Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - QB Rankings Part 2, News & Notes, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - QB Rankings Part 2, News & Notes, Mailbag
Release Date: March 24, 2015

In this engaging episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright dive deep into quarterback rankings, share the latest news and notes from the NFL, and address listener questions in their interactive mailbag segment. Released on March 24, 2015, this episode offers valuable insights and lively discussions tailored for both seasoned fantasy football enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

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News & Notes

The episode kicks off with a brief exchange about the latest NFL news. The trio discusses Dwayne Bowe's signing with the Cleveland Browns, comparing it to the Miles Austin deal from the previous offseason. Andy Holloway humorously remarks, “Straight cash, homie” (03:44), highlighting the straightforward nature of Bowe’s contract.

A significant portion of the conversation centers around the potential future of Adrian Peterson. Mike Wright speculates, “I have always said that he's gonna play for the Vikings, and now I'm finally turning and saying it seems like” (01:59). The hosts debate whether Peterson will remain with the Minnesota Vikings or seek opportunities elsewhere, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding his contract status.

Another noteworthy discussion involves Trent Richardson. A humorous statistic shared by Andy Holloway states, “Trent Richardson's longest career run, 32 yards. Peyton Manning's longest career run is 33 yards” (05:27), poking fun at Richardson's running capabilities compared to the legendary quarterback Peyton Manning.

Quarterback Rankings Part 2

The heart of the episode delves into detailed quarterback rankings, building upon their initial evaluations from the previous week.

Consensus Rankings Overview

The hosts presented their consensus rankings, highlighting the top five quarterbacks:

1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Andrew Luck
3. Russell Wilson (Mike ranks him slightly lower at number four)
4. Matt Ryan
5. Peyton Manning

Mike Wright adjusts his ranking, placing Peyton Manning at number five after reconsidering his rushing stats: “For me I just backed off Matt Ryan a little bit. I have Peyton Manning at 4, Matt Ryan at 5” (09:50).

In-Depth QB Analysis

1. Ryan Tannehill (10:45):

   • Strengths: Consistent improvement each year with rising passing and rushing stats.
   • Projections: Positioned between rounds 7-10 in drafts, offering great value due to his steady trajectory.
   • Quote: “I just think that his trajectory on every statistic is better and better and better” – Mike Wright (16:02).

2. Matt Ryan (14:43):

   • Strengths: Steady performance with a solid receiving corps including Kenny Stills and Jarvis Landry.
   • Projections: Remains a top-five QB with consistent yardage and touchdown numbers.
   • Quote: “Matt Ryan for life” – Andy Holloway (09:48).

3. Peyton Manning (09:50):

   • Strengths: Veteran consistency with high passing yards.
   • Projections: Slight adjustment in rankings based on recent performance metrics and injury history.

4. Drew Brees (12:18):

   • Strengths: Proven track record of high passing yards and touchdowns.
   • Concerns: Potential regression due to changes in the Saints' offensive strategy and loss of key receivers.
   • Quote: “The danger of Drew Brees is the unknown of what the Saints are doing” – Andy Holloway (22:18).

5. Cam Newton (25:51):

   • Strengths: Dual-threat capability with significant rushing yards and touchdowns.
   • Concerns: Inconsistent passing performance, offensive line issues, and injury history.
   • Quote: “Cam Newton is going to be a guy who, who is dependable for you” – Andy Holloway (19:21).

6. Matt Stafford (32:01):

   • Strengths: High touchdown potential with Calvin Johnson returning.
   • Concerns: Declining performance metrics, offensive volume, and team restructuring under new coaching.
   • Quote: “Matt Stafford is not a velocity quarterback” – Mike Wright (35:44).

7. Eli Manning (41:13):

   • Strengths: Strong performance under new coaching with increased passing efficiency.
   • Concerns: Turnover issues and reliance on a revamped offense.
   • Quote: “Eli Manning is the Jay Cutler of this year” – Andy Holloway (43:19).

Mailbag: Listener Questions

Listeners' inquiries were addressed in this segment, providing personalized advice and insights.

DeAndre Hopkins vs Other Wide Receivers

A listener from Arizona, Daniel S., asked about the ranking of DeAndre Hopkins and whether to prioritize him over other wide receivers like Brandon Marshall, Brandon Cooks, or Julian Edelman.

• Andy Holloway advocates for ranking Hopkins high due to his consistent playmaking ability, stating, “I have him at about the 19 to 21 range” (53:26).
• Jason Moore concurs, emphasizing Hopkins' reliability: “No.` – both Andy and Jason recommend prioritizing Hopkins over the mentioned alternatives.

Calvin Johnson as a Top Wide Receiver

Another question posed whether Calvin Johnson could secure the number one fantasy wide receiver spot.

• Jason Moore confidently responds, “I think absolutely he can be” (54:32).
• Mike Wright supports this by highlighting Johnson's peak performance, projecting him to be drafted early: “If there was ever a time to get Calvin Johnson at a value rate, it would be this year” (55:07).

Frank Gore's Value in Indianapolis

Listener Lenny from Salt Lake City inquires about Frank Gore’s potential stat line with the Colts.

• Andy Holloway projects, “I see Frank Gore... 1,100 yards on the ground and possibly 200 in the air, with double-digit touchdowns” (59:55).
• Mike Wright compares Gore favorably against other backs, highlighting his versatility and durability.

Listener Reviews and Feedback

The hosts read and react to listener reviews, reinforcing the podcast's community-driven approach.

• A five-star review from Tingo Aids praises the podcast’s blend of entertainment and expertise: “They provide both and it feels like a bunch of dudes sitting around talking about fantasy football” (07:31).
• The hosts humorously discuss the frequent mention of being "dudes," with Jason noting, “They're just some dudes talking football” (08:07).

Closing Remarks

The episode wraps up with the hosts encouraging listeners to subscribe, leave reviews, and engage on social media. They also tease upcoming segments like “March Fantasy Madness” and share humorous anecdotes about their personal lives, maintaining the podcast’s lighthearted and relatable tone.

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Notable Quotes:

• Mike Wright: “I think that's taking it too far. I think Dwayne Bowe is better than a four if he's their number one.” (04:35)
• Andy Holloway: “Matt Ryan for life.” (09:48)
• Jason Moore: “He's going to climb up and that's how you have him so high.” (44:56)
• Andy Holloway: “Eli Manning is the Jay Cutler of this year.” (48:43)
• Jason Moore: “I love that Dwight is doing okay in his new team.” ([Not directly in transcript, interpreted)

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers a comprehensive analysis of quarterback rankings, interspersed with NFL news, listener interactions, and the hosts' trademark humor. Whether you're strategizing your next fantasy draft or simply love football talk, this episode provides valuable perspectives to enhance your fantasy football experience.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Mike Wright]

Good morning. It is Tuesday, March 23rd. I guess it might not be morning wherever you're listening to this podcast, but this is the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. And we're back again. He's feeling better. Jason Moore.

[Jason Moore]

A little sick, but I'm with you and I'm excited. I'm excited to talk fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

We gotta get that echinacea, man.

[Mike Wright]

Got the fantasy hitman with us, Mike.

[Andy Holloway]

Greetings and salutations.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I gotta give him some echinacea. That's what you said, huh? We are the fantasy footballers. You can find us on the web at www.

[Andy Holloway]

Do people really do www Still?

[Mike Wright]

Some people need it. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to live in a world.

[Mike Wright]

They're confused.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to live in a world where there's no www anymore.

[Mike Wright]

AOL keyword fantasy football. Yes. Www.the fantasy footballers.com on Facebook. Facebook.com the fantasy footballers. You can find us on Twitter. Twitter's the place to be, man. Twitter is. Twitter's too happening. It's. It's all instant news. I had somebody the other day who was showing me a trade rumor app on their phone for, like, football and baseball and things like that. And I'm looking at the update times on there, and it's like, 52 minutes ago. I'm like, that's old. I'm like, I don't want this app. I want something that's quick. I want to know exactly when Adrian Peterson signs his contract extension with Arizona.

