
Fantasy Football Podcast for August 9, 2016. Andy and Mike break down their consensus 10-15 QB's, welcome in Christ Harris to talk sleeper and late round QB, and catch you up on the latest camp news that effects your Fantasy Football team for 2016. Don'
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Mike Wright
Hey, Foot Clan. Before we start today's show, I want to thank today's sponsor, Football Hall. We have been talking about them for months. They are the subscription box service that you need for all the awesome NFL and football gear. They are giving you a $75 value for only 30 bucks a month. You're getting McFarlane's, you're getting games, you're getting apparel. And this month they have an exclusive young superstar bobblehead, probably similar to the amazing Todd Gurley bobblehead that we have here that is also exclusive to Football Hall. Here's what we need you to do. Go to footballhaul.com use promo code ballers5 to save a little bit of quiche. That's footballhall.com.
Andy Holloway
Welcome to the fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Mo and Mike Wright.
Jason Moore
Ah. Do you feel the energy?
Mike Wright
I feel it.
Jason Moore
Well, we've got a big day. It's a big old day. It's a special day.
Mike Wright
My hamstrings are not ready.
Jason Moore
You're not ready, huh?
Mike Wright
No.
Jason Moore
If you're watching us on YouTube, you see we're wearing our, our official combine jersey uniforms, whatever you want to call.
Mike Wright
Them, they're very flattering for our physiques.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I wish I would have gotten a smaller size. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. We are a year round fantasy football podcast going five days a week from now until December. Excited to bring you all the latest fantasy football news information. We're going to break down some quarterbacks, some sleeper quarterbacks. We've got a special guest on the show today. Jason is not here. Double stuff is not here. Double stuff is currently Double Flush. He's Double flush. He's not feeling well, but he is on the way back. His family had one of those stomach bugs. He started getting sick last week and we're like, go home. Get away from us. Stay away.
Mike Wright
And that's. This is the story we've heard. We've not seen Jason now for about a week.
Jason Moore
You think he's prepping for the combine?
Mike Wright
I think that he is. He is cutting weight, he is lifting weights. He's just, he's doing some, some crashing of the, for the cardio.
Jason Moore
So today we have a. We've been promising this for a long time. We have a very, hopefully hot, well produced video that we're come. That's coming your way. It's the competition between all three of us in an NFL combine extravaganza that is taking place this afternoon. If you watched, if you went on Twitter, you saw Mike was prepping with some pizza last night.
Mike Wright
Carbo load.
Jason Moore
So that is exciting. That's going on this afternoon. Worse, we'll share some pictures from the event on Twitter, you know, as the video is getting edited, and then we'll release it to everybody so that they can make fun of us because it's going to be painful.
Mike Wright
Oh, man.
Jason Moore
Yeah, yeah. But it's happening. But it's happening, so. And Jason's gonna partake. So if he really has been sick, there's a chance you'll see a grown man pass out repeatedly on the field.
Mike Wright
So that that's best case scenario. There's. There's many more terrible things that could happen to Jason today.
Jason Moore
Yeah, that's true. So let's get into a quick question. Mike, this one comes in from at Chris Hoover. Chris M. Hoover. If you have an earlier draft, right, say this week, and we're getting some people on Twitter, they're saying, hey, our drafts today, how did I do Right? If you have an earlier draft, is it more beneficial to roster an additional running back or wide receiver instead of a defense or a kicker?
Mike Wright
I love this strategy. This is one whenever we do a kind of a tips and tricks type of things for drafting. This is always one of the things I talk about. If your league does not require you to draft a defense and a kicker. There are some leagues where you have to fill out your starting roster, but if they do not, I absolutely throw two more sleepers or two more lower depth chart guys on that could make a splash in preseason that could move up the depth chart. Maybe they're a second, a second tier running back or I mean, a, you know, second on the depth chart and somebody goes down. All of a sudden you now have a starting running back on your roster where a defense and a kicker, they cannot gain value while they sit on your, your bench or in your active roster while you wait for the season to start. So this is a spectacular strategy move that I always recommend if you don't have to fill your roster.
Jason Moore
Yeah, yeah, I think he said it best. I mean, look, Tyler Gaffney, running back, New England. Throw him on the back of your roster, you never know what's going to happen.
Mike Wright
Terrence west, as we have no idea what the Ravens are doing, there was some positive news for, for set yesterday, which was great.
Jason Moore
But Keith Marshall, yeah, Keith Marshall got.
Mike Wright
Some great pub yesterday. So, I mean, these are guys just, just throw them on the bench, see what happens.
Jason Moore
All right, we're gonna Jump into the news. Before we do that, I do want to remind everybody we've got the listener league entries. We've selected those. They have not been emailed yet. So if you haven't gotten an email back, that's because we haven't sent any emails out. That's the reason why you can connect with us on jointhefoot.com for an extra episode every week. You got giveaways, exclusive content on there. A lot of people getting involved. And the biggest thing there is if you need a league that is committed with good people, we have the Foot Clan leagues. So you get access to that on jointhefoot.com and then you can join leagues, local leagues, online leagues, whatever it is, buy ins, those type of things. You can find it@jointhefoot.com in the foot Clan league section. You can follow us on Twitter @TheFF Ballers. And we're on YouTube, the fantasy sports network, Facebook, wherever where you want to be.
Mike Wright
Mm.
Jason Moore
That's our slogan. That's our official.
Mike Wright
Which we. Yeah, we've got the trademark pending for that.
Jason Moore
Yeah, right, right. So let's jump in.
Andy Holloway
News and notes from around the league.
Jason Moore
All right, the big news this morning and there might be more information out after we record this episode. Julian Edelman has left practice with a lower leg injury. He was seen slamming his helmet on the back of the cart. He is not in good shape. We don't know. Did you hear anything else before we recorded, Mike?
Mike Wright
No, the. All the updates you've given them. But it was. We talked all off season about the injury that Edelman and DEZ Bryant are recovering from, the Jones fracture. That there is as far as a chance of re injuring, you know, there is what is considered a decent chance or I would say even say significant chance of re injuring. You gotta hope that is not the case for Julian Edelman of busting his foot again or the screw in his foot, whatever it may be. So keep your eye out for Julian Edelman News.
Jason Moore
They did say he left under his own power. They said he was dominating the scrimmage before that. And we can only hope that it's a situation like the panic that went through Eric Ebron Truthers earlier this week where it looked like an Achilles injury that was really bad. Maybe it's not as bad for Edelman, but he's been injury prone. He's been a guy that. That Brady leans on. And so it affects every part of that offense.
Mike Wright
If you are in an active league or anything right now, like we were talking about those extra bench spots you know what I would do immediately? I'd throw Amendola on the back of my bench.
Jason Moore
These shirts are not flattering.
Mike Wright
I already. We've been over this.
Jason Moore
I'm looking at it. I'm wearing like a pillowcase.
Mike Wright
We are going to be running and shaking and jiggling.
Jason Moore
Need to wear something underneath this. All right.
Mike Wright
I need a bromer.
Jason Moore
A man's ear. Jeremy Hill listed as the official starting running back on the Bengals depth chart. This means nothing to me.
