Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Rookie Preview w/Matthew Freedman, News, Mailbag

Summary

Summary of "Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Rookie Preview w/Matthew Freedman, News, Mailbag"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
• Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
• Episode: Rookie Preview with Matthew Freedman, News, Mailbag
• Release Date: April 26, 2016

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Introduction and Show Setup

The episode kicks off with an advertisement for Reality Sports Online, promoting its advanced fantasy management features such as a free agency auction room and automated contract functionalities (00:00). Hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright then welcome listeners to the podcast (00:49).

In a playful exchange, the hosts discuss incorporating "Game of Thrones" themes into the show, hinting at related content that will be available on their YouTube channel post-podcast (01:00-01:58).

Josh Norman's Trade Impact

A significant portion of the episode addresses the recent trade of Josh Norman from the Carolina Panthers to the Washington Redskins and its implications for fantasy football players (05:13-09:51).

Key Points:

• Impact on Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr.: Norman's departure affects wide receivers like Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr., who previously benefitted from Norman's defensive coverage (05:13-07:36).

  Jason Moore (06:17): "He's not one of those guys that you put on their number one guy and lock him down with man coverage."

  Mike Wright (08:00): "Very happy to hear Jason say he doesn't change things because it doesn't change it for me either."

• Fantasy Strategy: The hosts debate whether to adjust their rankings for Beckham and Jones, ultimately deciding that the impact is minimal and both players remain valuable picks without significant changes to their rankings.

  Andy Holloway (08:30): "Brandon Cooks actually put up 1.5 points per game more on those Panthers."

News Highlights

The hosts cover several important fantasy news items, providing updates and analysis (10:04-12:44):

1. Tom Brady's Suspension: The US Appeals Court reinstates Tom Brady's suspension, sidelining him for the first four weeks of the season. This development significantly affects fantasy drafts, as Brady should not be drafted under the assumption that he will play all games.

   Jason Moore (10:30): "This makes a huge, huge difference. He should not be drafted as assuming that this stands and he misses the first four games of the season."

2. Nick Foles Interest: Reports emerge suggesting some CFL teams are interested in acquiring Nick Foles. The hosts view this as non-breaking news since conditions are familiar.

   Jason Moore (12:31): "These are all from the CFL."

3. Philadelphia Eagles' Moves: The Eagles make significant trades, positioning Carson Wentz and Jared Goff as the key quarterback prospects. Concerns arise about Sam Bradford's role and potential exit from Philadelphia, affecting the team's strategy and fantasy outlook.

   Andy Holloway (12:36): "Sam Bradford. Sammy biscuits. An unhappy biscuit."

NFL Draft Preview: QBs and Rookies

The discussion shifts to the NFL Draft, particularly focusing on the quarterback selections Carson Wentz and Jared Goff, and their implications for fantasy football (12:44-38:30).

Key Points:

• Quarterback Concerns: The hosts express skepticism about both Wentz and Goff, questioning their readiness and potential impact in fantasy leagues.

  Jason Moore (35:00): "I would do neither."

• Wide Receiver Prospects: Matthew Friedman ranks Corey Coleman as the top rookie receiver due to his versatility and production at Baylor, while acknowledging Laquan Treadwell's potential despite mixed metrics.

  Matthew Friedman (19:36): "Corey Coleman for me is the number one receiver."

• Running Backs Analysis: Friedman highlights Derrick Henry and Ezekiel Elliott as top running back prospects, praising their size and athleticism, which bode well for their NFL productivity.

  Matthew Friedman (27:20): "I really like Derrick Henry a lot."

• Tight Ends and Sleepers: Identifies Tyler Higby as an under-the-radar tight end option but generally considers the draft weak for tight ends.

  Matthew Friedman (33:52): "It's a bad year for tight ends."

• Sleeper Recommendations: Friedman suggests Leonte Carew and Jakeem Grant as potential sleeper picks at wide receiver, given their physical attributes and collegiate performance.

  Matthew Friedman (23:55): "Leonte Carew... and Jakeem Grant from Texas Tech."

Interview with Matthew Friedman: Rookie Ranks and Insights

Special guest Matthew Friedman from Fantasy Labs and Rotoviz joins the podcast to provide in-depth analysis of the rookie class and draft strategies (17:48-40:06).

Highlights:

• Wide Receiver Evaluation: Friedman prioritizes Corey Coleman over Laquan Treadwell due to Coleman's versatile performance as a return man and receiver.

  Matthew Friedman (20:28): "Corey Coleman for me is the number one receiver."

• Running Back Prospects: He favors Derrick Henry and Ezekiel Elliott as likely contributors, emphasizing their opportunity to establish themselves as workhorse backs.

  Matthew Friedman (27:20): "He has an exceptional opportunity in the NFL."

• Quarterback Pitfalls: Expresses doubts about both Wentz and Goff, suggesting skepticism from fantasy managers regarding their immediate impact.

  Matthew Friedman (35:00): "I would go with Goff."

• Sleeper Picks: Recommends Leonte Carew and Jakeem Grant as players who could provide unexpected value based on their size, speed, and collegiate performance.

  Matthew Friedman (23:55): "Jakeem Grant... is a versatile player."

• Draft Strategy: Emphasizes the importance of opportunity and team fit over pure metrics, advocating for selecting players who can quickly contribute to their teams.

  Matthew Friedman (22:12): "It's a matter of opportunity, how quickly will a guy get on the field."

Listener Mailbag: Keeper and Draft Questions

The hosts respond to various listener questions related to keeper leagues and draft strategies, providing tailored advice based on different scenarios (42:02-56:09).

Notable Questions and Advice:

1. Jake in Plano, Texas:

   • Scenario: In a full-point PPR league with two keepers, choices include DeAndre Hopkins (3rd round), Devonte Freeman (10th), Thomas Rawls (16th), Jordy Nelson (16th), and David Johnson (16th).

   • Advice: The hosts generally favor keeping higher-ranked receivers like DeAndre Hopkins and David Johnson for their reliability and consistent performance.

     Jason Moore (43:41): "Mine would be David Johnson and Jordy Nelson."

     Andy Holloway (43:53): "All right, I will take David Johnson and I will take DeAndre Hopkins."

2. Jeff in Oklahoma:

   • Scenario: In a 14-team keeper league needing to keep three players from options including Odell Beckham Jr., Aaron Rodgers, Alan Robinson, Jared Cook, David Johnson, Jordy Nelson, and Kelvin Benjamin.

   • Advice: Preference is given to reliable high-performing players like David Johnson and Jordy Nelson, with considerations for quarterbacks based on league settings.

     Jason Moore (45:36): "I would select Jordy Nelson."

3. Ricardo in Sacramento:

   • Scenario: Choosing between Allen Robinson and Deion Lewis in a 12-team PPR league.

   • Advice: Favoring Allen Robinson due to concerns about Deion Lewis's performance without Tom Brady.

     Jason Moore (54:24): "I worry about Deion Lewis without Tom Brady."

     Andy Holloway (55:26): "I have no affect on him at all. I mean there's... I just leave him alone."

4. Luke in North Augusta:

   • Scenario: In a 32-team dynasty league deciding whether to trade Ezekiel Elliott (1st round) and other assets for Todd Gurley.

   • Advice: The hosts advise against trading Ezekiel Elliott due to his high value and potential future contributions.

     Mike Wright (56:24): "Absolutely not. So that's... That's easy. That's 100% no for me."

Closing Remarks

In their concluding segments, the hosts remind listeners about upcoming draft-related shows, promote their website and new draft kit available for preorder, and engage in light-hearted banter before signing off (57:20-58:18).

