Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Regress or Impress? CBS Sports Jamey Eisenberg, News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Episode Summary: "Regress or Impress? CBS Sports Jamey Eisenberg, News"
Release Date: May 26, 2016

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Introduction and Announcements

In this engaging episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright dive deep into the dynamic world of fantasy football, providing listeners with expert analysis, strong opinions, and actionable advice. The episode features a special guest appearance by Jamey Eisenberg from CBS Sports, who joins the trio to discuss key players poised to either regress or impress in the upcoming season.

Key Announcements:

• Podcast Awards Nomination: The Fantasy Footballers are thrilled to announce their nomination for both the Best Overall Sports Podcast and the People's Choice Award at podcastawards.com. From [03:11], the hosts encourage listeners to vote daily from May 29th for two weeks to support and potentially win exclusive giveaways, including a signed Adam Schefter jersey and a spot in the Fantasy Footballers Listener League.

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The State of the Running Back Position

The episode opens with a comprehensive analysis of the running back position, a perennial cornerstone of fantasy football strategy.

Mike Wright's Insight:

• Undervalued Talent: Wright posits that the running back position is currently undervalued and poised for resurgence. He states, “I think it is going to be undervalued by the majority of the fantasy football community” [06:37].
• Evolution of the Role: He highlights the shift from relying solely on workhorse three-down backs to valuing versatile players like Charles Sims and Danny Woodhead, who contribute significantly both in rushing and receiving yards.

Jason Moore's Perspective:

• Depth and Value: Moore challenges the traditional scarcity of running backs by comparing the position to a "New York steak," asserting that this year's running back class is exceptionally deep and full of reliable producers [08:00-08:21].
• Strategic Adjustments: He emphasizes the importance of adapting draft strategies to capitalize on this depth, suggesting that fantasy managers can be more selective and avoid the frantic early-round rush for running backs.

Andy Holloway's Take:

• Strategy Evolution: Holloway agrees with his co-hosts, noting the emergence of dominant wide receivers like Odell Beckham Jr., Julio Jones, and Antonio Brown has altered the overall strategy, making the running back position more accessible and adaptable [10:11].

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Latest News Highlights

The hosts transition into a news segment covering significant updates that could impact fantasy football decisions.

Tyler Ifert's Ankle Surgery:

• Injury Concerns: Tyler Ifert’s ankle surgery is a focal point, with Adam Schefter reporting his uncertainty for Week 1 [11:07]. The discussion revolves around the implications for fantasy owners, debating Ifert’s draft value and potential impact on his backup, Tyler Croft.

Eddie Lacy's Weight and Performance:

• Weight Management: Eddie Lacy remains a topic of interest, with his weight holding steady in the 240s. The hosts discuss coach Mike McCarthy’s confidence in Lacy’s performance, although concerns about his ability to meet weight targets linger [18:13].

Super Bowl Locations:

• Future Venues: Announcements confirm that the 2019 through 2021 Super Bowls will be held in Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles, respectively [19:51-20:12].

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Regress or Impress: Player Analysis

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to evaluating players who might either regress or impress in the upcoming season. Jamey Eisenberg from CBS Sports provides his expert opinions alongside the hosts.

Travis Benjamin (San Diego Chargers)

• Mike Wright: Sees Benjamin as a potential boom-or-bust play due to his role in a pass-heavy offense [22:43].
• Jason Moore: Predicts regression, citing potential similarities to Malcolm Floyd's inconsistent performance [24:13].
• Conclusion: The consensus leans towards regression, with Benjamin unlikely to surpass previous performance levels [25:40].

Jarvis Landry (Miami Dolphins)

• Stats Overview: Last season's 111 receptions for 1,160 yards and four touchdowns make Landry a solid PPR option.
• Mike Wright: Anticipates a possible decrease in yardage but an increase in touchdowns [26:21].
• Jason Moore: Optimistic about Landry maintaining consistency, especially in PPR leagues, despite roster changes [27:46].
• Conclusion: Mixed outlook with potential for consistent performance, leaning towards impress [30:46].

Kirk Cousins (Washington Redskins)

• Previous Performance: Last season, Cousins threw for over 4,100 yards and 29 touchdowns with a completion rate just under 70% [30:56].
• Mike Wright: Now views him as a solid fantasy quarterback, anticipating continued strong performance despite postseason struggles [31:12].
• Jason Moore: Initially viewed as a streamer, Moore has shifted his perspective, now believing Cousins will impress due to improved offensive weapons [35:13].
• Conclusion: Optimistic outlook with Cousins expected to impress, potentially ranking higher than competition like Blake Bortles [35:35].

Devontae Freeman (Cleveland Browns)

• Jamey Eisenberg's Analysis:
  • Regression Expected: Freeman's role is likely to diminish with the addition of Tevin Coleman, leading to fewer touches [36:50].
  • Draft Strategy: Suggests value in Coleman over Freeman for drafts, cautioning against early overreliance on Freeman [38:04].

Matt Forte (New York Jets)

• Decreased Value: Forte faces a new backfield competition with Bilal Powell and Kyrie Robinson, leading to potential regression [40:21].
• Jamey Eisenberg's Take: Recommends avoiding Forte unless drafted in later rounds, highlighting the uncertainty of his role [41:41].

Latavius Murray (Oakland Raiders)

• Positive Outlook: Improved Oakland offensive line and stable backfield roles make Murray a valuable fourth-round pick [42:07].

Brandon Cooks (New Orleans Saints)

• Breakout Potential: Despite a subdued first half last season, Cooks is expected to thrive with a more defined offensive identity and healthy Drew Brees [43:37].
• Willie Snead's Role: Enhanced by the addition of Michael Thomas, Snead is poised to secure a reliable spot as a wide receiver [45:24].

TJ Yeldin (New York Giants)

• Value Assessment: Yeldin is considered a draft value, though uncertainty remains regarding his role alongside Elijah Pitts [47:31].

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Mailbag Highlights

Listeners pose intriguing questions, prompting thoughtful discussions among the hosts.

Nick from Akron, Ohio:

• Roster Decision: Faced with choosing between Alan Robinson (4th), Ryan Matthews (7th), Eric Decker (8th), and Jeremy Hill (11th) in a full-point PPR league.
• Response: The hosts largely agree that Alan Robinson offers the most reliable PPR production, reinforcing his selection over others despite differing opinions on others' rankings [50:11-51:30].

Garrison from California:

• First Overall Pick Dilemma: Torn between selecting Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, or Adrian Peterson in a standard scoring league.
• Advice: While Mike Wright favors Antonio Brown for his consistent wide receiver production over the other running backs, Jason Moore suggests considering Odell Beckham Jr. for his high touchdown potential, advising flexibility based on league settings [51:44-53:37].

Steve Balls:

• Wide Receiver Development: Questions whether wide receivers see their biggest breakout between their sophomore and third seasons.
• Andy Holloway's Response: Confirms that while many receivers improve significantly by their third year, the actual timing can vary, emphasizing the importance of opportunity and player pedigree [53:40-55:53].

Bryson from Salt Lake City:

• Auction Sabotage: Concerned about league mates attempting to sabotage his auction strategy after his success.
• Advice: The hosts recommend maintaining integrity, not engaging in collusion, and focusing on strong drafting strategies to overcome any sabotage attempts [56:20-57:59].

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Conclusion

The Fantasy Footballers Podcast meticulously covers a range of topics essential for fantasy managers, from evaluating the evolving running back position and breaking news to in-depth player analyses and listener Q&As. With expert guest Jamey Eisenberg providing additional insights, the episode equips listeners with the knowledge to make informed decisions for the upcoming fantasy football season.

