Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - The Fantasy Court + NFC North Breakdown

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - The Fantasy Court + NFC North Breakdown"

Release Date: July 20, 2017
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Location: Play Draft Studios

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1. Introduction

The episode kicks off with the Fantasy Court segment, where Mike Wright initiates a playful legal battle against Andy Holloway over Andy's ranking of running back C.J. Anderson. This lighthearted courtroom drama sets the tone for an engaging discussion on fantasy football strategies and player evaluations.

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2. Fantasy Court: The Case Against C.J. Anderson (03:20 - 10:08)

2.1. The Plaintiff’s Argument (Mike Wright)

Mike accuses Andy of slander and buffoonery regarding his low ranking of C.J. Anderson. He highlights Anderson's productive seven-game stint in the previous season, accumulating 437 rushing yards, 128 receiving yards, and five touchdowns.

• Quote:
  Mike Wright [03:20]: "The plaintiff, Mike Wright, is accusing defendant Andy Holloway of slander, libel, and a dash of buffoonery with his ranking of C.J. Anderson."

2.2. The Defense’s Rebuttal (Andy Holloway)

Andy counters by emphasizing Anderson’s limited games and compares him unfavorably to the competition, arguing that other running backs in the Broncos' lineup are less consistent and productive.

• Quote:
  Andy Holloway [04:05]: "He finished with a line of 437 rushing yards, 128 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. Weeks one through seven, in that time, he was the running back."

2.3. Jason Moore’s Cross-Examination

Jason challenges Mike’s stance, arguing that Anderson’s past performance indicates inconsistency and high risk, likening faith in Anderson to relying on unproven promises.

• Quote:
  Jason Moore [07:17]: "I contend that putting faith in C.J. Anderson is foolhardy at best... C.J. Anderson is an every week reliable starter."

2.4. Ruling by Judge Giamatti

The mock judge rules in favor of the defense, deeming Andy’s ranking appropriate and emphasizing the importance of consistent performance over potential.

• Quote:
  Mike Wright [10:08]: "Judge Giamatti once again proving to be wise and discerning."

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3. News and Notes (10:19 - 18:18)

3.1. Player Injuries and Team Updates

• Mike Williams (Chargers): Potential herniated disc surgery may season-end his fantasy prospects. Andy notes the Chargers' wide receiver depth, hinting at Tyrell Williams and Keenan Allen benefiting from Williams' absence.
  Andy Holloway [13:01]: "Tyrell Williams just got a return visit. He's going to turbocharge up the ADP."

• Geronimo Allison (Packers): Suspended for one game due to personal conduct policy violation.
  Jason Moore [14:52]: Brief mention without significant impact.

• Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys): Ongoing legal issues may lead to suspension, affecting his availability and draft position.
  Andy Holloway [16:00]: Suggests taking Elliott later in drafts despite potential risks.

3.2. Community and Giveaway Announcements

Hosts announce giveaways, including autographed jerseys and introduce their presence on various platforms like SleeperBot and Ultimate Draft Kit.

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4. NFC North Breakdown (18:19 - 55:37)

4.1. Green Bay Packers

4.1.1. Quarterback Analysis

• Aaron Rodgers: Consistently top-tier QB with potential slight regression in 2017, but likely to remain the number one fantasy QB.
  Jason Moore [19:43]: "I'm willing to take him if he's sitting there in the fourth round."

4.1.2. Wide Receiver Core

• Jordy Nelson: Remains a reliable top receiver.
• Devante Adams: Expected to continue his end-zone prowess with 12 touchdowns last season.
• Randall Cobb: Viewed as a potential sleeper with consistent production when healthy.
• Martellus Bennett: Debate over his value as a tight end, with Andy supporting his potential and Jason skeptical.
  Andy Holloway [23:47]: "Martellus Bennett is a pretty good option."

4.1.3. Running Backs

• Ty Montgomery and Jamal Williams: Both rookies bring potential, with Montgomery offering PPR value and Williams as a prototype RB.
  Jason Moore [25:16]: "If I have to pick a rookie, I'm picking Jamal Williams."

4.1.4. Offensive Line Improvement

Andy points out Packers' offensive line is rated eighth, a significant upgrade from previous years, likely to boost the running game.

4.2. Detroit Lions

4.2.1. Running Game Concerns

• Amir Abdullah vs. Latavius Murray: Debate over drafting Cook or Murray, with a preference for Cook due to injury risk surrounding Murray.
  Andy Holloway [27:25]: "I think I would take the upswing on Jamal Williams still."

4.2.2. Quarterback and Wide Receiver Dynamics

• Matthew Stafford: Continues to be a valuable late-round QB pick, with concerns about the limited running game affecting wide receivers like Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay.
  Jason Moore [35:40]: "Marvin Jones, I still think this guy is talented."

4.3. Chicago Bears

4.3.1. Running Back Strategy

• Jordan Howard: Highly praised as an RB2 with significant upside, though concerns about team’s overall offensive performance.
  Andy Holloway [46:16]: "I do not think he's going to bust."

4.3.2. Tight End Prospects

• Deion Sims: Viewed as a sleeper with potential to outperform expectations, especially if Zach Miller does not make the team.
  Andy Holloway [53:17]: "He's a great player, athletic monster."

4.3.3. Quarterback Analysis

• Sam Bradford and Mitchell Trubisky: Bradford praised as a strong streaming option despite low touchdown rates, while Trubisky remains a promising rookie.
  Mike Wright [43:11]: "Sam Bradford is a great streamer."

4.4. Minnesota Vikings

4.4.1. Offensive Improvements

• Dalvin Cook vs. Latavius Murray: Preference for Cook due to Murray's injury concerns, with Dalvin being positioned as the primary RB to fix the Vikings' previously weak running game.
  Mike Wright [47:18]: "I believe that Minnesota will run the ball significantly better this year."

4.4.2. Wide Receiver Outlook

• Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs: Thielen expected to continue his breakout performance, while Diggs remains a top target due to his excellent route-running skills.
  Andy Holloway [41:40]: "Stefan Diggs is such a sensational player."

4.4.3. Offensive Line Stability

Improved offensive line health, making the Vikings' running game more viable and promising increased volume for running backs.

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5. Closing Remarks (55:37 - End)

5.1. Milestone Announcement

Jason celebrates the upcoming 400th episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast, expressing gratitude to the listeners and hinting at special content for the milestone.

5.2. Final Promotions

The hosts reiterate promotions for their affiliated podcasts and resources, including Gatorade’s "The Secret to Victory" and their own "Ultimate Draft Kit."

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Key Takeaways

• C.J. Anderson Evaluation: A spirited debate highlights the balance between potential and consistency in player rankings.
• NFC North Focus: Detailed analysis of each team’s strengths and weaknesses, emphasizing running backs and wide receiver depth.
• Injury Impacts: Notable discussions on how injuries and team changes affect player valuations and draft strategies.
• Sleeper Picks and Value Players: Insights into undervalued players like Randall Cobb and Deion Sims who could outperform their draft positions.
• Podcast Milestone: Celebration of the podcast’s longevity and commitment to providing valuable fantasy football advice.

