Fantasy Football 2017 - The Fantasy MVP Show

Summary

Fantasy Football 2017 - The Fantasy MVP Show Fantasy Footballers Podcast | Released on September 1, 2017

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Introduction

The Fantasy Footballers Podcast kicked off the 2017 season with an engaging episode focused on selecting the top Fantasy MVP candidates. Hosted by Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright, the trio navigates through the latest NFL updates, fantasy football strategies, and expert opinions to help listeners draft and manage their fantasy teams effectively.

Technical Glitches and Lighthearted Banter

The episode began with the hosts humorously addressing ongoing technical issues in the studio. Andy Holloway joked, “[...] my grammar levels are going to be low, troublesome” ([00:36]). This lighthearted exchange set a friendly and relaxed tone for the episode.

NFL News and Updates

Before delving into MVP selections, the hosts discussed significant NFL news affecting fantasy football rookies and veterans alike.

• Ezekiel Elliott Suspension Drama: Mike Wright highlighted the uncertainty surrounding Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension, mentioning the NFL Players Association's legal actions that could impact his draft position: “This is going to approach Deflategate levels of absolute ridiculousness” ([08:49]). Jason Moore echoed the frustration, “How are we getting to these points now where the NFL is handing out these suspensions...” ([09:08]).

• Andrew Luck's Status: The conversation shifted to Andrew Luck, with Andy suggesting drafting him later due to injury uncertainties: “I have certainly been buying him up in best ball leagues. He's fallen into that seventh, eighth, ninth round” ([11:07]).

• DeAndre Hopkins' Value: Jason Moore and Mike Wright discussed DeAndre Hopkins' potential, emphasizing his talent despite team-related opportunities: “He is a high level NFL wide receiver” ([11:35]).

• Jets' Quarterback Situation: The hosts touched upon the New York Jets' quarterback issues, with Jason questioning their offseason decisions: “Why would you... try to force Christian Hackenberg as their starter...” ([15:04]).

Fantasy MVP Selections

A highlight of the episode was the Fantasy MVP Show, where various fantasy football analysts shared their top MVP picks for the season. Each expert provided in-depth reasons supporting their choices, complete with statistical insights and player potential.

1. Brad Evans (Yahoo Sports)

Brad Evans recommended Ty Montgomery, citing his versatility and potential breakout performance:

“Ty Montgomery must be on your team. He is going to be the breakout sensation of this year's fantasy season.” ([16:24])

He highlighted Montgomery’s impressive per-touch statistics and his role in the Packers' offense, projecting him to accumulate significant yards and touchdowns.

2. JJ Zacharison (DFS Analyst)

JJ Zacharison concurred with Evans, further elaborating on Montgomery's role:

“Ty Montgomery is literally the perfect option in the dead third and fourth round of fantasy drafts.” ([17:56])

He emphasized Montgomery’s ability to thrive in goal-line situations and his suitability for PPR (Point Per Reception) formats.

3. Pat Mayo (DraftKings)

Pat Mayo offered a different perspective, choosing Bilal Powell for his PPR value:

“Bilal Powell is going to pile up all these dinky catches. He is probably the only receiving running back who's going to be able to challenge Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson in terms of target count.” ([28:04])

Mayo underscored Powell's role in the Jets' offense and his potential to rack up receptions despite team struggles.

4. Brandon Marianne Lee (Fantasy Alarm)

Brandon Marianne Lee advocated for Devonta Freeman, highlighting his consistent performance:

“Devonta Freeman is going to be a fantasy league changer and MVP for you this season.” ([33:04])

She pointed to Freeman's rushing and receiving capabilities, as well as his favorable matchup in the departure of Tevin Coleman.

5. John Paulson (4for4.com)

John Paulson selected Pierre Garçon, focusing on his target volume in the 49ers' offense:

“Pierre Garçon is a great pick in the sixth round. He's being reunited with Kyle Shanahan...” ([35:45])

Paulson praised Garçon’s integration into the Shanahan-led offense and his high reception potential.

6. Matt Harmon (NFL.com)

Matt Harmon took an unconventional route by choosing quarterback Russell Wilson:

“Russell Wilson is due for some progression in his career rate statistics... he is still going to give you that QB1 overall upside and unfair weekly advantage.” ([40:24])

He emphasized Wilson's improved statistics, strong supporting cast, and potential for a high fantasy output.

7. Ben Cummins (4for4.com)

Ben Cummins recommended Randall Cobb, highlighting his reliability and quarterback support:

“Randall Cobb has the ability to be a wide receiver one… He possesses tons of upside thanks to Aaron Rodgers.” ([42:43])

Cummins noted Cobb’s consistent target volume and chemistry with Rodgers as key factors for his MVP candidacy.

8. Chris Meaney (DFS Host)

Chris Meaney endorsed Devonta Parker from the Miami Dolphins, focusing on his speed and target potential:

“Devonta Parker is a fantasy league changer and MVP for you this season.” ([43:47])

He highlighted Parker's athleticism, improved health, and increased role in the Dolphins' passing game as reasons for his high fantasy potential.

Hosts' Fantasy MVP Picks

After hearing expert opinions, the hosts shared their personal MVP selections for the 2017 season.

• Andy Holloway: Selected Kareem Hunt, praising his versatility and opportunity within Andy Reid’s offense:

  “Kareem Hunt has the best overall combination of everything that's coming together out of a bunch of good rookie running backs.” ([46:37])

• Jason Moore: Chose an early-round pick, though the transcript hints at Rob Gronkowski and later Ted Ginn Jr. as his picks:

  “Gronkowski is healthy right near right now... he's my fantasy MVP pick this year.” ([48:59])

• Mike Wright: Opted for Rob Gronkowski, emphasizing his dominance and high fantasy point potential:

  “Gronkowski is a fantasy MVP. He is unguardable and averaged 17 fantasy points a game last year.” ([48:48])

Additionally, Mike and Jason discussed simulated lineups using Play Draft, illustrating practical applications of their MVP choices.

Conclusion

The episode concluded with a mixture of strategic insights and entertaining banter, reinforcing the importance of careful drafting and informed decision-making in fantasy football. The hosts encouraged listeners to engage with their content through social media and their website, ensuring that fans stay updated with the latest fantasy football trends and advice.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore on Ty Montgomery's Value:

  “Ty Montgomery is literally the perfect option in the dead third and fourth round of fantasy drafts.” ([17:56])

• Pat Mayo on Bilal Powell:

  “Bilal Powell is going to pile up all these dinky catches.” ([28:04])

• Matt Harmon on Russell Wilson:

  “Russell Wilson... he is still going to give you that QB1 overall upside and unfair weekly advantage.” ([40:24])

• Ben Cummins on Randall Cobb:

  “Randall Cobb has the ability to be a wide receiver one… He possesses tons of upside thanks to Aaron Rodgers.” ([42:43])

• Mike Wright on Rob Gronkowski:

  “He is unguardable and averaged 17 fantasy points a game last year.” ([48:48])

This comprehensive overview of the Fantasy Football MVP Show episode equips both seasoned and novice fantasy football players with valuable insights and strategic picks to enhance their chances of winning their leagues in the 2017 season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey.

[Marktavious Bryant]

This is Marktavious Bryant, aka Marty McBride.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey. This is Fred Jackson.

[Mike Wright]

This is hall of Fame and Marshall Falk.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey. This is Alan Robinson. Hey. This is me, Abdullah. Hey.

[Mike Wright]

This is Willie Sneel.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey.

[Mike Wright]

This is David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Hey.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

This is Christian Michaels.

[Jason Moore]

Hi.

