Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Top 10 TE + Sleepers, Fantasy Game, News

Summary

Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Top 10 TE + Sleepers, Fantasy Game, News

Release Date: August 24, 2016

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Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright delve deep into the tight end (TE) position, unveiling their Top 10 Tight Ends, discussing sleeper picks, and sharing the latest fantasy football news. Additionally, they welcome special guest John Paulson from 4for4 to provide expert insights on potential late-round TE gems.

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Top 10 Tight Ends

1. Rob Gronkowski

Rob Gronkowski tops the list as the premier tight end, celebrated for his big-play ability and consistent performance.

• Mike Wright highlights Gronk’s potential as a trade asset:
  “What Gronkowski also offers you...is a really, really strong trade piece in a lot of leagues.” [16:59]

• Jason Moore emphasizes Gronk’s reliability:
  “100 plus yards in five games, scored in nine games. He's the number one for a reason.” [16:59]

2. Jordan Reed

Jordan Reed secures the second spot due to his consistent target volume and connection with quarterback Niles Paul, despite injury concerns.

• Jason Moore discusses Reed’s PPR potential:
  “Jordan Reed is a PPR guy. So that's where...he can come close to Gronk.” [21:15]

3. Greg Olsen

Greg Olsen is lauded for his steady production and ascension with the Carolina Panthers, making him a reliable TE option.

• Andy Holloway shares his confidence in Olsen:
  “He plays 16 games every single year. I'm not worried about...” [23:38]

4. Travis Kelce

Travis Kelce is recognized for his elite talent and high target volume. Despite some fluctuations, his consistent output keeps him in the upper echelon.

• Mike Wright praises Kelce’s value:
  “Okay, number three, Travis Kelce. I have him at number three on my board.” [25:00]

5. Gary Barnidge

Gary Barnidge made a significant leap last season and continues to impress with his rapport with quarterback Robert Griffin III.

• Jason Moore appreciates Barnidge’s consistency:
  “He consistently got it done week after week.” [28:31]

6. Kobe Fleener

Kobe Fleener is an early off-season favorite with high target potential, though there are concerns about his season start and consistency.

• Andy Holloway expresses optimism:
  “Kobe Fleener is going to have 125 targets. And if he gets 125 targets this year, he's going to be a top five tight end.” [30:31]

7. Delanie Walker

Delanie Walker is projected to lead his team in receptions, benefiting from an improved offense and increased target volume.

• Mike Wright forecasts Walker’s growth:
  “I believe Delanie Walker will lead the team in receptions...” [31:44]

8. Zach Ertz

Zach Ertz combines high talent with heavy targeting, though quarterback uncertainties pose some risks to his touchdown numbers.

• Mike Wright discusses Ertz’s potential:
  “I think Zach Ertz is going to be a guy...1,000 yard season is a possibility.” [36:31]

9. Antonio Gates

Antonio Gates is touted as a forgotten gem with significant touchdown upside, especially given his connection with quarterback Philip Rivers.

• Mike Wright underscores Gates’ red-zone prowess:
  “You get down in the red zone...that's just maybe one or two extra looks this season.” [40:22]

10. Eric Ebron & Tyler Eifert (Tie)

Eric Ebron and Tyler Eifert round out the top ten, both offering substantial upside as potential breakout candidates, contingent on health and offensive roles.

• Andy Holloway shares concerns about Walker being drafted over proven options:
  “Walker last year had just this perfect storm...he's being drafted because of what he did last year and he's not going to replicate what he did last year.” [33:19]

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Sleeper Candidates

Guest John Paulson from 4for4 joins the panel to discuss valuable late-round tight ends who could outperform their draft positions.

Dwayne Allen

• John Paulson highlights Allen’s fit within the Indianapolis offense:
  “He was in Cleveland for Kellen Winslow's Pro Bowl season...He's going to be involved, especially in the red zone.” [44:56]

Eric Ebron

• Despite a high ankle sprain, John Paulson remains optimistic about Ebron’s role:
  “With Calvin Johnson gone, they're going to have some extra red zone targets there and Ebron could step in.” [46:31]

Virgil Green

• John Paulson points to Green's athleticism and opportunity in Denver:
  “He did well in the first preseason game, so I moved him up my rankings.” [48:47]

Others Mentioned

• Zach Miller (Bears), Vance McDonald (San Francisco), and Jared Cook (Packers) are also discussed as potential sleepers with favorable opportunities.

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Fantasy News

• Sammy Watkins is set to play against the Redskins after recovering from injury, raising hopes for increased target volume.
  “Sammy Watkins will play Friday against the Redskins.” [09:15]

• Eric Ebron is expected to participate in week one, providing a boost for his fantasy value.
  “Eric Ebron is expected to play week one.” [09:50]

• Tyler Boyd emerges as a strong candidate for the Bengals’ second receiver spot, potentially surpassing veterans like Will Tievit.
  “Tyler Boyd is going to be more talented...he's going to be in that conversation.” [10:26]

• Eli Rogers in Pittsburgh is gaining favor as the third receiver, overshadowing competing options like Sammy Coates and DHB.
  “Eli Rogers is ahead of Coats and DHB and he's in line to be the number three.” [11:55]

• Jarrett Aberdaris (nicknamed "Downton Abbey") is identified as a breakout candidate for Packers fans, though there's some confusion around his nickname.
  “Jarrett Aberdaris, also known as Jason's… Downton Abbey.” [12:16]

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Conclusion

The hosts wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of strategic drafting at the tight end position, emphasizing the blend of proven reliability and high-upside sleepers. They tease upcoming episodes focused on sleepers, breakouts, busts, and bold predictions, encouraging listeners to stay engaged with the Fantasy Footballers community.

• Jason Moore hints at future content:
  “We will be talking sleepers, breakouts, busts, and values...you better tune in or you're not gonna know.” [53:30]

• Andy Holloway and Mike Wright encourage participation and feedback, ensuring listeners remain connected through social media and the community platform.

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Notable Quotes

1. “What Gronkowski also offers you...is a really, really strong trade piece in a lot of leagues.” – Mike Wright [16:59]

2. “Jordan Reed is a PPR guy. So that's where...he can come close to Gronk.” – Jason Moore [21:15]

3. “He plays 16 games every single year. I'm not worried about...” – Andy Holloway [23:38]

4. “I think Travis Kelce is one of the best values if you're not waiting late.” – Andy Holloway [27:28]

5. “You can project him at 10, you can draft him for free and if he works out, you're a genius.” – Mike Wright [43:38]

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This comprehensive overview captures the essence of the podcast episode, providing valuable insights into tight end rankings, sleeper picks, and current fantasy football news for the 2016 season. Whether you're a seasoned fantasy manager or a newcomer, the Fantasy Footballers offer strategic advice to enhance your league performance.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. Before we get started today, I want to remind everybody that is an official member of our fantasy football community [e-mail] that we have a live stream today. You can show up there, interact with us, have a blast. If you are not already in our community, head on over to JoinTheFoot.com and get a bunch of extra perks, like an extra podcast episode every single week. Let's have a show. Welcome to the fantasy football podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Let's have a show.