Key Takeaways:

• Running Back Depth: Embrace the increased depth and versatility in the running back position.
• Player Evaluation: Carefully assess players’ roles and potential for regression or improvement.
• Strategic Voting: Support the podcast by voting in the Podcast Awards for a chance to win exclusive prizes.
• Listener Engagement: Utilize the insights from the mailbag to enhance your fantasy strategies and overcome league challenges.

Stay tuned for more expert advice and entertaining discussions in future episodes of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast!

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For more content, questions, and to support the show, visit thefantasyfootballers.com and follow them on Twitter @theFFBallers.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. All you sports memorabilia lovers, we've told you about pristineauction.com one of our absolute favorite websites. You can go on there. There are hundreds of daily auctions, and right now, they're doing a special giveaway for you, the listener. They're giving away a signed, huge David Johnson canvas. And the way that you can enter and win this giant canvas, autographed by David Johnson himself, is hit. Head over to social media. Go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, post why you deserve it. That's all you got to do. And make sure you use the hashtag pristine Auction and you can win your own exclusive autograph David Johnson Canvas.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Hello. Hey, how you doing? How you doing, everybody?

[Mike Wright]

I am amped up for today's show.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, on the top of our show notes, it said Tuesday, which is a. It's just a lie.

[Mike Wright]

I apologize that I did not update you.

[Andy Holloway]

Didn't change it. So Thursday, May 26th.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, you almost fell for my trap.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I've fallen for that trap from you many times. Welcome to the show, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Jason Moore is here.

[Jason Moore]

I am here. I'm excited. I'm happy to be here.

[Andy Holloway]

You're very happy. You're fresh off a trade in our league of record that. That made me want to weep this morning. I may have threatened him with a butcher knife.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's the true story.

[Andy Holloway]

Not. Not a lie. Mike, the fantasy hit man is here.

[Mike Wright]

I am, and I'm glad to be here.

[Andy Holloway]

Both of you have traded with this owner in our league of record, and both of you have trades that I wish you didn't have. So I'm doing a public call out to thousands of people telling that owner to stop it. Unless it's me. Trade with me.

[Jason Moore]

Don't.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy, what do we got going on the show today? We got. Jamie Eisenberg from CBS Sports is joining us. I think we have a really fun show because we're talking about guys that could either regress or impress.

[Mike Wright]

It's a rhyme, and that makes it good.

[Andy Holloway]

That makes it worthy of our time if it's a rhyme. All right, so we got that on today's show.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you were gonna, like, full, let it flow and freestyle for the Foot Clan.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that. That wouldn't end very well. No, no, not gonna happen, Mike. Music is your specialty. Mine is carrying the show along, and that's what I'm gonna do right now. If you want to connect with us, you can do so on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. that's where you can submit questions to the show. Today we're answering a lot of Foot Clan listener questions as well. So we take those from what comes in on the website. You can follow us on TwitterFFballers and you can subscribe. We're asking all the Foot Clan, go to YouTube, subscribe to the show on YouTube. It helps us out. It gets you access to exclusive YouTube content. We're putting unique things up there. That's where we put all of our WaterBet payout videos. That's where we put our show after the show.

[Mike Wright]

Show after the show, people. If you're not in on what's going.

[Andy Holloway]

On on YouTube, really enjoy it. And the request we get most is why isn't it longer? So we have to give some thought into that. But before we get into the quick question, which is about running backs, I want to highlight something that is taking place this Sunday, May 29th, for a period of two weeks. Now, if you heard the last show, you know, we have been. We've had the honor and privilege of being nominated for the best overall sports [e-mail] and. And for the People's Choice [e-mail] and that is very exciting. We're very thankful for you because you voted and nominated us for those awards. And so what that means is now that we've been selected and there were a lot of shows, here comes the work. Here comes the work. We now have the opportunity from the 29th for two weeks. So this Sunday, this Sunday for two weeks, you can go every day and vote for the show. And that's. That's one of the things that separates us, to win it, to actually win the thing. And so what we're doing is we want to make this a big deal. We want to make this really fun. And so we're asking you to go and vote every day if you enjoy this show and you want to support us.

[Mike Wright]

Foot Clan Assemble.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you wanted your. What was it? The Horn of Gondor? You think they respond well to that?

[Mike Wright]

Who does that? Whenever you hear that, you know that something serious is about to happen, you.

[Jason Moore]

Get up off the couch and you run.

[Andy Holloway]

You run. So do it again. There you go. So, Foot Clan Assemble, here's what we're doing. If you vote every day that you vote during that time period, we're going to give you an entry into some giveaways that we're doing. We're going to give away a sign. Listen to this. Assigned Levy on Bell jersey.

[Mike Wright]

I can't believe we're doing this.

[Jason Moore]

It's breaking Mike's heart. He didn't want to give it away.

[Andy Holloway]

And this is the first time we've mentioned.

[Jason Moore]

This is bigger.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the first time we've mentioned it.

[Jason Moore]

The Fantasy Footballers listener League 11 entry.

[Andy Holloway]

Is up for grabs in the Fantasy Footballers Listener League. We haven't even opened that up yet this summer.

[Jason Moore]

I've got a golden ticket.

[Mike Wright]

I've got a golden ticket.

[Jason Moore]

What is that?

[Mike Wright]

That was amazing.

[Andy Holloway]

That was amazing.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So get your golden ticket into the larger league. Come on into the chocolate factory and. Yeah, every single day we gotta explain.

[Mike Wright]

How to enter, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. So the way you enter is you go to podcast awards.com starting on Sunday. You vote for us and then you.

[Mike Wright]

They need a hashtag.

[Andy Holloway]

You show us. You show us that you voted and it counts as an entry. So we need to decide on that hashtag here.

[Mike Wright]

Foot Clan vote.

[Andy Holloway]

All right?

[Mike Wright]

Hashtag Foot Clan vote with a screenshot proving that you have voted on that day. Each day you do that, you get a. You get an entry into the raffle.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And we're gonna give away some second and third place prizes too. We're gonna give away some stickers, we're gonna give away some other stuff. So it's gonna be awesome.

[Jason Moore]

Let's win this thing.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's do it. Let's do it. Foot Clan. The Horn of Gondor. You'll hear it frequently over the next two weeks. So. All right, quick question of the day, guys. I just want your general thoughts on the state of the running back position in football. This is something that rises and falls with different strategies and thought processes. And ultimately league scoring systems matter as well. But what are your thoughts on the. On the state of the running back position?

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to take this, I'm going to kick this thing off because I actually like where the running back position is this year. I think it is going to be undervalued by the majority of the fantasy football community. It felt like there was an extreme amount of busting last year. You combine the busting with what people believe of the devaluation of the running back position. I think it is just an evolution of the running back where years ago you had to have one of those workhorse three down guys to have any shot to win and now it is just different. You don't have to have those guys more. Running backs are now useful. You get Charles Sims, you get Danny Woodheads, Bilal Powell's, Theo Riddick's. These guys have fantasy value, not just the people playing in front of them. So I like where the running back is on top of that. Like I was saying, where we felt like there was a huge, there was much more busting that happened last year. That it is true. However, compared to the previous years, that was an anomalous outlier of a year and people are going to overreact. I think the busting will return to where it normally is and you are going to get some screaming values on top end running back.

[Jason Moore]

For me, when I look at the running back landscape as a whole, the first thing that comes to mind is meat is, it's meaty.

[Andy Holloway]

That's most situations in your life.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, well, right. All situations. I think of what food is this? And so I have decided they don't.

[Andy Holloway]

Call you double stuff for no reason.

