why we said chill out. He's still just a late round flyer. As one for one for six yards.

[Jason Moore]

Marvin Jones I thought looked good. He was targeted. He was targeted in the end zone. And you know, I think people are going to boomerang too far on him.

[Mike Wright]

And I had also had the note of Abdullah is good.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And you know what I like about Abdullah? And this goes to maybe this is just my propensity of how I see games speaking of Spencer Ware. But both weeks with Abdullah in there, they got him out. They had, I mean, so quick lickety split. They're like, hey, get a couple runs and get out of this game. I don't want you in here. I kept thinking, I mean it was so early, I thought, oh, they're going to bring him back. But that first Zach Zinner run, which was early in the game was the last Abdullah run. And that's good. That means they want him, they need him.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, the packers and Redskins takeaways from the Packer side of the ball. Jamal Williams with the start with Ty Montgomery sideline with the leg injury. Opportunity there for Jamal Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think it's, it's still Ty Montgomery's show though. So I'm not, I'm not going to overreact to him missing this time yet.

[Jason Moore]

Aaron Rodgers is really, really good. He's really good.

[Andy Holloway]

But you, you were really against Thomas Rawls ankle injury because that's saying his.

[Mike Wright]

History of having bad ankle problems.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Tom Montgomery has a pretty good history of injuries too.

[Jason Moore]

That is true. And wasn't it an ankle, was it an ankle last year?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it's a leg right now. I don't know what the exact issue is.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Samashe P. Ryan, 8 rushes, 45 yards.

[Mike Wright]

P. Ryan is the big note for me. Well, the big note is the first team Washington offense like Jason saw, they looked, they looked pretty bad, very dysfunctional. They looked completely out of sync.

[Jason Moore]

And where is this great offensive line that every ranking says, oh, the Washington Redskins have this awesome offensive line because I sure as heck didn't see it on the first team against the first team.

[Mike Wright]

They got to get it together. P. Ryan bounced back in a big way. Looks like he should had a great reception and had to make an adjustment on the ball. And then Chris Thompson is still the passing downs back he looked spry. Will he get enough work to be fantasy relevant? Because of passing downs back, he just, he never seems to get enough to actually be playable.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, one of the problems with, you know, the Chris Thompson's he'll finish the year fine for fantasy. You know, he'll finish as, you know, the RB36 or something, but he has no ceiling. You've just got a safe floor in PPR leagues because he'll catch a bunch of passes. But you don't ever get the workload and certainly not the red zone opportunities. But it's worth bringing him up. He did look better than Rob Kelly, who didn't look good at all.

[Mike Wright]

Well, Rob Kelly was getting no help from that line.

[Jason Moore]

He needs help from a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, he certainly does.

[Jason Moore]

Look when I was watching that, I thought to myself if Kirk Cousins, if that guy playing this exact game, if we were watching and you told me that his name was Blake Bortles or his name was Jared Goff, Twitter would be going nuts about how off he looked. Missing guys that were open holding the ball too long. He just didn't look good. But we give him a pass because he's Kirk Cosby. Looks good more. Yeah, that's fine. But I'm just saying there's a turnover on this offense. He's missing a lot of the pieces that he's used to and it Showed.

[Andy Holloway]

So, yeah, absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

Little worry. All right?

[Andy Holloway]

We got six games left, guys, so we gotta.

[Mike Wright]

We can do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Cruise. Some takeaways here. Patriots, Texans, big takeaways. I've already talked about Burkhead. That was my big takeaway from the Patriots side. Anything else on that side of the ball?

[Jason Moore]

No, my. My entire side of that ball is just Rex Burkhead.

[Andy Holloway]

Plus plus plus Texan side. Deshaun Watson did not have a good performance. He did rush for a touchdown. Tom Savage.

[Mike Wright]

Tom Savage is going to be the start.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he kind of secured that with a very good performance.

