Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Values & Injury Review, News, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Episode: Values & Injury Review, News, Mailbag

Release Date: March 17, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Podcast Title: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast

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1. Introduction

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright dive deep into the intricacies of player injuries from the previous NFL season. The discussion centers around how these injuries impact player value, recovery prospects, and strategies for the upcoming fantasy draft. Additionally, the team covers the latest news and answers listener questions in their popular mailbag segment.

---

2. Quick Opinions on Players

The episode kicks off with a lively debate about players who are undervalued despite their popularity.

• Andy Holloway expresses skepticism about C.J. Anderson, stating:

  "I'm down on him because I do not believe he is an elite player and will ever show that again."
  (03:30)

• Jason Moore aligns with Andy, highlighting Anderson's mixed feelings about rejoining Denver:

  "He wasn't excited. He was kind of sad when Denver matched the offer because he felt disrespected."
  (05:01)

• Mike Wright counters by praising Anderson’s performance metrics:

  "C.J. Anderson... from week eight on to the end of the season, 85 carries, 540 yards, five touchdowns. That's 6.3 yards per carry."
  (06:01)

• Jason Moore also shares his doubts about Jeremy Langford:

  "He had a 2.7 yards per carry that was the lowest in the NFL for running backs with 50 or more attempts."
  (07:23)

Summary: Andy and Jason express concerns about Anderson and Langford's fantasy value, while Mike provides supportive statistics for Anderson’s performance.

---

3. News and Notes

The hosts transition to updating listeners on recent NFL developments that affect fantasy decisions.

• C.J. Anderson Re-signs with Denver Broncos:

  • Anderson agreed to a four-year, $18 million contract, rejecting Miami's offer.
  • Andy remarks:

    "He has been paid to be that starting running back."
    (11:15)

• Mike Wallace Joins Baltimore Ravens:

  • Wallace secures a two-year, $11.5 million deal.
  • Jason criticizes Wallace’s comments about former QB Teddy Bridgewater:

    "He's just saying I want to go to a place where I can trust the quarterback."
    (12:16)

• Zach Miller Re-signed by the Bears:

  • Miller signs a two-year, $6 million contract.
  • Andy notes Miller’s limited demand due to past injuries:

    "He was very headstrong and staunch that he was gonna get 5 million a year."
    (13:05)

• Kimbrell Tompkins Signing:

  • The Jets sign WR Kimbrell Tompkins to a one-year deal, deemed "mediocre" by Andy.
  • Andy says:

    "We forgot there was an end to that. Kimbrell Tompkins has been signed to a one-year deal."
    (13:31)

---

4. Injury Reviews and Player Analysis

A substantial portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing players who were injured last season, evaluating their recovery status, and predicting their impact on fantasy leagues.

Andrew Luck and Keenan Allen

• Andrew Luck suffered a type A lacerated kidney but is now fully recovered.
• Keenan Allen is healthy and expected to continue his strong performance.

  "Type A lacerated kidney is not a recurring injury. Both these guys are completely ready to hit the season."
  (16:58)

Jamal Charles and Dion Lewis

• Jamal Charles is recovering from a torn ACL, with expectations of a solid comeback.
• Dion Lewis also faced an ACL tear, raising concerns about his immediate impact.

  "Jamal Charles has already done it once. So I think you have to put your side you're betting on."
  (31:43)

Kelvin Benjamin

• Kelvin Benjamin returns to the Carolina Panthers after an ACL injury.

  "Kelvin's yards after catch were non-existent. I just don’t see a monster season for Kelvin."
  (24:38)

Le'Veon Bell

• Le'Veon Bell is coming back from an MCL/PCL injury and remains a top draft pick despite uncertainties.

  "Le'Veon Bell is at the top of a lot of people's draft boards. He's on the top of mine."
  (42:37)

Thomas Rawls and Arian Foster

• Thomas Rawls is recovering from a fractured ankle, with potential competition for his role in Seattle.
• Arian Foster is dealing with an Achilles injury, leading to doubts about his return to form.

  "Arian Foster can't carry the load. He's not carrying it in Houston anymore."
  (46:45)

Carlos Hyde

• Carlos Hyde is healing from a stress fracture and shows promising signs in workouts.

  "Carlos Hyde, stress fracture in the foot, started strong... I love Hyde moving forward."
  (48:50)

Summary: The hosts meticulously review each player's injury status and potential fantasy impact, offering insights into their readiness and expected performance.

---

5. Mailbag

In the mailbag segment, listeners submit their fantasy dilemmas, and the hosts provide tailored advice.

Keeper Decisions

• Will from Brooklyn seeks advice on which players to keep in a 14-team standard league.
  • Andy recommends keeping Julian Edelman in the 12th round.

    "I take Edelman in the 12th."
    (54:28)

  • Jason suggests choosing between Edelman and Devonta Freeman, leaning towards Freeman in standard leagues.

Dynasty League Dilemmas

• Caller from Jacksonville asks about dropping Calvin Johnson versus keeping other players like D'Angelo Williams, Lamar Miller, or Jericho McKinnon.
  • Andy advises dropping Johnson due to his retirement:

    "I think you drop Calvin Johnson, let him go."
    (57:29)

  • Jason concurs, emphasizing Johnson’s low chance of return.

0 RB Strategy

• Listener contemplates transitioning to a 0 RB strategy due to uncertainties in the running back pool.
  • Andy and Jason discuss potential sleeper running backs to draft in later rounds, highlighting names like Latavius Murray, Jonathan Stewart, and Justin Forsett.
  • Mike emphasizes leveraging the draft to find value in later rounds, suggesting options like Bilal Powell and Duke Johnson.

Summary: The mailbag segment offers practical solutions for keeper leagues, roster management, and strategic drafting, reinforcing the hosts' expertise in navigating common fantasy challenges.

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6. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts encouraging listeners to support the podcast by subscribing, leaving reviews, and joining their exclusive community on JoinTheFoot.com. They highlight upcoming live streams and additional content available to members, ensuring fans stay engaged and well-informed throughout the fantasy football season.

---

Notable Quotes

• Andy Holloway on C.J. Anderson:

  "I am down on C.J. Anderson compared to everybody else."
  (04:47)

• Mike Wright on Jeremy Langford:

  "He had a 2.7 yards per carry that was the lowest in the NFL for running backs."
  (07:23)

• Jason Moore on Jamal Charles:

  "I am betting on Jamal Charles this year."
  (31:43)

• Jason Moore on 0 RB Strategy:

  "If you go 0 RB and you’ve got Antonio Brown and... Keenan Allen and Jordan Reed."
  (60:51)

---

Key Takeaways

• Injury Analysis is Crucial: Understanding player health trends is essential for making informed fantasy draft decisions.

• Player Value Shifts: Injuries can significantly alter a player's perceived value, necessitating strategic adjustments in drafting and roster management.

• Strategic Keeper Decisions: Selecting which players to keep hinges on their recovery prospects and future potential, balancing risk and reward.

• 0 RB Strategy Viability: While unconventional, a 0 RB strategy can be effective if supplemented with reliable wide receivers and sleeper running backs.

This episode serves as an invaluable resource for fantasy football managers, offering deep dives into player health, value assessments, and strategic advice to enhance draft success and overall team performance.

Transcript

[Mike Wright]

Foreign.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in to the show. The fantasy footballers are back again. It is Thursday, March 17th and we have a good show for you today. I'm Andy, joined by Jason Moore and Mike the fantasy Hitman. Right.

[Mike Wright]

There is only one Highlander. No Fantasy Hitman.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, you sold that really well. You can follow Mike at FF Hitman. Oh, my Twitter. It's, it's if you open doors. Yeah, you, you post quite a bit. Yeah, you can follow jason@jason ffl.

[Jason Moore]

You can follow Uncle Chaps.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, he's only got 40 followers. He trolled, but he's got like 40 people that follow him.

[Mike Wright]

What are you talking about?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, do I have fake Uncle Chaps? Is that what I found?

[Jason Moore]

Not even Uncle Jeff.

[Andy Holloway]

So today's show I did, I got Uncle Jabs by a fake Uncle Jeff.

