Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Yahoo's Brad Evans, Rookie RB Rundown, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Episode Summary Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Yahoo's Brad Evans, Rookie RB Rundown, Mailbag
Release Date: May 5, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Introduction and Show Context

The episode kicks off with the hosts welcoming listeners back to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, acknowledging the day's Cinco de Mayo celebration (00:58). They briefly reflect on their recent interview with David Johnson, highlighting both positive feedback and a humorous oversight—a missed opportunity to serenade the guest (01:18–03:00). This lighthearted moment sets the tone for the episode's engaging and entertaining nature.

2. Guest Segment: Interview with Brad Evans

a. Tennessee Titans Backfield: Derrick Henry vs. DeMarco Murray

The primary focus of the episode is an insightful interview with Brad Evans from Yahoo Sports (03:35). Evans delves into the Tennessee Titans' running back situation following their acquisition of DeMarco Murray alongside Derrick Henry. He anticipates a workload split heavily favoring Murray, projecting a 70-30 split (08:09). Evans critiques Derrick Henry's pass-blocking abilities, suggesting that Murray's versatility as a receiver makes him a more valuable asset in fantasy football (09:30).

Notable Quote:
Brad Evans on Derrick Henry's pass-blocking:
"As Frankensteinian as Derrick Henry is, I am shocked that the guy cannot stand other guys up." (09:30)

b. Seattle Seahawks' Running Backs: Rawls, CJ Prosise, and Alex Collins

Evans evaluates the Seahawks' diverse running back roster, highlighting the potential of rookie CJ Prosise. Originally a defensive back and slot receiver, Prosise impressed the coaches with his adaptability and showed promise as a three-down back (12:10). Evans compares Prosise to Fred Jackson, emphasizing his elusiveness and downhill running ability, positioning him as a potential starter ahead of veterans like Thomas Rawls.

Notable Quote:
Evans on CJ Prosise's potential:
"I'm telling you, if you go to YouTube and just... you'll be removing your belt. That's the kind of skill set this guy is bringing to the table." (15:10)

c. Baltimore Ravens' Running Backs: Justin Forsett vs. Kenneth Dixon

Discussion shifts to the Ravens' crowded backfield. Evans praises Kenneth Dixon for his elusiveness and vision, projecting him as the leading backine Baltimore over veterans like Justin Forsett (18:12). He underscores Dixon's multi-dimensional skill set and anticipates significant fantasy impact if he can master pass protection.

Notable Quote:
Evans on Kenneth Dixon:
"He's a magician in space, does a lot of Houdini acts... he's got the vision, he's got the cutback ability." (18:12)

d. Ezekiel Elliott and Other Running Backs

The conversation transitions to Ezekiel Elliott, the highly-touted rookie RB drafted fourth overall by Dallas. Evans expresses skepticism about Elliott's long-term viability due to concerns over pass protection, despite acknowledging his physical prowess and potential high ceiling (25:52). The hosts debate Elliott's ranking, with Andy Holloway placing him at #11 and Jason Moore at #9-13, emphasizing his top-five potential despite uncertainties.

Notable Quote:
Andy Holloway on Ezekiel Elliott's potential:
"But I think he's going to get the ball around 200. I don't think Darren McFadden is going to be thrown away... He'll be top three." (27:15)

3. Post-Interview Discussion: Running Back Rankings and Projections

After the interview, the hosts discuss their rankings and projections for various running backs, incorporating Evans' insights. Mike Wright shares his trade involving Ryan Matthews from Philadelphia, positioning him as a draft value despite differing expert rankings (34:57). They also touch on other notable RBs like Frank Gore and Ahmad Bradshaw, assessing their potential fantasy performance based on team dynamics and past productivity.

Notable Quote:
Jason Moore on Mike Wright's trade choice:
"I'll put you on blast for taking advantage of that poor soul." (35:05)

4. Mailbag Segment: Listener Questions and Advice

The episode features a robust mailbag segment where listeners submit questions regarding fantasy football strategies. Key discussions include:

a. Strategy for Two Quarterback and Two Tight End Leagues

Listener Kyle from Dayton poses a question about managing a league format with two quarterbacks and two tight ends, emphasizing position scarcity. The hosts recommend:

• Andy Holloway: Suggests sacrificing tight end depth to prioritize quarterbacks and other positions, leveraging the ability to stream tight ends effectively (52:20).

• Mike Wright: Advocates for securing elite wide receivers while punting tight end, focusing on quarterback streaming to maximize team strength (53:07).

Notable Quote:
Mike Wright on league strategy:
"If you are listening, you're bringing up the reason why right now. Go out and try to steal Ryan Matthews in your leagues." (36:14)

b. Ezekiel Elliott vs. Lamar Miller

Listener Dylan from Pittsburgh asks whether to draft Ezekiel Elliott or Lamar Miller. The hosts weigh the potential and uncertainties of Elliott against Miller's proven track record (54:05).

• Jason Moore: Prefers taking Elliott for his high upside.
• Mike Wright: Opposes due to Elliott's rookiness.
• Andy Holloway: Agrees with taking Elliott if possible, recognizing his potential as a top-five RB (57:42).

c. Other Listener Questions

Additional questions addressed include preferences between different quarterbacks and evaluating mid-round picks like Ahmad Bradshaw for long-term value (54:43).

5. Quarterback Position Analysis

The hosts provide an in-depth analysis of the quarterback position, discussing the streaming strategy and evaluating various QBs' fantasy viability.

• Ryan Fitzpatrick: Identified as a potential loser of the draft due to questionable performance prospects (46:27).

• Andy Dalton: Hosts debate his ranking and potential, with Andy Holloway advocating for a higher position based on his team’s offensive weapons (56:41).

Notable Quote:
Andy Holloway on Andy Dalton:
"I have Ezekiel Elliott in that awesome Dallas backfield outside of the top 10. He is my number 11." (27:15)

6. Closing Remarks and Announcements

As the episode wraps up, the hosts make several announcements:

• Upcoming Guest: Allen Robinson from the Jacksonville Jaguars will be featured in the next episode.

• Podcast Awards: Nominations are being tallied, with gratitude extended to listeners for their support (59:58).

• Fantasy Footballers Products: Promotion of their 2016 Ultimate Draft Kit available on their website.

Notable Quote:
Jason Moore on upcoming episodes:
"Allen Robinson, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. On the show next week, guaranteed." (60:33)

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Notable Highlights and Quotes

• Serenade Failure:
  Mike Wright: "Here’s our official vocal instrumental apology to the Foot Clan. We will assuredly have him on again..." (03:00)

• Kenneth Dixon's Potential:
  Brad Evans: "He’s a magician in space, does a lot of Houdini acts... he’s got that vision, he’s got the cutback ability." (18:12)

• Ezekiel Elliott's Skepticism:
  Brad Evans: "He's not going to be on any of my dynasty rosters." (09:45)

• Ryan Matthews Trade Critique:
  Jason Moore: "And I'm going to put you on blast for taking advantage of that poor soul." (35:07)

• Andy Dalton's Ranking Discussion:
  Andy Holloway: "If you're listening, I'm Dalton to 22 and I really... I think he's going to end up being drafted as a top five, absolute top five running back this year." (57:45)

Conclusion

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers a comprehensive analysis of rookie running backs, leveraging expert insights from Brad Evans. The discussion seamlessly transitions between in-depth guest interviews and interactive listener segments, providing actionable advice for fantasy managers. Notable humor and engaging banter among the hosts enhance the informative content, making it a valuable resource for both seasoned fantasy players and newcomers.

