
Fantasy Football Podcast for May 17, 2016. On this jam-packed episode of The Fantasy Footballers, Andy, Mike, and Jason remind you of 10 important things to make sure you remember from last season that will directly impact your 2016 fantasy football draf
Loading summary
Andy Holloway
Hey, folks, seems there's a lot of confusion out there these days and the world is a scary place. That's why I don't go it alone. I get my draft advice straight from the horse's mouth. I use the Fantasy Footballers Ultimate Draft Kit. It's chalk full of all kinds of stuff like premium rankings, sleepers, values, breakouts, and of course, my favorite, handcuffs. So don't find yourself stranded all alone, shaking and afraid. Go to www.ultimatedraftkit.com and get yourself a road map to a fantasy championship. Hey, y'all. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike wr.
Mike Wright
Oh, Monica.
Jason Moore
Man, that was Jason on the harmonica.
Yes, sir.
If there's one thing he's known for, it's his campfire tunes. Welcome to the show, the Fantasy Footballers. We're back again. Tuesday, May 17th. The year is 2016. The fantasy football season approaching is the 2016 season and we are excited about it. We've got a great show today. I'm telling you, this is one of the best. Sure, David Johnson's not on today's show, but it's still one of the best shows we are talking about.
Mike Wright
We've got the best shows. We.
Jason Moore
It's gonna be huge.
We've got all the shows.
We've got all the shows. Listen, we got news and notes on the show today. We got a mailbag listen to questions. But the main event is going to be what we're dubbing 10 things to remember for the 2016 season. 10 things that you need to remember as you prepare your fantasy football team for success in 2016. And these are good. These are very good. So I'm excited about those. Obviously you heard the intro. Pretend Sam Elliott was back again. Telling you about our draft kit that you can get over atultimate draft kit.com youm can connect to us also on jointhefoot.com our fantasy football community on Twitter ffballers. And we're also on YouTube, the fantasy sports Network. We're on Facebook. We are everywhere. We're on Snapchat, right?
Mike Wright
We are.
Jason Moore
We're on.
Mike Wright
We don't snap as much as we. As much as we should, but we are there.
Jason Moore
We're doing the best we can.
Mike Wright
And occasionally the snaps will come through.
Jason Moore
Yeah, and Instagram too, I guess. And you can check us out on the web. The fantasy footballers.com that's where you can submit questions to this show. We always choose mailbag questions to answer on the show and that's where you can see our weekly rankings. Our pre draft rankings and get more information about us on there as well. Today's show after the show. By the way, we're going to do a little Game of Thrones recap. Yeah, the show after the show. You can only get it on YouTube. And that's after our podcast.
Spoiler alert. It was a really good episode.
Yeah, nobody wants to know that.
Yep. Gee, sorry people.
So before we get into the news, I got a quick question for you guys. Which player are you ashamed to love for the 2016 fantasy season? Look, if you, you know, follow fantasy football, all the different players, all the different vibes around certain players, there's somebody that you probably like that you're ashamed to admit. And so who is it for you, Jason?
Yeah. So my player that I really like might say love this year.
It's becoming something is someone that I.
Am ashamed to admit because I know on this show we are a couple of times going to talk about why this player should not be what, you know, some people think he like, like I do what some people think he should be. And that is Doug Baldwin. Doug Baldwin, who was in the second half of last year. The second half of last year. Do you know where he ranked wide receiver number wise?
I'm not answering this because you can be really sarcastic about curious if you.
Knew that he was the number one wide receiver.
There it is.
Yeah, not like a top guy. He was the number one for the whole second half of the season. He's my number one guy and he's on a team that I still believe Michael Keaton is going towards the passing game. He's the, I believe, the number one clear cut wide receiver and he's going at a draft position that he can be on your bench to start. So I, I really like Doug Baldwin this year and I am a little ashamed to admit it.
All right, I'll go ahead and give you mine. I'm ashamed at the amount of love I have for Isaiah Crowell.
Don't be ashamed.
In fact, I threw it out there on Twitter this week. And you always get two reactions on Twitter, by the way, when you mention player names reaction.
Mike Wright
They're always very measured and very thought out and mild.
Jason Moore
Well, I guess you have three reactions. There's reaction number one, which is I love the hot take. Right. There's reaction number two, which is I hate you and you're stupid. And then there's reaction number three, which is like, shut up.
Mike Wright
Don't tell anybody about him. Be quiet.
Jason Moore
Like I think I said TJ Yeldin and Crowell were undervalued and they're like, let's keep it that way. But I like Isaiah Coel. Look, Hugh Jackson is a coach that I've spoke about. You know, he's almost at Gus Bradley levels of my affection towards him.
Mike Wright
He's got to be at least Gus Bradley for you.
Jason Moore
Oh, you've been.
He's more worthy of affection than Gus Bradley probably is.
And you love Jackson forever. Back when he was with the Raiders, you were a Hugh Jackson man.
I like Hugh Jackson. I think he did. I think we all agree he worked wonders with the offense in Cincinnati. He deserves the head coaching job and even if it's the hardest one on the planet. And look, they didn't go and they didn't grab another running back to come in and make a big splash and try to steal the job away.
But Andy, they only had 14 draft picks. How could they use one on a running back?
Yeah, exactly. Well said, voice of public opinion. You've made your point. Look, Duke Johnson is a great PPR running back and Isaiah Cruell's value is limited in PPR leagues. But look, he's a good player. Do you know where he finished last year? Last year when Isaiah Crowell was on nobody's map?
I do not know where he finished.
Do you guys want to take a guess? It might be fun because I think you probably have no idea.
Mike Wright
Okay, Crowell, where did he finish last year?
Jason Moore
I would have guessed he finished around 30.
Mike Wright
I would go mid 20s if I'm going to go with 20.
Jason Moore
He was 29. He was 29. So he's outside of that top two. But I mean, he was close. He was in. He's an RB3.
Mike Wright
That's a usable run.
Jason Moore
He's an RB3. And I think it improves this year with a better offense, a commitment to him as that, you know, he's going to take the big back carries.
Well, I will say this because I actually really like Crowell this year for where you're drafting him. He is the starting running back.
