Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early QB Rankings Part 2: Values, Sleepers & Streamers

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast 2017 - Early QB Rankings Part 2: Values, Sleepers & Streamers

Release Date: April 20, 2017

---

Introduction

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright dive deep into early quarterback (QB) rankings, focusing on values, sleepers, and streamers beyond the top-tier quarterbacks. As the draft day approaches, the trio offers strategic insights to help listeners maximize their draft picks and secure a competitive edge in their fantasy leagues.

---

Key Segments

1. Listener Appeals and Personal Stories

Before delving into QB rankings, Mike Wright shares a heartfelt personal plea:

• Mike Wright [07:02]: “My aunt Lori has lupus, and it's taken a severe toll on her health and finances. We’ve set up a GoFundMe at footclanhelp.com to help cover her medical expenses.”

Wright even offers a humorous yet sincere incentive to encourage donations:

• Mike Wright [07:32]: “If we raise $1,000 with the hashtag #BunOff, I’m willing to chop off my man bun.”

This segment not only highlights the hosts' personal lives but also fosters a sense of community and support among listeners.

2. Fantasy Football News Highlights

The hosts discuss significant NFL news impacting fantasy football:

• James White Extension: An agreement with the Patriots keeps the Super Bowl hero on the team, potentially solidifying his role as a reliable fantasy asset.

• Mike Gillislee Signing: Wright praises Gillislee’s signing with the Patriots, emphasizing his high yards-per-carry average and red-zone efficiency:

  • Jason Moore [10:49]: “Mike Gillislee is one of the top running backs historically in fantasy terms, with over 300 yards rushing and a five-yard-per-carry average.”

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers on HBO's Hard Knocks: The feature is expected to boost visibility for key players like Tom Brady and Mike Evans, potentially affecting their fantasy value.

3. Detailed QB Rankings and Analysis

The core of the episode revolves around the hosts’ consensus QB rankings from number 13 onwards, offering in-depth analysis and rationale for each position.

---

Number 13: Blake Bortles

• Overview: A downgrade from previous seasons; concerns about consistency and team performance.

• Notable Quote:

  • Andy Holloway [15:21]: “Blake Bortles is like Space Mountain—exciting but can leave you feeling queasy with unpredictable performances.”

• Prospects: Improved team strategies and potential additions could stabilize his performance, making him a viable streaming option.

---

Number 14: Marcus Mariota

• Overview: High potential with significant upside against weaker defenses; concerns about performance against top-tier defenses.

• Notable Quote:

  • Jason Moore [22:26]: “Marcus Mariota can capitalize on poor defenses with his running ability, but his production drops against tougher teams.”

• Prospects: His rushing yards are a significant asset, but reliance on favorable matchups necessitates cautious usage.

---

Number 15: Andy Dalton

• Overview: Entering the season as a free agent with potential for positive regression in touchdowns; minimal team changes affecting his performance.

• Notable Quote:

  • Andy Holloway [26:15]: “Andy Dalton was last season's top touchdown scorer despite throwing over 4,200 yards, indicating potential for improvement.”

• Prospects: With the return of key receivers and a stable offensive line, Dalton is poised for a rebound, making him a strong late-round target.

---

Number 16: Cam Newton

• Overview: Polarizing figure due to dependency on rushing stats; questions about sustainability and consistency.

• Notable Quote:

  • Jason Moore [30:21]: “Cam Newton’s value is heavily reliant on his rushing ability, which has shown signs of decline.”

• Prospects: While his rushing remains valuable, diminishing efficiency in passing may limit his upside, positioning him as a high-risk, high-reward pick.

---

Number 17: Ben Roethlisberger

• Overview: Experienced quarterback with a history of top performances but plagued by injury concerns and inconsistent game-to-game performances.

• Notable Quote:

  • Andy Holloway [34:00]: “Ben Roethlisberger is too inconsistent and injury-prone to be a reliable every-week starter in fantasy leagues.”

• Prospects: While capable of explosive games, his overall reliability makes him a less desirable option compared to other available QBs.

---

Number 18: Carson Palmer

• Overview: Struggles with touchdown production despite solid passing stats; potential for regression.

• Notable Quote:

  • Jason Moore [43:49]: “Carson Palmer showed great volume but lacked efficiency in converting passes to touchdowns, akin to rookie struggles seen with other QBs.”

• Prospects: Unless Palmer can significantly improve his touchdown rate, his fantasy value remains questionable, relegating him to a late-round sleeper or streamer.

---

4. Additional QB Discussions

The hosts briefly touch on other quarterbacks, highlighting potential and concerns:

• Eli Manning: Considering his aging status and performance fluctuations, the outlook is mixed, with some potential upside if key targets like Brandon Marshall perform well.

• Ryan Tannehill: Viewed as a sleeper with the capability to improve, especially with continuity in the offensive system and returning receivers.

• Carson Wentz: Despite a stellar rookie passing volume, touchdown inefficiency mirrors Blake Bortles' rookie struggles, warranting cautious optimism.

---

5. Listener Mailbag and Interactive Segment

Listeners posed various questions regarding drafting strategies and player preferences:

• Home Team Bias: Discussed the impact of favoring players from one's hometown, with advice to balance personal preferences with strategic considerations to avoid undermining draft value.

• Trade Decisions: A listener debated trading high-value players for multiple assets. The hosts advised caution, emphasizing the importance of assessing long-term value and potential upside.

• Player Retention: Another question focused on choosing between retaining Tevin Coleman or Willie Snead, with the consensus leaning towards securing Coleman early to ensure ownership rather than waiting for later rounds.

---

Concluding Insights

The Fantasy Footballers emphasize the importance of:

• Late-Round QB Targets: Identifying QBs with high upside who can outperform their draft positions without compromising earlier picks on more reliable positions like running back and wide receiver.

• Streaming Strategy: Utilizing a diverse QB roster to capitalize on favorable matchups while mitigating risks associated with inconsistent performances.

• Balancing Personal Biases: Encouraging listeners to prioritize overall team strength and strategic value over personal affinities to optimize their fantasy lineups.

As draft day looms, the hosts remind listeners to leverage the strategies discussed to enhance their draft outcomes and secure championship runs.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Mike Wright [07:02]: “We are forwarding to [e-mail] for a personal plea to help out my aunt.”

• Andy Holloway [15:21]: “Blake Bortles is like Space Mountain—exciting but can leave you feeling queasy with unpredictable performances.”

• Jason Moore [22:26]: “Marcus Mariota can capitalize on poor defenses with his running ability, but his production drops against tougher teams.”

• Andy Holloway [26:15]: “Andy Dalton was last season's top touchdown scorer despite throwing over 4,200 yards, indicating potential for improvement.”

• Jason Moore [30:21]: “Cam Newton’s value is heavily reliant on his rushing ability, which has shown signs of decline.”

• Andy Holloway [34:00]: “Ben Roethlisberger is too inconsistent and injury-prone to be a reliable every-week starter in fantasy leagues.”

• Jason Moore [43:49]: “Carson Palmer showed great volume but lacked efficiency in converting passes to touchdowns, akin to rookie struggles seen with other QBs.”