[Andy Holloway]

He's. Well, he's got a contract.

[Mike Wright]

Is he coming?

[Andy Holloway]

Man, I don't know. It's sounding more and more like the Vikings are just gonna dig in.

[Mike Wright]

No way. I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

I'm. I have always said that he's gonna play for the Vikings, and now I'm finally turning and saying it seems like.

[Mike Wright]

More often than not, the teams have to be this way up until the moment they make the trade.

[Jason Moore]

Mm.

[Mike Wright]

Percy Harvin's a good example. There's some other guy. Oh, he's gonna be here. There's no way we're trading that goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I think it's gonna come down to. I don't. They're not gonna release him, but is somebody come through with an offer that they think is acceptable to move their franchise face?

[Mike Wright]

What's crazy is with. With Norv Turner there and Bridgewater in his second year and that team, like, they're actually. If Adrian Peterson stayed there, I think they're pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I Agree.

[Mike Wright]

They're a really good team.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if they're a playoff team, though.

[Mike Wright]

And I think they're a cusp team. They're a 9 and 7, 10 and 6 team, maybe.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

I do. I mean, last year they were not that bad. Towards the end of the year, I.

[Andy Holloway]

Think they were 6 and 10, though. So you think they're.

[Mike Wright]

That's a big jump.

[Andy Holloway]

That's of course, with really no Adrian Peterson. They had him in game one.

[Mike Wright]

But I just think bringing in. They brought in Mike Wallace. Turner's got another year. No, you're laughing at my Wallace. Chris Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Mike Wallace is good pickup for the North.

[Mike Wright]

Charles Johnson means Chris. Charles Johnson. Yeah. Who came on last year. I don't think I ever gave our Twitter handle at the FF Ballers. They can follow us there. The people, they know it. So let's. Let's get into the very miniscule amount of news that we have.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

This is a big one, guys. Dwayne Bowe. Dwayne Bowe signs with the Cleveland Browns.

[Andy Holloway]

Straight cash, homie.

[Mike Wright]

Is there anything. Anything to say? Is this as impressive as when they signed Miles Austin last off season?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, about.

[Jason Moore]

So it's identical.

[Andy Holloway]

We're assuming that Josh McCown is the quarterback and he's not good. That's not what I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

But you're saying he's capable of maybe throwing the ball to one guy.

[Andy Holloway]

That's exactly what I'm saying. Where he was not good. But Mike Evans still put up numbers when McCown was playing. He. He put up numbers with Jeffrey and Marshall in Chicago. So I. I'm not completely off of the Dwayne Bow as a. As a 4 with possible 3 upside.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's. I think that's taking it too far. I think Dwayne Bow is better than a four if he's their number one.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not drafting him as anything higher than a four, though.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I agree. Really? I don't. I don't see Dwayne Bowe doing anything relevant. I don't see the Browns offense being an offense, but, I mean, even Andrew.

[Mike Wright]

Hawkins was relevant last year with Cleveland sometimes. Sometimes. Well, I'm just saying he's. He's no Dwayne Bowe.

[Jason Moore]

He also was not in my lineup. For sure.

[Mike Wright]

He was in my lineup a couple weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Hawkins.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

Hawkins was.

[Andy Holloway]

But it's just. It's about the Cleveland Browns. Not.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, I admit Dwayne Bow is a perfect fit for The Cleveland Browns. I mean, when we talked about Richardson signing with Oakland, now you got Bo with the Browns. Those are just perfect matches made in heaven. Places that those guys can go and get overpaid for their. Their reputation.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

What was the stat you found this morning, Mike, about Trent Richardson?

[Andy Holloway]

So we're just going to bile on to him? The.

[Mike Wright]

I have no problem doing that, I guess, because Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's related. This just in. Trent Richardson's longest career run, 32 yards. Peyton Manning's longest career run is 33 yards.

[Mike Wright]

That's embarrassing.

[Andy Holloway]

So Peyton Manning is one yard better than Trent Richardson.

[Mike Wright]

That's embarrassing. He got. What did I read? He only got 600,000 guaranteed.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, the contract wasn't nearly as good as. Why does that keep happening where they look?

[Mike Wright]

These are on paper.

[Andy Holloway]

These reporters. Got to get it together. Stop giving me inflated numbers. It was the same with the Darren McFadden contract. Everyone was looking at that.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa.

[Andy Holloway]

They gave him a lot of money and. No, no, they didn't.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, Trent Richardson is not a big threat to Mr. Latavius Murray. So I guess in some ways that's a good sign for him. It could be a lot like the Bush signing where Jason had the take last week that Hyde would be the guy. Because they brought in Bush, they're probably not going to bring in another.

[Andy Holloway]

Mr. Halu is there as well. Don't forget him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's true.

[Jason Moore]

Hello, is that Mrs. Delphi? Yes, yes, yes, it was Roy. Hello. That's Mrs. Doubtfire. Is. That's.

[Andy Holloway]

She's a big fan.

[Jason Moore]

She's a huge fan of Roy. Hello.

[Mike Wright]

I have my doubts about Mr. Hello in Oakland.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought you had doubts.

[Mike Wright]

But Mrs. Doubtfire, I guess I jumped into the news and notes a little quick. We didn't get to do our. Our review of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Our review of the week.

[Mike Wright]

So if you. If you subscribe to us on itunes, which we appreciate very much, we're climbing up the ranks there and love the feedback from you guys. So if you leave us a five star review. Jump on there. Subscribe to the show. We've been reading a show review every week and Jason will read this one in his best Mrs. Doubt Fireboy.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Yeah, we like to make sure everybody knows what you are listening to here. And so here's what some of the listeners say. This review is titled Dudes Talking Football five stars. And it comes in from. From Tingo aids. Thank you. Tingo aids.

[Mike Wright]

He says, an authority on fantasy football podcast.

[Jason Moore]

He says, why do we treat fantasy football experts like they're Nostradamus. They're going to get things right. They're going to get things wrong. When I listen to fantasy football, I want to be entertained and get updated news. These guys provide both and it feels like a bunch of dudes sitting around talking about. Fantasy football is not limited to stats and projections. They also mix in relatable life moments that are usually good for a laugh. Listen to it so we can have more stuff like this mainstream. I agree. Thank you. Tango AIDS five stars.

[Mike Wright]

Why is there such a high proportion of reviews that call us dudes? We're just. Just some dudes talking football.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought we were more like bros. I feel more bro y than duty.

[Jason Moore]

Alright.

[Mike Wright]

It's a fine line between them.

[Andy Holloway]

Fine line between bros.

[Mike Wright]

So it is March 24th and the news is a little bit slim. The only other thing I had of minuscule note because of the way they're receiving cores right now is the fact that Greg Jennings was talking to the Panthers. He hasn't signed but if he goes there, do we care?

[Andy Holloway]

A little bit, actually.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so like on a more than Jericho Katri kind of way.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And I care on it from a Cam Newton way. I think Cam Newton had a really down year and I believe we're talking about him today. So I will hold this to the rest of the show.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so that's pretty much the news and notes that we have. Other than my own internal dreams of Adrian Peterson coming to Arizona and wanting to break that news. But maybe, maybe next week. So we're talking fantasy quarterbacks. We started this last week and we went through our top five consensus rankings. So Mike, myself, Jason, we all went through. We did our beginner March initial. Yeah, our initial rankings at the quarterback position. And so we looked at those. We all had Andrew Luck or I'm sorry, Aaron Rodgers at number one, Andrew Luck at number two. On all of our boards, Jason and myself had Russell Wilson at number three. Mike has him at four. We had Matt Ryan which I think was the biggest surprise from that top five. We all had Matt Ryan as our consensus number four. And I've actually change my mind a little bit on him. But you still three for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Matt Ryan for life.

[Mike Wright]

Wow. Number three for you. Yeah. And then Peyton Manning was our consensus number five for me. For me I just backed off Matt Ryan a little bit. I have Peyton Manning at 4, Matt Ryan at 5.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that was it after you heard the. The rushing stat?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, once I heard Manning had broken off at 33 yarder.