Yeah.
The clear first and second down running back on a team that, you know he's being drafted behind many, many, many other backup running backs.
Yeah. So Mike, who is the player that you are ashamed to like for 2016?
Mike Wright
So it's a guy that I'm, I've been rising on. I was talking to, to you guys about it in the studio and it's not that he's bad or anything. It's just there is, there's this weird perception about him and that he's not a useful fantasy player, and that's Ty Hilton. And it seems strange. I understand it's strange for if people are hearing it and you think, well, but Hilton's been great. He's been good and that's why I'm rising on him. But it doesn't feel like he's been great. However, three straight years over a thousand yards, he's averaging about 135 targets a year. Even this year, I mean, the efficiency went way down. You can't blame him. Matt Hasselbeck was the quarterback generally the entire year. And when Luck was in, he. He stunk. So it's. Hilton seems to be getting pushed to the back of this line of a tear when he's. He's well in the conversation, at least should be.
Jason Moore
I think that's a pretty good take. You're right about his perception and the way he feels right now. Because I don't end up wanting to draft him in mock drafts. I don't end up wanting to look at him like what he actually is and the kind of value he provides.
Mike Wright
Right now he's going behind Kelvin Benjamin three straight years of a thousand yards.
Jason Moore
A rookie and a big contract, right? Yeah.
Mike Wright
Behind a rookie who's coming off an ACL injury and was the king of garbage time when he played.
Jason Moore
He was drafted as the number nine wide receiver off the board last year. It's just perception about what you think of the Colts offense and Andrew Luck. So he's definitely undervalued right now.
All right, let's get into the news.
Andy Holloway
News and notes from around the league.
Jason Moore
All right. Zach Zinner's younger brother Jared Hayne has retired. Oh, wait, that's not the same thing.
Mike Wright
There's sad news down for our. Our brothers and sisters down under.
Jason Moore
Well, not really. I think he gets to go. I think he's going back down under. Play rugby so well.
But they want.
Mike Wright
They wanted to see him succeed in the NFL.
Jason Moore
So Jared Haynes, 49ers running back, kind of multifaceted athlete. A lot of. There's some hype from somebody. I think somebody on this show said, oh, what will Chip Kelly do with him?
Probably Mike.
Mike Wright
No.
Jason Moore
Probably Mike.
Mike Wright
No, that there was. There were news blurbs coming out. People saying that they're excited about him.
Jason Moore
But, well, he's retired, so not going to perform this year. Goodbye. Hugh Jackson said it's too early to name a starting quarterback, so did not.
Mike Wright
Give the full endorsement.
Jason Moore
Yeah, the full yeehaw.
It's not too early for Andy to name a starting Quarterback.
It isn't?
No. Who's it going to be?
Robert Griffin iii?
Mike Wright
I believe it will be Griffin as.
Jason Moore
Well because it's unanimous.
Mike Wright
Yeah, but McCown is there and McCown played pretty well last year.
Jason Moore
Yeah. Doug Baldwin said the Seahawks will go back to the run game this season. Thoughts?
Mike Wright
I think it's interesting to hear the players say it. And in that same conversation he talked about his numbers going are going to go down, he believes. But when you look at the actual splits of passing attempts, if you're just talking volume, there's a very mid, a very minuscule difference between the first half and the second half of the year. But for attempts for Russell Wilson, he just became incredibly hyper efficient. Like he hit a, he had a special saved up and he hit the square button and all he did was throw touchdowns.
Jason Moore
Do you think that that number might be misleading though? Because you're everything about how they played with your eyes and watching them. I mean I don't think anybody's disagreeing with the fact that they became a pass oriented team. They took more shots downfield, they passed around the goal line to a much higher degree than they did with Marshawn lynch and ball.
Mike Wright
I think that's the key.
Jason Moore
Well, and so let me ask this. So is that misleading?
Well, here's, I mean the thing is, is I don't think we can take Doug Baldwin's opinion or insight, if you want to say insight that they're going to be a more running team this year as any kind of cannon. Because the question that I have is are they going to be better at running the ball this year without Marshawn lynch or worse, running the ball this year. I think that they're going to struggle more this year in their running game than they did last year. At least in the first half. Be more like what you saw in the second half, which was still okay, they could still run the ball, but it puts them in situations where Russell Wilson has to make the plays that he is fully capable of making. I said this in the studio today to the chagrin of some of you, but I have a sneaking feeling that Russell Wilson is going to end the year as the number one quarterback.
I think everything you said is very possible and very true. You don't just replace Marshawn lynch with another piece of some guy that you say, well, he's a lot like him. Well, you don't replace kind of a once in a generation type of talent. That being said, you look at success for the team. They went to the super bowl. They Performed at the level that they wanted to perform at when their team was oriented to the run and when you.
And when they were oriented to the pass, say the final play of their Super Bowl. Oh, sorry, Seattle fans.
Mike Wright
All right, but so here's the difference from weeks one through nine or so. The first eight games, I can even say that first eight games, average passing attempts 31 and a quarter. Last eight passing attempts, 29 and a quarter. So they went down two attempts. But that's just that to me is not a shift in who you are as a team. I think the running efficiency you talked about went down because they lost Thomas Rawls and they lost Marshawn Lynch. You had Bryce Brown and Kristen Michael. As much as I wanted Michael to succeed and he was okay, he just, he wasn't Rawls. What Rawls was able to get done last year.
Jason Moore
Okay, so I think we've covered all the different angles. Sure. So ESPN's Rob Demavoski, I mispronounced his name, believes Jared Cook was the packers best off season addition. Which is probably true because they never really, you know, have off season additions. So that's true. I mean, they don't genuinely bring in big name free agents. They draft their, their players. So Jared Cook, though I added this blurb because I wanted to briefly speak about expectations for Jared Cook. You know, how, how much of a potential flyer really is he?
