Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Top 10 WR, Sleepers, News, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Top 10 WR, Sleepers, News, Mailbag Release Date: April 7, 2015

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Introduction and Championship Celebration

The episode kicks off with the hosts celebrating their imminent victory in a fantasy basketball league, drawing a humorous parallel to Duke winning the NCAA title.

• Andy Holloway [02:03]: "We finally won a championship. It was a top 10 moment of my life."
• Jason Moore [02:25]: "I'm still, like, glowing over that victory. That was five years in the making."

This lighthearted banter sets a friendly and engaging tone for the podcast.

Podcast Overview

The hosts outline the episode's agenda, emphasizing their commitment to delivering valuable off-season content for fantasy football enthusiasts.

• Jason Moore [03:07]: "We're going to get into our top 10 wideouts. We're also going to answer some mailbag questions."

They encourage listener interaction through Twitter and their website, highlighting the importance of community engagement.

News and Notes

Bengals Sign Denarius Moore

The Cincinnati Bengals announce the signing of wide receiver Denarius Moore to a one-year contract.

• Jason Moore [03:43]: "The Bengals have agreed to terms with wide receiver Denarius Moore, formerly of the Oakland Raiders."

Despite Moore's past potential, the hosts agree his signing holds minimal immediate fantasy relevance.

Fred Jackson’s Role with the Bengals

Fred Jackson is recovering from surgery, raising questions about his role in the Bengals' offense.

• Jason Moore [04:21]: "Everyone loves Fred Jackson. Here they paid a brand new contract to LaShawn McCoy. He's clearly going to get a huge role."

The consensus is that Jackson will primarily be utilized during passing downs, limiting his ceiling in fantasy terms.

Johnny Manziel’s Future with the Browns

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the Cleveland Browns are moving on from quarterback Johnny Manziel.

• Andy Holloway [06:08]: "He's going to pay the Roddy Piper with his career."

The hosts express skepticism about Manziel’s potential to contribute meaningfully in fantasy leagues, especially in dynasty formats.

Adrian Peterson’s Reinstatement and Potential Trade

Adrian Peterson’s status remains uncertain as he awaits reinstatement from the NFL, with speculation about whether he'll play for the Vikings or seek a trade.

• Jason Moore [07:24]: "I would love to have some Adrian Peterson related news to talk about."

The discussion centers on the improbability of Dallas restructuring their financials to acquire Peterson, effectively dismissing the rumor.

Top 10 Wide Receivers Rankings

The bulk of the episode delves into the hosts' consensus rankings for the top 10 wide receivers in fantasy football, providing in-depth analysis and projections for each player.

10. Randall Cobb

• Jason Moore [08:27]: "Randall Cobb heading into the year, what do you think?"
• Andy Holloway [09:34]: "Randall Cobb is not a super touchdown scoring guy."

Cobb is lauded for his high floor in PPR formats, though there are concerns about his touchdown production regressing.

9. Odell Beckham Jr.

• Jason Moore [09:55]: "Odell Beckham can finish number one."
• Mike Wright [14:13]: "Odell Beckham bursts onto the scene."

Beckham is recognized for his explosive potential but tempered by concerns over injuries and target distribution consistency.

8. Alshon Jeffrey

• Jason Moore [18:48]: "Alshon Jeffrey is going to be an absolute wide receiver one next year."
• Mike Wright [20:13]: "Alshon Jeffrey is going to be an absolute wide receiver one next year."

With Brandon Marshall’s departure, Jeffrey is poised to take on a more prominent role, showcasing his talent and reliability.

7. A.J. Green

• Jason Moore [22:17]: "A.J. Green, the man with infinite talent."
• Andy Holloway [23:29]: "Julius and A.J. Green are the cogs that really make it."

Green is praised for his consistency and high reception totals, despite past injuries and quarterback uncertainties.

6. Calvin Johnson

• Jason Moore [29:51]: "Calvin Johnson, Confetti number one."
• Andy Holloway [28:27]: "I think he can finish first."

Despite concerns about age and injuries, Johnson remains a top-tier receiver due to his unparalleled talent and previous performance metrics.

5. Dez Bryant

• Mike Wright [33:03]: "Dez Bryant is a touchdown machine."
• Jason Moore [33:35]: "Dez Bryant is the Marshawn Lynch of the wide receiving world."

Bryant is highlighted for his prowess in the red zone and consistent touchdown production, making him a reliable fantasy asset.

4. Jordy Nelson

• Andy Holloway [37:17]: "Jordy Nelson, I believe is my number one guy."
• Mike Wright [38:33]: "The value of where you're getting Jordy Nelson is unbelievable."

Nelson is celebrated for his consistency, high target volume, and chemistry with quarterback Eli Manning, positioning him as a top fantasy receiver.

3. Julio Jones

• Mike Wright [40:27]: "He has a big body. He's not one of these five'eleven guys."
• Jason Moore [40:27]: "Julio Jones could easily be a number one type of guy."

Jones is projected to maintain his elite status with an improved offense, despite a slight regression in yardage from the previous season.

2. Demaryius Thomas

• Andy Holloway [43:56]: "Demaryius Thomas is consistent."
• Mike Wright [45:56]: "His numbers are so reliable."

Thomas is lauded for his dependable reception numbers and integration into the offense, making him a safe and high-producing choice.

1. Antonio Brown

• Mike Wright [48:10]: "Antonio Brown will give you points to win your game every single week."
• Andy Holloway [48:12]: "His floor is high."

Brown tops the list due to his exceptional consistency, high target volume, and significant role in the Steelers' offense, especially in PPR formats.

Mailbag: Trading Ty Hilton for Jimmy Graham

A listener named Norm D. poses a complex trade scenario involving trading Ty Hilton for Jimmy Graham in a standard scoring league with specific positional restrictions.

• Jason Moore [50:41]: "Ty Hilton for Jimmy Graham, what do you think?"
• Andy Holloway [51:18]: "No way."

The hosts unanimously advise against the trade, emphasizing Jimmy Graham’s superior value despite the complexities, and encourage leveraging high-value players in trades.

Listener Review

The podcast features a positive review from John B., praising the hosts’ commentary and their dedication to broadcasting two episodes a week.

• Mike Wright [53:03]: "John B. says great commentary and thanks for broadcasting two episodes a week."

Closing Remarks

The hosts remind listeners to subscribe, leave reviews, and engage with them through their website and social media channels. They express gratitude for the support and preview upcoming content focused on tight ends and additional mailbag questions.

• Jason Moore [53:33]: "Enjoy the show. Please leave us a five-star review on iTunes."

Additional Highlights

• Injury Concerns: Throughout the episode, injury status and its impact on players’ fantasy value are recurrent themes, particularly concerning Odell Beckham Jr., Calvin Johnson, and Julio Jones.

• Consistency vs. Explosive Potential: The discussion often contrasts players who offer steady points (like Antonio Brown and Demaryius Thomas) against those with high but less predictable ceilings (like Odell Beckham Jr.).

• Offensive Schemes: The influence of team dynamics and offensive strategies on receiver performance is a critical consideration for the hosts when evaluating rankings.