---

Final Thoughts

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for fantasy football managers seeking to navigate the QB landscape in the upcoming draft. By highlighting undervalued quarterbacks and providing strategic advice, The Fantasy Footballers equip their audience with the knowledge to make informed decisions and enhance their chances of fantasy success.

For more detailed analyses and fantasy insights, visit fantasyfootballers.com and join their vibrant community.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. Before we start today's show, I have to let you know what I did last night.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no, you didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

I had another pint, of course, of Halo Top ice cream. You guys heard us talk about it on Tuesday. We thank them for sponsoring today's show. Look, Halo Top Creamery. It's amazing. All natural, premium ingredients, each pint of ice cream, each pint is only about 300 calories, which means that I can eat them nightly very guilt free. So head to halo top.com, use their store locator to find a pint near you if I haven't already purchased it and give them a follow on social media. Halo topcreamery. Hey, this is Mark Tavius Bryant, aka.

[Jason Moore]

Marty McBride, and you listen to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

It is Thursday. It's Thursday. It is one week from draft day.

[Mike Wright]

It certainly is Thursday. I'm glad you got that out correctly because it is, it is boldly written. It's Tuesday.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right. I have to make up for Brooks's work in the office. Here it is Thursday, April 20, and we are back again. The fantasy Footballers. Jason Moore, Mike the fantasy Hitman Wright. That means the draft and Andy Holloway is in. One week, one week away. We're very excited. We're happy you're joining us on another episode of the podcast today. And we are talking quarterbacks. We're going 12 or number 13 through however far we get.

[Jason Moore]

We're talking the quarterbacks that actually for most of the foot Clan, because those top guys were not drafted. These are where you find the diamonds in the rough late in your draft and win your hashtag Foot Clan title.

[Andy Holloway]

And incredibly, also where you find Cam Newt. Oh, in the. Not in the. Our top 12. This is our consensus ranking episode. So we'll be talking quarterbacks values. If you've listened to this show before, you know we're big fans of waiting on drafting a quarterback so that you can stock up on those premium positions that kind of drop off the ledge, so to speak. So you get your running back, get your wide receivers and we like waiting on quarterbacks and finding value or streaming them. So if you haven't listened to the show during the season, each week we come out with our streaming quarterbacks of the week. And I believe if you looked at our picks last year, we would have put you with about the sixth best quarterback. If you stayed with a streaming Quarterback. So you'll learn a lot about that on the show today. I do want to turn your attention to the website, the fantasy footballers.com. there's a neat article up there by Nick Martinez.

[Mike Wright]

Spectacular.

[Andy Holloway]

One of our good writers and he wrote a history of fantasy football article. It's very interesting.

[Jason Moore]

I know where you came from.

[Andy Holloway]

Pretty neat. Yeah. Check us out on Twitter @ the FF Ballers. Quick question of the day, gentlemen, from Dan in Houston. He says, what are your feelings on drafting a quarterback higher than you normally would in order to pair them with a first or second round wide receiver he'll be throwing to? So a good example of this would be, let's say you spent some early draft capital on Jordy Nelson. Do you reach on Aaron Rodgers? Or if you spend some early capital on Mr. Michael Thomas, Michael Thomas, do you spend, you know, you reach for Drew Brees. What do you guys think?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and I think a better, more realistic example because reaching on Aaron Rodgers or even Drew Brees is probably hard to do. I mean, that's Rogers.

[Mike Wright]

It's your first and second pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Your league may not give you the.

[Jason Moore]

Option, but let's say you got Mike Evans and you know, Jameis Winston, where he's late, do you reach on him to pair him? For me personally, I like having quarterbacks with wide receiver. I like the stack, I like the, the double stuff. There's a, there's a but how much.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you like it?

[Jason Moore]

I like it enough to be nothing more than a tight breaker. So I'm on the board and I'm not going to reach around ahead for a quarterback because he stacks with my wide receiver. But if I am looking at two guys that I've got exactly, you know, I've got them statted out if they're pretty much back to back and Same tier. Yeah, same exact tier. You know, I've got a different guy scoring a point or two more than Jameis. I might take Jameis ahead if I if to make the stack.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm very similar. I might be slightly more aggressive, but it's one of those things where it's just, it's, it's fun, it's nice. It's absolutely delightful on a Sunday morning to be watching your fantasy score like, oh, this is going terribly and, and then one 30 yard touchdown and you score 50 points, bajillion points. You're like, oh, well, everything is okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there's an argument to be made against the stack. Right. I mean if Mike Evans comes out this year and you know he went Double digits and then three touchdowns and then double digit touchdowns. If he comes out and scores four touchdowns, you're going to be really sad. You have that stack.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, and you have situations like New Orleans with the home road splits for Drew Brees. I mean, do you get yourself in a bad road matchup and you're stacked up with, you know, cost you a week. It can win you a week. Probably evens out. So. All right, let's talk some news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you got, you got something you want to talk about first.

[Jason Moore]

I do.

[Mike Wright]

Foot clan. I have a very personal matter before we jump.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Jason Moore]

Perfect timing.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodness.

[Mike Wright]

Was that the mailbag?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Sometimes the mouse did not scroll.

[Mike Wright]

So it's Brooks's fault.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks did that.

[Mike Wright]

It's a very personal thing for me. My, my aunt Lori, a spectacular woman. Just a large part of my growing up. Just. I love this woman dearly. She's had a very, very rough go the last decade or so. She has lupus. And if you have a friend or family member who deals with lupus, you know, it's. It's serious business. There's a lot of complications that come with it. Well, she. Because of it, to help treat. She's had a lot. Had to do a lot of steroid type things which have absolutely destroyed her mouth and her teeth. And she's to the point where she has to address this. So she has. And she's not at a financial place where she can really just mitigate this. So she's put up a GoFundMe and we are forwarding to [e-mail] and just a personal plea of help out my aunts. And I'm offering up something.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there's some incentive to help here.

[Mike Wright]

Something very personal. My man bun is very. What's the polarizing on this show?

[Jason Moore]

People love it, people hate it.

[Mike Wright]

And this is how strongly I feel.

[Andy Holloway]

Is there any chance you'll take your hair out of your man bun right now and show how much hair you got?

[Mike Wright]

You want me to do it on the show?

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

I gotta take the headphones off. But this is how strongly I feel. And what I'm willing to offer.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Is if people go to FootClanHelp.com and they donate.

[Jason Moore]

Here, get this.

[Andy Holloway]

Look at that. Look how much hair that man has.

[Jason Moore]

If you are usually just a subscriber on itunes, which we thank you for, go to YouTube and check out.

[Andy Holloway]

You've got so much hair.

[Jason Moore]

You have no idea how.

[Andy Holloway]

But so you're offering this up.

[Mike Wright]

So if you donate and you make a hashtag, you know, get the hashtag. Of course, the. But if you hashtag bun off, and we can raise $1,000 with that hashtag, I am willing to chop off the man bun now. And I know there's. There's some out there who are thinking, well, I want to help, but I love Mike's hair. I know you're out there, so you don't have to use the hashtag. You can do whatever you want. Your help is very appreciated. But a little extra incentive if you want to get out there, help make a difference in my aunt's life, and you want me to cut my hair off.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

If FootClainHelp.com hashtag bun off. If you want to make this happen.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to see it.