He, you can have him as late as you want him. I don't think he's going to be, he'll, he'll be one of those like last tight ends drafted in your draft. You know, those guys where it's like some of them are drafted, some of them aren't. I don't expect the upside to be too high because Aaron Rodgers has not used the tight end. Even when Jermichael Finley, which we forget how long ago that was. Jermichael Finley was used, okay, but he wasn't a big red zone target. This last year you saw Richard Rodgers finish as a top 12 tight end, but that took the injury to Jordy Nelson to actually use him. It took a Hail Mary 50 yard touchdown pass, which really helps spike up the fantasy points to get some of that production. I think Jared Cook is okay. He's a talented player in spurts, very promising. But I just don't think that the Green Bay packers are really a team that utilizes the tight end. And most people will be disappointed.
Mike Wright
I think the upside to me is you look at Richard Rodgers last year, like Jason just said, he finished ninth for tight ends. If you want the tight end who's going to finish ninth because he will give you a great game here and then kill you for three weeks then.
Jason Moore
And the thing is, is Richard Rodgers isn't going away. He's not just like, oh, okay, Richard, Jared Cook's here now. He's the guy. Richard Rodgers disappears now, both of these guys are going to be splitting and fighting with each other. It also took the injury last year not only to Jordy, but what was the other tight end quarter. Yeah, I mean, so leaving Richard Rogers.
Mike Wright
The only guy we call that Sam Bradfording is when a new player shows up, you just leave.
Jason Moore
I thought you meant when Jared Cooks on your team, too. Because Jared Cook, Bradford didn't work out together. Everybody thought they would, that's for sure. But Cook is perennially inconsistent, that's for sure. All right, before we get into our 10 things to remember for 2016, before we dig deep and pull out some nuggets for you, I want to tell you about our friends, good friends of the show, pristine auction.com. you've heard us talk about them. Go to the website, go to pristineauction.com. check out the click on the football section on the side and click on the daily auction sort and you can see hundreds of daily auctions that will end tonight. So you can go on and browse all of the different amazing autographed memorabilia that is on there. There are autographed game worn shoes. I saw some turf from a stadium on there the other day. There's a lot of autographed gear. We have some in the office and so you definitely want to check them out. Everything's authentic. These are good guys. They're from out here in Phoenix and we've been over and seen their warehouse and so we really recommend them. Go check it out. Pristineauction.com that's P R I S T I N E auction.com we think you're really going to enjoy the website. Dig deeper, y'all. Let's go. Let's go. He really wants pulling that from the archives. All right, let's dig. Let's dig deep. Let's give listeners. Let's give the Foot clan 10 things that they need to keep in their brains as they get ready to draft for the 2016 Fantasy football season. Mike, we're going to let you kick this baby off.
Mike Wright
I'm going to kick things off here with the aforementioned Jason's favorite player of all time, wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, that is Doug Baldwin. And I did some calculating of the maths And I didn't know you could do that. I didn't either, but I mustered it up, I looked deep and I got it done. And Doug Baldwin has played five seasons. Okay, five seasons in the NFL. 38% of his career touchdowns came in a five week span last year.
Jason Moore
Is that a lot?
Mike Wright
Five seasons, nearly 40% of his touchdowns in five weeks.
Jason Moore
Wow. That's called, what does it mean, Mike?
Mike Wright
He's on fire. That's called an anomalous stretch. That is not repeatable. And currently Doug Baldwin is going at the back of the fourth. I don't mind taking the chance on a guy who did that in five weeks, put up 40% of his touchdowns. It's worth the, it's worth the chance to put him on your team and see how it goes. But if you are looking, just looking through the, the, the final scores and go, oh, Baldwin, wow, he did great last year, you need to take a closer look at the numbers and realize that that is not who he has been for four and a half seasons.
Jason Moore
So are you advising us to forget that part of his season last year rather than remember what is the, what is the key for the listener here and where they value Baldwin?
Mike Wright
The key to remember is just that. That's, that's a near impossible thing to duplicate. So if you are, if you're drafting Baldwin saying, oh man, I'm getting 10 touchdowns for Doug Baldwin, that is a guarantee. That is a lock. You're looking for disappointment.
Jason Moore
Yeah. And I shared my love for Doug Baldwin, but I completely agree with this point that you have to remember how crazy it was. I mean, I made the point that he was the number one wide receiver the last half of the year.
He has zero chance, very sarcastically, I.
Might add, he has zero percent chance to finish as the first wide receiver or I would say even the top five. But for where he's being drafted in the fourth round, I still like him. I will take the reins if you will and go to the next.
What do we need to remember?
Nuggets to remember. I'll stick with the wide receivers that we're talking about here and take a time to remember the rookie wide receivers in 2015 and really rip to remember the rookie wide receivers even beyond 2015. Because here's what's happened in 2014, 2014, we had a hall of Fame wide receiver draft class, something that has never happened in the NFL before. And when you look at rookie wide receivers breaking in, you figure you need to be a top 36 wide receiver to be, you know, generally Speaking. I mean, there's weeks. You could use a guy, but generally speaking, that's a guy who's rosterable. Startable is a top 36 wide receiver over the last decade. Usually the half of the time, there is one rookie wide receiver that cracks into the top 36. One, sometimes two. In 2014. In 2014, there were six. That's nuts. That's. I mean, and some of those guys, you know, Odell Beckham Jr. He wasn't even drafted. Right. But that rookie class was in fantasy drafts. Yes. Yeah. Well, obviously he was drafted by the New York Giants, but in fantasy drafts, he was not generally drafted that year. What happened last year was this crazy rookie wide receiver value going into the draft. It was the highest ADP for rookie wide receivers ever. Never before have in fantasy football have rookie wide receivers been valued as high as last year. That was because of the 2014 season. Was the narrative was, is there a change? Is this now a passing league? Well, in three of the last four seasons, there's been one rookie, including last year, one rookie that cracks the top 36 at the wide receiver position. So I am telling you, are you.
Mike Wright
Talking PPR or standard?
Jason Moore
That was ppr. Okay. So the point here, and I got some of that information, Kevin Cole, great, great guy over at Rotoviz. I saw some of those stats. I did a little bit more research into it, but it just says to me, this year, the rookie wide receivers are still being overvalued in redraft leagues. I don't think I'm going to have a single rookie wide receiver on my team. Unless it's like a Tyler Boyd really late or someone like that.
Real quick, what did you take when you heard that Corey Coleman had reported out of shape? Did you see that news blurb?
