Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - NFC West Breakdown, News, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary

Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - NFC West Breakdown, News, Mailbag
Release Date: June 18, 2015
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

The episode kicks off with the hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright, greeting listeners and setting the stage for an in-depth analysis of the NFC West division. They transition from playful banter about Game of Thrones and the fate of Jon Snow to diving into fantasy-relevant NFL offseason news.

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NFC West Division Breakdown

The trio meticulously examines each team within the NFC West, focusing on offseason acquisitions, departures, and their potential impact on fantasy football.

Arizona Cardinals

• Quarterback Situation:

  • Carson Palmer's Return: The Cardinals' offense struggled last season without a stable quarterback, making Carson Palmer's return pivotal. Palmer has been active in OTAs and is described as "mentally and physically ready" ([11:05]).

• Key Additions:

  • D.J. Humphreys (1st Round Pick): Valued for his run-blocking prowess, ranked as the "second best run blocking guard" by Pro Football Focus.
  • David Johnson (3rd Round Pick): Highly anticipated as a primary back, though Jason Moore expresses caution, suggesting Andre Ellington's health will determine Johnson's role ([14:27]-[15:26]).
  • AQ Shipley: Improved center aiming to replace the underperforming Lyle Sendlein.

• Running Backs Analysis:

  • Andre Ellington vs. David Johnson:
    • Ellington is expected to remain the starter unless injuries arise. David Johnson is projected as a solid RB2 with possible RB1 upside if Ellington is sidelined.
    • Jason Moore Quote ([02:45]): "I really do think that could be the end for Arian Foster" indicating concerns about injuries impacting RB performance.

• Wide Receivers:

  • John Brown vs. Michael Floyd:
    • Both hosts prefer John Brown due to his enhanced physical condition and Bruce Arians' history with speedier receivers.
    • Jason Moore on John Brown: Praises his physical upgrades and potential to lead Arizona's WR corps ([15:46]-[16:57]).

• Defense & Other Notes:

  • The defense remains strong, bolstered by the return of Patrick Peterson and anticipated stability despite minor offseason changes.

Seattle Seahawks

• Offseason Additions:

  • Jimmy Graham: Acquired to bolster the red zone, moving from a top-tier tight end to fit into an offense that needs improved red zone efficiency.
  • Impact on WRs: Introduces competitive dynamics among wide receivers with increased targets potentially limiting consistency.

• Key Players:

  • Marshawn Lynch:

    • Discussed as a fantasy staple with consistent high-yardage and touchdown numbers. Concerns about a lingering back injury and workload are noted.
    • Andy Holloway Quote ([22:23]): "Having played through injuries, how long can that really keep going?"

  • Wide Receiver Depth:

    • Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Chris Matthews, Kevin Norwood, Tyler Lockett: Limited fantasy upside due to the Seahawks' overall passing struggles.
    • Jason Moore Insight ([23:20]-[24:22]): Skepticism about drafting Seahawks WRs given the team's passing strategy and existing talents.

San Francisco 49ers

• Offseason Turmoil:

  • Significant roster changes with departures like Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, and key defensive players.
  • New Head Coach: Jim Tomsula replacing Jim Harbaugh, introducing uncertainty.

• Quarterback Analysis:

  • Colin Kaepernick:
    • Highly rated by Mike Wright, projected to throw for 3,300 yards and 25 touchdowns, and rush for 690 yards and 5 touchdowns ([28:02]-[31:07]).
    • Jason Moore Quote ([27:25]-[31:07]): Emphasizes Kaepernick's potential and the offensive adjustments to maximize his dual-threat capabilities.

• Running Backs:

  • Carlos Hyde and Reggie Bush: Expected to share workloads, with Bush projected for significant receiving roles.

• Wide Receivers:

  • Anquan Boldin and Reggie Bush: Highlighted as key contributors, with Boldin previously underrated but poised for a stronger season.
  • Chris Matthews: Potential breakout candidate due to increased opportunities.

• Fantasy Outlook:

  • The 49ers' offense is expected to improve with Kaepernick's leadership, though defensive uncertainties remain a concern.
  • Mike Wright Summary ([33:05]): "Depend on how often he's on the field... he's going to have some fantasy relevance."

St. Louis Rams

• Offseason Moves:

  • Todd Gurley Drafted in the First Round: Expectations are high, but concerns linger due to his recent ACL injury.
  • Quarterback Changes: Trade of Sam Bradford and acquisition of Nick Foles, with rumors about a long-term deal.
  • Offensive Line Improvements: Focus on securing the run game through new tackles and guards.

• Running Back Analysis:

  • Tre Mason vs. Todd Gurley:
    • Tre Mason's Consistency: Noted for strong home performances but inconsistent away.
    • Jason Moore's View ([37:16]-[38:46]): Highlights Mason's potential value contingent on Gurley's health and usage.

• Wide Receivers:

  • Brian Quick vs. Kenny Britt:
    • Hosts show preference for Kenny Britt due to his sneaky value despite inconsiderate offseason transactions.
    • Jason Moore Observation ([38:53]-[39:24]): Britt viewed as a valuable asset, whereas Quick's potential is tied to Gurley's offensive scheme.

• Fantasy Outlook:

  • Nick Foles is deemed a low fantasy asset with limited upside, while Gurley's return is critical for the Rams' run-heavy strategy.

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Key Player Insights and Fantasy Projections

The hosts provide detailed projections and analyses for several key players, integrating statistical insights and personal opinions.

• Carson Palmer (QB, Arizona): Positioned as a top fantasy quarterback with stability returning to Arizona's offense.

• Colin Kaepernick (QB, 49ers):

  • Mike Wright's Projection ([28:02]): "25 touchdowns and 690 rushing yards make him a top fantasy QB."
  • Jason Moore's Endorsement: Supports high rankings due to dual-threat capability and offensive scheme enhancements.

• Andrew Ellington vs. David Johnson (RB, Arizona):

  • Ellington remains favored as the primary back unless injuries impact his performance.
  • Johnson offers depth with RB2 upside, contingent on Ellington's health.

• Marshawn Lynch (RB, Seahawks): A reliable fantasy asset with consistent performance, though injury concerns are noted.

• John Brown (WR, Arizona) vs. Michael Floyd (WR, Arizona): Both are solid options, but Brown's physical upgrades and coach's history make him the preferred choice.

• Jimmy Graham (TE, Seahawks): Expected to enhance red zone performance but may see a slight dip in overall fantasy value.

• Nick Foles (QB, Rams): Viewed skeptically by hosts, with limited fantasy relevance expected.

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Offseason Moves and Roster Changes

The discussion delves into significant offseason transactions, highlighting how these moves shape team dynamics and fantasy prospects.

• Arizona Cardinals: Strengthening the offensive line and adding versatile running backs and wide receivers bolster their fantasy potential.

• Seattle Seahawks: Introducing Jimmy Graham aims to resolve red zone inefficiencies but may complicate wide receiver usage.

• San Francisco 49ers: High-profile departures and the introduction of Colin Kaepernick signal a rebuilding phase with mixed fantasy implications.

• St. Louis Rams: Drafting Todd Gurley and acquiring Nick Foles reflect a focus on the run game, with limited fantasy upside unless Gurley returns fully healthy.

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Mailbag: Listener Questions and Host Responses

The hosts engage with listener inquiries, providing personalized advice and sharing insights from their own fantasy leagues.