[Mike Wright]

Let's have a show today.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the show.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome in, everybody. Wednesday, August 24, also known as prime time. Prime fantasy football time.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I thought it was prime time for crime time.

[Mike Wright]

No, it does not get any better than right now. I mean, you just. The interest in fantasy football is at a near peak.

[Andy Holloway]

Incorrect. Near peak. Correct. But it doesn't get any better. I'm saying two weeks from now, when we are days away from kickoff, that's when I can barely breathe.

[Mike Wright]

What's more exciting, draft time or kickoff?

[Andy Holloway]

Draft day, the day of your fantasy football main draft. That is the peak of the season. If you've got a league of record.

[Jason Moore]

Your main league peak of my life.

[Mike Wright]

I like draft day so much that I worry about getting into a car accident on that day so that I will miss the draft. Yeah, I drive extra careful on draft day and our league of record draft is on Labor Day.

[Jason Moore]

I would appreciate if you could just drive extra.

[Mike Wright]

And I'll be every day. Well, you guys know from experience that's not possible.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, we do.

[Mike Wright]

You say goodbye to your family every single day and I take care of you on the roads.

[Andy Holloway]

Kind of.

[Mike Wright]

Kind of. Welcome to the podcast. Very excited. Today we have our top 10 tight end episode. We also have sleepers at the tight end position. We're going to break out here on the show today. We have a special guest. John Paulson will share some of his sleepers and I'm very excited about that. We have some news we're gonna get into. And right off the bat here, I'm gonna kick it over to the fantasy hitman because we are going to. In place of the quick question, we're gonna play a little game.

[Jason Moore]

I guess it's just a short little game. Do I get the drop?

[Mike Wright]

I don't have it.

[Jason Moore]

I want to play a game.

[Mike Wright]

There you go. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Just a little quick tight end game about, you know, the. I had talked a little bit about Maybe the dominance, the separation factor of Rob Gronkowski, maybe that's waning a little bit. So I wanted to do some things of and check that with hard facts. So I got a couple games. Quick question. How many tight ends last year had over 100 targets?

[Mike Wright]

How many tight ends last year had over 120 targets? I'm going to say based on you trying to validate your point about Gronkowski.

[Jason Moore]

I didn't say I proved it or disproved. I said I just wanted to know.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to say five tight ends had over 100 targets.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, five.

[Andy Holloway]

I believe Jason Whitten had 100 targets and he would be further down to me. I'm going to go seven.

[Jason Moore]

Nine. Okay, nine tight ends. And I went back all the way to 2009. That was the most.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Moore]

That was the most tight ends in a. In one season. That had. Since 2009, at least that had over.

[Mike Wright]

I'm surprised. I thought five or six.

[Jason Moore]

How many tight ends had over 1,000 yards?

[Mike Wright]

Ooh, over 1,000 yards. I'm going to say Barnage, Olson, Reed. Four. I'm going to go for.

[Andy Holloway]

I definitely think Walker. Oh, and Watson had more. So I'm going to go.

[Mike Wright]

Kelsey didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

That's five. So I'm going to go six. Just to be crazy.

[Jason Moore]

Was actually four. Well, Andy got the number right, but he got the people wrong. It was Gronk, Olson, Walker and Barnes. Reed had 952 yards. Oh, just under.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I forgot Walker.

[Jason Moore]

So also the. The fact checking of 2009, that was the most as well.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting. So that. That does make a point that he. Here's the problem though.

[Andy Holloway]

What's that?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, or do you have another one?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, I don't have another question. I just. I want. Then I really wanted to dive in about the truth about the Gronkowski factor. Is he really that much of a benefit? So I went from 2007 to 2010, the split of tight end one and tight end 12 was an average of 74 points. From 2007 to 2010. This is pre grow.

[Mike Wright]

It was how much?

[Jason Moore]

74 points.

[Mike Wright]

74 points.

[Jason Moore]

The last two years when Gronk was the number one guy, that split was 95. So there is an advantage, but it's not huge. What people are remembering when they draft Gronk in the first round is 2011 and 2012. In 2011, his split over the tight end 12 was 146 points. That is first round worthy. That is a separator. A True, true separator at a position. And, and in 2012 he was on a pace because he obviously got hurt. He was still dominating where the split would have been 112 points over the tight end. 12. So in those two years, yes, Gronkowski was a. Separated you completely from the pack. But the last two years where Gronk has been number one, it just compared to like the previous history when pre cronk. It's just not there to me that those 20 points, it's not there to me to have.

[Mike Wright]

Let me ask you this though, because I will make one counterpoint. The gap does not illustrate the fact that you have to select the right guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, very, very fair.

[Mike Wright]

Whereas Gronk is locked in as that right guy. So you are maybe a little similar to streaming quarterbacks. You're in that situation. But the gap illustrates that if you find a Barnage or a Walker in their right season, then the gap isn't that bad. Yeah, right.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So look, I traded, I had Gronkowski in our league of record. I just recently traded him. I think some people kind of wondered why I would do that or how, you know, what the mindset was there in a trade for Alan Robinson where, you know, you don't have the position scarcity of, you know, I mean, Gronk is this advantage at the tight end position. But it had to do with the fact of what we're talking about on today's show that we think that the tight end position is very deep.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I think those are very interesting, enlightening numbers, especially for what you give up. And when you factor in the four game suspension to Tom Brady, Gronk is very expensive.

[Mike Wright]

Did you figure out what you were doing, Jason, with our broken trophy?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I did. I'm going to go to fantasy jocks and get a new one going to.

[Mike Wright]

Gonna refresh the whole thing.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And then you know, our drafts in like a couple weeks, you might want to get that thing done.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'll get it done.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Before we get into the news, have some exciting news to share. You can, as Jason said in the beginning, visit us [e-mail] where our community is at. We got extra content on there. We've got a giveaway coming up. Sammy Watkins autographed jersey from Pristine Auction. We're giving away, we're giving away some fantasy Jocks gear, some, some other cool items over there.

[Jason Moore]

I think Jason put an entry in for us.

[Mike Wright]

He did.

[Jason Moore]

To try and win a trophy for.

[Mike Wright]

He put it in. He's entering our own giveaway.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know. I think I would be more after that Sammy Watkins jersey.

[Mike Wright]

That's true. I have a tweet scheduled to go out in like an hour that showed the. I think it was fantasy points per target numbers last year. And it just. I had the hashtag Free Sammy in it because, oh, if he had more targets, the numbers would be so different. He. Who do you think the number one fantasy points for target was last year? I will say Sammy Watkins was number three. So who do you think number one was?

[Jason Moore]

Target? Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Alan Robinson.

[Jason Moore]

Robinson. Robinson was my first guess, so I'll stick with that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And since we tied saying him, that's both of our guess.

[Mike Wright]

It's a good guess.

[Jason Moore]

He did get more targets than catches.

[Mike Wright]

Actually. Alan Robinson and Alan Hearns were 4, 5 on that list, which is Doug Baldwin.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, of course. Because almost every target was worth, like, eight points.

[Mike Wright]

There were some games in which he scored two touchdowns per pass.

[Andy Holloway]

That's. That's really.