[Mike Wright]

It's called 12.3 K, my friend.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, so I saw. No, wait, is his profile picture a kind of like topless man eating an ice cream sandwich?

[Mike Wright]

It used to be.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, so it is a fake Uncle Chaps.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow, that is like different Inception levels of trolling going on. You troll a troll. Okay, we're off topic. So we do have a good show for you today. Today's show is all about the players that got injured last year. And we are reminding people about their situation so that you have injury context for the upcoming draft season and next year. And so we have a lot of information to give you about players that have been hurt, how their recovery is going, what we expect from them, which guys will, you know, potentially have injuries linger on into the season. And so that's the focus of the show. We got some mailbag. We got a good quick question for you. And like I said, you can follow, you can follow us heffballers on Twitter and you can go to the website thefantasyfootballers.com submit a question to the show via the website if you'd like to. And we're on Facebook, we're on iTunes, we're on YouTube.

[Mike Wright]

You know where else we are?

[Andy Holloway]

Spotify.

[Mike Wright]

We're on Snapchat right now.

[Andy Holloway]

You're Snapchatting this moment.

[Jason Moore]

Very meta.

[Mike Wright]

There is a preview now. I took it to the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Now I took the 19 week course of how to Snapchat and I think we finally got it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we're getting there.

[Andy Holloway]

We're so old. My younger sister taught me how to Snapchat. Alright, so quick question of the day, guys, before we get into the News. Before we get into the injury players, I've got to ask this question. It's a fun one. What one player are you kind of down on for 2016 that everyone else kind of loves? What one player are you kind of down on that everybody else seems to love?

[Mike Wright]

I'm very excited about this one because you, sir. You, sir. I'm gonna let you go first because you're so ridiculous.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, all right. Well, I. I wrote down CJ Anderson.

[Jason Moore]

Duh.

[Mike Wright]

I vomit upon you.

[Andy Holloway]

What's amazing to me, let me just say this. You two on the other side of the desk, right where the oxygen levels must be much less sufficient for brain cells and things like that. You two are just forgetful.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Hold on.

[Jason Moore]

No, I'm on your side on C.J. anderson.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, all right. I thought I was. I thought you with Eddie Lacy and C.J. anderson was my point.

[Jason Moore]

Ed, I'm all in on.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're on my side with CJ Anderson I'm just kind of down on for 2016. And everyone else kind of loves him. Including Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

And Mike likes Eddie Lacey, so he's a. He's a forgiving soul, the bearded, forgiving man that is Mike Wright. I am not so forgiving. CJ Anderson is not a bad player. I am not saying he's a bad fantasy player either. I am down on him because I do not believe he is an elite player and will ever show that again. And I certainly don't believe it's going to happen in a year where you lose so many different pieces to your team. You paid him the money because you just didn't want your offseason to be completely disastrous on offense. You lost Brock. You don't have Peyton. I know they're going to give him the ball, but he runs to me. I said it on the last show. C.J. anderson runs really hard, but I don't see him as somebody who is more. More talented than all the other running backs in the league. I just think he's a. A good running back. I know he had a good end of the season. I respect that. But things have changed there. So I'm down on C.J. anderson. That's the moral of the story. I'm down compared to everybody else.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Other than me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so you agree with me?

[Jason Moore]

I do agree with you. A lot of the reasons you laid out. I believe that he even said he had mixed feelings about coming back to Denver.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Did you see that, Mike?

[Jason Moore]

You know, he wasn't excited. He was Kind of sad when Denver.

[Andy Holloway]

Matched the offer because he felt disrespectful.

[Jason Moore]

He wanted to go. And we already saw before him come into camp, out of shape, a little fat when he wasn't super motivated. Now it's like he just got paid. He doesn't want to be in Denver. The running lanes aren't going to open up with, you know, whoever they find off the street to play quarterback in front of him. So I'm not loving CJ Anderson as well. I still.

[Mike Wright]

I still believe in Kubiak.

[Andy Holloway]

I could write the other narrative. Well, I can write the article.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the other narrative for you.

[Andy Holloway]

He got paid and it's Kubiak.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Well, what is the saying? Money talks, garbage walks. They showed C.J. anderson the money. Denver, they. All I think they did was they underestimated the value of. On the free agent market because running backs have been so devalued. They thought, well, he won't get anything great. And he got a. He got a great offer right away. C.J. anderson, from week eight on to the end of the season, 85 carries, 540 yards, five touchdowns. That's 6.3 yards per carry.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he was great.

[Mike Wright]

And you think, okay, maybe a smaller sample. Let's go into the playoffs where the competition is even more fierce. 54 carries for 234 yards. That's 4.3 in the playoffs. C.J. anderson is fantastic. He is a great running back.

[Jason Moore]

So who. Who are you down on?

[Mike Wright]

Who am I down on?

[Jason Moore]

That was the quick question.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I had to defend CJ Anderson's honor here for the Foot Clan so they could hear the balanced approach. I'm down on Jeremy Langford. I understand the opportunity is there, and trust me, I am completely on board of opportunity. Opportunity can even trump talent occasionally, because if a guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason believes it does.

[Mike Wright]

If he's just going to get fed the ball continually, then he's going to have fantasy production.

[Andy Holloway]

Sean Green.

[Mike Wright]

I just don't believe in him.

[Andy Holloway]

Sean Drone. Not Shawn Green.

[Jason Moore]

Both.

[Andy Holloway]

Both.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Sean Green, too.

[Mike Wright]

Both of those things work. And speaking of Sean Drone, I have a fun stat. You okay? Here's Jeremy Langford against base defenses in the NFL. So this is only 4.4dbs on the field. You know, the. He had a 2.7 yards per carry that was the lowest in the NFL for running backs. What, 50 or more attempts. That is lower than David Cobb, Melvin Gordon, and the aforementioned Sean Drone.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a pretty interesting stat.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, C.J. anderson was a 4.6, by the way. I just thought I would throw that out there. He also. Jeremy Langford also.

[Andy Holloway]

How is CJ Anderson the first half of the year? I'm just trying to remember he had.

[Mike Wright]

Know that he had a bum ankle.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay. And like Peyton had the year before.

[Mike Wright]

And just. Just to kind of pile on Jamie Lankford, like, oh, the pass catcher and I. Drops are. I can forgive drops. You know, they.

[Jason Moore]

They happen.

[Mike Wright]

I don't just discount a guy because he drops a lot of passes. However, seven drops and 42 targets.

[Andy Holloway]

So dynasty wise, are you just as down on him long term?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And I just. I think the Bears aren't sold on him. They. They were the last. They were the first team that offered C.J. anderson a deal before he got on the plane to go to Miami. I think that the Bears understand Langford as a talent. I will reiterate, if Langford is the only show in town, I think he'll be great for fantasy just because of volume, but I don't think he's that good.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Jason, who is your player that you're kind of down on for 2016 that everyone else kind of loves?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if I've heard of him before.

[Jason Moore]

No, no. I'm going a little bolder than you two weenies. I'm going with a guy who I'm not down on. Like, I hate him. I think he should have a good season, but I'm definitely down on him for where he's drafted, guys behind him. I would take over him. And that is DEZ Bryant.

[Mike Wright]

The opinions being stated by Jason are not necessarily reflective of the rest of the fantasy football.

[Jason Moore]

No. And that's the point. That was the point of the question. The quick question is, who are we kind of against the grain on? And for me, it just goes with the fact that there are so many things being overlooked. Look, Tony Romo is a catalyst for Bryant's success. And Tony Romo, I don't know how much we can trust his shoulder made of glass that he is now having.

[Mike Wright]

It's his collarbones.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

His collarbone made of glass that we. You know, he's having another surgery to hopefully fixed so that he doesn't have to have more surgeries and injuries. I believe he's 36 years old, not to mention Des himself coming off of an injury that is known. Known for one thing, and that is re injury. It doesn't matter whether it's in the NFL or the NBA. And I'm a little bit, you know, on this name on Dez because of what today's show is. Guys coming back from the grave, all the injured guys. What injuries can you get over? What injuries tend to linger? And looking up and researching that, it just seems like a scary injury. With Tony Romo, you know, I would rather have a couple guys that are being drafted behind Des because there are a lot of great wide receivers this year. That's part of the, you know, it's not like Des wanted as Brian. I would take A.J. green.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, so would I. Oh, no way does Brian.