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This episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the NFC North, strategic player evaluations, and engaging segments that blend humor with expert insights, making it a valuable resource for fantasy football enthusiasts preparing for the 2017 season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

The Secret to Victory is a new podcast from Gatorade and Gimlet Creative about how the best athletes in the world use defeat to fuel a win. This week you'll hear from Peyton Manning and Eli Manning about how their disappointing rookie seasons didn't stop them and made them smarter, better players. Visit Gatorade.com podcast to listen now or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. You from the Play Draft Studios with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome in. It is a Thursday episode of the Fantasy Footballers. It's a beautiful Thursday, July 20, 2017.

[Andy Holloway]

Me and Jason are dancing.

[Jason Moore]

You know what they say, it's a.

[Mike Wright]

Good time to be live.

[Jason Moore]

July's right next to August. August is nestled up against September.

[Andy Holloway]

That old adage.

[Jason Moore]

That old adage.

[Mike Wright]

Ah, an adage.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome in. We have a great show today. The Fantasy court is back in session. A limited version of the fantasy court. Mike and I will be facing off today with Judge Giamatti. We also have the NFC north breakdown. We're gonna walk you through some of the changes that have happened to the NFC north teams this offseason. The fantasy implications of those changes. We'll break down the latest fantasy football news and notes and everything you need to know to get your fancy team ready for 2017. Gentlemen, excited for this episode. Yeah. Start.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You know, this is a really, I think this is a very important division to talk about because you have both really high power offenses in, you know, for fantasy purposes. With the packers, even the Lions, you've got a lot of relevant players. And then you have question mark teams with the Bears and the Vikings where if you mine those players right at the end of the draft, some of them are going to pay dividends. Who's it going to be? That's what we'll discuss.

[Andy Holloway]

I was thinking of the seven dwarves.

[Mike Wright]

Dig that.

[Jason Moore]

Is this essence of a good fantasy commissioner? All right, before we jump right into Fantasy Court, because that's what we're going to do right now. I hope Judge Giamatti is ready. Do want to remind people Foot clan Vote.com if you are a fan of the podcast and you respond well to the horn of Gondor, we are summoning you.

[Mike Wright]

That is nothing like it. But we just, we have named it that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's more like a fox hunting horn.

[Jason Moore]

That sounds like something you would get troops in order with.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it's when you go in on, on the old, old fox hunts, when you have the.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, you're letting people know where the fox is. And everybody's comes running.

[Andy Holloway]

You haven't seen, like, yes, I know.

[Jason Moore]

What a fox hunt is.

[Mike Wright]

Never going fox hunting, Andy.

[Jason Moore]

John Fox hunting. Oh, all right, look, go to FootClanVogue.com if you like this show, which at this point you probably don't. But if you like it, go to footclanvote.com the 2017 Podcast Awards nominate us for People's Choice and Sports and Recreation.

[Mike Wright]

Heavy competition this year.

[Jason Moore]

It will be. Yeah, it'll be tough, but I believe. All right, let's do it.

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy court with Judge Giamatti. The plaintiff, Mike Wright, is accusing defendant Andy Holloway of slander, libel, and a dash of buffoonery with his ranking of C.J. anderson.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right, your honor, Esteemed colleagues, I feel at a slight disadvantage because I was not here when you guys got to go through multiple rounds of this. But I have my briefcase and my papers are now in order because I. Your honor, I have two.

[Mike Wright]

I just saw the judge over and seized.

[Andy Holloway]

Judge. I just locked eyes with the judge, and it was startling. I have two arguments, your honor, in support of my man, C.J. anderson. And those arguments are, number one, he's actually good, and he's good for fantasy football. Two, his competition is inferior. Your honor, last year, I know C.J. anderson only played seven games, but he finished with a line of 437 rushing yards, 128 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. Weeks one through seven, in that time, he was the running back. Eleven, he was a running back. One. Meanwhile, the defendant over there has him. What is a running back? Three, if we're lucky. I mean, absolutely ridiculous. At this time, I'd like to call forth a character witness.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, great.

[Andy Holloway]

A character witness.

[Jason Moore]

What is this?

[Andy Holloway]

Named Devonta Freeman, who was the running back 10. Running back, 10. Objection, your honor, in that time when C.J. anderson was the 11. In this time, C.J. anderson was a running back 25 or better five times. So was our character witness. Except C.J. anderson was a top 15 running back three times. When our character witness, who is a man of high standing in the fantasy realm, he was only a top 15 running back twice in that time. CJ Anderson, providing a little bit more consistency for your fantasy team now has.

[Mike Wright]

Never been said before.

[Andy Holloway]

Now I'd like to bring up the fact that he was good for that team because like I said, in seven games, 437 rushing yards in 110 attempts. The final nine games of the season, the Broncos accumulated 560 rushing yards in 220 attempts. Those are both 62 yards a game. Except C.J. anderson did it in almost half the attempts. Now I will point the finger, your honor.

[Jason Moore]

How long does he get?

[Andy Holloway]

My argument is still going. Now I will point the finger at the competition. Devontae Booker, the replacement. The air replacement. Broncos very excited. Fantasy players, very. That's why he saw almost 80% of snaps in his first three games. Taking over for C.J. anderson. The final four games of the season. 45% of snaps because they pulled Justin for set off of the couch. He was out of the league for over a month. And he came in over the final four games. Averaged just a shade under Devontae booker. Snaps at 45 point. So, your honor, I believe I've spoken on not only his value, but the competition and Jamal Charles. Fine, if you want to bring him up, he hasn't played more than five games in three years.

[Jason Moore]

Are you done?

[Andy Holloway]

I rest my case, your honor.

[Jason Moore]

The wise and discerning Judge Giamatti. I won't even begin to dive into the hypocrisy of him calling a player he once said stinks as a character witness in this case. But I will say this. You accuse me of libel, A dash of buffoonery which I find insulting to my character.

[Andy Holloway]

I'd like to up that from a.

[Mike Wright]

Dash and slam to two dashes to a handful.

[Jason Moore]

Look, your honor, I contend that Putting faith in C.J. anderson is foolhardy at best. In four seasons, he's only played 16 games one time. And that one time he finished 30th at the running back position. I have him at 35 this year. Three of his four years outside the top 30 of this position. Your honor, the prosecutor in this case wants to feed me the potential of CJ Anderson without giving me a plate of food to eat. I can't live on the promises of a delicious meal. You have to actually serve me that meal. Judge Giamatti. I'm hungry and CJ Will not feed me. There is no nutrition in CJ Anderson. And CJ Anderson is an every week reliable starter. To me, it's a house built on promises and not production. That's why the prosecutor in this case kept bringing up names like Justin Forsett and Devontae Booker and Devonta Freeman. Because talking about C.J. anderson, you can't talk long. It's dumbfounding to believe that this year will somehow be the outlier in this rather tattered career. Yes, his yards per carry have been good, but his carries per injury have been far Too low.

[Andy Holloway]

Objection.

[Jason Moore]

Now, the myriad of potential somethings in his way, I would say are replete. Yeah, replete. Mike Googling. You have Jamal Charles, Devonte Booker, an offense that hasn't been prolific in the last couple of years, even a potential quarterback. Quandary issues going on in that offensive roster. Look, you're looking at another perilous year from C.G. anderson. And I beg the court right now, right here, Judge Giamatti, throw out this case on the grounds that C.J. anderson is at best an upside play for fantasy owners. One worth drafting, but without the high hopes and expectations that my accuser seems to grant him without cost. I rest my case.