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Timestamps Reference:

• 00:58 – Cinco de Mayo and Show Opening
• 01:18 – David Johnson Interview Reflection
• 03:00 – Missed Serenade Apology
• 03:35 – Introduction of Brad Evans
• 08:09 – Tennessee Backfield Split
• 09:30 – Derrick Henry Critique
• 12:10 – Seahawks' CJ Prosise Evaluation
• 15:10 – CJ Prosise's Potential
• 18:12 – Ravens' Kenneth Dixon Analysis
• 25:52 – Ezekiel Elliott Discussion Begins
• 27:15 – Hosts' Rankings of Elliott
• 34:57 – Ryan Matthews Trade
• 35:05 – Critique of Mike's Trade
• 36:14 – Strategy on Ryan Matthews
• 43:54 – Bold Prediction Segment
• 48:49 – Mailbag Segment Begins
• 56:41 – Andy Dalton Ranking Debate
• 57:42 – Andy Dalton's Potential Pick
• 59:58 – Podcast Awards Announcement
• 60:33 – Upcoming Guest Announcement

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. Before we get to today's awesome show, we want to take a second and thank our sponsor of today's show, Pristine Auction. They are the best. The only the Mecca place to go get your sports memorabilia. We got Mother's Day coming up, Father's Day coming up. You got all the reason in the world. We will give you all the excuses you need to go buy awesome stuff and you can get it super cheap. Always, always, always. Authentic signed merchandise. That's where we get it. Go to pristineauction.com that's P R I S T right now. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the show. We're back again, the Fantasy Footballers here. Thursday, maybe. Let's begin. It's Cinco de Mayo.

[Andy Holloway]

Cinco de Mayo.

[Jason Moore]

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everybody. It is also known as the show after the show we had where we interviewed David Johnson. So if you didn't catch that interview, I haven't slept. It is a mixed bag of response and I want to say it's mostly been positive. People are very, very, very excited to have David Johnson on the show. Hold on.

[Mike Wright]

Say it's all positive. There's really only one negative and, well.

[Jason Moore]

We need to just. The elephant in the room.

[Mike Wright]

That was a really bad elephant. I'm sorry, that's just a fart.

[Jason Moore]

You've heard, you've heard it said. Life is like a roller coaster. And sometimes there's ups, a love roller coaster, and sometimes there's downs and we can't go back. We can't go back. And look, people were disappointed we didn't sing David Johnson. Sing David Johnson to David Johnson. And I apologize. That's the beginning, okay? I'm not going to be an excuse maker at the beginning. However, we've interviewed several NFL players and there is.

[Mike Wright]

You have to pretend there's a process.

[Jason Moore]

That goes to it where you are dealing with the agent to the NFL player and you don't know exactly how your rapport is going to be. Now, I say all that to say David Johnson was an incredibly gracious, awesome guest to the show and therefore we should have taken it upon ourselves to serenade him. To serenade him. But there's almost no way to make up for it. Wait.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I didn't even know this was going to happen.

[Jason Moore]

Is there any. I. I guess we can make up for it this way.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the thing. The Foot Clan. Sometimes you gotta pretend to be a professional.

[Andy Holloway]

Sometimes.

[Mike Wright]

Sometimes you gotta throw all that out the window. You say, put on the disco music, my friend. Pull out your guitar. Get the percussion going.

[Andy Holloway]

David Johnson, sing along. Oh, oh, oh, yeah. David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Is this a Carrie?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. You got the full instrumental. All right, so that's our official vocal instrumental apology to the Foot Clan. We will assuredly have him on again and we will let him know how we really feel. In fact, we've got a special guest on today's show, Brad Evans from Speaking of Professionals. Speaking of professionals, Brad Evans from Yahoo. Sports is on the show today and we were talking to him and he is sad that he wasn't there to serenade David Jones because he fawns over him. Well, like many of us do in the fantasy community.

[Andy Holloway]

You, everybody listening. You will very much enjoy the Brad Evans interview. He brings the fire today. And some great content about these rookie running backs.

[Jason Moore]

And what's exciting about rookie running backs and new players and new backfield mates, because we're talking a lot of running backs today is the potential for sleepers in great values on guys that your league mates don't know about or they're afraid to draft. And so he's got some hot takes for us, some guys that he really likes from this rookie crop. And that's what today's show is. We're going to continue what we were doing on Tuesday. We talked to David Johnson on Tuesday and we talked about a lot of the rookie wide receivers. We touched on Kenyon Drake. But today we're going to focus on some of the backfields. We're going to focus on the running backs and some of the other rookies. And so the quick question of the day was essentially, how could we be so foolish not to have sung to David Johnson? And we've remedied that grand fashion. And that's. That's what we got on the show today. So let's see here. Follow us on Twitter heffballers. Check us out on YouTube. The show after the show is also on YouTube. That's the only place you can get that. And it's a lot of fun. Check us out on jointhefoot.com that is our fantasy football community. That's where all of the Foot Clan, the listeners of the show, get together. We talk fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

We do extra episodes, answer questions, join leagues together.

[Jason Moore]

There have been a large amount of leagues that have been completely comprised of Foot Clan listeners, people that want to be in committed, fun, exciting fantasy football leagues. And so definitely go check that out. And our rankings update has begun. We've got the rookie running Backs and the rookie wide receivers ranked as well as everybody else. And so you can see where they fall in there.

[Mike Wright]

And if you're wondering, hey, why, why isn't Jared Goff a quarterback one.

[Jason Moore]

It'S because I haven't ranked him yet.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I think by not ranking him, we have effectively ranked perfectly.

[Jason Moore]

Perhaps. Perhaps we haven't got to the quarterbacks tight ends yet, but those will be up on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. so I think what we're going to do today, guys, unless you have something else you want.

[Mike Wright]

I got one thing I got to do. I. I had a Twitter. Twitter follower reach out to me and he said I had. I just had my son say we need to put on the Fantasy Footballers podcast.

[Jason Moore]

His son request.

[Mike Wright]

He loves the podcast. He loves the mailbag drop. His son is only 6 years old. This was fantastic. So a shout out. Josh Gates, who apparently goes by the name Luke Skywalker. Very fitting because it was just. May the fourth be with you. So, Josh, thank you for supporting the show, my man.

[Jason Moore]

That's what we call a rookie. That's a fantasy footballers rookie listener.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the good son right there.

[Jason Moore]

That's pretty cool.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, now we're not talking like Macaulay Culkin good.

[Andy Holloway]

No, not the bad good son. He's a good son.

[Mike Wright]

You guys remember the.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that movie was. That movie gave me chills, man. Macaulay Culkin was evil.

[Jason Moore]

Speaking of evil, let's go ahead and hop into our interview with the good friend Brad Evans.

[Andy Holloway]

You talking to me?

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy footballers are really excited for this one. We're bringing in a spectacular personality from the sports world, Brad Evans from Yahoo Sports. Foot Clan. Prepare your ears for the fire that is about to come. How you doing, Brad?

[Brad Evans]

I know what you guys are talking about. I'm very much the wallflower at every party I've ever been to, says the.

[Jason Moore]

Guy whose Twitter handle is Yahoo. Noise.

[Brad Evans]

I'm just trying to build up a discreet profile behind the scenes. It's just a facade. I'm very sheepish. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks for joining us on the show. We appreciate it.

[Brad Evans]

My pleasure.

[Jason Moore]

Guys, there is a lot of speculation now the rookies have landed. We are excited about it. We're here trying to figure out our projections for these guys and I think what we can start off talking about is kind of how we see some of these big running back backfields and how they break down there. There are three that come to mind for me and I'd like to start talking about Tennessee now. Tennessee when. Now they grabbed Derrick Henry after trading for DeMarco Murray, I believe their backfield currently has six running backs in it. Now they won't. 6,000.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So I'm curious how you see the DeMarco Murray and Henry workload breaking down. What is your thoughts on the pick and how that backfield is going to shape up?

[Brad Evans]

Well, they owe Demarco Murray like what the GDP of Micronesia @ a minimum. I mean it's. They owe him a lot of money. So I think DeMarco Murray is still going to see a substantial share of that split backfield. If I had a venture guess right now, I think it's going to be 70, 30 split favoring Murray. I mean both these guys are very similar in what they bring to the table. Murray's, you know, legit three down back when he's healthy and not doing his, you know, Gregory Hines routine behind the line and doing a little tap dance when he's running north and south and you know, he was an ill fit for the zone scheme. That was a disaster waiting to happen under Chip Kelly from the get go. But now he's back in a power system. It's more north and south. They're going to run him between the tackles. But that's Henry strength as well. But the plus side for Marine the really the advantage he has over Derrick Henry is the fact that he's a better receiver out of the backfield and he's a much better pass blocker than Derek Henry. As like Frankensteinian as Derrick Henry is, I am shocked that the guy cannot stand other guys up. You know, he's not an effective pass blocker and that's going to keep him on the sidelines more often than not. So again, I think it's going to be at least 65, 35 or 70, 30 favoring Murray. I did slide him down to RB15 in my ranks, but I think Derek Kaner will be lucky to get around 140, 150 touches in year one.

