NFC East Breakdown, Josh Doctson, August Hype!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Footballers - NFC East Breakdown, Josh Doctson, August Hype!

Release Date: August 1, 2018

---

Introduction

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright delve deep into the intricacies of the NFC East, providing expert analysis on each team’s prospects for the 2018 NFL season. The episode also features an exclusive interview with Washington Redskins wide receiver Josh Doctson, shedding light on his transition to the team and his outlook for the upcoming season.

---

Listener League Announcement

Andy Holloway kicks off the episode by announcing the opening of entries for the 2018 Listener League, an exclusive fantasy football competition for dedicated listeners.

• Andy Holloway [03:11]: "The Listener League. We are opening up official entries for the 2018 Listener League."

• Mike Wright [03:37]: Emphasizes the exclusivity: "The league is all about people having a great time because we put you into an exclusive, very exclusive club."

Key Points:

• Entries are open for one week only.
• Interested listeners should email [e-mail].
• The league promises an engaging and competitive environment, with over a thousand submissions anticipated.

---

NFL News Highlights

The hosts cover significant NFL developments that impact fantasy football, including player contracts, injuries, and team strategies.

1. Stefon Diggs Signs with the Vikings

   • Andy Holloway [08:43]: "The Vikings have signed Stefan Diggs to a five-year, $72 million extension, $40 million in guarantees."

   • Discussion: While the deal secures Diggs for six years, Fantasy Footballers analyze his potential performance compared to Adam Thielen, highlighting the financial aspects impacting fantasy value.

2. Delanie Walker’s Extension with the Titans

   • Andy Holloway [11:03]: "The Titans have signed Delanie Walker to a two-year, $17 million extension."

   • Insights: Mike Wright appreciates Walker’s steady performance and his role as a reliable tight end option for fantasy managers.

3. Seahawks’ Doug Baldwin Injury

   • Andy Holloway [13:30]: "Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin is dealing with a sore knee and will be sidelined for a few weeks."

   • Concerns: The potential for Baldwin to miss more time raises red flags for fantasy owners considering his future performance.

4. Redskins’ Chris Thompson Injury

   • Andy Holloway [14:50]: "Redskins running back Chris Thompson likely won’t be fully recovered from his broken fibula until November."

   • Impact: Mike Wright suggests moving up ADP on Darius Goed as Thompson’s availability becomes uncertain.

5. Giants’ Jordan Reed and Tyler Ifert Updates

   • Andy Holloway [16:01]: "Jordan Reed is high up in the fantasy rankings despite recent surgery, and Tyler Ifert has passed his physical and is cleared to practice."

---

NFC East Breakdown

Philadelphia Eagles

Overview: The Eagles enter the 2018 season with high expectations, bolstered by key additions and a top-tier offensive line.

• Key Additions: Mike Wallace (WR), Dallas Goedert (TE), Richard Rodgers (WR)

• Running Backs: Jay Ajayi is highlighted as a significant value pick in the fourth round due to his potential workload and offensive line support.

  • Mike Wright [27:46]: "Jay Ajayi is third in rushing yards per game and a Pro Football Focus number one offensive line."

  • Andy Holloway [27:45]: "Ajayi is such a good value that I'd still prefer him over Clement at the draft price because of the workload."

Concerns:

• Player Health: Both the starting quarterback and top wide receivers are recovering from offseason surgeries.

  • Chris [25:01]: "I worry about the Eagles as an offense... your number one wide receiver and quarterback are recovering from surgeries."

Fantasy Insights:

• Doug Peterson’s Play Calling: Considered more stable compared to other offensive coordinators, potentially benefiting fantasy scoring.

  • Andy Holloway [26:00]: "I look at Doug Peterson and his play calling a lot differently than I look at Atlanta."

New York Giants

Overview: The Giants show promise with the addition of Saquon Barkley and improvements to their offensive line, aiming for a resurgence.

• Star Player: Saquon Barkley is poised to be a fantasy powerhouse, potentially matching his previous top performances.