I did see that, and I think.
It says just motivation from Hugh.
No, I don't think it's just motivation. I think that if Kevin Coleman showed up in great shape, he would not Corey Corm. Corey Coleman.
Mike Wright
I think Kevin Coleman left Rotoviz and he has joined the Browns.
Jason Moore
If he showed up in great shape, Hugh Jackson's not going to say, yeah, he's out of shape.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think he was out of shape.
All right, so I'm going to give you mine. Let's remember for 2016, and this is. I'm preaching to myself. All right. More than anybody. Definitely not to Mike.
Mike Wright
You're looking in the mirror.
Jason Moore
Definitely not to Mike. Look, remember the power of the scat back? Yeah, exactly. Not that. No. The power of the, the scat back, the third down back, the running back that does not have a chance to be the bell cow. We're talking Danny Woodhead. All right. Who ended up the number eight running back in our half point PPR league with double digits in seven of his first nine games. You. Even if he gave you. Now he ended up eight. So he gave you consistency almost the entire season. But even if you only had him for the first half, that's double digits in seven of nine games. Consistency powerful in a PPR league. Gio Bernard, he ended the year at number 19, but he started the year with double digits in nine of 10 games and carried teams that didn't expect to have a powerful running back out of Gio Bernard where he was drafted. Even second tier guys like Bilal Powell and Theo Riddick had big time years. Bilal Powell ended the year with five of six weeks in double digits. Theo Riddick was just outside the top 24 in PPR leagues. I have a problem and the only way to fix this problem is to say these numbers out loud to myself. Because I always want to take the guy that I think can turn into Adrian Peterson in the fantasy universe, right? Like not actually Adrian Peterson, but the guy that if things go right, he could be a 300 carry running back stalwart for my team. But the problem with only approaching the fantasy running back position with that mindset is that you ignore one, you ignore all that. Dion Lewis is another guy I didn't mention, right.
Mike Wright
Who's very high and Charles Sims.
Jason Moore
And Charles Sims. So there are a lot of other guys out there. Those are the ones that came to mind right away that we need to remember that you can. Actually, I think this is the message to myself. You can lean on them a little bit. You can lean on those guys to carry you through weeks. You can take a chance on them later in your draft as the, as the RB2,3 option on your team and maybe even better if you pick the right guy. So remember the power of the scat back. Resist the urge to make every back that you pick at 300 carry guy. These guys can catch the ball and they can do it.
Mike Wright
Yeah, we all wish we could walk up to the redwood, give it that one spinning roundhouse kick and the tree goes falling down. You got to keep chopping, man. These guys who are going to give you the consistent seven or eight points to boost your overall score, that's great. And people tend to overlook that.
Jason Moore
You're right.
Mike Wright
They want the home run.
Jason Moore
If you pair those scat Backs with stud wide receivers, which I think is a strategy a lot of people are using this year. You can piece your running back together in a way that in years before you couldn't. You really couldn't piece the running back position together. You had to have one of those studs or you've got garbage.
Sure. So, Mike, let's. Let's get your next, next one here.
Mike Wright
My next thing to remember for 2016. AJ Green has never caught less than 1,000 yards. He has never had less than 1,000 reception yards.
Jason Moore
How do you catch a yard? I've never tried to catch a yard.
Mike Wright
I understand. It came out funny.
Jason Moore
So let me rephrase this.
Mike Wright
AJ Green has never had less than 1,000 receiving yards.
Jason Moore
All right.
Mike Wright
In a season.
Jason Moore
Well, that's pretty good.
Mike Wright
He has the longest active streak of any wide receiver. That's at five. He is currently going in the second round. High in the second round, which, you know, like. Oh, that's high. Except he's the seventh wide receiver off the boards. I get it. For some reason there's, there's a. A.J. green is not nearly the sexy name as the other guys like Dez and people going in front of him, but 1,000 yards, I mean, you're talking a level of consistency that no one else has going for them in the NFL right now. The Cincinnati Bengals have lost their wide receiver 2 and their wide receiver 3.
Jason Moore
Option 150 targets are gone from last year's team.
Mike Wright
Absolutely. And you're, you're talking about A.J. green in the years when it was just Green. Andy Dalton threw so many targets to AJ Green that he finished. He's finished multiple years in the top five. So I don't think it's that people are overlooking or neglecting A.J. green completely. But for whatever reason, he is the seventh wide receiver being drafted when he has the longest streak of a thousand yards.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I think that that's a great.
Mike Wright
Guy and he's a great touchdown machine. I know Ifert came on the scene huge last year, but AJ Green is more than capable of giving you double digit touchdowns.
Jason Moore
Yeah. I mean, I think the guy he replaced for most consecutive weeks was Calvin Johnson, was it not?
Yes, it was.
And so you kind of have that dynamic that you love with a powerhouse wide receiver where you have a quarterback and a wide receiver that have been together for a long time. Like Stafford and Calvin were like Romo and Desar. There's nothing to not like other than the ho hum perception of AJ Green, that for some reason, maybe it's just.
Mike Wright
He does it too much. And we've grown numb to the fact of how great he has been.
Jason Moore
Well, we all have him higher. We have him at 4, 4 and 6 if the, you know, if the ADP right now is 7. So we all agree on that one.
Mike Wright
And I will say this, each season he has played the full 16 games. Double digit touchdowns.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I mean that's what else can you want?
And that's pretty good.
Mike Wright
I'll take 10 touchdowns at 1,000 yards, please.
Jason Moore
All right, Jason, what's yours?
Well, this is another good segue because this is another quarterback wide receiver combination that is going to grow together. And it was replacing Calvin Johnson. Mine is to remember the Detroit Lions change last year in the second half of the year. This is going to affect mostly to me, golden tape. But the reason that I bring this up to remember is because what is your guys perception of the Detroit Lions right now? Are they a good team?
Mike Wright
No, that's their perception. Yeah. They're not a. They're a mediocre offense is my perception.