[Mike Wright]

I can completely. I understand the injury risk of the Jones fracture, which we'll talk about a little bit, but it's just, it's scary.

[Jason Moore]

The telegraph.

[Mike Wright]

He's a beast.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, before we get into the news and notes, I do want to take us a brief moment to apologize to Mike Malarkey. I think I said Mike Muncheck a couple times last week when talking about Mariota or on Tuesday's show, we're talking about Mariota and the Titans. So it is Mike Malarkey who is the head coach. There you go.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Call yourself a professional.

[Andy Holloway]

I know Munchak Malarkey, it's all the same. All right, so we do want to get you caught up in the news and notes. We talked about C.J. anderson. The Broncos agreed to re sign him, match the deal that was given by Miami. C.J. anderson has a four year, $18 million contract. He is back. He's been paid to be that starting running back. And so I think that's all there is to it. The other side of the coin is he is no longer a potential Dolphin, which means Jai is once again opportunity guy in Miami and they've still been.

[Jason Moore]

Bringing other guys in. Look, I thought it was jay. You know, C.J. anderson was wanted by gays and maybe they wouldn't bring anyone else in. But now they're, they're taking a look at CJ2K, formally CJ2K, Chris Johnson. So it does seem like they are not a good year. I don't anticipate Jay Ajayi will be the primary back, but I think if he is, he would be successful.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Mike Wallace, formerly of the Vikings, two year eleven and a half million dollar contract with the Baltimore Ravens in the world's greatest deep thrower in Joe Flacco.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's a perfect pairing. Right?

[Andy Holloway]

And Mike Wallace only likes, I don't know, three or four plays a game.

[Jason Moore]

He plays hard with a guy who can throw it past everybody. Did you See? Did you see what Mike Wallace said about.

[Mike Wright]

I did, yeah. It's funny.

[Andy Holloway]

Quote, I did not. What are you talking about?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, just he. He threw Teddy Bridgewater under the bus. He's just, oh, wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Somebody like Mike Wallace would do that?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. He's just saying I want to go to a place where I can trust the quarterback and he's got a proven track record and he can get me the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you kidding me?

[Jason Moore]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

Classic Dan. Mike Wallace classic. I really can't.

[Jason Moore]

That being said, Teddy Bridgewater was terrible this year. I mean, he didn't.

[Mike Wright]

He was. He did what he was asked.

[Andy Holloway]

I think terrible is not the right.

[Jason Moore]

Word for when I watch the games.

[Andy Holloway]

That is not. That is. That is.

[Jason Moore]

Stefan Diggs was grabbing balls that the other guys weren't because they weren't near him and he was making some great plays. But I'm just saying.

[Andy Holloway]

Nobody saying that. Bridgewater was otherworldly, but he led a playoff, you know, team.

[Jason Moore]

Adrian Peterson led a playoff team. But I will see next point of news.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I just think a lot of Minnesota fans are going to take issue with a guy whose second year had a really good season. But like you said, let's move on. All right. Bears resigned Zach Miller to a two year, $6 million contract. The demand for him on the open market just didn't seem like it was there.

[Mike Wright]

He wanted. Zach Miller was very headstrong and staunch that he was gonna get 5 million a year.

[Andy Holloway]

Nope.

[Mike Wright]

After playing one year of football when he couldn't stay healthy for like three years.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And the next bit of news. I have a special bit of news now. I thought about using this on Mike Wallace, but we'll go on.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Mediocre signing of the week, Kim throw.

[Andy Holloway]

I forgot there was an end to that. Kimbrell Tompkins has been signed to a one year deal in this week's edition of the mediocre wide receiver signing of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I think it would have been better on Wallace. I agreed the bill a little bit more of a guy who gets overpaid.

[Andy Holloway]

There are people out there that would say he's not mediocre, but I think he is. Now, this all goes back to last year where it seems like every week some middling lower tier wide receiver assigned and it was kind of an entertaining thing. So we're bringing it back and in in perfect form. Kimbrell Tompkins to a one year deal after last year. Now that's very nice of the Jets. That's how I. That's genuinely how I feel.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he was hurt. He got hurt, dude.

[Mike Wright]

It was solid.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just really nice. It's a really nice thing. So, anybody, any other news that I'm forgetting? Something from today that you want in there?

[Mike Wright]

I'm scouring everything. I think we've got the good stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

You got the Chris Johnson talking to Miami. That could be interesting. I could see them sharing the load there.

[Mike Wright]

Donald Brown did with the Patriots.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't.

[Mike Wright]

For now.

[Andy Holloway]

He keeps getting work. I don't really get it. I've fallen and I can't get up. All right, we're not talking Jason here. We're talking injuries. NFL injuries for over the last year. We want to kind of recap them. I mean, this is good for us, too, to just walk through these names, remember who's coming back from injury for a couple reasons. There are one reason for. Because what is our job here? What does this podcast exist?

[Jason Moore]

We help people win championships. That's what we do. Yeah, and fantasy football championship. And entertain.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Yeah, and we entertain. But the reason, the way we do it is by providing information and you make your decision. Those of you that write in and say, hey, thank you for getting me my title, we appreciate you thanking us for the show very much. That's why we do the show. But we always say this. You won your title.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

You made the decision.

[Jason Moore]

Treat yourself.

[Andy Holloway]

You got the title. As Jason's motto in life is treat yourself.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, repeatedly.

[Andy Holloway]

And so we. With the injury thing, there's a lot of reasons. Okay. One, you got players that are coming back that could have worse years because of their injury. Two, you got players that struggled last year in different ways. Mike would say C.J. anderson is a prime example of somebody who struggled with an injury, played through it. And so they're the deceptive value, potentially. There's players out there that have that, okay, I played hurt for half the year. Now I'm back to full strength. And maybe now I'm a. I'm of draft day value in fantasy. And then, you know, and so we want to be caught up. And so we're going to start with everybody's favorite category, which is the last rated kidney. I mean, it's my favorite. Starting in with the lacerated kidney. This is a tried and true NFL tradition. And Andrew Luck and Keenan Allen face this last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, they did. As far as where they're at, Andrew Luck is Now fully recovered, 100% ready to go. So this is in the past.

[Andy Holloway]

That's how you should treat Andrew Luck's kidney.

[Jason Moore]

It's not a recurring injury. Type A lacerated kidney is not like. Well, you don't have very thick skin, so you're gonna lacerate your kidney again and again. Yeah. Over and over.

[Andy Holloway]

Romo style.

[Jason Moore]

I believe that. I believe both these guys are completely ready to hit the season.

[Mike Wright]

Who's the second guy?

[Jason Moore]

Keenan Allen.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I believe I mentioned it before.

[Mike Wright]

I thought we just started with Andrew Luck.

[Jason Moore]

No. So those guys are ready to go. The difference. Here's what the difference between Andrew Luck and Keenan Allen, to me is not so much. You know, they both had an injury that is not reoccurring, that is not going to get in their way from performing this next year. So it's like, hey, that was an afterthought. But now take a look at the season. One of them before the injury was.

[Andy Holloway]

Having a otherworldly season.

[Jason Moore]

And one of them before the injury was playing terrible.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. And there. There are those that.

[Jason Moore]

And we're not gonna tell you who.

[Andy Holloway]

No. You have to know. No. Keenan Allen had an incredible start to the year. I think we threw the stat out there a couple weeks ago about, you know, I think he was second in the league in receptions through Week 8. He had 67. Jones had had 70. It was really close. And to add to your point of his health, the Chargers are looking to re. Sign and extend.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Or I guess extends the right word, extend Keenan Allen right now. So they're. There's no fear. You don't have to worry about that. We're all, I think, all here. Very, very high on Keenan this year.

[Mike Wright]

Very, very high.