[Mike Wright]

Hopefully you just want to help my aunt. No, I mean, but this, this, like, I feel very strongly that I, that she needs my help. And so I'm willing to offer this up. I'll put it on the line if I got it.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's a lot of hair.

[Mike Wright]

It's a lot of hair.

[Jason Moore]

If I know one thing about the foot clan, I know that your hair will be gone soon.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk news. And again, the URL is footclan help.com for that. Adam Schefter reporting. James White and the Patriots have reached an agreement on a three year extension with James White, Super bowl hero. 14 receptions in the Super Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

James White by Dion Lewis.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we'll see. Yeah. And then Mike Gillislee signed a two year, $6.4 million offer sheet with the Patriots.

[Jason Moore]

That's the much bigger news. Mike, you, you nailed this.

[Andy Holloway]

A few weeks ago, Mike said, he said that Buffalo made a mistake placing a fifth round tender on my original round, original round tender on Gillislee. Basically making the point that if they had just forked up a little bit more money, it would have been a second round tender, about $900,000, and they would have pretty much guaranteed. There's no way that, you know, New England's giving up or somebody's giving up a second round tender for Mike Gillesley.

[Mike Wright]

He's, he's excellent. He's a very good running back.

[Andy Holloway]

But now, now you have a division rival doing what a great division rival does, a winner does for the second year in a row and putting them in a tough position to try to match this contract offer. So now they're either spending more money or they're losing a very important piece of that team. Look, Lashawn McCoy. I don't think he can carry the kind of workload that he would need to carry by himself. So you're talking about Buffalo having to find another answer now. I comically said, hey, go get LeGarrett blunt and let's, let's just be hilarious about this little swap Sees. But Mike Gillisle fantasy implications. If he lands, let's say they don't match and he ends up in New England. And now you've got James White. You know he's there. Rex Burkhead. You know he's there. Mike Gillislee.

[Jason Moore]

I hope we can keep Mike Gillislee's name down as low as possible, which is going to be hard, especially on draft Twitter, because people love Mike Gillislee. If he stays late in fantasy drafts, I think he will be similar to LeGarrett Blunt, one of those unbelievably great late round values. Especially because you don't know for sure. Is it him? Is it Rex? Is it James White? I believe that Gillis Lee is a really good running back. The RB Scout on Twitter showed that since 1970, only 10 running backs have more than 150 carries and over a five yard per carry average. And the names in there are, you know, the Bo Jacksons and Jamal Charles and Mike Gillislee is one of those. And I don't remember where I saw it. I would give credit on Twitter if either of you remember. But he is. The other thing is he had more 20 yard carries last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, this is crazy.

[Jason Moore]

Than David Johnson or Le'Veon Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's nuts.

[Jason Moore]

So Gillis Lee, you know, with all the opportunities on the one yard line, which the Patriots get, will certainly be a value.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it feels like at this point that Gilly would take that goal line.

[Andy Holloway]

Certainly, certainly. And he's proven he can do it. Eight touchdowns last year. The Bucks, I'd say.

[Mike Wright]

I know the Foot Clan is concerned about me with Rex Burkhead.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's true.

[Mike Wright]

Good news. Foot Clan. Mike Gillesley's on both of my dynasty rosters.

[Andy Holloway]

That is the good news.

[Jason Moore]

You're fine.

[Andy Holloway]

The Bucks.

[Mike Wright]

I don't want people to be concerned.

[Andy Holloway]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the featured team on this year's Hard Knocks.

[Mike Wright]

Love it. Yes. Roberto Aguayo.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's not the name I'm. It'd be fun to see Winston and Evans.

[Mike Wright]

Going to be great, dude.

[Andy Holloway]

Desean Jackson on. On the television.

[Mike Wright]

I love this. I love this selection very much.

[Jason Moore]

I have always enjoyed Hard Knocks dirt.

[Andy Holloway]

Cutter former Arizona State head I had.

[Jason Moore]

To stop watching Hard Knocks middle of last season. I could not take Fisher. This will be a fun, fun upcoming season. We'll do.

[Andy Holloway]

I would do just about anything to have the Bucks sign Fisher to some small coaching role. I mean, that would just be all right.

[Jason Moore]

Special teams.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, guess what? The NFL regular season schedules announced live tonight at 8:00pm on NFL Network.

[Jason Moore]

Huge.

[Andy Holloway]

It's exciting. And for those of you out there wondering, hey, what are the fancy implications of that, you know, if the schedule deals you a nice hand, certain quarterbacks like the ones we're talking about on the show today, may look really attractive in the beginning of the year. Maybe they've got more home games. Maybe you have a better schedule laying out before you. Or the inverse where you can get a guy, you know, and you know, you got to wait a couple weeks on him and then his schedule opens up.

[Jason Moore]

So we get, we get questions a lot of times on what do we use as tiebreakers. When you're in a draft, you got two guys you like and people use all sorts of different things. One of the things, one of the things that I use more often than anything else, and I don't think we've ever brought it up on the show before, is if I've got two guys that I see as the same and they're both on the clock, I'm going to then only as a tiebreaker. But I look at the first four games because I would rather have the guy. You know, we trade a lot in our league. If you're in a league that has activity and trades, you want that guy that's going to come out as a Marvin Jones and be able to, you know, be traded. I prefer people getting off to a hot start than someone who I think is going to be a back half player when it comes to the draft day.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you guys have any other news or can we get into the quarterback?

[Mike Wright]

Let's do it.

[Jason Moore]

Quarterbacks.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's a warning. If you're operating heavy machinery, if you've just eaten something that doesn't settle easily. This is the general warning that goes.

[Mike Wright]

Out now when we have to do this every time.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 30, well, he didn't, you know, it had been scarier if he ended up in the top 12. But number 13 on our consensus quarterback rankings, by the way, if you want to HEAR those first 12, go listen to Tuesday's show. Yeah, get over there. Number 13, Blake Bortles. You know, 13 is a downgrade from where he finished last year he finished.

[Jason Moore]

10Th from where he's finished last two years.

[Mike Wright]

You make the comment of, well, it would have been weird if he was in the top 12 like he has been the past two years.

[Jason Moore]

It's actually hard, I feel like, to take him out. Ironically, Mike and I have him as our quarterback. 16 and six point leagues and you've got him at nine the last two years. Say that even in a bad year. Right. Last year he looked horrendous. Worst case scenario, his, you know, attempts per touchdown were.

[Andy Holloway]

I got a new nickname for Lake Bortles.

[Jason Moore]

Let's hear it.

[Andy Holloway]

Space Mountain. Because you, it's a famous ride. You're happy you went on it, but when it's over, you're wobbly and you might throw up.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, dude, I love. I don't know if I can handle this because Space Mountain's my favorite ride. I don't want Blake Bortles associated with.

[Mike Wright]

I like going deeper because it's. I mean, you're in the pitch black. It almost seems like he plays quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

When you come out, you've got enough points but you're sick to your stomach and you don't know what's going on. So Space Mountain is our number 13. And look, there's, there's reasons to believe. There are, that he's going to be as good, if not better than last year. In fact, I believe I have him. Do I have him higher than you guys?

[Mike Wright]

Jason said you have him at nine.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was going to say I like him.

[Mike Wright]

I need to move him up. If I'm at 6.