[Jason Moore]

I have decided that the running back position right now, it's, it's just a, it's a New York steak right now because it's plentiful. Oh, and I'm not talking like the filet mignon. I'm not talking about the top end talent.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

The running back position over the last decade has been easily the position with the least amount of depth. You have to get guys at the beginning because if not you're going to be completely screwed. And it's not true this year at all. I actually think the running back class is extremely deep. I mean, some of the guys you just mentioned, right, you know, you got Danny Woodhead and Duke Johnson that are going as the 34th and 35th running back. I mean, you've got depth here where you can get guys very late as running backs who are playing not, not just guys that you have to wait and they're only a handcuff, but people who can produce for your teams. Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the mid round picks from our last show that were running backs because the last show is mid round madness. So you got Frank Gore, Matt Jones, TJ Yeldin, Amir Abdullah. Those were four of the nine that we mentioned in mid round values. And obviously there are a lot, a lot of other names. Joe Bernard and Danny Woodhead and Ryan.

[Jason Moore]

Matthews, Gordon and I mean there's so many Jonathan Stewart.

[Andy Holloway]

But you both said the same thing. You both said that essentially, Mike, you were talking about the fact that they'll contribute, right? You have a lot of fantasy contributors at running back, but you don't have as many fantasy dominators right at the position.

[Mike Wright]

You don't have, you don't have the lts that are going to win your league for you because you had the 101 pick. But that's why I say, I think it's just an evolution of how people have to think about the running back position, which they people are. I mean, you have these 0 RB at which has gone from this, this idea where people like, well, that's. That's absolutely ridiculous to now that is very widespread and thought of as a very viable strategy because it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. I think it's interesting because you have dominators at wide receiver right now at this time in the NFL. You have, you know, the three big guys that Odell Beckham Jr. Julio Jones and Antonio Brown who, you know, fat. You know, like there's no way other than injury that they're not going to produce at a very high level. And so it just changes the landscape. I appreciate the thought process there because I think you both said the reality right now, which is that you have a lot of guys and it should make you adjust your draft a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Just don't be down on it. I mean, embrace the change. You got to move forward.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right, let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, the big news here is Tyler Ifert. This is the. You know, I feel lucky because we have been off the Tyler Ifert express for the offseason and not because we anticipated ankle surgery, which is the news here.

[Mike Wright]

I did.

[Andy Holloway]

But. But it's just fortunate because I think what we said is we like Tyler Ifer, but his values too high. So if you would, if you had drafted or if you had your keeper deadline and those things had taken place, you know, dynasty, startups, those type of things, you probably, you might have avoided buying him at the, at the level he's. He was going at. Now it's going to change. Right. He has. He had ankle surgery and Adam Schefter reported he's in jeopardy for week one. Even if it, I believe, came out and said, hey, on my worst case, I miss a couple games. That's a pretty worst case, Tyler, you know, it is in NFL terms, not as big of a deal. Not as big of a deal for him. Okay, I'll be back. We'll make our playoff push. It won't be a big deal. I'm going to contribute all year. For a fantasy owner and for a fantasy owner wanting to make ifrt a higher draft pick. Where was his ad? Do we know where his ADP was, his average draft position?

[Mike Wright]

Before this news, I Think Jason's pulling up.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to guess it was fourth round.

[Mike Wright]

I would guess fourth round was fourth.

[Jason Moore]

Round, back of the fourth.

[Mike Wright]

And the. The biggest question I'm getting on Twitter is Tyler Croft. Can he fill in, fill the shoes for iford third round pick? Big guy was considered one of the best tight ends in his draft. Andy is.

[Andy Holloway]

No, you know what? It is the biggest question you got on Twitter. And I don't say this type of thing very often. It's the most annoying question. It's only the most annoying question because it doesn't. It's the most obvious question. You know, you just think, okay, so is the guy right behind him going to make a big difference? I mean, a third round tight end for a couple of games. I mean, you had first round tight ends that make no impact in the beginning of the season, but of their first year.

[Jason Moore]

This is not cross even in the second year. Tight ends, tight ends take a couple of years to really.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just saying I would be so hard pressed to Zach Sudfeld. Okay, okay. Zach Sudfeld had an opportunity in a super offense and he came out and he just laid an egg in the beginning of the season. I wouldn't even be thinking about Tyler Croft.

[Jason Moore]

Look, look, look. Okay, Tyler Eiford gone, Tyler Croft, nobody but the Tyler triangle continues. And we have Tyler Boyd, I would say is like mashed potatoes. They're the best side dish. It's so delicious. It's a side dish. Who's going to be really.

[Andy Holloway]

You can put mashed potatoes in the slot.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. You put mashed potatoes in the slot. You can.

[Andy Holloway]

Your mouth slot.

[Mike Wright]

They're very malleable.

[Andy Holloway]

They're malleable.

[Jason Moore]

It is good for him to have the opportunity in the red zone. You know, he's a good sized player who now with Tyler Ifert possibly missing those first few games, you've got more reps in the OTAs, more reps in training camp, more reps in preseason, and there could be a value there to Tyler Boyd. I worry with this that he's going to now jump up too high.

[Mike Wright]

He will.

[Jason Moore]

Because of how people are overvaluing rookie wide receivers in general.

[Mike Wright]

We almost got the wookiee.

[Jason Moore]

Almost got the wookie out there, you know, so this might be bad for my love of Tyler Boyd because it might push him out of where I would draft him, but I do think that's the guy to consider in Cincinnati.

[Andy Holloway]

We have a lot of news to cover, but I'm not going to leave this because I think we Got distracted with Tyler. With Tyler Croft, the question here, what do you do as a Tyler Ivert owner and what do you do when you draft Tyler Ivert? What is his value? Does it now drop to a place that you want him? Does, you know, does. If he. If he misses two games? Let's sort out there.

[Mike Wright]

Okay?

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to miss two games.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like Tyler Ifert was pretty much a lock to miss two games anyway. Oh, no, I'm not saying that as a bad thing. I'm saying 14 games. Now, granted, by that same logic, you'd say, well, he might not play all 14, but if I knew for sure Tyler Ifert was going to play 14 out of 16 games, I'm fine with that. I don't. I don't really worry about that too much. The problem that I have is I don't like rostering at the draft. Later on in the season for various reasons, my strategy changes. But at the draft, I don't like having two tight ends. And so if you draft Tyler Ifert, you have to draft another tight end. And I don't want to give up that spot. So for me, he's almost a value that is not going like, where is it, though?

[Andy Holloway]

Let somebody else do it.

[Mike Wright]

Where's the over under for you?

[Jason Moore]

For me.

[Andy Holloway]

For me, it's like round nine.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. I was going to say eight for me.

[Jason Moore]

For me it's like 12, because I already know that I have to take two picks if I.

[Andy Holloway]

None of us are going to get Tyler IFR with those draft rounds. Even round eight. He'll go in the sixth. Yeah, that seems he'll go in the six or higher. Deion Lewis to be ready for week one. I don't remember how much we talked about this on the show.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I've said it before. I'll say it again. He is like butter.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, great. We will let you go to lunch. Dion Lewis to be back for week one. We know that they didn't address the running back position in the draft. They have LeGarrett Blunt. They have Dion Lewis. This is encouraging news. They're going to be conservative with him, but he'll be back for week one. He's a value to me. No, Sean Moreno says he plans to continue playing in 2016. No, Shawn Moreno is an interesting guy because there are teams that might be looking for a complimentary running back. He's been known to take over a starting job due to sheer hard work.

[Mike Wright]

Due to doo doo.

[Andy Holloway]

And he, you know, you're talking about Oakland might need A back. Washington might need a back. Baltimore needs a 15th bat. No, not really.

[Jason Moore]

Miami.