[Andy Holloway]

Do we have what's we need? The hammer.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's thinking. He's thinking about it. I've come into my decision.

[Andy Holloway]

The gavel. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Disrespecting the court.

[Mike Wright]

I want to see a judge with just a hammer. I couldn't find my gavel.

[Andy Holloway]

I brought a hammer. I've just escalated Judge Giamatti's gavel to a very, very masculine hammer.

[Jason Moore]

Hammer. Yeah. Thor's judge. Judge Giamatti, you got a rule on this case?

[Mike Wright]

While the defendants ranking of CJ Anderson may be a bit too low.

[Andy Holloway]

Did.

[Mike Wright]

If the plaintiffs is too high, I rule in favor of the defendants. Andy Holloway.

[Jason Moore]

That's right.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a. This is garbage. You erroneous on all counts.

[Mike Wright]

Gotta be on the field to score fantasy points. Oh, simple as that.

[Jason Moore]

Simple as that. Judge Giamatti once again proving to be wise and discerning. Thank you very much. I guess we're moving on.

[Mike Wright]

News and notes from around the league.

[Jason Moore]

Now. Mike, if you're not too beat up after that whooping I put on you in the court, when you fall down.

[Andy Holloway]

You gotta stand back up.

[Jason Moore]

Now, did we already make a CJ Anderson water bet this year?

[Andy Holloway]

I do not believe that we have.

[Jason Moore]

Well, this would be a good chance to not only make a CJ Anderson water bet, but explain to listeners that don't know what that is, exactly what that is. Because we've had some questions pop through on Twitter. Isn't that right?

[Mike Wright]

Oh yeah. YouTube comments. I've been seeing it a lot recently.

[Jason Moore]

So a water bet is very simple. This goes back to many, many years ago when we used to work together and talk fantasy football and make bets over a variety of things. But basically a water bet is this. We have an app that we came out with a free app that has a wheel of water. And if you lose a bet, you spin that wheel of water. And there are what like 20 different ways that you can get a cup of water thrown on you.

[Andy Holloway]

Not just thrown on you, but you.

[Mike Wright]

Have it poured in your pocket.

[Andy Holloway]

You get humiliated.

[Jason Moore]

Humiliating. It's very funny. It's very funny.

[Mike Wright]

You might end up lying on the ground in a swimming position while someone pours water on your back.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. The English Channel. Yeah, yeah, that's what it's called. So that is what a waterbed is. And I'm willing to make a top 24 waterbed right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yes, yes.

[Mike Wright]

Waterbeds.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you. I thought you were gonna try and squeeze me up to 20.

[Jason Moore]

No, I mean, I figure I haven't like a, what, 75% chance of being right because most of his years he hasn't been inside the top 30. So we got a water bet on the table that'll get paid out at the end of the year. WheelOfWater.com is where you can grab that app if you want to make bets with your friends. Like I said, it's a free app. Just a fun way to, you know, we want to bet on stuff. Yell at each other about fantasy football all year long. This is a nice way to put something on the line. Follow us on twitter@the ffballers website, the fancyfootballers.com all right, here's the news. Big news. Mike Williams, first round draft pick, front half of the first round draft pick, might need surgery on a herniated disc. Everything that I'm reading about this situation as of today, which is Thursday, is that actually technically today is Wednesday because we're recording this right before Thursday. So something else comes out tomorrow. You know why I don't have the latest news, but I think this is a, it's going to be a long shot for him to play this year. This surgery would be season ending. Herniated disc surgery. He's already had an epidural on this injury. He's going to try to. Yeah, he's going to have one more to see if he can get into camp. He's already way behind the likes of Tyrell Williams, Travis Benjamin, Dontrell Inman, Keenan Allen. It's not looking like Mike Williams odds of participating on this upcoming season. Chargers wide receiver core is going to happen.

[Mike Wright]

No. And early season injuries in training camp, in the off season, those, those are always red flags. So just like you said, Andy, if, let's say he comes back and he doesn't have to get, you know, put on the ir. I expect very little from Mike Williams this year. I mean, I would move him if he Is if he is back and he's there week one, I'm still moving him way down. To me, this speaks well for, I think, mostly for Tyrell Williams. Keenan Allen has his role and, you know, you could say, oh, maybe that maybe this is better for him. Oh, give me more Keenan. I'm sure Keenan will shoot up the ADP charts, but I don't think his role was going to be affected. He was going to be the one on that team. Tyrell Williams is a guy that he came in last year because of opportunity, and there was a fear that he was going to be pushed aside because of the drafting of Williams. And now if he's not there, the opportunity still exists and he doesn't have to have the coverage of being the number one wide receiver anymore.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Isn't the phrase opportunity only knocks once? Tyro Williams just got a return visit. He's going to turbocharge up the adp. And I would say the second beneficiary would be Hunter Henry. I think that they will try and get him, you know, it a little bit more involved. I'm not saying a huge spike, but I would imagine that his targets should see a slight tick up from what they would have been.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And I would say this too, for those that might worry that, you know, it's going to hurt Philip Rivers, because maybe you don't think Keenan Allen can stay healthy the whole year. Whatever. This is still a very deep receiving core between Henry and Gates at tight end. Benjamin Inman just got re signed. He's a very capable, I guess you'd call him a three. And Williams and Allen, I mean, they. It was curious that they drafted Williams.

[Andy Holloway]

Gates still there.

[Jason Moore]

Made me wonder what they thought of Keenan's health, but doesn't look like he's going to be around. So. In other news, the packers, they have a suspended wide receiver, Geronimo Allison. Is that just one game?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, One game suspension for violating the personal conduct policy. Any other news you want to get into? There was a little bit of maybe some Zeke news.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

The Zeke news came out from a beat reporter. I follow Mike Fisher, and he's saying that the police are shutting down the investigation from the bar room incident or outside of bar. I can't recall if it was outside.

[Mike Wright]

Whatever.

[Andy Holloway]

It was a bar incident.

[Jason Moore]

There was a bar in the vicinity.

[Andy Holloway]

And there was a fight. And it sounds like they're gonna shut down the investigation. That does not mean the NFL won't factor that in when they're making a decision. If there's A suspension or not just.

[Mike Wright]

But no arrest.

[Andy Holloway]

There will be no legal action.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe worth a question as of today, right now, if you had to give me a number of what you're expecting to hit Zeke.

[Andy Holloway]

How many games?

[Jason Moore]

I'm going with three. I've moved from one to three.

[Andy Holloway]

I talked about this on the. I did a periscope, a basketball draft and I was talking about Zeke and it's so hard when you're in this position of telling people, you know, this is what I think is going to happen because without sounding like an alarmist and selling, telling people, oh well, sell, don't draft him. I think he's going to get more than six games. I think it's going to be a very hefty suspension. But of course, I don't know exactly what's going to happen. So I've stated my official position is if I'm going to keep her or dynasty. No, I'm not trading him. This is not a situation. This is half of one season. If you're keeping a guy for his career, don't worry about that. But if I'm drafting today, I would take the other Big five. And if I'm drafting in a redraft, this doesn't really affect my dynasty view of Zeke. If I'm in a redraft, I will take the big other big five ahead of Zeke. I'll still probably take the chance on him at 7 or 8, though.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I have not adjusted my rankings, Andy. I know you did.

