Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - AFC & NFC West Previews, Fantasy News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - AFC & NFC West Previews, Fantasy News
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Source: Fantasy Footballers Podcast Transcript

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Introduction and Announcements

Andy Holloway opens the episode with a promotion for Football Hall, emphasizing their monthly surprise NFL-themed boxes:

[00:00] "footballhaul.com you sign up, you get a value, 75 bucks for only $30."

Following this, the hosts briefly discuss their return to the studio after traveling to Chicago, expressing relief to be back despite the challenging Arizona heat.

Drafting Experiences: Dynasty vs. Redraft

The trio delves into their recent participation in a dynasty startup draft, contrasting it with traditional redraft leagues.

Andy Holloway shares his observations:

[03:11] "It was extremely fun and funny and interesting this draft because this was a group of guys who are not... we are redraft guys at heart."

They note that participants focused heavily on immediate performance rather than long-term potential, exemplified by the early selection of older quarterbacks like Drew Brees instead of younger prospects.

Mike Wright highlights the depth and unpredictability in dynasty drafts:

[04:34] "What does a redrafty draft look like?... Just, it was very interesting to kind of... balancing youth while still getting some of these good players for this year."

Podcast Milestone: People's Choice Award

The hosts proudly announce winning the People's Choice Award from the 2016 Academy of Podcaster Awards:

[07:10] "We brought home the People's Choice award from the 2016 Academy of Podcaster Awards."

They express gratitude towards their listeners for the continued support and encourage engagement through various platforms.

Fantasy News Highlights

Alshon Jeffery's Contract Situation

Mike Wright introduces concerns about Alshon Jeffery not securing a long-term deal with the Bears, potentially playing under the franchise tag:

[08:55] "Reports that the Bears and Alshon Jeffrey are unlikely to reach a long term deal."

Jason Moore remains optimistic about Jeffery's performance despite critiques:

[10:19] "Alshon Jeffrey was great before Gase and with Brandon Marshall... injuries last year, I mean, he has not been an injury guy over his career."

Tyler Iferd's Ankle Surgery

Jason Moore discusses Tyler Iferd potentially missing regular-season games due to ankle surgery:

[12:08] "He is likely to miss regular season games."

The hosts emphasize the importance of planning for such injuries in fantasy rosters.

Thomas Rawls' Return

Mike Wright shares positive news from Thomas Rawls about his availability for the start of training camp:

[12:43] "Thomas Rawls promised he'll be a full go for the start of training camp."

This development influences trade strategies within their dynasty league.

Corey Coleman as Cleveland's Top Receiver

Andy Holloway and Mike Wright discuss Corey Coleman solidifying his role as Cleveland's leading receiver:

[13:49] "Corey Coleman will be the number one receiver in Cleveland."

AFC West Division Preview

San Diego Chargers

Key Players:

• Philip Rivers (QB)
• Keenan Allen (WR)
• Travis Benjamin (WR)
• Melvin Gordon (RB)

Discussion Points:

• Travis Benjamin's role: Replacing Floyd, potential for growth but inconsistency.
• Melvin Gordon's prospects: Improved offensive line and team health could boost his performance.

Notable Quote:

[19:17] Mike Wright: "You can't like Philip Rivers as a late round quarterback like we do without giving some value to the two on this offense."

Kansas City Chiefs

Key Players:

• Mark Sanchez, Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian (QBs)
• Jamal Charles, C.J. Anderson (RBs)

Discussion Points:

• Quarterback Concerns: Sanchez's performance and future uncertainty.
• Running Back Focus: High expectations for C.J. Anderson and Jamal Charles.

Notable Quotes:

[23:51] Andy Holloway: "Yeah, maybe you would." [25:28] Jason Moore: "Mark Sanchez is worse than I thought."

Oakland Raiders

Key Players:

• Derek Carr (QB)
• Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington (RBs)
• Travis Benjamin, Reuben Randall (WRs)

Discussion Points:

• Offensive Line Enhancements: Potential top-tier unit improving both run and pass.
• Running Game Optimism: Emphasis on a run-heavy approach benefiting Latavius Murray and DeAndre Washington.
• Surprise Package: Jeremy Macklin’s potential performance.

Notable Quotes:

[31:06] Mike Wright: "I think the Oakland Raiders win this division." [35:10] Jason Moore: "Continue to be him until... he either can't do it, fumbles too much and is pulled or gets injured."

Todd Gurley vs. David Johnson

A heated debate arises over drafting Todd Gurley or David Johnson:

Mike Wright favors Gurley for his consistent workload:

[56:18] Mike Wright: "I'm taking Todd Gurley."

Jason Moore concurs, citing Gurley's high talent and volume:

[56:23] "Todd Gurley is an otherworldly talent."

Andy Holloway prioritizes David Johnson based on Arizona's high-scoring offense:

[57:24] "Arizona last year scored 489 points."

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NFC West Division Preview

Seattle Seahawks

Key Players:

• Russell Wilson (QB)
• Thomas Rawls, Alex Collins (RBs)
• Keenan Allen, Garrett Graham (WRs)

Discussion Points:

• Offensive Line Improvements: Reduced sacks and better protection for Wilson.
• Versatile Offense: Enhanced running game with reliance on both running and passing.

Notable Quotes:

[45:21] Jason Moore: "They have a prolific ability to pass the ball. They never really had to rely on that in the running game with Marshawn Lynch."

Arizona Cardinals

Key Players:

• Carson Palmer (QB)
• David Johnson (RB)
• John Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd (WRs)

Discussion Points:

• Carson Palmer's Value: Expected to remain a top quarterback with strong offensive support.
• Running Back Workload: High expectations for David Johnson as a workhorse.
• Wide Receiver Depth: Abundance of options but potential target distribution challenges.

Notable Quotes:

[48:51] Andy Holloway: "I still think that Carson Palmer is going to be great for fantasy football this year."

San Francisco 49ers

Key Players:

• Colin Kaepernick (QB)
• Torrey Smith, Steve Smith (WRs)
• Carlos Hyde (RB)

Discussion Points:

• Coaching Changes: Chip Kelly’s new offensive schemes and their impact.
• Running Back Strategy: Carlos Hyde vs. Todd Gurley and David Johnson.
• Wide Receiver Potential: Torrey Smith and Tavon Austin as key fantasy targets.

Notable Quotes:

[57:50] Andy Holloway: "It's bleak right now, San Francisco. I feel it." [62:53] Andy Holloway: "Use promo code BALLERS5 for footballhall.com."

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode wraps up with the hosts reiterating their passion for the divisions covered and encouraging listeners to engage with their content across various platforms. They tease upcoming divisional breakdowns and mailbag segments, ensuring listeners stay connected for ongoing fantasy football insights.

Final Remarks:

[63:07] Jason Moore: "Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter @the_ffballers."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Andy Holloway on Redrafty Dynasty Draft:

  [03:39] "That's an official."

• Jason Moore on Alshon Jeffery:

  [10:19] "Alshon Jeffrey was great before Gase and with Brandon Marshall."

• Mike Wright on Jamal Charles:

  [42:35] "Jamal Charles is gonna ball out this year."

• Debate on Todd Gurley vs. David Johnson:

  [56:18] Mike Wright: "I'm taking Todd Gurley."

  [56:35] Jason Moore: "Todd Gurley is an otherworldly talent."

• Andy Holloway on Carson Palmer:

  [49:08] "I don't think he'll be a late round value because I imagine in kind of... seventh round likely is where I see him, which I think is a fair value."

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the Fantasy Footballers' 2016 podcast episode, highlighting key discussions, insights, and the dynamic interactions between the hosts. Whether you're a seasoned fantasy football enthusiast or a newcomer, this overview provides valuable takeaways to enhance your league performance.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. Before we start today's show, I want to talk to you about Football Hall. Look, we've been talking about them because Football hall gives you a surprise box of NFL magic every single month. You head on over to footballhaul.com you sign up, you get a value, 75 bucks for only $30. $75 worth of awesome stuff for just 30 bucks. Hurry up, because July 20th is their closing date for this month's box.

[Jason Moore]

So.