Notable Quote:

Andy Holloway (57:36): "Make sure you stay tuned for the show after the show."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and strategic advice provided by the Fantasy Footballers podcast in their 2016 Rookie Preview episode. It offers valuable information for fantasy football enthusiasts, including rookie evaluations, significant fantasy news updates, and tailored advice for keeper and draft leagues.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Today's podcast is brought to you by Reality Sports Online, a powerful fantasy platform that lets you build and manage your fantasy team like a real life gm. The platform features the revolutionary free agency auction room and has tons of other cool features like a rookie draft franchise tags, automated contract and salary cap functionality, and much, much more. Visit realitysports online.com today and use the promo code BALLERS for 10% off the platform fee.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

You know nothing, Jon Snow.

[Mike Wright]

I knew it was coming and it still surprised me. I was like, what? This is the. This is not the right music. Oh, yeah, it is the right music.

[Andy Holloway]

And it's great because Mike did it himself.

[Mike Wright]

You're darn tootin.

[Andy Holloway]

So when you hear incredible guitar riffs on the show, it is always playing right now. It was always Mike. And so we have a little Game of Thrones action. We won't give you any spoilers on. On the show. We just thought it was an appropriate introduction to the Tuesday, April 22 or 26, April 26 show after the debut of Game of Thrones last night. And we will. It will be the topic we discuss on the show after the show on YouTube. So if you want a little bit of Game of Thrones talk, then you'll want to go to YouTube and check that out. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Andy Holloway here with Jason Moore.

[Jason Moore]

How's it going, everybody?

[Andy Holloway]

Mike the fantasy hitman right back from Hawaii.

[Mike Wright]

It's good to be back America.

[Jason Moore]

Scuba to back.

[Andy Holloway]

It is a shame.

[Mike Wright]

That sounded like Scuba de back Scuba.

[Andy Holloway]

He learned some new things in Hawaii. That's. It's a very.

[Mike Wright]

A lot of scat. Freewheeling.

[Jason Moore]

Do you know why he came back, Andy?

[Andy Holloway]

Because it had too much.

[Jason Moore]

This week is the NFL draft. He came back.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the only reason I would return from Hawaii.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah, it actually was. It's here I was moving.

[Andy Holloway]

You were on the way out. You'd have been Skyping in. Scatter back, everyone. Well, we've got a good show for the, for the listeners today. For the Foot Clan. We got Matthew Friedman on the show. Yes. From Fantasy Labs in Rotoviz. We're talking. This is our, you know, really the right show to do a bit of a rookie preview. And so we're going to talk through some of the guys to pay attention to. I, for whatever reason, Jason's really made this point. This season's crop has some really talented players that will make fantasy impacts, but it just doesn't have the feeling of, you know, what's the right word for it? Like a loaded weapon. You know, it just seems like there's a couple good bullets and we're not sure if anybody else is going to pan out.

[Jason Moore]

This is a six shooter and the last couple years have been machine guns where you just keep.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to go a nerf gun with tax.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. And the reality is they could do.

[Mike Wright]

A little damaged a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

I think we'll be wrong. I mean, I think, I think ultimately we'll be wrong. There will be very high impact players. We just. The buzz around them isn't there, which means it doesn't translate to dynasty, league drafts and rookie drafts in the same way the past few years have. But we're going to go through the big names today. Talk with Matthew Friedman, who knows his stuff about rookies and the NFL draft. We've got some news to break, a lot of big time news. And so I'm excited about that. And what else do we got going on? We got some mailbag on the show today.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

And so what else should we talk about here at the top? We've got the awards going on right now. So tell the people about podcastawards.com podcast.

[Mike Wright]

Awards.Com they are in the nomination period. And we really appreciate, we've had great, great support from the Foot Clan and we, we got to make a tiny little push here to finish it strong. Podcast awards.com nominate us for sports and People's Choice and hopefully we get the nomination through and then we'll let, let everyone else, we'll give updates as soon as we get them.

[Andy Holloway]

And another exciting bit of news.

[Jason Moore]

We have been working super hard and our draft kit, we've been talking about the Ultimate Draft Kit. It is now available for preorder. So if you want to go and pre order it on our website, you can actually go to ultimate draft kit.com and if you get it now, if you get it before we release it, which should be coming out in June, the 1st of June, you'll save five bucks right now. This was basically what the reason this exists is because last year we had so many people asking for so many specific things.

[Andy Holloway]

A lot of times it was, where is your draft kit?

[Jason Moore]

Right?

[Andy Holloway]

It wasn't just can you make one? It was hey, where is it? Where do I get your draft kit? And then we said, so if you.

[Jason Moore]

Want to be able. I mean, this is the thing like I'm building for me. I want to take this into my draft and have every specific number and things that I care about that I use when I draft. And we're making that available. So go to the website.

[Andy Holloway]

Quick question of the day, guys. Josh Norman over the week, kind of incredible. You don't generally see. Imagine, you know, one of the best players in the league at the, at the cornerback position, certainly in the top echelon here. Wanted big money from Carolina, ends up being franchise tagged and the tag is rescinded and he's out the door. And it happened really fast. And now the trickle down of the impact on fantasy players is here. And so that's the question I have for you. Josh Norman is gone. He has left the Panthers. That wonderful defense is now impacted. Julio Jones loses Norman in the division. Odell Beckham Jr. Picks up Norman in his division.

[Mike Wright]

Delightful.

[Andy Holloway]

So I guess if you haven't heard, he signed a very lucrative contract offer with a team that likes to give them the Washington Redskins.

[Mike Wright]

Dan Snyder saw what Miami was doing. Like, whoa, whoa, I'm the, I am the king of the off season. The king.

[Jason Moore]

You remember Albert Haynesworth? That was me.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like Snyder's been in a recovery group for excess spending and he's. And he did so well, right, like during the free agent period. And then this out of left field, Josh Norman just drops into the picture and he can't, you know, he didn't call his sponsor.

[Jason Moore]

He got his day one chip, he.

[Andy Holloway]

Didn'T call his sponsor.

[Jason Moore]

He's back on it.

[Andy Holloway]

So Josh Norman's a Redskin. So what? Who do you think this impacts the most other than, you know, I think.

[Jason Moore]

You got to start with those two main guys, Odell Beckham Jr. And Julio Jones. It is so fascinating that you have those two guys, which I think most people have them as the number two and number three wide receiver, but in different orders. And that was prior to this news. Well, now you have four games of impact of Josh Norman. So the question is four games. Well, like a four less for Julio and two more for Odell Beckham. Does that sway you to put. Because for me, in my rankings, I had Odell Beckham Jr. Ahead of Julio Jones. Should that change. And for me, and I'm really interested in your guys take. I'm not changing it. I think it makes Julio a little bit better, but I don't think that overtakes it. I don't think it very largely impacts Odell Beckham because one of the things we have to keep in mind with Norman is that Norman was not a. He's not one of those guys that you put on their number one guy and lock him down with man coverage. He was a.

[Andy Holloway]

He played outside.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

He didn't come over to the slot. He did a little bit. He did a little bit.