Mike Wright
No, but it's just.
Jason Moore
I guess it just means he hasn't lost that.
Mike Wright
Exactly.
Jason Moore
That's what it means.
Mike Wright
Yeah. You have new. You have new play callers and things in the Bengals, so.
Jason Moore
But Mike.
Mike Wright
Yes. Voice of public opinion.
Jason Moore
Did you hear this? Brandon lefell news.
Mike Wright
Oh, I have actually.
Jason Moore
Pretty cool, huh?
Mike Wright
I have. And we have jokingly, jokingly been talking about Jason's love for Brandon lefell.
Jason Moore
You know what's great is that you're joke. We've been joking about his love for Brand lefell. We've been joking about my love for Nelson Aguilar. And now both of them might have actual wide receiver. Two roles. I mean Lefell they said is playing well.
Mike Wright
Yeah, look in Lafell, of course he'll have his drops, but he's currently the starting. The other starting receiver opposite of AJ Green. And they're losing pass catchers left and right in Cincinnati. He's going to get targets. He's probably going to get over 100 targets this season for a guy who is not. I believe he's currently being undrafted.
Jason Moore
Sure. Yeah. Because he's Brand lefell. People have like those drops burned into their eyes into the retina. Laquan Treadwell is listed behind Charles Johnson at the X receiver in out of Vikings camp. I'm going to tell you something right now. There is also reports of him being eased along in the offense. Zimmer, he was part of that Marvin Lewis coaching staff that really didn't give any rookies opportunities. This is a good team that already has pieces in place. They were very good last year. I would not be surprised if Treadwell is a very slow ascension in that offense.
Mike Wright
I completely agree with that. This does not change my dynasty outlook for Laquan Treadwell. But redraft, I'm probably not touching them. I think there's better upside. Guys, later.
Jason Moore
Brandon Lafell or Laquan Treadwell.
Mike Wright
Give me Lafell.
Jason Moore
All right. We talked about Edelman. How about this? Eric Ebron dealing with a pretty decent ankle sprain. That is the final report.
Mike Wright
But that sounds bad. But you know what? That is great news for a guy who the rumors immediately were that he tore his Achilles. So for an ankle sprain.
Andy Holloway
Good.
Mike Wright
He'll be ready. He should be ready for the season.
Jason Moore
And then what do you make of this? Jeff Janus listed as the third string receiver.
Mike Wright
It's not good. It's not good for Janice Abrader. Darius is listed above him. He's a guy that we've talked about a little bit. But as of right Now, I mean, Miss Joe Stink. Mr. Stinky up there. Devs is still at. Is still the third wide receiver.
Jason Moore
Yeah. Janice is behind Adams and Amber Daris.
Mike Wright
Yep.
Jason Moore
Yeah. So maybe. Maybe. Cool. That hype chain.
Mike Wright
Possibly.
Jason Moore
All right. And then Case Keenum likely to start over golf, maybe in the beginning of the year Classic.
Mike Wright
Jeff Fisher.
Jason Moore
Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I still don't buy into just throwing a guy out there, especially if you have. I mean, I guess you have Case Keenum though. So there's, there's.
Mike Wright
Wait, didn't they give him a first round tender?
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Mike Wright
That Case Keenan, is that how you just.
Jason Moore
Is that how you justify your decision down the line? Is that the thought process? You go, I'm gonna give him a first round Tinder. So when I choose to start him over, the rookie, it looks like he's more important than he is.
Mike Wright
Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Jason Moore
Wow. Wow. Yeah. What? Yesterday was Jeff Fisher day, right?
Mike Wright
Yep. 8. August 8th.
Jason Moore
8, 8, 8, 8. So I can you. Is tonight the debut.
Mike Wright
Yes, it is.
Jason Moore
Of Hard Knocks.
Mike Wright
Yes. If you have not set your DVRs, redo it because they change the name every year so it doesn't just auto record it. So hard knock Fisher.
Jason Moore
I'm going to get. You're going to get to compare and contrast him with Arians from the Was it all or nothing.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
All right, we're going to get into the quarterback, the rest of our quarterback rankings, some sleeper quarterback options for you and a special guest in just a minute. You heard Mike talk about them right when the show started. We want to thank our sponsor, Football Hall Duncan, every single month. One of my favorite parts of the month is when the Football hall arrives at my doorstep. Isn't that great?
Mike Wright
I love it, man. It's. It's Christmas. Christmas time again.
Jason Moore
$75 worth of NFL gear. You've got bobbleheads, you've got McFarlands, you've got exclusives, you've got apparel, you've got trading cards. You never know exactly what's going to be in there, but you're going to get something from your favorite team. You're going to get something from that month's theme.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
And you know the Todd Gurley bobblehead up here is an exclusive. We got a Peyton Manning bobblehead the other, a couple months ago, exclusive. Now listen to this. They've got a new product. They've got the football hall junior as well. Let's say you want to get $40 worth of value for 20 bucks. Hey, and you want to sign somebody up for that. It's a great gift option. You can also get one time Football hall purchases of your favorite team. You can buy a haul of just your favorite team at over 50% off the retail value. You've got to check them out and you've got to use our coupon code ballers5 when you visit footballhaul.com that's football h a u l dot com. Check them out. Use the promo code ballers5. All right, you ready to get into the quarterbacks?
Mike Wright
You know it.
Andy Holloway
Quarterbacks.
Mike Wright
We went through our top 10 quarterbacks yesterday. So now we are jumping. You know, you got to go a little deeper. Got to dig a little deeper with the quarterback.
Jason Moore
Well, certainly on a show like ours where we prescribe regularly to drafting quarterbacks later getting value at the position. Somebody sent me a draft to look at yesterday and I like their draft, except for the part where they took Ben roethlisberger in the 5th and Tony Romo in the 10th. And I said, well, if you just didn't have Ben Roethlisberger and you had a fifth round pick there, I'd like that team a whole lot better. So we went through our top 10 guys yesterday. I'll run them back real quick for you. This is Our consensus top 10 at the quarterback position. Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Blake Bortles, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers.
Mike Wright
There was a flourish there on Drew Brees.
Jason Moore
Was there?
Mike Wright
Yeah, it was blah, blah, blah, blah. Drew Brees.
Jason Moore
Well, look, somebody, somebody mentioned the fact that back at the end of the season we talked about Drew Brees and I said I probably wouldn't have him as my quarterback because of his consistency rating. He's very good at home, very bad on the road. He had games that went up and down. He started the season really bad. And it's a good point. Right? Like you, you have that opinion.
Mike Wright
Fair.
Jason Moore
And we said, we need to remember last season. That was part of the reason we did the truth about these guys. We said we want to remember what took place. I will add to that that it also. We didn't know what the value of Drew Brees would be in the draft at the time. When we talked about him, I thought those final season numbers would drive his draft position a little bit higher than it is right now. It doesn't mean he's going to be on all my rosters but if he's a sixth round pick, seventh round pick, I, I really like the value for Dubree's.