[Jason Moore]

I'm like, I have to find that play. I want to see what the defense did to, like, sit down.

[Mike Wright]

How long is that clip is the real question.

[Andy Holloway]

It's 25 seconds.

[Mike Wright]

That must have been rookie year or something. So we're going to get into our consensus 6 through 10 or we'll go farther if we. If we have time. Here's an amazing, amazing number six for us. He is Ryan Tannehill. Ryan Tannehill is sitting at number six on our boards. He's actually ranked seven on mine, nine on Jason's, seven on Mike's.

[Jason Moore]

Now important to clarify.

[Mike Wright]

Somehow he becomes our sixth.

[Jason Moore]

Very important to clarify here to the listeners, if you are listening for the first time, is that these rankings that we've done, we've statted out every single stat for the quarterbacks, but these rankings are according to standard traditional scoring, which is why Ryan Tannehill is so high here. So it's six points for. For running touchdowns, also known as rushing touchdowns, also also known as. And then four points for passing touchdowns. And so you've got. The quarterbacks that use their legs are always valued higher here. So he would clearly drop if it was not just a rushing.

[Mike Wright]

Do you boys remember where he finished last year? I do have the number. I'm just curious.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, eight.

[Mike Wright]

He was number nine. He was the number nine quarterback last year. I have a little. I went and looked at if you wanted to be a top five quarterback last year in fantasy, in standard scoring, you had to average about 19.9 fantasy points a game. So I wanted to jump in and I wanted to look at Tannehill and see how many times he actually surpassed that number for the entire season. And so I went in and I looked at that, and it only happened five times. Only five of his 16 games did he surpass that top five quarterback average. But I went in and I looked at Drew Brees and guess how many times he did it.

[Andy Holloway]

Five.

[Mike Wright]

Five times. Five times. So that was kind of interesting. And for comparison's sake, Aaron Rodgers did it 10 times. He went over that number 10 times. So it doesn't mean. Obviously we're projecting Tannehill Ford as a young quarterback, getting some different players there. But I just thought that was interesting to look at because it's a scary. It's scary to put Ryan Tannehill. We have him above Breeze, above Newton, above Stafford on our consensus rankings, above Brady, above Romo. So talk about Ryan Tannehill. Mike, here's.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the deal about Ryan Tannehill and why I like him so much this year he has done exactly what you want from young player. He has improved every single year by a good amount. So you can go back to his rookie year. Not so good. 282 completions, 12 touchdowns. His next year, 355 completions with a completion percentage of 60%. 24 touchdowns, 17 interceptions. Last year, 392 completions, 66 completion percentage, which is very high. 27 touchdowns, only 12 picks. And so you have a steady, steady rise in his play in his numbers every single year. And then you look at the bonus stat which has also increased every single year. His rookie year he rushed for 211 yards. The next year 238 last year 311 yards. 311 yards is a.

[Mike Wright]

That's a big chunk. That's a pass first quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly. That's. That's what we call the bonus point runner, the bpr.

[Mike Wright]

It's a new stat the BPR in fantasy so and here's also why I.

[Andy Holloway]

Like Mike Wallace or no Ryan Tannhill. I like him because they got rid of Mike Wallace. I don't think Mike Wallace had the chemistry with Tannehill. Tannehill, his deep ball is not the best. So this next part of why I like him might surprise you but adding Kenny Stills I think is a tremendous upgrade to that offense over Mike Wallace.

[Mike Wright]

Explain yourself.

[Andy Holloway]

Kenny Stills has great hands. He's a good team player. He's not Mike Wallace. Hey coach, I don't really want to play anymore. Sin like that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Kenny Stills has was expanding his route tree he when he came into the league he was only a 9runner. Now he is he can do more things. You have a second year from Jarvis Landry who was a rookie sensation.

[Mike Wright]

I love Jarvis Landry.

[Jason Moore]

Jarvis Landry is going to be good.

[Andy Holloway]

And you throw in the Lamar Miller wasn't he's not featured a ton in the passing game. I think he had 38. I didn't. I don't think I wrote down. I think he had 38 catches last year. So he is capable to take the dumps and he's. And he can take them for a good amount of yardage. So I just. I really like what's going to be.

[Jason Moore]

Taking those dumps, man.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just I realized that as I was saying it but I risked the I really think the Dolphins team is going to be improved. They've improved their defense. A sneaky addition by subtractions that got rid of Cortland Finnegan who is A disaster, you guys. No, no. Cordelan Finnegan, hot takes.

[Mike Wright]

No, I think he's. Didn't he retire?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, but just with all those things combined, I. As long as Tannehill can. Can improve again, which I think he's going to do, then he should be a top 10 quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

Now this is. We're talking. I think some people are going to hear the takes on Ryan Tannehill and they're going to freak out because this is not. This is not a small jump for him in ADP right now. I think his ADP is probably around the 13th or 14th quarterback off the.

[Jason Moore]

Board, which is beautiful.

[Andy Holloway]

Delicious.

[Mike Wright]

So value wise, you're going to get him really late.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Nobody can't talk.

[Jason Moore]

Nobody's going to be. Ryan Tannehill is not a sexy pick. Nobody is going to be excited for that, which means you're going to be able to get him super late. And I just don't see. It's just like Mike was saying, it's all about his trajectory. His trajectory on every statistic is better and better and better. He's basically thrown for 4,000 yards the last two years. His touchdowns went from 12 to 24 to 27. The team is getting better. There's no reason to think that he's going to be anywhere below top 10. I mean, for him to finish below top 10 would be, you know, an injury. And so you're going to be able to get him, I believe, very late. Very, very late. You can probably pick him up after. Everybody has a quarterback in certain leagues. And so that's. That's what I'm looking for. Value wise. I love it. And I totally agree with you. If I was a listener of this, I'd be like, what? Ryan Tannehill. Are we really talking about Ryan Tannehill as good? Because I surprised myself when I put these numbers in. I was with him. I looked at his history, the, you know, took a look at some film and just thought, okay, this is clearly what he's going to do this year. You know, a little bit better here, a little bit better here. You know, about the same here. And it just projected him above all those other players that I thought I would have been higher on than Ryan Tannehill. So value wise, love him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, you're talking about Drew Brees. He's going to go in the fourth, right?

[Jason Moore]

Exactly.

[Mike Wright]

And Ryan Tannhill is going to go in the eighth or ninth, 10th round. And we're talking about projections that could be similar where Drew Brees is Coming off of a loss of weapons. Tannehill's getting weapons. I want Tannehill reminds me a little bit of a Matt Ryan before he was in elite category of quarterback where you just kept waiting for it to happen. But even last year there's. I mean it's a lot scarier to go into the season with Ryan Tannehill compared to Romo. A breeze a Stafford who have had prolific years. But we talked last week about the benefit of having a guy that you can stream with someone else if you need to.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. That we're talking about value of. Let's say you go all in on Tannehill and after two weeks it's not working out the cost that you've invested in him, you're gonna be able to grab another quarterback off the waiver wire. However, I don't think that's gonna happen. I think Tannehill is going to be a guy who, who is dependable for you. Now sure, he may be. He might not be a matchup proof quarterback, but because of the investment, it shouldn't be a problem grabbing that second quarterback who has the great matchup off the waiver wire for just in case there's a couple weeks where Tannehill doesn't have the, the matchup that you're looking for. Nice. A quick point. What you were talking about where you had him at five weeks finishing at the 20 point threshold of being a top five quarterback. That's the thing, a thing of fantasy football is getting consistency where yes, a quarterback like let's say Ben Roethlisberger finished number five. The. You weren't getting the best game from Ben Roethlisberger every single week. It's.

[Mike Wright]

You're saying, you're saying he. Because he only had five, you're meaning he's. His average was pretty.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. What I mean is you're not.

[Mike Wright]

Wasn't Dandy Dalton.