[Mike Wright]

He would catch it in the end zone and run it to the other end zone. And they would. They would double up on that. All right, follow us on TwitterFFballers. A lot of you are doing that. We're gonna be posting all the breaking news that we received through the day on there as well. And don't forget to check us out on YouTube in case you want to watch yesterday's episode where I showed the block of wood that now exists as our fantasy trophy because Jason broke it.

[Jason Moore]

And the block of wood, that is Jason Moore.

[Mike Wright]

I like that the hashtag nevermore is going through our league of record now because of what you've done.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's. That's good stuff. Nobody loves the champ.

[Mike Wright]

You know, that is. That is true. All right, here we go.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking of Sammy targets or lack thereof, Sammy Watkins will play Friday against the Redskins. So Jason will get the popcorn ready.

[Andy Holloway]

I hate this news. I'm happy that he can play, but I'm always afraid when he plays. I just. Just be careful, Sammy.

[Mike Wright]

It's very good news when you have a guy recovering from plays in.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it is. Just run gently. That's all I'm asking, Sammy.

[Mike Wright]

ESPN Adam Kaplan reported that Eric Ebron is expected to play week one.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, that's. That's also good news. We weren't 100% sure when that the catastrophic into sort of a minor injury.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. So are you expecting Ebron? Unbelievable things.

[Jason Moore]

We'll get into that.

[Mike Wright]

Bengals.com reports that second rounder Tyler Boyd is the unquote.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay, okay. I didn't read the rest of this. The quote, unquestioned leader in the clubhouse in the battle for the number two receiver job, not the leader of the club. I read it as though this rookie had now taken the clubhouse over.

[Jason Moore]

He said, andy Dalton, get out of the way. Tyler Boyd time.

[Mike Wright]

The only way does a rookie do that the way they do like. Like a pride of Lions. Is there a fight in the.

[Andy Holloway]

In the Alpha? Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

A.J. green and Boyd went at it and then you end up with.

[Jason Moore]

That's interesting that that beat. Reporters feel like Boyd will be the number two.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he's a lot more talented than Brandon Lefell. The. Whoever the number two is there is going to be relevant for fantasy, whether that's Brandon Lefell. Even with his drops, he's going to get enough targets to be relevant. But if it's Tyler Boyd, he's more talented. And if Marvin Lewis allows him to have that role, I think Tyler Boyd's going to be in that conversation, you know, possibly with the Sterling Shepherds and the valuable rookie wide receivers. All right.

[Mike Wright]

Bershad Perryman says he's going to be ready for week one. Jamal Charles was a full participant in team drills on Tuesday.

[Jason Moore]

That's great news. He's not going to play in the preseason, but he's in full team, which means.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's good.

[Jason Moore]

He's playing week one.

[Mike Wright]

Eli Rogers, we mentioned him on yesterday's show when we went through the Steelers game. We said he looked. He was one of those players.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

That you see in preseason. And you know, the wide receiver situation in Pittsburgh is murky with Sammy Coates being an up and down type of player. With the Martavis Bryant suspension, Eli Rogers looked good. We knew he had the confidence of Big Ben. And now there's a report today that he's ahead of Coats and DHB and he's in line to be the number three. I think he is a very interesting player to watch and Mike has to agree because I do. Mike hates Marcus Wheaton.

[Jason Moore]

I completely agree. It makes.

[Mike Wright]

Look, thought he was gonna say I completely hate him.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no. Look, I like Coats. I wish he was the guy. He didn't earn it and Eli Rogers is earning it. And as the third receiver for that offense, he becomes. He becomes sneaky.

[Mike Wright]

All right, before we get into the tight ends, the last bit of news. Third year wide receiver Jarrett Aberdaris, also known as Jason's. One of Jason's.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Sleeper favorites at the wide receiver Position, some reports out of Packers. I guess the beat writers talking about him being a breakout player this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Aberdare's Aberdaris or Eli Rogers. That's tough.

[Jason Moore]

I'll take Downtown Abbey.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I will as well.

[Mike Wright]

Downtown Abbey.

[Jason Moore]

That just happened, America.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he's got a breakout just for the nickname. Downton Abbey.

[Mike Wright]

Down Downtown. Is he Downtown Abby?

[Andy Holloway]

What's the Downton?

[Jason Moore]

Is it down? Okay, then he's Downton Abby. I never watched the show.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you were doing a play on like he goes deep for the ball or.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I was, but I thought the show was Downtown Abbey.

[Mike Wright]

Wow. Now it's very crucial that he has a good season so that name can come up again. All right. Before we get into the top 10 tight ends, which I'm very excited to talk about these guys, I do want to thank today's sponsor, Five4Club. Long before they sponsored this show, you heard us talk about them last week. I've been a member of the 54 club for quite a while because I hate shopping and I don't know how to shop or look good on my own.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

We also want to thank SeatGeek for sponsoring the show. Look, football's coming up. We got to get those tickets. Everything about SeatGeek is designed to make life easier for sports and music fans because they do all the price comparison for you. They search multiple ticket sites. They want to get you the best deal. They do the work. They save you the time, they save the money. Seek wants to get you an even better deal because they put a grade base on the value of the ticket. And that's so easy to do because you download the SeatGeek app and it is clear. Fire up that app. It is clear if you are getting a good deal on your tickets. Best of all, our listeners are getting a $20 rebate off your first SeatGeek purchase. This is what we need the Foot Clan to do. You want to get your $20 rebate, you download the free SeatGeek app. You go to the settings tab. You click add a promo code. Enter promo code, footballers and seatgeek. They're going to send you 20 bucks after you made your first ticket purchase. Download the free SeatGeek app, enter the promo code footballers today and get your tickets. Get to the game, man. And that's how you do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Tight ends.

[Mike Wright]

I didn't mean to cut you off with the tight end drop. I thought you get your tickets, man. I thought that was your favorite.

[Andy Holloway]

It was a nice conclusion. Hey, but then it wasn't.

[Mike Wright]

Are you getting your tickets for the Garoppolo Experience?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Cardinals.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Patriots, week one.

[Jason Moore]

I hope so. I'm still trying to figure it out if I have the time.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we're going to get into our top 10 tight ends right now. We've been meaning to get to this episode for a while. There's just so much to talk about. You realize that we not only have all of our sleepers, breakouts, busts, and value episodes coming up, we also have our bold predictions episode coming up and our My guys episode. That was beautiful.

[Andy Holloway]

Talking about My guys.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's still going.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry. No, that's. That's the appropriate response. Sorry, apologies. No, that's pretty good, actually. You're really trying to be Mike.

[Andy Holloway]

There's only one Mike.

[Jason Moore]

Everyone wants to be Mike.

[Mike Wright]

All right, number one, Rob Gronkowski. The aforementioned. Look, what's great about Rob Gronkowski is he's a big play guy, too. You know, he gets targeted frequently. He can make huge plays that change your fantasy week. What is there to say about Rob Gronkowski? Stay healthy, my friend.

[Jason Moore]

100 plus yards in five games, scored in nine games. He's the number one for a reason. It's just paying that cost.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're late in the second, you know, let's say seventh, eighth, ninth pick in the second round. Andy, do you take Rob Gronkowski there?