Mike Wright
Yeah, I completely agree with that. And I mean he was, he was dealing with the shoulder injury, a bit of a turnover there at the offense. He was a bit inconsistent last year as we had talked about but man, I feel like I'm just repeating everything you said. But the value was there this year.
Jason Moore
He didn't find the Ben Watson effect until halfway through the season. Cooks came on in the second half of the season. I think that you look back eight years. Eight years of 4,000 plus yards, 30 plus touchdowns. We talked about comparing that to Ben Roethlisberger and Roethlisberger has like one. Yeah, one season and he's being ranked higher in a lot of lists and he just isn't for us. All right, so now we're going to jump in through. I think we're going to go 11 through however far I think we can get and then we're going to talk about some sleepers with Chris Harris. Some of, some of the thoughts he has on some of these later round guys. He watches a lot of film. You know, I think if you, if you told me what is our strategy for discerning these players. You know, last year, if you want to know how we did on streaming quarterback recommendations, we took all of our recommendations from the last year. We averaged them out. We averaged the recommendation of the six best quarterback every week. So if you are going to stream a quarterback this year, which means week to week starting a guy based on matchups, picking somebody up off the waiver wire. Last year we provided you the sixth best quarterback. So this is something that we really recommend and it, you know, a guy can look bad on film and this is the only thing I have. It's nothing against just a film view.
Mike Wright
Sure.
Jason Moore
But I think I like a more balanced approach where a guy can look really good on film and put a bad fantasy numbers and a guy can look bad on film but put a good fantasy numbers a la the new baseball player, Tim Tebow. Oh, I heard good for him by the way. I mean if you like to compete, go compete that's if you got the opportunity to, at 29, go try to be a baseball player. I guess. Go do it. You don't get your days back.
Mike Wright
Should look into competitive dodgeball.
Jason Moore
He'd be all right.
Mike Wright
I think you would.
Jason Moore
Accuracy issues, though. Possible.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Accuracy issue. But Tim Tebow is a large dude, and he would be pretty intimidating on the other side of a dodgeball court.
Jason Moore
All right, here's a name that I don't think you're expecting to hear. Jameis Winston is our number 11 consensus quarterback. This is Mike's fault, I think I.
Mike Wright
Was going to say.
Jason Moore
Is that right?
Mike Wright
Yeah, I believe it's my fault.
Jason Moore
I'll pull up the rankings. You talk about Jameis Winston.
Mike Wright
I am extremely high on Jameis. I have him as up at number nine. And the. Yeah, I just see the breakout coming for Jameis. He was. It started very rocky. His. His career started very rocky. However, he steadily improved over the course of the season, and that's why I like him. In the. In the second half of the year, he. He went up over 30 yards a game. His. His interceptions went down. It. His completions went up, but he wasn't really passing more. It was just overall efficiency went up. Jameis Winston is the youngest quarterback to ever throw for 3,000 yards. The youngest quarterback to ever throw for 4,000 yards. And on top of that, Jameis Winston's gonna give you these rushing touchdowns every once in a while, a little sneaky gift. Like a little sneaky gift every once.
Jason Moore
In a while, you just, hey, here you go.
Mike Wright
And he runs it in. And that was Jameis last year.
Jason Moore
I'll tell you what, he's point four rushing touchdowns per game. If you remember yesterday, Cam Newton was about 0.6.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
So it's not a huge gap there.
Mike Wright
And Jameis Jameis was in the gym working on his fitness.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Mike Wright
And like, if you look at the pictures, he is noticeably, noticeably fitter.
Jason Moore
Is James Winston one of your guys?
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
Would you say so?
Mike Wright
We've got that episode at this moment in time. I would put Jameis as one of my guys. Yes.
Jason Moore
I am at 14, which I think is very respectable.
Mike Wright
That's very fair.
Jason Moore
Which means he's going to be a streamable guy. I don't buy into an every week Jameis Winston consistency standpoint there.
Mike Wright
I think I will say this, where the. We've talked about the beginning schedule for Doug Martin. The beginning schedule for Jameis Winston, because he's on the same team, is a little bit hairy and frightening. So if I'm Drafting Jameis, which he is a guy that is going extremely late in drafts. He is going in the 12th round. I might be looking to pair him with somebody else just because I know that the opening schedule can be very rough.
Jason Moore
He's got to get his touchdown totals up. Only 22 last year. But the good news is he has Mike Evans.
Mike Wright
Say superstar. Mike Evans, who I think is a superstar.
Jason Moore
Sure.
Mike Wright
Coming up, was not a touchdown machine last year.
Jason Moore
No. Was that a point for him?
Mike Wright
Yeah. Well, because, look, Mike.
Jason Moore
Mike Evans was not a touchdown machine.
Mike Wright
And Jameis was still solid. Is my point is that you can't expect Evans to give you only three touchdowns. His numbers are going to go up.
Jason Moore
Sure, sure. I think a lot of people buy into Mike Evans, including a brand new article from one of our writers on the website. Yes, Andy Dalton is number 12. You said you're rising on him.
Mike Wright
Yeah, after I dug back through. Look, I remember it was very solid for him. And then you, you know about the broken thumb and he missed some time. Andy Dalton was on pace for over 4,300 yards and 33 touchdowns. And that's not extrapolating. Oh, he only played seven games. He played essentially 12 games. And. And you just give him four more. That's where he ends up. He threw, you know, 255 completions for 3200 yards and 25 touchdowns. And he gives you those sneaky little rushing touchdown gifts as well. I just. He had the number two passer rating in the league. 52 of his 382 passes went for 20 yards or more. That puts him at number one in the league.
Jason Moore
You left a pause for me to react there.
Mike Wright
That's a. That's a.
Jason Moore
Is number one good?
Mike Wright
Oh, yeah. Okay, look, because Andy Dalton is a capable quarterback and he's at least done.
Jason Moore
It in fantasy before he's finished. I think number three before.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
So I like that about. If you're going to project a guy to be. And this is the back half of the top 12 here. Well, number 12. So where is he going in drafts right now?
Mike Wright
Andy Dalton is currently going in the middle of the 11th round.
Jason Moore
Okay.
Mike Wright
So, yeah, that's behind Tyrod, Cousins, Romo and Carr.
Jason Moore
I don't think it's going to be very difficult for him to find the production that Sanu and Marvin Jones offered. You know, LaFell is not going to do it all, but Gio Bernard out of the backfield with A.J. green is one of the best options in football. Somebody that we love this year. The Weapons will Be there.
Mike Wright
And look, we know if it's hurt right now, if it's not going to miss the whole season, he might miss a couple games, but he will be back.
Jason Moore
All right, Tony Romo, number 13 on our list. Just kind of a ho hum. Tony Romo. Here I am. I get hurt, but when I'm not hurt, I offer you really consistent fantasy production. And I have an elite wide receiver as well. In fact, if you notice these last three guys, it's okay. Mike Evans, AJ Green, Des Bryant kind of helps. Last two years, he played 15 games, is that right?
Mike Wright
That is correct.
Jason Moore
So despite the perception, he still played the majority of games.