  • Andy Holloway [50:10]: "Saquon Barkley could be the number one running back in NFC football."

• Wide Receivers: Sterling Shepard is identified as a high-upside, undervalued target who can outperform his draft position.

  • Chris [51:03]: "Sterling Shepard is a great receiver... he will have big fantasy games and he is basically free."

Fantasy Insights:

• Eli Manning: Positioned as a valuable late-round quarterback pick due to his efficient play and connection with Sterling Shepard.

  • Mike Wright [51:32]: "Eli Manning Certainly has to out produce his draft price."

Key Considerations:

• Jordan Reed: Continues to be a top tight end option despite injury concerns.

  • Mike Wright [46:22]: "Jordan Reed can make some serious money there."

Dallas Cowboys

Overview: The Cowboys aim to build on a 9-7 record from the previous season, with Ezekiel Elliott as a cornerstone and concerns over wide receiver depth.

• Key Player: Ezekiel Elliott remains a top fantasy asset, expected to carry a significant workload if healthy.

  • Chris [37:54]: "Zeke missed six games, but if you want to take him at the 101, it's not a wrong move."

• Wide Receiver Adjustments: With the departure of Des Bryant and Jason Witten, players like Alan Hearns and Cole Beasley are in focus.

  • Andy Holloway [35:46]: "Alan Hearns is a clear cut beneficiary of the absent targets."

Fantasy Insights:

• Dak Prescott: Positioned as a solid middle-tier quarterback, with potential to exceed expectations based on team performance.

  • Andy Holloway [34:09]: "Dak Prescott as our consensus QB 19."

Concerns:

• Wide Receiver Targets: Loss of significant targets may impact the overall offensive output and fantasy value.

  • Mike Wright [34:10]: "That's a lot of targets gone."

Washington Redskins

Overview: The Redskins undergo significant changes with a new quarterback in Alex Smith and the addition of Josh Doctson, amidst concerns over injuries.

• Star Player: Josh Doctson’s injury raises questions about his availability and impact on fantasy drafts.

  • Andy Holloway [39:24]: "Josh Doctson was one of the camp highlights thus far."

• Quarterback Analysis: Alex Smith is viewed as a reliable mid-tier fantasy option with potential for improvement.

  • Mike Wright [39:45]: "Alex Smith is quickly becoming one of my late-round sneaky options."

Fantasy Insights:

• Darius Goed: Emerging as a valuable running back option due to potential increased workload.

  • Mike Wright [42:23]: "Darius Goed has a huge projection... potentially a top five running back."

Key Considerations:

• Jordan Reed and Jameson Crowder: Potential primary targets if Doctson remains injured, enhancing their fantasy value.

  • Mike Wright [46:22]: "Between those two guys, you have top five upside at tight end."

---

Interview with Josh Doctson

The episode features an insightful interview with rookie wide receiver Josh Doctson, exploring his experiences being drafted and adjusting to his new team dynamics.

Key Highlights:

1. Draft Experience:

   • Josh Doctson: Reflects on the surreal moment of being drafted and the support from his family.

     • Josh Doctson [54:10]: "It was an amazing moment... one I'll never forget."

2. Transition to Washington:

   • Relationship with Alex Smith: Highlights Alex Smith’s leadership and professionalism.

     • Josh Doctson [55:35]: "He's a veteran, man. He's a leader and a veteran."

3. Personal Goals:

   • Stay Healthy and Available: Emphasizes the importance of staying injury-free and being a reliable teammate.

     • Josh Doctson [57:22]: "Staying healthy and being available for everybody."

4. Outlook on Teammates:

   • Jordan Reed: Shows confidence in Reed’s recovery and future performance.

     • Josh Doctson [58:24]: "He's gonna be big time."

Notable Quotes:

• Josh Doctson [55:35]: "Everything's going very smooth with Alex and looking to roll the training camp with him."

• Josh Doctson [57:27]: "Staying healthy and being available for everybody."