Jason Moore
Exactly. And I think that most people see their team in closer to the vein of the Cleveland Browns. You know, they're just kind of a mess right now. Plus they're losing Johnson. So I think the value of the Detroit Lions players is as low as it could be right now. But let me tell you some of the changes that happened last year. They started 1 7, right? They were a complete dumpster fire. So everybody was off of them. The guys that had a little bit of hype, the Amir Abdullahs, they stunk the first half of the year.
Golden Tate, disappointed people.
They fire their offensive coordinator after the Minnesota game in I believe week seven, going into week eight. Right. And that was Lombardi, who in my opinion should never have been the offensive coordinator for a team. And if it wasn't for his grandpappy, oh come on, Lombardi probably would never have had the job. So they fire him and they bring in a better named guy, Jim Bob Cooter. Jim Bob Cooter. Jvc.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
Let me ask you this and I think you guys might know the question, but the first half of the year, Matthew Stafford, under Lombardi was the 20th ranked fantasy quarterback. The second half of the year they had a week nine by. So it's a perfect split. The second half of the year, what quarterback rank was Matthew Stafford?
I'm going to, I'm going to say six.
That high, you think that high, you're not high enough. He was fourth.
Okay.
He was the fourth highest quarterback the.
Second half of the Year he stopped throwing interceptions too.
That certainly. Well, yeah.
I mean, because the offense was working for him.
Exactly. Lombardi came from the fourth. Yeah, Lombardi came.
Mike's mind is blown.
Lombardi came from the Saints for five years as the quarterback coach for Drew Brees and then he transferred over to Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford is not Drew Brees mentally. And that game plan that Lombardi had was, was too much.
Mike Wright
I will give him the credit that Stafford has improved as a real life quarterback over the past couple of years. So I'll give Lombardi the credit for that.
Jason Moore
Sure, sure, sure. And I don't mean to throw too much shade on him, but look at, look at Golden Tate last year. Last year, Golden Tate, in the first half of the year, he was the 56th ranked wide receiver. Garbage. Unusable. The second half of the year he was the 19th best wide receiver. That's a guy that's in your starting lineup. He's losing Calvin Johnson. He is. Last year, and I told you, I think an episode ago, I said I needed to go look at Golden Tate again because I wasn't sure. I was kind of starting to become down on him. But when I had looked at him early in the off season, I liked him. I know Matt Harmon, probably the best name on wide receivers, does not believe in Golden Tate. And it's very rare that I go against the grain on wide receivers for Harmon. But I do hear because last year he had 90 receptions. He had 99 the year before. Calvin Johnson is going away. He's the clear number one there. Marvin Jones is not going to be the number one wide receiver. He's got the chemistry with Matthew Stafford. He is a lock, barring injury, to get 100 receptions. He's always been a good yards after the catch until bizarrely last year, he was not good at that. I expect him to return.
Last year was a bizarre year in general. Yeah. With the split of the season that, you know, Calvin's inconsistent inconsistency. It was a weird year.
Jim, Bob Cooter coming back.
Remember the Lions? Yes, remember the Lions.
Denzel Washington.
Mike Wright
That's what, that's what my son would say.
Jason Moore
All right, I'm going to go with this, guys. And it's something, a refrain we've said on the show before. Obviously it's a, it's a big part of what we do, but it's part of remembering what you need to remember for 2016. And that is remember the power of the streaming quarterback. All right. A streaming quarterback is a quarterback you sign from the Waiver wire and start that week.
Mike Wright
Because they have a plus matchup.
Jason Moore
Correct. It's a matchup play. Lets you not waste a pick on a quarterback early in your draft. Sure, you'd love to find somebody you could play every single week, but a lot of the times you can't if you pass on a quarterback early. Look, last year, during the season, every week we have a segment on the show called Full Stream ahead. Each of us select a specific quarterback that we believe has a chance at succeeding in the coming week that is not owned in at least 50% of the leagues out there. And so we are giving you three streaming options, three different options every single week of the year. If you take the options we gave you last year, you would have ended up with on average the number six overall quarterback that will get it done in your league with your other strengths at your other positions. There were guys, look how many people's stories that didn't win Foot Clan titles last year. They didn't win their championship ended with this. Kirk Cousins killed. Kirk Cousins killed me.
I knew it was coming to Kirk.
Yeah, that was the first time I almost cursed on the air is I almost said darn Kirk Cousins was the reaction we got from so many people.
He is so unpleasant because unless you were streaming quarterbacks, listen to the show, picked them up and played them, then you won your championship.
The power of the streaming quarterback is great. Even the guys that ended up as week in and week out starts last year, the Carson Palmers of the world, even Cam Newton, Tom Brady, they went late or not at all in drafts. Blake Bortles, Derek Carr, guys that you could play. Don't forget the power of the streaming quarterback.
Not only is it the fact that you would have ended up with the top six, you know, quarterback on average, but Andy alluded to it, you get your draft pick back for where you had to invest. I mean, if you want one of those top guys, here's the guys that you had to pay a top pick for last year. Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, are four of the top five last year. And they all, they all hurt you through the season. Imagine who you would have drafted in the third or fourth round there instead of those guys. So I like that I'm going to take the next one here because it is a, it's a real good segue from remember the streaming quarterback. It's, remember the depth of the tight end position. The tight end position. Last year changed. Going into last year it seemed like there were a few Good options and then garbage. And all of a sudden guys came out of the woodworks to finish as good tight ends. Gary Barnage was undrafted. He doesn't have an adp and he finished as the, you know, depending on your scoring format, the number two or three tight end. Some of the offseason moves that have been made this year have only expounded that right. Martellus Bennett leaves and goes to the. Goes to the Patriots, leaving Zach Miller all Zach Miller all alone.
Ladarius Green.