Mike Wright
Yeah. And in those two years, he averaged 30 over 3,700 yards and 33 touchdowns. I want 4,000 yards from my quarterback. But Romo is. I mean, he's been great with the touchdowns throughout his entire career. You know, for all the people out there who want to dismiss Tony Romo, please go look at his numbers. Go look what he has done.
Jason Moore
Is this a public service announcement?
Mike Wright
Yeah. I just. I understand that the perception of Tony Romo nationwide is not the best because he is known. When you think of Tony Romo, what's the first thing you think of? The first two things you think of?
Jason Moore
Choking.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
And injury.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Mike Wright
And I feel like that's pretty common where I just. I think he needs some. He just needs some respect. Some fantasy respect.
Jason Moore
The third thing is Jessica Simpson.
Mike Wright
See, the topics that people remember about Romo are not strong.
Jason Moore
And the fourth thing is that you in fantasy over years, have leaned on Tony Romo to win you big games.
Mike Wright
I. Yeah, I personally have. So maybe I have just an extra emotional attachment to him because he has. He has done very well for me. And you can always get him late. Always.
Jason Moore
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you make a good point. I just got some. Well, let's drop this.
Andy Holloway
Breaking news.
Jason Moore
Jim Harbaugh just came out and said Rashad Perryman and Steve Smith Sr. Would be active week one.
Mike Wright
What?
Jason Moore
Yeah. How do you feel, Kamara Aiken, lover?
Mike Wright
I still feel okay. Rashad Perryman is essentially a rookie and Steve Smith is. I'll believe that when I see it.
Jason Moore
The actual opposite of a rookie.
Mike Wright
Oh, yeah.
Jason Moore
Steve Smith is the. Is the inverse.
Mike Wright
And I will say if Steve Smith is healthy, I'm all about that. Like, the only reason or not the only reason, I think that Akin's actually talented, but the reason why he's propelled up is because there's. There's no one there in a high passing volume offense. Steve Smith I think is great. But a. With these guys coming back from ruptured Achilles, man, I just, I'm not, not buying it because the other guys.
Jason Moore
No, you're not. But they're back. Well, you have to deal with it.
Mike Wright
They are back playing. Yeah, but that does not mean you're playing at a high level.
Jason Moore
All right, let's move on here. Let's get through 14 and 15 and then we'll jump into some of these sleeper picks. Matthew Stafford is at 14.
Mike Wright
This is your guy.
Jason Moore
He is my guy. I really like Matthew Stafford. I saw a second half from that was extremely efficient. I think he had something like three or four interceptions over the second half of the season, which you love to see that kind of a consistency. He picks up Marvin Jones. If Ebron's healthy, that will really help him around the goal line. And I just think they're going to have to pass the ball. They couldn't run it last year. I don't think they make Giant steps up in the running game. They've already conceded. They probably don't have a thousand yard rusher on the roster. And so it's going to be in the hands of Matthew Stafford. Now he doesn't have Calvin Johnson, but he kind of didn't last year.
Mike Wright
Right.
Jason Moore
And so I think Golden Tate is valuable. You looked up a stat that was really interesting. He only had 41.5% of his yards in the air, which is actually behind Philip Rivers, who we talked about yesterday.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
Kind of surprising.
Mike Wright
It's a very strange thing for a.
Jason Moore
Big arm because Rivers doesn't have a big arm anymore. Right.
Mike Wright
Stafford has, has a cannon and he had Calvin. And you look at the average depth of target for Matt Stafford, 6.3. That puts him in a delicious sandwich between Teddy Bridgewater and Alex Smith.
Jason Moore
You.
Mike Wright
He's not bombing it out.
Jason Moore
No, no, he hasn't.
Mike Wright
It's strange, however. Weeks 10 through 17, quarterback four. Quarterback four. I mean, Kirk Cousins gets plenty of credit for last year carrying people to a title, which Cousins and Reed were great. Stafford was right there. If you happen to be, you know, you picked him up right when he caught fire.
Jason Moore
Remember that Thanksgiving.
Mike Wright
I was going to say right around the Thanksgiving game, which I know that was a big Calvin game, but for me, the numbers of him not bombing it out, I think that helps him. I don't like, if he's relying on the deep ball with Calvin Johnson and you feel like that talent is not there to carry that anymore, then I think that him with the short passes speaks that Stafford can continue the dominance that he had with Golden Tate, the Yak master, Marvin Jones as a red zone weapon. I think that it could be there for Stafford.
Jason Moore
All right, number 15, Derek Carr from the Oakland Raiders.
Mike Wright
Sending the car.
Jason Moore
Really didn't like how he ended the season.
Mike Wright
Sending the car.
Jason Moore
I don't have that drop right here. I got to get that hooked up for the season. He just was not good to end the year. I think you're going to run into consistency problems with car. I don't have how he breaks down. I want to pull up our rankings and how he's breaking down amongst the three of us. He's 15 on our consensus ranking. Let me see here we have Derek Carr, 13, 18 and 16.
Mike Wright
Right.
Jason Moore
So has the talent, has the weapons, has an offensive line that can protect him, I think.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Oh, he does. He absolutely does.
Jason Moore
But last year he was unstartable against good defenses.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
So he's a matchup play.
Mike Wright
When you look at his splits, they were significantly worse for fantasy. When you're talking average, he's averaging, you know, three to four points. Fantasy points worse a game against a bad defense, but against. I'm sorry, against a good defense, but against bad defenses, he was very strong. And we do remember at the end of the season, Amari Cooper was on a bum wheel. So that certainly played an effect, I'm sure into Derek Carr's kind of late season collapse. Derek Carr is a guy that I think you can get him late and like I said, in the right matchup will be a startable piece. He's a guy that if you pick him up, I'm probably going to pair him as well.
Jason Moore
He's at least, I think, like Jameis, he's a jump candidate where if things came together, if the rapport with Cooper was there, you could see the numbers ascend this year because I really like the talent. He just needs to be consistent week to week, and he needs to step up in the big games. He's in a tough division with Kansas City and Denver's defense. I don't think they're going to be unrelenting this year, and that makes it a challenge.
Mike Wright
And Crabtree, I just want to just point out Michael Crabtree.
Jason Moore
You always want to point out Michael Crabtree.
Mike Wright
Michael Crabtree is there and he was very solid.
Jason Moore
He was very. He finished better than Amari Cooper.
Mike Wright
So just. I just want to bring him up because it's always Amari Cooper. Cooper. Crabtree was there and he was great.
Jason Moore
Yeah, you're right. But nobody wants to say that everyone wants to talk about.
Mike Wright
Amari Cooper, you know, when Crabtree was bad, when he was recovering from a ruptured Achilles.
Jason Moore
It's true. All right, it's sleeper quarterback time. We're going to welcome in Chris Harris from Harris Football. He's going to. Come on. We're going to talk about three more quarterbacks, maybe some more. We'll see and see where he thinks these guys belong, whether they have upside. So let's go ahead and jump in.
Andy Holloway
You talking to me?
Jason Moore
All right. The fantasy footballers are excited to welcome in a friend of the show, Chris Harris, once again from Harris Football. Chris, how you doing?