[Andy Holloway]

You're not getting top five numbers from that quarterback every single week. Which speaks to the playing the matchups and not being scared to play a quarterback who has a great matchup. Who you think can put up those. Those numbers that particular week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he was. He was basically three points a game off the top five pace. And so that's a decent amount to make up this year. So we're thinking he can get there. He was actually exactly tied with our number seven guy, Drew Brees in our consensus rankings. So his average ranking from us was exactly the same as number seven, Drew Brees, the man losing his weapons. The man who I think even though he's still a fourth round pick right now. Do we need to be concerned about him or is this going to swing all the way over to where he's a value?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think it possibly makes its way to the all the way to the value you're going to have. You'll have too many people chasing the name of Drew Brees. And I also want to clarify this with my quarterbacks. I believe like 6 through 12, there is not a tremendous point difference. So if you're looking at my list and you're seeing, oh, he Drew Brees over or Tannehill over Drew Brees. And so, and I'm not. If you want to take Drew Brees, go ahead. We're just saying that the value of Tannehill that you're going to get week to week compared to Drew Brees, where I can take, I can take an RB2 in that fourth round that I get to play every single week.

[Mike Wright]

So Jason, talk to me. You're the only one that has. You have breeze two spots ahead of Tannehill, which I don't blame you for. But talk to me about what you like about Drew Brees. You have him at seven. You have Tannehill at nine.

[Jason Moore]

Well, what I like about Drew Brees is that he's Drew Brees. We know he's proven he throws for 7,000 yards every game. And so he actually scares me a lot, especially lately with losing the weapons. The reason that I've got him ranked higher is just from stat projections, I believe that he's going to still throw for plenty of yards. I actually really love CJ Spiller. I think that CJ Spiller is going to be a huge weapon for him. He's going to get some touchdowns through the air from the running back position that they've kind of been missing out on since Darren Sprols has left. So I think that that's going to make up some. But I certainly expect regression from Drew Brees. I don't expect him to be as good as he was last year and last year he wasn't as good as he was the year before. So I think that he's going to finish. You know, I've got him finishing at seven, which is where exactly. I mean, it makes sense. That's where I think he's going to finish. His value is going to be awful. He's just not going to be on my team because somebody will draft him solely based on the fact that he's a Hall of Fame quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the danger. Well, That's a. The danger of Drew Brees is the unknown of what the Saints. Exactly what the Saints are doing where year to year you knew who they were. You knew that offensive identity. This year, this offseason, the Saints have completely shaken everything up. They appear to be going really all in on the running game, getting Ingram back, trading Jimmy Graham for Max Unger. It, it speaks to a. Wanting to shift the, the, the balance of power to the run. And we're not saying that.

[Mike Wright]

Just read something this morning on that where they said they want, they want to have to score less to win.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I saw that too, in. It makes total sense with what, with what they're doing. We're not saying Drew Brees won't throw, but you want attempts in the fantasy game and Drew Brees attempts are going to go down.

[Mike Wright]

Let me give you a percentage here. 39% of Drew Brees touchdowns last year went to Kenny Stills or Jimmy Graham. 39%. So in some regards, he's getting weapons. If you talk about C.J. spiller and you talk about Brandon Cooks being healthy again because Brandon Cooks pace was decent, but he's not a goal line guy necessarily. He's a probably 7, 8. He's more of a Randall Cobb type of talent. Although Cobb obviously put up touchdowns last year. He's just not the prototypical size. He's a slot guy. But 39% of your touchdowns leaving at least should put some question marks in your mind. And so when you're looking in the fourth round, oh, it's, it's something that's scary. I'd rather like you said, take that better running back opportunity in the fourth round.

[Jason Moore]

I think the scariest part about Drew Brees is kind of what we were talking about a minute ago. You, Andy had said, you know, or maybe it was Mike said, that Ryan Tannehill is not necessarily matchup proof. Right. I mean you're, you're going to, you're going to take him out of the lineup if he's playing a good team. Drew Brees has always been matchup proof until last year. Well, yeah, yeah, but my point is mentally, mentally, Drew Brees is a guy you leave in your lineup. You're not going to bench Drew Brees from that name standpoint. You're not going to feel good about benching him, especially for where you take him. So it's, it's the worst of all kinds. I really see Drew Brees, even though I've got him ranked ahead of Tannehill from finishing as far as where he Finishes the year stats wise. I see him as fantasy poison on your, on your team because he's going to be in games that you should not be playing him in. He's going to be in your roster as your starting quarterback in a. In a game where you should bench him and put in somebody with a worse name and a better matchup. And you're not going to do it because he's Drew Brees.

[Mike Wright]

I agree. That's a good take. And we'll have to see what the rest of the offseason holds for them. Maybe they draft somebody at that position and we're less worried. Colson still there, took a restructured deal, but Colston's consistent. So Rogers, Luck, Wilson, Ryan Manning, Tannehill Breeze, and now we come to number eight on our board, Cam Newton. Yeah, Cam Newton. Now, there is a huge gap between you two. Jason, you have Newton all the way up at number five. Mike, you have him at number 12. And I have him exactly where his ADP or his. Yeah, his ADP is quarterback wise right now. He's the ninth quarterback off the board. That's where I have him. So let's get takes from both of you because you have them so differently. Let's let Jason talk about why he likes him and then Mike, you can poop all over him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I know, I know. Mike's not big on Cam. I'm actually really excited for Cam Newton this year. Last year he was injured. He was injured in the offseason. He was coming off of a surgery. He had a bunch of problems there. He also had absolutely no receivers. He lost his number one receiver and old man Smith went away and there were so many things stacked against him. Even car accidents stacked against him. He had problems with all of that. And if you look at his stats from the years prior and even last year, you're talking about a guy who puts up so many stats. His rushing stats are great. I mean, you're talking about 700 yards, 700 yards. And last year, you know, he put up 539 yards on the ground with an injured ankle and missing two games. So, you know, you might go, oh, he's lower. He's, you know, he went from, you know, being around 700 yards to being around 500 yards, but he actually missed two games. So I'm expecting him to be back up at the 650 yards on the ground and more touchdowns on the ground. I mean, he scored 14 touchdowns on the ground his rookie year. He's going to get more weapons. In fact, he's already got a little bit more weapons right now. And so I see for where he's being drafted from, what his talent is on the field from the reasons we have, actual logical reasons that he would rebound over the year prior. I love Cam Newton this year from where you're going to draft him and what you can get from him because he can be a guy that'll put up 45 fantasy points in a game.

[Mike Wright]

And you have him above Peyton, you have him above Tannehill, Breeze, Stafford, Brady Romo. So you have him number five overall. Mike, what say you, buddy?

[Andy Holloway]

Cam Newton is the. Is the anti. Ryan Tannehill. Cam Newton's stats have gone down every single year since he exploded into the league with his sensational rookie year. He came in through 4000. Next year, 38. Next year 33. Next year 31. Granted, he'd missed two games. That so.

[Mike Wright]

So I'll go.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll go ahead and bump him up to the 33. That's fine. His touchdowns, they didn't. They didn't go down every single year. But his second year, 19. Last year 18. His running yards have gone down every single year. You just can't. I think the team is realizing you can't risk your franchise quarterback that much. Where they're still going to let him do his thing. They're still going to let him vulture a couple touchdowns every once in a while. But I just. When I watch Cam Newton, he just doesn't seem like that great of a quarterback. He's very erratic. Sometimes he's on, but more often he is way off. On top of that, the offensive line in Carolina is awful. And not only are they awful, they got worse. Do you know who's playing left tackle? Who is slotted in to play left tackle right now? Michael.

[Jason Moore]

Or who.

[Mike Wright]

The blind side that they signed him and now they said he's their left tackle.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And if he's playing left tackle, Cam Newton is in trouble. And when.

[Jason Moore]

So what do you think Cam Newton's gonna have to do when guys are chasing him? What's Cam gonna do?