Exactly. Ladarius Green goes. Dwayne Allen, his value goes up. Kobe Fleener goes. Both Dwayne Allen and Kobe Fleeners go up. And so this is what I want you to remember from last year. Okay? Last year, here are guys that finished in the top 12 at the, @ the best of the tight end position. Gary Barnage was undrafted. Jordan Reed was amazing. He was the 19th tight end off the board, meaning he's undrafted. You had Gates, who was a top guy, 14th tight end taken. You had Tyler Eifert, on average, undrafted last year. Benjamin Watson undrafted. So this is another one where you don't want to, I mean, I get going after Gronk if you want to go get Gronk because Gronk finished last year number one. Gronk finished the year before number one. If Gronk plays the whole year or even just 14 games of the year, he's going to finish number one. And so you want to spend that draft capital, do it. But outside of that, I think you're going to be really hard pressed to make a good decision drafting a tight end early. And let me give you some names of how deep this year is. You got Gates, you got Austin's, Ferrian Jenkins, Eric Ebron, Duane Allen, Jordan Cameron, I think is a sneaky play this year. Zach Miller, Jared Cook, we talked about Clive Wofford. Some of those guys are going undrafted and will finish in the top five because that happens every year, I think.
Well, we're going to talk about this a little bit more in the mailbag section because we have an actual question regarding the tight end position of voicemail question. But I'm going to say this on the I think Gates might end up being the steal that nobody wants to admit. You know, you talk about a player you're ashamed to like. He's getting closer to my list.
Mike Wright
He's already in my list, my man.
Jason Moore
Because he can't walk. He can barely even walk on the field. But he's, he's Antonio Gates. No, Ladarius Green and Philip Rivers and him have such a rapport, so just keep that in mind. Mike, it's your turn.
Mike Wright
All right, I'm going to jump mine a little bit out of order here and finish because I think the number three will be a little bit longer. I'm going right to number four. We all love the final standings. I completely admit when I look at them, they can overtake some of my opinions.
Jason Moore
What do you mean by final standings? You're talking about, like, the ranks of players.
Mike Wright
I mean the end of season standings, rankings. When I'm looking back at 2015 and previous and you go, oh, wow, this guy finished like Frank Gore. Frank Gore finished as the number 12 running back. Did it feel like that?
Jason Moore
Right?
Mike Wright
Like, I don't know. Certain guys feel it, some guys do not. Here's one example. Larry Fitzgerald, the wide receiver, 11. He finished as a. As a wide receiver one. And here is why. Weeks one through eight, he was the third best wide receiver for fantasy. He started like a monster. Weeks nine through 17.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I remember you bragging a lot.
Mike Wright
Oh, I loved him. He was great. Weeks nine through 17, though, he was the 34th wide receiver. So in that time period, is that making sense?
Jason Moore
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're good.
Mike Wright
So what I'm saying is, even though he finished 11th for half the season, he was not a huge, tremendous asset to your team. So it's good to take the, the final rankings into account, but you need to look deeper at the numbers. How did that guy perform week in and week out? Was he getting a huge amount of his production from just 2 to 3 weeks overall? How did they perform? So don't just fall in love with that final ranking.
Jason Moore
All right, I like it. Let me throw mine in here and then we'll let you finish it out, Mike, with your, with your last one, because I love the last one. Look, we have. Remember the Lions? I'm gonna throw out another one here. Remember the Patriots? All right, Everybody has a reason to, you know, not like the Patriots, unless you're a Patriots fan. Maybe it's spite, maybe it is jealousy, maybe it is age, maybe it is injury prone nature of Mr. Gronkowski or Lewis or Edelman. But look, when push comes to shove, until Tom Brady is retired and in a booth somewhere and Bill Belichick is sailing away on his yacht, they're going to be a force for fantasy football that should not be underestimated. Tom Brady last year ended the year number two, I believe you had the top tight end. You had Edelman, who was the number five wide Receiver until he was injured. You had Deion Lewis, who was the number 7 in PPR leagues until he was injured. And look, despite all those injuries, they finished fifth in passing yards. And what does this mean for this year? Well, tell you right now, breaking news today was that Danny Amendola had a couple of different surgeries and there's a likelihood he will not be ready for week one.
Mike Wright
Amadola.
Jason Moore
Yeah, Amidola. So Chris Hogan coming into the equation now? No LA fell. You have Edelman returning from an injury. Does Hogan make an impact? The yards will go someplace. You know, guys like James White who came in after injury last year were fantasy relevant players, even to the point of who am I thinking of? The other backfield mate that they had. Bolden. Brandon Bolden at times. The thing that I want everyone to remember about the Patriots is that the weapons around Brady, the key and the cog is Brady. Right. And yes, he might get suspended for the beginning of the year. We need to remember that too. But that could push down value of Patriot players. It could push down value. You know, Martellus Bennett could come onto the scene if Gronk was hurt again. Just don't be afraid of using the weapons in New England. I think we saw last year that as long as Brady's active, they're a force. So what is the final remember?
Mike Wright
All right, the final remember. We're going to have a quick chat here about busting. Now. I believe it was last week we talked about we were going through the wide receivers and there's this perception is building that wide receivers are far safer than running backs. And I finally compiled all the data from last year to look at it. And as we expected, wide receivers were a lot safer last year. There was, and here's my bust parameters. If you were taken as a top 12 guy and you did not finish in the top 24, I considered you a bust. Okay, so of wide receivers in the top 12, there were three busts. Dez Bryant, Randall Cobb and now Sean Jeffrey. Running backs was brutal this year and especially because of it was the top guys who busted out. There were six busts in the top 12. All right, so 50%. Now that you can go back to last year or 2014, I should say three busts for wide receiver, only three busts for running back. You go back to 2013, four busts for wide receivers and six for running backs. 2012, four for each. So this idea and how many running.
Jason Moore
Backs were this past year?
Mike Wright
Six.
Jason Moore
Okay. So this year seems to be more the anomaly.
Mike Wright
Well, six. I mean it's happened before and I and the worst part about this year is when you look at the final top 15, there was only four of those guys taken in the top 12, which is by far the the lowest number in in the four years I'm talking about. But to say that that overall that it's there's this huge discrepancy of running backs bus wide receivers just don't they're safer. I don't think I to my it.
Jason Moore
Seems like the research that I have.
Mike Wright
Done that's just not true. To say that it heavily skews to wide receivers, I would even say.
Jason Moore
But it says last year it did.
Mike Wright
Yes, last year did. And people like we said with the Rookie wide receivers, 2014 was rookies were unbelievable. ADPs for rookies last year went through the roof. So running backs are going to fall. Running backs will become a value pick. You're going to get stud running backs in the top of the second where that's not something that used to happen.