[Andy Holloway]

I like him because I think the team is at the end of the year, they figured out how to use Allen Robinson, put him in a better position to succeed. There's a decent chance that they draft a high profile running back to take some pressure off of him.

[Jason Moore]

And there's also the rumors of his shoulder being injured for the majority of last year, which if that is true, I mean, you never know if those are excuses made after a poor season or if it's legit. But if it's legit, that kind of affects a quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

I will say I threw out the word. Well, last year was basically worst case scenario. I take it back because worst case scenario is this season. If he ends up getting pulled and losing his job, that'd be worst case scenario for him. But last year we talked about this quarterback 10. He's never rushed for less than 310 yards. 300 yards rushing for a quarterback is a tremendous floor. It really helps, especially Bortles. Is a. A little bit interception prone. However, final games, they eliminated the Gus bus. They tore that ticket up. And then Andy had to tear up his. His marriage.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

To Gus Bradley.

[Andy Holloway]

And my autograph photo.

[Mike Wright]

I paid $7 for those final games, man. Over 300 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a bold prediction here. I think the Jacksonville Jaguars draft a quarterback in the top two rounds.

[Mike Wright]

They may.

[Andy Holloway]

And I think, I think Blake Bortles. This is prove it year. This is it. I mean, you don't you come out now. I'm putting myself on the side of believing that he'll do enough to be fantasy relevant and stay in that role. But it's still possible. Look at last year, finished 10th as a fantasy quarterback. Still possible. You succeed in fantasy and your fifth year option is declined and you're not back as a quarterback at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Say what you want about injuries. A team normally doesn't come out and say, we're going to rebuild your foundation through mechanics and reps. If your shoulder is hurt, normally they say, all right, we'll get him healthy and he'll do what he does. No, we're going to rebuild you, Blake, because we have to. The old version is disturbing us. So, you know, and there's trade rumors, you know, Arizona or New York, the Giants. There's talk of Blake portals being shipped out for a mid round pick at some point in time if things do not work out.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So I think they're going to draft. I mean, if Deshaun Watson ended up on Jacksonville or somebody like, I mean, they've hosted these guys. I think it's possible they draft somebody.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that. That could certainly happen. We've seen mocks where that's happening. But I will throw this out there. Blake Bortles is right now. He's completely free in drafts. He is undrafted.

[Andy Holloway]

That's why all the stuff I just said doesn't even matter to you as a fantasy fan.

[Jason Moore]

He's undrafted in many leagues and you know, if my backup play and I've got other guys that I certainly want over Blake Bortles. But if I went through the entire draft and every time I got to a round where I had a target, they were gone. I'm not worrying because if I had to grab Blake Bortles at the very end of a draft, I would much rather have him than Joe Flacco or Alex Smith or guys like that. Because we've seen two years in a row where he's Been a top option as far as at the end of the year in fantasy, you know, he can get it done. If he doesn't, I'll just stream cut him. And stream.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And then just a reminder of cutting.

[Andy Holloway]

Him is super delightful.

[Mike Wright]

Alan Hearns was a gigantic part of the. Of his success in 2015. And Alan Hearns, we were. We were talking about this in the office and it was like, man, how many games did Alan Hearns play?

[Jason Moore]

I felt like it was three.

[Andy Holloway]

Was his success because he looked so much like an opposing cornerback? Is that one of the.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the thing. He actually played in 11 games, but you can see the injury really take its toll after seven weeks where he essentially disappeared from all stat sheets. And just watching him, it doesn't look the same. But through those first seven weeks, and I know you're extrapolating, but he was having a good year. I mean, he was on pace for a thousand yards in those first seven weeks. So to lose him was a big deal. Yet a kind of a mini breakout from Marquis Lee, who was a high draft pick. I mean, it's. It's very possible for Blake Bortles to not return to insanity, but to. To return to being, you know, a good fantasy quarterback. And sometimes you just got to remove yourself from the real game a la Tim Tebow and just soak up those fantasy points even though they're disgusting.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But before we move on to our next quarterback, want to thank today's sponsor, Pristine Auction. The best, the best sports memorabilia site in the entire known in all of.

[Andy Holloway]

The land of all time.

[Mike Wright]

We went very different sized objects. But look, you can. If you're on the YouTube, you can see our man, Tevin Cole.

[Jason Moore]

Man.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you got to get our JI up there for the next.

[Mike Wright]

Our office is decked out in pristine auction gear because we never fret or drip an ounce of sweat about the authentication of the signature because all of their signatures are 100% authentic. They go through the very best vetting process. And this stuff, I'm telling you, foot clan the prices, great prices, you would be shocked if you have not jumped on there and seen what you can get done. Because it's an auction system. Sometimes you get in there and you just. You steal things. Yeah, I'm sorry, Pristine, but sometimes I steal things from you. But so just.

[Andy Holloway]

Just grabbed a David Johnson autographed full jersey. 95 bucks.

[Mike Wright]

There you go. I mean, it's spectacular. Head over to Pristine Auction. P R I S T I n e auction.com. make a completely free Account let them know that the footballer sent you.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what? Glisten's just like a me a new jersey from pristine auction. A 23 year old quarterback named Marcus Mariota.

[Jason Moore]

Mariota.

[Andy Holloway]

Now if you're in a dynasty league, you love seeing that 23 and you love seeing an increase in production. Despite playing only 12 games last year, still finishes the 13th best fantasy quarterback. Lots to like about what Marcus Mariota did last year. The question for you guys sits at number 14 on our consensus rankings, Mr. Moore. Does this ascension continue for him or you have doubts?

[Jason Moore]

I do have doubts. I have doubts for a couple of different reasons. Now I like Marcus Mariota in the sense that he is. He's young, he's proven that he can get it done, he can run the ball, which we know running quarterbacks, the yards are stupidly valuable for quarterbacks. However, there are concerns which I find in when he faces top defenses and when he faces bottom half defenses when it comes to the passing production defense. And it's not he. I mean you talk about Drew Brees in their home road splits and Big Ben and these, these massive splits.

[Andy Holloway]

Those splits usually John Claude Van Dam levels.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they. Oh, good one. That was nice.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry.

[Jason Moore]

But the split For Mariota from 2015 and 2016, when he plays home road, it's like 0.1 points different. It doesn't matter. Home road, that's fine. But if he plays a top half defense, he's only scoring 17 and a half fantasy points per game. And when he plays a bottom half defense, it's 26.17 fantasy points a game. So that leads me to believe that what I've got there is a streamer so far. A guy that can take advantage of bad Ds with his rolling mobility and defenses buy into that. He dumps it over the top, especially inside that 10 yard line and gets those touchdowns against poor defenses where good defenses don't do that. Mike, I know you've got some. Mike's got some great stats on his.

[Mike Wright]

Inside the 10 zone. The 10 zone. We talked about this. That, I mean when you're inside the 10, probability of throwing a touchdown goes way up. You had Aaron Rodgers who 46.7% of his passes inside the 10 were a touchdown.

[Jason Moore]

Well, yeah, but he's a.

[Mike Wright]

That was, that was, that was second number one surprisingly is Marcus Mariota where almost 61% of his passes inside the 10 were a touchdown. That's outrageous.