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Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [09:34]: "Randall Cobb is not a super touchdown scoring guy."
• Mike Wright [14:13]: "Odell Beckham bursts onto the scene."
• Jason Moore [22:17]: "A.J. Green, the man with infinite talent."
• Mike Wright [33:03]: "Dez Bryant is a touchdown machine."
• Mike Wright [48:10]: "Antonio Brown will give you points to win your game every single week."

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This episode of the Fantasy Footballers provides a comprehensive analysis of top wide receivers, integrating player performance, team dynamics, and injury considerations to aid fantasy managers in making informed decisions. The hosts' engaging discussions, coupled with actionable insights, make this a valuable resource for both seasoned and novice fantasy football enthusiasts.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign.

[Mike Wright]

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

[Jason Moore]

Hello, Hello, Hello.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, good morning.

[Jason Moore]

It is Tuesday, April 7, and we are the Fantasy Footballers. Andy, Jason, Mike, back with you again. Oh, it is a good day.

[Andy Holloway]

You sound thrilled.

[Jason Moore]

Well, it's. Isn't it obvious? It's because Duke won the title.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, they did. Congratulations.

[Jason Moore]

Jason, what are your thoughts on. Yes, Duke is a. First of all. Hold on, hold on. I want to try this right now.

[Mike Wright]

I knew it's coming.

[Jason Moore]

Sport. Am I talking about.

[Mike Wright]

You're talking about the NCAA basketball.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, you passed test number one. Who'd they play?

[Mike Wright]

Minnesota? No, no, no, no, no. Hold on here. Kentucky? No, no. Michigan State? Wisconsin.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Jason Moore]

First try. I. I told you I was gonna have to point out how little he knows about any other sport.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

You just asked me about football.

[Jason Moore]

Does that make people more or less confident in Jason's ability as a fantasy football analyst?

[Andy Holloway]

Should make you more confident.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, because I follow football. I don't have time for other nonsense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, the fantasy hitman and I were more well rounded than you, I'd have to say.

[Mike Wright]

You guys just want to correct me if I'm wrong here, but you guys just won a championship in a basketball fantasy league. Is that. Is that incorrect?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, well, actually, we did just win a fantasy battle. Well, we're about to.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a little preemptive, but come Sunday, we will be the champions of a fantasy basketball league.

[Jason Moore]

That's true.

[Andy Holloway]

And a little note for the listeners out there.

[Jason Moore]

Oh. Championship note.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. We are winners. Listen to this.

[Andy Holloway]

All of the three of us are.

[Jason Moore]

On a flag football middle aged.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, some of us are middle aged. Some of us are 20 years old.

[Mike Wright]

None of us, though, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, not on our team. But we're on an adult flag football team.

[Mike Wright]

That sounds really stupid, but it's true.

[Andy Holloway]

It's awesome. Yeah. We don't just watch football. We live. We are out there.

[Mike Wright]

We do play fantasy real. All of it.

[Andy Holloway]

We finally won a championship. It was top 10 moment of my life.

[Jason Moore]

It was awesome.

[Mike Wright]

It was great.

[Jason Moore]

I'm still, like, glowing over that victory. That was five years in the making.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The first year we scored one touchdown all season and went winless. And now we won the championship with the same core group of guys.

[Jason Moore]

We are identical to Duke. We are exactly the same. We are in terms of, like, accomplishment.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, championship's a championship, right?

[Jason Moore]

There you go. All right, well, welcome back to the Fantasy Footballer. Now that we've covered the Duke part of the show. We got some news and notes for you today. We're going to get into our, I love this, our top 10 wideouts. We're going to go through our top 10 early rankings at the wideout position. We're also going to answer some mailbag questions. If you want to follow the show on Twitter, you can do soffballers. You can send us questions there too. We've been answering them all week from listeners of the show. You can find us on the [e-mail] and of course you can subscribe to us on itunes. Leave us a review if you'd like. If you'd like to show, please do. We've been getting a lot of reviews lately of people who just love the fact we're recording in the off season.

[Andy Holloway]

Twice a week because there's a need for it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there's people like us who love fantasy football and want to.

[Andy Holloway]

Want to hear about it. You want to talk about it? You, you want to think about it?

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely. So anything else going on, guys?

[Mike Wright]

Football, football, football, football, football. News and notes from around the league.

[Jason Moore]

From football. From football. I, I want to start with this little tidbit of information since every week now we start with a very mediocre receiver signing someplace, which is called the off season. News and notes. The Bengals have agreed to terms with wide receiver Denarius Moore, formerly of the Oakland Raiders. One year contract.

[Andy Holloway]

Man.

[Jason Moore]

Daenerys Moore was my first onto the scene.

[Andy Holloway]

Was my guy years ago, years ago.

[Mike Wright]

I, man, I didn't know he was anybody's guy.

[Jason Moore]

No, he, well, he was like he was a guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he showed, he showed so much potential and then was just had it all sucked away in the black hole.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So he's out of the black hole. Mike, any fantasy relevance here?

[Andy Holloway]

Not at this time.

[Jason Moore]

Trip Chirp. Fred Jackson recovering from surgery of some sort. Not really news other than I want to know. We've talked LaShawn McCoy in our running back show. If you didn't hear that, go ahead and you can go back and listen to that one on the website or on itunes. But Fred Jackson, what's his role going to be? Because I, here's my knowledge of Fred Jackson. Everybody loves Fred Jackson. If you know Fred Jackson, if you're in the locker room with Fred Jackson, if you're a coach, you love Fred Jackson. Here they paid a brand new contract to Lashawn McCoy. He's clearly going to get a huge role. So what is Fred Jackson going to do? Will he surprise us Again, or will he eventually age?

[Mike Wright]

Well, eventually he'll age, but Rex said that he's going to work a man on passing downs. I expect him to get about half of the passing downs. Lashawn McCoy will be a three down back half the time, and he'll spell Lashawn McCoy with some F jacks. But, yeah, no, I agree. He's a real great guy. True. It's true. He's a pleasure humdinger. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I would think maybe what, seven to 10 carries at the high end and then so maybe like 10 touches a week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well, this next guy, I have to take an opportunity here to give Mike the mic. Do you have anything to say about this next bit of news? ESPN's Chris Mortensen saying the Browns have mostly moved on from your boy Johnny Manziel.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, well, calling him my boys is a bit.

[Mike Wright]

I had to do that anyway.

[Andy Holloway]

Bit of a stretch, I did. I was a believer that his. His skill set could translate. However, I did not anticipate the level of the clown show that Johnny Manziel is running and completely, completely bought into everything ever said about him and his own greatness. And now he's going to. He's going to pay the Roddy Piper with his career. The rowdy Roddy Piper.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's not looking good for Johnny Manziel, especially if you were, for some reason, in a dynasty league and you took him. I've got nothing more to say about him.

[Mike Wright]

Just as a side note, I like my NFL quarterbacks to not be a moral clown show. That's just. I want that on record.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Because the leader of the team, that type of thing. Speaking of questionable moral character, perhaps Adrian Peterson will meet with the NFL this week to discuss his reinstatement. So he likely this will be showdown time between him and the Vikings because the reinstatement will happen. No indications that it won't. And then we'll be moving on to the issue of will he play for them or will he force a trade out of Minnesota. I would love to have some Adrian Peterson related news to talk about.