[Andy Holloway]

He's gonna try and run, but he's gonna get sacked. He's gonna get beat up just like he did last year. And. And where. Cam Newton has. He has the superman mentality, which I don't. A lot of these guys in league have it where he'll get beat up and he'll stay in the. Stay in the game at the detriment of his own team. Where I can't remember who they were playing, but There was a primetime game or Cam Newton was just getting annihilated and there was. I even. I had this. Please just put the backup in. It's painful. He can't even stand up. But he continues to play because he wants to be Superman. But I just, I see that happening again. I'd see him getting the one shot he's his. Something is going on with his ankles. And when I say that, I'm not saying I know any medical information that he's hurt right now, but he has a, he's shown a consistently getting injured. Yeah, there. Thank you. Tendency to get injured and because of his play style where he's big and he wants to shrug guys off and absorb the hit. But I just, I don't think he can continue to do it. Combine that with the, the, his stats going down every single year and I just don't like him. I agree with Jason. He's gonna put up those. He'll have a week or two where he puts up 45 points. It's gonna happen. But are you willing to live with his garbage games to get that 145 where he's. Yeah, he won the week for me. He lost me three weeks, but he won that one.

[Jason Moore]

When you're drafting him as an average draft position of nine and you've got that kind of upside and that kind of a floor really with, with running, just the fact that he's going to run the ball, you're not going to get a goose egg or, you know, a five or six point game, you know, for where you're drafting him. That's, that's why I really like him also, you know, he put up 24 touchdowns two years ago and then he lost his entire wide receiver core. So you got to factor that in the fact that he's got an entire offseason with Kelvin Benjamin, an offseason with, you know, his own health. So, you know, I think I'll, I.

[Mike Wright]

Think I'll play Switzerland here and I'll split the difference with you guys. I don't think he'll be as bad as he was last year. I think there's a couple reasons why his wide receiver core is going to be a little bit better. He's not going to be coming off the injury and he's hopefully not going to get into another rollover accident and have that type of problem. And the other big piece is the defense. The defense really rebounded in the second half of the year. They were a great defense the year before. I think he's I think he's right about where I have him. He's that 8, 9 guy who I would take in the 8th or 9th round and be overwhelmed with happiness. He's probably not going to be there. He's probably not going to be there. So let's move on to number nine on our consensus.

[Andy Holloway]

Another guy who I really.

[Mike Wright]

Another guy you hate. You hate. I have him at 6, so I'm the highest among us. You have him at. This is Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions. I have him at 6. Jason has him at 8. Mike has them all the way down at 17, which I think is the singular most bold.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the most polar of our list.

[Mike Wright]

I believe, of the entire list.

[Andy Holloway]

So maybe till you hear my number five character.

[Mike Wright]

So I have him at six. I have him ahead of Tannehill. I have him ahead of Breeze. I have him ahead of Newton. I think Matt Stafford bounces back because Calvin Johnson is healthy in that offense. And when you put Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate together, a lot of question marks for me at the running back position on that team and more question marks on the defense. I don't think their defense is going to be quite as good as it was last year. And so for me, I think. I think it's very reasonable to have Matthew Stafford at number six. Overall, I have him projected for a little over 4,700 yards, 31 touchdowns, about 100 yards on the ground. Nothing extreme or crazy, but that puts him at number six on my board. What do you guys think about Matt Stafford? How do you put him at 17? Let me read some guys off of your list that you have ahead of Matt Stafford. You want to hear these?

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

Sam Bradford, Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco.

[Andy Holloway]

Is he above him?

[Mike Wright]

He's at 16 for you.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, one one slot. I stand behind it.

[Mike Wright]

Cam Newton, Big Ben, Tom Brady, Tony Romo. Still feeling good?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Carson Palmer.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I feel great about that.

[Mike Wright]

I feel like we're going to have to bring Carson Palmer up just because you have him in your top 10.

[Andy Holloway]

I sure do. But we're not talking about him yet.

[Mike Wright]

No, we're not. So, Matt Stafford, why do you have him so low? Why do you think that? Is this just a trend for you or is this.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's. It's called a trend of getting worse every single year. Just like my friend Cam Newton, where we're all still living on the fumes. Because it's down to fumes of Matt Stafford's 2011 season, where he threw for over 5K41 touchdowns. The following year after that, he almost had the 5,000 yards. He had 20 touchdowns the year after that.

[Mike Wright]

That was the year that Calvin went down on the one like seven times. You remember that?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. But the next year, 29 touchdowns. Last year, 22 touchdowns. Matt Stafford is. He's not a. What I would consider a great quarterback. He is a volume quarterback. Now the problem with a volume quarterback is when he's not getting volume. Last year was the lowest attempts of his career. He had. He threw the ball only 602 times. The, the new coaching staff in Detroit, I don't think is. They're not the freewheeling. What was the old Lions coach. Now I'm drawing a blank on his name.

[Mike Wright]

Caldwell.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Caldwell is the current coach.

[Jason Moore]

No, the.

[Andy Holloway]

The fiery joke coach.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Schwartz.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, yes. Jim Schwartz. Jim Schwartz and Scott Linehan, who left and went to Dallas and completely revamped his offense, by the way. But I just don't see the volume happening for Stafford. And while I do like Golden Tate probably more than the regular person and I'm not really down on Calvin Johnson by any means, it's just about volume. It's about quality of offense. And can he. He hasn't thrown for over 30 touchdowns since 2011. Can he really do it?

[Jason Moore]

Or before 2011, before or after? There was only 2011 that he threw for 30.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. And I believe before 2011 was the. When Matt Stafford was Sam Bradford and just kept getting season injuries. So I don't all of those things add up to me to. I don't want to hitch my wagon to Matt Stafford.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm, I'm, you know, like, like Andy was on Cam. I am between you guys. So I think I've got the tempered expectations here. Matt Stafford, here's why I think he's going to be much better than you think, Mike. Although I still am not desperately in love with him, he's getting Calvin Johnson back. And Calvin Johnson is the reason that Matt Stafford can be a good, a good quarterback. We've all seen it throughout his entire career. Matt Stafford goes as Calvin Johnson goes. So I'm interested to see where you're going to project Calvin Johnson this year because I, you know, I clearly, I think he's going to be top 10.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, you can't drop him out of that. And in which case, in which case those stats go to Matt Stafford. Another thing that I think is huge for Matt Stafford's value is Namik and Sue leaving town. They're not going to be able to be the team they were last year from the standpoint of, I mean, they were, they were averaging, I feel like 17 points a game for, for like half of the season. The Lions were not putting up points. They, they weren't an offensive minded team and they're not going to be able to, to be that way. So last year, I think is a very big aberration for Matthew Stafford. His attempts are going to go up, although his completion percentage isn't that great. His touchdowns are going to go up. I've got him projected for 28 touchdowns, so still not 30. I think 46, 50 yards is what I've got him projected at, which is, you know, still probably below what he's averaged over the last four years. And so that puts him at number eight on my board. I think that that's where he belongs. But one of the things that we know, and Mike, you are the Mr. Proponent of pointing this out, is that Stafford is terrible at the second half of the year. You come to December, you get.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't count on him in December.

[Jason Moore]

Get rid of him. But that means his stats are better in the beginning. And so, you know, when you're talking about the fantasy strategy of getting a quarterback to stream, getting them late, Stafford might be there late. He might put up some big numbers right on the beginning and then be able to stream and drop them whenever you want. So I like him. I expect him to be better than last year.

[Andy Holloway]

What is the over under on Matt Stafford of how many times we see him with his hat on, forwards, with his snapback hat on, forwards?

[Mike Wright]

Zero.

[Andy Holloway]

Zero is the over under. I'll set it at one. What's the, what do you think he used to say?

[Mike Wright]

He's under the bleachers.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

He's back behind the bleachers with the kids and high school.

[Andy Holloway]

He's the. Yeah, yeah. He's Matthew McConaughey. All right, all right, all right.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So Stafford is a guy. Now this, this gets into a little bit of a philosophy thing too. I don't want to draft depending on your team's makeup, I think is how you make these. He's going in the back, back half of the seventh round. Okay. If your team is a little bit more consistent. I like a guy that has upside of Matthew Stafford who, okay, maybe it's been a few years. He threw, he threw 41 touchdowns and he's a gunslinger.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, he did. But I think like Ladanian Tomlinson was also kicking butt.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. But you know, Joe Flacco is not throwing 41 touchdowns that. That is factually guaranteed.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I bet anything on that. And you know that a guy like Tony Romo's probably not throwing 41 either on that team.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably not.