[Jason Moore]

That makes a lot of sense. Now do you see Mer. I'm sorry? Do you see Henry as a good dynasty own? I mean, do you, do you think in a couple of years that he projects as an NFL running back despite those inefficiencies in the, in the past blocking?

[Brad Evans]

There are better options out there, guys. Look, I'll be honest with you. I always keep it 100. I'm not the biggest fan of Derek Henry.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Brad Evans]

You know, I think I would rather have a Brazilian wax than have him on my.

[Jason Moore]

He doesn't like you either. That's what we've heard.

[Brad Evans]

Well, that's fine. I just hope I don't, you know, bump into him. That's fair. Because he's a big man and he's got big bulging muscles.

[Jason Moore]

You see that picture with all the Alabama running backs, and he dwarfed all three of the other guys.

[Brad Evans]

Oh, it's insane. I mean, he's basically a new Brandon Jacobs, right? In terms of his size. His speed combination ran a 4, 5, 4, 40 yard dash, which is very admirable. And I know people are making a big deal about a vertical leap, but the vertical leap only applies to goal line situations when you got to jump over the line to get in the end zone. And people said, oh, dude, his broad jumps, amazing. What was the last time he saw a running back from a standstill position leap forward with the ball for like 4 yards?

[Andy Holloway]

I really want to see it.

[Jason Moore]

I'm picturing. I'm picturing it now. Yeah, yeah.

[Brad Evans]

Who cares? He runs too upright for me. Yeah, he's got that extra gear and he's brutalizing on the second level. But that was in college. And I understand the SEC is essentially the triple A affiliate of the NFL, but, you know, you got linebackers that are the same size, you got DBs that know how to take down these trees. Dude's going to get hurt. Dude's going to underwhelm. Dude is not going to be on any of my dynasty rosters.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

So there's the shade. The shade coming from Evans is gargantuan on Henry. So let's. I can't believe the shade you're throwing over here.

[Brad Evans]

Well, you know, hashtag team raisins for me on Derek Henry. Now, I'll give you some team picks here in a minute, but it's not the Heisman winner.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we'll move it up to Seattle. Now, the. The. One of the interesting things of the offseason has been Thomas Rawls. What is the value of Rawls? Undrafted free agent, but came in to replace Marshawn with some great success for them, especially running the ball. Not so much as a pass catcher. They brought Christian Michael back. However, Seattle decides to pick up three rookie running backs, including CJ Pro Size, in the third round. And then Alex Collins, who was another. He's a really solid college player. So how do you feel about both Rawls? Really just everybody there. I mean, you got Rawls, Michael, and Pro Size. How are you feeling about them?

[Brad Evans]

Yeah, it's a bit of a menagerie of running backs and kind of a Quagmire, if you will, for Thomas Rawls. I think Rawls, he comes off the ankle injury, he's fully recovered. We haven't heard a whole lot of information about the recovery process, but I think he's going to be atop the totem pole as training camp opens as the early down rusher. But clearly if you look at CJ Pro size, he's a fascinating kid, right? This is a guy that, that came in to Notre Dame is a db, okay. Then he converted to a slot receiver and then due to injuries they try him out in spring game and say, see what this guy can do, running back. And the coaches jaws dropped to the ground. They're like, holy crap, we got something special here. And they plugged him in and immediately was productive. Posted just some sick numbers in only one season as the starting running back for the Fighting Irish. You know, he's a guy that to me and it was interesting because I comped him as Fred Jackson pre draft and it's, it's fascinating now that he's kind of, yeah, he's now coincidentally filling the Fred Jackson role. So the way that I see it is that process is going to be kind of a multidimensional asset, third down guy. He needs a pickup pass pro because of that, you know, green experience level that he had in college. That's something that we'll have to monitor in training camp. But because he's a versatile asset, a guy that you know, can line up in the slot or outside and be kind of a gadgety guy, I think he'll be a change of pace option for Rawls. I think Alex Collins and Kristen Michael will ballot out for the power back role behind Thomas Rawls and Kristen Michaels. You know, everybody's the truthers that are out there, they love this guy. They still think, oh, he's going to be the shiz eventually and he never materializes. Collins is a legitimate downhill runner between the pipes kind of horse. And I think he'll prove that Chris and Michael belongs in the cfl, not the NFL here.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, yes, Brad.

[Jason Moore]

As long as we don't listen to Mike speculate about Christine Michael's glorious future all season long. That's all I want.

[Mike Wright]

I wear the badge proudly of Kristen Michael.

[Jason Moore]

You own the only jersey produced.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I was and I was asked, you know what, how do I feel about my dreams burning down? I said they've resurrected. The ashes have rose from the ground like a phoenix in the name of CJ Pro size, a guy who I really like.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Mike Wright]

What? How do you feel about kind of the long term value of pro size. Do you think he will stay that change of pace guy or does he have a chance to, to kind of become a three down guy?

[Brad Evans]

Oh, I think he definitely has a chance to become a three down guy. You know he reminds me a lot and I'm not saying this is University of Illinois graduate, but maybe I am. Rashad Menenhall. Rashad Menenhall was a one hit wonder at the college level at Illinois. Had a spectacular season in Illinois's march of the Rose bowl and then they got smashed by USC and I lost my voice in the process and my pants. I don't that happen but it just does. It happens sometimes when you're in Pasadena. But precise is a guy, he's. You know what I like about him? Watching him on tape, he's really undeterred between the tackles.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Brad Evans]

He's an aggressive runner. He gets after gets downhill in a hurry. He's got that speed to get around the edge at 448 with a 40 yard dash. He's got the elusiveness, he's got that deceptive power. It's just a pass protection and just kind of getting his feet underneath him in terms of learning the position because he only played it for full time essentially for a year at a high level in college. So I think maybe a year or two down the road. We're not talking about Thomas Rawls anymore in Seattle. We're talking about the CJ Pro Size show.

[Andy Holloway]

So while we've got you on the show, a wild expert, I want to know about another running back from your vantage point who like Pro size was a very good pass catcher but didn't have a very large body of work. The third running back taken off the board, Kenyon Drake goes to Miami. A lot of people are all about Jay Ajayi now. Some people are thinking Kenyon Drake has a good opportunity there to be used more. Where do you see that breakdown in the Miami backfield?

[Brad Evans]

Yeah, that's a. And I still think Miami's not done making moves. I mean they, they flirted with the idea of signing Arian Foster, brought him in for a workout. I think all teams are kind of waiting to see what happens with Foster in terms of his recovery from the Achilles injury, whether or not he's going to be close to full speed by the time training camp rolls around. So I don't think the story of that backfield is written the final chapter yet. But looking at it from right now, let's say, you know, through speculation they don't sign Foster. They go into the season with Drake and Jay Ajayi. I think it shakes out kind of similarly what it is in Seattle where Ajayi is going to be the early down back, probably going to be the goal line rusher and then Kenyon Drake's going to be the change of pace third down guy. Drake's interesting because of his shake and bake. A guy that forced 22 missed tackles and 77 attempts in 2015. The body of work was overshadowed by Derrick Henry while he was at Alabama, but he's a multi dimensional threat. He's got slot receiving experience, like precise. He's got I think, good, you know, through contact leg action. And I love me some leg action. Gentlemen, big up.

[Mike Wright]

It's the best action.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Brad Evans]

Whether it's at the gentleman's club or, you know, on the NFL field, I'm all about the leg action. So, you know, Kenyon Drake's one of those guys I think could exceed expectation, but in terms of immediacy, I think he's got to be just more of a cop, a change of pace guy.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so we'll move to another backfield that while the Titans are boasting a overstuffed, a double stuffed as you will running back stable, we're going to move to the Ravens who are putting everyone to shame right now with about a bajillion guys as potential running backs. You have Justin for set, the older vet coming off the arm injury. You have Javorius Allen who was somewhat disappointing. And so they go and they, they pick up a guy, Kenneth Dixon, while they still have Terrence West, Lorenzo Taliaferro.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't forget about Trent Richardson.