---

Conclusion

The Fantasy Footballers Podcast delivers a comprehensive analysis of the NFC East, highlighting key player movements, injury updates, and fantasy implications for each team. The interview with Josh Doctson provides a unique insider perspective, enhancing the episode’s depth. Listeners are encouraged to engage with the Listener League and participate in upcoming live shows, ensuring they stay ahead in their fantasy football endeavors.

Key Takeaways:

• Eagles: Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement present strong running back options.
• Giants: Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard offer high-value fantasy potentials.
• Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott remains a top-tier running back, with emerging WR targets.
• Redskins: Alex Smith and Darius Goed are solid quarterback and running back choices, respectively.

For more detailed insights and expert advice, visit fantasyfootballers.com and join their vibrant fantasy football community.

---

Note: This summary excludes advertisements and non-content sections to focus solely on the informative aspects of the podcast episode.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, fantasy football fans, August is upon us. It's draft season and you know what you need? You need the Ultimate Draft Kit from the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. The number one tool to get you primed, to get you ready to dominate your fantasy football draft. It is jam packed. All of our 2018 stat projections, 100 plus player profile videos, all of our top 200 list, risk ratings, sleepers, breakouts, busts, values, everything you could possibly need is back and better than ever for 2018. Check it out@ultimate draft kit.com.

[Josh Doxson]

This is Josh Dockson. You're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, let's do it.

[Mike Wright]

Let's do it.

[Chris]

Oh, football is here.

[Andy Holloway]

Wednesday, August 1st, 2018. We're in August, boys.

[Chris]

We're 24 hours away from real preseason football.

[Mike Wright]

Wink, wink, wink, wink.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that.

[Chris]

Is that Mitch Trubisky, Joe Flacco going at it in the hall of Fame game tomorrow?

[Andy Holloway]

That's less than 24 hours away.

[Chris]

Well, technically it's a few more, but it's tomorrow, so I feel like I can.

[Mike Wright]

If you're listening to this podcast in the Evening, we just. 24 hours.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. I'm Andy Holloway, joined as always by Jason Moore and Mike the Fantasy Hitman. Right.

[Mike Wright]

Hello.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're joining us, for the very first time, you've picked the right time because we are five days a week from now through the end of December. Brooks, are you ready for this?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Chris]

That was the loudest I've ever heard.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks, he's been holding his breath for hours to get that out at that volume. Thank you, Brooks.

[Mike Wright]

I saw him doing jumping jacks and push ups before the show.

[Chris]

They're working. Keep it out, man.

[Mike Wright]

If you do keep it out, keep it out, man. Zip it up and zip it out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I'm very excited, guys. Oh, my goodness. There.

[Chris]

There's the Brooks we know and love.

[Andy Holloway]

If you haven't seen the New York episode, the live show, Brooks made it or I'm sorry, this was the Philly show. Brooks made a very special appearance on stage. So very excited for this year. Today's a great show. We've got the NFC east breakdown on the show. A ton of news to get through. Great. Quick question. We're going to sum up kind of what's going on in the NFL and what to expect. I've got things I'm excited to talk about, but let's Start off with this announcement because you've asked for it for so long. The time is now. The time is right and I want to make this announcement right. The Listener League. We are opening up official entries for the 2018 Listener League. Jason is the back to back Listener League champion.

[Chris]

One year away from being the back to back to back Listener League champion.

[Andy Holloway]

You've already got the three peach shirts printed.

[Chris]

Mm.

[Mike Wright]

Careful. Phil will come after you. He owns that word.

[Andy Holloway]

Three Pete.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So here's what you do. If you want to enter the 2018 Listener League, if you want to be considered for the Listener League, you email us. We're opening it for one week only.

[Mike Wright]

One week only. Only. Only.

[Andy Holloway]

Very nice echo, Mike. Most echoes have a little laughter in.

[Mike Wright]

The felt like a monster truck ad.

[Andy Holloway]

For a second listener. Leagueantasyfootballers.com listener Leagueantasyfootballers.com Here are the bullet points for answering and you guys feel free to supplement. Jason, Mike, you don't send us your trophy case. We don't care how many times you've won in your league. That will not earn you a spot in the Listener League.