[Jason Moore]

Normally he was his own scheme outside guy and he had great. So he's. It is good that Washington Redskins, you know, they, they have a good system style wise for him. That's good. But they don't have the pieces around him to make him be as valuable there as he was for the Carolina Panthers. So I'm still sticking with Odell Beckham and then Julio as number three.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me say this, it may seem like an extreme reaction to even consider that. Right. It's two games during the year. Last year, however, you had Julio Jones who ended up with two games against Carolina at the end of the year, specifically where it did affect the playoff run and his performance. Now he had one big game against Norman and one lower game. I want to give you guys some numbers. The difference. These are big time wide receivers that played against Norman last year. Brandon Cooks actually put up 1.5 points per game. More on those Panthers.

[Jason Moore]

More.

[Andy Holloway]

More than his average Panthers. More. More than his average. Mike Evans was down three points. Julio ended up up a point and a half. And then Odell Beckham Jr. Dez Bryant and Jordan Matthews, all the division mates now of Josh Norman minus 1, minus 4, minus 7. Yeah, it was that. I mean, no, I was, I was.

[Mike Wright]

Very happy to hear Jason say he doesn't change things because it doesn't change it for me either.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, Julio gives us something else to talk about.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, absolutely. Julio was my number two in fairness and Beckham's my three. But however, if Beckham was my two, it wouldn't be changing because of this. I'm not. It's whatever, but it would. What's. What's nice is it is now must watch television because twice a year if you did not see the Panthers Giants game where Beckham eventually earned himself a suspension, I expect cooler heads to prevail this time. But there's the chance there.

[Jason Moore]

Oh man, that's going to be in every. Every eyeball of. Every NFL fan is going to be watching those games specifically for that. Can you imagine just the. I'm looking forward to the commercials advertising that game coming up. There's NFL rule changes that were being tested just because of that game. It's going to be awesome.

[Andy Holloway]

Cooler heads prevail for guys like that until about play three. And when one guy beats the other one at something, then watch out. All right, let's that's a good transition. Let's jump into the rest of the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, big news this morning. The US Appeals Court has reinstated the suspension for Tom Brady. Oh, we talked about it on the show about, you know, three weeks ago or two weeks ago when we talk quarterbacks, the fact that it's lingering there in the background for Tom Brady. And here it is as of right now, he is out those first four weeks.

[Jason Moore]

This makes a huge, huge difference. He should not be drafted as assuming that this stands and he misses the first four games of the season. That's a quarter of your season. You cannot draft a guy in the first six or seven rounds. So if you're thinking about Tom Brady, hey, if he drops to the 10th round and you want a guy that's, you know, you could stash on your bench for when he comes back, there's no way. But that's the point. There's no way people will be taking him in the, in the fifth, sixth, seventh round. And when you're taking one of those round picks that are valuable to a fantasy team, if you're drafting a wide receiver, a running back, whatever, and saying, hey, I'm going to start the first quarter of the season and that's not even including playoffs. So more than that, the first third of your of your season to make the playoffs, well, great. Enjoy Tom Brady when he's back and you're out of the playoffs.

[Andy Holloway]

How does this impact Gronk?

[Mike Wright]

Gronk? I think Gronk will be okay. He'll survive. The bigger question to me is Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis and Chris Hogan, who's one of my favorite sleepers, which, I mean, now you're just going into a deeper slumber with Hogan because you kind of wait a while for Brady to be there because I don't. Is there any way that this gets overturned now because it was a US Appeals court says, we deny you, you're suspended. The NFL can suspend you for this. Is there any way that Goodell changes his mind and says, okay, well, we'll drop it to 2 or something?

[Andy Holloway]

Not if he gets my letter. On behalf of all Cardinal fans for week week one of.

[Mike Wright]

You're okay with the one game I wrote in.

[Andy Holloway]

I said you can change it, but game one you should probably miss on Sunday Night Football. Well, you told me the bittersweet reality as a Cardinal fan is, yeah, you didn't want to face Brady, but you wanted to go to that game on Sunday Night Football, the debut first game of the year. All right, let's move on here to much more important news. Adam Schefter reporting. Some teams are interested in.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa.

[Mike Wright]

Several. How dare you. This is a quote.

[Andy Holloway]

Are interested in Nick Foles.

[Jason Moore]

And I, I believe I called Adam and I was like, whoa, what, what are those teams? And they are all from the cfl.

[Andy Holloway]

CFL team.

[Jason Moore]

Very interested in Nick Foles.

[Andy Holloway]

This is not news. All right, let's move on. The Eagles made a huge trade last week and we're going to talk to Matthew Friedman of Rotov is about Carson Wentz and Goff, those presumptive first two picks. And the order seems to be golf and then wins. But we don't know for sure. I actually read a report this morning the NFL is trying to tell the Rams to keep quiet about their selection in order to build speculation and anticipation for the draft. That being said, the Eagles traded to get a quarterback. This has turned into a problem now because Bradford has come out today. Sam Bradford. Sammy biscuits. An unhappy biscuit.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's not good.

[Andy Holloway]

A mad biscuit.

[Mike Wright]

The biscuit stale.

[Andy Holloway]

There it is. I was searching for the right food reference. He wants out of Philadelphia, which I believe I made a bet with you, Jason, that I forgot about that I made a bet with him because he thought Bradford would just be locked and loaded as the quarterback. And I said I thought Wentz would get the job before week 10. Well, week one's before week 10, so we'll see what happens if Bradford leaves town. It's all.

[Jason Moore]

Have you seen what the Eagles have said?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, Bradford's my starter. I'm surprised.

[Jason Moore]

No, I'm just saying they wanted Wentz to go behind Bradford and sit.

[Mike Wright]

They want someone to trade for Sam Bradford.

[Andy Holloway]

This is one of those. I am just shocked he would ever say this.

[Mike Wright]

What I desperately want is a draft day the movie style thing where a team just gives up everything and then they have drafting the player that they had originally thought because you know, in draft day he moves up to the number one spot and he still takes the. The defensive player. Yeah, that would be great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I want, I want video of our list.

[Jason Moore]

The number two pick, Paxton Lynch.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no. Cleveland's not drafted number two. So the Eagles moved up, the Browns moved back. What this does mean is that ezekieliott is not heading to Philadelphia at least barring some insanity because they don't have any picks left. So I'm going to say it official.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy Holloway reporting. The Eagles will not select Ezekiel.

[Mike Wright]

Well done.

[Jason Moore]

That is huge news.

[Andy Holloway]

It is for Ryan Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

Ryan Matthews because the way that their draft picks, you know, they gave up so much in the draft that they don't have a second round that they can use on a running back. They are not drafting a running back to come in here and supplant Ryan Matthews. And I think that when you look at their roster and you decide, hey, I'm going to make this move, you say, okay, we might have wanted to have another running back come in, but we're set there if we need to be. We can rely on Ryan Matthews and have him be a viable starter. He's. He's been a great starter many other years for San Diego. So he is, I think one of the players that got the best value out of these big move trades is actually Ryan Matthews. I was in the middle of an MFL10 draft when that news broke and I was like, oh, I got to see if Ryan Matthews is available because I need him now.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you get him?

[Jason Moore]

I did not. He was like the next pick, though.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And so the Browns ended up with a haul. They got the number eight pick, slowly moved back six picks they got. What did they get? A first rounder next year, number 77 pick, the third rounder this year, the fourth rounder and a second rounder next year as well.

[Mike Wright]

So madness.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a lot. And we'll talk. Look, we'll talk to Matthew Freeman about that.

[Jason Moore]

It is not going to work out well for those two teams. I don't believe that it's going to work out well for those two.

[Mike Wright]

I think the Browns, that was a great.