[Mike Wright]

Three weeks left of possibilities and then it's the draft and everything dies.

[Andy Holloway]

Tired of the stop talking about the Dallas thing. That's not happening.

[Mike Wright]

Not happening.

[Jason Moore]

I read today what it's his dream scenario.

[Andy Holloway]

It can be his dream, but there's no money. Dallas would have to restructure. Everybody's contract would be.

[Jason Moore]

So Jerry and go.

[Andy Holloway]

They would.

[Jason Moore]

Jerry.

[Andy Holloway]

They'd be maxing their credit cards for at least three years just to get Peterson.

[Jason Moore]

It's I don't know. I might do it. If I were them.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not.

[Jason Moore]

It's not worth, I wouldn't 3,000 yards behind that line. Just kidding. All right, today we're going to go through our top 10 wide outs. I want to get started on that as soon as we can because we got a lot of guys to talk about. I'm sure we'll have a lot of information to disperse to you. So we're gonna count them down. We're gonna do it a little different than we did on the other shows. We're gonna count it down from our number 10 consensus ranking. Number 10, there you go. Randall Cobb.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 10, Randall Cobb.

[Jason Moore]

Plenty to like about Randall Cobb. Obviously his quarterback is a piece of that. I was reading something the other day about he's in that top five group of. Highest percentage of fantasy points coming from touchdowns. What are your guys's thoughts on Randall Cobb? I see that Mike, you have him at number 11. Jason, you have him at 13. So Randall Cobb heading into the year, what do you think?

[Andy Holloway]

I just. The where Randall Cobb is, is such a fantastic guy to have on your team is because of the, of the high floor, especially if you're in, in any kind of half point or full point ppr. I, I was, I was preaching the, the touchdown, the, the craziness that Randall Cobb was having at the beginning of the year. And if you break down his actual targets, what was crazy is when the first half of the year when he was getting the, the high volume of touchdowns, he was actually getting the lower amount of targets compared to the second half of the year when his touchdowns disappeared. That Reynold Cobb to me is not a super touchdown scoring guy.

[Jason Moore]

The second half was probably more indicative of what he is on the field. That's what we saw in years past too.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, absolutely. And he's still going to score touchdowns. I was doubt about it. You got the best quarterback in the league and you're playing opposite one of the best wide receivers in the league. So he's going to get it done. But that's why he's in the, in the back half half of my wide receiver ones.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. What's amazing is he's always been able to, I mean, granted he's with Aaron Rodgers, but he's always been able to score touchdowns. It's not like a fluke season. You know, Obviously he had 12, but his sophomore year he had 8. And then of course he got injured and only played six games the following year. So people kind of soured on him. But after his sophomore campaign, the first time that he really, I mean his, you know, his rookie year, he only got 25 receptions. So his sophomore year was his first bust onto the year scene. Everyone was freaking out about him. He was going to overtake Jordy Nelson. He was going to be the best thing. And then he just got hurt the next year and it's like people completely bailed, completely jumped ship. And then he comes back and has an awesome year. 1200 yards, 90 plus catches and 12 touchdowns. I expect the touchdowns to regress. I actually expect the targets and yards to increase. So yeah, that's why I've got him. What did you say? I've got him as like my top wide receiver. 2.

[Jason Moore]

You have him at 13 actually. So yeah, your top wide receiver too in a 12 man league. So you guys have him ahead of a few guys here that are not on our list. Anybody you want to talk about from this list? Vincent Jackson, Jordan Matthews, Mike Evans, Andre Johnson, Kelvin Benjamin. A few of these guys did not make our top 10 list. Maybe pick one out and tell me, tell me a guy that you think, I mean, Jordan Matthews would be.

[Andy Holloway]

You really want me to get my Jordan Matthews?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. 60 seconds. Jordan Matthews. Go. He's your number 10. So let's just talk about him for a second.

[Andy Holloway]

So here's the deal.

[Jason Moore]

People like new up and comers.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the deal with Jordan Matthews. Last year it took him a while to really get things going, but he finished with 67, 872 and 8. He did that on 103 targets. Here's why I like Jordan Matthews. The previous two years, Chip Kelly took his power smoothies and energized receivers into career Gears. We're talking DeSean Jackson, who finished as the 10th wide receiver in fantasy 82. 1300 yards, nine touchdowns. That was 20 receptions and 200 yards higher than his second best year, 2014. Jeremy Macklin finished ninth on a line of 85. 1300 yards, 10 touchdowns. That was 15 receptions, 350 yards higher than his best year that he had had in his career thus far. That's why I like Jordan Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

Is there any chance he's not the guy? That would be the only question because he hasn't done it. So is there a chance he's not.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's what I got for you. Josh Huff, Riley Cooper, Miles Austin. You think that, you think they're going to be the guy?

[Jason Moore]

I definitely think they'll draft somebody, but I guess whoever's coming in, they traded.

[Mike Wright]

Up to draft you. Know Matthews last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And so I firmly believe take a.

[Jason Moore]

Leap on somebody Jordan Matthew, that's a great guy to take a leap on.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's why I am willing to be WR on Jordan Matthews. I don't think I will be somebody is going to hit that 1300 yard mark and be a fantasy beast. Another side note, because some people might be scared of Sam Bradford. I took a look at accuracy of quarterbacks before and then when they got into Chip Kelly's offense. Nick Foles was a 60% completion, jumped up to 64. Mark Sanchez was a 55% career passer. That was his completion percentage in chip Kelly's offense, 64%. He increased 9% moving into the power smoothie offense.

[Jason Moore]

The power smoothie offense. I like that. That's a new hashtag.

[Andy Holloway]

So I am completely on board with Jordan Matthews being a beast.

[Jason Moore]

Well, we'll hop back and get one of your maybe sleeper picks a little bit later. Let's move on to number nine in our wide receiver rankings. Number ten was Randall Cobb. Number nine was is ODB. Odell Beckham Jr. Burst onto the scene. If you want to see a very granular look at his first year in the league, you can hop onto the website, the fantasyfieldballers.com We've got a really good article that shows the target distribution for Odell Beckham as the year went on and as the trust with Eli Manning was building. Odell Beckham sitting here at number nine. I like this spot for him myself. I think people who have him in their top five, which is I think the majority, we're a little bit lower on him than a lot of other websites or experts. But I think this is the right spot for him when you consider risk.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, there's a. So in my top 10 I've got two guys lower than I think everybody else would say and that would be Calvin Johnson and Odell beckham, which are 8 and 9 respectively. And so the way that I see it is that both of those guys can finish number one this year. Odell Beckham can finish number one. I have zero. Like if that happens, I don't think anybody in the league would be surprised. But he has a lot of question marks because he was new to the scene.

[Jason Moore]

You know, I call them CJ Anderson's but go ahead.