[Mike Wright]

I would strongly consider that. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

If I'm late in the second, that's about where I think the cost is at the value point. I think what Gronkowski also offers you, and we don't talk about. You never draft to trade necessarily. You know, we say that, but having Gronkowski is a really, really strong trade piece in a lot of leagues. So if you. If you take Gronkowski there and you use your last round, I know that's a little strange, but you. Some of these flyer guys that we really like, maybe you grab Vance McDonald, you think you can get by with him and you can move Gronkowski in a couple weeks. I think it's something you can think about doing because you're already kind of taking a lottery ticket at the back of your draft. And I think we said Yesterday there's about 20 tight ends we like, so. Yeah, yeah, people, some. Somebody in your league pays a high price for Rob Gronkowski. That just is the way it works.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree with that. I can't get myself to pull the trigger in the second round on a tight end and lose a running back or a wide receiver there. I think everything you're saying is fair is valid. The value is there. It's just so tough to lose depth at your running back and wide.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he's going in the first for most people.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, since the. Since the Brady ban has been really official, I've seen him normally in the beginning.

[Jason Moore]

I heard you say the Brady man.

[Andy Holloway]

No, the Brady Band.

[Jason Moore]

The old Brady man.

[Andy Holloway]

But I've normally seen him going at the top of the second since that news.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so late second. I'm cool. You're not cool. That's fine.

[Jason Moore]

Moving on.

[Mike Wright]

I respect both perspectives there. I mean, I just traded Gronk, so that's.

[Andy Holloway]

If I'm late in the second and there's like, still four quality wide receivers, I really like left, and I know I'm pretty sure I can get one of those in the third, then I. Then I would do it first round.

[Mike Wright]

You end up with, let's say, DEZ Bryant.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

You take Des Bryant in the first. Second round, well, that means you're staring down Doug Martin or Rob Gronkowski.

[Andy Holloway]

I Think I'd rather have Gronk than Doug Martin. But when you're talking about in that, you know, you're still saying in the top 15, 16, 17 players. And in there, I think Doug Martin's probably in my 20s. There's, there's probably a wide receiver that I still love there.

[Mike Wright]

So you would take another wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, a Keenan Allen.

[Mike Wright]

Or you would take Keenan Allen.

[Jason Moore]

Evans.

[Mike Wright]

You would take Keen Allen as your second wide receiver?

[Andy Holloway]

Mike Evans is a perfect example.

[Mike Wright]

I would rather Keenan Allen, though. Would you take him as your second wide receiver with Dez Bryant over Rob.

[Andy Holloway]

Gronkowski in a full PPR? Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Jordan Reed is number two on our tight end list. 114 targets last year, just under a thousand yards. The story of Jordan Reed was that second half where he just exploded. You know, there are different ways that you can interpret the end of a season. You can, you can crown Doug Baldwin the greatest wide receiver that's ever played the game. You could, you could crown Jordan Reed as the heir apparent to Rob Gronkowski. I don't know if we're going to get there. He certainly needs to stay healthy. That's the story with Jordan Reed and, well, I mean, it's laughable, but there are certain players that are very prone to injury and his injury report historically is very long.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And look, Jordan reed averaged over 11 points per game on a per game basis. There was only three tight ends that did that this, this year, Gronk Reed and Tyler Ifert. The thing that's interesting for me and Jordan Reed is the cost is less than Gronk. And look at your scoring format. Like we said, okay? 114 targets, 87 catches or Gronk 120 targets, only 72 catches. That's a big difference. Jordan Reed is a PPR guy. So that's, I think, where in PPR formats he, I think he can come close to Gronk. The, the gap is going to be further away in a standard format. But when you're talking about paying a first round or a late fourth, maybe a fifth round pick for Jordan Reed, if I'm going in on early on tight end, that's the way I'm going to go. I'm going to. I'll take the risk on his head.

[Mike Wright]

I can see that He's. He's missed 13 games since 2013. He's been on the injury report 21 times in that span. Washington, he was pretty clean last year.

[Jason Moore]

Washington believes in him. They paid him. They believe that he can be a Great asset to their team.

[Andy Holloway]

He's also one of the few when it comes to the injury, he's one of the very few tight ends, maybe two, that you might actually be able to handcuff because we've seen in the past when Reed goes out and Al's Paul produces high level fantasy. That's my belief. And obviously we've had times when Niles Paul's been out as well, so we haven't always been able to see that. But I'm going to look up the split on that because I do think Niles Paul will perform. I mean, when Captain Kirk is the quarterback, he is looking for that tight end. That's just his kind of go to role, his go to position.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Greg Olson, number three on our consensus top 10. Again, this is consensus. So if you want to see our individual rankings of the tight end position, you can go to the fantasy footballers.com click the rankings button and take a look at how we each break these guys down. But our consensus number three, appropriately a guy who is the epitome of consistency.

[Jason Moore]

It's Greg Olson, the epitome of ascension. I mean the guy since going, since joining the Panthers, just. He's gotten a little bit better every single year. For fantasy purposes. It's crazy.

[Mike Wright]

Last year, 77 for 1104 and seven touchdowns. Best year of his career. As Mike just said, he's a guy. I don't, I don't project more ascension from him this year.

[Jason Moore]

Right. Yeah, I wouldn't either. I think that that ascension has probably capped out he. If you want to think about. Okay, the Kelvin Benjamin factor. Greg Olson performed very strongly two years ago when Kelvin was the number one wide receiver for the team. So I'm not concerned about that at all. Greg Olson is just, he's so blah.

[Mike Wright]

Really.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. To me he feels blat for a guy that I'm taking in the fifth round, even though I know the production is. Is super steady. He only had six games under seven fantasy points, so I know that he's reliable, but he just. That's the way he feels to me. Picking a guy like him in the fifth of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

Does he feel that way? Because I know what you're saying when there's guys are just not excited to grab. But does he feel that way to you, Andy? No, he doesn't feel that way at all to me. Maybe that's because he was on the roster, you know, that helped me win the championship last year.

[Jason Moore]

He was on my roster to help me win two years ago and I Still kind of feel that way.

[Andy Holloway]

He's so consistent and the value is there to me. Like if I'm grabbing him in the fifth round, I'm plugging in, you know, my, the fifth guy. I've already got four guys on my team that give me depth and now I can lock my tight end position, lock it down with consistency. Like you said two years ago, he had 123 targets versus 124 last year. So you've got that consistency. He plays 16 games every single year. I'm not worried about, you know, I know that there was a report that he was having some back pain.

[Mike Wright]

Never missed a game.

[Jason Moore]

He is an iron man.

[Mike Wright]

Never missed a game. Much like Jason Whitten in his prime.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

And I mean, production wise he's just consistent week to week.

[Jason Moore]

I'll just throw out real quick. I'm on fantasy football calculator. Here's why I think it's maybe the guys around him that makes me feel kind of about Greg Olson. So just behind him, Doug Baldwin, Michael Floyd, Dante Moncrief, guys that, that have huge breakout potential to me from the wide receiver position.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but those are also guys that I feel you're going to be able to replace in the next round. The next round you're going to get guys that are, you know, in the same tier as Michael Floyd, but you're not going to get a same tier as Greg Olson later.