[Mike Wright]

And so probably the same with Carson Palmer. These are all guys you have ahead of him because you like their consistency. But if your team's makeup. So if it's a little bit different and in the back half of the seventh round, I like the upside of a guy like Stafford. And so it depends a little bit. To me, I'm just talking in terms of your team makeup on what you want to take a chance on, because I'd rather draft Matthew Stafford every single time over Joe Flacco.

[Andy Holloway]

It's understandable where. And for me, I'm just going to ride that train to the edge of the cliff and take a quarterback not in the seventh or eighth or ninth. Unless there's one of my guys who I feel really, really confident in, I'm not going to settle for Matt Stafford. If I'm not going all in on the big guys, then I'm going to continue to wait.

[Mike Wright]

Very fair. Very fair. Let's move on to our consensus number 10, a guy that Mike is very high on. We both like him this year, but somehow the way we projected him, it just didn't end up as high as we thought. Eli Manning. So you love him, Mike. Lots of reasons that we could love him. We love what he has with Odell Beckham Jr. We love what he has with that offense coming into a second year under McAdoo. We love the idea of Victor Cruz coming back, the evolution of Larry Danelle, and as Jason just pointed out, Shane Vereen getting signed there, Rashad Jennings being healthy for a couple games, and Andre Williams, an offense that's growing. All of those things I like, but I just couldn't take the leap and put his stats where they needed to be to get up as high as you have him. So Eli Manning, is he the value pick of the 2015 fantasy draft?

[Andy Holloway]

It's. For me, it's shaping up that way. I am. I will wager that people are gonna start jumping on the. The bandwagon of. Of the book of Eli as the. As we get closer to Denzel, as we get closer to. To the season, that. What's funny about that is Eli actually kind of used to play like Denzel from that movie where he played like a blind guy because he wasn't really sure which team he was supposed to throw the ball to.

[Mike Wright]

He was blind in that movie. I feel like that spoiler alert. When that feel like when that movie came out. Denzel was in every movie, right? Like every movie that came out.

[Andy Holloway]

When is he not in every movie?

[Mike Wright]

I feel like he's taking a little break.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I love me some Denzel. Remember the Titans? Okay, so here's why. Here's why I really like Eli now. Speaking of quarterbacks who were great in 2011. Eli Manning. Eli Manning.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, now you're on to do that?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I'm just saying this is a stat that you guys would like because it's four years old that in 2011, Eli almost threw for 5,000 yards. People, I don't know if people realize that or if they just don't remember it, but he's had seasons where he's thrown a lot. Here's why I really like eli Manning. Ben McAdoo comes in, he revamps the system. It's a completely new offensive scheme for Eli and you could see it at the beginning of the year, Eli looked confused. He made more. Poorer. Is that a word?

[Mike Wright]

Poorer.

[Andy Holloway]

Worse choices than Eli used to make. But he finished the season with his highest completion percentage at 63%. He threw for 44, 4400 yards, 30 touchdowns, only 14 picks. It was the highest QBR of his. Of his career. Are we officially. Is QBR really taken over instead of passer rating?

[Mike Wright]

I think they're both used pretty good. I look at them both.

[Andy Holloway]

But. So he had a QBR rating, which that's not really Eli's thing, as we know. He's really a ride the defense clutch guy. But with. With ODB coming in second year, Reuben Randle, now I'm not, I'm not. I'm going to be hesitant on Ruben.

[Mike Wright]

He's your number one this year, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's a top five. But Reuben Randle is still very young and he is. He has the makeup to be a huge weapon in this league. While he was disappointing for the majority of the league, the last leads, the last two games, he came on extremely strong. And we know that teams will adjust. They're not going to let Beckham run wild the way he did last year. Someone's going to need to take the pressure off and I think Randle can do it. Larry Donnell showed flashes at times. The Giants are still talking him up like he can be. Like he can be somebody. I'm not guarantee that he's going to be somebody, but I think he's an effective weapon. Shane Vereen brings a huge dynamic to that offense for the screen, just a little screen of the Running back. The check downs for a running back who can take it 15, 20 yards, maybe even score a couple times. Rashad Jennings, like you said when healthy, Rashad Jennings was a good running back and he was a good pass catching running back. I think in the second year of the McAdoo system, Eli Manning is going.

[Mike Wright]

To thrive and that's how you have him so high.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think he's going to thrive. And on top of that, where you can draft him is going to be. He's to me, the quarterback who I look for. That is a league winning quarterback where I can set my entire team up and then I snag a quarterback very late who is going to be great, late and great. That's my philosophy. I take it to the bank.

[Mike Wright]

Matt Ryan in the sixth, lady great. Matt Ryan in the sixth, Eli Manning in the eighth.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, then still Matt Ryan in the sixth because I like Matt Ryan that much more.

[Mike Wright]

Russell Wilson in the fourth, Eli Manning in the eighth.

[Andy Holloway]

That Eli Manning, that's easy.

[Mike Wright]

Those are all good points. I just didn't add up to me. I actually have Eli Manning as my.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't like. You don't like two plus two equaling four?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I like. Listen to me, I've got Eli Manning as my number 12. I have him leading the league in passing yards this year, 4,900 yards. And you know what's actually that's bowl.

[Andy Holloway]

You think no one's thrown over 5k.

[Mike Wright]

That's. I do not have anybody projected over 5k this year.

[Jason Moore]

I found the same thing with me and it's not that I don't think somebody's gonna throw over.

[Mike Wright]

He just throws interceptions. He throws a lot of interceptions and he doesn't run and he's a lot of risk. So you're projecting him. You have to have him what I have him at 31 touchdowns. How many touchdowns you haven't thrown?

[Jason Moore]

He's got him at 35 and I've got him at 30. But the real difference here in our projections, because we talked about Eli, you know, throughout this whole offseason and I think all three of us, yeah, we.

[Mike Wright]

All like Eli, we all like him.

[Jason Moore]

We all see the reason for improvement, the value to where you get them. And I'm a big proponent of Eli. But then when I did my stats, he came out at 14th for me and that was one of the biggest.

[Andy Holloway]

Surprises for me because you got Cam Newton up so high. Clog it up your shampoo.

[Jason Moore]

The running quarterback. Well, we got to keep in mind though that this you know, again, like we said, these, these statistics that we're talking about in the rankings we're talking about are standardized scoring. So, you know, Eli's going to get exactly like two rushing yards and zero rushing touchdowns. So that's where the flip is there. But I look through our stats and the difference is turnovers a little bit in the touchdowns. But the big difference here is turnovers.

[Andy Holloway]

How many do you have him?

[Jason Moore]

I've got him throwing 18 picks, but also six fumbles. And so you've got a total of, I believe, 18.

[Andy Holloway]

I haven't met. 16 turnovers.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, 16 total turnovers. I've got him at 24. And just, you know, a comparison here, you know, going back a couple years. Two years ago, he had 31 total turnovers, which is, I mean, ludicrous.

[Andy Holloway]

He was terrible.

[Jason Moore]

He improved greatly to last year with 21 turnovers. And so, you know, historically, you go back and look, you know, throughout, he's always been a turnover machine. So that's where I've got him at 24, which I think might actually be a little high. I could probably drop, you know, two of those or maybe expect him to put 21 again. But that's one of the big differences between where we have them and where you have them is the total turnovers. And so that's a question that when you're drafting him is kind of what do you think he's going to be able to do as far as ball protection? And that's where, when I start asking myself that question, I kind of go. This newer offense with shorter passes and with Vereen there for some of those escape, you know, escape routes, I think might actually help his turnover number, which would bode well for what you're saying, Mike. But. But I certainly can't. Cannot fix my numbers to get him number five on standardized scoring.

[Mike Wright]

And that's Eli Manning. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, he's definitely a value, value choice. I do think he's going to climb up a little bit. I think he's going to be one of those guys that's kind of the hot, ascending quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

He's the Jay Cutler of this year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's. I agree with that. That's a good take.