[Andy Holloway]

And they brought in Travis Benjamin, which we did not see as a negative to Keenan Allen and don't see as a negative. We think that's a good thing for that offense. It's a good thing for Philip Rivers to get those two guys back. I mean, he was throwing to Dontrell Immino last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's just. And he's going to be the guy that opens things up for Keenan Allen. The Michael Floyd plus or not Michael. Malcolm Floyd.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And so in terms of Luck, though, Mike, give me your thoughts on the fact that he did indeed have a very troubling beginning to the year before the major injury happened. Do you believe he was dealing with shoulder pain or some other kind of nagging injuries that caused that, or do you like. How do you project him this year in a couple.

[Mike Wright]

I project a pretty solid bounce back for. For Luck and the Colts. We can't get in a player's head, but it just. He felt like he was, he was pressing too hard. Maybe he, maybe he was just shouldering too much on top of. Let's not forget the woes of the offensive line and then all the times that then Pagano throwing Andrew Luck under the bus, essentially saying, well, the offensive line has been that bad forever. Like, yeah, it takes its toll. Chuck Pagano, a man can only be hit so many times before he starts getting freaked out that he's going to get hit again. So I think all of those things factored in. Hopefully, hopefully the Colts do the right thing, the logical thing, the same thing. And you beef up that offensive line to protect, protect your franchise quarterback. But I think Andrew Luck will be back. I think we're going to see. We won't see what we the two years ago where it was just a multiple touchdowns every single week. But I think he'll be very solid. So I'm not concerned about him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right.

[Jason Moore]

The whole wrap up here is public service announcement. Ryan Grigson, get some offensive line help, please.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, they were the case study in the fact that you can have all the expectations in the world about a player or an offense and it can go a different direction for a season. I mean there was disappointment across the entire offense there and yes, injury and those things. But he was struggling before so we expect bounce back from him. Let's talk about the Torn ACL crew from 2015.

[Mike Wright]

It's a gang.

[Andy Holloway]

The All Torn ACL team is a pretty good team to be honest with you. You got at quarterback, you've got Joe Flacco at running back, you got Jamal Charles, you got a couple of nice whiteouts in Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson. And then you got Dion Lewis playing the scat back on that offense.

[Jason Moore]

That's a pretty good offense right there.

[Andy Holloway]

Now sure, they're dragging themselves by their arms across the field, but this is really strong arms. Right. And that's something people don't realize. Your arms get very strong.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. When you have to be in a wheelchair and you just got those guns.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep, yep. So Kelvin Benjamin was the first to fall Jordy Nelson short shortly after that. So let's talk about those whiteouts. What do we think Kelvin Benjamin's role will be? You have a. That's superb offense in Carolina. He should be ready for training camp. He got injured very early. We've seen players come back from this with without issue. But his role, I mean you're talking about a team that was dominant, right. 15 and 1 went to the Super Bowl. Now Kelvin Benjamin and Kelvin was the go to guy the year before.

[Jason Moore]

Right now he was gone and they succeeded with an offense that didn't have him in there. So the question is do they stick with that or do they go back to him as their one? I don't see any reason they wouldn't go back to him as their one. He's clearly the best individual receiver of the group.

[Andy Holloway]

But what does one mean on a Cam Newton led team? Because Benjamin's one season wasn't some prolific Des Bryant AJ Green season. It was, it was touchdowns. Okay. Yeah, it was touchdowns. It wasn't massive quantity. I don't remember. Mike, if you want to effort this, what his reception total was 70, 73 receptions I could see him getting. I'm not projecting him above 65, 70 this year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think that's, that's very fair for, for the total catches. The, the interesting thing to think about is how many rushing touchdowns did Cam Newton have this year? The answer is 10.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

How many did he have last year? Five. Because. Because Kelvin Benjamin was getting all the touchdowns. Not to mention.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if I make that connection though.

[Jason Moore]

I see the connection completely because when you get in the red zone, that's where Calvin Benjamin made his work. It wasn't The Ted Ginn Jr fly down the field type of role where he would get his touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

So can I let me explain why and see if you guys are on board with it.

[Jason Moore]

You got a floor.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a big, there's a big difference here. This offense this year in Carolina was a play from ahead. Defensive type of team, you are running the ball late into the game. You're putting games away. If you remember where Calvin Benjamin, where did he make his money? Where did he make his money?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Oh for sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Kelvin Benjamin was the last five minutes of the game fantasy producer two years ago. So to me I don't make the connection between goal line. We chose not to go to a wide receiver. You could have thrown to Olson, you could have thrown to Funches, you could have thrown to other guys. They were killing the clock. They were running the ball more. So that would be the one that's fair.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just thinking of it as the total of the pie of the amount of touchdowns. If Cam's not getting him with his legs then Kelvin's getting him through the air or other guys. I mean Cam Newton did have essentially double the amount of touchdowns through the air this year and that speaks to the. They were a much higher powered offense this year. I just. If you go, you can go back to last off season. I was not a big Kelvin Benjamin supporter and just because of the draft price that people were paying up for, they were expecting a huge leap from Kelvin to become an elite level type.

[Andy Holloway]

Receiver or the same. We all projected the touchdowns to come down. That was all it was. Right. It was like we thought the touchdown number was not reachable because he was.

[Mike Wright]

And he can improve these, these things like yards after catch can improve. But Kelvin's yards after catch were non existent.

[Jason Moore]

He caught the ball and got tackled.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, right. That's where he went. And so I just don't see a monster season for Kelvin. I think he can be good. I think he's a solid wide receiver, just not a transcendent.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's move on. Jason, what have you heard about Jordy Nelson other than the fact that Ted Thompson has come out and said that he looks great and he clapped for him like this?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

I guess no one can see that.

[Jason Moore]

But you know, when, when research, when doing this research for all of these injured players, there's one thing that they all had in common. Their GMs thought that they were really ready to go and that they're going to have a great season. So I think this whole list is going to be fine.

[Andy Holloway]

They didn't come out and they didn't say, I'd like one GM to come out and be, you know, he looks like he's, he's really slow in his recovery and probably going to give us a mediocre year on the field.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no, not going to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

But what about Jordy?

[Jason Moore]

Jordy, even though he's a little older, his injury happened so early, which is also true of Kelvin Benjamin, obviously even earlier. But the injury happened so early that he had time to get back and be healthy. We saw months ago that he was running full speed. Everybody's saying that he looks great. Not just the gm, but the beat writers. Jordy should be back. Now the question is he's still older, is he a little bit slower? Has he lost the step? Just not because of the ACL, but because of age, rust, any of those things. You know my opinion, you know my opinion. I believe Jordy Nelson will be back. I think he will have a great year and that the Green Bay packers offense will rebound and take a step forward as a whole. I'm not projecting them to be the best offense in the league, but certainly not better than where they were last year.

[Mike Wright]

Over, over, under. Wide Receiver eight.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's a great over, under.

[Andy Holloway]

I'LL go under, but I love him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm going to. Man, I'm.

[Mike Wright]

I guess I should say higher, low.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to take the push. I'm going eight.

[Mike Wright]

You're going eight.

[Andy Holloway]

So let me say this.

[Mike Wright]

So do you. Do you have him in wide receiver, one range or just like.

[Andy Holloway]

No, he's a one. He's a one. And he might, he might beat it. I'm not very confident in that. I'll take him right around that range. But one of the things we said we wanted to do was to remind people about players. Jordy Nelson. Yes. Will be 31. Oh, who cares? I don't care. Here's what he put up. 98 receptions, 15, 19 yards, 13 touchdowns the last time he took the field. So let's remember that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he was. When we were coming into last season, he was one of our favorite guys, I think, Mike, you.

[Mike Wright]

He was my number one.

[Jason Moore]

Number one. Because he's one of the most.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he does it all, too.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's not high volume, but he's not respected for what he's done. He's had two different years from the fantasy world. You're talking about fantasy football. He's had two different years where he finished as the number two wide receiver. I mean, you're talking about Antonio Brown type of, you know, level of consistency there. So, yeah, when he comes back, he is definitely a guy that we should not be afraid of the injury and forget what he's done.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike McCarthy's there. Aaron Rodgers is there. You don't have other variables mixing in here. You have an ACL injury early in the year and he's healthy. So Jamal Charles is coming back. And there are. There's hesitation and excitement for Jamal Charles because he has done this before.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

And he has also spent his entire career averaging more than five a carry. And so if you guess wrong on Jamal Charles, you're going to be burnt. That's the cost of acquisition for Jamal Charles this year. You pass on him, he'll probably. And he burns you that direction. Or you don't pass on him and he does repeat an injury or he isn't the same guy coming off his second one. So what have you guys heard about Jamal Charles recovery from the ACL and what the expectation is in your mind, not necessarily the team's mind.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, Charles is already posting videos of himself in his workouts where. I mean, we're just common folk. We're not doctors. But Charles is saying it's going well. Will Carroll, if you don't follow him on Twitter. He's kind of an injury guru type guy that he's a great follow on Twitter and njuryxpert. Thank you. Thank you. I couldn't remember his handle.