[Andy Holloway]

So head over to football hall. That's footballhaul.com.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

We're back back in action, back in the studio, back in the saddle, back to, unfortunately, back in Arizona, back where it's hot outside.

[Jason Moore]

People are not made to live here.

[Mike Wright]

Man, you are bitter because your air conditioning is currently out.

[Jason Moore]

It's also. That is also true. You want to know why my air conditioning is out is because it was in the oven of outside.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, it does. Every summer this happens. I think I've had three friends now who's. They passed away because the air conditioners went out.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you can't. You can't live here without air conditioning.

[Mike Wright]

We're back from a much more humid place. The Windy City of Chicago got back in on. What was that Saturday when we had our first Saturday show that dropped. People seem to enjoy waking up with some fantasy footballers in their life on a Saturday. In fact, I had a couple of people, I think I said on that show, you might be mowing your lawn. And several people said that is exactly what they were doing when they found the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, you got to do work.

[Mike Wright]

When you're about to mow the lawn and you find out you have a new episode of the Ballers, life gets a little better. Unless you're mowing your lawn in Arizona, in which case it's still just as bad. So welcome to the podcast. Andy, Mike and Jason, back again, the Fantasy footballers. We're talking divisional overviews today. We're going through the AFC west and the NFC West. We're going to lay the land, lay of the land for those two divisions. I don't think I said any of that. Press on. I skipped some words. But we're going to talk through the individual teams what their. What it looks like for their fantasy season, what it looks like for them as a franchise, and what we think has changed since last year. And so this is a great way to get yourself ready for your draft. We had A draft of our own. And that was going to be my quick question for you guys. We had a dynasty draft. So we got back From Chicago at 2:00 on Saturday and right when I went home to say hello to the family, see the kids, I had to get back in the car and drive over to Mike's and we did a dynasty draft.

[Andy Holloway]

We did a startup draft.

[Mike Wright]

23 rounds.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I almost, almost passed on at the end. 23 rounds. What? Couple of quick takeaways for our listeners when it comes to a dynasty startup draft. What are some things that you might have learned from that draft or a favorite pick or anything you want to share from that draft, I will share.

[Andy Holloway]

I've done two startups this off season and it was extremely fun and funny and interesting this draft because this was a group of guys who are not, they're not buried headfirst into the dynasty community. We are redraft guys at heart. We're getting into it because we want to expand our knowledge. So it was funny to just watch the draft unfold because it was very redrafty.

[Mike Wright]

That's an official.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that'll be the word of the year is redrafty. So it was very interesting.

[Mike Wright]

What does a redrafty draft look like?

[Andy Holloway]

People focusing, you know, on guys who are going to be good this year. Maybe they don't have much longer to go. You're talking someone took for their first quarterback, Drew Brees, which in most dynasty leagues, you're going to see Drew Brees go towards the back because he is very, he's very old. He is ancient for an NFL player not long for this league. So it's just, it was very interesting to kind of for me to have to balance what I thought was getting some youth while still getting some of these good players for this year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And along along those lines, it was very running back heavy for a dynasty draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Those first three rounds had a lot of running backs gone, just like you'd see in a normal redraft league. Not usually the case in a dynasty. Well, are we talking our favorite picks.

[Mike Wright]

About that or just feedback? I didn't have anything too crazy in mind. I mean, for me, I'm always surprised in dynasty drafts when you just see the depth of talent that trickles down when it comes to this balance of fear for, you know, are you drafting a guy that's young enough, you know, Jordy Nelson, he's an interesting dynasty draft pick. Brandon Marshall, an interesting. Jamal Charles, dropped very far interesting dynasty picks because we know realistically that Some of these guys only have a couple of years left. It's interesting for me, participating in that draft to see where those guys go and how I think people go back and forth from fearing, you know, not being a viable team in two years to, oh, no, I do want to win this year. And I think that was the interesting thing for me. I ended up with Brandon Marshall on my team, made a little rookie draft trade to acquire a mid round pick to draft Brandon Marshall where he was, because I wanted to buy into the next couple of years. But yeah, that was interesting.

[Jason Moore]

I think one of the picks that I liked the most was Kevin White in the. In the 50s. I mean, if you look back, that's.

[Andy Holloway]

And for a normal dynasty startup, that's extremely low. Like, he usually goes much higher than that.

[Jason Moore]

Certainly compare him to Amari Cooper. Right? Andy, you took Amari Cooper with your first round pick eighth overall. Right. Granted, you have subsequently already traded him because you are Mr. Trade, but. But you still took him eighth overall. And you think last year going into the draft you had it was who's better, right? Kevin White or Amari Cooper? White missed his entire rookie season.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

But if they're the same talent, the same draft, the same value going into the last year, it just shows he could be a real steal, you know, 50 picks later.

[Mike Wright]

I want to say this in case somebody on Twitter wants to chime in. I traded Amari Cooper, Gio Bernard, and the second round rookie pick in exchange for Julio Jones. And so I'm curious what the other the sentiment out there will be. I was very happy with it, but my team is a little more focused on winning today. My guess, Mari is five years younger.

[Andy Holloway]

My guess is the dynasty community. The. The general dynasty public would say you overpaid.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, well, I'll be curious to see it. So before I go on here, I do want to take a minute. We did two shows. We had to prerecord two shows because we were out of town in Chicago last week. And so this is the first show since we got back. And I do want to say thank you to everybody who has voted and supported us. We did bring home.

[Andy Holloway]

We did it again. We did it again.

[Mike Wright]

You did it again.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we Foot Clan.

[Mike Wright]

We're all involved. We brought home the People's Choice award from the 2016 Academy of Podcaster Awards.

[Jason Moore]

You got to go to YouTube and check out that beautiful piece on the desk.

[Mike Wright]

We do have the trophy here. And so thank you very much for the support. It is incredible. I believe Mike has said it Best when he said you don't get into a land war in Asia and you don't make a vote. That depends on that. Lets the Foot Clan participate unless you want the fantasy footballers to win.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're going down if you're going down.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you for that. We had a good time at the conference and at the awards ceremony and we are back and we are ready to bring it more Foot clan titles in 2016, I can promise you that. So connect with us on jointhefoot.com Our fantasy football community where you can grab an extra episode every week. You can also head over to the website thefantasyfootballers.com I told you we're talking AFC west and NFC west today. There are divisional write ups on the website. Now we are adding articles. Not quite every day. Or is it? I mean, it's almost every day.

[Jason Moore]

It is absolutely every day. You can go to the website every single day, see a new article, new information, great writers. The content is par excellence.

[Mike Wright]

Very good. Very, very good. Yeah. So there's always something new. New free resources on the website. Make sure you follow us on Twitter ffballers. That way you can find out all the new and exciting things, breaking news in the fantasy football world, those type of things. We're also on YouTube, as Jason said, the Fantasy Sports Network and Facebook if you want to go like us over on Facebook. So let's go ahead and get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's do it. Let's talk Alshon Jeffrey.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Jason says yeah, because he likes this bit of news. Basically the reports of later that the Bears and Alshon Jeffrey are unlikely to reach a long term deal. He will play under the tag.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And this is very similar to last year. Right. Last year he was a contract year player and you thought, oh, I'm going to get a big year out of Alshon as he's playing for a new contract. Granted, you didn't get a big year because he was injured for half of the year, but when he was on the field, you did see that man. He was. And so the idea that, hey, he's going to have to play out this franchise tag, go out there and earn his money is great news for all the Alshon owners. I am very high on Alshon this year. I think higher than most people that I've seen. I would not be shocked if he's a top five wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Let me give you three strikes against Alshon Jeffrey and see if you agree with any of them.

[Andy Holloway]

All Right.

[Jason Moore]

Give them to me.

[Mike Wright]

Number one, Allison Jeffrey is coming off a year in which he was frequently injured. Number number two.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Adam Gase has departed.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Number three, Kevin White is now a part of the team and will be on the field.

[Jason Moore]

Those are three easy strikes to dismiss in the sense that. Are you surprised by that? Well, here's the thing.

[Mike Wright]

I'm surprised by that.