Handcuffing Running Backs ([46:08]-[51:27]):

• Question: Should fantasy managers draft handcuffs like Ryan Matthews for DeMarco Murray or Jay Ajayi for Lamar Miller?
• Response:
  • Andy Holloway: Advocates for drafting handcuffs for high-quality replacements, especially for RB1s to secure playoff positions ([46:42]).
  • Jason Moore: Emphasizes flexibility and suggests not overcommitting to handcuffs if better value players are available ([47:45]-[48:23]).
  • Mike Wright: Recommends having valuable backups and not panicking if handcuffs are already taken, leveraging waiver wire opportunities ([48:34]-[48:40]).

Rams Wide Receivers: Brian Quick vs. Kenny Britt ([51:32]-[53:15]):

• Question: Are Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson good values, and how should managers handle having multiple receivers from the same team?
• Response:
  • Jason Moore: Supports Vincent Jackson's bounce-back potential while cautioning against overvaluing Mike Evans based on ADP.
  • Andy Holloway: Open to pairing receivers from a high-powered offense if the team can support multiple fantasy contributors ([53:03]-[53:20]).
  • Mike Wright: Prefers not to overload roster slots with multiple top receivers from the same team unless the offense can sustain it ([53:15]-[53:20]).

Redraft League Trade Advice ([50:23]-[51:27]):

• Question: Advice on trading picks in a 16-team redraft league, specifically trading a first-round and tenth-round pick for a second and fourth-rounder.
• Response:
  • Andy Holloway: Suggests moving back seven spots to maximize pick value.
  • Mike Wright & Jason Moore: Agree that adjusting the draft position can provide better overall value ([51:00]-[51:27]).

Additional Listener Interactions:

• League of Record Insights: Hosts share anecdotes about their competitive and engaging fantasy league dynamics, emphasizing camaraderie and strategic play ([42:00]-[45:39]).
• Defensive Concerns: Brief mentions of San Francisco's defense issues following offseason changes, though not extensively covered ([33:07]-[33:38]).

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Conclusion

The hosts wrap up the episode by encouraging listeners to engage through their website and social media platforms. They highlight resources like FantasyDraftWizard.com for mock drafts and promote their active presence on Twitter. The episode ends with light-hearted remarks tying back to their earlier Game of Thrones references, ensuring an entertaining close to a comprehensive breakdown of the NFC West.

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Notable Quotes

• Jason Moore ([02:45]): "I really do think that could be the end for Arian Foster."
• Mike Wright ([28:02]): "Can Colin Kaepernick throw for 3,300 yards? Absolutely."
• Andy Holloway ([22:23]): "How long can Marshawn Lynch play like a monster?"

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This episode provides a thorough analysis of the NFC West, offering valuable insights for fantasy football enthusiasts. From quarterback returns and wide receiver depth to running back handcuffs and strategic draft advice, the Fantasy Footballers equip listeners with the knowledge to make informed decisions for the upcoming season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Mike Wright]

We are back again. We are the fantasy Footballers. And it is Thursday, June 18th. And this is the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. The only Holloway joined by Mike the fantasy Hitman. Right?

[Andy Holloway]

Greetings.

[Mike Wright]

And Jason Moore.

[Jason Moore]

Salutations.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, we got them both.

[Mike Wright]

We are here and we are ready to bring a deliciously good show to you today.

[Jason Moore]

Double stuff.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. We have the NFC West. We're going through the divisions right now and giving you everything you need to know about the offseason. Which guys are coming in, which guys are going, all the fantasy relevant news and information about each and every team in each and every division. So we talked about the AFC west last week.

[Andy Holloway]

Last Tuesday.

[Mike Wright]

Tuesday. Sorry. Feels like a week since then. And quick question. Now that it's Thursday, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And the spoiler buffer for Game of Thrones is over. Which, by the way, is. I mean, if you are coming to this point without knowing you have accomplished something incredible based on avoiding Twitter and Facebook and everywhere else that exists, you forward. You live door to door now and tell.

[Jason Moore]

Did you see what happened?

[Andy Holloway]

John.

[Mike Wright]

John Snow.

[Andy Holloway]

There's a town crier.

[Mike Wright]

So who's the. Who's the. Jon Snow this year in fantasy? Who's the guy that's gonna get put down?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

Who's the surprise death from fantasy football this year that you don't see come?

[Jason Moore]

They have to be killed by, like.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is figurative.

[Jason Moore]

Okay? They don't have. Oh, so they don't have to actually die and get stabbed.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, this is. This is figurative. Which surprise player? That's been good. Falling off a map. You guys got anybody? I know I'm putting you on the spot here. Jason looks like he just got done watching the episode, kid. Well, now that he's dead and he just keeps calling him Kit, now he's just the actor. Name.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, I want everyone to jump on the hashtag, not my John. I'm starting a movement.

[Mike Wright]

Not my John.

[Andy Holloway]

We're bringing him back.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, Melisandre. She showed up. I think he's coming back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, maybe. I'm looking through.

[Mike Wright]

So Matt Forte is an easy pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was trying to.

[Mike Wright]

Not completely falling off the mat.

[Andy Holloway]

I was trying to avoid that one. Because we. We are the ultimate shade masters of Master Forte.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, I got one for you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Now, do I have to believe it?

[Mike Wright]

Do you have to believe it? Yeah, you have to have some semblance of thought that it could happen.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I really do think.

[Mike Wright]

Not that anybody believed Jon Snow was.

[Jason Moore]

Going down, but I really do think that this could be the end for Arian Foster.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, come on, man.

[Jason Moore]

Just saying he's missed a lot of games. He's got a lot of miles.

[Mike Wright]

He's all right.

[Jason Moore]

Old. I feel like if he had a bad injury or like a concussion, he'd just retire.

[Mike Wright]

That's cool, man.

[Andy Holloway]

If we're.

[Mike Wright]

He's my number one. Just so you know, like, he's my number one on my rankings.

[Andy Holloway]

And you're gonna give us.

[Mike Wright]

You're killing off my favorite player. Number one.

[Jason Moore]

Jon Snow was my favorite.

[Mike Wright]

Number two in ppr, number one in standard. Thanks, bro.

[Andy Holloway]

If we're. These are contrarian bold predictions like Jason has just made. Hypothetical ODB would not shock me at all. If he drops back to reality.

[Mike Wright]

That would be a hamstring related injury that sends him into the doldrums.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy football hamstrings and the target volume being realistic. And so it just all the. And I'm not saying like a wide receiver 4, but if he dropped it to a 2, I would not be the least bit surprised.

[Jason Moore]

That's interesting and you know, on the spot contrarian answers, but in reality, I like Aaron Foster and odb. So what are you gonna do?

[Mike Wright]

Just like you like Jon Snow? All right, moving on. You can.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that should have been sad music.

[Mike Wright]

We got, yeah, 15 seconds of that. You can follow us on Twitter @ the FF Ballers. We're always putting new news and information. Also want to let you know, you can go to the website thefantasyfootballers.com I never mentioned this, but we actually have a newsletter, a fantasy football newsletter that goes out. So if you subscribe to that on the website, you'll get information about new episodes and articles that we release on the site. So if you're interested in that. We don't spam you with stuff, we.

[Jason Moore]

Actually control it ourselves and we don't sign you up for anything else.