[Jason Moore]

I did. I moved him down.

[Mike Wright]

I am waiting and that's what I think most fantasy owners have the ability to do. So don't freak out yet. You know, even if you're in a small keeper league and you're thinking the.

[Jason Moore]

Tough part is you have drafts taking.

[Mike Wright]

Place if you're drafting now. I agree with what Mike said. You know, I would look at the other Big three wide receivers ahead of him just in case a suspension comes out. But I'm not moving them further than that.

[Jason Moore]

You have to wonder if the Cowboys, one of the reasons they had kept McFadden and Morris on the roster together was because of the history of things going on with Zeke.

[Andy Holloway]

Because there was talk of them moving.

[Jason Moore]

Morris earlier on and they haven't true.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, let's say you're in a keeper league because I'm sure that this question will pop up. You have. You have Zeke and someone else has a player. Now that's not Big three, Big three running back quality, but someone like Freeman or Melvin Gordon. Gordon. It's someone in that tier of running back. And they say, hey, I'll do a one for one trade right now without knowing the news, because, I mean, once the news hits, that could go either way for you. Are you going to hedge at all?

[Jason Moore]

Would you, Mike?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I would not.

[Jason Moore]

Even with your fears of six or more games?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's move on. Let's. Let's talk NFC North.

[Mike Wright]

Let's get divisional.

[Jason Moore]

All right. We're going to kick it off with the Packers.

[Mike Wright]

The king of the North.

[Jason Moore]

The king of the North, Aaron Rodgers himself. Yeah, he's the king of passing touchdowns, consistency, lack of interceptions, king of many things. You were talking about Aaron Rodgers, I believe, yesterday, just about the career highs across the board that he said.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, I, you know, there should be slight, you know, regression for Aaron Rodgers coming this year.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Mike Wright]

But the thing is with that is he, he can regress off of last year and finish as the number one quarterback. So there's not much to discuss there. But if you're just kind of projecting points, last year he had a career high in passing attempts. Career high in.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, fifth in the league. They threw the ball 58% of the time.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So they were a throwing team.

[Mike Wright]

And I think more surprising is he had a career high in rushing attempts and a career high in rushing yards, and those were well above, you know, his average, which is already, you know, a very good number.

[Jason Moore]

So not a lot to discuss with Aaron Rodgers in terms of, hey, he's the best quarterback on the board. We all agree he's the number one quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. The only thing to talk about is I, I draft late quarterbacks. You guys generally draft late quarterbacks. What round are you willing to go in on Rodgers if the rest of your league is also trying to draft the quarterback?

[Jason Moore]

I'm a little more eager than you, so I would. If he's sitting there in the fourth round, I've said I'm willing to take him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Same round.

[Andy Holloway]

And it's five. It's five, Six for me, of course, depending on who's on the board.

[Jason Moore]

Now, here's something interesting. Let's talk about the wide receiver core, because I think there's a lot to discuss there. There's no doubt about the impact that Jordy Nelson has on this offense. We saw him last year come back, fall right in line, enable Rogers to have the kind of fantasy season he did. Devonte Adams was the big surprise in the sense that, look, he was, he was an end zone master. I mean, he caught what? 12. He had 12 touchdowns last year. I believe you can verify that. I know it was double digits. I don't know why I didn't write that down.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct.

[Mike Wright]

12. 12.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Okay. There you go.

[Andy Holloway]

Which is tied for second in the league.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. And this is a team that when you look at the wide receiver core, 34 receptions, touchdown receptions by the wide receivers themselves. So you omit running backs, you omit tight ends. That's number one in the league. The wide receivers in Green Bay were the beneficiaries of Aaron Rodgers success. Were the ones that were targeted and looked to in the end zone. You do have Martellus Bennett arriving. A much more athletic and capable tight end. Jared Cook was injured for most of the year last year. I also want to bring up one other name and then get your guys feedback. Randall Cobb. I know that his name has been dragged through the mud, but if you look at weeks one through seven last year, where do you think Randall Cobb ranked from weeks one through seven in PPR formats?

[Mike Wright]

I know he had a huge game early in the season, so I'm guessing he would be 15.

[Jason Moore]

15 on the dot, one through seven.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I know that C.J. anderson was running back 11.

[Jason Moore]

Well, that makes sense. That was a long time ago. Yeah. Number 15, just outside of the wide receiver. One consideration went through injuries second half of the year. And historically his numbers have been as good, if not better when Devontae Adams has been on the field. So he hasn't been somebody desperately hurt by Devonte Adams. I wonder if there's injury concern and he is a sleeper in fantasy drafts.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's the better value than Devontae Adams. You know, everyone always wants to call.

[Jason Moore]

For a. I'm surprised to hear you say that.

[Mike Wright]

A repeat of whatever last year was and I don't expect. Look, Jordy is going to be Jordyn. He's up near the top. He's, you know, a tier one type of wide receiver constantly finishing in the top five at the position when he plays. And he's the clear number one. Outside of him, there will be plenty of touchdowns to go around and Devonte Adams could haul them all in again next year like he did last year. But it's just as likely to be Randall Cobb as it is Devonte Adams. And you brought up Martellus Bennett. Martellus Bennett is a pretty good option. I've really flipped on on how I thought about Martell. Spin it. I went back and I looked because there's two ways to think about the Tight end with Aaron Rodgers. One way which is absolutely true is that you know, in half point PPR in the nine year career for Aaron Rodgers, he's had two tight ends finish as a tight end. One twice, two times.

[Andy Holloway]

And one of them, one of them was Richard Rodgers where 50% of his production came on one play.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

And so you can disappoint on that Hail Mary touchdown.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it was a 200 yard pass.

[Mike Wright]

Right. So you could say, well he doesn't throw the tight end but he throws to his talent. And many of the years he hasn't had any talent at the tight end position. We all remember if we played, you know, back in the day when you had Jermichael Finley and Jermichael Finley fast. He was, he was great. In 2011 he was, you know, the number six tight end he's had. He's got two years where he was the number 37 tight end. And if you're just looking at yearly totals, that's obviously not good. But Jermichel Finley was an injury risk walking all the time. There's a reason he retired forcibly young. On a per game basis. On a per game basis. Jermichael Finley averaged a top 10 tight end. So that says Martell's Bennett. I think I moved him up to my tight end 12, which is another reason to worry about Devonte Adams Price. The touchdowns between the other people not named Jordy are going to be spread.

[Jason Moore]

So before we jump onto the running backs which I want to get Mike's take on time Montgomery, talk to me about the ceiling for Martellus Bennett. You have him ranked at 12, Mike. Jason, where do you see his absolute ceiling? Is he considered a value tight end to you? I mean, I know he's been going higher than I think some of the guys you like. I mean like Eric Ebron. What's the actual ceiling from Martellis Bennett?

[Andy Holloway]

Seven.

[Jason Moore]

I think that's seventh tight end right.

[Andy Holloway]

Around the tight end seven.

[Jason Moore]

But great. Best ball option.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Oh yeah. Because that, that brings up my next point of he's going to be so erratic. It's going to be tough. I mean not that all tight ends aren't gross besides, you know, just a handful of them. But I just, I'm not in on paying up for Martellus Bennett in the draft.