[Jason Moore]

Pretty good handle for being an injury expert.

[Mike Wright]

And so the goal for Jamal Charles is to be ready for year one. Here's why I am buying into Charles. I'll start with the negative with a He tore his ACL in the year 2011 and he came back the next year and he was only averaging 5.3 a carry after a couple years of in the sixes. So that was very disappointing.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm sure CJ Anderson looked down on him.

[Mike Wright]

He couldn't keep it going. Now a reason why last year where I was I had some concerns for Charles was not the player was his targets his target. It was almost like they removed him from the passing game where in 2013 he had 70 receptions, 2014 only 40 because his targets got cut in half. Which was. That was troublesome frustrating when he was. He was just a dominant force Fantasy Football in 2013. However, last year in only five games, 30 targets. So they completely went back to it. They realized the error of their ways that they need to run the offense completely through Jamal Charles. Step one, play one, hand the ball off to Charles. Play two, if you're not going to hand it to Charles, throw to him if he's open.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me ask you this, Jason. Sometimes teams, or at least the idea is that you go easier on a guy as he comes back from a repeat type of injury. He's older. Do you think Kansas City's perspective on this recovery will be let's not get him hurt again?

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't. Because they've never really gone too hard on him. That's one of the frustrating things as a fantasy owner. They don't generally give him 30 touches a game because they've always used him in a way where. Where he's most efficient. And I think that they still will.

[Andy Holloway]

You look at efficiency is a good.

[Jason Moore]

Word for Jabal when you have other worldly talent. Right. We're not talking about a good running back here. We're talking about one of the best film talents that you watch and go, wow, this guy is amazing in the league over the last 10 years and statistically. And if you look at some of those guys who are. Yeah. Who are the best of the best, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Charles, the incoming Todd Gurley, these otherworldly type of talents, one of the things that factors in is their work ethic. These Guys are not just physical freaks, because everyone in the NFL is a physical freak. They're physical freaks who work their tails off. And Adrian Peterson, when he came back from his acl, was a couple yards away from setting the all time rushing record. Jamal Charles has already done it once. So I think you have to put your. You. You've got to say Jamal Charles, the.

[Andy Holloway]

Side you're betting on.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm. I'm betting on Jamal Charles this year. Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

Two more guys. Joe Flacco. Obviously, the number one thing you want when you tear your ACL is to be given $66 million in extension money. And that's. Look, the confidence level that the Ravens had on that.

[Mike Wright]

If you guys have 66 million, you'll tear your ACL.

[Andy Holloway]

We can go right now, right live on the air. Kickstarter.

[Mike Wright]

It's only for 66 million, though.

[Andy Holloway]

And then you've got Dion Lewis. Dion Lewis got his. He tore his ac.

[Mike Wright]

His was later.

[Andy Holloway]

Later in the season. Again, reports say that he's. He's where he should be.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, we have to be a little concerned because they signed Donald Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

Nope, not really. Donald Brown takes care of that concern. Right. For you. He does that on his own.

[Mike Wright]

So what do you thought? Are you concerned about Dion Lewis? I guess we should. We should ask Jason because Andy and I are both have.

[Andy Holloway]

Clearly, I'm not concerned about Dion.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we've both planted the flag that we're on team. Team Lewis.

[Andy Holloway]

I just believe that the money that they gave them, that they gave him early last year showed what they believed.

[Mike Wright]

Wasn'T like a week before the tear.

[Andy Holloway]

It was. And he, he got paid. And I think he might not. This could be one of those things that comes into the preseason. You might not see any Dion Lewis until week one, week two. That's what I believe.

[Jason Moore]

I am actually a little bit more worried about Dion Lewis than some of these other guys. Based on the question you asked me about Jamal Charles. Are they going to work him in and be a little bit careful? See, here's the thing. Jamal Charles is older, right? They're not trying to make sure that they've got the next five years of Jamal Charles healthy and ready to go. They didn't just sign him to a new long term contract, but with Deion Lewis, this injury happened later in the year, you know, in, in November. So you've got a shorter time of recovery. And coming up to the year, do you really want to go? Well, let's just see what happens again to a guy who has been Injury prone. He's had a history of injuries. So to me, I feel like Deion Lewis, from a fantasy perspective, he can't possibly come in and just be touching the ball the same amount that he was prior to the injury right off the bat. So maybe he's more of a don't draft, but trade for candidate. You know, after the first couple weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Obviously it's too early. It's middle of March. Exactly. So this is somebody to keep your eye on. I think, you know, all the reports have been good. See if they continue to be good. And he is not your prototypical. He's not Jamal Charles in the sense that he's not your prototypical RB one. Right. He's. He's more of a receiver. And so you did see no one.

[Mike Wright]

Really, even though it was going on. Dion Lewis is an RB one every single week. It was. Should I. Should I start Dion Lewis?

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. For a while it took time to get confidence because you didn't know what New England will do with their backfield. And you've seen them take it easy on Gronk when he's returned. Limited work. So you need to see what the reports are about Deion Lewis. I'm pretty confident he will be back and in a good role. But you're right, he could be somebody that. He could be a value on draft day if the reports don't look good. Or he could be the opposite if people are buying into the really great year.

[Jason Moore]

He has all these guys. You're betting you're making a gamble on Jamal Charles or on Dion Lewis. You just got to decide which side you're on.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's a little bit less with ACL just of how far the surgery and the recovery is going.

[Andy Holloway]

So don't talk about him too much. But give me the Joe Flacco rundown here. He's not generally a, you know, regular redraft league candidate for. For quarterback for your team. However, he does have some different weapons. We just talked about Mike Wallace. He's been valuable as a streaming matchup play before. Do you see any reason Joe Flacco is not going to be back on the field healthy in week one?

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't. I don't see anything.

[Andy Holloway]

His injury was the last year, last week of the year.

[Jason Moore]

But he's not a runner. You know, he's a guy that's got to stand in the pocket and throw the ball and not that you don't need to, but he's fine. But you're not going to draft him. You don't need to draft him. You haven't drafted him for the last couple of years. Just see what he's got. And I have no doubt that he could still have a great year this year, be a great streaming candidate, but I think he's pretty irrelevant for, you know, draft season fantasy football. There's probably 15, 15 to 18 quarterbacks that I take ahead of him anyways.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm going to run through some more guys at different positions. These are not ACL candidates. These are just a variety of injuries. I want your guys thoughts on them. You know, we have quite a few names to get through, so don't, you know, linger too long on them. But let's start with wide receivers here. You've got Brashad Perryman. He had the sprained PCL and a world of frustration for that team last year. So what is, what is the story behind Rashad Perryman? Do we get to see him play football?

[Jason Moore]

I think with Prashad Perryman it's, it's really, really tough because he had. I forget the name of that disease.

[Mike Wright]

It was like osh was that pyramid?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Where you grow too fast.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And then he heard his knees slaughters. Yes, there you go. That's why I did not remember the name of it. But you know, then he hurt his knee. Then he re. Injured his knee. He was frustrated. He was in a bad place. He said he was in a dark hole during the season seeing the Ravens need him. The GM has come out and again shockingly said that he thinks we're going to see him this spring, that he's in a good place. It's a wait and see. Watch camp reports, see if he's playing in spring and if he is participating in training camp, which he should be, then draft him like he was a rookie this year. That's what I would.

[Andy Holloway]

But now you got, you got Steve Smith return, you got Mike Wallace, you've.

[Mike Wright]

Got maybe you have Steve Smith returning.