[Mike Wright]

This is Eric Dickinson, NFL hall of Famer. And you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

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

[Mike Wright]

Ah, welcome in. The show's about to begin.

[Andy Holloway]

So much fantasy football going on this week and I can't, I can't even contain myself.

[Mike Wright]

Your grammar levels are going to be, they're going to be low, troublesome.

[Andy Holloway]

All my energy will be focused on football. Speaking words, grammar out the window.

[Mike Wright]

No, you've got to get your emotions out and it doesn't matter what order the words come in.

[Andy Holloway]

Darn right.

[Jason Moore]

Before we, before we start this show, I have to do one thing.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, great.

[Jason Moore]

At the flick, that bug at Jason.

[Mike Wright]

Another bug, back to back. Bugs in the office. Brooks, you know your number one job here, right?

[Andy Holloway]

It's not save us from bugs not.

[Mike Wright]

To produce this show. It's not to judge our arguments, is to get rid of the bugs.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's gonna have to become more.

[Andy Holloway]

Of a exterminator job.

[Mike Wright]

Full time position for you. Welcome into the show. This is the Fantasy MVP episode. Mike is clapping.

[Andy Holloway]

You've been waiting.

[Jason Moore]

I love this show, man. This is a great show. It's, it's just this awesome. You know, we bring everyone together. If you're not familiar with what the show is, we reach out to other fantasy football analysts that we really respect. We say, hey, shoot us a 60 second blurb of your fantasy MVP and that's however you want to take it. Overall number one player, best value. You see a big breakout coming for this player and it's just really cool. I think once everything is in here to get all these different personalities because we all view the game slightly different. So it's just, it's really fun for me to see this every single year.

[Mike Wright]

Great episode. And really the truth is at the end of the year, we're going to sit here and we're going to say player A, player B, player C, they won fantasy titles, certain players. So now we're trying to predict those and get them out there. Right now we have our fantasy MVPs that we're going to share. Now. Are we doing those at the end?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So we're doing those after everybody. Okay, cool. We have a quick question, guys. What? I love this one. Brooks, good job. Not on the bugs, but on the quick question, who's a player that fantasy owners will want to drop after a poor week one performance but shouldn't. But shouldn't. So somebody that may struggle week one and people will be tempted to let go, but maybe they should hang on for another week at least.

[Andy Holloway]

I will. I'll hop in with someone that they're not going to drop, but they'll be so disappointed, they might be looking to trade him. And that is Mr. Number one running back, Leonard Fournette himself. You know, last year, Ezekiel Elliott, the clear number one pick, he came out of the gate with 20 carries.

[Mike Wright]

And those 20 what?

[Andy Holloway]

20 carries. And those carries went for a grand total of 51 yards. Everyone was disappointed. They're thinking, oh, what a letdown.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I spent a first round pick on this guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly. And I got bad news for Leonard. Leonard Fournette starts the year with the Texans.

[Mike Wright]

They call him Lenny.

[Andy Holloway]

They do. Lenny. Lenny's starting with the Texans. He's coming off of the current, you know, foot, mysterious foot problem. So I think his carries might be a little limited. His. You know, that what he's going to see across the way there in the Texans is not going to be nice for him. And I think he's going to have a bad week one. However, right after that, as soon as he's done with the Texans, he goes to the Titans, Ravens, Jets. So, you know, he might be a week one trade target.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting.

[Jason Moore]

If someone just fully tilts, you mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, if someone. Yeah, I mean you've got the guys in your. In your people do it. We have had a, you know, a guy in our league forever where if a guy blows up on your roster, you got to shop him to this dude because he's going to blow up forever. Or, you know, the vice versa. If there's a guy who just had a really horrendous week, oh, that guy's done. I mean, his career's over. Go get him.

[Mike Wright]

All right. I'll go with Kenny Golladay. You know, a lot of smooth route talk.

[Jason Moore]

So smooth.

[Mike Wright]

But look, I don't think he's going to have any success week one. His first professional football game against Arizona secondary. I think he's a player that is being drafted towards the end of draft. So he will be a natural candidate for being cut in week one. And I think it's probably more. It's probably worthwhile for fantasy owners to give him more than a one week look, but I don't think week one is going to be good. So I think Kenny Golladay is a candidate for that week one drop.

[Jason Moore]

And mine's a similar pick to that, but this guy actually had over 1,000 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

He was top 15 wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

Tyrell Williams, Los Angeles Charger Week one, he takes on Denver. Last year, in two games against Denver, this top fantasy wide receiver totaled 32 receiving yards combined for both games. So don't expect a huge game. And Williams is a late pick, so you might say, bah, I'm gonna ship them off, but just give them some time. Understand that almost everyone craps the bed when they're playing against the Denver Broncos. So Tyro Williams is my pick of a player that you may want to drop, but you shouldn't.

[Mike Wright]

Week one is funny because we all know that players, they go up and down. It doesn't matter who you are, right? Like Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, they're all going to have down weeks. But week one weighs so heavily on the minds of fantasy owners because maybe it's just that down week for that player, but because you're coming out of the gate and because the waiver wire and players that will inevitably blow up in week one, you're going to see a lot of players. I guess that's a good public service announcement for fantasy owners. Look to the waiver wire not just for the players that blew up in week one, but more so for who people drop in week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. That was one of our, you know, top 10 tips and tricks.

[Jason Moore]

Drop it like it's hot.

[Andy Holloway]

Drop it like it's hot. But week one is one of the best times to do that. I mean, you know, look at last year, the way that Marvin Jones came out of the gate and people were like, oh, well, Golden Tate's worthless. Sure, you could have picked him up.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Follow us on twitter@the ffballers. The website's the fantasy footballers.com. the fantasy community is [e-mail] and a quick reminder, if you're in Phoenix and you want to see us live, we are holding a live show.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you're doing right.

[Mike Wright]

Ballroom on Monday. Ballerslive.com for details. Be there.

[Jason Moore]

It's going to be incredible. We're all, we're all going to be there.

[Mike Wright]

The judge, I hope we're going to be there for a live show, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

You just, you need to remind, you got to build the excitement.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to have some giveaways. There's a chance we'll show up, some trivia at the live. Show some photos. It's going to be a good event.

[Jason Moore]

You're going to leave some mystery ballers live.

[Mike Wright]

You're going to leave mystery. As to whether the main guests show up.

[Andy Holloway]

We might or might.

[Mike Wright]

Jerry Seinfeld's hosting a comedy event. He may or may not be there. Yes, we're Jerry Seinfeld. Let's move on.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

Not sure Brooks will be there if this bug problem doesn't get under control. Uh oh, Brooks.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you want me to go take.

[Mike Wright]

Care of it now? No, no, no. I. You should probably sit there for another 40 minutes or so.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

All right. The NFL Players association has filed a temporary restraining order in Texas calling for the courts to block any suspension for Ezekiel Elliott. Upheld by the arbitrator, Harold Henderson. Henderson is yet to report on the suspension. This is from Adam Schefter of espn. The NFLPA is filing calls for the court to vacate the entire suspension for Ezekiel Elliott. And this could speak to why Jerry Jones had a lot of confidence that a suspension wasn't going to happen. What in the world do we do now? Every day is a new adventure. Every day is a new draft for fantasy owners. You could go from a third or fourth round Ezekiel Elliott to. If he plays the whole year, all of a sudden he's the same player and he belongs at number three. So this is.

[Jason Moore]

This is. This is going to approach deflategate levels of. Of absolute ridiculousness. And I mean, completely different issues. Obviously, I'm not comparing what Zeke is going through to a deflating of a football, but it's. I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

From a dysfunctional NFL.