[Andy Holloway]

You can feel confident given I have a slow play announcement that we. I've just started working with our engineer because I've had a few listeners ask me about the water wheel that we use to make our water bets. And we actually had two listeners. I don't know if they completely officiated this or not, but I thought two listeners were gonna have a water bet. We're going to have a digital version of the water wheel on our website eventually.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, that's a problem play. That's a promise.

[Andy Holloway]

Just saying that. No, we've thought of it and it's going to happen.

[Mike Wright]

And our water bets are now up there. By the way, as embarrassing as they are as. As well as Mike and I's rankings for the upcoming draft. All of Mike's, some of mine, none of Jason's. Still working on it. Also want to bring up the listener league, which we've been announcing from time to time.

[Andy Holloway]

Another slow play.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, we have a listener league where we are selecting a few very creative, unique individuals to come and join a league with us and play. We've added three to this.

[Andy Holloway]

Three official.

[Mike Wright]

Three official. And so we're making some final selections and we're gonna announce a couple more. But remember, you can email us mail at the fantasy footballers.com and send us something, you know, impress us.

[Andy Holloway]

And this isn't just about accolades of how well you've done in fantasy. This league is for fun. There's going to be.

[Mike Wright]

We actually prefer you suck so that we can.

[Andy Holloway]

There will be lots of trash thrown around verbally. So maybe you need to have a little bit of a thicker skin because. And it's all in fun.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But if you make a bad pick, I'm gonna let you know about it.

[Jason Moore]

Mm.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you're in the Fantasy Footballers League. So other than that, you can email us any question that you have for the show, mail the fantasy footballers.com or call our question voicemail box 302464 TFFB and as always, we like to read a review from our listeners from the iTunes store. So let's go and do that now.

[Jason Moore]

Reviewasaurus Rex. This one comes in from Craig in Okinawa.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, bonjour.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he says whatever fantasy football podcast you are listening to now, if it is not this one, granted, it is stop if you were listening to a different one. This cast. This cast creates by far and away the most informative and entertaining show around. The best part of this cast is, in my opinion, is that they always provide useful information and do not feel the need to to make outlandish and misleading predictions in order to secure listeners as clickbait. This just in. Arian Foster and ODB to see what happens. They die.

[Andy Holloway]

Disregard the beginning of this show.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks. Thanks Okinawa.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was imagining while you're saying that someone who has a split headphones with one show on one ear and one or the other and they're just absorbing all fantasy, we don't recommend that.

[Mike Wright]

As it's hard to process that much information. So I do it. We're going to talk through, I guess not really have too much News and notes to talk about. I'm sure you'd love to talk about Amir Abdullah. All the news out of Detroit camp is that Abdullah is looking great and Joy Bell is looking hurt.

[Andy Holloway]

Joykat is old. Busted. He is the ultimate of red flags for a running back. And Abdullah is the new hotness.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just gonna keep. Keep my head in the sand about Joy Bell and keep drafting him high.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I don't suggest you do that.

[Mike Wright]

Well, let me see where I got Joy. Hold on a sec.

[Jason Moore]

We're splitting up. We're splitting up our. Our league.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's right. There yet? No. I got a message from one. Double Stuff More. Who asked me on publicly on Twitter if I could slow the train down.

[Jason Moore]

Like almost two weeks ago. I think I was early enough and.

[Andy Holloway]

He wanted me to slow it down so he could jump on the Abdullah Express.

[Mike Wright]

Are you there now?

[Jason Moore]

I can't find it. Oh, here it comes. Here.

[Mike Wright]

Joy.

[Jason Moore]

Wait. Wait for me.

[Mike Wright]

You two are all aboard?

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Abdul Express.

[Mike Wright]

You should see the disparity in our rankings. I've got. I've got Joy belt 15 in a standard league. Mike has him. Oh, 33. You even gave him a spot. How kind of you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Just. Hey, you know what? I love fantasy football. I love it because time answers all questions.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And time is not on Joy Bell's side. That is. That is the truth.

[Jason Moore]

You know what is great about fantasy football is that this all plays out and we find out if we're good or if we're bad at what we say. Listeners, if you didn't listen through the year last year, you know, I knew it.

[Mike Wright]

I knew what he was gonna do.

[Andy Holloway]

What are you doing?

[Mike Wright]

Just let people listen.

[Jason Moore]

Well, but the thing is, is I want to make sure they keep listening through the season because the advice is so on point. It's just amazing. The toot toot from Jason. Double stuff. All right.

[Mike Wright]

I like it because he wasn't even on the show last year. So that's really tooting our horns.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you just.

[Mike Wright]

Fine. Fantasydraftwizard.com we always mention it on the show. It's free. You can go there. You can practice fast mock drafts. You don't have to wait on anybody to jump in. Pick a spot. Mock draft. Have some fun. Tweet us your pictures of the draft. Not just your pictures.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, preferably the.

[Mike Wright]

Just. We'll let you know how you did or which guys you like, which guys you don't like. Try out some different strategies. It's all [e-mail] should be fun. You guys want to talk some NFC West?

[Andy Holloway]

Do I.

[Jason Moore]

Hometown discount.

[Mike Wright]

I know we're going to start out in Phoenix.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's get it over with.

[Mike Wright]

The Arizona Cardinals, we're talking an offense that was completely destroyed by the lack of a quarterback last year. It was very difficult for us Arizonans to watch because this team was, they had a great year under a great coach, they made the playoffs and there's just nothing that they could do on offense. But Carson Palmer is back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's back. He's cleared. He's full goal. He's in 11 on elevens.

[Jason Moore]

So he's looking good in the OTAs. And I was surprised because I was not, I mean, you know, in the off season I have not been hot on Carson Palmer and watching him in the OTAs and seeing him move around, I think that I'm coming around. I really think he's ready, ready for the year. He seems mentally ready, physically ready so.

[Andy Holloway]

And the Cardinals had some big additions with their first run pick, D.J. humphreys, a tackle David Johnson in the third round running back they added Mike Upati, the guard. He was the second best run blocking guard according to Pro Football Focus last year. AQ Shipley, huge upgrade at center because.

[Jason Moore]

Even though AQ Shipley's not that great center was a was a bad deal for the Cardinals.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Lyle Sendline was I believe the worst or the second worst graded out center. But I like very much what the what the Cardinals have done, the pieces that they've added. We all know that of the struggles of Andre ellington with his 3.3 yards per carry and just some, some weird things that we, you have to attribute these to Ellington being hurt. The guy, if you don't remember, he came into the season where saying he had a foot problem and we weren't sure if he was going to end up on the pup list if he was going to play and he played through it. Then he had a hit pointer.

[Mike Wright]

However, some very they might be getting him back. I mean in a sense we just talked about they might be getting Ellington.

[Andy Holloway]

Back but some things that were not good, that were worrisome about Ellington because we think of him as this scat back, a great pass catching back of 54 catchable passes. He dropped 8 of passes he could catch. He dropped 15%.

[Jason Moore]

You know, sorry but when Carson Palmer went out our quarterbacks were the worst quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

I feel like that's actually statistically accurate.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no I mean it is in the playoffs for sure. And so I'm just saying, you know, I know he had some drops, but he had some terror. You know, it's, it's easy to drop balls thrown behind you.