[Jason Moore]

The two that traded up. I don't. I don't think so. We'll get Matthew Friedman's opinion on these rookies in just a second. But before we get to that great interview, we want to remind everybody about one of our favorite sponsors of this show, Pristine Auction. Look, if you are looking for any cool gifts, any memorabilia for your house, anything, we had a friend that was just moving to San Diego, a close friend of all three of ours. Where did we go to get him something awesome? We got him a signed Keenan Allen jersey from Pristine Auction. All of their stuff is verified. We have met these guys. We have seen their warehouse stand up, guys. Awesome dudes there. This is a company you want to work with. Everything is completely verified and they've got stuff on there that is absolutely incredible. I saw they've got an NFL hall of Fame helmet on their full size that has 37 signatures on there. Guys like Johnny Unitis and Dan Marino and Joe Montana and Just a billion of them.

[Mike Wright]

And it's not just sports. So we had a Twitter. Twitter follower showed us they got some Breaking Bad memorabilia and just outstanding stuff.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So go to Pristine Auction, that's P R I S T I n e auction.com and you could get the best deals imaginable on that stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so let's go ahead and take some time. Let's go over the rookies. Let's talk rookies. We got the draft right here. And bring in Matthew Friedman.

[Jason Moore]

You talk in a may.

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy footballers are excited to bring in Matthew Friedman, writer for Fantasy Labs and the producer of the Rotovis podcast. How are you doing this fine day, Matthew?

[Matthew Friedman]

I'm doing very well. Thanks for having me, guys.

[Mike Wright]

And we, we brought Friedman on here to talk some, some prospects.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if you just. I just found out the drafts this week.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if you know this, but there's an NFL draft this Thursday.

[Matthew Friedman]

I've heard it's sort of like Christmas time for all of us. Like really, Like I prefer the draft to watch Super Bowl. Like that is how excited I get about this time of year.

[Mike Wright]

Really.

[Andy Holloway]

That's about how I feel about the. What kind of dip is that that you make, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, the sausage?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Mike makes a sausage dip for the draft every year. And we start to associate that with. Yeah, the NFL draft.

[Mike Wright]

And I mean we had the, the Game of Thrones premiere. I don't know if you're a Thrones watcher, but you combine Thrones premiere and the draft and it's just an incredible week.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a good week.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, it is a great week. It's like the Pavlovian response anytime. Like we get around this time of the year. Like my body just starts like aching for the NFL draft.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so we're gonna, we'll jump right into some wide receivers and I'll be referencing from Rotov is your, your guys's pre draft rookie rankings. And there's for. For I guess probably most of the fantasy community. There's a bit of a shock at the top here. Corey Coleman is actually your guys number one receiver. Was he your number one or are you a Laquan Treadwell guy?

[Matthew Friedman]

How.

[Mike Wright]

What are your thoughts on the number one guy this year?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, so I played college football DFS last year, so I'm inherently going to be a little bit biased towards Corey Coleman and also Josh Dockson because he was fantastic in DFS and I went to tcu. But Corey Coleman for me is the number one receiver. And it's not because I think that Laquan Treadwell doesn't have potential. I think he will be a very solid NFL player. It's just that Corey Coleman was so productive in a variety of ways at Baylor as a return man, as a runner, then also as a receiver, of course, and, you know, decent size. He's not a small guy. He's not big, but he is definitely fast enough to compensate for anything he lacks in size. So I think it's the athleticism that he has and the fact that he had two outstanding seasons that really gives him the edge for me over Treadwell.

[Mike Wright]

So are you.

[Jason Moore]

What.

[Mike Wright]

How do you really, really feel about Treadwell? Because there's. He's. He's an interesting guy. He's kind of polarizing the draft community right now, where some people have him as the. The second overall rookie pick. Some people are starting to really fade him because of the kind of like the metrics people, where he really didn't show up how. How most people want during combine drills. Are you off of Treadwell at all or you're just. You're still perfectly fine with him?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, I like him. It's the. It's the type of situation where in the metrics community, I'm kind of on the rare side in that there are certain metrics that don't bother me as much as others. And so Treadwell, as long as he's big and Treadwell is huge, I kind of don't care as much about athleticism because we have seen guys who are sufficiently sized, who aren't athletic, who still end up having very good NFL careers. Anquan Bolden being the one that everyone points to. But I think Keenan Allen could be another guy, and he's not nearly as big as Treadwell. So I think he won't be a guy who has multiple seasons of wide receiver, one production, but I think he could be a very solid wide receiver 2 for a lot of years.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me ask you this, and I agree with you about the size of Treadwell and the impact he can make. What do you think the best fit for those two guys is in the.

[Matthew Friedman]

First round in terms of teams that they would go to?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. For Coleman and for Treadwell, what do you think their best fit is? Because so much of fantasy and the impact they're going to make is going to be, you know, where they drop to who they're matched up with, the circumstances in those situations. Who do you think they would do best on?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, that's interesting. So for me it's not so much a matter of scheme fit. I'm not a football guy in that way in terms of thinking of like, well, this is an X or Y or Z receiver and these are the teams that really like to use those types of receivers in this way. For me it's a matter of kind of opportunity, how quickly will a guy get on the field? So I like to look for places where guys have an immediate chance of getting production. San Francisco automatically comes to mind, although it's a question of whether he want to take the Chip Kelly plunge for like a third year in a row on a rookie wide receiver. But there is a lot of opportunity there, a lot of missing targets. And then I think, you know, honestly, New England is really intriguing to me because they have the smaller receiver, they obviously have a great tight end, but it would be great for them to have a bigger bodied guy there. So Laquan Treadwell, I mean, obviously he's not going to go there because the Patriots don't have a first round pick, right. But I think like if they, if they were ever to move up right, and they've, they have some draft picks where they could do that, I think he would be an interesting guy. Especially if the teams in the early part of the first round are a little low on him. And so if he fades, that would be really intriguing. But San Francisco is a place that is really interesting because there are just so many available targets there who are.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe, maybe it's just one guy, maybe it's a couple guys who are the wide receivers that you have your eye on that the, they're not the super top, they're not the super sexy names like the Dachshunds and the Colemans, who's a guy that you're, you're watching and if he lands in the right spot, you're going to be all over him.

[Matthew Friedman]

Sure. So I will give you two guys. One is Leonte Carew, who I think probably deserves to be a low first round pick but will probably go in the second or third rounds. He was fantastically productive at Rutgers, which isn't a school that produces a lot of wide receiver production. He did it for two straight years as a junior and a senior. He's sufficiently big at 211 pounds, but he ran a 4.50 40 times. So he has good athleticism to go with his size. If he goes to a team that looks like it has some sort of opening, I will be very enthusiastic about him. Then a really deep sleeper is Jakeem Grant from Texas Tech University. A very underrated guy, versatile, sort of like a discounted Tavon Austin. Of course he had that fantastic pro day performance. He ran anywhere from a 4:1 flat to a 4:3:4, right like that 4:1 flat. Time just seems crazy and it is. But even a 434 is sufficiently fast for a guy who's just a burner.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Matthew Friedman]

And he's 165 pounds. He's probably not going to be the type of guy who makes a big impact, but I think he, he will stick on a team as a return man. He was an all pro return man at Texas Tech. He has sort of like J.J. nelson potential. I could see him being the type of guy who one game randomly scores two touchdowns and win than $1 million.

[Jason Moore]

Winning a million dollars sounds pretty good. So before we switch gears to the running backs, I actually have a question based on kind of my feelings, if you will.