[Andy Holloway]

You'Ve got Ben Watson. Just a different, it's a different situation last year. Kind of look like Bashad would be the only guy. DEZ Bryant, you talked about the Jones fracture. People need to remember he's still in a walking boot, isn't he?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. That was the.

[Andy Holloway]

From the most recent surgery.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. That was the last thing I had. I had read about.

[Andy Holloway]

They're hopeful with this could be training camp before we hear from him.

[Mike Wright]

But here's the thing and we'll put Julian Edelman in this camp because it was a Jones fracture. But Edelman came back, got huge work right away. We alluded to this at the beginning of where Jason has concerns with dez because the Jones fracture is an injury to your foot that frequently, frequently re. Injures itself. You can look at Ahmed Bradshaw, Julio Jones, if you remember, Julio had hurt his foot, I believe, before going pro, and then in the middle of the season breaks the screw in his foot that he had had. So he had to put get a revolution redone. Kevin Durant has dealt with this. That's why there's those, the whispers of the long term concerns for Kevin Durant's health because a guy that big and football players, while they're not as big as Kevin Durant, they're still bigger than the normal male where just can their foot support that weight and that, that, that violent of cutting for a long term. So that's why there's a little bit of concern for DEZ and Edelman moving forward. There's Will Carroll, we referenced him earlier, is even saying there are rumors, there's rumors in the bushes that Edelman might need a second surgery.

[Andy Holloway]

So obviously some concern.

[Mike Wright]

No bueno.

[Andy Holloway]

Not good. No, you don't want to hear any rumors in the bushes or outside of the bushes.

[Mike Wright]

And I get most of my news from the bushes.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you know, that's where we send you in. The leaves stuck in his beard. All right. Kevin White should have brought him up with Perryman because he's another rookie, a lot of potential, you know, drafted super high, had a stress fracture in the left shin, had the John Foxy off season or I mean regular season of. Oh, he might, he might, he might. Well, no, you know, he's still day to day.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Very similar to the paramount situation of frustration. The big difference, though, they both should be there for training camp. I think, Kev, Kevin White's going to be there for training camp. The big difference is opportunity. He has the opportunity in Kevin White to really come into a very nice looking role, whereas Perryman, it's a muddier water. So Kevin White to me is a little bit exciting for where you could take him this year if he's playing in training camp and doing all those things. Well, he was, you know, there. Look where Amari Cooper is being drafted this year. Super high. You're talking second round pick right now. And Kevin White, is he really going to second? Yeah. And last, last year, Kevin White, myself, many other people said coming out of college he's the better prospect, the more talented guy in what was a decent wide receiver draft class. And you got Jay Cutler getting him the ball. Who can sling it? So I think Kevin White has got to keep on your radar.

[Andy Holloway]

Hodgeman is the word for Kevin White. Words, the words. I've got all the words, the best words. All right. Randall Cobb is the last wide receiver I want to mention because we do need to remember he punctured his lung in the playoff game against Arizona. This was not a pretty injury. It was kind of a scary thing once you found out what was going on. He was coughing up blood on the field. Is there anything, any reason that Randall Cobb can't. Isn't going to be back and healthy and.

[Jason Moore]

No, it was, it was good to remember that. I had forgotten that. But everything is fine with him now. He's okay as of this moment. So there's. There shouldn't be any setbacks there.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

It's kind of a freak to add.

[Andy Holloway]

To add to Jamal Charles and Dion Lewis. You have some more running backs that maybe are the reason why so many people want to go 0 RB. Maybe the reason why so many people want to draft a wide receiver earlier. You've got Le'Veon Bell coming back from the MCL PCL injury and you have Thomas Rawls and you have Aaron Foster with the Achilles. So and Carlos Hyde coming back as well. And then you mix that before Mark Ingram. So let's start with Love Bell because he's at the top of a lot of people's draft boards. He's on the top of mine, but he's coming off an injury.

[Mike Wright]

So he's finally been cleared to run. We have no clear cut indication yet will he be ready for Week 1. The Steelers are kind of mum on that. Is that going to happen?

[Jason Moore]

Well, what they've said specifically, I will give them some credit for being the least optimistic of all the GMs.

[Andy Holloway]

They have said most realistic perhaps.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, they've come out and said they are not rushing Le'Veon Bell back. Le'Veon Bell will be back when he's healthy and he will be worked in, in a way to keep him healthy. They've got youth, they've got a long term great running back. They don't want to re injure him. So he should be back by week one. But that doesn't mean he comes right into the role that we know and love and it doesn't mean that he is back week one. To me, his situation is worthy of second guessing where you've got to take him. You're giving up your numero uno.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so Last year though, what did we come into the season worrying about with Le'Veon Bell?

[Mike Wright]

He had a two game suspension.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. And we had to weigh that fear then if it, if he's back week one and it takes him two weeks to get back up to Le'Veon Bell, he's still a top three pick, isn't he?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's still worth it if he's.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to be Le'Veon Bell.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but that's the if. I mean, with a two game suspension, you know exactly what you're dealing with. First two weeks, got to prepare for life without levy on Bell. You take him with your first overall pick, maybe he's ready week one, maybe he's ready week five.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe. I'm just remembering all of the fools that doubted Adrian Peterson coming back from injury, passing on him and having him drop down that first round and then saying, oh wait, if I had a drafted Adrian Peterson, I don't want my league this year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Peterson was on about 90% of teams that won that year. And just a reminder because I was starting the some research here for our draft kit that's going to be coming out in the next couple months on Lev Bell. I forgot. I mean, you remember how good it was. I forgot how ridiculous it was. 290 carries over 1300 yards and 83 receptions for 850 yards.

[Jason Moore]

That's a good wide receiver line. You're getting a running back and then you're also, you're getting a great running back and then also a wide receiver like two. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Built into.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, look, it's preposterous.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, you go back to Ladanian Tomlinson and the value he provided. I don't want people to forget Le'Veon Bell and I don't blame you if you want to take somebody else.

[Jason Moore]

Levy on Bell. But with all my negativity, he's number three on my overall board right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Why? And you got Martavis Brian gone now. So the same way that Mike's, you know, smile glistened with the ownership of Antonio Brown.

[Mike Wright]

Bell's included in that.

[Andy Holloway]

Bell's going to get more targets. So let's talk about Thomas Rawls. All the expectations right now in Seattle is that he will carry the load. He fractured his ankle. He should be, you know, he didn't have to go have surgery to repair it. So Thomas Rawls should be back. And the question marks are simply do they sign anybody else to share the load or is Thomas Rawls going to Hit the ground running. You know, I don't see any reason that we can't kind of compare the mental state of fantasy owners and the way they were with Jeremy Hill last offseason and the way that we are with Thomas Rawls now, where there's probably going to be a little bit of somebody worked in, but the potential brought Jeremy Hill so far up the boards. I think it's going to bring Rawls up the boards by draft day and I'm actually going to take him in that first round.

[Mike Wright]

I would say, though, the one thing, the first thing for me to watch out for is actually the NFL draft. Pete Carroll has already shown that if he sees a value slipping like he how they felt with Christian Michael, they didn't need a running back. They took a running back with their second round pick because they felt that the value was just too good. So if a player is slipping that Pete Carroll likes and it's a running back, he could just take him because that's just, that's how his coaching philosophy works.

[Jason Moore]

Well, and Seattle has said both things. They have said one, that Thomas Rawls should have an opportunity to have heavy workload, but they've also said they will bring in more guys to compete for that role. So it's not just. I mean, you're exactly right, Mike. You have to wait and see who they bring in. And I am probably passing on Thomas Rawls in the first round because it wasn't just a broken ankle. Like bone wise, he tore some ligaments in the ankle as well. So you hope that it was okay and it's going to be healed up. He's not fully healed as of right now. They're clearly going to go and bring in some other running backs. They've said they are. That shouldn't scare you off the ledge, but you've got to, you know, weigh that versus the value of where you have to pick them.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's difficult because Rawls, when he was the starter was the number one running back beast. He was the number one running back in fantasy football. You got a prolific offense. So yes, you're right. There's a lot to weigh with Thomas Rawls. Let's talk about Arian Foster, your boy. Oh, Arian. Look, they. What we know is this Arian Foster can't carry the load. He's not carrying it in Houston anymore. He's got a long way to go to come back from an Achilles injury. I still think that we never saw when he played, we never saw him slow down from a positive effect. On the field standpoint, from an efficiency standpoint. But can he get back to that after an Achilles injury? Too many question marks. Do I want to take a flyer with him, you know, if he. If a team picks him up? Too early to tell.