[Mike Wright]

So we'll see how low you rank him then Andy when you get around to your rankings. And so he bursts onto the scene coming in late off of the injury. So people weren't game planning for him yet. Then he was just a monster. And his stats, when I look him up, especially catch rates and the rating of the quarterback when throwing to Odell Beckham, his targets, they're all just marvelous, marvelous numbers. And I think that there is definitely the ability to finish ahead of say, the seven people that I've got ahead of him. But there's also a lot of issues that you don't know in a second year. You know, wide receiver, you don't know what Victor Cruz is going to do to the offense. You don't know what defenses are going to do to key in on Odell Beckham. And so I just think there's the guys that I have above him, I am just so in love with. I have no questions of. I wouldn't want any of them on my team. And I think they all have every bit as high a ceiling as Odo Beckham. But Odell Beckham to me has the possibility of a slightly lower floor. And not to mention, we have to keep in mind that, you know, he was injured. There's a reason that he started the year slow. And so injuries have to factor in there.

[Andy Holloway]

The injuries is my first point. He missed four games with a hamstring injury. It came out at the end of the season. He said he was playing with two hurt hamstrings by the end of the year. That has to be a concern because guys with the hamstring injuries, those things tend to be recurring throughout the career. Then my second point is why he is a bit lower than what other people have him. It's not because of talent. The guy is a. Guy's a monster.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You have him at 7.

[Andy Holloway]

It's because of targets where Beckham's pace, if you extrapolate it out, he was on pace for 173 targets. That. That's very, very high level stuff. I went and I took a look at Eli Manning because people. Oh, Eli Manning. He locks in on one receiver. So here are the top targets from his previous years. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Going through 2013, Cruz 12212 was Cruz.

[Jason Moore]

That was his highest.

[Andy Holloway]

That was the most on the team.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, okay, I got you.

[Andy Holloway]

In 2012, Cruz 143, Knicks 133. And I'm going back in time. So in 2010, Knicks 128. Here's the outlier 2009, Steve Smith. Remember the other 157 targets.

[Jason Moore]

So it's not in that one hundred and eighty demarice Thomas Echelon.

[Andy Holloway]

So he hasn't locked on a guy to that Demaryus Thomas level of targets where I don't see Odell Beckham getting that. Those kind of targets.

[Mike Wright]

Again, do you think those targets could change because of McAdoo and the offensive system being more passive?

[Andy Holloway]

That's the.

[Jason Moore]

And the talent of. I think Beckham might be better than any they've ever had.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. And those. Those play a part in it.

[Jason Moore]

But those are thinks and maybes for.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. Yeah. So Eli Manning has shown that he doesn't just completely lock onto a guy and that the McAdoo system.

[Jason Moore]

He didn't have a choice at the end of last year. There's no one else. I mean, it was Randall and.

[Andy Holloway]

And Donnell.

[Jason Moore]

Right. I'm just saying he didn't have Cruz in the mix and.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. And crew. Who knows if Cruz is going to be back or not to the patella tendon injuries are extremely hard to come back from. But. So I'm still on board with Beckham. I'm just trying to temper my. My level of desire based on where.

[Jason Moore]

We have him ranked. He's the guy that you let other people fall in love with. So you can get one of the guys that we have ranked higher. Pretty much. So let's move on to number eight on our list here. This one surprises me, I guess I should say when I say our list. I haven't compiled my wide receiver rankings yet. So this is the consensus rankings of Jason and the fantasy hitman here. So number eight is Alshon Jeffrey. Alshon Jeffrey. So couple bullet points I can throw out there before I let you guys kind of talk about him. He's going to be missing Brandon Marshall for the first time in his career.

[Andy Holloway]

Precisely.

[Jason Moore]

And Mark Tressman is gone now from that offense. And so Alison Jeffries, he's an awesome talent. I love the guy. I don't know if I would have him this high myself. So break it down for me.

[Andy Holloway]

One of you guys, Jay Cutler is still in Chicago. Jay Cutler is the opposite of what I was just talking about. Jay Cutler locks into one guy. That guy gets the absolute lion's share of the targets real quickly. I'll go through them. Brandon Marshall's targets in 2013. 164, 2012, 1922-0091-5418-1170. Brandon Marshall got every single pass that Jay Cutler threw. Now this. This previous year, he. Sorry. ALSHON Jeffrey finished 11th with only 145 targets in the games where Brandon Marshall was not playing. Or. I'm sorry, when. When Brandon Marshall was in, he averaged nine targets. A week when Brandon Marshall was out, he bumped up to 11. He averaged double digit targets. So with those targets, Alshon Jeffrey has the talent to be a fantasy beast.

[Jason Moore]

Big body, touchdown guy, anything. You have him about the same place. Jason, you have him at number nine on your list. Mike, you have him at eight. So you both have them in that top 10. Yeah, for the same.

[Mike Wright]

For the same reason. I mean, Alshon Jeffrey will get all of the first looks. Every single play. He will get all of the first looks and he is a good enough talent. Like that's the worry, right? Some guys when they look, lose that number one guy, that number two wide receiver, he can't take the step to be a number one wide receiver. You lose the star and you have big hopes. But Ashon Jeffrey is a beast. He's 6, 3, what, 215, 220. He has proven when Brandon Marshall was out of the game that he is a go to nonstop wide receiver 1. So I see no possibility of him not being able to replicate what Brandon Marshall did when Brandon Marshall was, you know, higher up in his career. I love Alshon Jeffrey this year. I was worried. I wanted to go back and look at how did he perform when Brandon Marshall was out and he just ate it up. He soaked it up and was a star. And so Alshon Jeffrey is going to be an absolute wide receiver one next year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think that that could definitely happen. I think that it's hard to say a superior. I mean, we all agree DeAndre Hopkins is talented, right? Yeah, he has talent. So him stepping into Andre Johnson's role doesn't mean obviously that he's going to put up Andre Johnson numbers. They're different guys. I like Jeffrey a lot. I just don't know what that offense is. I probably have him about the same spot, so not too bad.

[Andy Holloway]

The question is they've gone. They're all in on Cutler. His money for next year is guaranteed. When the bullets start flying and the game starts going. You think Jay Cutler is going to give a crap what play is called? No, because he's smoking Jake Cudi. He does what he wants and he's going to.

[Jason Moore]

Don't sleep on Martell's Bennett. That's all I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

I still like Bennett, but even with Bennett there, Alshon Jeffrey, like Jason said, he's going to be the first look, third down. The ball is going to Jeffrey. He's going to somewhere where he trusts.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, absolutely. Number seven on our list. Moving on from Alshon Jeffrey. So we went Cobb, beckham, Jeffrey, number seven is the tried and true A.J.

[Andy Holloway]

Green. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

A.J. green. The man with infinite talent and the man with very finite. Yeah, Finn at quarterback play.

[Andy Holloway]

The man with a red rocket problem.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So how. Where is he going to be this year? Because he's the guy who's finished in that top three before. He has all the talent in the world. He's a big body, he's a downfield threat, he's going to score touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

He was the name that, when I was done stating all the guys that surprised me the most, on the upside, I was really surprised to see how high I was on AJ Green, just based on. I looked back, you know, watched some tape and looked at his stats from the past. And while nobody likes Andy Dalton and we wish he had a better quarterback because, you know, sky would be the limit. He's always had Andy Dalton. He's finished number two before, and his years in the past have been incredible. And a couple years ago, I remember A.J. green was almost the love affair that Odell Beckham is getting now. And he had, you know, the same quarterback then that he has now. And I think we forget how injured AJ Green was last year, how hobbled he was coming in, how hobbled he was throughout the year. And, you know, being that hobbled, he still had a pretty darn good year.