[Jason Moore]

Tom Savage needs to be. Madame Tussaud needs to make a. Tom Savage because he is a wax statue. I mean, that guy cannot. He is. Carson Palmer is more agile in the pocket than Tom Savage. But my takeaway from the Texas side of the ball. My takeaway from that side of the ball was Lamar Miller. Look, Lamar, I'm talking to you now. I have been a.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you need a diary entry?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Let's go.

[Jason Moore]

Lamar, I have supported you. I have a signed jersey from pristine action of you in my office. I think you're talented, but I watched you give up on every play this preseason. I watched you barely chip a block and then fake like you're going out for a route. I watched you lazily run and fall down like you were paid and like you kind of don't want Tom Savage to succeed. So I'm telling you, get it together. I watched you against the Patriots where Julian Edelman was running out there hot nine routes on a rushing play to sell it while you were being lazy. No more of this, Lamar, or I'm taking you off of one of my guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man. Oh. Sometimes you got to bring them ultimatums.

[Mike Wright]

And the guy I want to bring up from the Texans, Bruce Ellington.

[Jason Moore]

What? Matt Harmon's Bruce Ellington look great.

[Mike Wright]

He looked. He looks sensational. The stat line backed it up and.

[Andy Holloway]

Mistake number one by the 49ers this offseason. I mean, letting him go because you're worried about injury situation.

[Mike Wright]

You know who else let him go?

[Andy Holloway]

Jets. Yeah. And all of a sudden, 4 for 5, 93.

[Jason Moore]

They don't want to win.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, look, he could be.

[Jason Moore]

He could be injured.

[Andy Holloway]

He could be injured next week, and it doesn't matter. But right now looks good.

[Jason Moore]

His.

[Mike Wright]

Should he be on the radar or do we need another week?

[Jason Moore]

I don't. I don't think the offense is good enough to make him matter.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, and DeAndre Hopkins missed the game. Jalen Strong was in there. Ellington was in There, so just something to pay attention to. Deontay Foreman did rush 7 for 17, but he caught two passes for 66 yards. He'll play a part. He'll play a part in this offense.

[Mike Wright]

He's still at the bottom of the depth chart, working his way up.

[Andy Holloway]

He is, but he. I mean, they actually have some depth to give Lamar Miller those plays off that he so desperately wants. Yeah, apparently. All right, the Los Angeles Rams, maybe the highlight of the entire week was their performance on offense or the lack of a performance by the Oakland defense. Let me say this, Oakland, you're going to lose games if you're. It doesn't matter what Derek Carr can do. It was nice seeing him on the field, by the way. It was nice seeing Marshawn lynch on the field, let me tell you.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that was so fun.

[Andy Holloway]

These are my two dynasty running backs in our. In our dynasty league here and in the studio. I have Gurley and I've got lynch, and I'm feeling just fine about this year with both those guys. Gurley looked great. Eight for 38 and a touchdown. The line was getting so much push every time as a short yardage down, you thought, oh, somebody's gonna get stopped up. Ends up being a five yard game.

[Mike Wright]

The clump was moving forward.

[Andy Holloway]

It was neat to see. We've given so much grief and Mike, you know, brought it up earlier. So much grief to the offense. This actually looked like they were in a competent scheme.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

It looked like Jeff Fisher wasn't their coach.

[Jason Moore]

So weird. It looked like they got a Sammy Watkins bump like morale. They're like, you know what, we can do this. We can be good. Because Todd Gurley had a pep and a step that he hasn't had in about.

[Andy Holloway]

He showed some birth.

[Jason Moore]

20 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it was nice. And we talked about Cooper Cup Goff 16 for 20 for 160 and a touchdown. That's a game.

[Jason Moore]

And that grab from Amari Cooper, oh.

[Mike Wright]

In the triple coverage.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that was. That was some Odell Beckham work right there.

[Mike Wright]

It was. It was a strange decision to throw that pass, but Cooper came down with it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. DeAndre Washington worked ahead of Jalen Richard through the first two weeks of the preseason. He's the cuff to own.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Is he a cuff or is he a cuff?

[Mike Wright]

I. I do not mind at all the targeting DeAndre Washington late. And I'm not talking about if you have Marshawn Lynch. I'm saying just for your team. DeAndre Washington is a nice guy to just take the shot on late Maybe wait a couple weeks, see how Marshawn actually responds to real NFL work.