[Jason Moore]

These. How. How are we getting to these points now where the NFL is handing out these suspension and then news leaks out. Oh, well, you know, the. The person who was actually in charge of the investigation said, well, we shouldn't suspend him at all. What is going on?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. For drafting this weekend, you know, a lot of people have their draft tonight, tomorrow, the next day. Where you get.

[Jason Moore]

Where are you taking him?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm taking Zeke probably at the back of the first.

[Mike Wright]

Let's just juggle the knives. Let's just take him early because the odds of a reduced suspension or a vacated suspension or him just playing early and maybe. Maybe he still suspended, but it doesn't happen till next year because the legal process takes so long. He's just. You talk about fantasy MVP candidates. If you get Ezekiel Elliott and you're pairing him with one of those earlier running backs because you got him in the second or third round. Man, that could be nice. By the way, Teddy Bridgewater put on the six game pup, so not the season long. They're not ruling out a return this year. Good for you, Teddy. I. That was such an unfortunate thing that happened. So pup, six games. Jim Merce said that Andrew Luck isn't likely to play in a week one against the Rams, but he has not been ruled out.

[Andy Holloway]

Does this remind you at all of when, when Peyton Manning was said to be just fine?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, don't. No, don't do that.

[Mike Wright]

No, honestly, no, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. A partially torn labrum does not a neck injury make. I mean, it's not the same situation at all.

[Jason Moore]

Same team.

[Andy Holloway]

Same, same old same team. I'm just saying the way you disseminate information.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, well, sure. Oh, in ambiguity. Yeah. There's a chance that Andrew Lugg misses three games, four games, we don't know. I don't think it's going to be great if his first game back is Arizona in week two in Arizona. So look, at this point in time, you sit and wait and you probably get great value in Andrew Luck. I mean he's the most consistent fantasy quarterback over the last three years.

[Andy Holloway]

So I will say I have certainly been buying him up in best ball leagues. He's fallen into that seventh, eighth, ninth round and at that point, the guy that you're giving up to get great value at the quarterback position are worth it. So hopefully he, he is back by week three.

[Mike Wright]

DeAndre Hopkins got paid. Got that? Money, money, money. $81 million extension, 49 million guaranteed because he's great. That's the most guaranteed money for a wide receiver in the NFL.

[Jason Moore]

And please, please, everyone listening the way that we talk about DeAndre Hopkins as a fantasy wide receiver, do not let that information of us being down on him make you ever think that we doubt the talent level that DeAndre Hopkins has. He is a high level NFL wide receiver. 1. The problem is simply opportunity getting him the ball. How many targets can he actually get from Tom Savage or desean Watson? So it's good for you, Hopkins. I hope you have a nice quiet celebration.

[Mike Wright]

You know who always got paid? Larry Fitzgerald.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

You know who had seasons of 71 receptions for 798 yards and four touchdowns? 82 for 954, 63 for 784.

[Andy Holloway]

Larry Fitzgerald.

[Mike Wright]

Larry Fitzgerald, obviously. I mean, look, if you put John Skelton in the backfield in Arizona, it doesn't matter how great you are. Everyone think everyone knows Larry Fitzgerald's a Hall of Famer. Everybody believes that the talent of DeAndre Hopkins is at that level. If he has a long and storied career with that talent. It's just he needs to get matched up with the right quarterback so as just to reemphasize what Mike's saying, great player. I still think he's one of those. Much like Gurley, you know, he's still a candidate to be a surprise superstar for your fantasy team. He's a year removed from what, 111 receptions. So it's still a chance. But look, John Ross left Thursday's game with a knee injury. Oh, that's not what you wanted to happen in the final preseason game. We don't know any more details. I've been searching around all morning. I think an MRI is going to happen, but I don't know what else is going on with John Ross on that news.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Brandon lefell is being overlooked again for year number two. He was surprisingly good last year, at least surprising too many. And we talk, if you haven't heard us say it recently, we've talked a lot about the fact that last year Amari Cooper had four pass interference calls in the end zone and how different would his fantasy season have looked if he wasn't, you know, interfered with and he had the opportunity to catch those balls. Well, that was tied with Brandon Lefell and Brandon lefell had a decent. So I mean, I'm just saying especially in best ball leagues. I mean, the guy's going virtually undrafted or if you're in a really deep league, he is worth a pickup, I believe.

[Mike Wright]

Would you rather roster Kenny Gollady or Brandon Lefe?

[Andy Holloway]

Brandon Lefell for sure.

[Mike Wright]

Tyrell Williams or Brandon LaFell?

[Andy Holloway]

Tyrell Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Do we have an Update on Josh McCown?

[Mike Wright]

Who the update on Josh McCown is once again team seem destined to try to hurt him on the field for some reason. You play your starter in the fourth preseason game and he got lit up. But my, the update that I had, I don't see anything severe that has gone on with Josh McCown, but he limped off the field like he's required to by contract.

[Jason Moore]

So we would expect that Josh McCown, as of right now, we expect him to play week one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. With eyes on Bryce Petty in deep leagues, two quarterback leagues, basketball leagues. Bryce Petty's probably going to get a starter to this year. Josh McCown just can't stay healthy in the NFL. And you're not going to stay healthy if you're In a situation where your team is always in a deficit and then you happen to throw the ball, stay in the pocket and people are pinning their ears back and going after.

[Jason Moore]

You, why would you. Why the charade that the jets have done this entire offseason with the quarterbacks of trying to force Christian Hackenberg as their starter and then like, oh, well, all right, Josh McCown's a starter, but you're playing preseason week four.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think it all goes the same thing.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think the word, the word why is worthwhile anymore with the New York Football Jets.

[Andy Holloway]

If you look at the goal and you think the goal is that number one pick, then the why makes a lot of sense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Corey Davis should be ready for Week 1, according to Titans coach Mike Malarkey and Curtis Samuel left the preseason finale. Curtis Samuel, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers.

[Andy Holloway]

It was good to see you.

[Mike Wright]

Ankle injury did not return in that game. I think we're ready to move on. Let's get into the fantasy mvp.

[Jason Moore]

Let's go.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's your fantasy mvp?

[Mike Wright]

All right, we're kicking it off. Mike, you want to introduce our first fantasy MVP candidate or, I'm sorry, expert. Expert.

[Jason Moore]

So like I said, we called in, called in some favors, the big guns, call it from some fantasy football analysts that we really respect. First on this list, Mr. Brad Evans on Twitter at Yahoo. Noise. If you play the game of fantasy football, you've heard him, Brad. You know, Brad Evans has a very particular swagger and style. So let's, let's check in. Brad, who do you got for your fantasy mvp?

[Mike Wright]

Hola, amigos. Brad Evans here from Yahoo.

[Andy Holloway]

Sports.

[E]

And if you like beer, cheese curds.

[Mike Wright]

And fantasy titles, Ty Montgomery must be on your team. He is going to be the breakout sensation of this year's fantasy season.

[E]

A player last year who averaged 6.7 yards per touch. It was top three in several secondary.

[Mike Wright]

Analytics, including yards after contact per touch.

[E]

Juke rate and breakaway run percentage.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and he happens to play alongside.

[E]

Some little known quarterback named Aaron Rodgers in this post Olivia Munn era. He could go for 1300 combined yards.

[Mike Wright]

And nine to 11 touchdowns.

[E]

Remember, he saw a light front 89.6%.

[Mike Wright]

Of the time in 2016.

[E]

And who cares about Jamal Williams, who's just sloughing it?