[Mike Wright]

All right. One of the my guy candidates for me this year is number four, Travis Kelsey. I have him at number three on my board. Really, really like Travis Kelsey this year. He is somebody who I see as the ball bounces the right way this season. I don't think he under, I don't think he underperformed from a team perspective last year. I think from a fantasy perspective, some people, you know, Mike included, projected such humongous things from him, but he only had five touchdowns, still put up 875 yards. You, you look at those numbers, 72 for 875 you5 know, he's right at the point where he caught the same amount of balls as Gronkowski did. He caught six less touchdowns. I love, love, love Travis Kelsey.

[Jason Moore]

300 less yards on the same amount of catches.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Just saying.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. No, no doubt about it because he's got, you know, he's got Alex Smith. He's not Rob Gronkowski.

[Jason Moore]

The weird thing about Travis Kelsey was He went up 13 targets. He went up five catches. He only went up seven yards and zero touchdowns compared to two years ago. So maybe, maybe you look at that and think, okay, well, we had an outlier low performance because his. With the targets and the catches going up, you would think naturally that maybe you get another touchdown or two and the yardage should go up. Look, I love Travis Kelsey, the player I think he is.

[Mike Wright]

What's his current ADP?

[Jason Moore]

I will, I just saw him in the sixth round. He is 605 in standard.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to be targeting him.

[Jason Moore]

And that. Look, I don't blame people at all for targeting him. I just, it was maybe. And we talk about the, the fantasy emotional wounds, the burns that players give you and Travis Kelsey gave me some deep wounds last year. I just, I'm not sure in that offense, even as the number two guy that he can elevate drastically from the, from, from the numbers he put up last year.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree with Andy. I think that Kelsey is one of the best values if you're, if you're not waiting late. Normally for me, I'm bypassing Kelsey because I'm just taking someone very, very late in the draft. But if that's not your style, if you want to put plug in a tight end of those guys in the middle. Kelsey is one of the only guys that has the potential to say, oh, he's going to be the second best tight end this year. I mean, if he gets in the end zone a little bit more, he has the talent. He's also, we have to remember this is his really his second year, but really his third season because he missed his first season. He's been in the league three years.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. But then he was very limited in his second season. What I'm saying is they, they brought him along slowly.

[Jason Moore]

He still played all 16 games though.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he had 87 targets in his, in his second season. So his second season was, you know, like a rookie season. Last year was a sophomore. And for tight ends, very possible tight ends, it takes several years for them to come in. I was doing this research earlier this morning for Eric Ebron purposes, but there are so many great tight ends that you look back at their first few years in the league and they didn't break out yet. Kelsey is a, I don't love the offense he's in, but if you're taking a middle tier guy and you want upside, Kelsey represents that.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Gary Barnage is number five on our consensus top ten tight end list. Obviously burst onto the scene last year, one of those guys with over a thousand yards. And I think the question in everybody's mind is, does he have the same rapport with Robert Griffin III as he did with the quarterback in place last year. Or if, you know, we, we said, oh, maybe if McCown comes in, it's a better situation for Barnage. How are we feeling about Gary in terms of a draft day value?

[Jason Moore]

I still feel Gary Barnage is a guy that I like.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm pulling going in the eighth right now.

[Jason Moore]

So the eighth round and that's fine. That's actually, I would rather jump in on Gary in the eighth than Kelsey in the sixth round. He I'm trying to. I lost my number. Sorry. So 44 career receptions before 2015. So you talk about a guy who took a while to break out multiple years of only 44 total catches, then exploded last year from week three to 17. Because if you, if you remember, look back on his box score, he really wasn't involved until Week 3. The offense shifted from Weeks 3 to 17, though average more fantasy points per game than Gronk. I'm not, I'm not predicting that Gary Barnes is the number one guy. I'm just saying that he consistently got it done week after week. And Robert Griffin, I've seen the connection of Robert Griffin with Jordan Reed before. I know that he throws to his tight end. So I think that the targets continue. I think that Barnage can have a very good year.

[Andy Holloway]

What I've liked from this preseason, even on, if you go back to preseason game one where Robert Griffin only threw 50%, a lot of those targets were to Barnage and it seemed like they were out of sync a little bit, to be honest. It seemed like they just kind of had a little bit of a miscue. But you go to week two and it was same number of targets going Barnage's ways. He is where he's looking. Obviously in that game he got the targets to him. Caught that great long tackle.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that was a great touchdown. So I've actually bumped him up slightly, really back to where I had him earlier in the off season because I wasn't sure with Griffin that Barnage was going to be able to be, you know, high on the target list. But it seems like he's going to have his share.

[Mike Wright]

If you have a league that rewards leg catches, Barnage is one of the best players.

[Jason Moore]

You can grab bonus points for butt.

[Mike Wright]

Catches, but catches, that's what it is. Yes. Kobe Fleena, number six on our consensus top 10. An early off season favorite of the show. Especially the two guys sitting across from me.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Any changes, thoughts, opinions on Kobe Fleener than then you've had in the off season. Are you. Are you still on the exact same ship, roller coaster, whatever you call it, with Kobe Fleener?

[Andy Holloway]

My only different thought is because I do believe at the end of this year, Kobe Fleener is going to have 125 targets. And if he gets 125 targets this year, he's going to be a top five tight end. So I think you can draft him and have that. But I am a little concerned with how long it's going to take for that report to just be built right in the right way. We've seen some of that already in camp, in the, in the early on. We've seen reports from Sean Payton that, that he's got to get a little bit better at that. And if you look back last year, it took Ben Watson a few weeks to kind of get into it too. And that's. That's a supreme vet. I still like Kobe Fleener on the year. My only worry is that he might get off to a slower start, but then he becomes a great target in trades or, you know, if he really stinks. It's amazing. We always forget because of draft capital how people are. But you fast forward to week three and there's going to be so many guys on the waiver wire that were drafted high and you go, oh, they'd never be on the waiver wire if they put up two bad weeks in a row. People drop people.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm excited to talk about this next guy because I feel like he deserves more of our time. And that's Delaney Walker at number seven. I'm of the firm conviction at this point that Delaney Walker will lead the team in receptions of all past catchers. Walker last year had a very huge season in terms of total receptions. 94 for 10, 88 and 6. I think his previous career high was like 65 receptions.

[Jason Moore]

Well, he was 63. The previous three here went 60 catches. 63, 94.

[Mike Wright]

But that to me, you know, that's fine. That's the new. He moved out. That's the way I'm going to look at like Cam Newton. Right. Like, you can go recite Cam Newton's years. I think Cam Newton moved up, Right? He leveled up and I think Delaney Walker leveled up. I'd expect 80 catches from him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, so did Barnage. And I have no problem jumping in with Barnage. For Walker, my hesitancy was, Will, what is the team this year as far as the wide receivers? And I think that they have improved the wide receivers with Rashad Matthews and it's probably going to be Tajie Sharp to start, but I'm with Andy. I think that Walker will lead the team in targets and receptions. I don't. I'm not expecting another 94,000 plus yard season because that was the. A perfect storm for.