[Mike Wright]

The ghost of Trent Richardson, Terrence McGee. I mean you have so many guys on that team. Is there room for the rookie and could he make any kind of noise this season?

[Brad Evans]

Gentlemen, the cream always rises to the top. Right, Justin for set trick, Richardson. No, it's definitely going to be Kenneth Dixon. I think Kenneth Dixon is a talented, talented dude. And for those that are listening to the pod that maybe don't follow college football that closely. And I understand he played at La Tech. You know, this wasn't the SEC, this wasn't the Big Ten, it wasn't the Pac 12. It's LA Tech. But he was an impressive running back. A guy that has legitimate three down skill set. He's a magician in space, does a lot of Houdini acts. A lot of would be tacklers are grabbing air instead of him. He had a third highest elusive Rating of all rushers out of this year's draft class. Corner Pro football focus. And he's got that deceptive power as well. He broke, you know, a lot of tackles, gained over 60% of his initial yards or yards, I should say after initial contact. He's got the vision, he's got the cutback ability. You know, a lot of people compared him in terms of his vision and patience to a Le'Veon bell. I've seen him draw comparisons to a Lamar Miller as well or Deion Lewis in terms of his scat back ways in space. So I like him overall and I know the odometer reading is high because he was a four year starter at Louisiana Tech and he's actually the second all time in touchdowns at the FBS level. So he's got a nose to the end zone. Clearly right now, guys, he's the best running back on this roster in my opinion. And I am still in complete shock that Richardson is collecting an NFL paycheck.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think the world is. The only person not surprised would be Christine Michael. Yeah, those two guys are into stealing money.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Right. So you feel like Kenneth Dixon, you think by the end of the season he could become the number one back for the Ravens?

[Brad Evans]

Yeah, I think what you're going to see in training camp and here's, you know, this is the thing that a lot of people are struggling with and I hope we have a conversation about Ezekieliot here in a minute. But it's like the fear of the unknown. Right. People that don't follow college football but, you know, follow every step of the NFL, they're always hesitant to draft a rookie because it's sight unseen. But I'm telling you, if you, if you go to YouTube and just, you know, punch in Kenneth Dixon highlights and watch it for five minutes, you'll be removing your belt. I mean, that's the kind of skill set this guy is bringing the table. So, you know, I think once you see him in the preseason, as long as the pass protections are there because that's always the struggle for a lot of rookie running backs when they're making the transition from the college to the NFL game. If he picks it up quickly, I think you're going to hear Harbaugh, the coaching staff sing his praises and it's only a matter of time that he'll be the starter in Baltimore.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I like the recommendation too to go and watch these guys. That's something we've talked to, told our listeners to do as well. If you need a difference Making opinion, sometimes just a few minutes of film. I mean, we watched Corey Coleman the other day.

[Mike Wright]

Good grief.

[Jason Moore]

Corey Coleman. And just the. His athletic ability just jumped off the page. That can separate for certain guys. So really, I think the Kenneth Dixon hot take right there is pretty valuable to our listeners here. Thank you very much for joining us, Brad. We appreciate you coming on this show. Brad Evans from Yahoo Sports. You can find him on Twitter. Yahoo Noise. Thanks a lot, my man.

[Brad Evans]

My pleasure. Guys, I think I'm gonna go have a few tequilas now because that's what I do.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Yeah, we know. Take care.

[Brad Evans]

Have a good one.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Thanks again to Brad Evans for joining us on the show. That was a lot of fun talking about some of the big kind of backfield battles that might take place due to rookies. I thought the most profound part of that interview had to do with Baltimore's backfield because I feel like I am on the outs compared to you guys. With my thoughts on Justin Forset, I have not been like, I like Justin for set in the past. I like him being a veteran contributor. I don't think he's irrelevant this year. I just. If I'm Baltimore and I'm building this team back up, they had a very high pick this year. I'm looking towards the future. I'm looking towards the involvement of more guys in that backfield. And four set is a guy who, career wise, I know he had a very good year. Jason, you were a big proponent for Justin Forset. He was somebody who just really career wise, hadn't carried the rock, wasn't looked to be that guy. And I think he's fine as a, you know, couple hundred carries. I mean, I think 175 carries for Justin Porsette somewhere around there. And a distribution to the young guys. Somebody like Dixon, somebody like, you know, Buck Allen was in there last year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, Buck Allen was in there because of a broken arm to Justin for said. I would not be surprised if Dixon ends up replacing Buck Allen as the primary backup. I will say of if you're thinking of kind of along the narrative, you have Joe Flacco who's coming off of ACL tear. I don't know if people remember this. Flacco destroyed his knee last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Pass protection is key.

[Mike Wright]

I don't.

[Jason Moore]

Week 16.

[Mike Wright]

No, it was. It was before then. No, it was.

[Jason Moore]

It was very, very late.

[Andy Holloway]

It was.

[Mike Wright]

It was later. But yeah, we had. Remember we had Matt Schaub throw to buck Allen 17 times, but just they're not going to Throw Joe Flacco in there with his repaired knee and say, okay, rookie, go make sure Joe Flacco doesn't die.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, at least at the beginning of the year.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

Perhaps Dixon by the end could become the guy. But I think that right now people are not looking at Justin for set. They're going to look at Buck Allen. They're going to look at the rookie and for set will provide a great draft day value, at least for the first half of the year. And sometimes that's what you have to do is you need to find a guy who's going to carry you for the first half and then you. Then you pick up the rookie who's going to take you the. To take you to the title.

[Jason Moore]

Gio Bernard did that for people last year. Danny Woodhead start to the season, did that last year. There were a lot of guys that, even though you look back on their numbers, they might not have been as profound. Right. You know, you're right, you're right. You can, you can win a lot of games before you have to make adjustments at that position. And so I thought the Kenneth Dixon thought process was really good. We obviously have. Jason's a big Kenyan Drake guy.

[Andy Holloway]

I am. I just think that the opportunity there is. If they don't, you know, Brad Evans was saying, well, they, they might not be done there. And obviously if they bring in Arian Foster, you know, all over everything I'm saying. But if they go into these two guys, one of the things we have to keep in mind. Right. Why did Jay Ajayi fall to the fifth round?

[Jason Moore]

Fear of injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Fear of injury. Because he's got a knee that is bone on bone. And all these.

[Mike Wright]

Allegedly. Allegedly.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Allegedly bone on bone. And all these teams said, hey, we don't know when he's going to get injured, but we believe he is and it's going to be done. Well, if. If it's just him and Kenyan Drake, I just like the opportunity there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, without question. I mean, I think that's the same type of thing we saw with the optimism around Artist Payne last year. If Jonathan Stewart was to go down, it was going to be the rookie to carry the load. Let's transition now to the guy that really should have gotten our attention last. You know, the headliner is Ezekiel Elliott, and we didn't get to talk about him on the last show because we focused on the rookie wide receiver. So Ezekiel Elliott goes number four to Dallas, and now we got to break that back. You know, the backfield down is the I know he's saying the right things right now, but is Alfred Morris regretting his decision?

[Mike Wright]

I mean, man, poor alf.

[Jason Moore]

Because it's impossible at this point for him to be involved in any fantasy relevant capacity. To me, it's.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

At all. I think it's impossible.

[Mike Wright]

He might get some touchdowns here and there, but there it would. It would explode my brain if Jerry Jones made this, this choice to pick up Eazy e with the number four overall pick and then not just throw him out and say, you're. You are the man. You are our DeMarco Murray replacement. You're going to carry the ball over 200 times. You're going to catch a bunch of passes. So with that, I think there's still a spot for Darren McFadden. Right.

[Jason Moore]

He was very productive last, especially in.