[Mike Wright]

Ty Montgomery will be a borderline top five running back this season. Bank on it. Oh, Brad Evans.

[Jason Moore]

Look, Brad's. Brad's going to the bank.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the. He is loud, he is proud, and he is. I nearly always agree with Brad Evans, I mean, you heard me on the show last week. My takeaway from that game was Tom Montgomery's the guy. I love him. He's a candidate for my fantasy mvp. And for all the reasons that Brad illustrated, he's on an incredible offense. He does not face a defensive front that a lot of these other frontlines running backs face. And look, this is first year preparing to be running back.

[Jason Moore]

Before we jump into Jason, before we give our analysis on Ty Montgomery, I think we have to let JJ Zacharison also jump in here because for the first time ever on the fantasy MVP show, we may have some agreement.

[F]

First off, what's up guys? I love you. I hope all is well. When you're talking about fantasy football MVPs, you're looking at upside. And if you're looking at upside, you're going to want to associate those players in good offenses. That offense in Green Bay is pretty good and so is their running back. In games where ty Montgomery saw 40% or more of the packers snaps last year, he averaged top 10 running back numbers at the position. He did that after converting to the running back position mid season as well. He didn't even start the year as a running back. This year the packers have more competition in the backfield, but I'm a firm believer that the draft picks that they spent on running backs had more to do with the depth chart that didn't exist prior to the draft than it did them. Not liking Ty Montgomery himself. He doesn't need a ton of volume to be viable in PPR formats. But if he does see significant volume in goal line touches, then we could easily be talking about a fringe top five running back in fantasy football this season. In that dead third and fourth round of fantasy drafts, Ty Montgomery is literally the perfect option.

[Jason Moore]

Both of them. So both Brad Evans and JJ are throwing top five out. And you know what? I do not blame them. When we came in, in the off season and we're, we're starting to look at all the data fresh, Ty Montgomery, when I put my projections in for running back, I was like, holy crap.

[Andy Holloway]

He was way too high for you from just what you expected.

[Jason Moore]

I remember that exactly. And like I had him I think around nine or 10 and I was like, oh, that feels real hot, Takey. But I mean my projections were my projections and I have, I've held on to that. I think Ty Montgomery is going to be a great pick in the in for fantasy football this year. And right now he's sitting around that 14 range for me. I think he is an excellent, excellent running back too and has that top five upside. I don't disagree with that at all.

[Andy Holloway]

The one thing I would say about Ty Montgomery is he is more valuable in a PPR league certainly than he is in a standard league, but he's drafted nearly identical across all league formats. So if you're in a full point PPR PPR or half point PPR league, I like Ty Montgomery even more. I think he's probably a good pick if he's in the fourth round in a PPR league.

[Mike Wright]

I would just say he also had some necessary bounces in ADP and in ranking because of the draft of a couple running backs to fill out that depth chart. But if you just watch what's on the field, he's a better running back than Jamal Williams.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go back and watch some film and you know, this is something we do a lot and if you're watching film, you need to be watching it on NFL Game Pass. NFL Game Pass is the tool we have used forever for the last several years to do all of our, all of our film study review. Every throw, every single catch. If it's NFL football and it's happened, it's happening on Game Pass. You can rewatch every play. You want to go make that trade after week one or week two and you go, oh, but how is this guy? You can go and search by player and say, I want to look at their plays, I want to look at their routes. You have the all 22 film. You've got the condensed games into, you know, 45 minutes. They take out every between the snaps. You could just watch an entire game super quickly. I use it virtually every single day. Our writers use it, Andy uses it, Mike uses it. Look, NFL Game Pass is awesome. You got to get it for this season. So if it's NFL football and it happened, NFL Game Pass has got it. Best of all, you can kick off the 2017 NFL season with a free NFL Game Pass trial. Sign up [e-mail] fantasy footballers. That's NFL.com fantasy footballers.

[Mike Wright]

Very smooth transition there. And we do want to thank NFL Game Pass for supporting this podcast. We also want to thank Casper. You've heard me talk about Casper before. They are the absolute best obsessively engineered mattresses. My wife and I, we bought a Casper a couple of years back. It's still great. It's still the best value in mattresses. And look, the best night's sleep, they give you a hundred night risk free trial in your home. So if you don't love it, they'll pick it up, they'll refund it for you, they'll take it away if you don't want it. But I'm going to tell you, you're going to love it. Casper understands the importance of truly sleeping on a mattress before you commit. So they give you that deal. They do free shipping and returns to the US and Canada and they have over 20,000 reviews with an average of 4.8. So we're not the only couple sleeping on a Casper mattress that absolutely loves it. Right now you can get $50 towards any mattress purchase by visiting Casper.comfootballers and using the offer code. Footballers. Again, if you want to try it out and get $50 towards any mattress purchase, just go to Footballers and use the offer code. Footballers terms and conditions do apply, but I'm going to tell you it's a great night's sleep and yeah, we love the Casper mattress. All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. So here's the thing. Somewhat breaking news. Le'Veon Bell has officially reported to camp today.

[Jason Moore]

These days when we throw out breaking.

[Andy Holloway]

News, it's that's why somewhat, somewhat breaking news. We expected him to be back on September 1st and he is. But there is a player who was drafted this year who had the comps to Le'Veon Bell more than any player. You know, every year you got the AP references. That's common. Whoever's a big bruising back you go. Is he the next Adrian Peterson? But I don't hear a lot of Lev Bell comparisons because he's such a unique patient runner, such a great pass catcher. But there is a rookie this year and one of the analysts, Jake Seeley, who will be part of the DFS pass this year at the all in Kid on Twitter loves him. Here's his take.

[G]

Hey fantasy footballers, it's Jake Seely, the all in kid here for your fantasy MVP this season. And as you guys know, I always want value for my fantasy MVP. It's very easy to say David Johnson, Le'Veon Bell, that's not an MVP. MVP is getting 10 times the return of what you paid. And I'm seeing a running back going in the fourth round right now who is the most talented rookie running back in this draft class who doesn't have a foot concern, who actually has concerns with other players on his team. But one of those other players being Jeremy Hill said he would even start. This guy has received ton of praise from the coaches and Andy Dalton himself. And that is one Mr. Joe Mixon, by far the most talented running back of all rookies. He will take over sooner than later. Week six, Week four, Week three. It might come very soon this season, but at one point or another he will take over similar Jordan Howard last year and be an RB one as soon as he does and for the rest of the season draft him. Enjoy the ride. Just be a little bit patient because the guy is going to be a fantasy league changer and MVP for you this season.

[Mike Wright]

Look, I don't want to just blindly agree with every take and I won't. I'm going to argue probably some of these but I told Mike this. I mean Joe Mixon, I really believe by week three he may end up taking over that job. I've gone full circle on him. You don't like hearing about other running backs that are going to get play. But look, I believe that much like Jordan Howard, the cream rises to the top.

[Jason Moore]

Well, Jordan Howard was an injury situation though. I mean it was Jeremy Lankford got hurt and Jordan Howard took the job and Langford was not able to take it back.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he took the job from Kadeem Carey. He took the job from the other backfield makers because he was better than fair. Absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

But I'm just saying that the guy who came in as the starter got hurt and that's my hesitance with Joe Mixon is only for fantasy purposes is only related to how will Marvin Lewis handle this situation. Because you are paying up for Joe Mixon like he's going to start week one and he by all accounts that I have that I've heard he will not be the starting running back in week one. It will be Jeremy Hill now. And Marvin Lewis has shown over the course of his career that he will let a veteran continue to be the starter even if he's not performing nearly as well as the rookie. What I don't disagree with is if Mixon can take that job. He's a stud. He's a running back one. I drafted Joe Mixon in my money league based on that, on the fact that I believe he will be and I believe certainly next year he's going to be in likely a late first round pick. So I grabbed him in this keeper league. But when will that be? That's the question. When will he take over?