[Andy Holloway]

Miami. So, no. Shawn Moreno is 28 years old. He had played well. He went to Miami, he started well, he tore his acl and he hasn't been seen since. So I just wanted it on the radar because people aren't aware of that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think it's worth keeping on your radar because he's a talented player. And we've also seen other players when they have some time off, away for at the running back position, they can come back and produce. You saw that with, you know, Ricky Williams. You saw that last year with Tim Hightower. So just because now he's been gone for a while, sometimes we think, oh, well, then that means he's done. Not necessarily at 28, when the talented guy, if he comes back, he could.

[Andy Holloway]

Produce fantasy value and Miami could be a destination, like you said. Speaking of Miami, they're also monitoring Arian Foster. There is an interview with Arian Foster where he basically said, you know, he has to. He has to wait a month to. Because that's what they want him to wait before he can kind of get through the physical. You know, the physical stuff. But there are teams that are already interested.

[Jason Moore]

Man, he's going to mess things up for some.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, Arian Foster is going to mess something up for somebody.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, which. Which is only if you draft early, Right? If you draft late, which we recommend here, you know, at least after the third preseason game, if you're in a redraft league, hopefully maybe even after the 4th.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you're talking fantasy owners. I was talking about messing with an actual team he's going to mess with.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, really? You think?

[Mike Wright]

Whoa, what do you mean? You think he will be bad for a team? No, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm saying he's going to ruin a backfield for fantasy owners. He's going to go into Oakland and make Latavius Murray less valuable. He's going to go into Miami and make a job valuable. And so you said it's only a problem if you draft late. Well, it still thins out the value at the running back position if he joins the backfield. And is that type of a guy. Gotcha. Matt Jones in Washington, whatever it might be. All right, I want to talk about this one. Eddie Lacy, still in the 240s. Mike, speaking of food, still in the 240.

[Mike Wright]

That's perfectly fine.

[Andy Holloway]

231 at the combine. And McCarthy says, I believe he will hit the target we're all looking for when the Lights come on. Which means he has not hit that target yet.

[Mike Wright]

He is in the 240s. And the rumors in the bushes, he was playing in the 260s. So that means he has already done some serious.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the argument where it's like, I'm going on a diet. I'm no longer eating eight pizzas. I'm going to eat two.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no, no.

[Jason Moore]

He looks great.

[Mike Wright]

He looks great. And on top of that, even if he's in the 240s, what do you think he played at his sophomore year? It was definitely not 231.

[Jason Moore]

Well, here's. Here's what I. Yeah, right. In his sophomore year, he was great. The worry with Eddie Lacy, the only worry, because I'm excited about this, you know, new workout regimen, the new eating. I think anytime that a player is healthier and more athletic, it's going to be a good thing. Right. The only worry was he played as a big back, like, he was always a big back. So I was happy to see that he's still up at 240. I mean, that's. That's really big for a. For a normal running back. And so he's got the athleticism mixed with the size that he needs to be the player he has always been.

[Andy Holloway]

You heard it here first. No matter what the Eddie Lacy news is, Mike and Jason will like it. That is what that means. Because if he loses weight, that's great. If he still has quite a bit of that weight to him, that's how he plays well, because it's both of.

[Jason Moore]

Those things, which is great.

[Andy Holloway]

I would be far more enticed by the simple fact they didn't add more running backs to that back.

[Jason Moore]

If he was 220, I would be scared off of Eddie Lacy.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, I agree with that.

[Jason Moore]

That's my point.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's made up some ground. But this was not necessarily written as a positive thing. He still has a goal to hit, is what McCarthy said, and he's yet to hit it. Good.

[Jason Moore]

Keep working.

[Andy Holloway]

The league has awarded the 2019 through 2021 Super Bowls to Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles.

[Jason Moore]

Congratulations.

[Mike Wright]

The LA Stadium, I assume, will be open by then.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, I would go with that.

[Jason Moore]

They're going to do it in the streets this year?

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, I mean, as opposed to playing in the Rose Bowl.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct. Yeah, it'll be open.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well, we are going to get to our amazing, amazing segment of those players who are going to regress or impress. But before we do, let me tell you Something that has impressed me. It is our sponsor of today's show, Blue Apron. You heard me talk about it last week. I've seen a lot of our users tweeting out their meals that they have got for free with Blue Apron. Look, not all ingredients are made the same. They're not all created equal. Blue Apron sends the highest quality meals with prepared recipes, proportioned ingredients. You don't waste anything. It's all local to where you live. Fresh, nice. And my favorite part about it, I talked about it last time, is I have been cooking and spending time with my family, with my wife, eating more meals of more variety that are healthy. It's only about $10 a person per meal. It is delicious and great. We've got a deal for everyone out there who wants to hop on board, get a couple free meals. Check it out. Here's what you do. Check out this week's menu and get your free two meals with free shipping by just going to blueapron.comballers and you're going to love how good it feels and how good it tastes to create incredible home cooked meals with Blue Apron. So don't wait. It's blue apron.com ballers blue apron. It's a better way to cook.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk players that will regress or impress. And by the way, there was a run there of Blue Apron meals where everyone was better than the one before. Like, I was so impressed. These seared pork chops. Oh, just incredible.

[Jason Moore]

The steamed bun.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, those ginger steamed bun tacos. Cloud buns, chicken.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, they were.

[Andy Holloway]

Get your cloud buns here. All right, let's talk about. We're going to talk about a few guys ourselves that we maybe haven't talked about enough on the show. And then we're going to bring in Jamie Eisenberg from CBS Sports and the CBS Sports Today podcast, Fantasy Sports Today. And he's going to share his opinion on four or five guys that we have on our minds that a lot of players want to know. And you want to know now. You want to know right now. Are they going to step it up, impress you? Are they going to regress and make you regret the pick?

[Mike Wright]

So they regress or will they impress? We're talking about football. I didn't have a drop, so I.

[Andy Holloway]

Do make us a drop. That's cool. Where's the guitar, though? I could have given you my guitar. You would have to do an acoustic. An acoustic rock version. All right, so who do you guys want to start with?

[Mike Wright]

I want to kick this off with Travis Benjamin signed to the San Diego Chargers. And I will admit I, at. At the beginning of the signing, I kind of dismissed it. I wasn't getting too excited, but I'm actually growing. My excitement is growing for Travis Benjamin. I think that he is a talented player. I think there is a role for him there. Am I calling him a wide receiver one or even a two? No. But he's a guy that I think I want on my fantasy teams because he will have boom games. We're talking about, we just talked about the value of desean Jackson, who I think is a great flex play because you don't have to count on him week to week to sustain your team. Well, Travis Benjamin is very similar and he's going to an offense that's going to have to throw the ball a ton. Last year Travis Benjamin almost had a thousand yards for the Cleveland Browns. And I wanted to look back at Malcolm Floyd, the secondary receiver. Two years ago, Malcolm Floyd, 52 catches, 850 yards and six touchdowns. For a guy that you can get extremely late. I just think there's. He interests me because I think he can surpass what Floyd did.

[Andy Holloway]

He is. The easy response for Benjamin is to dislike the situation. You know, he got signed, he goes to a team with Keenan Allen, Antonio Gates, other weapons. He was alone and only had 68 receptions in Cleveland. So that's the easy answer. So I like the devil's advocate perspective. Jason, do you have.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Any positive thoughts on Benjamin?

[Jason Moore]

I have thoughts on Benjamin, but I don't know that they're positive. I expect a clear regression for him. He's a guy that I would love to have if I'm playing a best ball league or an MFL 10 where I can get those boom bust games without having to worry about when. Because what we saw with Malcolm Floyd over his career was he had huge fantasy games. Most of his production came, you know, from half of his games. But predicting when that came, it wasn't. You couldn't say, oh, this team gives up long plays or this team has a good defense or this team has a bad defense. And those are what Malcolm Floyd took advantage of. And I see him going into that role. Malcolm Floyd had a long and decent career and never had 900 yards for the Chargers.