[Mike Wright]

So. Talk about a guy who could end up in Seattle.

[Jason Moore]

Aaron Foster, man.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

If Aaron Foster. Very hypothetical, clearly. But Varian Foster ends up in Seattle. Your thoughts on Rawls and Foster?

[Andy Holloway]

I would have no real issue drafting Rawls. That would make me feel fine because.

[Jason Moore]

Because we already know that thing. Aaron Foster, no matter what draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Fred Jackson, you.

[Mike Wright]

You have Arian Foster already to Fred Jackson levels.

[Andy Holloway]

It would be mentally about the same to me as when he went there.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Because they've shown that they'll bring the veteran in and they'll give him opportunities, but they're not going to lean on that in the face of talent. And the upside of Rawls.

[Jason Moore]

Foster will be interesting because he's waiting until after the NFL draft to make his decision.

[Mike Wright]

He's getting that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Well, he said he's going to take his time, and that's what basically people are saying. He's. He's going to wait till after the draft, see what teams have a need and go. Go there. He wants to play ball. Aaron Foster doesn't want to go and be a veteran backup.

[Andy Holloway]

He's got a theory for you.

[Jason Moore]

Give it to us.

[Andy Holloway]

Arizona. Chris Johnson goes off. He signs with Miami. Arian Foster comes in to supplant and supplement David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

That doesn't sound that great.

[Andy Holloway]

For who?

[Jason Moore]

David Johnson. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, we got to move on because it shows. We got to get more guys. You know, I want to get to Mailbag a little bit, so we need to hurry through some of these names. And again, we're just trying to remind you about these injuries, tell you some quick perspective on them. Carlos Hyde, stress fracture in the foot, started strong. I have a lot of concerns with that offense. Somebody give me a couple thoughts on him.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we. We talked about Hyde a little bit. Yes. On Tuesday as our breakout. And I also just talked about running backs versus a base defense and where it's much harder to run as opposed to a nickel or a dime, where you. You're running against more db, so it's easier. Hyde had to run against base defenses 83% of the time, which trailed only Antonio Andrews for the most in the league, and he still managed 4.2 yards of carry. So I love Hyde moving forward. I think his foot will be just fine and just a side bar. Onto that. Chip Kelly's offenses run against a nickel or more. As far as dbs, more than any other teams.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And I watched a video of Carlos Hyde working out today. He looks great. He was making his cuts fine. He was running with speed. I like how when he was doing his basically his physical therapy, he was still using a football. He was still running with a football through all these like just touch these drills. He's just carrying it. I love that.

[Mike Wright]

Did he have Jon Gruden hitting him with.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a football player.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

That's why he had the football.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

All the football.

[Jason Moore]

Thought it was cute.

[Andy Holloway]

They practice with the footballs and then the regular people, they do their workouts without football.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. My bad guy.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a one with one without.

[Mike Wright]

Like I walk around with a microphone.

[Andy Holloway]

At all times, all the time. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Like a little harmonica neck thing that.

[Mike Wright]

Just keeps like Bob Dylan.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Melvin Gordon, knee cartilage issues. Mark Ingram tore the rotator cuff, which I love because it's not part of his legs. So I like that about running backs. I'm not worried about Ingram at all. I don't think we really have to touch on him. Melvin Gordon with the knee cartilage issue with the struggle in the first year, but an offense that looks pretty good. Any concerns about the injury specifically? We could get into a lot about Gordon, but we won't because I won't let you know.

[Mike Wright]

The injury was more. He had to have the surgery. It was going to be a multi week thing. There was only two weeks left of the season. So they just shut him down because he was going to miss those games anyways because he had to have the.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I haven't heard anything negative. All right, so Ladarius Green signed to the new contract with Pittsburgh. Any worries about the ankle surgery with Ladarius Green?

[Jason Moore]

No, it was pretty straightforward. He's still recovering. But the fact that, you know, he passed everything and they got a nice contract, I'm not worried about that.

[Andy Holloway]

And then I did accidentally skip a couple of guys. Another tight end, Jimmy Graham, the patellar tendon.

[Mike Wright]

You didn't really skip him.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, you guys have thrown all the shade on him, but yeah, hypothetically. I know you don't believe he'll be back. Hypothetically. He's back now. What, fantasy wise?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I think what we saw last.

[Andy Holloway]

Year, Graham's the starter week one with.

[Jason Moore]

Up and down games when he was healthy. I think he was worthy of being drafted as the seventh or eighth tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's where you would put him.

[Jason Moore]

If he was back, you could redraft last year. No.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

If you were going to do that this year and he was back and playing, he's the starter week one, I would probably take him about 9th or 10th at the highest.

[Mike Wright]

Really?

[Jason Moore]

There's a lot of guys.

[Andy Holloway]

I would probably take him outside my top 10.

[Mike Wright]

This is so funny because I know.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, he loves himself.

[Mike Wright]

I was the one who was was so down on Jimmy Graham last year. But if he came back and was completely healthy, which is nearly impossible, I kind of like him just because of.

[Andy Holloway]

What I saw of the transition of.

[Mike Wright]

The transition of the offense.

[Jason Moore]

I will say this. If he is the starter week one, we can have a wonderful Kobe Fleener versus Jimmy Graham. Water.

[Mike Wright]

I would take Kobe Fleener.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man. So you're not that high on him.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fair.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. We got to move on. Maybe. Maybe we do. Man, I hate it when that happens.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

So just so people understand what happens when that takes place, I have a soundboard on the iPad right next to my laptop that I hit that drop on and sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes the app freezes and then everyone laughs and then I hit it on my computer.

[Mike Wright]

That's the ghost of C.J. anderson.

[Andy Holloway]

It used to work so well freezing.

[Jason Moore]

Your equipment because he's already dead in fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, welcome to the Mailbag. Everybody's favorite segment. If you have a question, you can send it in to us on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. click the submit a question button.

[Mike Wright]

You know what they also do. Oh, sorry to interrupt, but I say, you know what they should call this today?

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Mike Wright]

The voicemail bag.

[Andy Holloway]

It's true. Because you can leave not just an email question. You can call our voicemail hotline, 302464, TFFB. Leave a question on there. And we're gonna answer voicemail questions today before we close out the show. So let's go ahead and answer the first one.

[Caller 1]

Hey, guys, this is Will calling from Brooklyn. Thanks for all the entertainment and the help. Foot clan title. I'm in a 14 team standard league and I'm hoping for some help on keepers for next year. The rules are you can keep any player one round earlier than you drafted them or free agents in the 12th round. So I've got Devonta Freeman I could keep in the fifth, Jarvis Landry in the 11th, I've got Julian Edelman in the 12th, or Devonte Parker in the 12th. Any help is appreciated and keep up the great podcast. Thanks.

[Andy Holloway]

I Take edelman in the 12th.

[Jason Moore]

You just get one of these guys.

[Mike Wright]

Was it a PPR? I missed that?

[Jason Moore]

No, he said 14 team standard.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, man. Yeah. I mean I don't like Freeman. I'm always willing to take the gamble on a guy who finished number one for that later. But Edelman in the 12th, I can dig it.

[Jason Moore]

To me, it's between edelman in the 12th or Freeman in the fifth. I'm going to go in a standard league with Freeman in the.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't mind that. That's the decision.

[Jason Moore]

You know, last year's number one running back, I think he finishes this year as an RB1. And to get an RB1, you know, in the fifth round, I'm gonna do that every time.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm fine with that. That makes sense.

[Jason Moore]

Gentlemen.

[Caller 1]

Love the show. Got a 12 team keeper league question. I've been in this league for about 20 years. My closest buddy.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Caller 1]

Again, standard league. My options are AJ Green, Eddie Lacy, Lamar Miller and Mark Ingram. Anyways, has been my keeper for a bit, but I'm thinking otherwise and I went out and picked Mark Ingram up the last week of the season. Can somebody drop them because of the injury?