[Jason Moore]

It was so fun watching Marshawn get a handoff and run and the crowd go crazy. And I just wanted to stand up, preseason game and put my hands in the air and be like, yeah, Marshawn's playing football. That's all.

[Andy Holloway]

You think he looked pretty good, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. What did he have, like, two carries?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think he had two.

[Andy Holloway]

Look pretty good to me.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, if you want my. My real honest assessment was on the first run, the.

[Jason Moore]

The.

[Mike Wright]

The tackle that brought him down. I was a little surprised.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm going to talk about my one now. You can call it an overreaction, whatever you want to say. The Bears, the Cardinals. I think I'm going to hit this for Arizona. No, not for Arizona.

[Jason Moore]

For Jordan Howard. I think.

[Andy Holloway]

I know I'm a little worried about Jordan Howard because he was one of the worst pass catchers in football last year at the running back position. But they had to throw in the ball anyway. He was all they had. You saw Tariq Cohen for a second straight week. Mike, you talked about him last week.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

This week he's good. I mean, it's not like the Cardinals. I mean, he got the start, and the Cardinals starting defense was out there, and they had problems, but Cardinals were a very good D last year. And yet Cohen rushed 11 times for 77 yards. Big play after big play. And if he doesn't get third down and this offense struggles, he only scored six times last year. So now give Jordan Howard five or six scores and not as many passing yards, you're going to have dud games. That's the problem. You're going to run into dud games with offense. I mean, Glennon didn't look special. Again, I just am concerned about Howard like you have. We say this every year. Like somebody might say you're overreacting to the backup having a good game. Howard missed the game. He had an eye injury, not a serious injury. And that's fine if you. If you think it's an overreaction, draft Howard with confidence. I just think we know right in the first two rounds, you can have running backs that bust based on what you expect. Do I think Howard's going to disappear? Of course not. He's super talented. He's the starter. That's his job. But if I had to predict, I mean, I think I said it before. If I had to predict somebody to bust out of that first couple rounds at the running back position, his Chance of busting is there.

[Mike Wright]

I get it because it's bad offense. It's a lot of my opposition to Todd Gurley is bad offense. Good running back, but bad offense, bad quarterback. But from week, from game eight through the end of the season, Jordan Howard averaged per game, averaged over 100 rushing yards per game. I mean the dude, it wasn't. He wasn't padding his overall total yardage with passing yards and he was, I mean he had, in that time he had 15 receptions for 170 yards, which. It's good and it's opportunity that he's on the field. But I think that, I think Jordan Howard is really good. I believe in the Chicago offensive line and that they will. Once the season is going, the ball is going to Jordan Howard.

[Andy Holloway]

Everybody who's in the first two rounds has the. The arguments are all there for why they belong there. Otherwise they wouldn't be there.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, so like Cohen's, Cohen's success to me speaks to Jordan Howard having success as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, sure, and that's fine. And all I'm saying is that it's not a matter of making the case for Jordan Howard. To me it's a matter of saying, look, Jeremy Hill and his yards per carry after his rookie season was through the roof. Didn't happen the second year. Todd Gurley monstrous first year. Didn't happen the second year. There were reasons for those things. You can make every case for Jordan Howard because all the stat lines are there. That's why we're drafting where we're drafting him. I'm just saying if I had to pick somebody because somebody will bust. I'm picking Jordan Howard right now.

[Mike Wright]

We know that multiple people will bust.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Arizona Cardinals takeaways on the Cardinal side of the ball.

[Jason Moore]

Look, a lot of questions coming in about John Brown, Geron Brown, J.J. nelson. Who is the guy to own? How confident are you in them? I've been touting Jaron Brown. I've been sharing my lack of faith in John Brown. To be able to stay healthy as a whole, though, I need to make sure that I, you know, I'm clear. I don't expect the wide receiver two for the Arizona Cardinals to be very fantasy relevant this year. It strikes me they'll have their games. But to draft them in a redraft league, in a home league where you're going to rely on starting them week after week, I don't know that there's going to be someone there that gets the job done. This is David Johnson's team. Larry Fitzgerald will be moving, you know, the chains through the short slot slants.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoa.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, whoa.