[Jason Moore]

So I don't forget. Yeah, I think that's why people would sleep on him. I remember he was injured. No, he was beat up last year. And he was beat up at the kind of beat up where you play through it or keep trying to play through it and then you give up.

[Andy Holloway]

Eventually toe or something.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, look at his last two years prior to this past year. Just to remember, he basically had 100 receptions each year. He had 13 or 1400 yards and 11 touchdowns each year. And that was still with Andy Dalton. So I see no reason. And now they're going to have a better running game with your boy Jeremy Hill, and he's going to be healthy. I really, I love where you're going to get him because I do think people are a little sour on him and there's no reason to be. You've got to look at A.J. green, how you did before this last injured year.

[Jason Moore]

And I think the best job we can do for the listeners is to frame these guys in the context of their situation so that they can make decisions based on that, because the difference between Green or Jeffrey or Green and Johnson, who we're about to get to, it's going to be pretty negligible. At the top of this list. And so providing them the context for how to draft these guys, what their opportunities are, reminding them what they were before they were injured, I think is important.

[Mike Wright]

So in a. In a couple months, we're going to be going through tiers. And that's really what you. When it comes down to prepping for draft time, the tiers like, no.

[Jason Moore]

Shaw Moreno size.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Huge teardrops. Teardrop tattoos. But when we tear and rank these players, that is what's important. Because in my top six guys, my top six guys, the way that I've got their points finishing on the season, guess what? The point spread, Andy, is between my.

[Jason Moore]

First and my sixth, I'm going to guess it's not a lot. 10 points.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's four points.

[Jason Moore]

Four points.

[Andy Holloway]

Very astute.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. But I mean, if you think about it, it's not that way with running backs. Right. We've got Le'Veon Bell, as, you know, a huge gap between him and, say, the number six guy. Tight ends, Give me a break. You got Gronk and the rest quarterbacks. Where did Aaron Rodgers go versus the number two versus the number three? But for us here, these top six, and in my opinion, the top nine wide receivers are really close together here. If you're in standard scoring, I think that when you go to ppr, Antonio Brown sticks out.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So I'm going to say something here. Maybe the fantasy experts wouldn't want to be said, don't do it. Which is, you know, don't do it. These five or six receivers are. They're all cities inside of New York. They're all getting. They're all getting snow at the same time of year. If I'm a weatherman in the sense that it's where the touchdowns are gonna drop. Right, Right. Because if they have the talent to put up those. I mean, unless you're talking the difference between ppr, Right. And. And a completely non PPR league, in which case some of these gaps are gonna be a lot bigger. You know, I. I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't know if AJ Green or Alshon Jeffrey is gonna have more. Who's gonna have more touchdowns. Yeah, I know where their talent is. I know what you know. And as the season gets closer, I mean, we don't have schedules yet, you know, as we start seeing.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't need them.

[Jason Moore]

Well, okay, but if we start, as the year goes on, you're going to start seeing matchups and things like that. But right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Every single One of these top guys have put up double digit touchdowns. They're capable of it. You just don't know how it's going to fall through the 16 games.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely. All 10 of them. So let's move on from A.J. green. Let's move on to number six. I gotta be honest, I just talked to this guy and he called me before. He's embarrassed to be here.

[Andy Holloway]

I heard you guys were. Your friendship was blossoming. Yeah, like it like a blooming onion at number six.

[Jason Moore]

But for you guys, your consensus number six is Megatron. Calvin Johnson at number six fading because of injury. What is this? This is. Well, he's embarrassed to be here and he wants me to represent him on this debate here for.

[Andy Holloway]

I will, I will say this to help your pride and your ego, Mr. Tron.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you have him at five.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's still in my top five.

[Jason Moore]

Jason has him at. At eight. So I don't even know.

[Andy Holloway]

To me it's not so much that it's not really the waning talents of Calvin Johnson. It's other guys are getting better. Like there's. You had your run of being the best wide receiver in the league. New guys come in every year. I hate to break the news to you. And those guys eventually become the super. The new superstars, Andre Johnson and Larry.

[Jason Moore]

Fitzgerald aren't the number one and two anymore.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

It's funny you bring up Andre Johnson because that was. I was looking at him and his finishes before to have a comparison for Al. For Alvin.

[Jason Moore]

Alvin Johnson, Alvin Simon and Theodore. No, I thought maybe Alvin Johnson is appropriate at 6 but not Calvin.

[Andy Holloway]

Of how Andre Johnson had his second and his first and then he hung on. He was still a top ten guy but it. The wheels seem to be coming off. We. We kind of like him a little bit more this year. But that's it. Was that happening for Calvin Johnson? That's what I pop quiz.

[Jason Moore]

How old is Calvin Johnson?

[Mike Wright]

29 years old. We both know we've done our research.

[Andy Holloway]

So that I had to. I had to take a soul searching look at. Was that actually happening to Calvin Johnson? Because of the three of us, I've probably been the most outspoken of, of fading Calvin Johnson. But I looked, I took out his two quasi injured games where he wasn't just. Where he was just the.

[Jason Moore]

We only played. He only played 13 last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. So he was. He had 13 total.

[Jason Moore]

And then, and then you took two out, you said.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Because I'm not those.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. He didn't even put up.

[Andy Holloway]

He just was There he was, the catching machine. So those 11 games, he was on 182 target base.

[Jason Moore]

182 target base. Yeah. So that would have been his second highest in his career. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So he was still doing all right. Old snapback was still throwing the ball to him.

[Jason Moore]

So you don't have any doubt that he could be that number one guy again. It's just a matter of these other guys are in that echelon now.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

So where's your tear breakdown, out of curiosity?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, let me pull it up real quick. So the. I have, I'm on Jason's rankings. That's not going to help anybody.

[Mike Wright]

That's just making them better.

[Andy Holloway]

So Calvin is in my second tier.

[Jason Moore]

He is, yes. So you have. Okay, so these other guys that we're going to go through are higher. So Jason, do you have anything to add? You have, you have Calvin retiring this year, is that correct?

[Mike Wright]

No, I mean, I answered a listener question earlier. You know, can Calvin finish number one? Absolutely. Calvin Johnson, Confetti number one. Here is what I think is important to remember is that we view Calvin Johnson from his year where he was so much more dominant than everyone else and we can't seem to let go.

[Jason Moore]

No, there was one year, there was not one year. There was 2011, 16 touchdowns, 1681 yards. The next year I almost broke the wide receiver yard record. 205 targets, 122 receptions.

[Andy Holloway]

And that year has five touchdowns, 200 plus targets. That's outrageous.