[Mike Wright]

The payoff is just so good.

[Jason Moore]

The payoff is humongous. But if he doesn't, what if he doesn't take over till week seven or week eight? I mean that's holding the guy on your bench who's getting maybe seven to ten touches a week.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if you have to hold him on your bench, he may be playable.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I was going to bring up, the fact that he might not be this super supreme uber value in those first seven weeks. But he is. I mean, we saw from from preseason drive one. It's him and Jeremy Hill taking turns. And if him and Jeremy Hill are basically going back and forth and taking turns, he will have enough snaps to be relevant and he will score well.

[Jason Moore]

But Geo is also there and Geo is going to get snaps.

[Andy Holloway]

My point is not so much that. My point is that Mixon is so talented that If Mixon gets 10 touches a game, you're going to see something like Tevin Coleman where it's like, this isn't a guy I love. I'm not going to take him as my 10th running back, but at the end of the week, he might be the 10th running back.

[Mike Wright]

Are we going to turn over this next MVP pick to Pat Mayo at the pme? We love Pat. He was on last year's episode, got.

[Jason Moore]

A new gig, he's over at DraftKings.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely. So what does Pat have in store for a fantasy MVP this year?

[H]

What up Pat Mayo here. And if we're talking fantasy MVPs, it's not always about the guy that you take in the first round that's carrying your team. Everyone gets a first round pick and if you're doing a snake, only certain people get to draft Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson and Antonio Brown. So the guy that you can take, you can have in any draft because he's available. And this is more so for PPR formats, but it's Bilal Powell. Listen, Bilal Powell is not a young man and the jets are going nowhere this season. It already looks like Matt Forte is not going to be on the field all that much. So what do we know about Bilal Powell? Well, the jets tend to run him out when they're losing, which I do expect them to do a lot of the season. And with the way that he is used out of the backfield as a pass catcher. Because frankly, let's be perfectly honest here, the Jets QB situation, no matter who it is, is not going to be good. That receiving core outside of Robbie Anderson, also not elite. So Bilal Powell is going to pile up all these dinky catches. He might not have the yardage that you would want for a standard league, but in PPR he is probably the only receiving running back who's going to be able to challenge Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson in terms of target count and more importantly, receptions. And this is a guy that you can have in the fourth or fifth round that you can play. Let's say you go 0 RB. If he was your running back one and he starts averaging five and a half, six catches a game, yeah, he's going to be fine. Bilal Powell is your fantasy mvp.

[Mike Wright]

Who is it again? Blau? Look, it's hard to take a player on a team that you know is going to struggle to that degree, but the PPR value seems to be there. There were rumors about Matt Forte not making the roster, being shopped. They seem to be, quote, as Matt Forte calls them, fake news. But Bilal Powell does have upside. He does represent a running back, which we know how valuable those are later in drafts that showed when he has the backfield to himself, that he can be a fantasy force.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, Monster Bilal Powell. To me, if he were given the opportunity, he would do exactly what Justin Forset did for fantasy owners a couple years back where he took over, had that one season as a top 12 running back that you didn't have to draft high. If Matt Forte leaves, I mean, that. That's golden. We've, we've been big fans of Blow Powell since before he was even given an opportunity. When we had Nick Mangold on the show and he was talking about, you know, we were wanting to know all about Forte and he's like, dude, Blau, Powell has just been amazing in camp this preseason. He has looked good. But if he was my RB one, sorry, Pat, I am not going to be happy.

[Jason Moore]

He's talking about 0 RB in a PPR. So that's a very specific.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I guess if you're in a certain type of league where you're three wide receivers, full ppr, only need two running backs. That could be. But I did think Pat Mayo was very kind when he said he expects the jets to lose, quote, a lot of the season.

[Mike Wright]

Because I, I thought he was very kind when he said their wide receiver corps wasn't elite.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, exactly. I mean that those were kind words, Pat. And the New York jets fans.

[Mike Wright]

Sweet nothings into the ears of New.

[Andy Holloway]

York jets fans for only saying a lot of the season.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and I doubt I'm going to hear from any New York jets fans in opposition to these statements because they know the truth.

[Andy Holloway]

They know they're hoping. Right? I mean, if I. Yeah, that's good. I would be so pissed off if we won a game all right.

[Jason Moore]

You'd be at this point because they're.

[Mike Wright]

Projected for a 3 and 13 year.

[Jason Moore]

On their trust in the process. They are.

[Mike Wright]

I know.

[Jason Moore]

So if you get a win, you're going to go, Come on.

[Mike Wright]

It's called the Brady Weight. The Bills have taken this approach as well. Eventually, he'll be old enough to leave.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's.

[Mike Wright]

Let's turn it over to Brandon.

[Andy Holloway]

A good team here. And Brandon Marianne Lee, great friend of the show. We had fun with her in Toronto. She is fantastic. You can follow her at Twitter Randon herffb. She last year had a great fantasy MVP pick that helped a lot of people. So let's hear who she's got this year.

[I]

I'm Brandon Marianne Lee from Fantasy Alarm and co founder of her fantasy football. And I am here to repeat myself. That's right. Devonte Freeman is going to be your fantasy mvp. I said this last year, and I am sticking to it. I know he suffered a concussion. He's okay. He's come back. Luckily, he had a lot of time off, which is great. But there's some really interesting things about devonte Freeman that you may or may not know. He is the only running back with over a thousand rushing yards in both the 2015 and 2016 season. That's right. Just Devontae Freeman. He also was incredibly productive on a per touch basis, averaging 4.75 yards per carry and 8.56 yards per catch while scoring 13 total touchdowns. He did all of this while Tevin Coleman was nipping at his ankles. And I know Kyle Shanahan left town, but I think we've exaggerated how much. We think that this offense is going to fall off a cliff. They look pretty darn good to me. And if anyone benefits from Kyle Shanahan's departure, it's Freeman, because Coleman. Coleman was a Shanahan guy. That's why they kept putting him in there. Shanahan loved him. Well, now they're just gonna say, oh, we signed this guy to a huge deal. He's our future. Let's ride it out. All right, I'm all in. I'm all in with Devontae Freeman, mvp.

[Mike Wright]

Love it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And here's. So here's the deal for me with devontae Freeman. I answered a Foot Clan question the other day, and they were saying, let's say you're in the first round. Who is the. Who's the one pick you would hate to see go right in front of you? And I mean, and that's a tough question because the first round is filled with so many quality guys, but I said if I'm in the back of the first and Devonta Freeman gets picked right before me, that's going to suck because I feel, I feel very strongly that he is kind of the last running back of that the second tier of my second tiers and I'm talking of Shady Murray and Freeman because then it starts another tier for me. So I if Freeman goes like that's really upsetting. I think he's going to be fantastic.

[Mike Wright]

What do you think of her take on the Shanahan him leaving and the Tevin Coleman favoritism that she she's putting on. You know, basically Coleman's.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, I don't necessarily think that Tevin Coleman will get used any less than he was last year. That being said, I do think if someone benefits from the departure, it would be Freeman because he is there. He is their main first down back and they might end up running the ball a little bit more this year. I did actually question, I was like, so Devonta Freeman got this huge contract. There's no way they're going to be able to sign. In my opinion, I don't think they're going to be able to sign Tevin Coleman. So Tevin Coleman will leave in free agency and there's a team out there that could really use them that did not like the running backs this year that also has Kyle Shanahan, maybe dynasty, Devin Coleman to the Niners future in store.