[Mike Wright]

With everything I said on Martellus Bennett, I won't own Martellus Bennett in a single draft because where he's being drafted right now and what I get from streaming the position or a guy late, I'm just as happy with. There's, there's no Martell spin at ownership for me.

[Jason Moore]

All right, key losses to this roster, Eddie Lacy, Jared Cook is gone, and then Kristen Michael. So at the running back position, we saw the impact that Ty Montgomery had last year. You bring in two rookies in the draft, fourth and fifth rounders, Aaron Jones in the fifth and Jamal Williams in the fourth round. How does this shake out? If you had to throw a dart at the wall and pick a non or pick one of the rookies, who would you pick? How are you looking at the running back position?

[Andy Holloway]

If I have to pick a rookie, I'm picking Jamal Williams. I mean, they took him earlier, they spent the draft capital, and he's the more prototype running back. I think Jamal Williams is a good player, but I think that Ty Montgomery can be excellent and he is the starting running back for one of the top offenses in the league. I know a complaint for Montgomery's people saying, oh, well, they drafted, you know, two running backs they lost to. They had no one behind Ty Montgomery. You have to have depth at the position. Montgomery was great last year. Graham Barfield, he has this system called yards created. He tries to take an approach looking at the running back similar to Matt Harmon does with receivers. And so he did a sample on time Montgomery, and in his sample, he forced a missed tackle on over 50% of his attempts. He's just, he's a good football player. And on top of that, he ran 23 routes per game in that sample. And for some context, Theo Riddick, PPR machine, runs an average, ran an average of 26. I mean, there's huge opportunity here. Tom Montgomery is not going to get 15 plus carries a game. That's, that's not what you're drafting.

[Jason Moore]

But he's, like I said, the PPR value.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he's. He'll catch passes. He was a wide receiver. So catching passes is not going to be a problem for Montgomery. What was a problem for him last year was he was thrown into the running back flames with absolutely no protection. You, if you go back and, and there's a lot of highlights of Aaron Rodgers getting very upset with Montgomery because he's running the wrong play. But now you have, you have some experience at the position. You have an off season to be a running back, to be the number one running back in camp. I love Montgomery.

[Jason Moore]

A lot of confidence from the coaching staff coming out. About time. Montgomery, I have him right in. I believe I have him right in that running back to fringe.

[Andy Holloway]

He's in that group. Sorry, Jay, but my last thing in that, that fourth to fifth round group of gross running backs where I like Mike Gillislee, Montgomery is the other guy who I really, really like.

[Jason Moore]

Would you take Gillesley or would you take Montgomery?

[Andy Holloway]

I think I would take the upswing on Jealously still.

[Mike Wright]

Upswing? Yeah. Earlier in the off season, I thought that people were going to jump on Green Bay and push their running backs too high. It hasn't happened. It's not going to happen. The value of Green Bay is good. And here's just kind of a general tip for fantasy football. If you can find an out liar year for a team, something that just this team always operates one way and then all of a sudden it wasn't that way. It usually swings back towards that mean. And if you look at the Green Bay packers, they spent the two years prior to last year with 435 carries. You know, basically each year I think one was 435, one was 436. Last year they were only able to run the ball 375 times, losing the running backs. So what you saw last year was much lower than what they are wanting to do, expecting to do, have done. And so if you, you know, usually people value things too high on last year, it should swing back. I, I like taking, you know, shots on the Green Bay running game and.

[Andy Holloway]

Pro Football Focus has them as the eighth offensive line. I know people are very curious about offensive line gradings and so that they have one as a top 10 right now.

[Jason Moore]

Did lose T.J. lang, all right. They were 20th in the league in rushing last year. So we would hope that they try to improve that. All right, let's talk about the Detroit Lions. Before I do that, I want to remind people we are doing a giveaway right now. We, we love giving away free stuff, autographed jerseys. Just a way to say thank you for listening to the podcast and supporting what we do here at the fantasy footballers year round. So right now we got a huge [e-mail] it's completely free to enter. @footclain.giveaway.com we're giving away an autographed Ty Hilton jersey. Autograph Tyree Kill jersey. Autograph Tevin Cole.

[Andy Holloway]

Tevin Cole, man.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And Mike will come and perform that while he gives you the jersey. Is that. No, no, we're gonna ship it to you. We're ship the jersey if you are.

[Andy Holloway]

If you live within two square blocks of my house, you're willing to.

[Jason Moore]

I'll do it if you win. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

But I'll never tell you where I live, so good luck. Sorry.

[Jason Moore]

So we just wanted to remind you we're giving those away. The deadline to enter for the free autographed jersey. We're also doing a DFS pass in a J. Griz. Oh and probably the best deadline is the end of July. So check that out@footclain giveaway.com also want to say thank you to everybody that all the applications we got for the writing opening we mentioned. Yeah, that deadline is over. We had over 300 people apply to join the writing team here. But we just wanted to say thank you for everybody. Obviously we can't bring on everybody, so we appreciate the time and effort you put into applying and we'll definitely let you know.

[Andy Holloway]

I had one quick while we're doing.

[Jason Moore]

Shout outs, more opportunities.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're over on the SleeperBot app, we have an official fantasy footballers community tab on there. So if brand new, it just launched.

[Jason Moore]

Yesterday basically two hours ago.

[Andy Holloway]

Well at the time of recording. So yesterday if you hearing this on Thursday, just saying. So jump in there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And then since you're going everywhere on the Internet, you got to go to ultimate draft kit.com if you haven't got your draft kit. That's what we make. We put all of our time, effort, resources into making that.

[Jason Moore]

Hey Brooks, you got any websites you want them to go to? Got any like Yahoo? You ever been to Yahoo? Ah, no.

[Mike Wright]

What's that?

[Jason Moore]

It's a search engine. All right, Detroit, let's talk about the Lions. I'm really interested in your guys takes. You know, Jason talked about there are pieces of this offense that are certainly prolific. Matthew Stafford is one of my favorite values at the back half of drafts. This is a team that only ran the ball 36% of the time last year. That's not a lot. That's 30th in the league. They could not run the ball. That's 18 carries a game split across whomever they gave it to. Last year it was Dwayne Washington and Theo Riddick sometimes and for a couple days and Zach Zinner. But this is 18 carries a game. So you have to make your argument for this running game improving from the basis of the volume needs to improve. Otherwise I think you're looking at okay, what can Amir Abdullah really do if he gets the ball eight times, nine times, 10 times a game, Is that going to happen with the additions offensive line? Are they going to be committed to the run? Jason's been shaking his head this whole time saying look, the volume just not there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, the volume is just not there. And it's not just there because, oh, well, Amir Abdullah was injured last year. No, this is not injured last year. This is. You know, I was talking about the trends, right? Green Bay, you look, usually they run the ball more. Look at, look at this team. And over the last three years. Not just last year, the last three years, they are basically dead. They are. If you look at the accumulation of the last three years together, they are dead last in rushing attempts, 32. And they're dead last in rushing yards, 32. And so maybe they bump up to the highest they've been in the last three years, which was 28. You know, it's like they're not a team that's going to produce on the ground. Now, that's not to say they can't have fantasy relevance. We all know ppr. Theo Riddick has been great, but now it's like with Amir Abdullah and Theo Riddick, I'm scared of both of them. I don't. I keep wanting to be. Because, look, Amir Abdullah is talented. I mean, he is a.