[Mike Wright]

That is outrageous. But the target, Truly, truly. The receptions are really one of the reasons why when I look at the guys that are ahead of them and I look at the, you know, their floor versus Calvin Johnson, who, you know, again, we can't just say, well, you know, I know he was injured three games and then two games that he was on the field playing. He was still kind of injured. But let's, you know, he's going to be totally healthy and play 16 games this year. We can't just like ignore those things. But if you look at most of the guys, everybody that I have ranked above them, they're all 100, you know, reception type players. And so while Calvin has had a year where he got 122, you know, the last two years was 84 receptions and 71 receptions. And he started his career, you know, as, you know, 48, 78, 67, 77, he's not a career 100 reception type of guy. And so I just think with the Lions wanting to go more run and also I really feel the need to defend myself and my love for Calvin Johnson here because I'm sounding like I'm sounding him. I've got him ranked sixth or seventh. I think he can finish first. I would love to have him as my number one wide receiver, but there are guys that I would rather have above him because of their baseline, with more receptions and better offenses that I like.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, the point of throwing less. Jim Caldwell has said he wants to throw less. Whether. Whether or not they do that just remains to be seen. But it's out there.

[Jason Moore]

Other than last year when he was injured, he finished third the year before. And first. And first. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep him in that top three myself. You'll see that when my rankings come out. But fair points. You can't hold on to greatness forever. I guess. So let's go ahead and get into our top five. Consensus top five, job five. Two of these guys are under the franchise tag. So there's a little hint for you. Number five is the first of those guys. Des Bryant, Desmond. We were a little worried about that tape. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you hear about the tape?

[Andy Holloway]

We just got rid of that thing.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, no, don't bring it back up.

[Andy Holloway]

That thing is in Area 51 buried.

[Jason Moore]

With all the secret Jerry, of the aliens, man. So DEZ Bryant escapes the tape. Stop talking about the tape.

[Andy Holloway]

There's no. There is no tape. There is no goodness.

[Jason Moore]

So DEZ is six for Mike, Des is five for Jason. I think he's gonna be right around there for me. So Des at number five, can you go wrong with DEZ Bryant?

[Mike Wright]

No, because he's a touchdown machine. And that's why when I first did my stats, he was, he was almost at number one. I adjusted his touchdowns a little bit. But again, all of these top guys, all of these top guys for my standard scoring, I mean, are four points apart. So it's pretty much like a. Like a six place tie for first place. Six place tie for first place.

[Jason Moore]

Is that how you would say that words? Dez Bryant, you both have him at 12 touchdowns. And that's not unexpected. I mean, that's not out of the ordinary.

[Mike Wright]

Three years were 12 touchdowns, 13 touchdowns and 16 touchdowns.

[Jason Moore]

That's the Marshawn lynch of the wide receiving world right there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So I think giving him 12 is. Should be expected. And so that's one of those things kind of like how you brought up. The guy who's going to finish first is going to get, you know, a lot of touchdowns. That's the Thing we can't predict, but we can predict that DEZ Bryant's going to get a lot of touchdowns.

[Jason Moore]

So he's a lock for that top five. Is there anything that basically takes this year and is there anything that can knock him off this perch other than injury? Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

No, I don't. I don't see it go. I don't. I think DeMarco Murray leaving helps him if anything.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's move on then. Oh, you want to go for it? You got a second?

[Andy Holloway]

I said one more.

[Jason Moore]

We're making good time today.

[Andy Holloway]

That I thought was an interesting piece of information because he essentially, he averages 90, 1300. In 2013, though, he had 159 targets and finished with 1200 yards. The 2012, only 128. Finished with more yards. About 150 more yards last year. Last year, 136 targets. So. So he is. It's. It. Maybe it's an outlier, but it's shown that I think the Cowboys have shown that Romo needs to be about that quality and not quantity. Just dumping everything at him.

[Jason Moore]

Des is a big play guy. Yes. He's a lot like Jordy Nelson in the sense that he can be kind of gone for most of the game, make one or two catches that just change your fantasy game and change the real Cowboys season. So Des Bryant, our number five. Not a lot of surprises there. You're going to be in good shape if you end up with him in the draft. Let's. Let me jump back here for a second before we get to our top four. Jason, I'm looking at your rankings here. I gave Mike the chance to talk about Jordan Matthews and his love affair with Jordan Matthews.

[Andy Holloway]

You want me to run that back?

[Jason Moore]

No, no, that's cool, bro.

[Andy Holloway]

That's cool.

[Jason Moore]

But I see something on your list here. You got Vincent Jackson ahead of Mike Evans is here. You want to give me some. Give me the intel. Tell me, how is this going to happen?

[Mike Wright]

Well, we kind of talked about this last podcast, about the fact that rookie quarterbacks coming in, historically speaking, especially in recent history, in the modern NFL, rookie quarterbacks coming in target their veterans. When they have a stud veteran and a stud young guy, they, generally speaking, target the veteran. Vincent Jackson had a fantastic year last year. He beat Mike Evans in targets last year already. He had very similar stats other than the touchdowns. And Vincent Jackson has always been a touchdown machine. He's always been, you know, nine, eight, nine, seven high touchdowns. And what did he have last year? Like two.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Two. Touchdowns, that is the outlier. So I think with Jameis Winston coming in, I think their offense is going to be improved over Josh McCown, even if Jameis Winston is not quite there yet. And I think that next year, I mean if this, obviously, if there's a keeper league, if this is a dynasty league, I mean Mike Evans is the better player. He's the young stud, the Mike only.

[Jason Moore]

You can only take Mike's.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And the beast. But Vincent Jackson, I think this next year is going to finish ahead of Mike Evans, which. That's bold, bro. Clearly I'm not going to be drafting. I'm going to be drafting Vincent Jackson way later and probably by maybe not now.

[Jason Moore]

Now that you spilled the beans.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. But yeah, I do think that at.

[Jason Moore]

The end of the 140 targets last year, that surprised me for Vincent Jackson because he kind of fell off the fantasy radar. But that was the 11th most targets in the league. And unless my math is wrong, that's in the top 12.

[Mike Wright]

Good man.

[Andy Holloway]

100%.

[Jason Moore]

All that touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

And that was an outline.

[Jason Moore]

All that touchdowns. I feel like we need a drop for that. So number four on our wide receiver rankings. Let me run it back here. Randall Cobb at 10, Odell Beckham at 9. Alshon Jeffrey at 8. AJ Green at 7. Calvin Johnson at 6. Dez Bryant at 5. And now your boy chocolate, number four, Jordy Nelson. We talked about him a little last week. Jordy Nelson at number four. Anything we missed from the rundown?

[Andy Holloway]

Now, I don't want to.

[Jason Moore]

He's pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't want to say every quarterback that I said last time, but. But he's. He was third best of wide receivers with 70 plus 75 plus catches in with 50. Man, I cannot speak anymore. I'm just so excited to talk about Jordy Nelson. You are 15 and a half yards per reception, a 146 targets, fifth in yards after the catch. He's consistent. He, he's done it for multi years. As long as his hamstrings hold together. Jordy Nelson, to me, Jordy Nelson, I believe is my number one guy. Is that the way it ended up still?

[Jason Moore]

It is. He's your number one guy.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right. Jordy Nelson, number one.

[Jason Moore]

You have him at 1500 yards, 12 touchdowns and 95 receptions. And you can take care of business across the board.

[Andy Holloway]

You take super stud in round one, you get Jordan Nelson in round two, you go to the championship.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The value of where you're getting Jordy Nelson is unbelievable. And we said last week that he gets no respect whatsoever. When I saw that he was possibly get no respect. That's pretty good. Thanks. You know when, when I saw early today that Jordy. Jordy Nelson might be your number one, the first thing that went through my head when Jordy Nelson might be your number one.