[Mike Wright]

That's pretty funny to pair up with Kirk Cousins. Let's go ahead and turn it over to John Paulson from 4 for 4. He was on last year's MVP episode as well. Let's see who he likes in 2017.

[Marktavious Bryant]

Hi guys, John Paulson from 444. Com here. And my fantasy MVP this season is the player that I'm targeting the sixth round of every PPR draft that I can get him as Pierre Garzano. The 49ers. He is going off the board. 34th, 35th receiver in PPR drafts and I think he's going to finish in the top 25, maybe in the top 20 or the top 15. He's being reunited with Kyle Shanahan as former coach from Washington. Last year they were together in 2013. Chris Ome caught 113 passes for 1346 yards and five touchdowns. He doesn't have much competition for targets and the 49ers are likely to be in negative game script much of the year, forcing them to throw the ball a little bit More than they want to. So I think, given all that, he's a great pick in the sixth round.

[Mike Wright]

First of all, love and respect John Paulson in the industry. Second of all, in case you didn't know that, is excited John Paulson. He's excited, certainly for Pierre Garcon, and I am as well. What do you guys think?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I know you're excited. I mean, you literally made trades on your team so that you could make sure that Pierre Garcon was starting. So you've put kind of your money where your mouth is on Pierre Garcon. He's one of the better values in drafts. And if you want to take running backs early to make sure that you've got them and then you're worried about your weakness later in drafts at wide receiver, Paulson brings up, you know, every relevant point. And one of the things that Paulson is really great at doing is just looking at the stats and where they have to lie and just kind of extrapolating things out and going, okay, the targets have to be here at X amount, and they have to go to, you know, Pierre Garcon at X percentage. And at the end of the day, Pierre Garcon is going to be a really valuable fantasy football player. I agree 100%. I'd be happy to have him on any of my rosters, whether it's PPR or standard. But if you do get any kind of, you know, point per reception, half point or full, I think he's a great pick.

[Jason Moore]

It sounded like you were about to go full high school algebra on everyone in there with all your player exes. And I went back and I watched the game after Andy had talked about it when we were breaking down preseason week three, and Andy is correct. Pierre Garcon will be the slant man this year. And the fact. The fact that they. The fact that they have Marquis Goodwin on the outside, who runs like a.

[Mike Wright]

He's a cheetah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, he is. He's. He's the fastest man I've ever seen.

[Mike Wright]

He looks really fast.

[Jason Moore]

He's really fast. They. That slant is going to be open because you have to respect what Goodwin can do on the outside. Shanahan has. Has done himself an excellent. An excellent job, him and lynch building this team up. They had nothing coming into this offseason. And the fact that they were wise enough to pair Garcon, Hoyer and Goodwin, there's going to be fantasy points there for Garcon.

[Mike Wright]

You can't like Hoyer and not like Garcon. And I know we all respect Hoyer's fantasy prowess, but if you're comparing Garcon to a guy like Macklin, give me Garcon all day long. I just love the opportunity as the number one in Shanahan's offense with Hoyer, and right now the gap is pretty large for me between Macklin and Garcon. So any other thoughts?

[Andy Holloway]

Jay yeah, the only other thoughts I have on the Garcon situation. Brian Hoyer is one of those quarterbacks that has never yet finished a complete season. I don't expect him to with that offensive line and the way he plays football. So when or if he were to go, you know, out and the next man up has to come in store Pierre Garcon takes a big hit. So I like drafting Pierre Garcon, but if he gets off to a hot start, you know, four weeks into the season, I'm happy to trade him for Value because I don't think Brian Hoyer plays 16.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's go ahead and kick it over to Matt Harmon. Matt Harmon's work was featured. Well, he's from NFL.com, but his work was also featured in our Ultimate Draft Kit Reception Perception. Let's see who harmon loves for 2017.

[J]

Hey everybody, Matt Harmon from NFL.com and the creator of Reception Perception, official partner of the Fantasy Footballers Ultimate Draft kit for the 2017 season. I'm here today to give you my fantasy football MVP of this year. And I know everybody is expecting me to drop some wide rece after I smashed it with Bruce Ellington last year. Obviously. However, I'm actually going to give you a quarterback here that I'm really excited about and finding myself drafting more and more as the season gets near. And that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Not only is Wilson due for some progression in his career rate statistics that hit lows last year in 72 rushes for just over 250 yards, but also his touchdown rate, which was just just under 4% last year. His career average actually sits over 5 point or just at 5.6%. He's actually cleared 6.33 times over the last five years. Those are going to rise this year. And not to mention, look at the weapons around Russell Wilson. He's playing with a resurgent Jimmy Graham that's just primed to get back to his New Orleans form. Looking dialed in in the preseason. The best slot receiver in the NFL and Doug Baldwin and two speedy young receivers who are just primed to break out this year in Paul Richardson and Tyler Lockett. Everything is set up For Wilson and I believe this is the year where you can get him at a discount but he is still going to give you that QB1 overall upside and unfair weekly advantage. He's my MVP pick for this 2017 season. Go get him.

[Mike Wright]

All right, what do you think Mike?

[Jason Moore]

Well, number one, shout out to Matt Harmon. Matt Harmon is a leader, right? He is always setting trends. If you follow him on Twitter you get his food takes which are usually bad. But he sets trends and I noticed he went there for all these English majors out there. He went with progression instead of positive regression. That was my first takeaway of his good job. But I can't disagree with Russell Wilson. Everything for Wilson for me to be an MVP though has to do with his draft price. How does your league handle quarterbacks? But if you can get him in that range and he has the ability to be a top five quarterback. While I like going late round quarterback, not all those guys have the ability to be a top five guy like Wilson.

[Mike Wright]

All right, you can follow Matt Harmon Matt harmonbyb on Twitter. Let's kick it over to Ben Cummins. You can follow him at Bin cumminsff. He is one of the co hosts with Mike on the Fantasy Footballers DFS podcast and I want to know who's this fantasy MVP?

[G]

What up foot clan? Ben Cummins here we're talking 2017 fantasy football MVP and I'm not going obvious because that's not fun. I want to talk about a value and a guy that doesn't need an injury to blow his ADP out of the water. I'm talking Randall Cobb in 2014. 91 catches, 1287 yards, 12 touchdowns, PPR wide receiver eight finish not that long ago. 201280 catches, 954 yards, eight touchdowns. Yeah, he's had some bad seasons in there, but those can be explained by injuries and Aaron Rodgers having his worst fantasy season of his career in 2015. Throw out Cobb's rookie year where he wasn't a full time player. In the three years he's played in at least 15 games. His lowest PPR finish is wide receiver 25. You know where you can get him now? Wide receiver 39 at pick 8.06. He was going as wide receiver 19 at pick 3.08 just last year. Take the discount on this guy all day. Embrace that recency bias. The injury risks are baked into his adp, but you can buy him at his floor and he possesses tons of upside thanks to that boy Aaron Rodgers. He's healthy now and he's got a Double digit touchdown season coming this year. Book it.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Jason, nobody knows more about baking than you do. So speak about Randall Cobb. What's your take here on Ben Cummings?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, no, I mean, look, Randall Cobb has not only the ability to be a wide receiver one, he's been a wide receiver one, he has the best quarterback in the game. If the touchdowns were to swing from 14 to Jordy and double digits to Devonte Adams, which they probably will, they'll swing towards Randall Cobb. I think his value where he's going. I've been drafting him in a lot of best ball leagues lately because you don't have to predict the games that he'll get the touchdowns. He has those monstrous, you know, three touchdown game upside games. He's had that in the past. I like Randall Cobb this year. Early in the off season I pegged him as one of those guys that I thought was just being drafted later than he should be.