Jason Moore
Yeah, yeah. I mean all offseason last year, before this week or this year where, you know, the running backs busted out a little bit more, the refrain was just the value that you get because there's position scarcity at the running back position. There is the issue of that position being depleted quicker than wide receivers. And so lots of things to consider for drafters this season. Any final thoughts before we get into the mailbag?
J Just excited to get to the mailbag because we have the best listeners. Mailbag. Mailbag.
Yeah, we do have the best listeners. We get a lot of questions. Questions. And we do our very best on Twitter, on this show and everywhere else that we're connected to. Answer as many as we can, especially on jointhefoot.com we answer a lot on there as well. If you want to ask a question, submit a question. You can do so on the website thefantasyfootballers.com Click the submit a question button or you can dial our voicemail hotline. 302464, TFFB and we're going to start off today's mailbag segment with a voicemail question. I promise we will.
Listener
Hey fellas, how's it going? I was wondering how you guys felt about this. So, you know, as I'm doing my mic drafts, as you guys highly suggested, I've been, you know, paying attention to like, you know, different positions and who's going where and who's ranked where as far as every single position. And it just seems like to me that above even waiting on quarterbacks at tight end is something like you should supremely wa. I remember the show where you guys were going through the difference in each tight end and what they had, and all of them seem like pretty similar. If Jordan Reed is presumed the number two tight end to go off of the board, I can't take that risk and draft Jordan Reed past, I don't know, maybe the fourth or fifth round because he just is just too risky. As good as he was, he's still very, very injury prone and I wouldn't take the risk drafting him in the second or third round. So I was wondering, do you think tight end is something you should wait on or is that a position that you can have a huge positional advantage over with Jordan Reed, Greg Olson, I don't know, maybe Chloe Flinger, Tyler Ifer in there. Your thoughts? Thank you. Bye.
Jason Moore
It's a good question because I think he's right that if you hit on tight end, having that positional advantage is huge. Yeah, but what does it mean to hit on tight end?
Yeah, you didn't hit on Jordan Reed last year, taking him early. You hit on him super late or on the waivers. Same with Barnage. Same with all those guys. I think that hitting on one of the top tight ends, the absolute studs, honest to goodness. And I know we don't want to ever admit this because we're the professionals. We know everything. I think that you're going to hit on the top end next year mostly by luck. You're just going to happen to have grabbed the guy. There's reasons I can give you five guys that I think are going to be able to do that.
Mike Wright
Let's call that educated luck.
Jason Moore
Sure, sure. By hypothesis, you're going to take your education.
Mike Wright
He's throwing out science beaker.
Jason Moore
Well, my point is it's a matter of what it costs in the draft to take that risk. And so I agree. I mean, I'm not drafting Jordan Reed in the second round or even the third round. Not because he's not worth the value if he hits, but because I have to give up a really high quality running back or wide receiver prospect there. And I will not be in the seventh round. Whereas in the seventh round I'll be able to take a guy. I'll be able to take Kobe Fleener, who could be that guy in the seventh round right now.
Yeah, it's a good point. I think. I'm glad you spoke to Jordan Reed specifically, because that's going to be a hard decision for a lot of people because let's be honest. If he is what he was in the year, it's well worth the pick. And everybody who did it will be happy and everybody who didn't will be mad, sad. But that is the dichotomy of that kind of a pick. A guy who doesn't have a track record of extensive time being that level. And that's, that's the chance you take. That's what you, you know, you talk about educated luck. You know, the people that do it are going to feel really smart and the people that don't are going to feel really dumb. And there's no guarantees.
One note here. So I was looking up the ADP of the tight ends this year and I didn't realize. So Rob Gronkowski. This is completely different. This is off topic. Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots have a week 4 buy. Do you realize that that means that really, if the suspension holds for Brady, that's actually going to be five weeks into your fantasy before you get Tom Brady back for that for those Patriots. So just another thing to consider and.
Really that six weeks because he doesn't start playing until the sixth week of the NFL season, right? Because you'd miss three. You'd have the buy. You'd miss the fourth game, so. Or you know, the fourth game, fifth week. So you're talking about.
Right.
The way it's going to feel is you're losing Brady for half of the.
Fantasy season without feel before the fantasy playoffs. You're about halfway into the season. That is brutal.
Just like I said, forget the Patriots.
Good episode to find that on.
Mike Wright
And just a. What I'll throw in here to the tight end discussion is I'm looking at tight end scoring from weeks 10 through 17 because as we know, there's always the tale of two halves. And from weeks 10 through 17, the list of tight end ones is just littered with guys who were either not drafted or drafted extremely late. Watson, Gates, Rogers will tie Julius Thomas, Zach, Miller, Barnage, Ertz, Walker and Reed. So the only guys in there who you expected to be there, Greg Olson and Rob Gronkowski.
Jason Moore
Yeah. Yeah. So let's move on here. Sean in Boston. Hey, guys. Love the show and everything you do for fantasy football fanatics. He's in a keeper league and he has two players he's considering keeping. Doug Martin, which would cost him a fifth round pick, and Tyler Ifert, which would cost him an 11th round pick. He's leaning towards Martin, but the loss of Sanu makes me think Eifert might see increased Targets. I believe Jason just said Cincinnati lost 150 targets last year. What are your thoughts on this decision for Mr. Sean in Boston? Mike?
Mike Wright
Oof. You're talking a starting running back who was top five last year in the fifth. Tremendous value versus Eifert, who will. He'll lock up your tight end spot for a free pick there. I would lean towards Doug Martin. I'm looking at the format. This is a two running back to flex league. So I think it's pretty important here to have your stud running back. And then like I like we just rattled off.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Mike Wright
Just. Just dig the wire. Be vigilant in finding who's hot, who's got the good matchups. And I think you'd be better off.
Jason Moore
Going or draft Antonio Gates in the actual 11th of your league.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Who will probably finish.
Jason Moore
Who might finish like his. Yeah. All right. You agree with that, Mike? I mean.
Mike Wright
Yes, I do.