[Andy Holloway]

But, but these are, these are metriced out to be catchable passes. These are, these are completely on the running back and David Johnson. All reports coming out of camp are glowing. David Johnson and his ability to catch the ball. And normally you got to be careful with the camp reports. But this is what we will say about Bruce Arians. Bruce Arians does not care and he will tell you exactly what is happening. We talked about DJ Humphries and Arians has actually been very harsh on Humphreys, calling him immature, saying he's not ready, that they're disappointed with him so far. So to throw those words on your first round pick, it just to me speaks of in his past of that he's. He's telling the truth about David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Well, if that's true though, Mike, then you'd agree that he's telling the truth about Andre Ellington, that he's the primary back. Primary back and the guy that they're going to lean on as the staple of the run offense for the entire season.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. But he also said he will be that guy unless somebody outplays him.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

He. He's added that caveat before, so I.

[Mike Wright]

Guess that was going to be. My question is kind of. I'm fading on Johnson quite a bit compared to. We talked him up as a guy who could take over for Ellington. I just believe Ellington is going to be healthy in that role and I think Johnson will have a role and I'll have that game here or there. That is fantasy relevant. But not too many of them unless Ellington gets hurt.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Ellington. Sorry to interrupt, but I think Ellington and David Johnson are both going to be. I don't think they're going to be RB1 guys, but I think that they're both going to be usable fantasy pieces with leaning on David Johnson. Even though there's a knock on him, he's not a great inside runner. But who's going to do it if it's between Ellington and David Johnson? I would think that they're going to take the bigger guy to run in between the tackles and to get the goal line kick.

[Mike Wright]

You have, you have David Johnson very high. You have him as a. Just outside the PPR. RB2.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. That's where he is. Right. And as I was going through, I'm going to adjust him. He's Going to go down a little bit, but I'm still very high on him.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Other news out of Arizona, let's talk about the wide receiver position. I'm going to ask you this question right now. Which guy would you rather have on your roster, Michael Floyd or John Brown?

[Andy Holloway]

John Brown.

[Jason Moore]

John Brown.

[Mike Wright]

Really? Both of you?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Is that because you've seen enough of Michael Floyd?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Because you believe in John Brown?

[Andy Holloway]

I believe in John Brown. I still believe in Michael Floyd. I think he can still be a good player. But John Brown was fantastic last year. He's put on muscle because he was too small. He couldn't handle the press coverage. And Arians history with smaller receivers. Ty Hilton, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders. Arians knows how to.

[Mike Wright]

These speed guys, they're the guys they target.

[Andy Holloway]

There's a reason that these receivers are in. Certain communities are called. That's an Arians receiver.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. And he put on the weight. He's looking great in camp. And my favorite part about him is that he's being drafted. 20 wide receivers after Michael Floyd, where.

[Andy Holloway]

Is he even going?

[Jason Moore]

Brown is going right now, is the 53rd wide receiver off the board, and he really could finish as the number one Arizona wide receiver. So I think that that's a guy to target.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that. That's bold. One thing I did look at with Larry Fitzgerald is that when Palmer was healthy last year, he was on. He was projected for, I believe it was almost 1200 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, almost 1300 yards. 110 catches. 110 targets, 85 catches. That was the pitch that would have.

[Mike Wright]

Been a much more Larry Fitzgerald year that we've come to expect. And I actually would not be surprised to see both Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson have years that are more reminiscent of their past seasons than what we've seen the last couple years, because you've just had quarterback trouble in both environments that have made you ride off both guys. But Larry Fitzgerald's one of the hardest working, most talented, most committed leaders on a football field. And I think he could come back and have a good year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's clearly a bit older and he's lost some of his speed, but he's only 31.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, Larry Fitzgerald, I mean, 31 for a wide receiver is not, you know, especially for a type of wide receiver like Larry Fitzgerald, who, you know, dedicates himself and is a great route runner. And, you know, you look at those guys, you know, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and those. Jerry Rice, those type of guys, I think they can keep going. So I really like Larry Fitzgerald this year. He's also going behind Michael Floyd and I also like John Brown this year. I don't like Michael Floyd from a position of where he's being drafted.

[Mike Wright]

And this team still has a defense that is top of the league. Patrick Peterson is back and should be healthier. Their defense carried them the entire year last year. We don't know what we'll see from Darrell Washington but.

[Andy Holloway]

But they got the spoon to take care of. Exactly.

[Mike Wright]

And they didn't really lose much.

[Jason Moore]

I think they lost a lot in Todd Bowles. I really do.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. What I meant was they didn't lose much on the offensive side. They only gained in health and draft picks. So I would expect a much better offense out of Arizona next year which might be compensated by a little bit of a worse defense. But. But that's kind of the way I see them.

[Jason Moore]

They were better for fantasy.

[Mike Wright]

They were the second to last team in rushing last year. So.

[Andy Holloway]

And I'm very high on Palmer. I know, I know these two guys aren't as high as I am. I have him as quarterback one and a quarterback one that you can take with almost your last quarterback one.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, that is correct. You have met 10. Let's move on to the Seattle Seahawks. Just missed repeating as super bowl championship.

[Jason Moore]

They're never going to get over that.

[Mike Wright]

I would like to point that out.

[Andy Holloway]

One carry away if you will.

[Mike Wright]

The big off season addition is the big man, Jimmy Graham and he is coming into an offense that really while they were the number one rushing offense and the number 10 scoring offense, they struggled in the red zone, they struggled passing in the red zone and they didn't have receivers that could get it done there. And so Jimmy Graham is as good as it gets when it comes to red zone offense. I think we all expect Jimmy's numbers to go down a little bit. Jason, what do you see from Jimmy Graham in the fantasy world this year?

[Jason Moore]

I have him finishing as the number two. My numbers, I've got him basically you've got Gronk, number one far and ahead the leader. And then I've got him and Travis Kelsey pretty much tied in stats. He's going to drop off from where he was. He's not going to be the golden boy getting as many yards, getting as many catches, getting as many targets. I do think he's still going to be a good red zone opportunity and I think that his yards per catch are going to go up because I think that as the rollouts with Russell Wilson, I think there'll be A couple more big plays for Jimmy Graham, but altogether I think he's still a good option. Worse than he was. And he's just not a guy that most astute fantasy players are going to draft. Because I just think even though he'll finish number two, what you have to give up to get him is not fair value in that. Like, you know, around the 2, 3.

[Mike Wright]

Turn and he's walking into a passing offense that is 27th in the league, averaging only 203 yards a game. All right, let's turn and look at some of their losses. They lost Max Unger in the trade to New Orleans. He's their all pro center. And they also lost James Carpenter. They drafted a couple guards in the fourth round. So, Mike, tell me about Marshawn Lynch. Tell me what you think he will do this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Marshawn lynch is. He's the ultimate in consistency for fantasy. Through 2011 to 2014, he averages 1340 yards and 14 touchdowns. Yeah, I know, it's insane. His numbers are just insane. And the question for me on top of the offensive line is that his back injury. Will the back injury finally catch up to Marshawn lynch, who has a just astronomical amount of carries on him? And as people who had him know, the worry that is the Marshawn lynch back injury, because you have all week where he's not practicing and a lot of times it'll come up to game time and you're not even sure if he's going to play. And then he does and he's a monster. But how long can that really keep going? There's talk of the team being handed over to Wilson, and I'm just saying these things to be the devil's advocate.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Where these are the marks against Lynch. Having said that, I'm still extremely high on Lynch.

[Mike Wright]

11, 12 and 13 are his touchdowns the last four years with Seattle on the ground.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not even counting his catch touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's just on the ground in the air. He caught four. And he's involved in the passing game more than he used to be. As tried and true as they come, I think with the money they paid him. Unless one of those things happens that you mentioned, he should be.