[Mike Wright]

This is not good.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, we're not. You know, two years ago it seemed like going into the draft before the NFL draft happened, we knew, man, that was a wide receiver. There were so many. That was the wide receiver draft from a fantasy perspective of guys that are going to make an impact. And then going into last year, it seemed like running backs were really deep, deeper than they had been in that class for a couple of years. This year I feel like I'm very disappointed. I'm not sure if it's because of these last two years or if this class, this crop of rookies is from the offensive side of the ball, is a little bit, you know, less talented than the year to year crop. So what, how do you feel about, you know, in a dynasty league type of setting this incoming group of rookies, are they a little bit a cut below the last couple of years?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, you nailed it. Absolutely right. We've gotten spoiled the last two years. Two years ago because of the wide receivers and last year because of the running backs. This year there's nothing wrong with the guys, especially at the top. Right. So if you have a first round pick, you have a very good chance of getting someone who could contribute to your team. But after that, this class just doesn't have the depth of those previous two classes. So yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. It's not that there's anything really wrong with this class. It's just that in comparison to the previous two years, there isn't the depth there. You don't want to be comfortable with a second round pick thinking that you can get a Wide receiver who can contribute because it's not likely to happen this year.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so let's move it over to the running backs. I think just, we'll just get this out of the way. Ezekiel Elliott is your number one, I assume, or is that a bad assumption?

[Matthew Friedman]

No, he is, but it's just, it's by a hair. I really like Derrick Henry a lot.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting. Okay, so let's, let's move it over to Derrick Henry. What. What do you foresee about him? Because he's kind of like Treadwell is polarizing Henry. There's a lot of people who think there's, there's just no way he can translate to the pros. So what do you like about him?

[Matthew Friedman]

Oh, man, it's just. I like to, to I guess, gamble on players that we've never seen anything like before. And that's sort of what Henry is. But I mean, we, we've seen like glimpses of something similar to him. I mean, the fact is that big guys who are athletically talented, who are productive, who are coming from Power 5 conferences. Right. Like those guys tend not to fail the NFL, you know, so he's a guy that I feel very comfortable with and any other class. Right. He would be my number one. Of course, Ezekiel Elliott is also a big guy who's very productive and very athletic. So I love both of those guys. I would be comfortable getting either one of them if I had a top two pick.

[Andy Holloway]

And there's been a lot of talk about Henry. It's kind of funny coming out of Alabama, could end up in Cleveland again. Cleveland has no depth at the wide receiver position. And maybe we'll see a repeat of this. You know, Trent Richardson, I mean, it's hard to bring his name up now without kind of making a weird face, but he had a good rookie year. Yeah. His first year he had what, double digit touchdowns. You know, high volume is kind of what I'm looking at there, where you get a chance to hand the ball to Henry and just see what happens. I mean, I wouldn't be extremely excited about the, the destination, but I would be about the, the carry total he would get in Cleveland.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, absolutely. So the thing with the running back position is like, no matter how, how we want to evaluate it so much just comes down to the number of times per game a team is willing to give the ball to that guy. And Derek Henry is built to get the ball a lot. And I think the team that drafts him will draft him with that in mind. They will want to give him the ball. So I think he has an exceptional in the NFL. Cleveland would be a very sad destination. But I mean, really, I think no matter where he goes, he will have that opportunity right away to establish himself as a workhorse.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I feel like you kind of have to give him that role if you invest the pick in him. So last year, Mike and myself before the NFL draft, we fell in love with David Johnson just from his combine drills videos, from his college tape. We were really loving David Johnson. And if you don't know, we actually live in Arizona. So this was a great day. When the draft came around.

[Mike Wright]

Fantastic.

[Jason Moore]

And we grabbed them this year. I'm wanting to know, like, honestly, I don't have a guy that I look at that's a little bit deeper. That's like, man, he's just got jumping off the page. Yeah. That jumps off the page. I don't have a guy I'm really excited about at running back position, but is there somebody that I should have? Do you see someone that you're like, man, if the Cards fell right, and the opportunity came, that he's got the talent to explode in the NFL?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah. And I have to say, I love David Johnson. There was a lot of displeasure about him before the draft because, you know, converted wide receiver, a guy who kind of runs upright and can't run like a big guy, doesn't run between the tackles, all of that stuff. And there's another guy who is actually very similar, and that's C.J. prozeis.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Matthew Friedman]

You know, and he's big like C.J.

[Jason Moore]

Bros.

[Mike Wright]

I do.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah. He's big like David Johnson. He's fast like David Johnson. He's a receiver. Right. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. He doesn't have the collegiate production that David Johnson had. But the thing that's really cool about pro size is that he converted from wide receiver just this last year. And in his first year, not even first year, his first months of playing the running back position, he became the starter and was very productive at Notre Dame. So he has like the big things that you look for when identifying guys who could explode in the NFL. So I think if there is a David Johnson type of player in this draft, it's Prozeis. And Prozeis will probably go in that same draft range, you know, like end of the third round, beginning of the fourth round, that general range.

[Andy Holloway]

My only concern with pro size is the team that drafts him and what they're expecting out of him. I mean, I guess in David Johnson's case you had the same thing where complimentary back, that turn, you know, like you said, exploded and became something when, you know, Chris Johnson got hurt. I'm worried that pro size will get drafted and then thrown into a role similar to, you know, Duke Johnson in terms of a complimentary back. Is that something that you foresee as well?

[Matthew Friedman]

No, because the difference is that Duke Johnson is a smaller guy. And that's why I like to take my shots on bigger guys. I think one way or another, they tend to get their opportunities either because they're bigger and they can get more yards or because they're just healthier and they outlast the smaller guy in a committee.

[Mike Wright]

And so before we jump over to the tight ends, what's the sleeper? Who's your guy from the running back crop?

[Matthew Friedman]

Oh, man. I mean, it's a really weird year where I think there isn't anyone who really entices me at the running back position as a deep, deep sleeper. I mean, I guess you could say Marshawn Koprick from Southern Illinois, highly productive at a small school, was invited to the combine. And that's actually a really significant thing. The guys who are invited to the combines from small schools, they have just a better chance of NFL success. You know, he's not a big guy. He's kind of MJD size, you know, like around, you know, 208 pounds, but like 5, 7. But he ran under a 4, 5, 40 time. So he has potential because of his production and because he's big enough and fast enough, but I just don't think he's going to get the opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair. So talking about tight ends, we knew most fantasy players are. They understand, you know, a tight end is not really going to give you anything year one. And I honestly haven't really heard much, much strong buzz around any one particular guy. But are there any tight ends that you. You have a. You have at least a level of excitement for this year?

[Matthew Friedman]

Oh, man, it's a bad year. It's a bad year for tight ends. I mean, just. And you look at quarterback, too, I'd say it's like, it's not a great year. But one guy who is kind of flying under the radar is Tyler Higby from Western Kentucky. He was basically putting up wide receiver type of numbers last year before he got injured. But he's, you know, got good size, you know, 6, 5, 6, 6, 250, 260 pounds. I could see him being the type of guy who maybe gets drafted in the Third or fourth, sticks around a roster for a couple of years and then gets a shot because he's sort of like an all purpose type of player who's a better receiver than anyone thinks. At the same time, that's not really very exciting. You know what I mean? So, like, this is just the type of year where I would avoid tight end in general.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree. When you don't hear anything about tight ends, it's usually because there's just not an impact player. So let me ask you the most common and easiest question that you'll get. Jared Goff or Carson Wentz?

[Matthew Friedman]

I would do neither.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so who's your.