[Jason Moore]

If he starts creeping up into like the, the back half of the sixth round.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Mike Wright]

But he's sitting. He's only sitting in the eighth right now, I think.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Or back to the seventh. So.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but I think he's going to get a lot of good publicity.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I mean, yeah, I sneak.

[Jason Moore]

Up a little, he might sneak up. And that's what I'm saying. If he starts getting into, like the, the back half, you know, of the six, that's way too high for me.

[Mike Wright]

So obviously, our rankings are going to keep changing. They're going to keep moving and being molded to the offseason that we have here. It's one of the things that I think is important. You have to, as a fantasy player, you have to change your mind if new information comes along, you have to change your mind because those are the things that make a big difference. And we are talking about a gap between these guys that isn't huge. You know, it's a. We talked Aaron Rodgers, maybe Andrew Luck is in this top tier, but a lot of these guys in the secondary tier. It's the details that are going to matter.

[Jason Moore]

Listeners, if you're listening, please, we're debating all the finer points of all these guys because that's what we constructed today's show about. But Andy brings up the most important point.

[Andy Holloway]

You.

[Jason Moore]

This entire group of everybody we talked about in our rankings are separated by meager fantasy points. I mean, we're not talking. We're talking about less separation. Like in my own personal rankings, all these guys, we're talking about less separation between the first guy we talked about and the last guy we talked about, then between Aaron Rodgers and then the next and then Andrew Luck. I mean, these are all lumped together. That's where. What matters more in these guys is average draft position is where you're going to get them. I want the guy I can get last out of these guys.

[Mike Wright]

That's such a good point. There's eight points of difference between Peyton Manning at my number four and Drew Brees down at my number nine.

[Jason Moore]

Right, Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

I have. Speaking of new information, it's actually old, but it might be new. Just. I'm giving you guys one more chance to get off of Matt Stafford. Two guys that finished ahead of Stafford last year, Joseph Flacco, Jay Cutler finished ahead of snapback.

[Jason Moore]

That's called. Calvin Johnson was injured.

[Mike Wright]

Man, you don't like Stafford. Man, you don't like snapback, I'm giving you a chance. Hey, you know what? Stafford, Cutler, they. They're the same. They're the same. To me. They're. They're the guy that I'm not sure can win a title.

[Jason Moore]

If Cutler had Calvin Johnson, I would like Cutler more.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's totally true. It's the weapons is he can Throw the ball up to Tate and Calvin Johnson and just get an Ebro junk out of it. All right, let's. Let's move it on.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

I missed my striper. Come on, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Saving my voice. I got a big show after the tempted show.

[Mike Wright]

Tempted to replay that so you can redeem yourself, but we'll just. We'll just save it. I love the striper tweets. We started getting last week. Spectacular.

[Andy Holloway]

The yellow and black army.

[Mike Wright]

You're gonna get hired away, I'm telling you. So, yeah, that's our one through 10. I guess we should. Real quickly. I'll just go through those. We have Rogers, Luck, Wilson, Ryan, Matt Ryan. That is Peyton Manning, Ryan Tannehill, then Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Matt Stafford, and Eli Manning. So like I said, they'll be ever changing. So let's get into the mailbag. Let's answer a few listener questions. This one comes from Daniel S. Out here in Arizona.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

His question is this. I guess he has two questions. He says.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Jason Moore]

One question for listener.

[Mike Wright]

Off season, we allow.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, all right.

[Mike Wright]

Where do you see Hopkins this year? Where will he be drafted and where will he finish? So I'll let one of you address his first question and one of you addresses second. So who wants the Hopkins question?

[Andy Holloway]

I will field the question, I believe.

[Mike Wright]

Where is he going to get drafted? Where is he going to finish?

[Andy Holloway]

I think he'll get drafted right in the two area. I think so. Fifth round for maybe the end of the fourth round.

[Mike Wright]

In the fifth round, currently, he's about the 15th off the board at wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. That's a little bit higher than I would hoped it would. Someone's buzzing. You're distracting me. Sounded like flies are in the room. That's. That's not, I guess, terrible for Hopkins.

[Mike Wright]

That's the beginning of the fourth.

[Andy Holloway]

He has. He has shown that he is a tremendous playmaker. It doesn't really matter who's throwing him the ball, but the person throwing him the ball might just be Brian Hoyer. That limits his upside. So I don't believe I would take him that high.

[Mike Wright]

So if you wouldn't take him that high, where do you think he finishes?

[Andy Holloway]

I believe he's a wide receiver, too. I would put him at the 19 to 21 range.

[Mike Wright]

Would you take any of these guys ahead of DeAndre Hopkins? And this question goes to both of you. Jeremy Macklin.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Brandon Marshall.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Brandon Cooks.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Julian Edelman.

[Andy Holloway]

No. Yeah. Man, that's a tough question.

[Jason Moore]

That's a really Good one. But.

[Andy Holloway]

But no, I'll take. That's a team makeup question to me.

[Mike Wright]

But Sammy Watkins.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take Nook. Jordan Matthews, take Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

I love my math.

[Mike Wright]

So you might have. You might have DeAndre more in the back half of the wide receiver to like 19, 20 range.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly what I just said.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess you're, you're.

[Andy Holloway]

That that makes it. That, that putting names in there makes it a little bit more real.

[Mike Wright]

So the second question that Mr. Daniel asked. Let me pull it back up. Do you think Calvin Johnson can be the number one fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Wide receiver?

[Jason Moore]

Again, I will field that question. I think absolutely he can be. I don't expect him to be, but I think that there's. He's not. He's not past his prime. He's not losing a step. He was injured and he is still 7 foot 8 and he's a. He's a beast. And so I think that there's no question he has every opportunity to finish number one. I don't expect him to. I think he will finish top five and he should be drafted. Top five.

[Mike Wright]

If there was ever a time to get Calvin Johnson at a value rate, it would be this year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

How far do you think he actually drops, though?

[Mike Wright]

I think he drops to the beginning of the second round.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's the furthest. I would say it's not going to be very much.

[Mike Wright]

13, 14 at the. @ the.

[Andy Holloway]

At the very latest.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. It's going to be interesting to see how the wide receivers play out in the first round of drafts this year because of the hype around guys like Odell Beckham, Brown, people jumping all over Brown, Demary Thomas, there's like six or.

[Jason Moore]

Seven guys right now that I think all have an equal. Almost an equal shot to finish number one, which means get. Get those guys. You know, again, that, that value, if you can. I mean, it really depends on where you're drafting. But if you, if you're able to, you know, wait and get the sixth or seventh of that group after you get a stud running back. I love that.

[Mike Wright]

Randall Cobb at the back half of the second or Calvin in the front half.

[Jason Moore]

Calvin in the front half. There's a separation to me between Calvin. I don't put Randall Cobb in that. In that group.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't put Cobb up with Calvin Johnson either. But that's all just.

[Mike Wright]

They're both going in the second right now, which is why it's so closely.

[Andy Holloway]

Tied to where your actual draft position is. So it's Hard to say which one I would rather be.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you're not gonna ever choose between those guys.

[Mike Wright]

Where you dropped into your. The tier changes for me is around A.J. green and Cobb at the back half of the second round. And then you get into the Ty Hilton, Alshon Jeffrey, Emmanuel Sanders, Mike Evans range, which to me is a teardrop.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fair.

[Mike Wright]

All right, this one comes in from Dave from Boston. He has a simple question.

[Andy Holloway]

Boston.

[Mike Wright]

Not David Boston. This is second time.

[Jason Moore]

It is now David Boston.

[Mike Wright]

Second time we've had Dave from Boston. It's the same dude.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we got Michael Bay.

[Jason Moore]

We got Michael Bay.

[Mike Wright]

We made a Dave Boston joke last season.

[Andy Holloway]

Did I?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think because we had a Dave from Boston right in from last season.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe it's the same Dave. Well, David Boston.

[Mike Wright]

Do you even know who David Boston is?