[Andy Holloway]

He should be.

[Mike Wright]

Marshawn Lynch. Let's talk for a minute about their wide receivers. Is there anybody that you want the fantasy community to kind of pay attention to? Anybody that's not being talked about? That crop includes Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Curse, Chris Matthews from Hardball, from the. From the Super Bowl. That's Chris Matthews, that's his nickname now as hardball.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

It is.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not too bad.

[Mike Wright]

I've heard that before. And then Kevin Norwood. And they also drafted Tyler Lockett. Tyler Lockett in the third round. Who again on that team? We talked with Brian Tesh about Seattle, and you seem to have these rookie or younger wide receivers that come in. They play special teams. They don't make a big impact. They don't. There's not a lot of passing yards to go around. But is there anybody you want people to pay attention to? Either of these?

[Jason Moore]

No, I'm just going to come right out.

[Mike Wright]

I agree with you on that, because.

[Jason Moore]

They'Re not a huge passing offense. And Jimmy Graham is now the number one wide receiver on the team. I really think he'll lead them in yards and he probably won't lead them in receptions. But every reception he gets, which will be far and away more than tight ends got last year, will take away every target, every reception will take away from other wide receivers. And if you look at what the wide receivers finished at last year, it wasn't that great anyways. So now you're going to be diluting that. No, stay. You know, maybe somebody is good, but I'm not drafting a Seattle wide receiver on any of my teams.

[Andy Holloway]

The only guy I'm looking at this is assuming he makes the team is Chris. Yeah, I know, but it's Chris Matthews, and the guy blew up in the Super Bowl. That's not why I'm looking at him.

[Jason Moore]

The guy is 6, 5, 6 5.

[Andy Holloway]

He's humongous.

[Jason Moore]

That's why he blew up in the Super Bowl.

[Andy Holloway]

And there's. There's nobody. Jimmy Graham is there now, but Seattle had. Russell Wilson has never had a player that. That big on the outside to throw to. You got Doug Baldwin and that man.

[Jason Moore]

Said he had him all year.

[Andy Holloway]

No, he wasn't.

[Jason Moore]

He was hurt and he might not even make the.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and that's.

[Jason Moore]

He.

[Andy Holloway]

He might not. I think he will. I think you have to give a guy who did that in the Super Bowl a chance.

[Mike Wright]

No, he'll be there.

[Andy Holloway]

He'll be there, but he's in. This is a guy. I'm talking. My. My bench is huge, and I'm taking my last wide receiver flyer, and that's who I want to take.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's move on to the San Francisco 49ers. They've lost a lot of guys. This offseason has been a tumultuous one.

[Andy Holloway]

Very Game of Thrones esque.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I Mean, you had the loss of. Well, we talked about Iupati coming to Arizona. Frank Gore is gone. It's going to be strange watching him suit up in another uniform. Michael Crabtree is gone. Stevie Johnson is gone. They had a number of defensive players retire Quattro.

[Andy Holloway]

They lost.

[Mike Wright]

Chris Borland is gone, Patrick Willis is gone and Anthony Davis is gone. And so you also bring in Tim. Jim Tomsula replacing the Jim Harbaugh era. The era is over. This is a team that was the 4th ranked rushing team but the 30th ranked passing team last year. So let's talk about Colin Kaepernick. Let's talk about Carlos Hyde, Reggie Bush. Torrey Smith is an addition to that team this year. So what jumps out of the page at you in terms of the 49ers?

[Jason Moore]

I'm really excited to see if Jim Tomsula continues his current garment, his clothing attire. Oh, what is he rocking as he becomes a head coach? You know, this is huge fantasy relevant.

[Andy Holloway]

But have you never seen no man paid attention?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So he's on the sideline with like, like some kind of like sport jacket and no undershirt. He just. I'm telling, I'm telling you, like, like the European chest hair coming out like that's amazing. Oh, he looks like he's straight up from Jersey, just on the sideline, you know, coaching guys with. It's, it's.

[Andy Holloway]

Please, please tell me he has shorts on.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I hope so. You know who I'm actually warming up on and I've always been a career hater of Tori Smith, but I actually think that Tory Smith is going to have good rapport with Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick. I, you would have to say, statistics wise, I am super high on him compared to normal. I've got him ranked number nine and that's much higher than most people have him.

[Andy Holloway]

No, there is a man in this room.

[Jason Moore]

What? Oh, oh, that's right. I forgot I saw it. Andy, speak. That's. I mean, I.

[Andy Holloway]

He's gone mute.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know what to happen, but.

[Mike Wright]

You got to announce very high. And Colin Kaepernick.

[Andy Holloway]

This isn't a four of. This is a four point touchdown throw.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, yes, yes. Big difference between where I have him. Well, not big, but a big difference for this, I think nine or ten. But I have Kaepernick at number four overall in four point passing touchdown leagues, which I know will blow a lot of people's minds.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm still recouping.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you don't see that a lot of places and I can pull up my statistics for him, but he's a guy who over the course of his career has improved statistically almost every single season. And the way that that offense is shaping up and. And from what I have witnessed with my eyes and heard from people watching him in the offseason is that he is working on his craft. And I think he's going to have the opportunity to run a lot this year. I think Torrey Smith only helps him. Vernon Davis is going to be involved in the offense again. And I'm not projecting some kind of insane year, but when you have a guy with those legs, if he can make a small statistical upgrade in the yards and touchdowns, it's pretty good. And run for 600 something yards. That puts him in that place. Of the four, five, six in that type of. Why I have him there.

[Andy Holloway]

How many yards do you have him running for?

[Mike Wright]

Hold on, let me.

[Andy Holloway]

Because last year he ran for 639 yards.

[Jason Moore]

And this year they've been saying, you know, when you talk to the coaching staff, they're saying that they're going to really unleash him and let him use his legs more. And they pretty much did last year. Right. But they were criticizing their use of him that way. So I think that's going to go up even more. And what's crazy about that is I think I saw a stat somewhere that there's only been one time in the history of the NFL where a quarterback has ran for over 600 yards and got less than four touchdowns and he only got one one touchdown running.

[Mike Wright]

Let me give you some statistics for him. This is what projected to my number four. Okay. Could Colin Kaepernick throw for 3,300 yards?

[Jason Moore]

100%.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Could he pass for 25 touchdowns?

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

Because I believe he did 23 last year.

[Andy Holloway]

19.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

What was the year before?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't have that in front of me.

[Mike Wright]

I think he was 20, 20, 22.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. It went down last year.

[Mike Wright]

So I have him at 25. Okay. I've given him a small bump in that. Can he rush for 690 yards?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, absolutely he could.

[Mike Wright]

Five touchdowns on the ground.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So that. That's what my projection was. I wasn't trying to be insane and send ripples through the fantasy community, but I just don't understand why I see him at 18, 19, 20 on a bunch of people's lists.

[Andy Holloway]

I think it. It has comes down to the game that I think that Colin Kaepernick is trying to improve is his Instagram game. That's what I really got a lot.

[Jason Moore]

Of work to do on that.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I see him working on is the.

[Mike Wright]

But he's good, right? All those abs.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, totally.

[Jason Moore]

But his shoe game on Instagram, the.

[Mike Wright]

Passing, it's got a lot of shoes.