[Andy Holloway]

You just kept talking.

[Mike Wright]

Thanks, Dr. Seuss.

[Jason Moore]

You know, if you're in a basketball league where you don't have to choose the starts, I do think J.J. nelson is a great ad. Even Jaron Brown, I'm sorry, John Brown, if he falls where you don't have to pick the games where he's healthy. But I'm worried about that entire pass catching role which tarnishes a little bit. You know, I've talked about, I think a couple episodes ago, the conundrum between Eli Manning and Carson Palmer and you know, the lack of wide receivers stepping up for Arizona leads me to have less faith in Carson Palmer. Does it lead either of you to have less faith in the offense to the point of David Johnson? Maybe Lev Bell is a better pick.

[Mike Wright]

No, I still don't have concern for D.J.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's, let's turn the page here. Let's go. Denver, San Francisco takeaways from that game. Simeon seems to secure this starting job.

[Mike Wright]

I've talked about this. Paxton lynch is not good and Trevor Simeon is at least good, a capable quarterback. He will be able to move the offense. I mean if they need him to go out there and Alex Smith it fine because they can do it. I'm not concerned of demarius. Thomas is still fine. Sanders is fine. And look, my, my belief in C.J. anderson and I know Jason, you're right as far as D'Angelo Henderson, I think he's still going to be the clear backup.

[Jason Moore]

C.J.

[Mike Wright]

Anderson going to be the guy. And I, I won't argue his injury history, but he is a starting running back for a team that wants to run the ball and that has to run the ball. And I think he's a solid running back. So I'm still very, very comfortable targeting Anderson as your as an rbt.

[Andy Holloway]

Carlos Hyde worked as the main back at the first eight carries. We know this by now. Carlos Hyde will be the starter in San Francisco.

[Jason Moore]

Did not look good, but then again, most of the time people don't look great against Denver. The one takeaway from the niner side of the ball for me was Vance McDonald. He didn't have a great game, but he was targeted quite a bit. You know, it was clear that Hoyer was looking his way and it seemed like from what was coming out of camp the last week or two, I think that's a theme that they've been seeing in camp and it showed up on the field. So Vance McDonald is a, he's. He's a guy that I'm targeting in best ball leagues where you, you want multiple tight ends.

[Mike Wright]

In redraft though, are you in redraft?

[Jason Moore]

There's just enough. There's too many guys that I like better. Like, there's. There's too many free guys I like better. But I do believe Vance McDonald could, could very well be worth it. I just won't put my chips on him yet. But I'll be watching him week one and he'll certainly play a few games as a streaming candidate for. For me this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Falcons and Steelers saw some Hooper targets look pretty good. You didn't see Freeman still in the concussion protocol. Any takeaways on the Falcons side or you want to talk Steelers?

[Mike Wright]

I don't really have anything huge from the Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

Fitzgerald Toussaint started for Pittsburgh. James Conner got a lot of work, 20 carries, 98 yards. I think that's the biggest up and down for Connor of this game is.

[Mike Wright]

Jason, you've been kind of the big supporter of James Conner. How did you feel about his performances? The end numbers are.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, the numbers look a lot better than how he performed. He performed well against much inferior competition. Later in the game had some mistakes, had some drops. I do like him from college and I like the role behind Le'Veon Bell, but I need to see him take over ahead of Fitzgerald Toussaint and if he's not able to do that, then he's irrelevant because right now, if Left Bell were to go down, I believe Fitzgerald Toussaint would be the guy. So that. That leaves Connor.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that doesn't help.