[Andy Holloway]

So do you have Benjamin over under that Malcolm Floyd line from 2014? 52, 856 and 6?

[Jason Moore]

I probably have him a smidge over that line, but I don't like the way it's going to come because on my team I'm Never going to start him. And I just, you know, unless there's other injuries or things, which I think I can get Travis Benjamin off the waivers in the middle of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

So final word, impress or regress.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going. Are we going off of their previous stat line?

[Andy Holloway]

Correct. That would be the only way to say impress or regret.

[Mike Wright]

To me it was over the Malcolm.

[Andy Holloway]

Floyd and none of this like positive regression things that Jason. The up is down and that's a down is up.

[Mike Wright]

Okay then, then he has to regress. He has to regress from last year.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm gonna go with regress and it'll.

[Jason Moore]

Be a unanimous regression.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so let's talk about another guy here that we have not given enough attention to that there are question marks about and that's Jarvis Landry. Let's stay at the wide receiver position. A guy who look 111 receptions last year for almost 1200 yards, four touchdowns. The safety valve for Ryan Tanneho. But you have so many new variables in Miami. Rashad Matthews is gone. You have Devonte Parker's second season actually going to get some playing time. You have Adam Gase coming in. You have this overall malaise that sets upon you when you think about Miami's offense last year and what they did. So Jarvis Landry, impress or regress.

[Mike Wright]

So Jarvis Landry, 111 catches, 1160 yards and four touchdowns. And I think that what we need to discuss here is will the change of offense be. Be greater than the chemistry and connection that Ryan Tannehill has looking for Jarvis Landry. Like Andy was saying, he was the safety valve, he's the underneath guy. His yards per catch are quite low for a, for someone who produced so well for, for fantasy purposes. And he only scored four touchdowns. So it's, it's very difficult to see him impressing upon those numbers. Actually I feel like the yard is or the yards will come down, but there's a possibility the touchdowns go up. So it could be a canceling effect.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the thing about Jarvis Landry. I have moved him up a couple of times in my rankings and he never climbs very high. And so the problem is he's 42nd in the league in touchdowns. Yeah, those numbers, the PPR numbers are great. And so if you're in a full ppr, he obviously has more value than the half in standard leagues. But in a half point league, even when I move him up to very generous numbers because I think he's being dismissed a little too much, he still doesn't end up very high in my rankings. I need to go look and see exactly where he is for us. But Jason, what do you think about Landry?

[Jason Moore]

I like Landry. I have. I immediately was down on Landry entering into the offseason because of Gase coming in and my love for Devontae Parker. Looking at how Devonte Parker starting in week 12 last week really took over that outside receiver slot, I thought, you know, this is going to be something where he's the ball is going to shift and it's going to go away from Landry and it's going to go to Parker. But the more that I've thought about this, I think that gaze is there and going to be good for the offense, good for the wide receivers. And it doesn't just mean that it has to be bad for Landry in order to be good for Parker. Both of these guys can take a step forward and I don't expect Landry to have more receptions than the 111 he grabbed last year. But if you look at weeks 12 on when Parker took over, Parker replaced Rashad Matthews. He didn't replace any production from Jarvis Landry. Jarvis Landry had games with 156 yards and and 99 yards and another one over 100. He had multiple double digit reception games from week 12 on only. So I actually think that the passing game for Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins could take an overall step forward. And I love the fact that Jarvis Landry is kind of slipping. If you're in a PPR league, I think Jarvis Landry is going to be a decent value. Now I agree with the point that you made, Andy. He can't go too high like Jarvis Landry is not ever going to be a guy that's just a dominant top 12 wide receiver. I don't see but I think he is a really, really solid guy that you can get at a place in the draft right now where I am very comfortable with his consistency in his production and I hope that the touchdowns take a little step up.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to read some names here. I'm looking at average draft position and right now in standard Jarvis Landry is going at the close to the beginning of the fourth as the 20th overall wide receiver. So I'm going to look read off some names behind him and see if you would rather have them over Jarvis Landry.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Randall Cobb.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I take Landry.

[Jason Moore]

Landry.

[Mike Wright]

Doug Baldwin.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Landry and I'm the Doug Baldwin lover.

[Mike Wright]

Golden Tate.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Tate.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Tate as well.

[Mike Wright]

Jeremy Macklin.

[Andy Holloway]

Macklin.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Landry.

[Mike Wright]

I'll get two more for you. Alan Hearns.

[Jason Moore]

Landry.

[Andy Holloway]

That's. I have them statted almost identically, I think. What kind of league are we talking?

[Jason Moore]

We're in?

[Mike Wright]

Standard. In a standard, I take Hearns and Michael Floyd.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Floyd.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Landry.

[Andy Holloway]

So I just. To back up the numbers, I said I have him for 92 and 1,005 touchdowns. So I guess I'm a regression. That's. That's my official stance. Based on. On that, he might move up a little bit more. But it's hard for me to see him getting the touchdown. So.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and the way that I see this is not so much like you have to regress or you have to get better. You know, the regress.

[Mike Wright]

Play the game, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

It's regress or impress. I am.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think he can impress you with the same number.

[Mike Wright]

He can impress you. It's positive regression.

[Andy Holloway]

No, that would. That would be impressive to me if he put up the same numbers. So there you go.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, next guy. Let's talk about Kirk Cousins. Captain Kirk himself, his favorite. His phasers were set to fantasy championship.

[Mike Wright]

They absolutely were.

[Andy Holloway]

That was an impressive. End of the year, we got the. You like that scream, which is always good for radio. Over 4,100 yards.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

29 touchdowns, five rushing TDs, which, you know, is impressive.

[Mike Wright]

Cousins had an overall, when you look at his final numbers, a very strong year. The five rushing touchdowns certainly helps that. I believe he was the only quarterback in the league to throw at least one touchdown in every single game last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Also, number one, completion percentage just under 70%.

[Jason Moore]

Also the only quarterback to take a knee on the goal spiked him before the half.

[Mike Wright]

In the final three games of the season, he threw four touchdowns, four touchdown, three touchdowns. Including that final game where it was the ultimate inefficiency. I believe he threw the ball about four times and then they pulled him out because they didn't really need to play. But he still crushed. He was on this high now. He didn't really impress in the. The playoff game, so that was a bit of a downer. However, I just. I am really rising on the Washington offense as a whole. You know, you kind of thought, well, it's Jordan Reed, Jordan Reed or bust for me. But like I said, Deshaun, the value of desean Jackson is. Is ridiculous. You throw in Josh Dachshund, who I think is a talent that can come in and make an immediate impact, and It's I think, very possible that he can come in right away and take over for Pierre Garcon. You got Matt Jones, who at least the team likes, and he had flashes of just huge things. So I think overall the Washington offense, maybe you don't consider like when you think high power offense, you don't think of Washington. But I am starting to feel that way. I am. When I initially ranked out Cousins, I thought, oh, he'll be a quarterback one for sure. The stats didn't come out that way and I thought, oh, well, apparently I'm down on Cousins. But in the last few weeks of just when I'm diving back in, I am, I am growing warmer and warmer on Kirk Cousins of being a solid quarterback for the entire year for fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I have. When it comes to the quarterback, to me, I really look at the weapons. That's something that I've always been high on is do they have the weapons to help them produce. And we saw that change in Kirk Cousins last year. He's been one of the biggest enigmas to me is who is he? Right. Because you can watch tape and be sure that he is the worst quarterback you've ever seen. And you can watch tape and think this guy is a Pro bowl quarterback. And that can be the same game. Yeah, but with him, you saw a change after that week 8 buy last year and we can't forget that that is the exact time that desean Jackson came back from the injury. And so he was back for the second half of the year where all of a sudden a lot less interceptions being thrown, maybe taking the top off the back, off the defense and allowing him some more work to some more room to work. I want to go back and kind of study a little bit more film on Cousins because I'm still a little unsure. But the fact that they seem healthy right now, they've resigned Reed and they've added Josh Dachshund says to me that there's just more weapons to be able to have Kirk Cousins replicate what he was able to do the second half of the year. I'm still viewing him as a streamer, not a guy I want to draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me ask you this question because this is a fair one. Because when I look at Cousins, he's top 10 in every category. And that doesn't always tell the whole story. Consistency, you know, you can end in that category. But you guys just said these things that impress you. What impresses me is 11 interceptions.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Blake Bortles, who's everybody's fantasy darling, or a lot of people's led the league. You know, Cousins was outside the top 10 in interceptions. Why would you not draft Cousins based on how he finished the year over Bortles?