D
I'm doing well. I guess I'm doing all right. I would be lying if I said I was doing great. We had a little conversation before we started. I think it should remain off the record, although I believe you were recording it. So. Yeah, you can drop some of what I said. Please don't.
Jason Moore
This is an interesting time of year. It really is, because we're so excited about football coming, but yet I think over here, we're feeling almost the grind of so much work to be done, yet no payoff of getting to watch actual games.
D
That's part of it. I did that almanac thing, and that murdered me for, like, six weeks. And I. Yeah, like, it's a lot of prep. And then, of course, everything just explodes in week one, and it's all wrong.
Jason Moore
I know you can talk as much about Eric Ebron as you want to, and then just one day practice, he could ruin everything, so.
D
But then he doesn't Instagram and he's fine.
Jason Moore
I know they see that's helpful. As long as you got Instagrams of smiles, you can count on people to be okay. So, hey, we're. We got done with Our Quarterbacks Top 10 Consensus episode yesterday. Today we're talking about some of the later guys. I wanted to get your opinion on. On three names really, that these are guys going right now on fantasy football. Calculators, ADP. They're going 14th, 15th, and 18th off the board at the quarterback position. And so let's start here. I'm gonna start with Kirk Cousins. A lot of people, they have different opinions about Cousins. He obviously ended the year in incredible fashion. Where do you stand on Kirk Cousins? Where do you see that offense this year?
D
I think the offense will be fine, and I think Kirk Cousins will be bad. I just, you know, I'm going based on what I saw from last year, and the numbers were great. I mean, I guess 29 and 11 for the whole year. And like what from. I don't even know from week whatever on it was like 24 and 7 or. I don't even know what it was, but just thought he should have thrown a whole bunch of interceptions that he didn't throw. I think it's the Nick Foles award.
Jason Moore
I was asking you. Yeah, that's what it sounded like when you said he should have but didn't.
D
That's how, that's how I felt. I mean, you know, he was, he was one play away from being benched. Week seven against Tampa, it's right before halftime. They're down 24 7, they're driving. He throws a ridiculous bad throw. Chris Conti, who can't catch, happens to be the defender in the neighborhood. It hits him in the something, the nipple or something and, and, and drops it. He throws a touchdown the next play and then they launch the, the comeback that launches them into the playoffs. You know, I think Jake Gruden's fired after that game. If they lose that game, that's the. You like that game? That's the, that's the crazy. You like that game? Like, okay, you can't. It's revisionist history to say that he didn't then subsequently play pretty well in some games, but in other games he didn't. And I hear you. Anybody who wants to say good weapons, I agree, pretty good weapons. They're probably building the team right. I think they're building the team right in that they didn't commit to that jackhole like, you know, they're not tying themselves to that guy because I don't think he's a star and I fall quarterback now.
Jason Moore
Another franchise that is maybe trying not to tie themselves to. To a guy again is Tyrod Taylor. Situation in Buffalo. There's talk of long term deal now, but I don't know what's going to happen. He's the guy that's 15, he's coming off one after Kirk Cousins. Where do you sit with Tyrod and maybe compare him a little bit with where you sit with Cousins right now? Cousins, I think he finished last year, is the eighth best fantasy quarterback. Tyrod was at 16, but he had a very strong end of the year as well.
D
Yeah, I don't like either one. I have cousins 20 and Taylor 23, so obviously I'm in the minority. But you know, listen, Tyrod Taylor can be good in any given week because of the running right. I mean 500 and whatever yards running last year actually for as many rushing yards he had, he probably Was a little low on rushing touchdowns, but as a thrower he's just, he's not, he's no good. You know, he's a bad decision maker. He's a fine game manager. When they don't need him to do anything. When they're ahead in the scoreboard the moment they're behind and he has to do something, it becomes throw it straight up in the air and triple coverage into Sammy Watkins. And Watkins bailed him out occasionally, but nope. They would love for him to dink and dunk if they can and then make some hay with running. But he's also not the long term answer.
Jason Moore
I'm, I'm.
D
I'm curious about what you guys think though. What? Tell me where you guys are in Cousins and Taylor. Are you loving either one?
Jason Moore
Well, Cousins is actually at 20 for us as well.
D
Okay, good.
Jason Moore
So he's our consensus number 20. We have Tyrod a little higher right now. He's Our consensus number 16 as of recording this today. Tyrod's very interesting.
Mike Wright
Yeah, I actually kind of. I like Tyrod. I mean from what I've seen, I can agree with you. I don't think he's by any means an elite player. But for fantasy purposes, because he can run, that really changes the situation. I mean he had per. On a per game basis, he had the most rushing yards for a quarterback, even more than Cam. And even though that maybe his go to when he gets freaked out is the bomb it out to Sammy Watkins. I mean it could be a lot, could be a lot worse.
D
So the problem is you just worry that six interceptions doesn't seem likely again.
Mike Wright
Sure.
D
You know, at playing like his reaction when he gets pressure is he's actually pretty good about not taking off like the second he gets pressure but he ducks his head. And that's the first thing they tell you. The first thing they tell you is you got to stay, you got to stay upright, you got to stay tall in the pocket. When, when you start getting pressure and his head drops immediately and he's looking to not necessarily scramble for positive yardage, but escape in some way. And I feel like that is like I can draw a direct line to that. From that to interceptions.
Mike Wright
Sure. Did you. So going back to Cousins, did you. When you're breaking down everything, did you see anything different for him for those last three games? I mean 11 total touchdowns in that time and it was three touchdowns against the Cowboys in the final game and I think a half playing the playing till halftime. I mean he looked like such a different Guy after. Pretty much after the. You like that game, I felt like Cousins had.
Jason Moore
He taken me after that.
Mike Wright
He did take a knee when he should have spiked the ball, but that's beside the point. He just like. I feel like Kirk Cousins, I personally, I think he can be a good quarterback, but he is a, I think his, his mental toughness is probably not what you want out of a franchise quarterback because when it goes wrong, it's. He just continues to, to dig through the hole. But when it's right, I think that he can be. He just catches. Catches fire. So did you see anything in the, in the final three games that, that was maybe different? I mean, averaging. In two of those games, he averaged over 11 yards per attempt, which is, that's a huge number. So did you see anything special for those final three games?
D
I don't think the Cowboy game means anything because the Cowboys had, you know, they literally had Jerry warming up the RV week 15. That's the one where I think it was his best game of the year. It was against the Bills. Basically flawless. You know, it wasn't an easy game and Buffalo was, you know, still playing for something at that point. And Washington, you know, hit him pretty good and Cousins played great and within himself and didn't make the typical Kirk Cousins ridiculous throw that somehow has like a anti gravitational field around the ball and the defender can't catch it. So yeah, I like that game a lot. You know, I'm thinking of 14, I think against the Bears. I can't remember which number it is, but that Bears game is like the ultimate. I encourage people, anybody who has game pass, which everybody should have game pass. Go back and watch that. That game against the Bears in Chicago, it's a game Washington should have lost, but they won. And it's just unbelievable. There's one play where he kind of across his body, throws it straight up in the air to Matt Jones, like ricochets off three defenders and somehow isn't caught. And it just felt like, oh, I'm watching Nick Foles. I'm watching Nick Foles against the Packers. I remember that game like it was yesterday in 2013. Was he, was he better? You know, I like he, he submitted one game of flawless film as an NFL quarterback. You know what? I can't do that.