[Jason Moore]

Alshon Jeffrey was great before gays and with Brandon Marshall. So Kevin White and a different coordinator, that means nothing to me. And as far as his injuries last year, I mean, he has not been an injury guy over his career.

[Mike Wright]

How does Adam Gase leaving work towards devonte Parker's ascension and all the greatness in Miami, but not against Alshon Jeffery in Chicago?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm not. I'm not one of those people saying that devonte Parker is going to become a top wide receiver. I think that devonte Parker takes a step forward and I do think Adam Gase is good. But at the same time, you had Adam Gase last year not really be able to use Alshon Jeffrey that much. You didn't even need to see it. I'm not basing this on an Adam Gase Brandon Marshall. I'm basing this on a Brandon Marshall that never had him.

[Andy Holloway]

And look, for me, Jay Cutler is still the guy throwing the ball. And Jay Cutler loves Alshon Jeffrey. Jay Cutler is my favorite curmudgeon in the NFL who, who will get upset if Kevin White does something wrong. And we've seen Cutler over the course of his career. He loves to lock onto one guy and feed that guy targets. I heard, I read the thing of this is now the sixth offensive coordinator since Jay Cutler has been in a Bears uniform.

[Mike Wright]

That's Jason Campbell esque.

[Andy Holloway]

So he. Look at this point, color is going to say whatever I'm going to do what I want to do, and that's throw the ball to Ash on Jeffrey.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's talk Bengals right now. Tyler Eiford, ankle surgery. We've been talking about the rumors that he could miss some of the regular season. Almost planning that I think in all of our rankings for him to possibly miss a game or two. It's looking that way. Director of personnel Duke Tobin said that he is likely to miss regular season games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's. It's good to get an update on this. So really, really plan everyone out there plan for ifer to miss at least one or two.

[Mike Wright]

Isn't it one of the most annoying things in fantasy football to have to. Whether it was Julius Thomas Last year, Antonio Gates last year. Like have to roster a tight end that you can't play for the first couple weeks because then you have to roster, too.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. If you're taking Tyler Ifert, you are using two of your spots on a tight end at your draft and sacrificing the ability to draft another sleeper or another flyer. You got to. You have to keep that in mind.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Thomas Rawls promised he'll be a full go for the start of training camp.

[Andy Holloway]

And this was out of. Directly from Thomas Rawls. They went to the source of the information.

[Mike Wright]

That's really good news because start a training camp is not the same thing as saying, hey, I'll be ready for the season to participate.

[Jason Moore]

I might or might not have made several trade offers in our aforementioned Dynasty league when I saw this. And the answer is I might. I did.

[Mike Wright]

There you go. That's. That's one of the things I like about this show is that we don't just give you information. We apparently act on it very quickly.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. This is where you want to. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And say if you want to really believe that we have an opinion. Just, you know, that's a good situation. Jason has already tried to take advantage of people.

[Jason Moore]

Is his values too low? If he's going to be back by training camp, then he's the guy. And his value will be much higher come draft day. If you're drafting late in August.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not sure this is breaking news, but the Cleveland Plain Dealers. Mary Kay Kebab. I don't know how to pronounce her last name. Cabo Cabot reports. All signs point to Corey Coleman being the number one receiver in Cleveland.

[Andy Holloway]

There was just. We've had discussions on this show. Is Corey Coleman automatically the number one? And if. If all the reports coming out of camps, watching the practices, our Coleman will be the one that's just kind of that. Just that little confirmation for everybody.

[Mike Wright]

All right. One of the guys I drafted in the Dynasty league will tie it says he caught everything during the off season program. We don't know whether it's going to be Ty or Danelle. I've leaned tie Mike has leaned high.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Wasn't that the exact same verbiage used on Sterling Shepard that he caught everything? Like, I think those New York beat writers really need to.

[Mike Wright]

Eli man, you know what this does?

[Jason Moore]

I was going to say completion rate.

[Mike Wright]

This does not say Larry Danelle caught everything.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

So actually I. From watching the NFL last year, I know he did not catch everything.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Will. Ty was one of my targets. I was audibly miffed when Andy snatched him up right before I was going to pick him up.

[Mike Wright]

How'd you feel when I got Tyler Lockett?

[Andy Holloway]

I knew you were going to get Tyler Lockett, so I just knew it was coming, so it wasn't as upsetting.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Ruben Randall's listed ahead of Nelson Aguilar in the latest depth chart.

[Andy Holloway]

Continues.

[Mike Wright]

Is Randall undervalued draft?

[Andy Holloway]

He will be if he's going to be starting a starting wide receiver. Look, there's going to be value for old rubes. We know he can get it done as far as scoring touchdowns. Maybe he can be a little bit frustrating at times, but we're talking great value in the late round.

[Jason Moore]

Well, Reuben Randall was not undervalued at this last dynasty startup draft because I drafted him and it was a good pick, you know. You know what else is not undervalued? It is Football hall. Football hall is amazing. We have been members of football hall here at the studio for months. At my Chicago trip, I was rocking Arizona Cardinal basketball shorts non stop because I got them in Football Hall. That is my team. When you sign up for one of these monthly boxes with football hall and you get all this awesome football gear, you get to put in who your favorite team is and you get one or two items specifically to that team this coming month. It's a hall of fame themed box. So who knows? Maybe good friend of the show Marshall Falk will hop out. Maybe hall of famer galore coming in this box. They give you $75 worth of value for 29 bucks. It is a super duper good deal. You go to football Hall H A U L dot com. You sign up, you get your stuff every month and it's closing on July 20th, so hurry up and do it. Use promo code BALLERS5.

[Andy Holloway]

BALLERS5.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Don't forget to use that promo code BALLERS5 for football hall dot com.

[Jason Moore]

Say some cash. Let's get divisional.

[Andy Holloway]

I hoped you had remembered to put it into the. Into the sound box.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, not. Not even close.

[Jason Moore]

That's one of those.

[Mike Wright]

Didn't remember whatsoever. I. I mean, Mike, Jason was in the middle of talking about football hall and. And I'm over here with five windows open, dragging stuff around. Man, I was so proud that I got it in there. And then you were proud of me.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, well done.

[Mike Wright]

Made it happen. And that brings back some good. Oh, what did I.

[Andy Holloway]

What am I doing now? Good work.

[Mike Wright]

Dang, I blew it.

[Jason Moore]

Foot shot.

[Mike Wright]

I remember that drop from last year. Though these were really good shows last year. Look, let's not let the people down this year.

[Andy Holloway]

The foot clan on the Twitter sphere was demanding almost daily, like, hey, are we gonna get those divisional shows? And I said, yeah, keep cool. My. My people, we're coming. Keep cool.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's start in the AFC West. What do you say?

[Jason Moore]

Everyone's favorite division.

[Mike Wright]

You're no Chargers.

[Andy Holloway]

We say that about every division.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we'll talk about the Chargers first. It's appropriate to start in the AFC West. That's where the last super bowl champion emerged from.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

So let's talk about the Chargers fantasy. Relevant players for San Diego.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Include Philip Rivers, somebody that I know we're high on as a late round quarterback. Keenan Allen. Keenan Allen is back from his injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he had that old hurt kidney. He's back. And just a. Another reminder that Keenan Allen was a top three wide receiver before he went down. He was on an unbelievable target pace getting at least 10 a game. Was a sensational producer.

[Mike Wright]

All right, and then you've added Travis Benjamin to that offensive repertoire.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And he will replace Floyd there. Malcolm Floyd on the outside. And people say, you know, what should we expect from Travis Benjamin? Will he eat into, say, the Keenan Allen? I don't think he does. I think he really replaces Floyd almost identical, which to me there's fantasy production to have. He could be that, you know, obnoxious guy where you just never know where it's going to happen. So he's not a guy I think you can depend on week to week. But his role could, it could grow. I mean, I think that Travis Benjamin is actually a pretty good wide receiver. We saw a high level production almost a thousand yards in Cleveland when he was the one. So now with a great quarterback and Philip Rivers, Benjamin could be a solid three.