[Andy Holloway]

There's no way Jordy Nelson could be number one.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, I was like, and now.

[Jason Moore]

You are the reason why.

[Mike Wright]

No. And it's funny because I think that's crazy. And then I run that back in my head. Okay. I'm thinking, okay, a guy that's finished number two twice, who is the number one wide receiver for the best quarterback in the league on a high power offense. Yeah, no, that'd be crazy if he finishes number one. I mean, it's ridiculous. If you're listening to the show and you're thinking the same way, you've got that flawed logic on Jordy.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm glad to wake up, man. Wake up. Number three, Julio. Julio Jones. We also talked about him in our last show. Yes, absolutely incredible. Into the year for Julio Jones, he almost broke a lot of records. They were talking, it got to the point where he had come on so fast that they were talking about him breaking. They actually interviewed Calvin Johnson about the possibility of him breaking that 2,000 yard barrier. He got hurt. At the end of the year, you guys haven't projected. You have met three and four looking at about 110 catches. Jason, you have him at 15, 50 yards. You just have him a little lower on the touchdowns at 8. So he could easily be a number one type of guy. Are the concerns injury related with Julio Jones? Can he stay healthy?

[Mike Wright]

I think he can absolutely stay healthy. He's played a healthy year before and I realized, and he's got a big body. He's not one of these five'eleven guys. He's six'three 220. And so I think he can stay healthy. I think he will stay healthy. I think, I mean, I've got him projected for less yards than he had last year, even though he only played 15 games and more touchdowns. And he finishes up as my number two guy with the Kyle Shanahan offense coming, who's gonna. Has always predominantly fed one player. You feed Julio and he's a monster. He had 1600 yards in 15 games last year, over 100 receptions. So whether you're PPR or not PPR, he's going to be awesome. And then to start, to start his career, he had eight touchdowns as a rookie, 10 as a sophomore. And then last Year the Falcons just didn't like the red zone and weren't a very good team. But I think the team's going to be improving more total touchdowns and the percentage is going to go to Julio in the air.

[Andy Holloway]

I will let everyone know if a, if an ending injury is coming from Julio because this is a true story. Two years ago, Julio Jones was my boy. And I frequently would explain to my wife how much I loved Julio Jones. Too much jealousy eventually started creeping into the marriage.

[Jason Moore]

You did though. You loved it.

[Andy Holloway]

One we're watching, I believe it was a primetime game. And all of a sudden Julio's not going back in. I'm like, this is, this is not good. And it shows him on the side. And my wife says, oh, he looks hurt pretty bad. And I said, don't, don't you dare say that. Don't you bring that evil in this house. Next day comes out that the screw in his foot was broken. So here's the deal. If my wife sees that Julio Jones is hurt, run. You need to sell stock immediately because she, she knows she has that woman's intuition because of my love for Julio Jones.

[Jason Moore]

So we'll be giving her a section on the blog just in case.

[Andy Holloway]

It'll be just a one word blog of yes or no.

[Jason Moore]

Not looking good from Mike's wife. I should add that these top three guys that we have were basically not separated. Right. They tied in our consensus rankings.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, Julio Jones.

[Jason Moore]

So Julio could as well. He's. This is a three way tie for number one. Let's just go there.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's call it a three way.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. That just happened. Three way tyranny. Number one, Julio Jones at number three. Number two is the tried and true. I think he tries to replicate his exact statistics every year. He plays DT Demarious Thomas, the master of the screen game. One of my favorite guys for his consistency. One of the fun fact here from our top four, this wasn't done on purpose, but it's why these guys are here. They are the top four guys who had targets last year. Top four target numbers last year. So from a consistency standpoint, from knowing what you're going to get, it's hard to argue with that and they've done it for multiple years. So demarius Thomas at number two. A little bit of a shake up at the offense on the offensive side of the ball. You have Julius Thomas is gone. Wes Welker is gone. Any things standing out for Demaryius this year? I mean, he's coming into. He's a Contract year. He's on a franchise tag.

[Andy Holloway]

He always loved that. The thing that stood out to me when I was breaking down the numbers was the reason why he's only fourth in my list was the outlier of targets. In 2014 he was at 184, which is an astronomical amount of targets. The two previous years in the Manning era, he was at 142 and 143. So I just, I don't see him duplicating 180 plus targets. However. He's great. And what's you. You talked about the screen game and Julio Jones and DEZ are the same. It's fantastic. And Antonio Brown, it's fantastic and so is Jordy Nelson. But to get a guy who isn't just the deep threat but who a guy who they try and they throw to the screen to him three to four times a game and you can almost guarantee it's going to work at least once.

[Jason Moore]

It's yeah for 20, 30 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantastic to get those cheapy points that are. That are just sure fired.

[Jason Moore]

I want, I wonder how many times the. The running game of Denver, which was kind of obviously CJ Anderson got it together towards the end of the year but for a period of time it was just really messi. I wonder how much of that because a lot of these teams will screen to. You know it's a form of the running game is quick screens. So you wonder if some of those target numbers being up in the 180s had to do with just. Okay, instead of handing it off to Ronnie Hillman or Juwan Thompson here I'm gonna throw it into. And the funny thing is he dropped a lot of those targets. That was the crazy thing. He had a lot of short drops that were infuriating for. But he still had a monster year. So did you have something you wanted to say on demarius, Jason?

[Mike Wright]

I just think his numbers are so reliable. I, you know, I agree with you as an outlier on targets but for this year's projections I gave him 11 less receptions. So you know, he. The last three years he's had 94 receptions, 92 receptions and then 111. So split the difference. Say he gets 100 balls and I still have him finishing tied for first.

[Jason Moore]

So he's a. He's tied with Julio as our three way tie for number one. And then the number one guy, the guy that's been absent so far from the list, the guy who also doesn't get as much respect as he deserves.

[Mike Wright]

True.

[Jason Moore]

Just like Jordy Nelson, this guy because he's small. Antonio Brown, hardest working wide receiver in football, I'm convinced of it. And a guy that had just dominated last year. Absolutely. Price dominated. As close to it as we've had in a while.

[Andy Holloway]

And have you ever seen him actually interviewed, especially with his son?

[Jason Moore]

Does he score touchdowns during the interview as well?

[Andy Holloway]

Pretty much. He scores touchdowns with your heart because the, the man is a gentleman.

[Jason Moore]

He is a scholar.

[Andy Holloway]

He is a fantastic man. He seems like a. An actual. One of those true role models.

[Jason Moore]

So props to. It's just.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's just a nice thing to see a guy who you want to root for real life fantasy. And you can point to your kids and say, hey, look what this guy's doing and, and how he's doing it.

[Jason Moore]

That's exactly how I feel about demarius.

[Andy Holloway]

More Daenerys.

[Jason Moore]

That ruined the joke, didn't it?

[Andy Holloway]

I thought you just made a hybrid.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Who is this guy?

[Jason Moore]

I don't want to. I don't want to hybrid anything out of Demarius Thomas. Yeah. Antonio Brown was an absolute stud. So having him at number one, I mean, do we think there's a regression just based on how often he was targeted? He was the second most in the league, 181 targets. They have developing talent around him in Martavis Bryant and Wheaton. In the running game. Is it possible that he regresses a little bit?