Mike Wright
Right.
Jason Moore
You know, I could have done the goal line thing though.
Mike Wright
Take the knee.
Jason Moore
I could have taken the knee. That is exactly how my brain would have functioned in that moment.
D
It's so good. It's so true. Yeah, I, you know, I think you Said it.
Mike Wright
Great.
D
I think the problem with Kirk Cousins is that he's a front runner. You know, if things are going good, awesome, you know, but the problem is in an NFL season, especially on a roster that's good but not great. And, you know, I'm assuming. I hate talking about schedules beforehand, but division winners do tend to have slightly harder schedules. Like, I just think that in any given NFL season, sometimes the snowball's rolling downhill and it's the NFL quarterback's job to stop it. And it doesn't seem like Cousins is capable.
Jason Moore
All right, I'm going to. I'm going to see if you can guess this. This last guy I want to talk about with one kind of wild statistic. All right.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
7.5% of his attempts were deep balls, so that qualifies as 20 yards or more downfield. That's dead last in the league. Any guesses of who I'm talking about?
D
Alex Smith.
Jason Moore
You're probably right. Still, somehow the answer is Matt Ryan.
D
Matt Ryan with Julio Jones? Yeah.
Jason Moore
Yeah. With Julio Jones, he had just 7.5% of his attempts were deep balls. I kind of look at. From a touchdown perspective. You know, we talk a little bit about Bortles regressing in that area. I feel like Matt Ryan did the inverse here, where it's just 21 touchdowns. He was putrid. I mean, like, on tape. Putrid around the goal line. Some of these throws were ridiculous. Cousins would have been proud. But. But what do you think about Ryan right now? We have him 19 as our consensus. But I still see upside with Matt Ryan because the. I mean, you threw for 45 over 4,500 yards. Yeah, but they just did not avail themselves of this Julio Jones guy downfield.
D
I am 11, so I'm viewing him as.
Jason Moore
We got one.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
D
I would wait on Matt Ryan and be okay, like, of course. Do I really want Matt Ryan, like, he. Has anybody ever screamed, like, the number seven quarterback in Fantasy ever more than Matt Ryan? Like, his great years. Great years. He was number seven. I think it's the most. He's best he's ever been, and he should have always been better. And I've always been a critic, and I think the hate is way too heavy on Matt Ryan right now. I'm not sure exactly. I think people just look at touchdown numbers and just decide, you said it so well. I think that's. I wish I'd written that in the almanac. It's the inverse. Blake Bortles. It's just fluky, like Devonte Freeman. Stole so many of those touchdowns that typically, you know, would just sort of even out.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
D
I think I remember the Jag stat as being 35 passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns on the season.
Jason Moore
Like, yeah. Oh, it's incredible.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Some of those are bortles, too.
D
Yeah. It's insane. And, you know, Ryan was almost the. You know, it's not the same inverse. It's not the inverse in terms of sheer numbers, but he certainly got robbed some and he was. Remember that interception in the end against the Colts?
Jason Moore
That's the one that sticks out for me.
D
Oh, I mean, just so bad to quell Jackson, I think. Oh.
Jason Moore
Where everybody in the entire stadium just.
D
Kind of goes, maddie, ice melting. Right, right.
Jason Moore
I think you're right about the hate, though. Right now he's going. I mean, the three guys we've talked about, Cousins is going 14th, Tyrod's 15th, Ryan's 18th off the board at the quarterback position.
D
It's probably too low. And yet you'd never want people to be super excited about saying, ooh, cool, I'm going to really go into my draft and get Matt Ryan. I think. I think Matt Ryan's the guy you get when you decide you just don't need to take a quarterback until the 12th round or whatever and just keep loading up on all the other positions.
Jason Moore
He could be the guy if you take Brady. If you can get Brady in the eighth round or something and you can get Ryan late for four weeks, I mean, maybe he's somebody you think about there.
Mike Wright
That's a good point. But for Brady Harris, where. Where are you taking him?
Jason Moore
If at all we were debating that.
D
Let's.
Mike Wright
Let's say you have a team, you only have five bench spots, so you're sacrificing a pretty big thing for. To hold him for. To hold Brady for four games and not get to play him. Where. Where is the investment so great that you're like, brady's a value? I got to jump in on this.
D
Late 4th, early 5th.
Mike Wright
Wow. That early for you?
D
Yeah, he's great. I mean, you're talking to. You're talking to the footy pajama guy. You're talking to the Patriot fan. But, you know, I try to be fairly, you know, agnostic when it comes to my Patriot fandom.
Jason Moore
Yeah. Just listen to him talk about Legera Blunt. You'll know that.
D
That's right. The trash bag. You know, Brady's my number eight quarterback, and I would say, you know, in a 12 team league with fairly slim benches, I would say by the, you know, fifth, sixth round, you know, if I'm not waiting on quarterback until the very end, I probably want to grab one of those first eight guys or so. And I have a big gap between Brady at 8 and Romo at 9. I think in my standard ranks, Brady might be 52 and Romo's like 80 or something.
Mike Wright
Sure.
D
So that's the point at which I'm. I'm willing to take Brady and then no one else.
Mike Wright
So for. For context, just for the listeners, if you love Brady that much. So if Cam Newton. Cam Newton right now is your number one guy, where are you taking him in a draft?
D
I would say late second, something like that. In a. In a standard league, probably, you know, later than that in a ppr, probably late second or, you know, early third. Maybe to some degree, I feel like I'm always make, you know, it's ridiculous for me to say late second and the guy's like, yeah, but I have the early round, early second round pick. Like, I pick late second. That's not where I pick is. So, you know, I'm just going to stick to my guns. I think Newton in the second, in a standard, in a third and a PPR and then not another quarterback probably until the fourth or so. And then they. Then they would come quicker for me, I guess. I mean, people know their leagues much better than I do. And sometimes in some leagues it's super quarterback heavy and everyone goes fast. And then you're like, okay, I got Tony romo in the 10th. Great. You know, and then in other. In other leagues you can wait and still be getting really good players after you're filled out. Some of the stars early, you know, other positions on your roster.
Jason Moore
Yeah, makes sense.
D
Tell me, tell me about you guys. You already said it earlier in the show, but just, just tell me. So I know, where are you guys on Brady? Like, overall?
Jason Moore
Yeah. Before we were recording, I was actually talking with Mike and I was telling him, you know, I love Brady. And I realized I needed to move Brady up and that I'm willing to take him and pay the price of waiting those games because he was just incredibly consistent. Without Dion Lewis, without Julian Edelman for part of the season, without Gronkowski, I think it was, you know, two or more touchdowns for something like, I don't know, 12 of the first 13 games. It's just kind of. You get to lock him in there and you still get big games out of him. I think about him in maybe the sixth round.