[Andy Holloway]

He's amazing.

[Mike Wright]

He is a. He is a star running back type of player. So if he breaks out and just carries the team, kudos for drafting him. But I cannot get myself to be convinced that I go volume over talent. I go opportunity over talent. I can't believe that the opportunity is.

[Jason Moore]

From what I understand, Amir Abdullah, his high school locker, when you open it up, there's a little picture of C.J. anderson in there. And so he has to break out of that mold because he, I mean, Mike, he hasn't been healthy first season.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he was healthy his rookie year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Jason Moore]

So does the volume go up, Mike?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it goes up. I'm looking back here because I was thinking of, well, when the Detroit Lions weren't committing to the run game. Why is that? And if it's because they had Joy Bell with this contract, that's who they put their faith in. But Joy Bell in 2014, which you're talking about, he had 223, 223 carries. If Amir Abdullah gets more than 200 carries, he's going to be a running back too, because he's going to have 30 plus receptions to go along with that. And, and I know that Amir's in this weird, nebulous zone of what is the actual role of Amir Abdullah. Because when you're just looking not the.

[Mike Wright]

Goal line, because you think, well, if.

[Andy Holloway]

Zach centers, the short yard is back and the goal line back and Theo Riddick is the passing. Exactly. Where is Amir Abdullah?

[Jason Moore]

I just have faith down on my.

[Andy Holloway]

Rankings that the Detroit Lions spent a second round pick to get him.

[Mike Wright]

The Cardinals wanted Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly. He's. He's incredibly talented. I just, I believe in Amir Abdullah the player. I believe that the Lions will figure out how to use him.

[Jason Moore]

I'll say this, if Amir Abdullah can produce early, that will be the best pathway to high volume in this offense. The problem is, you know, when you come off of an injury play gear, you are undersized to a degree at the running back position. You wonder if they're going to force that issue if he doesn't earn that time on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And I think their offensive line has. Has gotten worse. I mean, early it got worse with the.

[Andy Holloway]

When, with the injury to Decker.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they lost right there.

[Mike Wright]

You had the injury to the left tackle. You had Taylor Decker, Larry Warford left. Yes. You got T.J. lang. But you've got a lot of changeover on an offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

You left out Greg Robinson. They brought him in. Superst from the Los Angeles Rams was.

[Mike Wright]

A first round draft pick.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Didn't cost him a first to get him. All right, So I want to turn my attention to the more exciting part of this offense. To me, the passing game. Matthew Stafford, love his consistency over the past five years. Marvin Jones through this is famous. I guess doing well through week seven doesn't bode well for anybody. But through week seven, Marvin Jones was the number 10 wide receiver in PPR leagues.

[Andy Holloway]

It makes sense.

[Jason Moore]

And then he passed away.

[Mike Wright]

Here's what it says to me from.

[Jason Moore]

A fantasy perspective this next year when.

[Mike Wright]

You have breakout players who haven't done it yet. But through week seven, next year in 2017, when they're, yeah, sell just like, oh, they're showing hot sell.

[Jason Moore]

You know, it is tough at that point. Those are. Wait till week eight, see what happens. Week eight is the advice. But Marvin Jones, I still think this guy is talented. You had a very hot beginning. All the reports so far in the off season workouts, it's been positive. Golden Tate, I think is integral to this offense, but I don't think he's the same yards after the catch threat, deep threat, score threat that he could have been or that he was years past. I think he's lost a step. Matt Harmon's reception perception would tell you he lost a step. So are you banking on, let me put it this way to you, Mike, because I know you like a rookie. They brought in, I Do, whose nickname has been crafted perfectly by Brooks.

[Mike Wright]

So good.

[Jason Moore]

So Kenny. Kenny Golladay, Kenny G. Well, if there's.

[Andy Holloway]

One thing he has, it's smooth routes.

[Jason Moore]

It's Kenny G. Now.

[Mike Wright]

The rookie sensation.

[Jason Moore]

Kenny Golladay, smooth routes. Do you have more confidence in Kenny Golladay? Kenny Garrett breaking out or Marvin Jones bouncing back? Which is the. Which one do you prefer? Well, I'm just gonna leave these tunes for you.

[Andy Holloway]

If I had to decide between two players, I would go with the veteran.

[Mike Wright]

Even though, even though the music is.

[Andy Holloway]

So smooth, I love the potential of Candy Holiday.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I completely agree. I was very happy. I thought for sure with the music going on we were gonna be swayed into going with Kenny G. But I.

[Andy Holloway]

Got, I got to stay with what I believe.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Marvin Jones song, be darned. It was. It was one of those things where Marvin Jones was second on the team in targets inside the 10 yard line with seven. Now the leader for that for the lions is gone. Nine targets inside the 10 went bolden, Juan Bolden, and he's gone. So the question is, where do those, you know, 67 receptions and eight touchdowns, six of which were inside that 10. Where did those targets go? Did they go to Eric Ebron, who only had three targets, which is pretty much how they've always used him inside the 10, inside the 10. He had four the year before. But Marvin Jones is a guy that the first half of the year, it's no coincidence that the first half of the year they were targeting him. Most of his targets came before week seven. Where do you think those targets inside the 10 go now that assuming Anquan Bolden doesn't resign?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think it's a good thing without, without Bolden there. It's a good stability perspective for Jones. Jones inside the 10. You know, you haven't brought anybody else in. Ebron, I think goes up, but Jones, I think you have a stable amount of targets inside that zone. He's a guy who, back in Cincinnati, you remember, he had these three touchdown games. He's a target in the red zone. He's in 10th round right now. He's being drafted right by Quincy Anunois. Do you want Anunwa or do you want Marvin Jones? Do you want Corey Coleman or do you want Marvin Jones? That's the range he's being drafted in. Cameron Meredith, Corey Davis or Marvin Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

And it's going to take Cameron Meredith, but it's gone too far.

[Jason Moore]

But look, let me read you, okay? So Meredith, you have a quarterback there that you know, Mike Glennon, Corey Coleman, who knows Quincy and uno, who knows Marvin. Marvin Jones has Matthew Stafford.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

What do you mean, who knows? No, I'm talking about the quarterback. Oh, sure, you know, the quarterback situation for Marvin Jones. Those other ones are all up in the air or inferior than Matthew Stafford. So I think it's an interesting flyer in the 10th round is all I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

I agree.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Jason Moore]

Even if he gave me only seven weeks of that type of prolific play, I think I'd take that in the 10th round.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And Marvin Jones is a good value. Golden Tate is, I think, always a good value. If you look last year and you go, well, he had so many finishes outside the top 36 wide receivers. Those, the vast majority came in those first few weeks where they just were trying to force the ball to Marvin Jones. Eric Ebron. I've been talking this off season about how his new role, how they're using him, is different this year. So that bodes well.

[Jason Moore]

That was a cinnamon roll. Now he was talking about, I love.

[Mike Wright]

Ebron even more now. If there's one thing I like more than Eric Ebron is cinnamon rolls. Not a skinny man. But if his role changes and he, you know, and there's those nine missing targets inside that 10, those. Those targets are. I mean, on those nine, those turned into six touchdowns for Anquan Bolton.