[Andy Holloway]

So his. His numbers have gone up, but he still threw. They were 29th out of 32 in pass attempt. So there's still not that only.

[Mike Wright]

That only speaks more to his potential to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Right? And to me, it's. If you're banking on the legs the way that. That Jason's banking on Cam Newton's legs, then I completely understand. It's. That, to me, is such a hard thing to really count on.

[Mike Wright]

If he does exactly what he did last year, which was 3,369 yards, but he throws for 25 touchdowns instead of 19.

[Andy Holloway]

The quit.

[Mike Wright]

So the question which, because their team doesn't have the running game, they don't have the defense anymore. I don't think the 49ers are going to be better as a team.

[Jason Moore]

No way.

[Mike Wright]

I think Kaepernick's going to be better as a player. He ran for 639 yards. His rushing yards went up three consecutive years. His passing yards have gone up every single year he's played.

[Jason Moore]

And his weapons.

[Andy Holloway]

He's only played two year, two full years.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, okay, you're correct, but I'm ignoring that. No, not. Not really. But yeah, yeah, he threw for, you know, he played 13 games in his first season, and he was running more than he wasn't throwing. Right. And then 3100, 3300.

[Jason Moore]

So Torrey Smith over Michael Crabtree is. Especially right now at this point in Crabtree's career. I think it's a big improvement for him. He's the type of wide receiver that's going to be able to run out on those scrambles and end up with a couple big plays that keep drives alive and score more touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

So the guy that I'm casually excited about on the 49ers is Anquan Bolden. Here's a guy, he's the veteran who just doesn't quit. He gets it done. Last year, 130 targets, he finished.

[Mike Wright]

He does not. Jon Snow ever.

[Andy Holloway]

No, he finished as a wide receiver 18. And in the two years of in San Francisco, 18. Wide receiver, 18.

[Jason Moore]

That's. I mean, no one would guess that.

[Andy Holloway]

In two years in San Francisco, he's averaging 84 catches, 1100 yards.

[Mike Wright]

And Kaepernick loves going to him on third down too. And in the red zone Michael Crabtree.

[Andy Holloway]

Stevie Johnson, Brandon Lloyd are gone. That's 193 targets. Those targets have to go somewhere where Tori Smith is going to get his.

[Mike Wright]

He can't get 193the way that Torrey.

[Andy Holloway]

Smith plays at Vernon Davis, the way they used him. And maybe Vernon Davis gets a bump but to me the real bump is Anquan Bolden and, and Reggie Bush who we haven't even talked about but Reggie Bush.

[Mike Wright]

Good point, Reggie.

[Andy Holloway]

Where I see that defense just got so crushed this offseason and I don't know if the coaching staff can really pick. Pick it up and put it together if they can. I mean hats off to that would be a fantastic job to recover. So I just, I see them trailing in games.

[Mike Wright]

They were, yeah, they were a bad.

[Andy Holloway]

Offense last year and that's why, why for the part of where the Carlos Hyde fading is coming in as I see him as a two down back and I think Reggie Bush is going to be on the field a ton.

[Jason Moore]

And that helps Colin Kaepernick a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Because the, the game plan of the offense took Frank Gorn as pass catching away. But if, if he catches 50 balls which I. That's a lot. Let's say 40 balls.

[Andy Holloway]

50 is perfectly fine to me.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But let's just say 40. Right. So he only catches 40 and you know, pretty much running backs, I feel like average to good running backs average about 10 yards per catch. So that's 400 yards, you know, and that's extra. That wasn't really there last year because they weren't really using Frank Gore in the running game that much or in the, in the passing game. And so I think that that's just more yards, more opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

I completely agree. He does help Kaepernick's numbers overall. I actually have Bush projected for upwards of 70 catches this year which I don't think is out outlandish for his history and track record.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it could happen but it will.

[Mike Wright]

Depend on how often he's on the field. Like you said, I think a lot of good information there for San Francisco. I'm going to throw one name out there. I'm not going to say much about him but just remember that like Danny Hood had.

[Andy Holloway]

Danny.

[Mike Wright]

Like Danny Woodhead.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Kendall Hunter is back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And it doesn't mean he's gonna have a big role but he's gonna be competing for a role and he is a veteran now. He was the up and comer Behind Gore. And so you might see a little bit of a Hyde Bush hunter timeshare thing going on there. I know a lot of people want Hyde to be that big guy and maybe he is, but his, his yards per carry just weren't there yester last year and so leaves me a little bit concerned. So talk about the last team here in the NFC west, the St. Louis Rams. Jeff Fisher trying to get this team on track. They had a very, very good defense last year. They have drafted Todd Gurley in the first round and so he's a guy we can talk about. They've also traded Sam Bradford and picked.

[Andy Holloway]

Up Nick Foles and they're talking contracts.

[Mike Wright]

I was gonna say there's some reports about a long term deal for Foles today, and that's crazy. Pretty bewildering.

[Jason Moore]

There's no reason for it.

[Mike Wright]

Well, they, they talked. Oh, is it a buy low? You know, because they think he's good. But boy, I'd like to see whether that first year from Foles was an anomaly, which I think a lot of people believe it is.

[Andy Holloway]

So some interesting numbers on Nick Foles. From 2013 to 2014, he had almost identical attempts. Okay. But he went from 27 to 13 touchdowns. He went from two to 10 interceptions. He went from a 64% completion completion percentage to 60, 2900 yards to 2,100.

[Mike Wright]

That's not good, right? I mean, with, with the same numbers, same workload.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, that's.

[Mike Wright]

And he's stepping out of that offense.

[Andy Holloway]

So I, I think Nick Foles is going to be severely exposed.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And what do you think the Rams want to do with their, with their game? What do you think they want to do based on the fact that they spent their first pick on a running back and then their second, third and fourth rounder or, you know, three of the. Yeah, a second, a third and a fourth rounder on tackles.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, they lost a whole bunch of tackles.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's like, you know, they're focused on that run game. Yeah, it's always Jeff Fisher.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The up front, get it shored up. Let Nick Foles go out there and make a play here or there. But don't. I mean, no expectations for fantasy whatsoever from Nick Foles.

[Andy Holloway]

And to me, the speaking to the run game. Don't completely abandon Tre Mason just yet. I know Todd Gurley was a really high draft pick. He's still coming off an ACL injury. Tre Mason was a third round pick.

[Jason Moore]

Who had a great college career, great NFL year. I mean, he was good yeah, he.

[Mike Wright]

Represents some early season value for sure that people aren't necessarily paying attention to.

[Andy Holloway]

And something interesting. I don't know if you guys heard this or remember this about Tre mason of home versus away. Talk about a Jekyll Hyde at home. 92 carries, 460 yards, four touchdowns, five yards a carry away, 87 carries for 300 yards. So three and a half yards per carry. I know schedule and things mix into this formula, but to drop a yard and a half per carry when you go on the road is a little bit weird for, for a professional running back. But to me it just says I'm, I'm taking Trey Mason later. I'm going to play him when he's at home. Do you guys have any thoughts on Trey Mason?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I, you know, I've thought beforehand that, you know, people have asked, okay, if I take Levy on Bell, you know, do I take D'Angelo Williams? And the guy that has always come up to me is Tre Mason because I think that Gurley is not going to be used much even if he's ready, you know, but I don't expect him to play those first few games necessarily. And it's a Tremason has value there. However, his first two games are on the road. Oh, dun, dun.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's he playing?