[Mike Wright]

I think Benjamin's one of those guys like Floyd was, like many other players who will give you. If you can pick the right week with him, you can, you can be happy. He's the kind of guy that my opponent grabs for a bye week and I'm like, all right, yeah, he grabbed Travis Benjamin and then catches a couple touchdowns out of the blue because he has the talent to do it. Just going to be a matter of building a rapport with Philip Rivers.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

You can't like Philip Rivers as a late round quarterback like we do without giving some value to the two on this offense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think he's a good guy for dfs too. If you play daily and you want, you know, one of Those less owned big potential guys. Travis Benjamin's good. I'm not going to draft him in my redraft leagues just because I'm not sure which weeks to start and which weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Not Travis Benjamin or Reuben Randall.

[Jason Moore]

Reuben Randall. Right now Reuben Randall has the chance to be the number one on the outside. Yeah, yeah. So that's why. But the Chargers overall here, I think they're one of the biggest bounce back candidates to be a good team team. Because what you saw last year was an unfathomable amount of injuries. I felt bad for all my friends who were Chargers every week having to watch them cart 12 guys off the field week after week. That offensive line was destroyed, their defense was destroyed. And coming into last year they had a really good pass defense and that just got dismantled. I think they've done a pretty good job this offseason. Retooling. I was a fan of Joey Bosa. So if you look at the, the team as a whole, I think that they will be improved because of the acquisitions they made and then on top of that, improved again because of the fact that they're healthy. So that means good things for Melvin Gordon to me because game script is going to allow you to run the ball. And you know, he wasn't great when it comes to efficiency, but he has nowhere to go but up.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, and just to lay before you speak, Mike, I just want to let the people know where these guys ranked last year. So from a rushing perspective, they were basically dead last. They were 31st in the league with rushing yards per game. This was a team that, that gave up a lot of sacks on Philip Rivers who still threw for the fourth most yards in the league and despite being beat up. And so if they can protect him if he has his weapons on the outside, I think part of that is he was holding on to the ball so long because his receivers weren't getting separation. So Jason's right. I think with the health and the changes that they made on the defensive side, I think they have the potential to have a bounce back year. And they bring in Ken Wizen Hunt as the offensive coordinator again.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And with Ken Wizen Hunt coming back in, he was there in 2013. Look, the team was 5th in total yards and 12th in scoring when Wizen Hunt was there. Wizen Hunt is not a good coach or head coach. He has a great offensive coordinator. So I think that makes that's an uptick for San Diego.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's talk about Melvin Gordon because he may be the most fantasy Relevant discussion we'll have on this team. I'm a believer in Melvin Gordon. I'm also somebody who believes that if you swing the pendulum too far into Danny Woodhead's corner, you're going to be very disappointed. You had Antonio Gates miss the beginning of last year. You had Keenan Allen missed the second half of last year, and, and the injuries that we discussed, you know, Wood had benefited from a bad offensive line. He benefited from the situations we're talking about that Rivers had to deal with. I think if you have those guys healthy and you have Gordon healthy, Gordon's the future of the backfield. They're certainly going to give him the chance. And so I'm a big buyer of Melvin Gordon with the youth and opportunity on that roster. I know you guys are not nearly where I am with him, but I do believe that Gordon is worth an investment in redraft leagues.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, he. He has, I believe, a better opportunity this year than he did last year, because last year his opportunity was kind of taken away from him because of the offensive line destruction. This year he's in a better opportunity and he's in a better draft position. He's not costing you quite the same.

[Mike Wright]

And that's a big deal.

[Jason Moore]

You can get him late in the sixth, early in the seventh. And what's the risk there for the potential upside? Because when I watched film at the beginning of last year on Melvin Gordon, he looked good to me. He did not look like a bad running back. A running back that's, you know, three and a half a carry. He had some special moves, and I feel like the season kind of got away from the Chargers as a whole. So I am rising on Melvin Gordon. I wouldn't put him above guys like Amir Abdullah. Maybe some of the other, you know, when it comes to Melvin Gordon versus Matt Jones, that's a good debate to be.

[Mike Wright]

Ironically, Abdullah and Gordon are back to back in our rankings right now. Consensus wise, we have Abdullah one ahead of Gordon. I personally have Gordon ahead of Abdullah, but they're in that same discussion. So let's go ahead and move on. Now. Let's talk about the defending super bowl champions, the quarterback lists, or maybe. Maybe you would say they have too many.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, maybe you would.

[Mike Wright]

The Denver Broncos, Mark Sanchez, Paxton Lynch. And then one bit of news we didn't get to earlier. There are some. There's some talk that Trevor Simeon could have a shot to start. So generally, when that sentence comes out of your mouth, you're not in the best quarterback situation for that sentence to.

[Andy Holloway]

Be uttered by anybody who is not a coach trying to pump up Mark Sanchez. Mark Sanchez. You got a. Embarrassed by that look. Semian's, I believe, a seventh round quarterback. That Mark Sanchez with the pedigree of a first round guy, had some success. But to come into a camp and they think, well, the other guy's got a chance. You got to hope they're just coach speaking Sanchez to try and bring it in the competition.

[Jason Moore]

Sanchez is worse than I thought. That's what I'm going to add to this. I remember, I remember Sanchez being an okay player. And then I went back this last week with. From when in prep. I just remember like, oh, he was, he was okay. I mean, Philly, sure, okay for Philly. They, you know. No, even, even for the, for the Jets. He, you know, got to the championship game. But I go back and I look. Well, I mean, it was the jets where he had his career high in touchdowns a year when he threw 26 touchdowns, 3,400 yards. Now, those aren't good fantasy numbers, but those are by a mile. His best career year, I mean, his next best year was 17 touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

So we're saying Marc Sanchez, even if he starts, not a fantasy option you want to lean on.

[Jason Moore]

There are, there is the narrative that Peyton Manning was so bad last year, so, so bad that Mark Sanchez is an improvement. I don't believe that anymore. That's kind of a narrative I had started buying into. And the more that I went back and I, and I looked, I don't think Mark Sanchez is an NFL quarterback that's going to produce fantasy numbers for you. This hurts demarius Thomas. That hurts Emmanuel Sanders. They've got to find someone there who can actually, you know, throw touchdowns if those guys are going to be able to pay off for their draft positions.

[Mike Wright]

I gave the example, I believe on the last show or maybe two shows ago of Larry Fitzgerald and what his career did in his peak when the quarterback situation changed. When Kurt Warner left and he entered the doldrums of, you know, a cycling quarterback in Arizona. He had three really subpar years. And I compared that to demarius Thomas because demarius Thomas had a down year for touchdowns last season. And so the question is, does he bounce back and give you classic demarius Thomas? I think that's the most popular answer. And I, I don't really buy into it. I think they're going to struggle at the quarterback position. And last year, we have to remember, they were about middle of the pack. You know, they were 14th in total passing yards per game. A lot of that had to do with Brock Oswald. They were being just fine. They were 17th in rushing yards per game. I know they want to run the ball. I'm rising a little bit on C.J. anderson. I think C.J. anderson was the best pick Jason made in his Dynasty League draft the other night where he got him and the age of C.J. anderson was great. Great value. I think you got him in the poof.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I got him.

[Mike Wright]

Fifth, sixth round.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's why. C.J. anderson was a spectacular pick for any draft situation. Redraft, dynasty. Look, I love C.J. anderson. I think he's massively talented. Well over five yards per carry the second half of last year. And look at the team situation. The offensive line was, you know, a little bit below mediocre last year. Denver has completely retooled. They added Okung to their left tackle. And yes, that guy struggles with health, but when he's in there, he's a Mauler. He's great. They added a new right tackle in Stevenson. They got a Max Garcia, the rookie. He's coming in on the guard to be a guard. They have retooled and fixed everything. You got Gary Kubiak as the coach. We know he loves to run the ball. I just see a high workload coming for CJ Anderson.