[Jason Moore]

Well, the weird thing about what Cousins did, and this is where I was speaking to, maybe it was desean Jackson really making that difference. But in the, in the first six games of last year, Kirk Cousins had eight interceptions. He was a league. He was among the league leaders in interceptions. And then all of a sudden the.

[Andy Holloway]

Rest is like, I can do it. All year long.

[Jason Moore]

Bortles really showed who's boss. But, yeah, I mean, it's really a question of which Kirk Cousins is the Kirk Cousins. Because while he ended that way, you have the tale of two completely different players in Kirk Cousins. So the question is, is he going to regress from his top 10 in all those categories or is he going to impress next year? And I am, for the first time in my life, yes. Saying I think Kirk Cousins is going to impress.

[Mike Wright]

We did it, America.

[Andy Holloway]

So if he's going to impress, then I'll take him every day at his value compared to where Bortles is.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

So, all right, we're going to bring in.

[Mike Wright]

He's impressed for me as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We're going to bring in Jamie Eisenberg of cvbs, CBS Sports, bring up some more names, talk through these guys, see where he is, where his mind is at when it comes to some of these.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that mind.

[Andy Holloway]

Jamie Eisenberg.

[Jason Moore]

You talking to me?

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy footballers are pleased to bring on the one, Jamie Eisenberg from CBS Sports. How are you doing today, Jamie?

[D]

Oh, I'm doing great. How are you guys?

[Mike Wright]

We are. We are doing very well, my friend. And we want to continue the game that we've been playing on the show where we are going to talk about will guys regress or will they impress? And the guy I want to start the start this whole thing out was the RB one last year. A pretty big surprise for the fantasy football community. Devontae Freeman willed his way to being the top running back through catching the ball, through scoring just a boatload of touchdowns. So how are you feeling about Freeman coming into this season?

[D]

Well, first of all, boatload is one of my favorite words, so I appreciate you phrasing it that way. I think he's going to regress. To what level? I think we'll have to find out how good Kevin Coleman could potentially be. I get a chance every year, which I'm thankful for, to go to the first owners meetings, which is where all the coaches are there and they have a breakfast, an annual breakfast with each league, AFC and nfc, and so I go to that every year. I talked to Dan Quinn this season about his running backs, and I asked him and it was kind of telling what he said in that, you know, we feel we have a unique combination of the two guys of Tevin Coleman and Devontae Freeman. And he kept referencing how Devonta Freeman's so good catching the ball in the backfield and how they want to get Tevin Coleman and his explosiveness on the field more for his, you know, carries. So I think you'll see Freeman's touches come down. He's still going to be a great PPR running back. He's still worth drafting, I think, as a, you know, back end, number one running back, certainly, you know, starter, depending on how you want to, you know, build your team. But I think anybody that probably reaches for him in the first round, maybe the first 15 to 20 picks, might be a little bit disappointed because I don't think he's going to return the same level of success like we saw last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think that's the, the difficulty is the value for fantasy owners. And this is Andy, by the way, let me ask you this. Does that Tevin Coleman, based on how you're feeling about that backfield, a value for fantasy owners? I mean, do you think that if he produces early, if he, if he controls the fumbles, he can be that, you know, first and second down back and make some big plays?

[D]

Yeah, I think his value is amazing. You know, I mean, you're talking about a guy that is probably going to go after round eight. You know, I think it's pretty safe to say, depending on how your league is built. So maybe your fourth running back. And, and these are the type of guys, you know, it's. It's really where Freeman was last year. You know, nobody really gave him much of a chance to be a starter for your fantasy team. It was an afterthought with where he was. And so I think PPR leagues, he's going to be probably a disappointment. We didn't see him really using that role. And again, Freeman is so good catching the ball in the backfield. You know, the one thing that was so impressive about Freeman, which I think Coleman needs to work on, is his pass protection. You know, that's going to get these young running backs on quicker than some of these other guys. And that's why it takes some of these younger running backs a little bit of time before you see Them in these passing down situations. So yeah, I think Coleman's got a great chance to help a lot of people this year. It could be a four or five game stretch where he's very good. And just go back to last year at this time, going into training camp, it was, they're going to compete for the starting job and then they both had the hamstring problems and Freeman just came out of his better. But remember the first two games, Coleman was technically the starter. You know, that's when Freeman took over.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you had horror stories from fantasy owners last year when Coleman started the year as the starter and people dropped Devontae Freeman from their rosters. And so yeah, good take there. I want to turn to New York's backfield, the jets, because Matt Forte is kind of a polarizing fantasy name right now. Obviously he has a long track record of making fantasy owners happy, but I never get very confident when a guy at his age switches, you know, his landscape changes. And now he goes to a backfield where they paid money, they signed Bilal Powell. Kyrie Robinson's there. But there is a, you know, a lot of different opinions out there. We get a lot of feedback. People love Matt Forte. I think we're lower on him. Where do you, where do you sit with Forte's impact in New York?

[D]

You might as well just hit repeat on what you just said and pretend it came out of my mouth. Yeah, I'm not a big fan for a lot of the reasons you just listed. The one saving grace for him, you know, just to play devil's advocate, is Chan Gailey. You know, Chan Gailey's history with running backs is fantastic. I mean, look what he did with Chris Ivory last year, you know, got him his first thousand yard season, got him the 30 catches, which I think nobody ever thought that he can get, you know, the five, let alone 30. And so with Forte's ability to catch the ball, it's almost similar to a Devontae Freeman situation where his reception total will be so key to what his fantasy production is. I mean, last year, you know, Forte obviously had the three missed game, only one game over 100 yards rushing, and that was week one. But you know, he's still so good at the total yards. So I think in PPR leagues you can still be okay with Forte, but I think it for him, the way he's going to make or break his draft value by the end of the season is that exact word, his value. Where he goes in drafts will be the determining factor. If he helped you out or he hurt your team because if you reach for him, I see him going round two. To me, that's no way I would touch him. But in PPR, if I get him around 4, I'd be okay with it. I don't think he's going to be there, but that's kind of where I would settle for him and round five or later in standard leagues. Again, I'm never going to get him because his name value and what people think he's going to do is going to push him up into a level which I think is what you're alluding to, where he'll go. But yeah, if I could stay away from Matt Forte this year, I would absolutely do so.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think we're in agreement there. This is Jason. I was, There's a guy that I am high on that I know a lot of other people, including those in this room, are not necessarily high on. So I'm very genuinely curious your take on whether this guy is going to regress or impress next year. Sticking in backfield realm, it is Latavius Murray for the Oakland Raiders.