[Jason Moore]

The Raiders and the Titans. So maybe, maybe he can.

[Andy Holloway]

I might get down on that matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, let me, let me shift gears for a second. Ask you a question about the wide receivers here. Brian Quick or Kenny Britt. Who would you rather have on your Kenny Brett?

[Jason Moore]

I am really high on Kenny Britt. I'm not joking. That's not a joke from me as I am want to make.

[Mike Wright]

As opposed to Kenny being really high on something else you're really high on.

[Jason Moore]

There it is.

[Mike Wright]

Remember that offseason where he was picked up like three times?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I think Kenny Britt.

[Mike Wright]

And I don't mean by fantasy rosters.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, no, I know what you were.

[Jason Moore]

Excuse me.

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm actually, I think Brit represents some really sneaky value and I am.

[Andy Holloway]

On the Brian Quick train of those two guys where in, in seven games he had 25 catches, 375 yards, three touchdowns for that Rams offense. That's, that's not bad. And they were dealing with their own quarterback carousel in St. Louis.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you're right.

[Andy Holloway]

And Brian Quick was, he was a sleeper waiver. Not sleeper, but a waiver wire success story. And then he just dismantled his shoulder in a, in a pretty bad injury. But all reports on him are that he's going to be ready and he's, he's on target. He's on the, the schedule to be ready.

[Mike Wright]

So hopefully that gets you up to speed with the NFC West. We're going to keep going through the divisions, getting, giving you all the news notes and information from the offseason and beyond and kind of projecting forward into the upcoming season. Do you guys have anything to add to either the Rams or the rest of the NFC west that we've chatted about?

[Andy Holloway]

I do not. The defense rests.

[Mike Wright]

All right, well, let's go ahead and get into the mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa. Mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

Mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

Interruptions.

[Mike Wright]

I interrupted myself so often I'm late to hit the button. This time I hit the button a split second.

[Jason Moore]

You really surprised yourself.

[Mike Wright]

Your face was like surprised that.

[Jason Moore]

Who interrupted me?

[Mike Wright]

I have no idea. Well, welcome to the mailbag section. We are. We're gonna answer some questions here. Mail at the fantasy footballers.com is the email address. I'm losing it.

[Andy Holloway]

Get it together, man.

[Mike Wright]

I'm losing it.

[Andy Holloway]

Get it together.

[Jason Moore]

Jon Snow.

[Andy Holloway]

Gotta finish strong. Finish strong.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's answer some questions. This is a good one, by the way.

[D]

Hey, guys, this is David Miner from Bentonville, Arkansas. Just found your app on the Tunein radio app. You guys are doing a great job. It's fun just to see your guys thoughts on a leak of record, if you have one, and how long you guys have been playing together and just some of the quirky things you guys do. Our league record that we've been in is this will be the 16th year. It's made up of little brothers, old friends, guys we went to high school with from different parts walks of life or whatever. It seems like every year fantasy football keeps us all together and coming back and keeps us connected. It's a pretty cool thing. I'd just be interested to see how many times you guys have won at league of record and any cool stories you'd like to share. All right. Anyways, thanks a lot, guys. Keep up the good work.

[Mike Wright]

That's a great question.

[Andy Holloway]

It is a good question.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Because we do a lot of fun things in our league of record. You know, we play in several different leagues, but there's definitely one that we. What is it? We're coming up on year nine in our Dynasty league.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we've. Yeah, we've played eight and together. I guess Andy's, Andy's been in it a while, Mike.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys, I joined in 2011 for.

[Jason Moore]

Your league, for that, for that one that's now become our main one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And so we do a lot of fun things. Believe it or not, we have logos for every team. We have. One of the guys in the league is a graphic artist, so he made helmets and jerseys and logos for every team, which is pretty cool. We've had tuxedo wearing gentlemen come and announce our draft picks for us at our live draft.

[Jason Moore]

We've always drafted podium and speakers and all that as we've got the team tables, you know, around and.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, and it's always, you know, those are the things like, like this caller had said that really make your fantasy league fun.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. There's. There's some.

[Mike Wright]

Called fantasy for a reason.

[Andy Holloway]

There's some undercurrents of fantasy football that, that he touched on. And not to get like, too mushy. Mushy. But he. It's a very good point of. While there's the competition and there's the money making, there is the family aspect, that fantasy football really brings people together because you're. You're playing on just this ridiculous game and. But you still get to compete. You get to interact with your friends and your family. And. And I have the one thought about the caller. He was. The league's made up of all little brothers. There's got to be some big brothers in there, right? You can't. Everyone can't be someone's little brother.

[Mike Wright]

That's true.

[Jason Moore]

But.

[Andy Holloway]

And we just, we try and make it as outlandish and fun as possible. And every year we attempt to add to it.

[Jason Moore]

Our water bets that we do on this show came from that league because we started water betting before the show existed. And we make the loser take 11 water wheels of torture and then draft completely soaking wet, one for each of the other teammates in there. So to answer his question on how well we do in the league of records, I will go ahead and for you guys. Oh, yeah, because, you know, I'm the. I'm the horn. And it's ridiculous.

[Mike Wright]

In eight years, we have four championships.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And the last three, I mean, this is really ridiculous. And to the bane of my existence, as well as everyone else in the league, literally three years in a row. And this is with teams that have been blown up and reconstructed every single year. Mike the fantasy hitman, right. And Andy Holloway have literally played in the championship against each other. And this is a highly competitive league. This is not, you know, you know, three experts and a bunch of scrubs. Everyone in this league knows what they're doing. And so I've run into Andy the last two years on the way to the championship and been knocked out and as we are division mates. But three straight years in the championship.

[Mike Wright]

For you guys, I will say this. Mike does not make it easy to be around him when he's defending champion.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Do not lose to me.

[Mike Wright]

No. Which I did in the championship last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Life tip number 45. Never lose to.

[Mike Wright]

Fortunately I won one in between those three because otherwise this would be. This show wouldn't exist. Mike and I would not be friends anymore.

[Andy Holloway]

It would be the fantasy footballers solo show with just me where Mike just.

[Mike Wright]

Sits here and plays toots his horn and I'm the champ.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. All right.

[Mike Wright]

But yeah, that's a good question. Yeah. Do do things that bring people together. It's. It's kind of sad because there have been guys that have left the league that I'm like, I don't even talk to anymore.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Not because I don't want to, but just because the league always brought people back together and you'd spend forever trying to talk them into trading for job at best or something.

[Jason Moore]

Act like you like.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Pretend. And all the things that I do.

[Jason Moore]

Really brings us together.

[Mike Wright]

All right. This email comes in from Eric from Tucson.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey all.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, welcome, welcome. Yeah, welcome to my state. My question is regarding drafting handcuffs. Over the course of the last few seasons I've learned that the importance of owning handcuffs. So do we consider that in a draft, for example, if you select DeMarco Murray in round one, do you consider taking Ryan Matthews in round five or six? If you select Lamar Miller in round three or four, do you take Jay Ajayi in rounds nine and through 11? So what do you guys think about this? I think the two circumstances he gave I would do.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. When if you're talking about drafting your handcuff, it's all about the quality of talent of replacement where with Murray, I believe if he goes down, Ryan Matthews is instantly a running back one if Miller goes down. I think Jjayu should have a good year. Now other guys like let's say for Seattle, Turbin or Michael, it's usually Turbin. Those are guys you don't necessarily need to have throughout the year. If you have the bench space, I recommend doing it. However, when you are ramping up for your fantasy playoffs, you better make sure that you have your two studs handcuffed because you do not want to be in a playoff situation where you are scrambling of the waiver wire, grabbing a running back for who you don't even know if he's going to touch the ball. So you have to have them when you're going in playoffs.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Into the draft, I always consider keepers. That's one of those guys where I have my. My players. I'm sorry, Handcuffs.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I thought we were answering a different question.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no. I'm always considering.