[Mike Wright]

Past catching roles where maybe you're going to need to give Elliot a break. Maybe Elliott's pass protection doesn't quite hold up the way that it. They want it to because you have Tony Romo, who you guys have lovingly talked about his. His fragility. So the. If you have Darren McFadden out there and you have Elliott, I just. I don't see much place at all for Alfred Morris.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to say something that will upset the ears of our listeners, which is I have Ezekiel Elliott in that awesome Dallas backfield outside of the top 10. He is my number 11.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if that's going to run back.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I. People are so excited. You know, the NFL draft just happened and you want. You want it to matter. And so you want it to matter almost too much. And you. You pump it up. And the reason I say that it's not. I mean, look, I've got him in my number 11. He's an RB one. And the potential there is what you love. I mean, if he were to go out and get the ball 275 times, he's going to finish well above.

[Mike Wright]

He'll be top three. Yeah, he would be. Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

But, you know, I think he's going to get the ball around 200. I don't think Darren McFadden is going to be thrown away. They just signed Alfred Morris, who will get a couple touches. So I see the. Him taking the lion's share, but I actually think Alfred Morris will be a little bit involved. Darren McFadden will be regularly involved. And so Ezekiel Elliott, I've got him, you know, in the 200, 210 touch range his rookie year, which that to me pushes him just a little outside what I think expectations are. And I think he's going to end up being drafted as a top five, absolute top five running back this year.

[Jason Moore]

You think he'll be drafted there?

[Andy Holloway]

I do. I think he'll be drafted.

[Jason Moore]

It's very possible. Do you guys remember how many carries Todd Gurley had last year off the top of your head?

[Mike Wright]

Because I'm going to go. And I can tell you in like the 220 range.

[Jason Moore]

He was at 220 and that I actually projected Elliott's season very similarly to Gurley's first season. I gave him a. I think a touchdown less. What about similar carry rating and a little bit. I'm probably around the same. Probably the same. I had Elliott at not a heavy amount of pass catching.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

And I. I'm just giving you. And so those numbers broke down to about 10, 11 for me, depending on the format. I think he went everywhere from 9 to 13 for me. And so we're all in agreement that he's going to have a big impact in fantasy football. I think what that says though, because Gurley ended the year very well last year. He had a great season. He won. He was another guy right middle of the season from weeks three to seven or eight, he won weeks for people. But he, you know, that's a very good season. But we see other running backs basically stepping up and having better seasons. That's what that means to me. Because projecting Ezekiel Elliott to have the numbers that we have is not a. It's not a knock on him. It's just the other guys we think are more consistent, more opportunity. But he's still the top 10 back.

[Mike Wright]

The thing is with Elliott though, is I in a redraft? I think he's going to be. He'll end up being a first round pick. Do I think he's worth it? Possibly. I think he's more worthy. The value of a second round guy. But the thing about Elliot is if you want him on your team, you will have to pay that price. No matter if you're in the first round.

[Andy Holloway]

You.

[Mike Wright]

That's what you're going to have to invest in him. If. Let's say you want to get back around. Exactly. Let's say you want Elliot. You're at pick number four. You got to take Elliott. I mean you have to make that decision.

[Jason Moore]

And isn't there something to be said now we all have Ingram ahead of Elliott.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

But doesn't Elliott represent this way higher ceiling, ceiling upside in Dallas? If they just gave him the rocks and he starts Dominating.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, if he starts dominating.

[Andy Holloway]

But I want to put you guys both.

[Jason Moore]

That's what makes it exciting, though, in fantasy football. You take those guys to.

[Andy Holloway]

So here we go. Let's do the. I think this will be really valuable for everybody listening. I'm gonna put you both on the mock draft with Ezekiel Elliott. You're both going to be on the clock. I'm going to assume here that you're going to take Le'Veon Bell, Todd Gurley, Adrian Peterson, David Johnson and Jamal Charles over. I'll say the other four. Okay. You'll take those four ahead of Eazy. So now I'll ask Jamal Charles or Ezekiel Elliott redraft.

[Mike Wright]

Man, that. That one is really tough because of the injury bugaboo of. I think Charles can come back strong from it. But that is. That is a.

[Andy Holloway]

You got two seconds left. One.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to take Elliot.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Andy.

[Jason Moore]

I'll take Charles.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so then if. If you're already there, Mike, how about Lamar Miller?

[Mike Wright]

Man, that's. I mean, you're talking really similar situations. I know that. That Lamar Miller is. You know, he's more proven. And that's the difference with Elliott. Of. Elliott could bust. I mean, that there is that chance. We. They said that Trent Richardson, best. Best prospect since Adrian Peterson. The guy's basically out of the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I would bring up Bishop Sankey a couple years ago. Everyone was super high on him when he was drafted. He was.

[Mike Wright]

He was the first running back. He was a second round pick, though.

[Jason Moore]

But I wouldn't say everyone was super.

[Andy Holloway]

High, but he was first.

[Jason Moore]

Yep, you're right.

[Mike Wright]

But the thing is. So there is a chance. I'm not predicting a bus for Elliot, just saying that that hangs out there. It is in the. In the realm of possibilities. So you're investing your first round pick in a guy who's never taken an NFL snap.

[Jason Moore]

And possibilities is the best way to sum up a rookie running back. Yeah, you have possibilities and that's what makes him exciting and fun. And you might take him over Miller or Ingram or Charles because he represents possibilities. And if you're in a keeper or a dynasty league format, it goes out the door because you might have a guy that's the running back or the top five running back for multiple years.

[Mike Wright]

Let me. I'll throw out a scenario. Maybe it's too specific, but I think it will maybe get a thought process going here in my other keeper league I have. I will be likely keeping Le'Veon Bell and Julio Jones. Now Le'Veon Bell is going to cost me a first round pick. Okay, here's my decision. Let's say I draw the 101 pick in that league. I can make a decision to get a great value on a guy like Jeremy Lankford or CJ Anderson later on or Jordan Reed. I have other guys I could keep. I would forego forever keep a rights to Le'Veon Bell. However, I could then grab Elliot and I would have keeper rights to him for eternity.

[Andy Holloway]

Basically I would keep Levy on Bell because you know he's great.

[Mike Wright]

He's also coming off of two destructive knee injuries.

[Jason Moore]

I would go the other direction because you also get to take another keeper later in the draft in place of Lev Bell for those first round keeper rights. I would take Elliot plus Reed Elliott plus Langford over Lev Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. If you do have. If you do have other really good options and that. That could sway me.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's talk about some other winners from the draft at the running back position. We've got. I got Ryan Matthews on the list from Philadelphia.

[Mike Wright]

For now.

[Jason Moore]

Let me just say something.

[Andy Holloway]

I already know where you're going.

[Jason Moore]

It's disgusting because his name's going to be associated with it. Now for the rest of the look in our league of record, which just had the key our keeper lottery and to explain that our league that we one of the leagues that we play in, the way it works is it's a three keeper league and you choose from your existing roster the year before one franchise player that is guaranteed to be on your team. Then you select three more guys that go into a keeper lottery and we pick two of the three names out of the hat and one more goes into the draft. It's a way to kind of add some risk and excitement. Another date during the year where we're pulling names from a hat and we live stream that online and some big names can go back into the draft. Well, that just. That just happened. And so now trading is open and we have. You can trade your keepers or your draft picks. And Mike, Mike Wright has come out. The fantasy hitman himself has taken a victim and he has. He set his sights on this other team and he traded a third round pick in a league where we already have 36 guys off the board.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's pretty much a sixth round pick.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. He traded a third round pick for Ryan Matthews.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And it's disgraceful.

[Mike Wright]

But here's.

[Jason Moore]

And I'm going to put you on blast for taking advantage of that poor soul.

[Mike Wright]

No. And here's what I will say in our opinion, the three of us, it was. I think Matthews in our draft would have probably gone for a second. You guys think you're talking first.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think first. Second is what I said.

[Mike Wright]

I think he can go. I think he was definitely in the second. So I got some value getting him the third. But that is our opinion. That has our value on fantasy pros. Ryan Matthews is the 27th running back right now.

[Jason Moore]

But it's draft. I'm calling Arian Foster's agent. I'm telling him Philly's interesting, but I'm.

[Mike Wright]

So here's Matt Jones, Melvin Gordon, TJ Eldon Jai. These are guys in the consensus of experts who are all ranked ahead of Ryan Matthews. Chris Harris just released his running back rankings. Ryan Matthews is not even a running back too well.