[Andy Holloway]

No one unsustainable is what you mean.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean most of these guys are in the high 40s, or I mean low 40s, high 30s. So his efficiency was through the roof.

[Andy Holloway]

And he has Delaney Walker. So I don't want to discredit his weapons.

[Mike Wright]

He's got Marco, Murray and Rashad.

[Andy Holloway]

But listen, listen. Generally you would think, look, Jordy Nelson is a monster. Yeah, red zone, Mike Evans, monster. He doesn't have an outside receiver that you look as. Look, if they brought Corey Davis in, does that change his ability in those tough defensive matchups? Look, you're not taking advantage of bad cornerbacks with an underside. I mean, Rashard Matthews is not a small guy, but he's not a big guy.

[Mike Wright]

I think that the running game has a huge thing to do with this. Their offensive line, according to Football Outsiders, they were the fourth best run blocking line in the league. And I mean, you saw it. DeMarco Murray completely came back to life and was dominant. And when you got to worry about that guy inside the 10, it can make things a little bit easier for your quarterback. Your weeks 5 through 12. You will remember this if you're playing fantasy last year when Marcus Mariota was basically the quarterback one, quarterback two, depending on your scoring. But like Jason was talking about with those splits, you go back and look at the teams that he was playing. It was, it was this unbelievable cupcake schedule. I don't know how a team managed to luck into that many weeks in a row. Eight weeks in a row where he was averaging 2.6 touchdowns a game pass.

[Andy Holloway]

It was incredible. What a run. I mean, that carried a lot of fantasy teams into the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Where unfortunately he couldn't help you because he was hurt.

[Mike Wright]

Hopefully you bailed out.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 15 on our consensus rankings is my number eight quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

I don't, this is my, don't hate it.

[Andy Holloway]

This is my hottest of takes on my initial rankings. I wasn't even sure how I felt after I got done with the projections, but it's Andy Dalton, man with the fire, fire hair, Andy Dalton. Last year you had a lot of change happen around Andy Dalton. You had the loss of Gio Bernard early. You had the loss of Marvin Jones. You had the loss of Mohamed Sanu. You have the loss of Tyler Iford. Okay, I almost got a handful of pass catching changes for Andy Dalton. You had a lack of production from Jeremy Hill in the running game and you had a quarterback that ended up finishing 17 in fantasy production. One of the things that I love about Andy Dalton coming into this year is obviously he's basically free. You know, you're talking about a 12th round pick, but the potential for some. And you lost AJ Green at the end of the year, by the way.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, you did.

[Andy Holloway]

So you have the potential. There's the full hand of five players. You did it. But you have the potential for some, some positive regression in the, in the touchdown category. For Andy Dalton, what did he have? 18 last year. That's a ridiculously low number for a guy that still threw over 4,200 yards, which is the kind of numbers that, like Matthew Stafford's putting up the touchdowns. That's anomalously low. And. And you don't have a history with Andy Dalton where he cannot finish inside that top 12. He's done it two times before. As high as number three overall. Well, AJ Green's still there. Geo's going to be back another year.

[Jason Moore]

For Tyler Boyd, even 2015. A lot of times people just look at the finishing numbers and the guy was destroying everybody. He was the 18th best quarterback, then 17th. So that's where he belongs. But that's, that's not true because he only played 13 games and really, I think it was only 12. If you look at how early he.

[Andy Holloway]

Got hurt in that game against Broken Thumb.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. During those first 12 games, he was on pace to be a top six quarterback. So when you look at this past year, they lose, they lost Mohamed Sanu.

[Andy Holloway]

They lost Marvin Jones, they lost so many different weapons.

[Jason Moore]

And you had him go From a previous five years, every 20 passes was a touchdown for him to this year again, just like we talked about Russell Wilson last show, it was every 31 passes was a touchdown. That is, that's too big a gap to believe that that's going to repeat, which means he's going to bounce back. His touchdown number should improve. And I agree with Andy. When it comes to, at the end of a draft, Andy Dalton will be one of my number one targets.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I love it. And there's a lot being said, you know. Well, his offensive line has fallen apart. Well, last year they weren't very good. Statistically, they were 25th and allowing 2.6 sacks a game. Andy Dalton still threw for over 4,000 yards. I mean, he, it's, he's done it with bad pass protection. If he can get some healthier weapons, which by you, you would think that's going to happen.

[Jason Moore]

It's.

[Mike Wright]

He, he should return to the norm. And what I like about Andy Dalton, this is when you were looking at Matt Ryan last year, you see a guy who's near the top for yardage, his accuracy is excellent. He's he's checking all these boxes in passing categories, but he's way down in touchdowns. That's a perfect late round target because you, you can feel confident that the yards and all that other stuff is going to remain the same, but the touchdowns should come back.

[Jason Moore]

Matt Ryan is a perfect example.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk about a guy going in the sixth round, number 16 on our consensus rankings.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh, that sounds like a guy.

[Andy Holloway]

We're not taking Cam Newton. Cam Newton.

[Mike Wright]

You should have given the stop operating heavy machinery warning for this because there's going to be some upset people.

[Andy Holloway]

Are there, I mean, are people after last year, are people still. I mean, I guess JDP says yes. Sixth round. What do we do with Cam Newton?

[Mike Wright]

Guys? It's. Cam Newton is extremely tough because I will, I feel like I've been the toughest critic on Cam Newton on this show. But I will also readily admit of these group of guys that we're talking about, Cam has the easiest path to being a top five. Absolutely guy.

[Andy Holloway]

And Jason has him at 12 by the way. He's the highest out of our three. So.

[Mike Wright]

But here is the problem. Cam Newton's passing stats historically cannot get it done. And the rushing is everything for Cam Newton when you're talking fantasy. However, last year, the first season of under 100 carries, the first time he's ever rushed for under 500 yards, he got beat up. And yes, if you watched him play, he was getting hit hard, getting hit often. I looked back at some of the prolific running quarterbacks and when did their, those really high rushing numbers start to go away? Donovan McNabb, after years or after year six, it really fell off. John Elway, it was pretty much every year but I mean he was a mid 200 rushing yard guy anyway so it wasn't like these outrageous 500 yard seasons. McNair, year seven, Randall Cunningham, he had six prolific rushing years and then it as a starter and then it kind of fell off. Well, guess where Cam Newton is. He's right in that range of these other big time running quarterbacks. When all their, their, their high level rushing stats went away, I took a look at how would Cam do if, if his rushing stays the same as last year but you get his just average because last year was really, really bad for Kieran. Throwing the air like that was, I think that's, it was too low.

[Jason Moore]

He's better than last year, he's better.

[Mike Wright]

Than that, but he's certainly not as good as two years ago, the MVP season. But if you average just what he's done his entire career through passing and give him last year's rushing quarterback. 17. Yeah, it's just, it's if the rushing goes away, if those rushing touchdowns and rushing yards go away. Cam Newton is not that top five, top ten guy anymore.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it makes complete sense. It's always been based on his rushing when he came out rookie year and on. It's just how does his rushing go? And what I saw last year was when he got really beat up and banged up, they stopped using him that way. He had a hesitation. But the question.

[Mike Wright]

I don't blame him.