Jason Moore
All right, Anthony in Tampa, who should I keep in the eighth round? Hey, IFR Tyler Ifert, Michael Floyd or Danny Woodhead? A standard league. Who's the 8th round pick there? For me it's Michael Floyd.
For me it's Michael Floyd as well.
Mike Wright
For me it is Michael Floyd. I'm going to take that upside.
Jason Moore
We need to come up with. Is this the sound of agreeing? That might get old. All right, let's go to Jimmy in Anaheim, California. Hey, guys. Love the show and looking to bounce back after finishing in second in all my leagues. Oh, wow. You were so close. I was wondering if you guys could make or show me where to go tiers for your rankings. I think tears is the best way to go and I want to see yours.
I agree.
Almost footclantitle. Jason, I know you can speak to this.
Yeah, tears are the best way to draft. That is something that is very difficult to do consensus wise. Takes us a lot of time around the table. We are doing that this year. It is a part of our draft kit on ultimate draft kit.com we basically have our on there. We put up all of our rankings on the website. Those are free. The premium rankings that we have are. They will show you the exact projected point total along with the ranking and a video breakdown of those top 100 players for each of them. So that's just a little bit of insight of what's coming in.
Tiers are in there. So I agree tiers are very valuable in the way that you draft and so we definitely want to spend the time to break those down.
Mike Wright
Draft in tears and watch your opponent drown.
Jason Moore
Shed them drown. In them. That's even better. All right, that does it for today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Be sure to join us on Thursday. Check out the website, the fantasy footballers.com. check out the show after the show on YouTube. We're talking some Game of Thrones recap. And yeah, I'm excited.
Mike Wright
Game of Thrones.
Jason Moore
Daenerys.
Andy Holloway
Thank you for listening to a new another edition of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.thefantasyfootballers.com and follow us on TwitterFFballers.
Episode: "Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - 10 Things to Remember for 2016, News, Mailbag"
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
The Fantasy Footballers kicked off the episode with their characteristic blend of humor and expertise, setting the stage for an engaging discussion on preparing for the 2016 fantasy football season. They emphasized the importance of leveraging their Ultimate Draft Kit for astute draft strategies.
Jason Moore on Doug Baldwin
Timestamp: [03:40 - 04:20]
Jason admitted his unexpected fondness for Doug Baldwin despite general skepticism surrounding him.
Jason Moore: "Doug Baldwin... he is the number one clear-cut wide receiver and he's going at a draft position that he can be on your bench to start."
Jason Moore on Isaiah Crowell
Timestamp: [04:47 - 07:05]
Jason expressed his mixed feelings about Isaiah Crowell, acknowledging his potential despite concerns about his role and team dynamics.
Jason Moore: "I'm ashamed at the amount of love I have for Isaiah Crowell."
Mike Wright on Ty Hilton
Timestamp: [07:19 - 08:56]
Mike highlighted Ty Hilton as a player undervalued in the fantasy realm, noting Hilton's consistent target volume despite inefficiencies.
Mike Wright: "Ty Hilton... seems to be getting pushed to the back of this line when he really should be in the conversation at least."
The hosts delved into recent NFL developments affecting fantasy football:
Jared Cook's Retirement: Timestamp: [09:00 - 09:35]
The retirement of 49ers running back Jared Cook marked a significant shift, ending his potential contributions for the season.
Seattle Seahawks' Running Game Strategy: Timestamp: [10:13 - 12:24]
Discussion centered on Doug Baldwin's prediction that the Seahawks would revert to a run-heavy offense, analyzing Russell Wilson's evolving role and efficiency.
Green Bay Packers' Tight End Addition: Timestamp: [13:07 - 15:18]
ESPN's Rob Demavoski lauded Jared Cook as the Packers' best offseason addition, though concerns were raised about the team's utilization of tight ends.
The core of the episode revolved around ten pivotal strategies for the upcoming fantasy season. Below are the key points discussed:
Doug Baldwin's Anomalous Performance
Timestamp: [16:59 - 19:16]
Rookie Wide Receiver Overvaluation
Timestamp: [19:17 - 22:18]
Power of the Streaming Quarterback
Timestamp: [32:18 - 33:56]
Depth of the Tight End Position
Timestamp: [35:16 - 37:04]
Final Standings vs. Weekly Performance
Timestamp: [37:04 - 38:43]
Consistent Running Backs Over Studs
Timestamp: [22:30 - 25:18]
AJ Green's Consistency
Timestamp: [25:21 - 27:54]
Detroit Lions' Offensive Changes
Timestamp: [27:56 - 30:32]
Impact of Patriots' Quarterback Situation
Timestamp: [33:38 - 37:04]
Running Back Bust Rates
Timestamp: [37:20 - 43:16]
The hosts addressed listener questions, offering tailored advice based on individual team scenarios:
Drafting Tight Ends: Wait or Invest Early?
Timestamp: [44:26 - 49:55]
Keeper League Decision: Doug Martin vs. Tyler Ifert
Timestamp: [49:16 - 50:47]
Choosing Between Tyler Ifert, Michael Floyd, or Danny Woodhead in an 8th Round Pick
Timestamp: [50:19 - 52:26]
The Fantasy Footballers wrapped up the episode by reiterating the importance of their discussed strategies and encouraging listeners to utilize their Ultimate Draft Kit for a comprehensive draft preparation. They also teased an upcoming "Game of Thrones" recap in their after-show segment on YouTube, maintaining their signature blend of fantasy football insight and entertainment.
Jason Moore: "Doug Baldwin... he is the number one clear-cut wide receiver and he's going at a draft position that he can be on your bench to start."
[03:40 - 04:20]
Mike Wright: "Ty Hilton... seems to be getting pushed to the back of this line when he really should be in the conversation at least."
[07:19 - 08:56]
Jason Moore: "I'm ashamed at the amount of love I have for Isaiah Crowell."
[04:47 - 07:05]
Mike Wright: "AJ Green... has the longest active streak of any wide receiver."
[25:18 - 26:56]
Jason Moore: "Remember the power of the streaming quarterback."
[32:18 - 33:56]
This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the Fantasy Footballers' 2016 podcast episode, providing valuable insights and actionable strategies for fantasy football enthusiasts gearing up for the season.