[Andy Holloway]

And I thought good move might be.

[Caller 1]

Value to pick him up to potentially keep them. So thanks a lot guys. Love the show. Keep it up.

[Jason Moore]

This is as even a list.

[Mike Wright]

Like I could argue gnarly.

[Jason Moore]

I could argue for any one of these guys. I really could make an argument for.

[Andy Holloway]

All AJ Green, Eddie Lacy, Lamar Miller and Mark Ingram.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean that is tough.

[Andy Holloway]

I am going to say Mark Ingram. I'm not on the Lacy bandwagon. I'm not going to take the wide receiver over a top flight running back and I'm not going to jump on Lamar without knowing what's taking place in Houston.

[Jason Moore]

So I'll say Mark, you said exactly what I was thinking from a look when you got to have tiebreakers and you just settled the tiebreakers. Running back over wide receiver, question marks. With Lamar in a new offense and Lacey headed down and it's.

[Mike Wright]

It's Mark Ingram for me as well. So the, the gamble pickup paid off huge for you. And I want to add this as a. Just kind of a general piece of strategy. You have to do this because you know who can't keep Mark Ingram. Let's say you decide you want AJ Green. No one else can keep Mark Ingram.

[Andy Holloway]

He goes into the draft. So in that case.

[Mike Wright]

So of course you pick these guys up at the end. That's a fantastic move.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, next question. Voicemail. Question.

[Caller 1]

Hey guys, this is Mr. Cross from Jacksonville, Florida. I'm in a 12 team dynasty league in its third year and I have to make room for a rookie draft coming up. So I need to know which one of these players I need to drop. So I just traded to get Calvin Johnson and my question is do I want to hold on to him in case he comes back or do I want to drop him assuming that he's serious about the retirement? And if I do keep him, which one of these four players do I let go? D'Angelo Williams, which I do have. Le'Veon Bell, Buck Allen, Jericho McKinnon, who is a good running back behind a great running back or Willie Sneed, who is the number two or three receiver to Drew Brees. I appreciate that advice. Thanks.

[Andy Holloway]

I think you dropped Calvin Johnson, you just let him go.

[Jason Moore]

That's who I would drop as well. If he comes back. He's not coming back this year. Maybe he misses football and comes back a year from now, but you don't want to hold on to him.

[Andy Holloway]

That's like a 5% chance to me.

[Jason Moore]

No, no.

[Andy Holloway]

A 1% chance.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I would put it even closer to zero.

[Mike Wright]

I would, I would put the percentage very low that it's going to come back. I agree. But no one in that list is someh that I'm dropping. Not that you're not young running backs like that and young Willie Snead is very young and it's going to have.

[Andy Holloway]

A few years with or in D well's case.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you got the back, you can eat.

[Andy Holloway]

You need that cuff.

[Jason Moore]

Hope you didn't trade too much for Calvin.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, one more voicemail question here guys.

[Caller 2]

Morning guys. Love the show. Avid listener. You helped me out a lot this year with my sleepers and I just really love the show. But I have some questions. Well, just my question, sorry. I'm really, really, really considering going back to back with wide receiver. Wide receiver. I know you talked about a lot of value of different running backs but to me the only true value out there I feel is David Johnson. Because we don't know what's going to happen with Todd Gurley. They didn't do a lot of off season moves to try to strengthen their O line or their offense or to get a quarterback. I feel like demarco Murray changing teams could be a difference as well as Lamar Miller. I just don't have a lot of confidence. I don't know what Le'Veon Bell is going to be like or Jamal Charles. I just really don't have a lot of confidence in running backs and I'm really considering going like 0 RB. But if I was to do so, I was thinking about getting some running backs that are still definitely going to start who may be slept on. And I was thinking, like, who would you recommend that you could see in the fourth and fifth round that are going to start but not actually be on everybody else's radar? Thanks. Love the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that, that's always hard too, to say they're not going to be on the radar because we don't know exactly. I mean, you could have the running back from Washington, if that's Matt Jones or somebody else, could be one of those under the radar. Right. Because you, you're mixing and matching some players. That's where you really hit values. If you can pick the right guy in the platoon situation to get them later in the draft, a Jay right now looks like a value that could go later. You've got Ryan Matthews in Philly, you got Matt Forte in New York. If he ended up bearing the load versus what we think he could do with Powell, those are some names that come to mind. I will take issue, however, with the, with the Gurley fears. I agree with you because I would be willing to water bet anybody that Gurley is a top five fantasy running back this year. Last year he was six, I believe. And you also had D'Angelo Williams ahead of him in that finishing order.

[Mike Wright]

Well, Gurley missed three, four games.

[Andy Holloway]

He missed three or four games and you had. I understand they're not doing a lot right now to change the offense, but he's opportunity plus talent and the circumstances around him might not be perfect, but you saw so much from him from a volume standpoint, what they're going to lean on for the offense. I just think he's very guaranteed. So I'd put him, you know, David Johnson, we like David Johnson. Like Gurley, you got Peterson. But you brought up a good point. With all the guys and the names.

[Jason Moore]

And the question mark, this is a good year. If you want to try the 0 RB theory. Normally with 0 RB, you're looking at finding what he said, which is a starting running back who's just drafted later or you, you generally want the pass catching back in a tandem.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you be happy with Gio Bernard and Dion Lewis is your starting running backs?

[Jason Moore]

It. Well, I mean, if you go 0 RB and you've got, you know, you've got Antonio Brown and, well, normally you'll have three of them. You'll have, you know, Dez Bryant, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed. Keenan, Keenan Allen and Jordan Reed. Then you got those guys. Some guys that you know, look, Latavius Murray does not get enough respect. That's my.

[Andy Holloway]

He won't be there by the fourth or fifth round.

[Mike Wright]

Latavius Murray tied with Devontae Freeman. Antonio Andrew, who had the lowest yards per touchdown.

[Jason Moore]

That is the one. That's weeks 12 through 17.

[Mike Wright]

Davies Murray. That guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The one that just upgraded their offensive line. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll call Mike. Mike has his own stat bracket and it's weeks 12 through 17. That's why CJ Anderson leads it and Devontae Freeman's nowhere to be found.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

When are the fantasy playoffs?

[Jason Moore]

Here are some good names for you. Jonathan Stewart will probably go too late. He's being drafted in the fourth right now.

[Mike Wright]

Fourth?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. That's not a bad name.

[Jason Moore]

Justin Forset is a guy who's going to be forgotten. He's down in the sixth and he broke his arm and he was a top 12 back when he was healthy. I think if you're going 0rb, you got to take a gamble on a guy like that. That could be the great name starter, a good early guy.

[Mike Wright]

Crowell and Duke in Cleveland are going to be interesting guys with Hugh Jackson coming to town.

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. That's another great.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Duke Johnson would be perfect for.

[Andy Holloway]

So, I mean there are enough names coming up to where, you know, it could be interesting. Could be interesting to try that out.

[Mike Wright]

Forte, I think, I don't think he'll be there.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably not.

[Mike Wright]

However, Bilal Powell. Bilal Powell, man, Powell needs to walk.

[Andy Holloway]

Into that Dion Lewis and Gio Bernard. Danny Woodhead category.

[Mike Wright]

Danny Woodhead.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. There you go. So, hey, before we close out the show, I want to thank everybody for listening today and for following the show. Subscribing on itunes, leaving reviews helps the show a lot. And if you want to, if you want to do more to support this show and what we're doing here with a year round independent fantasy podcast, head over to JoinTheFoot.com, join our Foot clan. You get exclusive benefits, get an extra show every week. It's a really cool way to connect with the show. We're on there, we're answering questions and.

[Jason Moore]

We do live streams coming up here very soon on Join the Foot. And also if you're looking to get in a league that you go, man, I wish my league makes suck. I wish they were like fans of the footballers, you know, we're going to have basically over on Join the Foot a little area to bring some people together come this draft season.

[Mike Wright]

That's what we do. We bring people together.

[Andy Holloway]

Got a lot of good stuff, so stay tuned, show after the show on YouTube, subscribe over there. And we will be back next Tuesday with the regularly scheduled podcast Farewell, Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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