[Mike Wright]

So is he your favorite fantasy option out for this roster?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm still high on demarius. I'm not fading him like you guys are, but he, he probably because demarius is in that pack of receivers who I kind of, you know, like, I'll take anyone from that tier where I love C.J. anderson. I think. I think there can be really, really big things in store for him this year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And to be clear, I'm not fading Demaryius Thomas. I still think he's going to get 150 targets. And whenever you've got one of those guys who is a true special athlete, getting that volume, he's going to have a good fantasy season. But what he's not going to do, in my opinion, is bounce back to the 10 touchdown, you know, years that he was doing back to, back to back before this past year, I think he's going to be around six touchdowns, maybe seven touchdowns on the season. But with the volume, you know, this year you're drafting him as like a wide receiver, too. He's a great wide receiver, too.

[Mike Wright]

Let me. Let me ask this, and I should have asked it for our first team. And maybe I'll circle back, but Fantasy surprise from this roster. Who could surprise from. From Denver?

[Andy Holloway]

Jeff Heuerman.

[Mike Wright]

The tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, the tight end. Look, he was. They took him in the third round. He tore his acl so he missed all of last year. Like I said, where Kubiak loves a to run the ball, he also favors the tight end. And someone, someone has to do it. Who is old man? The Kubiak's tight end forever.

[Mike Wright]

His name is Owen Daniels.

[Andy Holloway]

Owen Daniels is gone. They brought in Garrett or is he? They brought in Garrett Graham. There's always the whispers of the. Of the freak athlete Virgil Green.

[Mike Wright]

But you think Heuerman's sitting in a film closet someplace being forced to watch years and years of Owen Daniel? Probably, probably.

[Andy Holloway]

But if anyone's gonna surprise, that's.

[Jason Moore]

I will throw a name out there that will make you both vomit. But you said surprise and. No, no, for real. I'm going to say Ronnie Hillman might surprise us this year because right now the narrative is it's CJ Anderson or you got to draft Devonte Booker, the rookie. Right. He's going to come in and take it over. But they resigned Hillman. He was in the role last year and he was productive. They like him, they know him. And I just think we're completely assuming that Ronnie Hillman's just gone. And I don't think that's going to be the case.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's talk about the Oakland Raiders. Raiders, I was hoping you do that.

[Andy Holloway]

The Raiders.

[Mike Wright]

This is a very interesting year for Oakland. I think this is a. They have an opportunity in this division this season to make a mark. Now last year they, they struggled in the second half of the season. They were not a very good running team. Despite what will follow from my mouth, which is the fact that I believe their offensive line is top five, maybe top three in the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So.

[Jason Moore]

Well, a lot of that was this offseason. Right. And that's something to pay attention to is the offensive line.

[Mike Wright]

They added the top guard, vastly improved.

[Jason Moore]

And we saw that a couple years ago with the Cardinals. Right. We added the top guard in the league. The top run free agent.

[Andy Holloway]

Top free agent.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. The top free agent run blocking guard in the league in upati. And all of a sudden we were a great running team. And I could see that happening here from a boy, Latavius Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Well, they protected Carr last year too, so it wasn't like they just didn't run block as well. And this is a run blocking guy that they added.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to throw this out there I think the Oakland Raiders win this division.

[Mike Wright]

Ooh, yeah, that makes one of us.

[Jason Moore]

Who you got in this division?

[Mike Wright]

I would love the Raider. Like, if I had to choose one to root for, I would choose. Choose Oakland. I think Kansas City wins the division.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Kansas City wins the division.

[Mike Wright]

But we're talking about Oakland right now. So bull, anybody that you see stepping out, surprising fantasy owners this year. And we'll circle back to Latavius Murray and Amari Cooper in a minute and Derek Carr. But is there a surprise from this roster, Mike? Is there somebody that you think is worth keeping on your radar?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he's not a. I don't think he's a surprise because he researched his career last year and that's Michael Crabtree. And everyone, look, the people are rightly aboard the Amari Cooper Express because he's very good. But Michael Crabtree has, when he's healthy, has been great. He's had great moments in this league.

[Mike Wright]

Including last year, better fantasy season than Cooper last year.

[Andy Holloway]

He's still going to be heavily targeted. It won't just shift. Everything's going to go to Amari Cooper. Michael Crabtree will be heavily involved. You can get him much later in the draft for a team that I think they're going to run a good bit. But Derek Carr has that, the gunslinging mentality. So when he gets his opportunities, he's going to take the shot. And I think people are forgetting how good Michael Crabtree was last year.

[Jason Moore]

Can we talk about Latavius now?

[Mike Wright]

Sure, sure, go ahead.

[Jason Moore]

Latavius Murray, he is a guy that I believe. Once again, last year I said he was a guaranteed running back two. Before the year I said, I guarantee it, he's running back two. I was wrong because he finished as a running back one. So I apologize. I apologize, everyone. This year coming in. This is what I'm going to say about the Raiders. I love the Raiders running game. I love their coach for running the ball. I love their team for running the ball. The. The improvements they made on the defense. For running the ball. I want the Raiders running back tandem. I don't know between latavius Murray and DeAndre Washington how that's going to break out, but I want them both. I have been trying to trade for both of those guys in our league that was just drafted. I think if you grab Latavius, you've got a clear handcuff in DeAndre Washington because it's two guys there that are going to basically be running the show on a run. First capable team that Wants to run the ball and their value. Normally when you're talking about teams that are really high at running the ball, they run it a lot. You know, you saw with the Marshawn lynch ears, Buffalo runs the ball a lot. You know, AP and Minnesota. I think the Raiders are going to be a run heavy team this year. So that's why I'm saying I want their running backs.

[Mike Wright]

You know, when you can't run the ball.

[Jason Moore]

When you're down by a lot.

[Mike Wright]

When you're down by a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

I had two things I wanted to say.

[Mike Wright]

They better play defense is all I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

When he threw out the handcuff, I thought he was just rudely clearing his throat directly.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, did you like right in the middle of a sentence, like you've got a clear.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't know what was going on there. And two, what happens to Latavius Murray and Deandre Washington? Let's say the split becomes like 55, 45. You really want both of them then?

[Jason Moore]

No, I wouldn't want both of them then. But that's not the style of team that this coach has usually used. So I'm going to go ahead and say I want Latavius with a handcuff because if latavius goes down, DeAndre Washington is going to be good and I think Latavius is going to be helped by a little bit less work and I think his efficiency will rise this year, especially with that offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you be surprised at all to see the not see a static snap percentage for Latavius Murray say he's getting he. Let's say he starts at 65 towards the end of the year. Get that. Shave that down much closer to 50% for him in Washington. Or do you think it will continue to be Murray the whole year?

[Jason Moore]

Continue to be him until. Until he either can't do it, fumbles too much and is pulled or gets injured.

[Mike Wright]

Why isn't. Isn't one of the options that he. He doesn't play well and then it changes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean that was the can't do it.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, the can't do it. Okay. Yeah. I didn't know if you meant just.

[Andy Holloway]

For people for context. Latavius Murray was. It was a 64% snap count running back.

[Mike Wright]

That's very high.

[Andy Holloway]

That's very high.

[Mike Wright]

That's very high. All right, the Chiefs, let's get to my pick to win this division, at least of as of July 11th. Alex Smith leading the very efficient Chiefs offense. The mistake free Chiefs offense. You didn't have Jamal Charles in the fold. Last year, you had Chuck Hendrick west, you had Spencer Ware. That did more than enough to get this team to make a very big run at the end of the season. They lost in the playoffs, obviously, but very impressed with what they did with what they had last season. And I just think that they are kind of the team to beat unless Denver can put together, you know, a repeat type of season on the defensive side. So let's. Let's talk about Alex Smith. He is. He's everybody's favorite second quarterback. That's what he is to me, because I love, love if I'm in a league where I have to draft a second quarterback. I just love it when it's Alex Smith.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I just feel like, oh, he's just gonna be there. He'll be playing. He won't throw picks and make me angry. I probably won't get very excited unless he takes off with the ball.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you'll get some. You'll get some points from him running on the ground. You're gonna get six.

[Mike Wright]

Kind of looks like me.

[Jason Moore]

No, that's true. But you're going to get 16 games out of them. And when you're in a position where you're drafting that second quarterback, a guy that you're going to maybe look at streaming from your roster week in, week out, that's an important factor is who's going to not, you know, you're not going to take Robert Griffin and think in week 10 that he's still going to be around on your team helping you.