[Andy Holloway]

That's just a bad ranking then. I don't know what to tell you.

[Mike Wright]

So the here's what you need to do. I think I did well. I think I got value. But that's very stuff that's based off of my rankings.

[Jason Moore]

There's other people and our opinion too.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

That's why we're calling you out.

[Mike Wright]

But it's not a global opinion that Ryan Matthews is locked in. No.

[Andy Holloway]

Which is why if you are listening, you're bringing up the reason why right now. Go out and try to steal Ryan Matthews in your leagues. If you're in a keeper league, just go make a really bad offer for.

[Jason Moore]

Him and you might get him and.

[Andy Holloway]

You might get him and that will be a steal.

[Jason Moore]

And Mike has set the precedent.

[Andy Holloway]

He set the bar pretty low.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so Ryan Matthews right now looks like a winner. They obviously didn't draft Ezekiel Elliott after they moved up. He was out, out of the running for them. And they didn't spend a high pick on a running back. Frank Gore is another guy that jumps into our minds is and I'm starting to come around on him as okay. It doesn't really matter what I think about Frank Gore if he's a starting running back for the Colts. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

[Andy Holloway]

Last year he finished as the number 12 running back with an Andrew Luckless team who had a terrible offensive line. And now they come back, they don't bring in any other competition for him. They upgrade their offensive line three times in the draft and Andrew Luck is back.

[Jason Moore]

That last year's number 12 rating for him, while significant, feels a lot like a volume rating. He was healthy and played every game, which is great. I mean, that could be Just, Just another feather in the cap of Frank Gore. But he didn't feel like he made an impact for fantasy teams last year.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let me throw out a name for you then. Because he is 33, he could break down.

[Jason Moore]

Talking about Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Ahmad Bradshaw.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Last year he played in a few games because they signed him late and he came in late and then he again, I think, broke a bone and left the season on.

[Jason Moore]

He does that every.

[Andy Holloway]

Every year kind of his thing. But my specialty, in those last two games he played, he caught three touchdowns. And we remember a couple of years ago, so that's just a, you know, it's. It's a consideration. I don't think anybody's drafting Ahmad Bradshaw, so it's probably a little bit too early to throw that name out there, but it's worth.

[Jason Moore]

Well, Bradshaw is not even in Indianapolis. Bradshaw is a free agent, correct? Yeah, he's a free agent, but he's.

[Andy Holloway]

A free agent every year. And then they resign him.

[Jason Moore]

Well, they have the past couple years. But pay attention to him. He's 30 years old as opposed to 33.

[Mike Wright]

And you're talking about for Frank. That was Frank Gore's basically his worst year. Well, when he played a full. I'm just saying.

[Jason Moore]

Is that a point for or against? He had worse year. He went down in Indianapolis.

[Mike Wright]

A point for him in the fact that he was bad, but he was still highly productive for fantasy purposes.

[Jason Moore]

So right now we have Frank Gore. All right, we got him at azara, consensus number 22. And I'm only laughing because I apparently have him higher than both of you. So that's great.

[Mike Wright]

That's fine.

[Jason Moore]

Matt Jones, another winner from the draft. Washington. We talked about this last week a little bit because we had our Washington Redskins timeout and talked about Cousins, talked about Dachshund and talked about Matt Jones. He's a winner. Let's talk about the backfield in New England. Highly productive. When a guy is in a role in that backfield, you've got also very frustrating, difficult to predict week to week play. Nobody on this Earth enjoyed playing LeGarrett blunt last year.

[Andy Holloway]

If you are in, if you're doing MFL10s right now or drafting any kind of best ball leagues. LeGarrett Blunt is a guy that I've been targeting because he falls very, very late. Right now he is the main guy there. Goal line touchdowns, you don't have to worry about do I start him this week or not. I hate having LeGarrett blunt on my team because you never you never start him on the right weeks. But if you're in one of those formats where you don't have to pick your starting lineup, you just take the best of your, of who you draft.

[Jason Moore]

He's a great value.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he's super great.

[Jason Moore]

And now does this speak to what they believe now they paid Deion Lewis and now to me they're saying they believe he'll be healthy and fine.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, they've added nobody.

[Jason Moore]

They've added nobody. Still have James White. They have added Donald Brown. So don't say no. Well, you're right.

[Mike Wright]

I'm saying in the draft or undrafted rookie agents, they didn't add anybody. Donald Brown was already there. It's. Dion Lewis is going to be a very big question mark going into draft time because it's the health. Even when Dion Lewis was great last year, owners of Lewis were like, should I really start him?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he had the Woodhead feeling to.

[Mike Wright]

Him and you just, you never felt completely safe even though he was putting up week after week of really, really solid production. So I'm very interested to see where people start when they make the leap for Lewis because I like him. I think he's, he's still at least a running back too. If with that one upside, here's what.

[Jason Moore]

The listeners, the NFL fans should know by now. If you watched last year, the talent gap between Dion Lewis and James White, it's a miss. It's really big. And James White had a productive string of games at the end of the season because by default he was a target. Now Edelman was gone for a while.

[Mike Wright]

Lefell was, Lafell was there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but without hands. And so it's worthy. Dion Lewis is going to be a value. That's what I think right now because where he's going to go and what he will produce, assuming he's back, if.

[Andy Holloway]

You get any kind of points for half point or full point ppr, it's home run. It's an extreme bump up because he doesn't get that many carries. He's. No, he gets five carries a game, but he also catches five passes a game, which is monumental for a running back.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and he will, he will move up my rankings now that the draft has settled.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think you've got him right now.

[Jason Moore]

I've got him really low, but he's.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to go way out.

[Jason Moore]

He'll be in the 2. He'll be in my 2 range, which means top 24. Yeah. So talk about Latavius Murray. Oakland did not go out. Jason, every time that Oakland was on the clock, he was biting his nails.

[Mike Wright]

We were on Murray watch.

[Jason Moore]

We were on Murray watch.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the best way to say it. The Murray watch.

[Jason Moore]

No Derrick Henry.

[Andy Holloway]

No Derek Henry.

[Jason Moore]

Now they took a fifth round running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Fifth round running back. And the Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, he's talking this guy up, saying he could be a full feature.

[Mike Wright]

Every down back, we're talking about DeAndre Washington.

[Andy Holloway]

DeAndre Washington. That is the first time you have heard that name. And so I am happy for Latavius Murray.

[Mike Wright]

The deeper dynasty, people know who he is.

[Andy Holloway]

You're right. But I'm just saying when you talk all off season that you got to go and get help for Latavius Murray and then you get that help in the fifth round, what that says is, yes, hopefully they like that guy and they are going to use him. And maybe they'll use him early, maybe they'll use him as a pass catcher, but he's not going to supplant Latavius Murray. And honestly, I think the three of us all agree last year he needed a little bit of help. He could have used a Roy hello.

[Mike Wright]

To maybe active Roy hello.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly. Because you saw Latavius Murray break down as the year went on. And so DeAndre Washington doesn't scare me for Latavius Murray. Latavius Murray, I think is a great pick. He's a talented runner. You watch film, you go, man, this guy can do things that not everybody can do. He's in a team that wants to run the ball, Jack Del Rio, I.

[Jason Moore]

Mean, and pass the ball and score. I mean, they want to do both. If you look at their past attempts over the last under the coach and with Derek Carr, he threw the ball a lot last year.

[Andy Holloway]

So a lot of that was necessity.

[Jason Moore]

Right. And that will probably be there again this year. But what I do want to say is this. Get the dirty feelings about, you know, the Raiders offense and the Jaguars offense and some of those teams that for so many years have cemented themselves at the basement in your mind where Cleveland still is. Take them out, get them out of your head that way. Jacksonville is a team. Look, I'm going to say this right now. It is May the fifth. It is Cinco de Mayo and it's worthy of a prediction. A Cinco de Mayo prediction.

[Andy Holloway]

Make it bold.

[Jason Moore]

I think the Colts missed the playoffs again.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

I think the Colts missed the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

Because I'm waiting for the. Yeah, you got to top that off. You got to put the whipped cream and the cherry on top of that prediction.

[Jason Moore]

I think Houston wins the division.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I was waiting for the Jags.