[D]

I like him, you know, and it's funny because I think, you know, you're right. Similar to Forte, he could be somewhat polarizing. I love the offensive line there. You know, what they did this offseason, I would not be surprised if they're the second best offensive line in the NFL behind Dallas. So that's going to make things really open up for Murray. Now, granted he's not going to be a dominant guy, but if you just take a guy I think that we saw last year at his first thousand yard season, did a, you know, I'll say moderate job of catching the ball. He's improved in that regard And I think DeAndre Washington is somebody that's going to push him a little bit. But again, I don't think he's going to take him off the field a ton. Jack Del Rio talked a lot. I mean, we've all seen the quotes about wanting to add to the backfield, but when I, when I saw him in at the owners meetings, I asked him, you know, are you trying to replace Latavius Murray or are you trying just to compliment Latavius Murray? And he said, oh no, no, no, don't, don't misconstrue what we've been saying. We're trying to compliment Latavius Murray. So maybe he loses a few touches. But I think that offensive line, I think the defense is going to be better. So they're going to be you know, more competitive game, not chasing points. And the vision's got a little bit worse, you know, with some of the guys leaving teams. You know, the Justin Houston injury, I know he's more of a pass rusher, but, you know, the changes in Kansas City, the changes in Denver, San Diego defense, I think is still going to be horrible. So there are a lot of favorable things about Latavius Murray. I got him in the fourth round of a ppr, but I still like, you know, having him on my team.

[Mike Wright]

That seems like pretty good value for Murray. So let's shift over to a pass catcher. New Orleans Brandon Cooks, highly touted first round pick. Last year, we finally caught at least half of a season of a glimpse of what Cooks can do. But you still have to factor in the fact that the first half of the season, Cooks was simply not that great. Can he be the one? Will he be impacted by Kobe Fleener coming to town, Michael Thomas being drafted by the team? How do you feel about Cooks?

[D]

Well, I think if you want Brandon Cooks on your fantasy team, keep telling people about the first half of last year, don't tell them that Drew Brees missed the game because of a shoulder injury and played through a game when he hurt his shoulder against Tampa Bay, I believe it was week two. So I don't think Breeze was right. I don't think that offense was right. They were still trying to get over the loss of Jimmy Graham and sort of how to adjust and still going through this identity crisis of we just added Max Unger, we paid Mark Ingram, are we a running team, Are we a passing team? I think they figured out their identity and I think bringing back Breeze, even with the contract situation still somewhat unsettled, but you know, he's on the roster. Obviously he's safe. Bringing back Sean Tate and giving him the contract extension, they know what they are. They have a very small window now of can we get into another playoff situation, super bowl situation with this current group that we have and try and rebuild our defense on the fly, very similar to what the Carolina Panthers did a couple years ago. So I think it's Breeze stays healthy 16 games. Brandon Cook stays healthy 16 games. You know, the eight games that they play indoors are going to be fantastic because that's the type of team that they are. So I think Cooks is tremendous value. I think he's going to be great wide receivers. He's in my top 10 in my rankings. I think in some cases I might have him too low. I think he's going to have an Excellent third year type of breakout season that we see from some of those guys.

[Mike Wright]

Just a quick follow up there. What do you think about Willie Snead then? If he to have you have all this love for Cooks, do you think that they can sustain enough value for fantasy wide receivers to also give Snead a maybe a low end wide receiver too or at least a three at the worst?

[D]

Yeah, I think he could be a three. You know, I think the thing with me that's going to help him is the addition of Michael Thomas because people are going to look in terms of his value. People are going to look at Thomas and say, well, wow, they added the guy, you know, was an undrafted free agent that they, you know, became sort of a byproduct of need last year with Colson struggling and not really having another option. And I saw Willie Snead at a charity golf event this offseason. I said, you know, what was the difference for you last year? And he's like, look, I just got him some play. And so when you're in this type of offense with a great quarterback like that, the one thing that he talked about which, you know, the addition of Thomas, the addition of Cleaner may not come to fruition but he said we want to be thousand yard receivers. And I think he was like 13 yards shy, something like that. He was in the 980s in that range. Cooks was over 1,000, you know, so if that's something that's going to push him, motivating him and obviously contract now becomes a factor for him. The lower Willie Sneed falls, the better you're going to be. He's definitely somebody you want on your roster.

[Andy Holloway]

I think it's kind of incredible that, you know, you can have a team finding its identity with Drew Brees and then he still leads the league in passing yardage. I mean it's just incredible. And Breeze is one of our favorite kind of later round quarterback targets just because of where he is going. So I want to, I want to ask you about one last backfield before we, we let you go and we appreciate you coming on the show. And I want you to settle another kind of inner studio debate here that I have with, with Jason and that is I'm finding TJ Yelden as one of my favorite values in the draft. I, I think people are overestimating the impact and it's interesting to hear you talk about Chan Gailey and the impact he had on Ivory in New York. With Ivory now shifting over to Jacksonville. So where do you fall on Kind of like the carry split. Is Yelden only a value in PPR or half point leagues or where do you see? Do you think that Yelden will be a value overall?

[D]

I think it'll be a value. I mean, this is kind of one of the backfields I would tend to avoid if I could, you know, unless I get one of the guys at a good price. I just think that it's pretty telling that you invested a second round pick in Yelden and he seemed to show good flashes. I mean, I think we can, you know, I'll take a step back and look at it and say he needs to be better. But he did show some good signs. You know, the injury situation, you know, that he had with his knee, the fact that they had so little success at the goal line and you know, those struggles that they had and you know, it's probably not a fair situation to put on him because he wasn't part of it at times, you know, when they were going with Gearhart and Denard Robinson for whatever stupid reason. So I think this is one of those things that if I'm drafting right now, I'd rather wait and get yelled and let somebody else pay for Ivory. But I really want to see what happens in training camp and how they use both of these guys. There are kind of the thing we have to do in this business, and I'm sure you guys follow this as well, is you have to tell people what to do now. But you also, in the back of your mind want to wait and see what develops. And this is one of those things where I want to wait and see what develops. But if I had to look at these two guys right now, I would definitely rather have yelled than Ivory. But I think that Ivory's touchdowns by the end of the year, you could see Ivory's numbers. You know, one of those guys that just at the end of the year you're like, God, he was terrible. But like Frank Gore, you know, he still finished at a certain number ranking wise, you know, just because of his overall production. I think that could be where Ivory maybe is better than Yelden. But I still rather have Yelden on a week to week basis based on what I can get him for.

[Mike Wright]

I love it. Love the takes. Thank you so much. Jamie. Where can people find you on Twitter, my friend?

[D]

Oh, it's very simple. Just my name, J A M E Y E I S E N B.

[Mike Wright]

E R G and please foot claim if you haven't, which would be ridiculous if you haven't, go check out The CBS fantasy pod. It's one of the best out there and Jamie's also cranking out good content on the web. So we hope to bring you back on soon and take it easy.

[D]

Be my pleasure. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, special thanks to Jamie Eisenberg, CBS Sports, one of the best in the business. And to be honest, when we got started in this, they were some of the forerunners in terms of just the best content. So I'm really thankful to have him on and appreciate all the impact that he's made on the industry as well as Adam Azer, Dave Richard and all the CBS people there. So let's go ahead and jump in in the mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you got a question, you can send it to us. Go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com. click the submit a question button. You could also leave us a voicemail question. 302464tffb first question comes from Nick in Akron, Canada.

[Mike Wright]

Bonjour. I got psyched up by the Akron.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. He said, just kidding. It's Akron, Ohio. Thanks for the bonjour. Well, he gotcha.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Nick did it.

[Andy Holloway]

Slow clap from Mike. He said, thanks for all you do. You guys are so. So you have fell right into that trap. Yeah, you did. It was great. You have helped. I had to read the question quick before you got your eyes on you have helped me withstand a few victories. On his way to a hashtag Foot Clan title. Oh, he can only keep one of these guys. Full point PPR. Alan Robinson for a four, Ryan Matthews for a seven, Eric Decker for an eight, Jeremy Hill for an 11. And then he said, we're seriously great. Thanks again.