[Jason Moore]

Over. Under. Six touchdowns for Eric Ebron.

[Andy Holloway]

Under.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would under. I'll take the push. I can't take the over.

[Jason Moore]

We need to talk about the Vikings now, guys. Let's talk about Minnesota. For some reason, I feel like this is going to be an area that Mike loves to talk about, because he gets to talk about Sam Bradford, Sammy Biscuits himself. He loves talking about Sammy Biscuits. If you want to talk about the opposite impact of wide receivers in the, you know, in the end zone of Green Bay, it's. It's Minnesota, the Vikings wide receivers, they caught a touchdown every 22 passes, where Green Bay receivers caught one every seven, essentially. So even if you like guys like Adam Thielen, Stefan Diggs, Laquan Treadwell, what in the world can you expect from.

[Andy Holloway]

I gotta laugh from the.

[Jason Moore]

From the passing offense. Have some dignity in this situation. I know Bradford set a record for efficiency, but it was 10.9 yards per touch for the wide receivers, so he was keeping the ball short. Not a lot of big play opportunities. I know Thielen broke out at the end of the year, and with that came good performances from Bradford. But what is this passing game going to be? And who would you Draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, there's, there's a split. You can see what happens for those. If you don't recall what happened. Norv Turner started the year as the offensive coordinator. The team was actually 5 and 2 and Norv Turner resigned. Pat Schumer took over. And you can see Bradford's yardage does go up now. His touchdowns kind of stay in the same realm and same pace that they were early on with Norv, but the yardage goes up. And I think Stefan Diggs is such a sensational player. You look at his reception perception and I mean he is fantastic. He's above average on every single route except for two. He's just, he's a great player where the reception perception is, is the perfect tool. And in case that we have new listeners, you don't know reception perception is. We've teamed up with Matt Harmon from NFL.com and he watches how does it, how good of a route does a player run? And when players run good routes, eventually the targets do go to them. And I think that's what's going to happen for Stefan Diggs. And I do want to remind people Sam Bradford, three of the final four weeks of the season was a top six quarterback. So it's not like he's not an impossibility that they can have an actual higher flying passing attack than they had last year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you talk about the change at offensive coordinator. We saw that, you know, in 2015, what it did for Matthew Stafford. All of his stats went up with Jim Bob Kudu.

[Andy Holloway]

Jbc.

[Mike Wright]

Jbc, yeah, you know me. But with Sam Bradford from week nine on. So the entire second half of the season, do you guys know where he would have finished over that stretch?

[Jason Moore]

Would have or did you mean projecting the second half?

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no. I'm just saying from weeks nine through 17 of all quarterbacks, week nine through 17, he was the quarterback 12.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

And I know some of that came on some big games, big games are good, but games. Bradford is a decent quarterback if you're in a two quarterback league. I love him late. It's really weird. His, he just doesn't throw touchdowns. He's got an accurate ball short, he's got an accurate ball long. On his passes over 20 yards, he was the most accurate over 20 yards, although he threw pretty much the least. But what's crazy is he doesn't throw touchdowns. And I don't get why. And this is, this is not like this is a big difference between the rest of the NFL. The only quarterback that has like a career and isn't just like, oh, he started a few games. Who has a worse, you know, attempts per touchdown is Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco has like a little bit worse and he's had a career of not throwing a lot of touchdowns per attempt. The, you know, the NFL average over the last five years, 22 attempts. And you know, Sam Bradford's living up at the 28 range.

[Jason Moore]

Do you remember those, the old baseball or football cards that you would get and they had the hologram on them and you just like kind of.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh yeah, the top, the upper deck.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You turn them in the light and you get like, you can see the image moving and things like that.

[Andy Holloway]

I can still see my Kirby Pucket.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Well, when I look at my card of Bradford and it gets the glisten of the light like a picture of Alex Smith starts to come into form and I go back and forth and I think that's the problem is you kind of, you see him through the lens of like, am I really going to bank on a short yardage specialist that doesn't throw a lot of touchdowns to give me a consistent year? And I guess you don't have to with Bradford.

[Mike Wright]

Bradford, he's a great streamer.

[Jason Moore]

He's a good streamer and he's a good. I think He's a decent QB2 in a two quarterback league. Somebody you can get late. But, you know, unless Adam Thielen is going to have a bigger feature downfield role this year than he had, you know, something towards the end of last year. Let's sort out the running backs, guys. Is Jerick McKinnon done? I want to ask that question because Jerick McKinnon was an RB2 from week seven on last year by necessity, by volume, by whatever you want to say. But he was an RB2. Is he done? Are you expecting Dalvin Cook to take the reins or is this going to be more of a big back, little back split with Latavius Murray and Dalvin Cook? Talk about Dalvin Cook returning kicks.

[Andy Holloway]

This would be a song. Big back, little back.

[Mike Wright]

I like it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we wrote it. We wrote the whole song.

[Mike Wright]

The more.

[Andy Holloway]

The more available on iTunes. 2 seconds.

[Mike Wright]

The more that I look at the Vikings, what they've done this off season, what their clear intention is, is to fix the running game. They're a defense first team and in order to succeed that way you have to be able to run the ball. They couldn't run the ball at all. They were pretty much the worst running team last year in the league.

[Jason Moore]

Number one Way to fix your running backs. Get rid of Adrian Peterson.

[Mike Wright]

Well, yeah, I completely agree at this stage in his career by, you know, comparison to what he was able to do last year. Injured, as he will get injured again this year. But the point is they went out and they signed Latavius Murray. Now, that's. That's not saying that he is.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's just a teaser.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Moore]

We'll have one on ap.

[Andy Holloway]

I was going to say they sent away Adrian Peterson because he was hurt and they brought in Latavius Murray, who is hurt.

[Mike Wright]

But my point is not. Latavius Murray is the answer. My point is that Minnesota said, we've got to fix our running game. Let's go spend on a running back. Then they traded up for Dalvin Cook at the running back position. And their offensive line, which was horrendous last year. We cannot keep thinking that they have a bad offensive line. They don't. They made improvements to the offensive line, a lot of which were in health. I mean, they had health problems last year on the offensive line. I see them as a middle of the pack offensive line that wants to run the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

They got Riley. Riley Reef. They stole him from Detroit.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. It's funny, the NFC north has like this. This. The offensive line, they all just kind of traded shifted jerseys. Yeah. T.J. lang went from, you know, the packers to the Lions.

[Jason Moore]

It's funny, though, because they all shifted teams and yet we're like, all right, the packers couldn't run the ball and the Lions couldn't run the ball and the Vikings couldn't run the ball.

[Mike Wright]

I believe that Minnesota will run the ball significantly better this year than they did last year. And as I was preparing for this show and looking at all the offensive linemen and everything, I made a note to myself to move Dalvin Cook up and to check on the health of Latavius Murray.

[Jason Moore]

Mike. Sorry. Sorry.

[Mike Wright]

I think there is opportunity here, especially where these guys are being drafted.

[Jason Moore]

Dalvin Cook in the fifth, Latavius Murray in the eighth. Who do you take? Cook.

[Andy Holloway]

I've completely switched over to Cook's camp. It. Murray's hurt. He's not. He's getting nothing. Dalvin Cook is getting all the time to impress the coaches. And if he's showing anything like he did in his college game tape, then he should take the job.