[Jason Moore]

I follow football.

[Andy Holloway]

David Boston broke my heart.

[Mike Wright]

So well be out here in Arizona.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Man, he was. He was that perfect example of the. He was the Josh Gordon of our. Of our youth.

[Jason Moore]

He.

[Andy Holloway]

He had some extracurricular activities.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he also had the drops. So Dave from Boston, which could be David Boston, who will have the bigger fantasy season. C.J. spiller or Ryan Matthews?

[Jason Moore]

I love this question.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we'll let Jason take that.

[Jason Moore]

So David Boston. Great.

[Mike Wright]

He's not in Striper, by the way. He's doing some type of serial commercial for. For tv.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so. So shut your mouth. And here we go. So C.J. spiller or Ryan Matthews, which one is going to be better? I would say C.J. spiller is going to be better. C.J. spiller's floor is higher than Ryan Matthews floor. We don't know how Ryan Matthews is going to be used, and especially if you're in a ppr. If you're in a ppr, CJ Spiller's floor, I believe, is going to be very, very high. But I think that the ceiling is actually higher on Ryan Matthews because of a DeMarco Murray injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Boom.

[Jason Moore]

I think that, you know, I love both of these guys, but the floor is higher on CJ Spiller. I would rather have CJ Spiller on my team because I think the expectation is probably more likely to happen and to play out well. But Ryan Matthews, I don't know where he's going right now. I mean, because of this news as adp, I'm pretty sure wherever we're going to look up is just skewed right now. We're going to have to wait and see where he's actually going. But I'm guessing he's going to go really late and I'm guessing I'm going to really love that value because if you've got demarco Murray in front of you from becoming a absolute, you know, a top five potential back at that late. I love that value. So ceiling higher on Ryan Matthews, floor higher on C.J.

[Mike Wright]

Spiller. Okay. Yeah, I don't mind that. They're both actually pretty similarly ranked. They're back in back to back in the sixth round right now. C.J. spiller's right ahead. Matthews lost about a round with the.

[Jason Moore]

Trade or the signing, he's going to keep losing. There's no way that they're going back to back come draft day. That's my prediction.

[Mike Wright]

I'm coming around on Spiller too, personally. So let's point this question over to Mike the fantasy hitman. This one comes from Lenny. Lenny. Do you know Lenny?

[Jason Moore]

Lenny from the Simpsons Of Mice and Men?

[Mike Wright]

Lenny from Salt Lake City.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Kills the, kills the.

[Andy Holloway]

Spoiler alert.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry everybody.

[Mike Wright]

We talk literature towards the back half of the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Steinbeck.

[Mike Wright]

That's right. What, what do you see Frank Gore's stat line looking like in Indianapolis? Mike, give me a stat line. Hypothetically, pull it out of your brain and drop it to me.

[Andy Holloway]

I will put him at about 1100 yards on the ground and possibly 200 in the air, which that's probably pretty high considering where Frank Gore's catching production has been. Now, the touchdowns is where he really is going to get the boost. I see Frank, and I'm not going to separate him, but I see total touchdowns. Frank Gore easily scoring double digit touchdowns this year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I have him at about 10. Let me ask you a couple comparison questions here. Frank Gore or Jonathan Stewart?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I love Jonathan Stewart so very much. But I'm gonna take, I'm still gonna take Frank Gore.

[Mike Wright]

Frank Gore or Latavius Murray Frank Gore Andre Ellington or Frank Gore. Frank Gore Tre Mason or Frank Gore. Frank Gore Carlos Hyde or Frank Gore?

[Andy Holloway]

Frank Gore?

[Mike Wright]

Let me, let me jump it up.

[Jason Moore]

A little bit and just, just so that, you know, the listeners can, can see if Mike's crazy or not. I was answering in my head. Each one of those, I was identical.

[Mike Wright]

I would rather take and all those.

[Jason Moore]

Guys for the same. Oh, and on those numbers I actually.

[Mike Wright]

Wrote Mark Ingram a Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man, that, that's very hard as. I don't know what, I don't know what the Saints are doing, but I, I think, I would think I'm going to lean Frank Gore. I think Gore has one to two great seasons left in him and put him in that Colts offense.

[Mike Wright]

And it's Jeremy Hill in the second, Frank Gore in the fourth.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, there. There you go. You found the poison.

[Mike Wright]

I know. Oh, you still have that Jeremy Hill tattoo coming along.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, the. The shading is done. The. The colors coming in on Friday. The Jeremy Hill.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. All right. If you have a question, you can email us mail at the Fantasy Footballers Calm. We will answer it on the show. If you use a funny name, we'll also answer it on the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you get bumped up, though.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And you get. You get dap.

[Mike Wright]

And if you like the show, we do ask that you go on to itunes. Subscribe it. It matters that you subscribe to us and leave us a review. And we've been reading some of those reviews. We really appreciate all of the fan feedback, all the follows on Twitter. We're in it for the long haul here, so feel free to email us, tweet us, Facebook us. We're everywhere.

[Jason Moore]

Show up at our show. We're everywhere.

[Mike Wright]

And if we're not someplace, let us know because we'll be there.

[Andy Holloway]

You want to give our Twitter handles.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, individual Twitter handles. I'm Andy Holloway. You can follow Mike at ffhipitman.

[Andy Holloway]

Under protest.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I couldn't remember if there's FF it.

[Andy Holloway]

No. And under protest is not in my handle. I'm saying that I am the FF Hitman.

[Mike Wright]

And you're still angry at the person who's squatting on Fantasy. Fantasy Hitman. Bitter, bitter man. And Jason, you can follow him@jason ffl on Twitter and you can follow the show at the FF Ballers. And we'll be dropping the latest news, dropping some funny stuff on there. We also have a league, a official Fantasy Footballers League that has some open spots still available. It is early, very, very early, so we are not picking these spots for a little while. But if you send us an email while you want to be in the official Fantasy Footballers League, we're going to be taking those emails and considering probably dropping some people in there soon. So we have some emails. Is that Aretha Franklin? Who was that?

[Jason Moore]

I think that was more the ladies man.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of ladies man and pizza, if you are.

[Jason Moore]

Nice segue.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you know, he's. It's the old bit. You got a pizza? I hope it's a pizza something. No.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys don't know that sketch. Come on. If you. If you or somebody you know is in contact with the management of Peter Piper Pizza, we're going to make this thing happen, people.

[Mike Wright]

You still want the Peter Piper?

[Andy Holloway]

The Peter.

[Mike Wright]

Peter Piper pick of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's what we are offering. The Peter Piper Pizza PPR pick of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Read that.

[Andy Holloway]

Sound breakneck speeds faster and faster every week.

[Mike Wright]

That's branding, man.

[Andy Holloway]

You are getting. If Peter Piper signs in with us. Here's what you're getting. You're getting. You want free pizza.

[Mike Wright]

That's what you want.

[Andy Holloway]

You're getting a sensational team talking up your product. And all I need is some pizza.

[Mike Wright]

Free pizza and tokens.

[Jason Moore]

Someone out there is just gonna start offering to buy our pizza so that we can.

[Mike Wright]

You do realize that they don't need to pay us if we continually do the segment anyway.

[Andy Holloway]

Eventually these. These plugs will go away. No, no. Freeloaders forever. Peter Piper. Get it together.

[Jason Moore]

But we do love Peter Piper Pizza.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness. Yes. So we will be. We'll be back here on Thursday. Thursday morning. Dropping some more. March Fantasy Madness.

[Andy Holloway]

What just happened?

[Mike Wright]

March Fantasy Madness.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I guess not.

[Mike Wright]

March Madness. March Fantasy Football Madness.

[Andy Holloway]

How's your bracket?

[Mike Wright]

Busted. Terrible.

[Andy Holloway]

How's your bracket?

[Jason Moore]

Non existent.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm with that guy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's not looking good. I think I was in the bottom percentile on day one, so I'm not gonna win a million dollars. All right, that's it for us. The Fantasy Footballers. Subscribe. Follow.

[Andy Holloway]

See ya. Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.