[Andy Holloway]

Isn't that. Isn't that the worst part about the NFL draft? I mean, it's like if. Even if it's not a strong crop of guys, you have to take one. You have to take one. And whoever's at the top of that list just becomes, you know, on the same level as guys in years past.

[Jason Moore]

I think what Matthew Friedman is really saying here is he's saying that I made a great move to trade down in this year's draft and get a first round pick in my.

[Andy Holloway]

In your rookie.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So just, you have to make a choice. Golfer. Wentz, we're putting you on the spot.

[Matthew Friedman]

I would go with golf, but I mean, here's the thing about Wentz. You know, he's coming from a smaller school, and granted, it was a school that was, you know, a powerhouse, but Wentz wasn't the starter for a sustained length of time. He was the starter really for only like a little more than a season and a half. If there's a guy coming, coming from a small school, you have to see, like, more than two seasons worth of outstanding production to feel confident that he can be a decent quarterback in the NFL. That's not even taken into account that this is the guy that people are talking about as the number one overall pick. Which just sounds insane to me, right? Like, this guy is not even Joe Flacco.

[Andy Holloway]

Golf, on the other hand, nobody is Joe Flacco.

[Matthew Friedman]

That's true for good and for bad. Nobody is Joe Flacco. I mean, golf, on the other hand, is coming from a Power 5 conference. He did show improvement throughout his college career. You know, his numbers aren't bad. But the thing is, like, and this is maybe more of a gut feeling and just like a bias that I have, I look at him and he just strikes me as like the Pac 12 quarterback that's like Mark Sanchez or Matt Barkley. And not Andrew Locke.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you so much for saying that. I. It's weird because we've had the debate here obviously in the studio about these different guys and I'm more on the wince side, not super excitedly, but just compared to golf. But that's the same feeling that I have from him is that, you know, you're getting a guy, a California kid, the next, you know, liner like impact in the NFL. And I watched a lot of Pac 12 football and I. It wasn't that he couldn't make the throws, it was just that I never saw him do something that made me think he was going to be a special quarterback at the next level. And so for better or for worse, you know, all the, all the numbers can come out and people can be all about him, but that feeling is persisting with me and thinking that Goff's just not going to be special.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, I think he would be a very nice second round pick, you know. Yeah. But he's, you know, he's going to try number one. Number two pick. Yeah, yeah. Number two or number one. I mean, it's, it's insane that these two guys are being compared to the two quarterbacks we had last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Right, right. And look at the halls given up just to get up into those positions, to basically invest the next three or four years into seeing if they are which. Welcome to the NFL. I guess.

[Matthew Friedman]

I mean, the thing that's so crazy is that the Rams, I mean, you think they should know better. Like they were the ones that got all of those picks from trading the rights to get RG3. I mean, it's almost like this situation where they looked at what they got with all those picks and they were like, you know what, we really didn't do all that much with those picks. Let's try trading away a lot of picks and see if that works.

[Andy Holloway]

They had the LA sunglasses on. They're ready to make a splash. And I guess, I guess we can be surprised, right?

[Matthew Friedman]

I guess, with Jeff Fisher, who knows 8 and 8.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Matthew Friedman]

Yes. I mean, 7 and 9, that's even feasible, you know, that will get the job done.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

So that been a great conversation here with Matthew Friedman, like we said, writer for Fantasy Labs, producer of the Road of his podcast. Is there anything else that you, you think the people should know about Matthew?

[Matthew Friedman]

Yeah, so just at Fantasy Labs, we are full on with the Major League Baseball season. We have a lot of outstanding advanced data that no one else has access to except for, you know, basically the MLB teams. So you can look at pitching velocity, batted ball distance, all that stuff. And then at Rotoviz, we have just launched a new podcast called Fantasyland which is sort of like an NPR or gimbal omelette style show that looks at things touching on fantasy sports but the things that you don't normally think about. So the first episode was on spreadsheets, the second episode was on all of the women in the industry who are really outstanding. And then our third episode is going to be on Rotoworld and its dominance within the fantasy industry.

[Mike Wright]

And I give my personal seal of approval. I had tweeted out about Fantasyland. It's just the production spectacular and the content is engaging and the way the show is put together is spectacular. That's how we, that's how we got connected with Friedman. We had already known about him, but that's just personally got us connected. So check out Fantasyland, the. The podcast and it was great talking to you Matthew, really appreciate it.

[Matthew Friedman]

Thanks guys, have a good one.

[Andy Holloway]

Alright. Special thanks to Matthew Friedman for joining us on the show. I think that was some good context for fantasy owners heading into the draft. You know, the lay of the land. If you're not in a dynasty league, obviously the impact is even smaller to you. You're not necessarily doing a rookie draft where you're paying attention to just those big names, the sleeper names. A lot of these guys are not going to be drafted in your standard redraft league, but the big names will be. And some of these guys, Coleman, you know that, that Freeman mentioned is somebody that if he lands in the right spot, especially he could make a year one impact. We saw the potential, even if we don't like the class, the potential for rookies at the wide receiver position to sweep the fantasy football landscape. I mean you had, what was it, 13 different rookie wide receivers two years ago that made an impact.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean that was incredible. So the potential is there, the precedent is there, not the prediction. There's a difference between them and I.

[Jason Moore]

Think that that's one of the big problems though is that going into that draft we saw the talent was really different. And coming into this year's draft, you compare the players, the film, the tape, the metrics against those guys is just not the same.

[Andy Holloway]

So we're looking forward to finding out where these guys go. It's going to be fun. I'm sure there will be some draft day trades we'll be talking about very soon as well and we are efforting some special guests, some other guests to come on the show over the next couple. We're trying that. I think you'll be very pleased with. I think you'll give your stamp of approval. So before we get into the mailbag, I do want to remind you about the website. Thefantasyfootballers.com A lot has been changing on the website. Go check it out. There is the draft kit up there. We've got a Q and A up there now where you can actually just ask questions and have other listeners, other fantasy football fans answer questions. It's all free on the website. We got our rankings up there. We're constantly updating those. And so a lot has been changing. We're gonna start publishing some articles. It's getting, I mean, it's only April 25, but when the draft hits, it's just like go time. It's ready. It's ready time.

[Mike Wright]

It's when you engage.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. So we're gonna go ahead and take a few minutes here, answer some listener questions. You can submit those on the website as well. Just go to the website, the fancyfootballers.com click the submit a question button. You can also go to twitter @the ffballers. Connect to Us there. And so we are. We do our very best to be available as often as we can while also sleeping occasionally.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

Bag or bag.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's jump right in, Jake in Plano, Texas. We've been to Plano.

[Mike Wright]

We have.

[Andy Holloway]

We visited our friends at Raising Canes. Raising Cane's up there in Plano. So in a full point PPR league with two keepers in the round that they were drafted in with a two year cap on keeping a player, who should he keep? You've got DeAndre Hopkins for a third round pick. Devonte Freeman for a 10th round. Thomas Rawls for a 16th, Jordy Nelson for a 16th. And the most obvious choice is David Johnson for a 16 round pick who joins D.J. as his second keeper.

[Jason Moore]

Well, yeah, clearly D.J. is going to be the first keeper.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a tougher decision.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The way that it breaks down to me is you have question mark guys that are extremely valuable picks. That would be Freeman, Rawls, Rawls and Jordy. Basically you're giving up super late picks for whoever you want there, so. Or you could take the guy that I think is the most considered reliable with DeAndre Hopkins at a third round, which is still decent value for me.

[Andy Holloway]

So your two are David Johnson and.

[Jason Moore]

Mine would be David Johnson and Jordy Nelson.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I will, I will take David Johnson and I will take DeAndre Hopkins.