[Mike Wright]

Sounded like 94,000 yards. You're not expecting 94,000.

[Jason Moore]

A little bit under.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so let me shade, let.

[Mike Wright]

Me argue in the 80,000 yard range. He'll be a value.

[Andy Holloway]

He could have taken him if he's in that range. Yeah, I'm going to argue against Delaney Walker here just for a second for the listeners.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, is he here? Yeah, come on in, Delaney.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, D. Sit down. Yeah, that's what I call him. So listen up because they're not friends. Here's my problem with Delaney Walker is he's going around ahead of Gary Barnage who I think is going to have a better season. He's going several rounds ahead of Antonio Gates and guys that I think are going to have better seasons than Walker. Walker last year had just this perfect storm of every wide receiver being injured or stinking. And now like Mike said, they bring in Rashad Matthews. They draft sharp. They have. I mean, I would say Kendall Wright healthy, but he'll probably miss half the season still. I will give you that one.

[Mike Wright]

But the targets, he's not healthy right.

[Andy Holloway]

Now and now they are. Well, they expect him to be there for week one, so that's my point. Okay. And I just said he's going to miss half the season. So I think I'm fair on Kendall. Right. But I don't think that it's going to be the perfect storm this year and they want to run the ball. So is he going to lead them in targets and receptions? I'll bet he does. But like we've said with Tajie Sharpe, I don't know how much that's going to matter. I think he's going to be consistent. You know, he's not going to be the guy that's going to put up the goose egg. And so there is relevance there to have that tight end. But I just think there are better tight ends being drafted behind him and he's being drafted because of what he did last year and he's not going to replicate what he did last year. He's going to take a small step down, I think, because there's rationality to the regression as opposed to Cam. Right. You look at Cam and you go, okay, what's the rationality for him, Regressing? And the reason is just, oh, he did better than he's ever done.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. Which can also be a point in his favor. You know what I mean?

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. But. But there's not. I can't say we all agree.

[Mike Wright]

And the reason we haven't talked about Delaney Walker is simply because of the draft value. That's the only reason we haven't brought him up and praised him more is because we know he will be on zero of our teams ever.

[Jason Moore]

And George Clooney Mark will not be in Tennessee. Perfect storm. Come on, guys.

[Mike Wright]

Got it. Well, I dude.

[Andy Holloway]

Wonder if anyone got that.

[Mike Wright]

He made the perfect storm comment like three minutes ago. That's when you throw Marky Mark and George Clooney in there.

[Jason Moore]

I was trying to jump in but timing. But it out.

[Mike Wright]

Timing.

[Jason Moore]

No, it's.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Jason Moore]

But he said it like five times so it had to come out.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. We'll see if that one. If that one was grabbed on to or crickets.

[Mike Wright]

Now Mike has a few loyalists and they.

[Jason Moore]

There's like four of them.

[Mike Wright]

There's four guys with beards that really like Mike. Zach Ertz is number eight. He was a fantasy darling for me in terms of a kind of the best value. I think I had him as high as number three in the very, very early off season. I don't think that's unreasonable. If I knew anything about the consistency at that quarterback position. That being said, I don't. So he's number eight on a consensus list. Ertz has more talent and ability than just about any tight end out there. He's also heavily targeted. I think this offense is going to focus on Zach Ertz. Problem is the quarterback position. He's going to shuffle around. I think Ertz is actually a guy. If I had to predict his season, I think he's going to be a guy that comes out of the gate very strongly and I think you're going to see total numbers at the end of the year that feel better than how he feels to own.

[Jason Moore]

Because I think the Frank Gore of last year.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. Yeah. I think at the end of the year we're going to come into next season. We're going to go, boy, Ertz, he really, you know, wow, 1,000 yard season for Mertz I think is a possibility. Last year was 853 yards. He just didn't score touchdowns. So you're talking about total yardage. He put it up there. He caught more passes than Gronkowski. 75 catches, but it didn't feel good.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

And you're Going to have problems because if they shuffle in the quarterback situation around, if this team is not competitive like they hope to be, it's just going to plain old his touchdown numbers aren't going to be there. He's never been a guy that can get in the end zone consistently, yet. I don't think that jump happens. He's number eight.

[Jason Moore]

My.

[Mike Wright]

Like him in PPR league.

[Jason Moore]

My. My defense of Zach Ertz is just. What are they going to do in Philadelphia? There's. There's reports coming out, hey, we're going to get Darren Sprouls really involved in the passing game. Yeah, you probably should because the wide receivers there are not very good. And your best receiver, Jordan Matthews, might play week one. So if, if that's. That is my rationale of if Zach Ertz is the best patch catcher on the team over Aguilar. Dhb.

[Mike Wright]

I think the look on Jason's face is why Zach Ertz should be highly valued. No, no, actually, because you're saying their wide receivers are not good targets.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. I wasn't sure exactly what you had said. My confusion was I thought you were speaking against Zach Ertz. Your problem was Zachary.

[Jason Moore]

No, I was speaking for him.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, that makes sense because I completely agree. Their wide receivers are in shambles. Nobody.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you were speaking against him, too.

[Andy Holloway]

That's how it came across. But then.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, well, sorry. But that's just my face, fellas.

[Andy Holloway]

Resting. Angry face. That's Mike. Yeah, No, I agree. They're. They're wide receivers. They're not getting the job done. That's why they brought in Dorial Green. Beckham, Ruben Randall.

[Mike Wright]

I believe he started the sentence with the problem I have was Zach Ertz.

[Jason Moore]

I thought I said it in the defense of Zach Ertz. We'll have to go back and check the tape. Okay, My brain definitely said that. Maybe my mouth did not.

[Andy Holloway]

One of us or maybe two of us.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, guys, you know, an apology. Do you know who's not going to be in Tennessee?

[Mike Wright]

My Marky. Marky Mark and George Clooney. My favorite value pick, my favorite tight end, my favorite of all of maybe the whole draft right now is Antonio Gates. Antonio Gates, the forgotten man. For some reason, except for the fact that if you look back over the last 27 games played, he is. He has 17 touchdowns and Gronkowski has 21.

[Jason Moore]

That's not very far behind, but you.

[Mike Wright]

Can get Antonio Gates very late.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Last year, in only 11 games, 84 targets. He finished the year with 56 receptions over 600 yards and five touchdowns, five touchdowns in 11 games. And you look back at the two years ago, the monster touchdown performance. Antonio Gates is always a top two target for San Diego. San Diego is going to have to throw the ball over 550 times. Their offense is going to move. I think their defense continues to struggle. Someone has to score for the, for the San Diego Chargers. Antonio Gates in the double digits is one of my top, top targets if, if a guy like Reed doesn't fall to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And you know, sometimes narratives and things like that that you hear behind the scenes, they actually do matter. I mean these are human beings and it does matter. You know, Steve Smith's coming back to grab his, to get to the threshold he wants to get to in receptions. I think he's like 34 away. Gates and Philip Rivers have both said they want to get him to that touchdown record that he's near to getting. I forget exactly what that is, but that means in the red zone there's.