[Jason Moore]

He's been left for dead.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah, it is recency bias. Ben's right about that. Let's kick it over to Chris Meaney. You can follow Chris at Chris Meaney on Twitter. He is another one of the co hosts with Mike on the Fantasy Footballers DFS podcast. You might know him from the Daily Dose segments we did last year and the year before. Chris it's time for him to reveal his fantasy MVP.

[E]

My 2017 fantasy football MVP is Miami Dolphins wide receiver divers Devonte Parker. After a slow start to his NFL career due to a foot injury, Parker is now healthy and prime for a big time season in year three in the NFL. The 6 foot 3 whiteout has all the tools to be successful. Tremendous hands and speed and can turn short catches into big plays as he has a 15.1 yards per catch average over his first two years. Ryan Tannehill's favorite target was Jarvis Landry, but with Tanny and Jay Cutler in that, favorite target in the passing game will no doubt be Parker. Landry could even be traded this season. In Cutler's first game, he targeted Parker in three of his six throws and in the second preseason game, the duo connected twice for 74 yards including a 72 yard play. Cutler's a gunslinger, we know that. He's been known to lock into a wide receiver and he's not afraid to throw that 5050 ball. Parker has the ability to go up and get that ball and he'll be a red zone target. Plus, Cutler's already commented on how Parker is a faster El Sean Jeffrey Parker's average draft position has jumped three rounds since the Cutler signing, but it's warranted. Fantasy Pros has him as the 34th wide receiver taken off the board and the 14th overall pick in the NFL draft just three seasons ago is the 97th pick on average according to Yahoo Sports. Target him as your wide receiver three and watch him turn into a wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

That was it. That's when he actually hung up the phone at the local Walmart over the address announcer.

[Jason Moore]

I like to imagine that Chris Meaney was giving his take and then halfway through he thought I gotta take this up a notch. So he pulled out a megaphone and then started to shout into his phone.

[Andy Holloway]

Well done, Meanie.

[Jason Moore]

So, audio.

[Mike Wright]

I wanted to know where the exits on the plane were. That's what I was waiting to find out.

[Jason Moore]

Audio quality aside, I love this. Devontae Parker was actually was in consideration for me to be my fantasy mvp. Because if you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have just. I have. I've been gushing about Devontae Parker since Jay Cutler has has come to town and since Jay Cutler has been heavily targeting him and then we got to see the splash play. I mean it's all coming together for a mid round pick who could make that jump to being an every week starter, a two even low end wide receiver. One upside.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Yeah. I mean Parker is one of those players that his ADP was so low that no matter how well he performs in the preseason, it's rare to find, it's rare to have it move up to the point where maybe the value really is. So he still represents a value. It's time for our fantasy MVP picks. All right, who wants to go first?

[Andy Holloway]

I'll go first.

[Mike Wright]

Who else?

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like there should be. Sorry, I feel like there should be like a musical intro for this but. Hi, I'm Jason Moore from the Fantasy Footballers. Follow me on @Jason FFL on Twitter. My fantasy MVP this year is the newest hotness that has been created.

[Jason Moore]

You're all in.

[Andy Holloway]

I am all in on the rookie Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt has the best overall combination of everything that's coming together out of a bunch of good rookie running backs. He was very successful and productive in college. The team traded up to get him in the draft. And Andy Reid is great for running backs, not good for running backs. He's great for running backs. He made Spencer Ware a really great fantasy asset for a while. And last year if Spencer Ware had scored as he basically should have, given his usage and his opportunities, we'd be. I Mean, Spencer Ware would have been a first round pick this year. The other thing that's great about Andy Reid is that he uses every single starting running back, is used in the passing game in tremendous ways. He's never, I mean, when Sharkandrick west got the role, he was used. Spencer Ware was used. Jamal Charles Shady has always been a great pass catcher used in that role under Andy Reid. And you've got a guy in Cream Hunt that does catch the ball. He was great in college with his receiving production. So all the way around, you have volume, you've got the talent, you have opportunity, you've got bad competition in the backfield with charkandrick west and C.J. spiller. You've got a great head coach, you've got college production, you've got draft capital, you've got preseason film that looked really good. And you have the best average draft position right now in the draft for any workhorse who's a starting running back outside of maybe Ty Montgomery, if you believe he's going to be a workhorse. And Frank Gore, of course, you know, you got to give the shout out to Frank Gore. So he's right now at the 3, 4 turn. Do you know what that means when you're being drafted? 3, 4 turn, that means you're going to the guy who had the number one or number two pick. So you're pairing David Johnson or Le'Veon Bell with Kareem Hunt, and you're getting a great, you know, wide receiver in the meantime.

[Jason Moore]

I love it.

[Mike Wright]

He's even a running back if you. Great running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you're saying with the second pick. Gotcha. No, that makes sense. All right. Cream Hunt is Jason's fantasy mvp. I'm going to go with Gronk.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

Rob Gronkowski, look, he's going at the end of the second round. And my contention is this. Everybody who drafts him in the third round is primed to win your fantasy league. He's unguardable. Edelman's targets disappear. Not that you need another reason to love Rob Gronkowski is healthy right near right now. And near is a good near. He's a good one. He's nearly healthy. Look, during his five healthy games last year, he averaged 17 fantasy points a game, right? That's six better than Kelsey.

[Jason Moore]

Six more points per game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, than Kelsey. Wow. But get this. That's more per game than Mike Evans, Jordy Nelson or Antonio Brown. You're outscoring your opponents at the tight end position by 7 to 10. Points a game on average. That's the gap between Rodgers and Bortles. That's the gap, get this, from Jordan Howard to Chris Thompson last year. That's an unfair advantage. That's a fantasy mvp. So I think if you can get him in the third, even late second, I just, look, I'm banking on the health this year. He's been healthy, he's played in the preseason for the first time in a long time. And who else is there?

[Andy Holloway]

His contract is incentivized to play games and to be healthy.

[Mike Wright]

So I love Gronkowski. He's my fantasy MVP pick this year.

[Jason Moore]

I love it because this is the first year I've ever been able to fully endorse people drafting Gronk. I can't take a tight end with my first pick.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

I can't take a tight end with my early second pick on that on the turn. But the back of the second, the early third for Gronk, absolutely. So I love that pick mine, I'm going with an extreme value pick. I'm going Ted Ginn Jr. Everyone, the value in your draft is insane. And we got a glimpse of preseason week three. We saw what Drew Brees is going to do with Ted Ginn and that was the only one targeted less or targeted more than Ted Ginn. Michael Thomas, the team's number one wide receiver. Ted Ginn is the speed on this team. Michael Thomas is a 4, 57 guy. Willie Snead is a 4, 62 guy. They lost Cooks, they lost their speed and they said hey, let's go get it with a veteran. And Ted Ginn Jr. If he can get 10 touchdowns with Cam Newton. What is the floor here for Ted Ginn Jr. Who you're drafting in the double digit area? End around, he had a 40 yard, 40 plus yard end around to start the game there. Sean Payton is going to plan some special things for Ted Ginn Jr. And I have grabbed him now in lately since I've seen that man, how they are going to use him. I'm grabbing him everywhere. I'm reaching two rounds because who cares? Who cares?

[Andy Holloway]

So what? So what?