Mike Wright
Yeah, for me it's seven or Eight. But I'm much more late round qb. Like for guys like Newton, you know that you're talking maybe I'll think about it in the fourth or the fifth round, but just that, just how I play. Of course, but it's always great to hear another perspective of how other people play.
D
Let me ask you this, how about a two quarterback league? Because I never really formally did two quarterback ranks for ESPN all those years. I just was ranking so many other things that I never really did to quarterback leagues. And I did it for the almanac this time around and I realized I put Cam Newton one overall. I started looking at what the, what the opportunity cost of quarterbacks are in a two quarterback league where all of them are going to be owned, some teams are going to own three and I might get stuck with just two and I better be able to use them. And I realized, man, I think maybe you know at least three quarterbacks in the first round and I think maybe Newton's number one overall. Do you guys have a strong opinion about that?
Jason Moore
I certainly wouldn't blame anybody in a two quarterback for doing that. I tend to lean towards one top heavy stalwart at the quarterback position because like you said, I mean the scarcity of the position changes completely. I mean it revolutionizes the way you even get to look at it. And if on a show like this where we're constantly going late round, late round and then you start thinking two quarterback leagues, you, you have to change your thinking completely. And so I certainly wouldn't blame anybody, but I try to get value laid on somebody else. One of these, maybe not the three that we talked about today, but maybe a Philip Rivers or even a Carson Palmer or a Stafford or somebody later in the draft to, to pair with a top end guy. But I don't blame you for it.
D
Yeah, like honestly, in a two quarterback league, if I'm like Newton and Bridgewater, I'm okay. You know, if I'm Newton and Flacco, I'm okay.
Jason Moore
You okay with RG3?
D
Excuse me, I have to go throw open my mouth.
Jason Moore
Well, we appreciate you coming on. Let me, let me ask you this. When are those 10 page write ups on the preseason games coming out? Because I want to jump in on that.
D
No, you guys, you guys mentioned that. Hey, maybe you could, we could have you on our show, you know, after a couple pre season, I know you're gonna be breaking down the preseason film and you said it non ironically and I was like, no, I'm not, I am not doing that. I Try all week to tell myself that I will not even watch the preseason games. And then I get too excited and I do, but then I get mad that I did and then Amir Abdullah like cuts around a few. New York jets second round pick.
Jason Moore
Oh, we've. Yeah, the cut that changed the ADP forever. So. All right, well, thanks a lot for coming on. Chris Harris of the Harris Football podcast, friend of the show. You can find him on Twitter. Harris Football. We'll have you on down the line. Thanks a lot.
D
Awesome, guys. Thanks for having me on.
Jason Moore
All right, thanks again to Chris Harris for joining us on the show. I do want to squeeze in a quick mailbag. You. You got the pipes for it, Mike. It's been a little while.
Mike Wright
Bumblebee.
Jason Moore
Sounds like you're all right.
Mike Wright
Yep.
Andy Holloway
Mailbag, mailbag.
Jason Moore
All right. If you got a question for the show, go to the website the fantasy footballers.com, click on the submit a question button or dial us at 302-464-TFFB and leave us a voicemail question on the hotline there. Steven, Massachusetts says, would you still take Antonio Brown first if you were to keep Jordy Nelson and Cam Newton or should he take an rb? I can also keep Thomas Rawls instead of Cam and then take Brown. What do you think is my best option? That one. I think that one is you're going.
Mike Wright
Rawls over Cam and then take Brown.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I would take Rawls, Nelson and Brown.
Mike Wright
Yes, I would. I would agree with that.
Jason Moore
All right. This is a great.
Mike Wright
I was just trying to think, is there a situation where I would keep Cam?
Jason Moore
Overall, I think you can keep Cam.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Because look for how much we love Rawls, there is still some uncertainty.
D
Sure.
Mike Wright
There. And if you're talking about just three keepers, you're the depth of your draft is going to be more shallow. So I'm not opposed to keeping Cam Newton. Right there.
Jason Moore
Great name here. Salty Whiskers. Whiskers in Lexington, Kentucky. Do you believe in a wide receiver handcuff to capitalize on if one goes down in a pass first system? With injuries being so relevant over the years. Edelman Alshon and Kevin White, Landry and Devonte Parker, OBJ and Sterling Shepard.
Mike Wright
Generally, no. I don't like to do this. I'm only going to roster two wide receivers from the same team if I feel I can start them both no matter what. But if you're going to do any of these things, I would go with Kevin White if Alshon goes down, which is already back on the. On the training table back in the tub. With his soft tissue injuries, Kevin White could turn into a fantasy superstar because Jay Cutler tends to find the guy he wants and locks on. So Kevin White could be showered in targets if Alshon goes down. I don't. I don't think that Parker elevates and becomes a superstar if Landry goes down. Same for Shepard.
Jason Moore
Chris in Las Vegas. The plan for me is to wait on tight end until around the 10th or 11th round, depending on how the draft falls, so I can build depth at running back and wide receiver. Is Jimmy Graham worth the risk at that point or even at all? If not, what are some of the names I should be looking at? Thank you and love the show. I'm going to give you a name that I'd much rather have than Jimmy Graham. That you can get there. That's Antonio Gates. Yes. Antonio Gates is back. Antonio Gates is going to. He's already got a team. Stevie Johnson's already hurt. Antonio Gates is a goal line monster. I have never. Here's the thing. I've never seen Jimmy Graham do it in Seattle. I've seen all the promise and hope, but I haven't seen him do it in Seattle. Now you're coming off a torn patella tendon. A very. Or that's what it was.
Mike Wright
Yes, Yes.
Jason Moore
A very damaging injury saps your strength, a team and an offense that succeeded without you. Give me Antonio Gates, please.
Mike Wright
We're watching Victor Cruz as kind of the case study for telling. Tearing your patella tendon. Look, Victor Cruz is a much smaller guy and this is. This is not a doctor talking. This is just a person of. I'm trying to put just life facts together for a much larger guy in Jimmy Graham who has that. He has that weight to carry to come back from the injury. To me seems like that would be a more difficult thing. And we've just never seen. We're lately. We're not seeing athletes return to a high level. And on top of that, Jimmy Graham was not great. He was not elite for fantasy purposes.
Jason Moore
If he's back, he'll score. But the passing yardage numbers he used to put up in New Orleans, they're not there in Seattle.
Mike Wright
Correct. And going after him like you said, Antonio Gates, Dwayne Allen, who I think we need to talk about a little bit more these days. Eric Ebron, Zach Miller. I mean, there's Jason Whitten, there's guys who I would much rather take a flyer on late than. Than Jimmy Graham.
Jason Moore
Alex in Flemington, New Jersey. If I go with three wide receivers as My first three picks in a draft. Are there any late round running backs you would be confident with as your running back? 1. If you're talking really a late, late round guy, I don't know if there's anybody I would be confident as my RB one with. If you're talking middle rounds like the Frank Gore, Matt Jones range, I'm still not probably super confident with them as my RB one, but I could live with it. Gio Bernard in a PPR league, for example.