[Mike Wright]

I would go David Johnson and Hordie Nelson.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. I think if we're both in the wide receiver realm, you're getting a 13 round of you're getting a free player.

[Mike Wright]

Well, the thing is, let me throw.

[Andy Holloway]

This out there though. David Johnson, while he is very high on our rankings and all the opportunity is before him, he still falls into the category of a question mark to some degree like Rawls does, like Freeman does. I think he's actually very comparable to Freeman in the, in the question mark area. You're putting two question marks together. If you put Jordy and dj, that.

[Jason Moore]

Just makes an exclamation point.

[Mike Wright]

I think there's less question because it is the PPR league. Let's say things fall apart somehow for David Johnson. He's still a the pass catching guy for Arizona. And because it's only, you know, there's a two year cap on keeping guys, I'm not going to worry about longevity of Jordy Nelson. I'm just going with those two guys. Get the value and great players.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I'm. I'm right on the fence there too. So Jeff, in Oklahoma, I'm sure you get a gazillion questions. You are right. So thanks for considering mine. I'm in a 14 team keeper league and need to keep three guys. Plenty can change with injuries, but right now he has to declare keepers after week two of the preseason. So he's got some time. All right, my options are Beckham in the first, Rodgers in the second, Robinson in the fourth, Yelden in the fifth and David Johnson, Jordy Nelson and Kelvin Benjamin in the 15.

[Mike Wright]

Everyone getting Jordy late.

[Andy Holloway]

I really like Johnson. Which other two guys would you keep and why? Well, David Johnson is locked in obviously for a 15th. Very similar to the guy in the previous question.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

And very similar to the guy in the previous question. So is Jordy Nelson to me in the 15th and then I would grab Alan Robinson.

[Mike Wright]

Would you take Robinson or Benjamin?

[Andy Holloway]

Why is Beckham completely out of consideration?

[Mike Wright]

No, no, he guys, I guess he just. He's in the first and it's not. I don't mind paying fair market for a guy like Odo Beckham, David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordy Nelson, Odell Beckham Jr. That's who.

[Jason Moore]

I would select and I would go David Johnson, Alan Robinson and Jordy Nelson.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would. I agree with Jason again and it's gross.

[Andy Holloway]

It's funny because in both circumstances I took the higher guaranteed wide receiver Hopkins and ODB and you both took the kind of mid level or value.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think that Jordy Nelson is going to be a high level player. I see him as that.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're drafting in the back of the first round, it doesn't talk you into Odell Beckham Jr versus the front because you're.

[Jason Moore]

It makes a difference. It's a difference. If you know there's three great guys in there and you're picked number three then then sure you don't want to give that up but I mean, I mean it's more tempting still a trade.

[Andy Holloway]

Robinson plus your ninth pick for odb basically Dylan in Bloomington, Indiana. Great podcast, fantastic advice, good humor, lots of fun. There were four exclamation points in that sentence.

[Mike Wright]

All right, thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

In those sentences question marks. I AM In a 12 team, two quarterback, three keeper league quarterbacks are obviously at a premium with top tier QBs drafting the first three rounds. So streaming is not a good option. And. And we understand that for sure in a two quarterback league. Plus keepers acquired off trade or waivers are kept at ADP value based off of one quarterback league rankings. So I'm keeping three quarterbacks basically for free. Planning to load up on wide receivers and running backs in the first or early rounds. My first two quarterback keepers will be Mariota and Bortles the BB gun. Would you prefer Bridgewater or RG3? This is my kind of question, Bridgewater or RG3. And I'm going to tell you right now, other I pass. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

The third guy, they don't.

[Andy Holloway]

But I do.

[Jason Moore]

I completely understand. Two quarterback leagues are very, very different than all the advice we give on one quarterback leagues.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take Bridgewater.

[Jason Moore]

You need to have them. I would take Bridgewater.

[Andy Holloway]

Give me the better team. With a potential rookie wide receiver coming in, maturing quarterback RG3 has just got nobody there.

[Jason Moore]

I cannot fathom that there is not a running back or wide receiver that I would want more on my team. Look, you still need those guys. I realize it's a two quarterback league, but these two quarterbacks don't do hardly anything for you. You have to have someone else answer the question.

[Mike Wright]

Jason.

[Jason Moore]

I said Bridgewater over RG3.

[Andy Holloway]

Bridgewater or Matt Aziata?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I would take Bridgewater and then.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm also gonna go. I'm gonna take Bridgewater, I guess.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Mike in Connecticut. First of all, thank you guys for referring me to Pristine Auction. Oh boo. Yeah, nice. I found a nice Heinz Ward signed Gotham jersey from the movie the Dark Knight Rises. I had seen though that is I Had seen those.

[Mike Wright]

That is sweet.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's really cool. You mix the pop culture with the.

[Mike Wright]

With the footballs.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that another Hawaiian?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I picked up a few things while I was over there.

[Andy Holloway]

I have, let's see, a few draft questions. Or as he said it, just a few of draft questions.

[Mike Wright]

I think Mike snuck multiple questions in here.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let me ask one of them. Should I trust Tony Roma as my starter going into the season?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Do you trust the slimmed down Eddie Lacy?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

The pictures, they're not doctored, they're not photoshopped?

[Mike Wright]

Not to my knowledge.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't think he's photoshopped all of these different ones to look like he's trim?

[Mike Wright]

That's an elaborate ruse for now.

[Andy Holloway]

I like the nickname you get. Let's break it out.

[Mike Wright]

Eddie Money. Eddie Money is doing work because he's.

[Andy Holloway]

In a contract year.

[Mike Wright]

He's got to get paid. He wants two tickets to paradise and.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike Ingram got him. Mark Ingram taught and you know, you saw the picture with Ingram. Trent Richardson, who's now in the NFL, who is.

[Mike Wright]

Who is slimming down himself?

[Jason Moore]

Eddie Lacy and their big brother, Derek Henry.

[Andy Holloway]

Derek Henry, who could, like, put Mark Ingram in his hands and just squish him up.

[Mike Wright]

Derrick Henry.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a monster.

[Mike Wright]

He's a monster.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a monster. I think he goes to Cleveland and I think he dominates. That's my prediction.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, we. Friedman, we talked about it a little bit, but with Hugh Jackson, you get the hammer. That is Derek Henry. And I'm interested.

[Jason Moore]

How about Derek Henry, second round to the Cowboys with that offensive line up some big holes.

[Mike Wright]

Far more interested in that.

[Andy Holloway]

What would you do if he went to Cleveland? But it was Hugh Jackman that was the coach. As opposed to Hugh Jackson.

[Mike Wright]

Wolverine.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Wolverine himself does Wolverine. There's adamantium advantages to that situation.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if you can actually.

[Andy Holloway]

Could Wolverine save Cleveland? This is the question I'm asking you.

[Jason Moore]

Wolverine could save everything.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. I'm just making sure. Ryan in Austin, Texas. I need help deciding on my last keeper so I can repeat my hashtag Foot Clan title next week.

[Jason Moore]

Well done, sir.

[Andy Holloway]

You can keep Mike Evans in the 9th or Jordy Nelson in the 14th.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this the Jordy Nelson hour? Everybody just. They picked him up late in the draft. That's what all of our listeners did because we probably told them to.

[Mike Wright]

That's wise. It was a wise move. If, you know, you're.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Mike Evans in the ninth round. Thank you very much.

[Jason Moore]

And I would take Jordy Nelson for the third time. I just don't think there is that big of a difference here.