[Jason Moore]

I don't blame him either. But the reason I really don't blame him is because Carolina's record was so bad. It was like this year is kind of. Their aspirations were gone pretty early and are you going to keep killing yourself for a lost cause coming into this season? I guess what I'm saying is I don't. I'm not calling for the abomination of his rushing statistics. The abolishment.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. That's a much better word for it. The abomination.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you did. Said. Well, yeah, you could have worded it. You could have grammatically organized it in a way that said, you know, I'm not calling for his rushing stats to be an abomination. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

See, on this podcast you get just.

[Andy Holloway]

Putting words in the right order, fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

Football advice and grammar instructions.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

So, you know, his upside is clearly there. You do have to keep in mind, though, he lost Ted Ginn. Ted Ginn has always been a huge fantasy asset for him to be able to take those long bombs. Now, if they replace him with someone like a John Ross. Exactly. But if they take that number eight pick, as many people think, and grab a Fournette or a McCaffrey, you're not getting Ross then. Right? I mean, I'm just saying then, then that shifts at a different direction and back to the running it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, Cam Newton comes with tons of risk at its current adp. So.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no, that's the whole problem in the sixth round. Is he. Is he worth.

[Andy Holloway]

I have him ranked 16. I totally acknowledge the fact he could be a top five guy. He's done it four times and he has to be.

[Jason Moore]

He has to be a top five guy if you're taking him in the six.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

You're saying, I know he's going to because if you don't get that value, then you've wasted that pick. If he's a quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

12, let's go with Big Ben, number 17.

[Jason Moore]

Get bodied.

[Andy Holloway]

I Got no guilt. I have no guilt about burying Mr. Big Ben Roethlisberger. In fact, he was one of the guys that when I went through an individually statted, he dropped the most out of where I had kind of initially thought he'd be. I've got him down at 19.

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

And all you.

[Jason Moore]

I don't blame.

[Andy Holloway]

All you've got to do is look, he's been playing since 2004. We have a track record for Big Ben. He's not going. He doesn't have anomalous rushing touchdowns or rushing yards to count on. Big Ben can't play 16 games. He's done it, what, twice in three times? Three times, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But granted there's a lot of. There's 15.

[Andy Holloway]

He had a top five year. He's had two.

[Jason Moore]

Two?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

In how many years? Thirteen years.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The last.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just too much risk. The seventh round pick for Big Ben. I pass, please. No, thank you.

[Jason Moore]

Completely. And to speak to the injury concerns, the last eight years, he's only played 16 games once in eight years. During that stretch, he averages missing two games a year.

[Andy Holloway]

But the biggest 14 car crashes a game.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And so you go, okay, I'm just imagining just trucks coming in off the edge.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's like the car commercial Bo Jackson where he grabs a car.

[Jason Moore]

You know the worst thing though for me is if you are drafting this is draft season where you're going to go in and you're going to say, this guy's my starting quarterback. What you're looking for in a draft is you're looking for a guy late who can take that step up and be that every week. Great starter where you don't have to stream. I would rather have drafted Matt Ryan last year and have a great starter every single week than draft a guy who can be good sometimes and bad other times. You're not getting that from Big Ben, like necessarily. We know for sure that he is not an every week starter. He has such a long history of his home road splits being crazy bad that you can't start him on the road. On the road, at home, he is 13.2 points better at home than on the road. And what that does is that mean he. He is 16.6 points on the road. You want to know just on the road, I'm taking roads versus road games. The only guys last year who were, you know, fantasy starting quarterbacks or NFL starting quarterbacks worse than Big Ben, fantasy wise, were Carson Wentz on the road, Flacco on the road, Trevor Simeon on the Road and Jared Goff on the road, that's the group he is with. So if you want to go ahead and draft high a Big Ben and then every other week be starting Jared Goff or Trevor, Simeon or Flacco on the road, that's what you're getting.

[Andy Holloway]

I hear when people swallow poison, they think about golf on the road and then that gets that right out. Marcus Mariota or Ben Roethlisberger.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh.

[Andy Holloway]

What dance would you rather?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's Mariota for sure. If Mariota has, I believe, the ability to get better against those poor defense or against those good defenses.

[Andy Holloway]

Big is so attractive because he has these games where he puts up five touchdowns and he has Antonio Brown and maybe Martavis Bryant, Le'Veon Bell out of the backfield.

[Mike Wright]

Swings, swings things for me. If we know for sure Martavis is back, Ben will get a bump in my rankings. I don't know if he's going to shoot up to be a top 10 guy, but that 2014 where he was great, he also played all 16 games. But I mean, that's. Martavis Bryant is involved in that and so he's.

[Jason Moore]

If it's.

[Mike Wright]

If ADP is not a factor, I would probably still take Ben over Martiota.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about number 18 on our consensus quarterback rankings. A guy that actually could be a steal.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe.

[Andy Holloway]

Could.

[Mike Wright]

Could.

[Andy Holloway]

If you like 37 year olds. All right. Carson Palmer comes in at number 18 on our rankings coming off a year that was disappointing for tons of Cardinal fans and Carson included, played 15 games, finished number 18 on the fantasy rankings in 2015, he was number five. The questions are all over the place. One, this team changed into a running team last year. 20 touchdowns on the ground. David Johnson led the way. Larry Fitzgerald is older. Michael Floyd is gone. John Brown was inconsistent. This wasn't the team that Arians put together in 2015.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you know what's crazy is they actually only scored four more rushing touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

Than the year before.

[Mike Wright]

Than the year before.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe that should concern you even more.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Well then. And what's this whole thing is bizarre for Carson Palmer because the Arizona offense was still Great. They were sixth in total offensive points. They were second in 2015. So you're not talking this meteoric crash that happened to the offense?

[Jason Moore]

No, it was Chandler Catanzaro is why they were bad. But go on, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

It's just. It was the touchdown pace came back to normal. He. So in 2015, 6.5% of his passes were touchdowns. That's not his career average. Is 4.7. So he was a guy that you looked at it and you just said, well there's touchdown regression. He went back down to 4.4 of his passes for touchdowns. And like that's the big difference for Palmer. I don't think he could be that top five guy. However, like I said, it was a four touchdown swing from passing to rushing and if he had those four touchdowns, he was actually a quarterback one. He would have been right there at 12. So he still was a usable guy. The return of John Brown, they're going, you know, they're going to bring somebody else in. The offense has to do that so he could return, you know, to a lower tiered quarterback one but that quarterback five year, that's, I've let that go. It's dust in the wind.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, any other thoughts on Palmer before we talk about Eli Manning?

[Jason Moore]

Eli? No, no, because I think Eli is very interesting this year. He's, he's a guy that, you know, the, the more that I looked into his stats this, you know, this off season, I didn't like the film on Eli. Right. When we watched Eli, he looked like, I worried is, is this the beginning of the end for Eli? You know, just really bad accuracy.

[Mike Wright]

He looked like a gazelle at the watering hole in the Savannah. He's a, huh.