[Mike Wright]

This one is much easier to dig through than the trap that I was led into. I feel led astray by you, Nick, but that's Alan Robinson for a fourth. Not even close.

[Andy Holloway]

I completely agree. I like looking at Decker in the eighth, but when you have Robinson and the PPR numbers that he's going to put up in this type of a league, it's a lock and loaded for me.

[Jason Moore]

I disagree that it is not close, but I do agree.

[Mike Wright]

Who is it? Who's your.

[Jason Moore]

Mine would actually be Ryan Matthews in the seventh, I think is a really good value, but I think you'll be able to draft Ryan Mathews.

[Mike Wright]

You'll be able to draft him in the fifth or the sixth.

[Jason Moore]

No, exactly. So, I mean, Robinson is my pick. I just don't think it's like home run.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Garrison in California says, hey, I got the first overall pick in my fantasy league. It's standard scoring and I'm having a trouble having trouble decide between deciding between Gurley, Bell and Brown. Who should I pick in a standard scoring league.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's. I can see the difficulty there. However I understand it's standard and you think oh, Antonio Brown ppr but for me, standard. I'm still going to go with Antonio Brown over Gurley who's in a bad offense. I know he can Adrian Peterson will his way into into top fantasy production. I'm not denying that fact. But there is there will be a ceiling because of the offense. Le'Veon Bell, the injury is still a little has me a little bit wary and Antonio Brown 22 finishes back to back years as the top wide receiver. Give me Brown.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to say that while I agree with everything you just said and 100 for the pick. No 100% of it, all of it. I'm actually not going to take who you took because I'm not going to take a guy on this list.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't have that option.

[Jason Moore]

In a standard. Yes, he's the first overall pick. I'm saying if I'm in a standard league first overall. I'm taking Odell Beckham Jr. I've got him ranked highest in my wide receivers in a standard league. He is a touchdown monster. He. His yards per reception are great. He's so young. I think as crazy as it sounds, we might not have seen yet what Odell Beckham can be. His ceiling he has not reached yet. And so I'm going to take the risk there because I don't think it's a huge.

[Mike Wright]

That sounded like Yoda really. His ceiling he has not reached yet.

[Jason Moore]

Well, there you go. I'm as smart as sounded like a.

[Andy Holloway]

Sentence to me but it sounded okay either way.

[Jason Moore]

That would be my pick. If not if you. If you're between those three guys, I would go Antonio Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I'm going to say Brown. For one of the first times I'm going to say Brown.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

But I like the Brown.

[Mike Wright]

If you think about outside the box here with the Beckham Brown if you.

[Andy Holloway]

Want to be safe, love Bell. If you don't and you're really in good shape.

[Mike Wright]

So it's not really consideration for you.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

So. All right, let's go to a voicemail. Question.

[Jason Moore]

Hey guys, this is Steve Balls. I once heard a statement made about NFL wide receivers that guys make the.

[D]

Biggest jump from their rookie year to.

[Jason Moore]

Their sophomore in year two. Do you guys have any data to back this up? Because I feel like if it's not.

[D]

That, it might be third year where.

[Jason Moore]

You see the biggest jump for a breakout wide receiver. Anyways, if you could discuss and let.

[D]

Me know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Bye.

[Andy Holloway]

So I have a quick response for you on that one. Generally, the third year rule is what you're thinking about where third year wide receivers make a big jump. And the data backs up that that is true. There are third year wide receivers, a lot of them, that have made a very large jump. That being said, the rule statistically should probably be something like the second to fourth year rule because it depends on where the guys drafted and the opportunity and the data back set up as well. Depending on where they're drafted. Some guys it's that second year, some guys it's the fourth year. And so really what you're saying is that at that point you're saying some wide receivers that have been drafted make a leap. And I think that's the big point here is look for the guys second or third year that are in a position to make a leap, to be in the right. Do they have the pedigree? Okay. Jason talks about Watkins, the season where so many great wide receivers were drafted. Watkins hasn't had the opportunity. This is an opportunity for him to make a leap. Is this Watkins third year?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

So Watkins third year, the pedigree of a first round draft pick, the opportunity ahead. It's not very often that you have a wide receiver drafted in the fifth, sixth, seventh round that makes these type of leaps. Statistically it just doesn't happen. So you're talking about, you know, opportunity mixed with those things. So, so the third year rule is a nice general rule for you to apply. It's a good way to look for wide receivers. Like just look for some guys that are going into the third year. They haven't had monster seasons.

[Mike Wright]

There is definitely, I feel like a little bit more and more guys from going from one to two, they have their break out there. But I agree that the, the, the rule that I look for is the third year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So. Okay, let me, let me get one more question in here before we have to close out the show. Let's go to this one here. Bryson in Salt Lake City says, hey guys, my league mates admit that they plan to sabotage what my auction. What can I do to stop them? He's 99% sure they are serious because he's won the league four out of the past five years. They are sick of Me.

[Jason Moore]

Wow, that's great.

[Andy Holloway]

Also, he says he has a question about which guy to keep, but I only have a list of one. I would give that guy, so go with that guy. So, to the sabotage question, here's what I said.

[Mike Wright]

How. How do you sabotage someone?

[Jason Moore]

You end up sabotaging yourself. I mean, if the league is trying to, like, how do you do that in auction? You try to, you know, gang up and be like, hey, we're not gonna let him buy any of these guys. We're gonna. We're going to overspend and keep all the good guys from. Well, then they're going to overspend and they're going to make bad moves. You're about to get your next Foot Clan title again.

[Andy Holloway]

I would say the sabotage comes with the territory, too. I mean, if you're going to win titles, you're going to have people trying to mess you up. Jason has historically tried to ruin my off seasons over and over and over again. Every time I post that, I want to list a guy for trade within like five minutes, he has posted his guys he wants for trade, bump you down, and knocked me down the list. So now it's just a battle. But, yeah, that's a natural part. You know, certainly if I was talking to your league mates, I would say you never want to actually collude with one another.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

In terms of, like, trading. Right. Like, if a sabotage is done by trade, that is collusion. But otherwise, it just comes with the territory. And like Jason said, let them spin their minds into a mess because you've won so many leagues. Look, you look at me in your league.

[Mike Wright]

You look them in the eye and you say, can't stand this. I know you planned it.

[Andy Holloway]

Imma set it straight.

[Mike Wright]

This water gate. All right, all right.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry I had your back there, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

I appreciate it.

[Andy Holloway]

If you do that, please videotape it and tweet us.

[Mike Wright]

And you need. You need the full cop sunglasses in the mustache and kick open the door.

[Andy Holloway]

I like you guys jump in together. Very well. I am impressed. This is. This is good. We've had more requests, by the way, for your mailbag drop. And now your show. After the show. Primal Scream to be ringtone. So my. I'm gonna have to look into this because I thought the demand wasn't there, but. All right, we got. We got to wrap this up.

[Jason Moore]

Speaking of the primal scream coming up, we do.

[Andy Holloway]

We got show up to the show coming. But before. Before I close out the show, I want to remind everybody because this is our last chance to mention it before Sunday, go to podcast awards.com vote. If you vote, tweet at us, Let us know. You'll get an entry. We're gonna give away that Love Bell jersey, give away a spot in our listener league.

[Mike Wright]

Foot Clan Vote.

[Andy Holloway]

Hashtag FootClan. Vote. So don't forget to do that.

[Jason Moore]

Please vote for us every day, if you remember.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we appreciate everything you do for us. This is why we do the show. This is why we do it all year round, baby. It's time to win those Foot Clan titles. We'll catch you on Tuesday. Take care.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.the fantasy footballers.com and follow us Twitter @the FF Ballers.