[Andy Holloway]

There's not that big of a difference between a 9th round and 14th round pick.

[Jason Moore]

I give you that. I was literally wanting to pull up my specific rankings to see what the point differential was in my projections between those two guys to make sure that I am not wrong. So, Mike, who would you take? And I will tell you if those guys are far apart.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man, that is brutal. I'm going to go.

[Andy Holloway]

Obviously it's a keeper league, guys. Yeah, keeper league with Mike Evans.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, that's. That's very.

[Mike Wright]

Then I would lean. If we're talking multiple years. Evans, if it's just.

[Jason Moore]

Does he say the scoring system?

[Mike Wright]

If it's just one year, I might.

[Andy Holloway]

Go standard 12 team.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, well, Evans, I'll go in standard. I have Jordy Nelson and Mike Evans. This is a cool thing you'll be able to see at our draft kit. I have them each with 189 points. They are tied in my rankings. But you do bring up a great point that this is a keeper league. Yeah. And year over year I got him on my side.

[Mike Wright]

Jacked for your point.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no, I'm jacked because you guys have been against me the entire show.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I have no problem if you want to take Mike Evans. I would probably still take Jordy Nelson.

[Mike Wright]

So you've been against Jordy Nelson then using that logic?

[Andy Holloway]

I just don't think he's as guaranteed. I'm not against him at all. I think the odds. I would put the odds in his favor to be great. But yeah, them being in his favor does not mean that they're as high as Hopkins Odebuckham Jr. Or in this case, Mike Evans.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair.

[Andy Holloway]

I think all three of those situations, you had extreme value with David Johnson in both in the two previous ones. So I take my extreme value and I take my guarantee and I put them in, you know, on my team and I'm happy.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Thomas in Las Vegas says He's in a 12 team PPR league. He traded Mike Evans and Jay Cutler for Adrian Peterson and Marcus Mariota.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. So I think they're asking who, who got the better trade.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, wait, he got his first and second 2016 round picks as well.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

You did, my friend.

[Jason Moore]

That kind of puts it over the edge, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it was probably over the edge to me anyway. I like Mario to more than Cutler and I like Peterson more than Evans. Although it's a ppr.

[Mike Wright]

Not in a PPR dynasty. No, but.

[Andy Holloway]

No, not in a dynasty. I think it's in your favor though with the first and second round picks.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, first and second round picks makes it in your favor.

[Andy Holloway]

It's close, I guess. Dynasty, ppr. You got your rookie draft pick. No, I like it in your favor.

[Mike Wright]

As long as those are decently high picks.

[Andy Holloway]

So you on the finish?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, because Evans, man, and I love Evans and Dynasty, he's great.

[Andy Holloway]

But what about Mario?

[Jason Moore]

I was going to say Mariota.

[Mike Wright]

I don't, I don't see. I like him. I just don't see him as a top three quarterback. I mean, I think he'll be a quarterback one for, for a decent amount of time, but I don't see it translating to you're like, he's an elite. He's Aaron Rodgers, he's Cam Newton.

[Andy Holloway]

He doesn't have to be in this trade for it to be more beneficial for him, does it for Thomas?

[Mike Wright]

I just giving up. This is a young wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

Here's what I like about it. This is the way that I can look at it. Your team improved this next year. Okay. And so it was trading for now to run after that championship at the expense of your future. Except you didn't completely do the expense of your future because of those first and second round picks. You got that back. So you're good this year, you're good in the future. I like it for you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. All right, so let's go to Ricardo in Sacramento. Here. He's stuck between choosing his keeper. He has it narrowed down to Allen Robinson and Deion Lewis. He has some studs, but he could probably get them for the same high dollar amount as prior years. Both are pretty cheap. Allen Robinson five bucks or Dion Lewis for zero.

[Jason Moore]

The Tom Brady news makes this an easy call to me. I worry about Deion Lewis without Tom Brady. There he is, the pass catching back. So I'm going to go not. Not that Dion Lewis is. Not that I'm not going to draft him or I think he's going to be bad by any means, but if it was a close call beforehand, I'm going to go with Alan.

[Mike Wright]

Rob, do you have any leanings, any thoughts toward maybe somehow the Brady suspension helps Louis? Is Lewis a safety valve who's just going to get peppered with targets for Garoppolo?

[Andy Holloway]

Far too, far too speculative to make fantasy decisions on either direction With Dion Lewis, it plays no, it pays no mind for me in this situation considering the Brady suspension. At all. It's Alan Robinson. Regardless. I have no.

[Mike Wright]

I agree. I'm just regardless for Lewis.

[Jason Moore]

But yeah, with. With Lewis, put it this way. Are you. If. So the news came out today that Brady is going to lose four games. We're going to go back and adjust Brady, adjust our stats on guys. If you were to adjust Dion Lewis, are you leaving him?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm leaving him 100% the same.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. I will probably take him.

[Andy Holloway]

I will not affect him at all. I mean there's. We saw. Who am I thinking of? Javorius Allen with 13 targets. Who a backup quarterback in Baltimore. I'm not going to. I don't have enough data to speculate on. On that. I know it's not good for the Patriots as a whole necessarily. But for Lewis, who's coming off an injury and all these other variables, I'm just leaving alone for now. So that's just my take. That's my take.

[Mike Wright]

So either way, I'm taking Robinson in that situation.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. So Luke in North Augusta said 32 team dynasty league. Not every day you run into those.

[Jason Moore]

But you do hear about reality sports online type of stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

Should he trade his 101. Okay. Which is going to be Ezekiel elliott.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

His 110 and a 2017 first rounder for Todd Gurley right now. And right now his backs are Langford and Hyde.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely not. So that's. That's easy. That's 100% no for me.

[Andy Holloway]

That is not a hundred percent too much. It's too much for me. I'm a no.

[Jason Moore]

I do think because it is a full ppr, Todd Gurley is not necessarily a pass catching back where Ezekiel Elliott could be. So yeah, let's not do it, Luke.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right. So that does it for today's show. I want everyone who is listening to pay attention to this. If you want to hear some predictions about the draft, you're going to want to get onto the podcast early on Thursday because we're going to have that up. It'll be up very early. You'll have it for your commute on Thursday. But make sure you listen that day because you'll hear all the predictions. Obviously I'm going to get them, most of them. Right. Jason will get a couple accidentally. Right. And Mike's number one. Very few. Correct. But you know, last year when we did this, we talked a lot about David Johnson and certain players that we really like. So I think it'll be a fun. The energy for the show on Thursday is going to be incredible because we will be just moments. We will be seconds from the draft.

[Mike Wright]

Actually screaming the whole show.

[Andy Holloway]

The whole show.

[Jason Moore]

I love the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I'm so excited.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike always comes up with something fun for the draft.

[Jason Moore]

Let's just wait for the. Maybe this will be a nice surprise intro like we had last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably not. We've got a good Thursday show for you. Make sure you stay tuned for the show after the show. After. After we're done here. That is over on YouTube. Follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Check out the Draft Kit Ultimate Draft Kit.com we just released it and you can save some money before June 1st if you want to grab it. You know, it's really pretty cheap compared to other draft kits you get out there and we have a lot more content in it, so I think you'll really enjoy that. And that does it for the show.

[Jason Moore]

That it does.

[Andy Holloway]

You all right, Jason? I'm just gearing up the sickness.

[Jason Moore]

Down with the sickness.

[Matthew Friedman]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

You sound just like him. 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 on Twitter @the ffballers.