[Jason Moore]

To win the division. I think Jacksonville and Indianapolis and Tennessee beat up on each other quite a bit. I think all those teams do. I think that division's hyper competitive. The two teams that I think did major, major work this offseason are Jacksonville and Tennessee. And they have players that are on the upswing of their career. You know, we're Allen Robinson from Jacksonville. We're going to have him on the show next week.

[Mike Wright]

Whoa, spoiler alert.

[Jason Moore]

I know, but I want the hype to build. We're going to have him on the show. We're going to talk to him about.

[Andy Holloway]

That target monster himself.

[Jason Moore]

The target monster on the show. We're going to talk to him about Alan Hearns and about Blake Bortles and about TJ Yelden. All these up and coming talents. Now you bring in a defensive. Fowler comes back, a Mukamara gets signed. They get Ramsey handed to them in the draft and then they take Miles.

[Mike Wright]

Jack and Miles Jack was then handed to them in the draft.

[Jason Moore]

So I love what Jacksonville's done. I love what Tennessee has done. Three new offensive linemen. Rashad Matthews, DeMarco Murray, Derek Henry. A second year for.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's my bold prediction. Let's pick that not one of those four teams make the playoffs.

[Jason Moore]

That's impossible.

[Mike Wright]

I know of the whole division.

[Jason Moore]

Super Bowl. Nobody that's as old as Derrick Henry to the Lions.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I do think the Colts come back and win that division. I think Brock Osweiler is going to disappoint a little bit in Houston and the division will beat up on each other.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, well, that's fair. And I just, I really like the teams in that division. I don't see somebody that is a basement dweller.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Mike, who you got winning that division? You can't pick what Andy and I picked.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's the rule.

[Andy Holloway]

Should have gone first.

[Jason Moore]

I should have got odds.

[Mike Wright]

I'll take the Jaguars then.

[Jason Moore]

All right. All right. Hey, before we get into the mailbag, we want to answer some questions on today's show. But before you do that, I want to talk a little bit about the rookie quarterbacks. Now, you already know we like streaming quarterback position in general, so you're not going to get a lot of, hey, you need to go get Carson Wentz and Jared Goff and play him this year. Go draft them high in your draft. That's never going to happen. Even if we like drafting quarterbacks high, they wouldn't be at the top of the list. That being said, let's talk about winners and losers at the quarterback position in the draft because you ended last show screaming a name out and the name was Ryan Fitzpatrick because he's the biggest.

[Mike Wright]

Loser of the draft. Ryan Fitzpatrick.

[Jason Moore]

He could have been a bigger loser.

[Mike Wright]

He could have been by a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

I guess if they spent more sitting.

[Jason Moore]

There at the Paxton lynch pick in the first round at 23, where nobody gets. They're a team that has pieces on both sides of the ball. They don't have glaring holes. They could have absolutely justified a Paxton lynch pick at the 23rd pick in the draft and they didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Doesn't that say something about my boy?

[Mike Wright]

I think it just says something about Geno Smith. That they're okay going into the year with Geno Smith.

[Jason Moore]

I know nobody's okay with that. Todd Bowles, all the less smart coach like Todd Bowles. You know the grimaces that just went out across the jets nation when you said Geno Smith started quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

But get Jets Nation, get ready for Geno Smith to be your starting quarterback. You don't. You don't waste a pick on Hackenberg.

[Andy Holloway]

No, they did. They wasted a pick on Hackenberg. You were wrong.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, let me rephrase. You don't. You don't intentionally pick a guy like Hackenberg in the second. Am I correct? There was the second round pick and just explode. Draft Twitter, it blew up. When this happened, one of our friends who's a big jets fan, we. He jumped in our chats and he just. Just shrugged. He had. He couldn't say anything about the pick, but to me it's. They're playing hardball with Ryan Fitzpatrick, a guy who got them within a millimeter of the playoffs. A millimeter. And they're going to say. No, we're.

[Jason Moore]

We're going to go.

[Mike Wright]

We're going to go. Gino, look it.

[Jason Moore]

Ryan Fitzpatrick, 100% guarantee on the air right now. He's back in New York. I'm going to also take this opportunity for you to both publicly.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes, okay.

[Jason Moore]

Publicly concede the trash that you threw my way when I guaranteed Colin Kaepernick was staying in San Francisco and you even took little Rota world blurbs to pretend that I've lost. So say your words.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say Colin Kaepernick will be a 49er and I'm going to spin this.

[Jason Moore]

Of course you will.

[Mike Wright]

I am. I was secretly hoping all along that Colin Kaepernick would stay in San Francisco because I like him in that Chip Kelly Offense, well, you can get him in any draft because he'll be a 49er.

[Jason Moore]

There you go. There you go. All right, let's. Do you guys have anything you want to add at the quarterback position before we jump in the mailbag?

[Andy Holloway]

RG3 could be a very good potential streamer, depending on what we see the first couple weeks. I wouldn't draft him, but if. If he does something, well, you know, he's worth a flyer for. Streaming certain matchups at home, things like that.

[Jason Moore]

I think Connor Cook went to Oakland, right?

[Brad Evans]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

What'd you make of that? Just. I thought it was. I thought it was a play by them.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Everyone needs a back. Everyone needs a backup. We saw what happened to the Cardinals in the playoffs when they didn't have a backup quarterback who could somewhat carry the team. So.

[Jason Moore]

I like it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you see Bill Belichick do that every other year. They take a. Yeah, every couple years.

[Mike Wright]

You had a quarterback, you had Ryan, Mallet, Garoppolo. I mean, they.

[Andy Holloway]

They trade them for a first or a second every three years.

[Jason Moore]

It's just kind of a strange thing because people kept waiting for Cook to come off the board to these QB needy teams. He ends up going where in the fifth or sixth.

[Mike Wright]

Fourth, I thought.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, really?

[Mike Wright]

I thought they traded up in the fourth.

[Jason Moore]

It's just interesting because he was not. He was expected to go maybe higher. He wasn't a captain. Not sure what to make of him as an athlete, you know, but he's.

[Mike Wright]

The one thing that was weird to.

[Andy Holloway]

Me was that they traded up to get him, because I could see the Raiders, you know, hey, look at the guy who's on the board here. That is a great value. I know we don't need him for our team, but we can't pass on him. But to actually say we need to go get that guy, that was a little surprising to me.

[Mike Wright]

Well, your backup.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe you're getting some currency.

[Mike Wright]

Your backup is Matt McGloin. I mean, you got to make a move. And just. Just real quick. I think that. That at least in the position. Robert Griffin is actually. I think, in a good position. They have. Cleveland has restocked their entire cabinet of wide receivers. They are trying to put Griffin in a position where he can succeed and resurrect his career. I don't know if it will happen, but I just think that moving forward with the way that they handled the draft and with. They got these analytic guys up in the. In the head office now, maybe they're making some better decisions. I think I think that things are at least potentially looking up for what.

[Jason Moore]

Do the analytics guys do when they add the Bengals plus the Steelers plus the Ravens together for Cleveland?

[Mike Wright]

You say that we're in a project and in a couple years.

[Jason Moore]

Well, they sure have a lot of picks coming up.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

So next year.

[Mike Wright]

Next year. What is it? Two firsts, two seconds and two thirds if I'm not mistaken. I mean, that is tremendous.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So. All right, so let's jump. Let's jump into the mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

Mailbag.

[Brad Evans]

Mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

All right. If you got a question for this show, you can head over to thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button, send it in. We like to answer them on the show. Got lots of questions coming in. Have lots of questions coming in. You can call us at 302-464-TFFB to leave us a voicemail question as well. We're gonna start off with Kyle in Dayton set in a two quarterback and two tight end leads which is very.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, different. That's deep.

[Jason Moore]

He's also got two running backs in three wide receivers and no flex and no kicker.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason, I like no kicker.

[Mike Wright]

I see why this question got in.

[Jason Moore]

So basically he wants to know what would your strategy be with this type of a league format? You've got scarcity now at the quarterback position. You've got extreme scarcity at the tight end position based on production. And you have six points for rushing, td, four for passing. What in the world do you do with this kind of a format?