[Mike Wright]

Plus, you know, Smith is nice because he always gives you the round number. 200 yards passing. That's it. Just 200 yards on the dot. He plans for it. And when they're done, they just hand it off to their 16 running back.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well, let's talk about dirty cake. Dirty cake, which is Jeremy Macklin, his number one target. What say you, Andy? You were high on Macklin last year. You were proved right to say that he got over a thousand yards, barely. And he was a decent fantasy option. Certainly more than I thought he would be. Do you expect him to increase?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Stay the same or take a step back?

[Mike Wright]

To be honest with you, I think he stays the same or he takes a small step back. I like Jeremy Macklin a lot. I think he'll be very consistent for fantasy owners. But you're talking about a team that averages 200 yards passing. I wasn't joking. That's what they averaged last year. That doesn't leave a lot to go Around. And I like Albert Wilson, I like Chris Conley. I like Travis Kelsey. Divide 200 yards up every game and then pass the ball to the running. And Jamal and Pat, you know, this team was six in the league in rushing, 30th in passing. They're going to do that again. Jamal Charles, Char West, Spencer Vuer.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, well then how about this? How about 1000 yards water bet with Jeremy Macklin? I'll take the under again. Year two, Our first two year water bet. And you can maybe take the over.

[Mike Wright]

You can maybe take. Well, that's the only way the bet works.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm. I'm not gonna force you to take it. I'm giving you the opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

Did he miss any games last year?

[Jason Moore]

He did.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Mike Wright]

He missed one game.

[Jason Moore]

One game.

[Andy Holloway]

And before.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, all right.

[Jason Moore]

Water bet.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say he missed one game. And I think, I think 1,000 yards is before you.

[Andy Holloway]

I would love you to get.

[Mike Wright]

What was.

[Andy Holloway]

That was Alex Smith's career passing yards.

[Mike Wright]

That's fine. That's fine.

[Andy Holloway]

Career.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

3,486 yards.

[Mike Wright]

Matlid almost had 1100 yards. He missed a game. I think he can get to a thousand. I think Jason will enjoy being watered twice by Jeremy Macklin. How can I not let that go?

[Jason Moore]

I think Jamal Charles will eat up some of those. And like you said, there are other receivers, there are sneaky good. I think they take a step up and I like how I sat there.

[Mike Wright]

And I made like a two minute argument on why Macklin wouldn't be as good.

[Jason Moore]

And then you ended up watering for.

[Mike Wright]

Macklin because you took advantage of my. And now I see that the bet is on the board. So I wanted to talk about the running game. When you transitioned into Macklin, this is the sixth best running team in the league. Last year Jamal Charles fell very far in our dynasty league. But I really like him in redraft. I like him in PPR leagues. He is their offense. I mean that's what he was before the injury.

[Jason Moore]

But Andy, aren't they hurt by Doug Peterson leaving?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Correct.

[Mike Wright]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

Correct. That is correct.

[Mike Wright]

Your voice changed. Quick public opinion. You didn't say correct.

[Jason Moore]

No, I mean, I guess I've kind of been not a huge fan of Doug Peterson so far this offseason. I could be proven wrong. I just don't think it was a great signing. The Chiefs and the offense of the Chiefs, they are an Andy Reid special and he's going to take advantage of Jamal Charles. They've been a top five team for running the ball. They have been a top five team for scoring touchdowns on the ground. I believe last year they were the number one team, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Andy Holloway]

For rushing touchdowns.

[Jason Moore]

For rushing touchdowns. And that was without Jamal Charles. This is the makeup of that team with that defense. And so Jamal Charles is a guy to me that I'm not afraid of the injury. He's bounced back from another ACL and he did the work. He's such a hard worker. I'm not afraid of him not being able to come back from this one when he was able to come back before. And he provides a really good value where he's going, you can get him in the second round.

[Andy Holloway]

I think the biggest question that people have is Jamar Charles went down, but the team was okay with Char west and Spencer Ware. Both of those players produced at a high level. So would they, would they just ride Charles out like, like they had where he's the workhorse, he's the three down back, or are they going to have a three headed rotation in Kansas City?

[Mike Wright]

I don't even want to talk about that.

[Jason Moore]

Well, he was never.

[Mike Wright]

I really don't because it's like, okay, what does Minnesota do if McKinnon has a good couple games when APs out? Everybody wondered that exact same thing last year when AP came back. Okay, well, you know, he's fine. He's your franchise, but your franchise, your face of your franchise.

[Jason Moore]

The truth is, is that Jamal Charles has never been one of those down workhorse guys anyways. He was super valuable when he was like the second running back on the team for fantasy. So even if they get these other two guys involved, I mean, what's Jamal Charles, you know, going to get? 225 carries. That's not a giant workhorse. But if he gets 225 carries, he's going to be probably a top five running back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he would run for what, 12, 50 yards if he did that.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean his.

[Mike Wright]

Historically he's a 5.5 average guy.

[Andy Holloway]

His big year was 2012. That was when he had 285 carries for over 1500 yards. And that same year he had, he only had 35 receptions that year. Interesting. Says the 70 receptions was the next year when he had 250.

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna say it right now. Jamal Charles is gonna ball out this year.

[Jason Moore]

He's a special player.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to, he's going to dominate and he's going to be a steal for people in fantasy drafts. I'm putting it out there. He's A, he's a, an otherworldly talent. You don't go, what is this now? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 consecutive years. Averaging over five years, over five a carry.

[Jason Moore]

Not just average. Never once being under it.

[Mike Wright]

Never before. Yeah, and five a carry for the last three like pretty much on the dot. So I, I'm just very high on, on Jamal Charles and I think he probably should have been drafted higher in that dynasty. All right, let's fly over to the NFC west and the, the fan dilemma that I have in liking a lot of Seahawks players and loving the Arizona Cardinals as, as my team. So I ended up with Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett in my dynasty league and I was thrilled to have those two guys big believer in Tyler Lockett's upside and long term upside. So let's talk about Seattle. This is a team that was third in the league in rushing yards per game last season in spite of the Marshawn lynch end of his career. We just talked about Thomas Rawls and the fact that he's projecting to be back in training camp. They drafted Alex Collins, they drafted CJ Pro Size and they have a quarterback that was as efficient as anybody has ever been for the second half of last year. So lots of upside here. What, what do you guys think about Seattle in the, in the world of fantasy football?

[Andy Holloway]

I think for Seattle it starts with the offensive line because they were, they were bad. They were just bad last year. I mean for Sax a lot you have, you have Russell Wilson. The elusive, hyper, elusive Russell Wilson. They were 26. They allowed 46 sacks. They allowed 114 quarterback hits. That's 30th in the league. So I mean that's bad news. They have a couple guys who are on the line last year, but they're shuffling them around. They did address it. Hopefully they invested some high capital picks or pick in the offensive line so if they can get better play.

[Mike Wright]

And look Tom Cable, great offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

For what he was working with. I was, I was disparaging the line. They were bad. But he had very, very little to work with last year. So for the guys that he had, I thought he did a great job with this retooling. I think they can at least be a mid level, mid level line which more time for Russell Wilson, bigger holes for Thomas Rawls or for pro size or Collins, whoever it is. So I think that, I think there has been an improvement in there that I like.

[Jason Moore]

I expect Seattle to become one of the highest scoring teams in the league. What happened last year With Marshawn Lynch's injury and Jimmy Graham going down was good for this year's Seattle. I almost called him Supersonic. Wow. The Seattle Seahawks.

[Mike Wright]

John Kemp.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man. John Shrimp.

[Mike Wright]

Nate McMillan.

[Jason Moore]

The thing is, is what they found out last year is that they have a prolific ability to pass the ball. They never really had to rely on that in the running game with Marshawn Lynch. Now they've still got a beast, I think, in Thomas Rawls. If he's there for training camp, they're going to be able to run the ball, they're going to be able to pass the ball at will. And I think that it's going to be very, very difficult for teams to stop them when they've got the ball in their hands. That's bad news for Cardinals fans, but it's great news for if you want to draft these guys on offense. For me, Russell Wilson is the one that I want the most fantasy wise on my roster from these, maybe Thomas Rawls more. The problem is he's going to spread the ball around. I think Doug Baldwin's going to get his. I think Tyler Lockett's going to get his. I think Jermaine Curse is going to get his. And so Luke Wilson. Yeah, Luke Willson.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's right.