[Jason Moore]

A. Gonzalez has the record, right? You're talking about the tight end receiving or touchdown record.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I believe so and so. But they've come out and said that that is important to them this season. You get down in the red zone and that matters to you. That's just maybe one or two extra looks this season where he's, he's going to force the ball maybe when he shouldn't. Maybe he throws a pick and does some bad things or maybe you end up with a couple extra touchdowns because they're trying to force the issue. I love that. I love those. Look, if I can get him in the 10th round, I'm not going to push him up to the, oh, he's going to be so great. I'm going to take him in the fifth round. But it's a guy going in double digit rounds who has been a fantasy superstar who did it last year. Ladarius Green is gone and they want to get him a touchdown record. That's a, that's a Marky Mark and George Clooney are going to be there. They just went to San Diego.

[Mike Wright]

He has 104 touchdowns right now. The record's 111.

[Jason Moore]

They're not in Tennessee, they're in San Diego.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So they have to travel around.

[Mike Wright]

He needs seven to get seven touchdowns. He's a lock for seven touchdowns to me. You lost Stevie Johnson. When Philip Rivers wakes up in the morning, he throws two or three passes to Antonio Gates. I mean, it's the first thing he does when he wakes up. Number 10. I'm going to Call it a tie between Eric Ebron and Tyler ifer. Those are two guys at 1011 for us. I guess they just swapped on our rankings right before the show. Is that what took place?

[Andy Holloway]

No, actually before the show, Tyler Eiffert went down to number 12. He is behind Dwayne Allen.

[Mike Wright]

So let me ask you this. If you were starting mid season, ooh.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Eifert would be higher, much higher than this.

[Mike Wright]

So let's just talk about Abram then. Abrams gonna play in week one. We like him at the number 10 position though. That's very, very high praise.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

For an unproven tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

For an unproven tight end.

[Mike Wright]

Especially when the guy behind him is had 13 touchdowns last year.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, right now Eric Ebron is being drafted in average drafts behind Jason Whitten. Okay. Behind Ladarius Green still, which I don't know if that's accurate in the last few weeks. But the point is we are, we are projecting a jump forward for him that he hasn't done yet. And you can question that. It's a little scary, especially with the current ankle injury.

[Mike Wright]

First round tight end, but he is.

[Andy Holloway]

He was a top 10 selection in the NFL because he is very talented. Calvin Johnson leaves, the offense is looking like they are going to have more attempts per game because they're running no huddle. And you have to remember with tight ends, it takes a couple of years for them to get involved. Take a look at Greg Olson. Greg Olson has been as tried and true a consistent fantasy tight end for the last eight, nine years. Maybe not the top, but you know, a top five or six. Always in that range. His second season in the league, which was. He was very involved. Pretty much like Ebron was last year he had 54 receptions for 574 yards and five touchdowns. Eric Ebron was 47 for 537 and five very, very, very similar the third year going into Greg Olson. The following year he went up to over 100 receptions and had his career high in touchdowns. That's about when tight ends can take a jump. There's reason to believe with the team around him and he's got the talent. I know he's had drops that have been.

[Mike Wright]

And he costs you nothing. So if you're wrong, just go sign another guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly.

[Mike Wright]

That's what makes Eric Abrams so great. We can project him at 10, you can draft him for free and if he works out, you're a genius. And if he doesn't work out, you can kick him to the curb with little cost.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

So, all right, we're going to talk some sleeper tight ends.

[Andy Holloway]

You talking to me?

[Jason Moore]

The fantasy footballers are now pleased to bring back good friend of the show, John Paulson from 4for4. You can find him on Twitter @4for4_John. There's a configuration of numbers in the word for in there, but we'll get to that.

[Mike Wright]

They can find him.

[Jason Moore]

We'll figure it out. You probably already know who John is, but how are you doing today, John?

[John Paulson]

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

[Jason Moore]

We're doing fantastic. We are going through some tight ends and on the show we kind of been focused on the, you know, the 1 through 10, those in and breaking those down. But we want to talk to you about some of those guys who are going later that can possibly make the jump. We see it happen frequently. We had Gary Barnage last year and you, you came on our MVP show and you talked up your love for Dwayne Allen. So for those. In case somebody missed it, just kind of give us a nice summary of why you like Dwayne Allen in the later rounds.

[John Paulson]

Well, I think we were all expecting Dwayne Allen to hit free agency and Kobe Fleener to stay in Indianapolis given the way he's played. But they decided to invest in Allen there in Indianapolis and he's playing for Rob Chudzicki, the offensive coordinator there who loves the tight end position. He was in Cleveland for Jordan Cameron's breakout season. He was in Cleveland for Kellen Winslow's Pro bowl season in 2007. He was also the coach of Greg Olson in Carolina when Olson had his best season to date. So it's a very te friendly offense there. I think they are going to go three wide there with Philip Doucet as the third receiver instead of going two tight ends because they don't have their second tight end anymore. But Allen will still be involved. He's going to not get much coverage with those three receivers running around and I think in the red zone especially he's got a chance to really rack up the touchdowns. He might have 10 this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely agree. This is Jason, especially now that my man Kobe Fleener is out of there. I see you have him ranked number four. We'll just leave it at that. Kobe Fleeners got enough airtime, but I wanted to talk to you real quick about a guy that I think is prime for a breakout year. I have him much higher in my rankings. I believe you have him down in the 14 range and that's Eric Ebron entering his third year in the season. Calvin Johnson is gone. The opportunity is there and we know from history that you know that first and second year isn't generally good for tight end anyway. So your thoughts on Eric Ebron?

[John Paulson]

Well, I would be a little bit higher on him if it wasn't for this high ankle sprain he apparently has. Luckily we avoided the Achilles tear or anything like that, but it looks like it's a high ankle sprain. So I think it's kind of a rush to get him ready for week one. So he's missing some reps, but he was the tight end one for stretches last season. I think with Calvin Johnson gone, they're going to have some extra red zone targets there and Ebron could step in. He could certainly make the leap. I think we're way too quick to write off rookie tight ends, especially guys that go in the first or second round when they don't immediately make a fancy impact. But hardly ever do they make a fancy impact in fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you're right about that, Andy, here. I want to know your thoughts on the the tight end situation in New York. The Giants, you had Larry Donnell and Will tie. How do you see that breaking down and are they going to hurt one another? Is somebody going to emerge as that target for Eli?

[John Paulson]

Well, heading into this offseason, I was favoring Will Tighe because I thought he did a nice job last year. But Donnell has come back pretty strong and apparently looks pretty good in camp. So right now I don't really know who's going to emerge here and whoever does could, you know, end up as with starter type numbers. But if they're rotating them like they have been in camp, then I think they might cancel each other out.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Who is this year's Gary Barnage? The guy that goes completely undrafted. Do you see anybody that you think is, you know, he's going to be there on waivers, but he has an opportunity to get a large target volume?