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'll throw my 2 cents into the ring because there is now position scarcity at quarterback, a position scarcity at tight end. Not to mention you're deep at the other positions. You have to make choices here as to which ones to sacrifice. Sacrifice the tight end. Do not worry about the position scarcity there because you will be able to stream them. There are always guys that come out of nowhere. I mean you could. Nobody drafted Gary Barnage last year even in a two tight end league. Not saying that there will be that guy every year, but you're going to be able to get somebody draft a quarterback high like you would a running back. Draft other people and then, you know, fill in your tight ends. Just know, look, your tight ends might be a little weaker but that will help you strengthen the other positions. That's what I would. That's interesting.

[Mike Wright]

I would want one of the top elite wide receivers. I agree that I'm going to pretty much punt tight end and go later, but I'm also going to. I know it's a two quarterback league, but because you have so much other stuff going on, I'm going to look.

[Jason Moore]

For double value there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm going to stretch it out and I'm going to go for the veterans, the guys who are going to go a little bit later.

[Jason Moore]

Alex Smith, Sure.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Smith, Romo. I think Rivers will probably go pretty high or higher in that league, but there's quarterbacks around the league that I think can fill that gap for you.

[Andy Holloway]

Patrick resigns. He'll go late.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And be a great pick.

[Jason Moore]

And you got four points for a passing td. So that's a devalue compared to running backs. I think it's a good point because your league's also going to probably freak out about two tight ends and two quarterbacks and that'll be your opportunity to scoop up value. So Dylan in Pittsburgh said easy E or Lamar Miller. Oh, I remember this question.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we didn't actually get to this one. And an answer. So now we have to answer.

[Jason Moore]

You asked him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I said, I said Elliot, Andy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would say, I would take the upside of Elliot.

[Andy Holloway]

Both of these guys have big question marks because they're changing teams.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, you know, I'm going to take. Change my mind in a PPR league. I'm going to take Lamar Miller.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I am going to stick with my rankings and I will go with Lamar Miller as well. But it's close. I would not blame anyone for going the other way.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. So here's a very important question from Cole in Florida. He said better Sunday night, a fresh episode of Game of Thrones or Sunday Night Football. Is that matchup dependent?

[Mike Wright]

That is. That is team dependent for the Sunday Night Football. Sunday Night Football is pretty good about giving you two teams that you want to watch.

[Jason Moore]

What do you think the Foot Clan would be? What do you think they. Their reaction would be when they came in here? It's Monday morning and we're asking you for your Sunday Night Football thoughts. And it starts with Robert Baratheon. What do you think about that? Here's, here's Eazy or Robert Baratheon?

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the answer, Cole. The answer is you absolutely must do both on that night. But you watch football live.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that is the proper answer.

[Andy Holloway]

It's more fun you could get on Twitter.

[Jason Moore]

You can react to an trial by combat scoring.

[Andy Holloway]

Ooh, well, trial by combat scoring, that's gotta be thrown of thrones. So.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Unless you're. Unless you're watching Norman and Odell Beckham Jr. On Sunday night Football, in which case that takes the cake again.

[Mike Wright]

And I'll throw this. I like the point Jason brings up about Twitter. If you aren't on Twitter and following all your kind of your analysts and your friends and everything, a live football game on combining with Twitter is spectacular because there's a lot of us, you know, we're just stuck at our house. We can't get up to the. To the bar or get over to the friend's house and have that group atmosphere where Twitter lets you at least virtually interact with people. And there's just usually really funny stuff. And getting in on it is a. It enhances the football experience for me.

[Jason Moore]

And I think we're going to do some periscoping during games this year as well. That'll be a lot of fun.

[Andy Holloway]

Spoiler alert.

[Mike Wright]

All right, stand. He's making all these promises, and they'll all come true.

[Jason Moore]

I periscope last year. I'll do it again. All right, Andy Dalton. Question from Michael in Pasadena, California. He said he noticed we have very different opinions on Andy Dalton. Some as high as 6, another as low as 25. So what's the consensus on Andy Dalton? He had a great season last year, and I think that puts the onus on myself.

[Mike Wright]

It puts it on YouTube. I think I'm the. Yeah, you're in the middle of the deli meat. Right in the middle.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm at 6.

[Jason Moore]

Where do I have him?

[Andy Holloway]

Mike is at 13, and you've got him at 25, Andy.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so part of that ranking had to do with losing some resources, and part of it had to do with losing Hugh Jackson, who I think is just an outstanding coach, an offensive coordinator. It's probably too low. I said that when we talked about Andy Dalton on the quarterback show. 25 is too low for Andy Dalton. I just think that you're gonna see a running game. You're gonna see. And A.J. green is gonna be involved. Obviously, Tyler, if it's gonna be involved. I just. I'm just not hot on Andy Dalton. That's all it is. I mean, it's just a matter of thinking that he's had a couple of years that are very fantasy relevant. He got hurt last year, and he don't think they're gonna be very relevant.

[Mike Wright]

Till he got hurt.

[Jason Moore]

Was. Sure was. So it's too low.

[Mike Wright]

So you're saying you have a problem. When you have a problem, there's two steps. Uh. Oh, you identify the problem.

[Jason Moore]

All right, what's the problem?

[Mike Wright]

Step two, you fix it.

[Andy Holloway]

I Didn't know where you were going there.

[Mike Wright]

Fix it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I made a note. Move Dalton up a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So essentially, if you're listening, I'm Dalton to 22 and I really. I said it last episode. But I really like Tyler Boyd. I like him more than Marvin Jones as a talent. Mohammed Sanu didn't really do anything last year. Zero touchdowns. So the weapons are there for Andy Dalton and the draft position is going to be beautiful as he continues to fall.

[Jason Moore]

He. When we were talking about that two quarterback league, he's one of those guys. He's a perfect target for that could be pretty good. And for. For Boyd, looks like the jury's still out on our rankings. He's still. He's still outside that top three.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So. But that's something that could change tremendously if we know what his role is in training camp and heading into the season if we see some exciting things on the preseason football field. You think they're going to change the preseason to three games here soon?

[Mike Wright]

I think they might. I think they might.

[Andy Holloway]

I hope so because the fourth preseason game is a waste of everyone's time other than the few human beings that are actually playing in a fourth season game.

[Mike Wright]

I don't say it's a waste of time. I think it's the NFL kind of needs it. These guys need it. Who. Who maybe they haven't got their opportunity. And we know time after time there's guys who just for whatever reason, the opportunity. Opportunity hasn't happened. And then something like a preseason game for they show a little bit on tape so they get to stay around and maybe they build a career. Now it's as a season ticket holder that's paying him full price. Yeah, that. That stinks. So, I mean, if the veterans want to cut it, I'm fine if that's what the league wants to do. But. And this would never happen because the owners want their money is, you know, maybe charge less for the preseason. And I know it's never going to happen, but that's, I think a how I would handle it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

Before we close out today's show, I do want to remind everybody we have the 2016 ultimate draft kit available on the website. That's the official slogan. Said in that voice. That's the exact name of the product. Just said in a ridiculous voice. We've got that on the website, so you'll definitely want to check that out. Visit our [e-mail] I thought I had something else I wanted to bring did.

[Mike Wright]

We ever give the update on the Podcast Awards? I don't. I think we forgot to say it.

[Jason Moore]

The update is that nominations are being calculated right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

We're very thankful.

[Mike Wright]

Everybody who voted Foot Clan.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Nominated. Nominated.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Everybody who nominated us.

[Andy Holloway]

Because pretty soon, hopefully, people will have to go vote now.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. We'll find out if we are Indeed.

[Mike Wright]

Nominated on May 22.

[Jason Moore]

That is the projected date.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

And so that'll be pretty cool. I thought I wanted to bring something else up and I can't remember what it is. I think I'm gonna have to close the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we can close the show. I think it was probably just ultimate.

[Jason Moore]

Draftkid.com it's possible.

[Andy Holloway]

It's good. It's got my men in.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Allen Robinson next week. Allen Robinson, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. On the show next week, guaranteed. We'll be there. See you later.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you for listening. Another edition of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.thefantasyfootballers.com and follow us on Twitter the FFballers.