[Jason Moore]

He was in danger. But adding Brandon Marshall is a big deal, right? He hasn't really had a large target to hit in as long as I can remember. I mean Larry Danelle had a, had a decent year in 2014. Is that what we're saying is great? And I don't think Brandon Marshall's lost it. But one of the things that makes me a little bit, you know, I can be expecting a bounce back because if you look at his red zone targets and his 10 zone targets, the amount of passes attempted in those ranges over the last three years. Two of the last three years he was a quarterback one in fantasy. Last year he wasn't. Well in 2014 he had 100 plus red zone targets. Then in 2015 he had 95. Then in 2016 last year he had 67. I mean of course your touchdowns are going to drop and if you look at his numbers, it really is kind of like we were saying with Dalton and with some of these other guys, it was touchdowns. His touchdown number went down drastically. So if Brandon Marshall is able to up that touchdown number, I think he bounces up and he should be a high end quarterback two or a very low end quarterback one. The fact that the Giants defense has Gotten way better, I do think, limits his upside from being able to be a true, you know, weekly quarterback one. But there is reason to believe he can. He can.

[Mike Wright]

And Brandon Marshall also helps. Not just in the. In the red zone and the end zone targets, but, I mean, he. He'll also help with those third and fives. I mean, he's. He helps keep your drive alive because he's been just such a tremendous wide receiver throughout his career.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm going to read you guys some names. 20, 21, 22. Ryan Tannehill, Tyrod Taylor, and Carson Wentz, followed up by Joe Flacco and Sam Bradford. So out of that bunch, that five pack of guys now in the 20s at the quarterback position, who stands out to you? What are you excited for? Where do you see the most upside? These are all guys that are basically free in your draft.

[Jason Moore]

I'll hop on Carson Wentz here, because while I'm not in a single quarterback league ever going to draft Carson Wentz, I can't go ahead and expect it to the point where I'm going to take him over all the other names. We just, you know, mentioned that you can draft late in your draft, but if Carson Wentz comes out this season and is an absolute quarterback one, there's no way that I would be surprised because you go, last year, he already had one of the best 10 fantasy seasons since 2000 for a rookie quarterback. He was actually very good. He was. He had over 600 attempts, which, you know, the volume is what you're looking.

[Mike Wright]

He was fifth in attempt, seventh in completion.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So, you know, volume is great there. But he was horrific when it came to throwing actual touchdowns, which every rookie is no rookie.

[Andy Holloway]

And you want to throw actual ones, don't throw fake ones, don't throw. So conceptual touchdowns do not work.

[Jason Moore]

If you look at Carson Wentz last year, the league average for how many attempts per Touchdown was about 23, almost 24. And he was at 37. Now he didn't have any weapons. You know, now you add Alshon Jeffrey and you add Torrey Smith to at least stretch the defense and open things up for the other guys. Even erbs.

[Mike Wright]

Open it up for Jordan Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

For Jordan Matthews. Now he's got weapons. And I was like, man, that's such a. Such a bad number. I tried to find another number that was that bad. That was like 37. And the other number that stood out to me when I looked back at history was actually Blake Bortles in his rookie year. Same was 43.

[Mike Wright]

43.

[Jason Moore]

43 passing attempts per touchdown. That's horrific. And then, of course, we know that sophomore year he jumped all the way to 17. I'm not saying Wentz is doing that, but if Wentz jumps just to the NFL average, his numbers will be great and they'll be near a quarterback one. So if you're a Philadelphia fan and you want to use a late draft pick on Wentz, I think you could end up being very pleasantly surprised.

[Andy Holloway]

Out of those five guys, the only one I'm looking twice at is Wince. 25 seasons of football played by those five guys. Two seasons out of those 25 where a quarterback finished in the top 12. Zero in the top 10. You had a one year by Flacco. He finished number 12. You had one year by Tannehill that finished number 10.

[Jason Moore]

That is in the top 10.

[Mike Wright]

That's in the top 10.

[Jason Moore]

10 is the top 10.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, you get the point.

[Jason Moore]

You think we're going to let that go?

[Andy Holloway]

The top nine? And if you want to throw Ryan Tannehill in your. That's.

[Mike Wright]

I just wanted to talk about Tannehill real quick because it's been a tough road for Tannehill. He's essentially on his fourth offensive coordinator in five years. Or going into his six year of mediocrity.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, six year mediocrity coming up.

[Mike Wright]

He has a top 10 performance. And he was. He was actually okay last year. As I'm talking, as a passer, as an NFL player. He was. He was okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that how you want to be thought of as an analyst?

[Mike Wright]

As okay?

[Andy Holloway]

Actually? Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Well, they played 12 and a half games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And finished 26 in for fantasy. Look, what my entire point of Ryan Tannehill was going to be is that while he was playing well for professional football, it wasn't getting it done for fantasy. But you look at his passer ratings, he's in the high 90s. Three of his final games, he was a 124 plus passer rating. That's near perfection.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, they were a playoff team, and it was because Ryan Tannell played well enough in that offense with Adam Gaze to get him there. It just didn't translate. Just like Joe Flacco is a great NFL quarterback. The ceiling to me has been established for Ryan Tanner.

[Mike Wright]

And I don't. I don't mind that at all. I just wanted to. I don't want to bury Ryan Tannehill and say, well, he's. He's terrible.

[Jason Moore]

He's one of my sleepers this year. Because you could have.

[Mike Wright]

Because my point Is because you played. When you're playing well, things can easily tip towards you having great fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

And you're in the second year of the system that, you know, you saw what a difference that made for Matt Ryan going into the second year. And you also have, you know, continuity with the wide receivers. Now you've got Jarvis Landry. They brought back Kenny Stills because they wanted that continuity. And they added Julius Thomas, who's a good, you know, red zone weapon. So I would, I would agree of these guys, I'm not going to ignore Ryan Tannehill. If I'm in a two quarterback league, he might be one of my, you know, late round guys. That. That has some upside.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure, sure. I mean, you have to look at Tannehill nowadays. Adam Gase can have a magic touch, but he only had so much. He only had so much with Jay Cutler. You, when you're dealt a hand, you can do so much. So I don't expect big things, but I understand. Look, if a guy has finished in the top 10 before and you put him in the right position, maybe that happens. But I'm not excited about these five guys. Other than Carson Wentz's ability to kind of ascend at the touchdown totals, got the weapons around him.

[Mike Wright]

Do you have any excitement for the guy who put up the most accurate season of all time and Mr. Sammy biscuits?

[Andy Holloway]

Nope.

[Mike Wright]

Who? I was looking this up on Pro Football Reference. They give you player nicknames and allegedly, allegedly, Sam Bradford's nickname is sleeves.

[Andy Holloway]

I can see that.

[Jason Moore]

Shoulder pads.

[Andy Holloway]

Should be shoulder pads.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, if we're going, you know.

[Andy Holloway]

Clothing or should be. What's the guy from Spaceballs?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, dark helmet.

[Andy Holloway]

Dark helmet. That could be a nickname for Lone Star. All right, we're gonna get into the mailbag now. Let's answer some questions from listeners.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

I just want to talk about Spaceballs now.

[Jason Moore]

I need to see that again.

[Andy Holloway]

As opposed to Space Mountain, which is Blake Borders.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, do what? Spaceballs is great.

[Andy Holloway]

All the quotes are popping into my head now and I'm holding them back. All right, if you have a question for the show, very easy to send them in, head to the website, the fantasy footballers.com and click the Submit a question button. It's under the more tab at the top. And wait, is this a voicemail question, Brooks? Yes, sir. It's not the one I've already heard, is it?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. We had a voicemail of somebody pretending to be Chandler Cantazara.