[Mike Wright]

It's also good to see Martevis Martavis on the field.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Doing work. Doing work.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I didn't have a lot of takeaways from this game. Because you didn't have Big Ben.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

It's playing on one side and then the other side. You kind of know what you have in these veteran teams that have most of the same pieces back from last year. They're good. All right, looking into schedules, the Steelers opening schedule looks great as a Browns week one, Browns Week one. But I think their first like four weeks they've got Baltimore and Jacksonville and the Browns and another one that wasn't scary. So really good, you know, defense that most people might not even be drafting.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, last matchup here, the Saints and the Chargers. This game got started by an Alvin Camara 61 or, sorry, a 50 yard touchdown, five carries for 61 yards and a touchdown. He also had a good reception in this game, 20 yard reception.

[Mike Wright]

He's. He's just looked like an excellent running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, he's just looks like a good player.

[Mike Wright]

Also, we do have an. I want to bring this update to the fantasy football community because they talked about this in the broadcast straight from the source. This is from Alvin Camara, who says his mom pronounced it Camara, but he has chosen to pronounce it Camara. I don't understand why you would change the pronunciation of your last name, but that's where we're at.

[Jason Moore]

I didn't know you could do that.

[Mike Wright]

There are no rules.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well, then call me Jason Moore.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going as Mike. It's the double O. Mike Riggitt.

[Jason Moore]

Mike Riggitt.

[Andy Holloway]

But it's funny.

[Jason Moore]

Camara.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

If you look at the Patriots and the Saints, you see some commonalities with the. Just the depth they have at the running back position, how much they lean on them. It makes me. I mean, I'm sure the Saints want to use him. Yeah, I mean, the Saints playing to use him in the office, he's playing.

[Mike Wright]

His way to the. You have to give this guy snaps. He's absolutely dynamic.

[Jason Moore]

I really liked him early in the draft process. You know, some analysts didn't get it with Camara, and I was always one of those guys saying, I get it. I look. And every time he touches the ball, I don't think he's going to be a workhorse. But especially in this role as a pass catching back. For a team that utilizes the running back so much, he'll be fantasy relevant this year and he's being drafted really late.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, any other takeaways here on the charger side of the ball? I mean, you didn't have Phillip Rivers in there. You couldn't see a whole lot from, you know, targets went all over the field to the receivers. So I think we'll wrap that up. We'll be into a big episode tomorrow, the My Guys episode.

[Mike Wright]

Ah.

[Andy Holloway]

We're all picking out some guys to plant our flag and watch this season. See if these guys can deliver like we expect them to. It's a great episode. You do not want to miss it Again. A quick reminder at the end of this show, check us out on Twitter @ the FF Ballers. Check out the Ultimate Draft Kit. If your draft is coming up, you got to equip yourself, got to set that foundation. Got to build that beautiful fantasy house tall with the foundation of the Ultimate Draft Kit. And if you want to play some basketball, Mike will be doing another live draft this week. You can do [e-mail] Ballers grab a free entry.

[Jason Moore]

Week one is and week one for.

[Mike Wright]

DFS, for draft and less. We cannot forget that in about two weeks. Here ballers live ballerslive.com we are doing a live podcast in Phoenix, Arizona. If you're in the region, come on down. It's going to be fantastic. And it keeps getting better because everyone who goes if you got a ticket, you're eligible for a signed David Johnson. A framed signed oh, it's not a ticket. David Johnson jersey courtesy of Pristine Junction.

[Jason Moore]

If you're not in the southwest and you're like, man, I want to see the ballers live. Even before then, the FantasySportsShow.com we are going to be teaching some northeast.

[Mike Wright]

We just, we hit the corners. That's what we do.

[Jason Moore]

So if you're near Toronto in the weekend of August 25th, ish. I think we'll be, we'll be in Toronto at some point.

[Andy Holloway]

Fancy sports show.com you can find tickets.

[Mike Wright]

It's also known as this weekend.

[Jason Moore]

My goodness, that's true. Incredible.

[Andy Holloway]

That is what it's known as. All right, thanks for tuning in. We appreciate it.

[Mike Wright]

And those best balls, if you want to get your account ready, playdraft.com Ballers get a free best ball entry.

[Jason Moore]

Go football.

[Andy Holloway]

You kind of look like a wildling.

[Jason Moore]

Mike Bras 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 at theffballers.