[Jason Moore]

All right, fantasy owners, let's shift to a team that averaged 10.5 points per game last year.

[Andy Holloway]

There's an analyst on our team that. This is his. This is his friends.

[Mike Wright]

These are like that's.

[Andy Holloway]

This is favorite team.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jay Gris, huh?

[Andy Holloway]

Come on, man.

[Jason Moore]

I was slow on the uptake. I was busy staring at 10.5 points per game. 29th in the league. New quarterbacks in town for the Chicago Bears. Mike Glenn and Mitchell Trubisky. Look, the story of last year for the Bears was Jordan Howard. Jordan Howard. Jordan Howard, rookie running back sensation, put up an absolutely monster year without even having full time work for the entirety of it. I love Jordan Howard. I think Jordan Howard is everything you want. Talent, opportunity. The only thing he's missing is an offense that's going to score the ball and that's going to be a problem for him. I think projecting Jordan Howard for too many touchdowns would be a mistake, but projecting him for 25 touches a game is very possible. This is a situation that mirrors to me what's going on in Arizona where the team is going to run through David Johnson. It literally, figuratively, it's going through David Johnson, it's going to go through Jordan Howard in Chicago. It takes pressure off of Mike Lennon. It'll eventually take pressure off of Trubisky and the wide receiver. Course a bunch of never beens or has beens. I mean, Marcus Wheaton, Kendall Wright, Kevin White.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and like I said, I do like Cameron Meredith, but I don't want to leave Jordan Howard just yet. The guy wasn't even the starter until week three. He was second in rushing yards. He was an absolute monster. Pro Football Focus has their offensive line at fifth. This is not a Todd Gurley situation to me. I know that some of the pieces are mirroring Gurley because you have poor team, low scoring team, where are they going to be able to do it? But the guy was over 100 yards, I think eight times and he just. It wasn't chunk plays for Jordan Howard. It was, it was gash the defense. I mean, he's an absolute monster of a player. I have faith in Jordan Howard. That last year was not a fluke. We're not going to see an absolute monster bust. I don't. I'm not calling for second in the league in rushing, but I think that he is an excellent player and he's worth that price that you're going to have to pay. Either a late first or a high second round pick.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I have a hard time right now paying the price. I agree with everything you said on principle. I don't think he's going to bust. He's not going to just go away and vanish. He's too good of a running back and they've got a good enough offensive line. It's like the only thing the Bears have is Jordan Howard in an offensive line. The worry that I have is obviously with touchdowns and scoring, it's just back into the first round. What's the upside? Can he really do that enough to be a top five guy in that offense? And then he's not good at catching the ball. We've joked about it, we've watched the film.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not.

[Jason Moore]

But they keep throwing it to him.

[Mike Wright]

They're not going to. Because, look, they went out and, I mean, who. Who did they get? They went out and got Benny Cunningham and they drafted Tariq Cohen just a few picks after the, you know, Samaj P Ryan. And what are those two guys? They're pass catching backs. So my worry is if he loses a little bit of that volume and it's a low scoring team, I like him. I think he's locked and loaded. RB2. He's not going to be lower than an RB2 for sure. Which. There's a place for that. But that place to me is not the first round.

[Jason Moore]

He's at 203 right now. Okay, maybe getting a little more comfortable, but I'm going to put you on the spot with that because you're going to have to take him over Marshawn Lynch, Todd Gurley, Leonard Fournette, Lamar Miller and Isaiah Cruel. Yeah, I mean, do you take them over all five of those players?

[Mike Wright]

Do I take. Wait, are you.

[Jason Moore]

Jordan Howard over Marshawn Lynch, Todd Gurley, Leonard Fournette, Lamar Miller, Isaiah Crowell?

[Mike Wright]

No, I don't take. I think Lamar Miller to me.

[Jason Moore]

You would take them over Jordan Howard?

[Mike Wright]

Lamar Miller and Jordan Howard and Todd Gurley and Marshawn Lynch. All of those guys are in the exact same tier to me.

[Jason Moore]

So you'd maybe take the lowest of that tier, depending on whoever's dropping.

[Mike Wright]

The reality is it completely depends on what your draft pick is. When you're in the first two rounds, it's really kind of out of your hands. You don't get to. You don't get to wait for.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'd take Howard over all of those other guys because I have him in my personal tiers.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, above those other. I would, too. I wanted to ask Jason for sure, though, with Lamar Miller and the possible upside there. Last question on the Bears. If there's a fantasy player that's going to surprise you from this roster out of nowhere, it's going to be Deion Sims. Good call. Deion Sims tight end Zach Miller could not make the team.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel very strongly about Deion Sims.

[Jason Moore]

You do? And I've not even argued with you because of how I can tell. I mean, you have conviction with this.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a, he's a great player, athletic monster. We saw kind of a mini breakout for him at the end of the season last year with the Dolphins. Now they let him go, but the Bears scooped him up because Zach Miller is their lead guy. The injury history of Zach Miller is well documented. Now the rumors are he may not even make the team. It could be a cap casualty situation for Zach Miller and that makes Deion Sims the starter quarterback or starting tight end. For a quarterback who throws to the tight end in Mike Glennon, Adam Shaheen is a rookie. I think Adam Shaheen has a bright future in the NFL, but he's a rookie tight end. I'm not worried about him in the least. This is Sims job. He's not being drafted. And he's a guy who I've started to look at at the very back of my best ball drafts. If I'm not liking what's going on, you know, I, we've talked about Safari and Jenkins as a last round tight end pick. If someone grabs Jenkins, I grab Sims because I think that he is. I think he can be a low end tight end. One that comes out of completely nowhere for. For the general public.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I want to wrap this thing up here. I do want to remind people this. Remind people. Tell people. Saturday's show is show 400 in our history. 400 episodes of the fantasy footballers. We're have a fun show on Saturday. Do not miss it. I can promise you there'll be a few special things we're going to throw in there. But show 400, huge shout out.

[Andy Holloway]

Huge.

[Jason Moore]

You don't want to miss Sincere shout out to all the listeners that brought us from show one to show 400. And there are many of you that have been here for every step of the way.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. This show is made by the listener. I mean we, we've said this before and it's really true. I believe we have the best listeners in the world. It just. It's amazing to me.

[Andy Holloway]

It's really science, Jason.

[Mike Wright]

It's science and it's fact. It's just there. I expect more bad people. But it's like our listeners are just such great people. I love the stories from them. We appreciate your support.

[Andy Holloway]

Keeping it positive.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Really positive group.

[Andy Holloway]

Love it.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Also don't miss it. The secret to victory. It's a new podcast from Gatorade and Gimlet Creative about how the best athletes in the world use defeat to fuel a win. This week, you're getting Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, about how their disappointing rookie seasons didn't stop them. It made them smarter, better players. So visit Gatorade.com podcast to listen now or wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

[Jason Moore]

That's right. I always thought you had kind of a disappointing rookie season on this show, Jay.

[Mike Wright]

And now I'm Peyton. Frank freaking Manning, retiring.

[Andy Holloway]

You're retiring?

[Jason Moore]

That's great news.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm out of here.

[Andy Holloway]

Check out draft. You can do some [e-mail] Ballers Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye.

[Mike Wright]

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