[Jason Moore]

Double L's, double L's. Luke Wilson will get his and Jimmy Graham will probably not be back on the field. Is or in any way, shape or form this looking.

[Andy Holloway]

This whole time Jason's talking, I can't hear him because all I'm imagining is peak Sean Kemp playing tight end. Peak Sean Kemp, like 610.

[Mike Wright]

Well, look, you got Pete Carroll and then you had George Carl. It's a weird world.

[Andy Holloway]

So just imagine that Sean Kemp playing tight end. That would have been fantastic.

[Mike Wright]

He eventually became more of an O lineman. Sean Kemp, size wise. Do you remember this?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Sean Kemp went to Cleveland and he plumped up.

[Andy Holloway]

He hit the donuts.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, go look at Sean Kemp.

[Jason Moore]

I think that's what happens when you stop doing all the cocaine, is you gain weight.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, wasn't Sean Kemp. If he wasn't. That's a pretty bold claim, buddy.

[Jason Moore]

I apologize if you weren't. If not, why don't you go ahead.

[Mike Wright]

And effort yourself so you can just know whether you're right and then apologize or laugh that you are correct. That being said, yes, we're just picturing the supersonics. No, there'll be a powerful offense and that should. I mean, they're going to be in the running with the rest of the NFC west, that's for sure. I don't think, you know, it'll be Arizona, it'll be Seattle at the top of that division. And those will be some interesting games. They're still going to have a pretty good defense. So let's move on here. I don't want to miss the Arizona Cardinals.

[Andy Holloway]

Of course not.

[Jason Moore]

And yes, he did have many problems with cocaine and alcohol. So I regret nothing.

[Mike Wright]

Great. I knew that was dangerous gain to have you check that. I will remember this. I remember some story coming out in Sports Illustrated where Shawn Kemp had like 50 children, like 50 different women or something like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my. This has just been disparaged Shawn Kemp hour. I was trying to give the man some, some kudos.

[Mike Wright]

I can picture him dunking.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

That's all I was trying to say.

[Mike Wright]

Gary Payton occasionally passing the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I remember destroy Sean Kemp.

[Jason Moore]

What is happening?

[Andy Holloway]

Leave the man alone. Talk Cardinals.

[Mike Wright]

Look, the people want to hear about Sean Camp. I wonder what. Jason, you're going to need to spend the next few minutes seeing what he's up to. All right. Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals. Carson coming off a career year, if you remember, he was an MVP candidate for much of the season. You had a very efficient year for Palmer playing with Bruce Arians offense. What Arians has been able to do for quarterbacks. Do you expect Palmer to be a late round value again?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think he'll be a late round value because I imagine in kind of, you know, the regular person's draft, he's going to go seventh round likely is where I see him, which I think is a fair value. I still think that Carson Palmer is going to be great for fantasy football this year.

[Jason Moore]

That's a pretty late value, I think for a lot of people.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Just okay.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, I know for us it's like when we think of a late quarterback, we take him in the 10th.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

But Carson Palmer be a top three quarterback.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

He, yeah, I think he could. Remember when I was talking about the Larry Fitzgerald ending of the year where everyone's oh, he fell off. But it was just a matter of happenstance where you had back to back games where Carson Palmer did not finish the Green Bay game, he did not finish the Seattle Seahawk game. So his numbers were not, you know, the normal numbers you expect that Carson Palmer was averaging throughout the season and.

[Mike Wright]

Like second best passing offense in the league last year by total yardage. I think they were the best offense in the league in points per game. Yeah, they had the eighth best Rushing offense. You got David Johnson coming back into the fold as the bell cow, Chris Johnson returns. You have, you know, David Johnson, in my opinion, helps Carson Palmer.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Because you have a reliable pair of hands out of the backfield that Chris Johnson just wasn't for the first half of the year. You have Fitzgerald, Brown and Floyd and I was. You got Evan Mathis joining the offensive line as well.

[Andy Holloway]

The offensive line, it looks a little bit different for Arizona. You got Math as a guard. First round pick D.J. humphreys is now going to play right tackle and Aki Shipley will jump in at center. So they actually should, they could be even stronger than they were last year. And I just, I want to take this moment for David Johnson people, they're doubting the, the carries, they're doubting the workload for David Johnson. Watch the first episode of all or Nothing, the special with the NFL Cardinals that's on Amazon. After the first game of the season, his rookie year, Bruce Arians was already imagining him as the workhorse three down running back after the first game of his rookie year. That does not account for what happened at the end of the season where he proved that he's a monster. So I just, I feel like that's straight from the coach.

[Jason Moore]

So yeah, behind the scenes, not, not public.

[Andy Holloway]

I am not concerned at all about the workload for David.

[Jason Moore]

You know that if you haven't seen that Amazon special, I mean, you gotta go watch it. It's just, it's just well done. If you like football, this isn't. You don't need to be a Cardinals fan. You just need to be a football.

[Mike Wright]

Just like Hard Knocks. I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And it was, it was excellent. I watched that. But I will say this. The one thing that I, watching that show, the one thing I kind of changed my tune on, I've been very high on John Brown. I still am. I think he is absurdly good at the wide receiver position. But I think I realized that we are as the Cardinals going to do whatever is best for that game script and whoever's across from us. So is it going to be Larry? Is it going to be John Brown?

[Mike Wright]

From them? From them?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Is it going to be Michael Floyd? The answer is yes in different games. And it's not going to be one of those guys emerging and taking over and being that reliable every single week guy. So to me, it kind of backed me off of taking specific guys. If not, you know, maybe a little bit up on Larry because he presents the best draft value going latest. But it really rose Carson Palmer. To me, Carson Palmer is going to be fine with those weapons. Adding in David Johnson out of the backfield, J.J. nelson, Duron Brown, you've got plenty of options here. And so I like Carson Palmer. Every single Cardinals receiver is fantastic and will have great fantasy games, but I think it's going to be hard for any one of them to be a consistent, you know, 13 out of 16 week performer.

[Andy Holloway]

So what do you guys think? What I've gathered from you saying is when you're in the draft, you won't be reaching for any of the Cardinals wide receivers. You're going to let the draft fall until they kind of present a value that you'll just take the last one.

[Jason Moore]

You nailed it.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's talk about the St. Louis Rams. Jeff Fisher said, hey, Alex Smith, I'll see your 200 yards a game and I'll raise you negative 25 yards a game. They averaged 175 passing yards per game last season. They were despite, despite being an offensive line that could both run the ball and protect the quarterback, giving him the ability to make throw. You know, they were first in the league in the least amount of sacks given up. Todd Gurley was obviously a, I think just almost a miracle of sorts coming out of that offense and the struggles that they had at the quarterback position and still putting up a, an elite fantasy season at the, at the running back position. I think we all believe he is, from a talent perspective, one of the special ones. It's just a matter of will the opportunities, will the goal line opportunities. That's one of the reasons I think Mike prefers David Johnson is just because, look, you're talking about the literal polar opposite in terms of passing yardage between the Rams and the Cardinals difficult division. The Cardinals defense, the Seahawks defense, the 49ers defense. What. Where is the fantasy upside of this team and is there anybody that you can pull out? I mean, I have Tavon Austin as one of my undervalued guys. From a volume perspective, he gets the ball handed to him a lot. I can't pick another guy out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's really difficult when you're looking through the list of wide receivers. You know the Brian Quick, Kenny Britt. Yeah, I did. I was watching the red zone replays and they had the. It was the Rams versus the Seahawks, week 16. And there was that Case Keenum pass where Kenny Britt torched Richard Sherman that I had forgotten about. It was a pretty amazing thing, especially for Kenny Britt at this time in his career. But you know, Mike Thomas Farrell, Cooper. I don't know. I just. If maybe Jared Goff comes in and he takes the job and he finds a connection with one of these guys and he starts peppering them with targets in the limited amount of attempts that Jeff Fisher will give him, then possibly.