[Jason Moore]

You grab him in the eighth of the ninth round. Maybe that's not his adp. You're not getting full value. Who cares? I think that he's going to turn into a possibly a wide receiver two starter every single week and if not, he's a flex play who can go off and win you a week at any given moment. I'm all in on Ted Ginn Jr. This year.

[Mike Wright]

I really like it. He's somebody I'm targeting at the end of drafts along with a player like Adam Thielen. Mike, I love the pick. Thanks to everybody who contributed fantasy MVP picks. We'll be tweeting those out. We'll post them on the website as well and we'll see what happens. Look, the NFL season is right around the corner. Super excited to get started right now. You know what we're doing? This segment's going to be on every single week. And there is something on the line. So let's get to it.

[Andy Holloway]

The Daily Dose brought to you by Play Draft.

[Mike Wright]

All right, The Daily Dose. Once a week we are drafting head to head on Play Draft against each other.

[Jason Moore]

Mono V Mono V mono.

[Mike Wright]

And look, this is so easy to do with your friends and with leagues that we have done it on the show. Like while we're doing the fantasy mvp, we set up this league and we just entered it and it starts in 30 seconds here. If you haven't played Play Draft, we're going to be going head to head against each other, all three of us, every week. The loser, the basement. That person is going to get their lunch chosen by the other two. And I can tell you from experience.

[Jason Moore]

Here comes the eggplant.

[Mike Wright]

That is not a good thing. And we'll videotape that and show it to you. But look, I'm gonna be starting right.

[Andy Holloway]

Now here in five seconds. This is a very easy call for me. We're starting at the top. When the Steelers go on the road, they run the ball. And I am going Mr. Le'Veon Bell back at practice today as the 101.

[Mike Wright]

So you're taking Lev 101. I'm jumping right in and taking David Johnson against Detroit in week one. So if you don't know how this works, you draft two wide receivers or tight ends, two running backs and one quarterbacks. You play five players against each other. Mike is at the turn, I'm at the turn.

[Jason Moore]

And I went wide receiver, wide receiver. I took Julio Jones against Chicago and then I took Mike Evans, who's going to take on the Dolphins. I love the fact that so. And if you're not familiar with draft, you go one quarterback, two running backs, and then there's two flex positions which can be wide receiver or tight end. And I've filled up my wide receiver slots and I'm very pleased.

[Mike Wright]

I went with LaShawn McCoy to pair with David Johnson. McCoy takes on the jets in Week 1. The workload and production should be available to him. So I'm going to pair those two running backs, and Jason's at the turn now.

[Andy Holloway]

I love this. So my first pick is definitely going to be A.J. green. He is the number one on my board for week one against the Ravens. I think he's got a better matchup than most of the other guys. You know, you've got Jordy, but he's playing against Seattle. For my second pick, I'm gonna. I'm gonna zig here, and I'm gonna go with a quarterback I don't want to lose out on, which is Russell Wilson. Matt Harmon's Wilson. Russell Wilson. I think they're going to be in a shootout with Green Bay, and I think Russell Wilson's gonna be able to put up a lot of fantasy points.

[Mike Wright]

Really happy with my third pick here. It's an easy one. I'm taking Antonio Brown against Cleveland to pair with David Johnson and Lashawn McCoy. Mike, you got a couple picks here, and look, I only need two more picks, and this draft is done.

[Jason Moore]

So I'm taking an Andy Holloway special here because he gets to play the Colts in week one. Todd Gurley is not my favorite player for the season.

[Andy Holloway]

I have him down on my list.

[Jason Moore]

But I love him for week one. And then I'm going to round that out with Jason's MVP because he's playing on Thursday, and he's going to be great. On top of that, that's Kareem Hunt. He gets to open the season against the Patriots.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to pair Antonio Brown with Doug Baldwin in week one. Love the matchup against Green Bay. Russell Wilson just went off the board to Jason, and I'm going to mitigate some of that upside that Jason has by drafting his wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was totally going to go. Doug Baldwin. Yeah, Doug Baldwin there as well. I wanted to get Devonta Freeman, and good news, I got Devonta Freeman. You know, but part of me here now is looking at possibly going with a tight end who's got the touchdown. Upside. I was thinking about. I was thinking maybe Jimmy Graham to pair, but I'm actually going to go with Greg Olson, reach a little bit deeper.

[Jason Moore]

I like that pick, but he's got.

[Andy Holloway]

A great matchup against San Francisco.

[Mike Wright]

All right, lay of the land here. My running backs, Lashawn McCoy, David Johnson, wide receivers, Antonio Brown and Doug Baldwin. It's my final pick, and I'm going to take Matt Ryan going against the Chicago Bears to finish out my week one roster.

[Jason Moore]

Oof. I mean, so. I mean, I got the trouble here is you got the. The Goats are going up against good defenses. Rogers plays Seattle, Brady plays Kansas City. I'm going to zig here. We've seen how bad Oakland's defense has been this preseason. I'm going to take the number two overall draft pick. Marcus. Maria, too.

[Mike Wright]

Wow. I thought you might go Big Ben against Cleveland.

[Jason Moore]

I thought about it, but then Jason's right. They're going to run the crap out of the ball.

[Mike Wright]

So Jason's team look a lot on the line this week. I do not want to eat eggplant, nor will I because my team is going to obviously win. Jason, Russell Wilson, Lev Bell, DeVonta Freeman, AJ Green and Greg Olson. I've got Matt Ryan, David Johnson, LaShawn McCoy, Antonio Brown and Doug Baldwin. And Mike went with Mariota Gurley, Hunt, Jones and Evans. I think Mike has the most matchup centric team, but it'll be very interesting. That's the beauty of this game on play draft. So you can check it out. If you want a free entry, you can go to playdraft.com ballers I cannot.

[Jason Moore]

Wait to watch you fellas eat. Just wait.

[Mike Wright]

Are both losers?

[Andy Holloway]

I was gonna say there'll be either one or two.

[Jason Moore]

I'm inferring that I'm winning every single week is what I'm just saying.

[Mike Wright]

Through the whole year. You're feeding us terrible food.

[Jason Moore]

Get ready for dog food.

[Mike Wright]

Is there.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait a minute.

[Mike Wright]

Get ready for dog food.

[Jason Moore]

Wait.

[Mike Wright]

There is rules here. You have to order it on a menu.

[Andy Holloway]

We're going to have two. We're going to actually have two lineups before week one of the NFL. So there could be one person eating twice.

[Mike Wright]

Eating twice. Junk.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Eating garbage.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, Folklon, remember, every throw, every catch, every fourth and inches, the NFL has you covered with the NFL game pass. Like I said, that's where we go to watch all of our film. Get those condensed games. It's absolutely incredible. If it's NFL football and it happened, NFL Game Pass has got it. So kick off the 2017 NFL season with a free NFL Game Pass trial. Sign up [e-mail] fantasy footballers.

[Mike Wright]

All right, well, that is it for today's episode. Hope you enjoyed the fantasy mvp, the daily dose, all the news and information and we'll be back.

[Jason Moore]

Nice flair.

[Mike Wright]

We'll be back on Monday. We got a great episode for Monday. I believe Monday is good vibes, bad vibes.

[Jason Moore]

As of right now it is.

[Mike Wright]

And then Tuesday we've got a live show and that is bold predictions for the upcoming season. That's always a fun episode, so keep it right here. Subscribe. Listen. Check out jointhefoot.com if you want an extra episode every single week. And if it's, you know, if you're drafting this weekend, don't forget about the Ultimate Draft Kit, still available on the website. Ultimate Draft Kit.com. take care.

[Jason Moore]

We got it under control. Hey, thank you so much, Book man. We'll see you on Monday. Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

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.