[John Paulson]

Well, I think, you know, asking who this year's Gary Barnage is assumes that there's going to be a Gary Barnage this year. But there are a few guys that I'm interested in. I don't know about how deep your leagues go, but Zach Miller from the Bears really played well last year, especially when Martellus Bennett was sidelined. I think he's going 13th, 14th round and some of the casual leagues, he might go undrafted. Going further down the rankings, Vance McDonald, if he wins that job in San Francisco and can hold onto the ball they're going to push the pace there. The tight end is always involved in that Chip Kelly's offense and he had some good stretch last year where he posted tight end one type numbers. And then in Denver, I think Virgil Green.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, that was my next question, John, thank you.

[John Paulson]

Virgil Green, he's a great athlete and this is his chance now to start. You know, Gary Kubiak runs a very tight end friendly offense as well. Owen Daniels had all those great seasons or solid seasons with Kubiak and I think Green has a chance. He did Bill well in the first preseason game, so. So I moved him up my rankings.

[Andy Holloway]

No love for Ryan Griffin.

[Jason Moore]

I'm with you, John. If I see targets continue to go Virgil's way in the preseason, I'll probably be jumping back on board. Let's move to the Ravens situation. They have. I think they have still about 52 tight ends left on the. On the depth chart, but we know that Mark Tressman can get the. Get the tight end involved. Do you have. Do you have any a sense at all of how that's going to shake out or is that still just way too murky to do anything about?

[John Paulson]

Before I answer your question is, has there ever been a team that has had more questions at all the positions.

[Mike Wright]

Seriously. Than the Ravens this year and running backs, and they don't. They have 15 of each.

[Andy Holloway]

I still believe in Justin Forset.

[Mike Wright]

The only solid.

[John Paulson]

The only solid guy is Joe Flacco, you know, and he's. You know, that's because he's elite, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Yeah, he's.

[John Paulson]

So, yeah. To answer your question, Ben Watson, I think that they signed him for a reason. He showed what he still had in New Orleans last year, and I think he's got the inside track, you know, but Crockett Gilmour played well last year. They drafted Max Williams early, so there's a lot of draft capital invested in him. And of course, Dennis Pitta is like trying to work his way back. So that's really. That's really a mess there. But I have Wet Watson the highest, but I only have him at 27 right now in PPR formats.

[Jason Moore]

All right, we'll get you out on this one. You are a tremendous packers friend. Am I correct in saying that? Yes.

[John Paulson]

I'm a huge fan. My son is a part owner in the team.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, well, congratulations. Let him cash that in someday. Very valuable. Do you have any interest in any of the tight ends from Green Bay, be the new acquisition or the old regime? Is there anybody you actually like for fantasy purposes?

[John Paulson]

Well, I definitely think that Jared Cook is worth a stab in the dark at the end of the draft. I don't know how late he's going in recent ones, but he's been, he's back now from the foot, foot issue and he's been looking pretty good in practice. And I don't think that they would have added him in free agency if they didn't intend to use him. Richard Rodgers, I guess, has lost a toddler's worth of weight from around his waist and is looking a little bit faster. But his issue, Rodgers issue is that he is so slow, but he has good hands. Cook is really fast but has had, you know, a history of drops.

[Jason Moore]

So you fuse the two guys together, can they make that happen?

[John Paulson]

You could. You'd have a pro Bowler, I think. But I think, you know, Cook has looked really good in camp. He has done this in the past and then disappeared and had horrible games, horrible seasons. But the thing you need to remember real Cook is that he has never played with a quarterback anywhere near the quality of Aaron Rodgers. So his target quality is going to increase. The expectations are higher for him and I'm thinking that if he's a little more focused, he's got the one year deal, I believe, so he's going to prove it deal. There's a lot of money online for him if he comes out. And the key for him is does he play starter snaps and if he does, I think he'll end up with fringe TE1 type numbers.

[Mike Wright]

Jared Cook's my favorite player to draft, play week one and then trade away. That's my absolute favorite. He seems to put up good week ones. I remember that a couple years ago. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast. We appreciate your time. And again, you can find john@ on Twitter. 4. That's the number 4 for John. Underscore John.

[Andy Holloway]

4 for 4.

[Jason Moore]

Underscore John.

[Mike Wright]

I think I butchered that.

[Jason Moore]

And of course4for4.com of course, yeah. And John Paulson, great friend of the show, tremendous person, tremendous fantasy knowledge. So give him a follow and learn and learn. Really. So, hey, thank you so much, John.

[John Paulson]

Thanks for having me on, guys.

[Mike Wright]

All right, there's some more names to think about, talk about. Keep in mind, you know, Ebron is that guy that deserves a lot of attention when you talk about late round value. And so I'm glad we were able to discuss him at length. And he's a. He's a favorite for John Paulson. Let's go ahead and thank our sponsor for today's. Show again. Five four club. You heard me talk about them. You want to stand out from the crowd. This is how you do it. Don't blend in like everybody else. Let them help you out. If you hate shopping and go to Five4Club and use the promo code ballers at sign up and you get 50% off those first two months of purchases. So don't forget to use the promo code ballers in terms of other shows this week. Tomorrow is officially what? Let's. Let's tease it, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

We won't say what tomorrow is officially.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it the bnb.

[Jason Moore]

But we will say in the next couple days, we will be talking sleepers, breakouts, busts, and values.

[Mike Wright]

So the next couple days.

[Jason Moore]

Couple days, you better tune in or you're not gonna know.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Yeah, you can do that. You can click the subscribe button. I do want to let everybody know who's been looking for that. I mentioned it yesterday, though. Wheel of water.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The wheel of water app is on the Android store, so it's free. You just go and grab it. And it's a cool way to make.

[Andy Holloway]

Make bets with your friends.

[Mike Wright]

Bets with your friends about fantasy football. In fact, the best time to do that is kind of like before the season. Go make a bunch of bets about who's gonna win the divisions and who's gonna do those things. We're gonna make our bold predictions. I will show you soon.

[Jason Moore]

The Canadian. Our Canadian friends from the north, we have heard you. The wheel of otters unavailable. We're trying to figure it out.

[Mike Wright]

You're just saying because you can't grab it in Canada right now. Correct it. Yeah, we're gonna get.

[Jason Moore]

Because it's. Then you're playing the game of the wheel of ice, and that's just not safe.

[Mike Wright]

You're too dangerous.

[Jason Moore]

Gonna kill a man.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. We took it down. For your own safety. Is that the.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. You don't want the duck butter. If you spin that wheel and you land on duck butter, you don't want that in Canada.

[Mike Wright]

No, not with the ice situation and all the moose running around.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, they kill. They kill.

[Mike Wright]

Super dangerous.

[Andy Holloway]

Super dangerous.

[Mike Wright]

You know what happens when you get a. Like a moose and a bunch of ice and some those things all mixed together.

[Jason Moore]

A hockey game.

[Mike Wright]

George Clooney and Marky Mark end up. It's just. It's dangerous. All right, that does it for today's show. Thanks so much for listening. Subscribe. Leave us a review on itunes. We really appreciate that and the way you show up.

[Jason Moore]

Shout out to the studio sponsor Fantasy Jocks. You need a draft board, you need a trophy. We need a trophy.

[Mike Wright]

You need a belt.

[Jason Moore]

All kinds of cool stuff. Fantasyjocks.com use promo code footballers.

[Mike Wright]

See you tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

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