[Mike Wright]

But doesn't that standard.

[Andy Holloway]

I just don't, I don't see it, man.

[Mike Wright]

If Goff comes in and he'll be, I think semi efficient in the offense, you know, he, I think he's the best quarterback there, obviously.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, if he gets more than the 32nd passing yards per game, then he is an improvement.

[Mike Wright]

Right. And the thing is, is I would expect the upside of a receiver to be not in the Kenny Brit vein, but to be in the underneath vein, the Tavon Austin vein, because you don't necessarily. I mean, you have a running game with Todd Gurley that you can lean on. Why put Goff in the position to struggle with downfield throws at the early part of his career? To me it's. It's the reliance on some of the gadget plays, the. Tavon Austin. Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley out of the backfield. I think Todd Gurley's receptions increase in year number two and so not a lot to smile about from a. You know, I'm not drafting rams on purpose unless their name is Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley. But I will take Tavon Austin. I think Tavon Austin is worth a late round pick.

[Jason Moore]

Let me ask you, Andy, because you already said what Mike would say. You've only got one pick left in the draft and it's your first pick as well. And Todd Gurley and David Johnson. Todd Gurley and David Johnson. Who are you taking?

[Mike Wright]

What's the format?

[Jason Moore]

Half point.

[Mike Wright]

I'm taking Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

I am as well.

[Mike Wright]

I'm sticking.

[Jason Moore]

I know. I had previously told David Johnson that I. That he was correct when he said.

[Andy Holloway]

And you lied to his face.

[Jason Moore]

I did.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I told him on the show you were.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I said it was.

[Mike Wright]

You made a promise to David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

No, I didn't tell him I was going to take him. I said I would, but I would.

[Mike Wright]

David, if you want to call him out, it's Jason FFL on Twitter.

[Jason Moore]

Look, I love David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, I'm taking him, so don't even worry about it, David.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but Todd Gurley is an otherworldly, an otherworldly talent. There's a reason he was taken.

[Mike Wright]

They're both.

[Jason Moore]

He was in the NFL draft and because of the head coach, they're going to run the ball none stop. That's all they're going to do. And I just think for that first round, he's less risky because of volume.

[Andy Holloway]

And here's the deal. Look. I think that both David Johnson to talk early are going to get heavy, heavy workloads. Arizona last year scored 489 points. The Rams last year scored 280 points. Over 200 points more for the Cardinal offense. That's why I'm over there.

[Mike Wright]

And that makes a lot of sense. So we can't keep talking about it, though. We got to move on to San Francisco.

[Jason Moore]

Do we? And that completes our show.

[Andy Holloway]

No way.

[Mike Wright]

They came out with these power rankings on ESPN today. Three year power rankings. You know teams, how they look going into the future. The 49ers were second to last. Dead last was the Browns. It's bleak.

[Andy Holloway]

It's bleak right now, San Francisco. I feel it.

[Mike Wright]

You know, gone are the days of these perennial championship games where Colin Kaepernick was showing his shoe collection off on Twitter. And. And it looked like the future was now. It looked like the Crabtree Kaepernick Express had arrived. But the wheels have fallen off now. You have Chip Kelly there, and he's met with a lot of skepticism after his failures in Philadelphia. I personally don't think that Chip Kelly's made to be an NFL coach. I think, I understand that the numbers say he's had some successful seasons in the NFL, but not last year's numbers. And I think that the way he's got. I mean, look, the trajectory is up or down, Mike, sure.

[Andy Holloway]

But two up or down? Two out of three years.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, two out of three years. What? He made the playoffs, so they kept him.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no. Clearly there's an attitude.

[Mike Wright]

Clearly, you've missed something.

[Jason Moore]

There's an attitude.

[Mike Wright]

He's so good that he's been fired.

[Andy Holloway]

There's an attitude problem. Absolutely. I'm not denying that. But to deny that the guy came in and made the playoffs 66% of the time, that's called success in the NFL. Ask Jeff Fisher how many times he's been in the playoffs recently.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he. Fisher doesn't even know there are playoffs. Nobody's told him there's a goal.

[Jason Moore]

We were just having fun.

[Mike Wright]

Look, you can say whatever you want about Chip Kelly. He's starting on a new team this year. A team that was really, really bad last year. We don't know how the quarterback situations. It looks like it's going to be Gabbert. Gabbard is okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Tori Smith is okay. Carlos Hyde is A question mark to me because I don't know if he's going to get the workload that you believe he will.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that's what it is for Carlos Heidi.

[Mike Wright]

He could be a two down Isaiah Crowell back.

[Andy Holloway]

He could, he could. But I think that Carlos Hyde is an extremely talented guy. One of the most elusive running backs in the league last year despite playing with a busted foot and a really bad offensive line. And look, they didn't do a whole lot to of retooling with the offensive line. They added Zane Beatles the guard. But I think the big difference is just the, the Chip Kelly system. He doesn't run the same old school smash, smash metal Jim Tomsula. He comes in with a new fresh approach with new schemes. Can, can the offensive line, you know, kind of catch on to it? Can they have the conditioning for it? That remains to be seen. But I really like Carlos side this year. But my love affair has been well documented. I love Torrey Smith this year as a late round guy, I think he's extremely talented. I've already been over the numbers, but talking about with Anquan Bolden gone, Vernon Davis gone, and then you factor in the, the target disparity from the 49ers to a Chip Kelly offense and there was over 200 more targets that could be dispersed through the offense. And Torrey Smith, I believe had right around 70. So he has nowhere to go but up for target and opportunity. Combine that with his actual athletic ability and I think that he's a good receiver. So I think that Torrey Smith is. Should be on your late round radar.

[Mike Wright]

If there's a wide receiver in San Francisco that outperforms Torrey Smith. What's his name?

[Jason Moore]

Bruce Ellington.

[Andy Holloway]

Bruce Ellington.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. If there's a third down running, running.

[Jason Moore]

Back Sean Drone, that's what I was going to be.

[Mike Wright]

The big salad's the big salad.

[Jason Moore]

The big salad to me is if I'm in a deep league.

[Mike Wright]

He had a good rapport with Gabbard.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's probably the guy on this team that I would actually look to draft the most because I just don't want to pay the draft capital it costs to get Carlos Hyde in the fourth round. I don't want a first and second down running back on a bad team for a fourth round pick. I think he'll be okay and he'll, he'll have some good games, but there's other guys there that I would rather draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Sorry, you want a first and down, first and second down guy on a Bad team in the first round, Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, give me a break.

[Andy Holloway]

That's just.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, let me, let me just say this. One, I think that he'll catch more passes than he did last year. Two, he is a Carlos Hyde.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Yeah, he will.

[Jason Moore]

Two, he was a guy that, you know, you talked about, oh, there's 200 points less. Right. But you've got Larry Fitzgerald and, you know, Michael Floyd and John Brown and everybody else scoring touchdowns. Who's scoring touchdowns other than Tom Gurley?

[Mike Wright]

Look, we've got to, we've got to get to the point here. And the point is that Mike thinks Carlos Hyde is better than Todd Gurley. All right, we're done. We're done with the, the AFC and the NFC West. We'll be back with some more divisional breakdowns. We'll have a mailbag show. We'll be back on Saturday as well. Let's make sure we chat on Twitter. Go to the. Let's see. I'll give all of our handles today at the FF Ballers. That is the show handle. You can follow me at Andy Holloway, follow Jason at Jason ffl, follow Mike at FF Hitman. Mm. If you want to head over to the website, the fantasy footballers.com we are upgrading that website with more free resources every day. We've got articles dropping on there. You can get the ultimate draft kit, the ever updating off season draft kit to get you ready for your fantasy football draft. Get you that foot clan title for 2016. And don't forget, head over to fantasyjocks.com.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, use promo code ballers. Get yourself a live draft board championship belt, maybe a trophy, maybe one of those sweet burgundy jackets, I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

Get crazy.

[Mike Wright]

That's true. That's true. That'd be fun. All right, see you on Thursday, everybody. Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter @the ffballers.