Mike Wright
And I mean the point of you going three wide is you're hoping that you have such elite fantasy guys at your wide receiver position that you make up for your, your lack of scoring from the running back. But Rashad Jennings, I keep talking, yeah, Rashad Jennings.
Jason Moore
You could take Terrence west super late just to roll the dice and hope you have a volume play there.
Mike Wright
Crowell could be usable. And then trying to figure out who that Ravens running back is.
Jason Moore
If your first three picks are wide receivers and you can get Jonathan Stewart in the fourth, I'd love that.
Mike Wright
Yeah, I can roll with it because.
Jason Moore
Stewart's going in the fourth or fifth round and I'd be really. That's the kind of guy that he's just going to get your carries every week to mix with that elite talent.
Mike Wright
I feel like he's a two. But if you have an overpowering wide receiver scoring every single week, then Jonathan Stewart's fine is your one.
Jason Moore
All right, we got to get to this combine now. Fantasy football is back, so do not miss your chance to jump on the Fantasy Football Official Ultimate Draft Guide atultimate draft kit.com this is Jam packed with all the information we talk about on the show and more. All of our scoring projections on the year broken down by tiers. You've got videos, you got all sorts of different things. Check it out. Ultimate Draft Kit.com We've got a bunch of good shows coming up the rest of this week. Mike, you got anything else you want to let the people know about?
Mike Wright
It was good. It was good knowing everybody.
Jason Moore
The days are done.
Mike Wright
This is my goodbye.
Jason Moore
We're going to be in pain tomorrow. Definitely. Check out fantasyjocks.com for all your trophies, draft boards, things you need.
Mike Wright
I hope there's room in the tub for me.
Jason Moore
Yeah. See ya.
Andy Holloway
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.
Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: QB's 11-15, Sleeper QBs, Combine Hype
Release Date: August 9, 2016
The Fantasy Footballers kicked off the episode with vibrant energy, anticipating a bustling day centered around their participation in an NFL combine event. Hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright donned their official combine jerseys, showcasing their enthusiasm despite Mike expressing some physical discomfort. Jason humorously noted, "If you're watching us on YouTube, you see we're wearing our official combine jersey uniforms... I wish I would have gotten a smaller size" (01:16).
Mike tackled a listener question from Chris Hoover regarding draft strategies. Chris inquired whether, in an early draft, it's more beneficial to prioritize an additional running back or wide receiver over securing a defense or kicker. Mike strongly endorsed this strategy, emphasizing the value of bench depth over positions that don't accrue significant value early on:
"If your league does not require you to draft a defense and a kicker... throw two more sleepers or two more lower depth chart guys on that could make a splash in preseason..." (03:38)
Jason added examples like Tyler Gaffney and Terrence West to illustrate potential late-round gems that could elevate a fantasy roster.
The hosts delved into the latest NFL news, focusing primarily on quarterback-related updates and their implications for fantasy football:
Julian Edelman's Injury: Julian Edelman exited practice with a lower leg injury, raising concerns about re-injury risks due to his history with a Jones fracture. Mike highlighted the potential impact on Patriots’ offense:
"We said we want to remember what took place... If he's a sixth round pick, seventh round pick, I really like the value for Brees." (06:15)
Player Position Changes: Discussions included Jeremy Hill being listed as the starting running back for the Bengals, Laquan Treadwell's slow ascent, and Eric Ebron’s ankle sprain, which initially sparked rumors of a more severe Achilles injury.
Case Keenum's Role: Speculation surrounded Case Keenum potentially starting over rookie Garrett Gronkowski, with Mike questioning the rationale behind the team's first-round tender for Keenum:
"Is that how you justify your decision down the line?... You go, I'm gonna give him a first-round Tender." (10:25)
Building on their previous top 10 QB rankings, the hosts expanded their discussion to QBs ranked 11-15, evaluating their fantasy potential and discussing sleeper options:
Jameis Winston (#11): Mike praised Winston's improvement, noting his increased efficiency and potential for a breakout season, while Jason ranked him 14th, acknowledging his streamability despite inconsistent performances.
Andy Dalton (#12): Viewed as undervalued, Andy Dalton was commended for his consistent performance and the supporting cast, with Mike placing him highly in drafts.
"He had the number two passer rating in the league... He just catches fire." (19:00)
Tony Romo (#13): Despite public perceptions, Mike defended Romo's fantasy value, highlighting his consistent touchdown production and reliable supporting weapons.
"He needs some fantasy respect." (22:37)
Matthew Stafford (#14): Lauded for his efficiency and supporting cast, Stafford was considered a strong mid-round pick, especially with potential red-zone targets like Marvin Jones.
Derek Carr (#15): Viewed as a solid but inconsistent option, Carr was recommended as a late-round quarterback with upside, particularly if his rapport with Amari Cooper is strong.
Chris Harris from Harris Football joined the discussion, providing deeper insights into the QBs ranked 11-15:
Kirk Cousins: Chris expressed skepticism about Cousins' long-term franchise potential, citing issues with mental toughness and inconsistency under pressure. He rated Cousins unfavorably, emphasizing concerns over his ability to lead his team effectively in challenging situations.
Tyrod Taylor: Rated similarly to Cousins, Taylor was critiqued for poor decision-making and lack of long-term viability, despite his rushing ability offering some fantasy upside.
Matt Ryan: While recognizing Ryan's high yardage, Chris pointed out his struggles in utilizing Julio Jones effectively, leading to underwhelming touchdown numbers. He suggested Ryan might be a viable late-round option but cautioned against overestimating his fantasy potential.
The hosts addressed listener questions, offering strategic advice:
Team Composition: Steven from Massachusetts sought advice on whether to prioritize Antonio Brown over taking an RB. Both Mike and Jason recommended taking Thomas Rawls and keeping Antonio Brown, suggesting Brown's value trumps the uncertainty of an RB in this scenario.
Wide Receiver Handcuffs: Jason inquired about the viability of handcuffs like Nelson Aguillar or Laquan Treadwell to capitalize on potential WR injuries. Mike advised focusing on single WRs unless confident in being able to start multiple receivers from the same team consistently.
Two-Quarterback Leagues: Chris suggested that in two-QB formats, having at least three quarterbacks might be beneficial, but acknowledged the complexity and different strategies required compared to standard leagues.
As the episode wrapped up, the hosts promoted their additional resources, including their Ultimate Draft Guide and community platforms. They maintained their playful camaraderie, even as they prepared to head into the combine event, hinting at upcoming content and further analyses in future episodes.
Notable Quotes:
Mike Wright on Draft Strategy:
"This is a spectacular strategy move that I always recommend if you don't have to fill your roster." (03:38)
Jason Moore on Tony Romo:
"If you make a good point, you just got to look at his numbers. Go look what he has done." (22:11)
Chris Harris on Kirk Cousins:
"I think his mental toughness is probably not what you want out of a franchise quarterback because when it goes wrong, it's... he just continues to, to dig through the hole." (37:21)
This episode provided comprehensive insights into quarterback evaluations, draft strategies, and the latest NFL news, all while maintaining the engaging and analytical style that fans of The Fantasy Footballers appreciate.