[Jason Moore]

It was great.

[Andy Holloway]

Unfortunately.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, is it not working?

[Andy Holloway]

Fortunately, I can't I don't. I don't think I can play it.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's a problem.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait, hold on. Hi, this is Uncle Juice from Denver, Colorado. Hashtag Foot Clan. Second place.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

So my question is, how much do.

[Andy Holloway]

You use the homer aspect as far.

[Mike Wright]

As choosing a player?

[Jason Moore]

I usually use it as coin flip for down.

[Andy Holloway]

50.

[Mike Wright]

50.

[Andy Holloway]

Pick the guy from San Diego or LA now. But anyways, that's my question.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks.

[Mike Wright]

Bye. Sure, I'll jump in here. Fantasy football, we talk about it a lot on this show. Is a lot of fantasy football. Is having fun.

[Jason Moore]

Amen.

[Mike Wright]

Enjoying your Sunday. Make it better. It's don't. And winning is great. I know, but you're also playing this game just to have fun. It's a ridiculous game and you want to have fun while you're playing it. However. So loading up, not loading up, don't do that. But getting a, Getting a star or favoring a star from your home team, I'm perfectly okay with that.

[Andy Holloway]

If you like that.

[Mike Wright]

If you want to play that way, I have no problem with that. Sometimes. I think we've talked about this. On yesterday's foot cast on jointhefoot.com we were asked this question and I talked about. I actually don't like it because I've had several years with Larry Fitzgerald and watching someone run, like David Johnson run it in or watching Beanie Wells run it in, you're like, yay. But I'm also now I'm pissed off because Larry Fitzgerald didn't get a touchdown. It's tough for me to watch that. I. I much rather actually have the. Would rather have my division opponent, like having Marshawn. While some people don't want to play that way because they don't want their opponents on, they don't want to be.

[Jason Moore]

Rooting against their team.

[Andy Holloway]

But I.

[Mike Wright]

That's almost easier for me to stomach than that. Those conflicted feelings of having my hometown guys.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with wanting your hometown guy. The only thing I would caution you on, like this guy says, you know, I use it as a coin. Philip, go with one of the LA guys. The thing I caution you on is are you using it as a coin flip in every stage of the process? Like, you're making your rankings and you're like, well, go with the LA guy. Move him higher. And then in the higher rankings, you're going with the coin flip. You know, if you do it every stage of the way, you're going to end up. And it's, it's the fact that he Said the Chargers made me think of a guy in our league who I think overvalues don't overvalue everyone from your favorite team. That's just not gonna, you know, you might take away from your fun.

[Andy Holloway]

You might lose. Jeremy in San Antonio says, hey, I love the Alex Smith jokes.

[Jason Moore]

Oh man.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you got any of those on hand, Brooks? Have you, have you started that? The list I've started but as you.

[Jason Moore]

Can imagine, it's pretty intensive compiling all of them.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there's over 10, I believe. 10 million. Alex Smith jokes.

[Mike Wright]

When Alex happening when Alex Smith has a hoodie on his. His drawstrings are always equal length.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that does make sense.

[Jason Moore]

Did you know that Alex Smith always comes to a complete stop at railroad tracks? That's.

[Andy Holloway]

Keeper question from Jeremy in San Antonio. I can only keep two. Which two would you recommend? Le'Veon Bell for a first rounder. Tom Brady for a sixth rounder. Jayajayi for a 14th rounder. That's an easy one.

[Mike Wright]

Running back.

[Andy Holloway]

It is a PPR league. And you take Lev Bell and Jay Ajayi certainly. Sam in Compton, Illinois says huge trade. Oh, I've been offered a trade. I give up the 101 and 201. So my first two draft picks, Antonio Brown and Rule 86.

[Jason Moore]

Wow, that is a lot to give.

[Andy Holloway]

Up for David Johnson and Zeke. My top running right running back right now is Lacey. My other two are free agents and I still have Rudolph as backup. So you trade Rule 86 and Antonio Brown for David Johnson, Zeke and the 101 Dynasty League.

[Jason Moore]

Is it a. Oh, this is a full dynasty, huh? So you're giving up the 101 and 201 in a rookie, presumably a rookie slash free agent is two first draft picks.

[Andy Holloway]

So 101, 201, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed to get David Johnson and Zeke. No, I, I don't think I do it. I don't think I do it any dynasty league.

[Jason Moore]

I mean you don't know the long term value of as much as people don't want to, you know, hear it. But Carson's gone after this year. David Johnson's long term prospects get a little bit more murky. Antonio Brown could still have, you know, a couple of years left. You could make the same run. But the 101. Yeah, the 101 and the 201. You know, you can get a Leonard Fournette or a Christian McCaffrey or some guy to help out your running backs. I would, I would keep it as is.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. One more question here. This one comes in from David in Western New York. He says I can keep one Tevin Coleman in the 11th or Willie Snead in the 14th round. Who's the better option in a standard scoring league?

[Mike Wright]

Ooh, those are both tremendous values.

[Andy Holloway]

Tevin Coleman.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm going to keep 11th round for free. The reason I'm going to keep Coleman as opposed to Willie Snead is even though they're both good values, Coleman is going to be drafted first. So it's much like in the actual draft. He's going to go, you know, fourth, fifth round somewhere in there. And it's less likely that I'm going to be able to redraft Coleman whereas Willie Snead, when you get to the 11th round, go ahead and draft them.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's good logic.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think I'm leaning towards Coleman as well.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that does it for today's show. We appreciate you joining us. A reminder, if you want to get the Ultimate Draft Kit, it is being pre sold right now at Early Bird pricing ultimate draft kit.com it's the lowest price you can get. It's awesome. It's jam packed with so much information. We've been working hard on getting it ready for release. So check it out @ultimate draft kit.com.

[Jason Moore]

The mobile stuff's getting good. And guys, guys, make sure guys and ladies, everybody make sure you hit subscribe right now because next week we are going to be talking all through the rookies. All the predictions get you hyped for the draft. That's like my entire mind is entirely right now.

[Andy Holloway]

I watched a lot of film last night.

[Jason Moore]

NFL Draft focus. It's hard to do anything other than NFL draft right now and it's coming up so make sure you stay tuned for that. And as a final reminder, a shout out, a thank you to the awesome great Halo Top. Halo Top Creamery. If you want actual good ice cream that is also low calorie and we haven't even mentioned how high in protein they are, which is great. Go to halo top.com, check them out and make sure. Hey, tweet at us. We've already seen so many. Tweet at us and tag Halo Top Creamery in there and let them know you're enjoying.

[Andy Holloway]

We should probably company expense a. Yeah, some draft day. Halo Top for sure.

[Jason Moore]

For sure. We got a show after the show, right?

[Andy Holloway]

We do. We have a show after the show coming up right now on YouTube. So head over there if you want to check it out. Thanks for listening. Don't draft Joe Flago and we'll, we'll talk to you soon.

[Mike Wright]

And of course, if you want your trophies, head over to fancyjocks.com use the promo code. Footballers, goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

What Alex Smith would do.

[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 at theffballers.