[Andy Holloway]

This is why you're not in the championship with us.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, what's a hand? What's a hand?

[Mike Wright]

Blow.

[Jason Moore]

What the.

[Mike Wright]

Accurate.

[Jason Moore]

But you.

[Mike Wright]

So the bell has changed.

[Jason Moore]

You always consider it, but you don't necessarily have to draft them. You really. It's. It's just like the rest of the. The rest of the time, look at who your handcuff would be for whoever you drafted and compare them against who's on the board. I would rather have a guy on my team after a draft that is valuable and, you know, a Danny Woodhead, I would rather draft over, you know, a Nile Davis.

[Mike Wright]

You know, it's funny too, is don't panic if somebody takes your handcuff if they think they're getting you, because two or three weeks into the season when Niall Davis has no points on the bench, they're gonna be scrambling for that bench spot and they're just gonna drop them.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. When they come to trade them to you, say, no, thanks, I don't need them.

[Mike Wright]

And then he'll be on the.

[Jason Moore]

And then pick them up off the waiver wire. Two weeks.

[Mike Wright]

All right, this email comes in from jt. He says, yo, Duderinos.

[Andy Holloway]

Yo.

[Mike Wright]

Any worry about. Oh, here's the handcuff. Any worry about Starks chipping into Lacy's workload? It was a worry last year after Lacey's slow start. Well, last year should have told you all you needed to know about that situation.

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't have any worry, but I actually. He's one of the handcuffs I like the most. I actually really believe that Starks is a talented back.

[Mike Wright]

You've always said that.

[Jason Moore]

I have. And every time. Proven right on that. But, yeah, I don't worry about him cutting in when they're both healthy. Lacy is an RB one.

[Mike Wright]

That's a good point. All right, this email from Pablo, he says, dear Yakko, Wacko and Dot.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, Jason is Dot anime.

[Mike Wright]

I didn't even remember what that was.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man, I grew up.

[Andy Holloway]

We got baloney in our slacks.

[Mike Wright]

I know. I just didn't remember that it was.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I'm so disappointed right now.

[Mike Wright]

Well, let me get to number one from Pablo. He says, did some chiefs soul searching this weekend. Andy is right. And Macklin is going to kill it this Season.

[Jason Moore]

Wonder how this question got on.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you guys are the ones that.

[Andy Holloway]

What is the definition of kill it?

[Jason Moore]

Maybe break into wide receiver, 3,000 yards destruction.

[Mike Wright]

All right, onto his real question. You guys haven't talked too much about pick trading and redraft leagues. Speaking of, before I get to this question, somebody wrote in and said we aren't answering enough redraft questions. My answer to that is send us your redraft questions if you have them because right now a lot of people are doing dynasty leagues. We're answering what's coming in. If you got your redraft question, send them in. Yeah, what do you got?

[Jason Moore]

I was just gonna say most redraft leagues aren't happening yet.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

And so the people that are listening right now are mostly if you're in only redraft.

[Andy Holloway]

We appreciate your passion for the game.

[Jason Moore]

You are awesome.

[Andy Holloway]

But we can only answer what we were given.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's true. He is wanting some information on pick trading in a redraft league. He's got an offer to trade away his first rounder and his 10th rounder.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you got to pick 15.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. His pick 15 in the first round. So there's a 16. So first rounder and 10th rounder in exchange for I guess this other trade partner. Second rounder and fourth rounder.

[Andy Holloway]

23.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, 23. So 15 and 152 for 23 and 55. 16 team league flex. Everything else seems pretty normal.

[Andy Holloway]

It doesn't matter. Yes, yes, I will move back seven spots.

[Mike Wright]

I do that and definitely in a 16 team.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'll trade back seven spots on my 10th router to get a fourth round pick.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you, absolutely. You move up a hundred spots.

[Mike Wright]

We all agree?

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

This email comes in from Darren in Portland.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh man.

[Mike Wright]

Ace Mitch Enrico. Does anybody know who those are?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Gonna have to google that while I read the question. He says he thinks Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson could be a good value. Where he's seen them go in mocks. The Bucks have a great strength of schedule. Evans is a red zone beast and V Jax is due for a bounce back season. How do you guys feel about these two and how comfortable would you be having both of them on your roster? For that matter, what about Nelson and Cobb or D. Thomas and Sanders on the same roster?

[Andy Holloway]

Standard. No, Tim.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, standards. I mean it. But his question is more just outlook on those two guys and having two from the same team.

[Jason Moore]

I've all season been tooting V Jack's horn. I think he's going to be a great Bounce back the best. But yeah, thank you. Vijax Inappropriate. I think that for where he's being drafted he's got a lot of value. Mike Evans I don't see with as much value for where his ADP is. And so I think that I would like B Jacks. I would not want both of those guys on my team. As far as you know where you would start them. I guess there is some thought to the fact that like you know, if you are able to get Vincent Jackson late enough it may be then you've almost got like the wide receiver handcuffed. But personally I would not deal with it. The only combo that I would roll with week in and week out, I would, I would have no problem with Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb.

[Andy Holloway]

I would have no problem with Nelson Cobb or Thomas Sanders. I'm going to.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean yeah, I'll roll with.

[Andy Holloway]

Both of those but that's because the offense is so high powered.

[Mike Wright]

Those are the only ones I want. I'll take Ty Hilton and Andre Johnson every day of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just can they, can the team support two high level fantasy players? I don't think Tampa's going to be.

[Mike Wright]

And if you have an off, I mean the penalty is if they have an off game, then you're having an off game. Yeah, you're sunk. So that's why I don't do it very often. But there are certain offenses that support it pretty well. So that is it for the mailbag section. Don't forget to check out the website thefantasyfootballers.com youm can find us on Facebook facebook.com the fantasy footballers. You can also follow mike@ffhitman jasonffl and you can follow me at andyhollaway or you could follow the show at the FF Ballers on Twitter. We are very active on Twitter. We like to answer questions and kind.

[Andy Holloway]

Of we like the interaction man.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. So we, we are here for you. We appreciate all of you listeners out there. We appreciate all the itunes reviews. Those very much, very much appreciated. And don't forget to check out fantasy draft wizard.com and if you're getting ready to sign up for FanDuel for the upcoming NFL season.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's not? Let's be honest.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's too much fun.

[Andy Holloway]

We're getting ready.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So use the promo code ballers and you can get up to $200 in cash bills for free. So use that code. Any closing thoughts gentlemen? Or Jason, are you gonna be okay? Is Jon Snow still tormenting your dreams. I mean, yeah, I know your heart was set on him.

[Jason Moore]

I'm really sad over here. Now that the show's over, I gotta get back to the real world of Game of Thrones.

[Mike Wright]

Well, the game of football and fantasy.

[Andy Holloway]

I believe Jon Snow and Arnold have something in common.

[Jason Moore]

What's that?

[Andy Holloway]

I'll be back.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.thefantasyfootballers.com and follow us on Twitter heffballers.