[Andy Holloway]

It's possible that it regresses slightly, but I believe that offense is. It is what it is now, especially with Le'Veon Bell as the motor, you can't not play eight in the box. If you put seven in the box, Le'Veon is going to gash you if you put eight in the box. Nice little quick slant or a screen. Antonio Brown or you take the shot with Bryant. I love the Pittsburgh steeler offense, but Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are the cogs that really make it, that turn it from average into high powered.

[Mike Wright]

And you want to know what's so great about Antonio Brown is not so much that his, you know, his floor is low, but his consistency is.

[Andy Holloway]

His floor is high. I made that mistake last week.

[Mike Wright]

Well, the floor is low to the ground, so it's an easy mistake. But from a weekend, from a week in, week out perspective, it is so nice to have Antonio Brown on your team where, you know, he's getting. I mean, he got 129 receptions last year. I expect that to fall a little bit. But I mean, if he has 115 receptions, you're never if you're in a PPR league, it's, it's just pure. It's over. You can rely on him the way that you can't rely on other big name receivers on a week in, week out basis because they have their booms and they have their busts. Antonio Brown will give you points to win your game every single week, week in, week out. And if you are in a PPR league, I think that his targets and his receptions just push the gap to be real and worthy of actually, you know, because my list here of where I think guys are going to finish is not the list that I would necessarily draft from yet. We're not to that part of the season where I'm saying, you know the value of where you're picking him at. But if you're in a PPR league, I think his value is worth that number one pick and I would definitely take him number one.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. He had 12 games of 10 or more targets. I was going to say beautiful, right? And he had that 5 for 50 streak going the whole year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's still going as far as I know. But I was looking at his game log of fantasy. He had one dud. One and, and you know the reason it was a dud because he lost two fumbles. He still had 74 yards.

[Jason Moore]

He's the anti Desean Jackson in that regard. He's going to give you consistent numbers every single week no matter what. And so that is our top 10. If you want to hear a little bit more about some of our wide receiver values, Studs, duds. Go back and listen to last Thursday's show and we talk about those guys in great detail. And so let's go ahead and move it on.

[Mike Wright]

Mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

That was like a delicate soft but change it up. Wow. I like it. So this question comes in from Norm D. Norm. Norm.

[Andy Holloway]

What's up, Norm?

[Jason Moore]

That reminds me of this old house.

[Mike Wright]

It reminds me of Cheers.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's what I meant.

[Mike Wright]

I never even heard of the show. What? What'd you say? This old house?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. We'll get back to that.

[Andy Holloway]

Pbs. It was.

[Mike Wright]

You remember that now I've got the Cheers song in my head.

[Andy Holloway]

Just guessing.

[Jason Moore]

I think it was.

[Andy Holloway]

That sounded like a pbs.

[Jason Moore]

I don't remember but they built houses. It was really exciting. We got time for one question today and so I chose Norm's question here. I've been offered Ty Hilton for Jimmy Graham. This is a standard scoring league. QB gets 6, 4 passing TD. We can protect up to 5. No more than 2 at one position. So he's got some complicated. You guys can read them there. Some keeper rules. But Ty Hilton for Jimmy Graham, what do you think?

[Andy Holloway]

No way.

[Jason Moore]

I don't do it because of positional.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And this has nothing to do with how I feel about Jimmy Graham coming up in the season as I have my concerns about him. But there's got to be somebody in that league who's going to give you something better than Ty Hilton. I like Hilton a lot. But for Jimmy Graham, I'm sure you could get an upper echelon wide receiver, one from at least one person in that league.

[Jason Moore]

For those wondering, Ty Hilton is our consensus number 15. Jason, what were your thoughts on that trade to Helton for Jimmy Graham?

[Mike Wright]

My thoughts were I was going to jump all over Mike and say he's an idiot because I thought that the question was backwards. No, absolutely. Jimmy Graham is way more valuable. I mean, we were just talking about how all of these different wide receivers can all finish top. You don't have that many tight ends. That can be a positional advantage for you. And Jimmy is still the number two.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. If you're me, and I'm a trading guru, I love trading. I say milk the unknown. Milk the unknown. With Jimmy Graham here, he's in Seattle. Who knows?

[Andy Holloway]

I absolutely trade him. I'll say that in. But, you know, I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go to like the A.J. green owner and say, you know, man, A.J. green had a really down year, even though Jimmy Graham kind of had it down here. But I'm going to that guy, going to the Green owner, to the Calvin owner, to somebody who maybe they soured on their stud wide receiver, Jordy.

[Mike Wright]

Nobody respects Jordy.

[Jason Moore]

Great advice. Great advice.

[Andy Holloway]

Flip it.

[Jason Moore]

Got to do that with those big names. Take advantage of those big names in the offseason, guys that you're not sure about. But remember, it's not just a matter of getting somebody good for them because you think they're gonna have a bad year. It's getting somebody who is worth it. Getting somebody who is worth the same value as what you're trading. You know, another guy if you're in a keeper league or a dynasty league, and Drew Brees guy that we're kind of fading on this year. He's a big name.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Go out and get a guy that. That's worthy of that name right now. That's how you win leagues. So lots to come on Thursday. Looking forward to it. We're gonna be talking tight ends. Mailbag questions. Some More news and notes. Some other things that we'll figure out for the show. Jason, would you like to do our review of the week?

[Mike Wright]

Review a source. Rex. This one comes in from John B. 31. 31. Five stars, guys. I listen to many fantasy football podcasts and I just started listening to y'all from the Southwest, I guess, the Great west, the Midwest and the Midwest I believe. Great commentary, guys. This is John B's time. Okay, John B. 3131. He says great commentary and thanks for broadcasting two episodes a week during this time of year. I agree.

[Andy Holloway]

You're welcome.

[Jason Moore]

You're welcome, John. It's our pleasure, really.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Football, football, football, football, football.

[Jason Moore]

That's right. So if you too like John B. From the South. Yeehaw. Enjoy the show. Please leave us a five star review on itunes. Click that subscribe button. It helps us out a lot. We love doing the show. We love you guys, all the questions you ask, all the feedback that you give us on Twitter and the like. You can also email us. I don't think I mentioned it earlier. If you have a question of your own, send us an email mail at the fantasy footballers.com we'll try to work it into the show. We're going to be answering more and more questions as the season gets closer. Obviously a lot of the questions we're answering now are keeper related questions. You visit us on the web at the fantasy footballers.com Any other thoughts? Any other parting? What did you think of that Duke game, Jason?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, so good. The way that they dunked.

[Jason Moore]

Oh my God.

[Mike Wright]

Did the three point, just three pointers. Now for clarity here for listeners, I sound like all of a sudden like I'm not a sports fan. I grew up living and breathing and bleeding basketball and I burnt out after.

[Jason Moore]

I got season tickets.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I bled out after season tickets to the Suns. I haven't watched in about five years.

[Andy Holloway]

So Zoolander, who's winning the match?

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye everybody.

[Jason Moore]

Go sports team.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodbye.

[Mike Wright]

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

[Andy Holloway]

It.