[Chris]

We love smack talk once you're in the league, but that's not how you're getting in the league. We don't want a block of text that says, oh, look how great I am or look how what I'm beat.

[Josh Doxson]

You.

[Chris]

We don't want a story.

[Mike Wright]

The way you get in.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You catch our eye with something.

[Andy Holloway]

Something special.

[Mike Wright]

Something special.

[Andy Holloway]

Something spicy.

[Mike Wright]

We're not going to tell you what to do. We're. We're simply letting you know. The trophy case and the story of greatness and the garbage talk.

[Chris]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

Those are all fine and fancy free things. They will not get you into the Listener League because the league is. This league is all about people having a great time because we put you into an exclusive, very exclusive club.

[Chris]

You could be as famous as Brian Ketron, that loser who was to me in the championship week last year. That could be you. We could shame you on this show. We'll have over a thousand submissions. So everybody that's saying that just sends the email that says I'd like in.

[Mike Wright]

Stop it. Yeah, come on, you got to bring it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so it's open right now for one week and one week only listener league@fantasy footballers.com we do have one more stop on our Fantasy for the People tour and that is right here in Phoenix. You can grab a ticket before it sells [e-mail] if you're in or around the Phoenix area. Come see us on August 24th. I'm excited to be back in the studio. I'm excited for this show. And look, let's jump in here. Quick question of the day before we get into the news, before we get into the NFC east breakdown. We also have an interview with Josh Dockson at the end of the show today, wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, somebody that Mike has been a big fan of for quite a while.

[Josh Doxson]

This is it.

[Mike Wright]

This is the year, maybe the year, I hope.

[Andy Holloway]

What are you watching for in August, guys?

[Chris]

I can say what I'm watching for this year. You know, we talk a lot of times in preseason. I really love watching tight ends. But this year specifically, I am watching the rookie quarterback battles. That's what I want. I want to see how the incumbents, you know, I want to see how Tyrod does and I want to see how Baker does.

[Andy Holloway]

All Josh McCown and Sam Darnold, five.

[Chris]

First round quarterbacks and you know, some of them, at least one of them will be starting week one and it's going to be based on August. So I want to see who's it going to be and who looks like they're going to be pushing for that week two, Week three.

[Mike Wright]

For me it's, it's the, it's rookies, but it's the rookie running backs. There are so many interesting battles here and sides have been chosen. The line in the sand has been drawn and we're all picking who we believe will rise, rise up, become a starter, who's going to stay a backup. So that's what I'm really watching for. What I'm really hoping for is the Ronald Jones Amir Abdullah moment where Ronald Jones, because look, he isn't, he is an electric athlete. He will have big plays. But I want that one big play.

[Andy Holloway]

That Jax has ever drafted skyrockets his.

[Mike Wright]

ADP up so I can scoop up some more value and let everyone else draft Ronald Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say this. I like Ronald Jones the player. I am not prepared to die on Ronald Jones's hill, the risks of Tampa Bay, he's not a good hill maker.

[Mike Wright]

So, so that's on him.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just, it's a troubling hill to die on because there are variables with Jameis Winston being gone. I love Ronald Jones. I think he's got an amazing opportunity at volume. I expect him to be pretty darn good this year, but I've got guys I like more than Ronald Jones. He won't be a my guy this year. I've got those already picked out. And I've got a surprise.

[Mike Wright]

Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

Because people have asked when. The My Guys episode. Brooks. Is that about mid August? Yeah, about the 15th. Somewhere around there. Sounds about right. So I've. I've got my guys picked out, and then I have a third. I'm not telling anybody till the day of. Wow, the My Guys episode.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm not gonna tell you any of my guys. I'm up in your ante. You won't know any of my.

[Chris]

I'm not even gonna pick my guy.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not even gonna be here for that.

[Chris]

I'll be there. But I'll say pass.

[Andy Holloway]

That's how you.

[Mike Wright]

No risk it.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't need.

[Mike Wright]

Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

All your guys hit. If you don't have any less carbs.

[Chris]

No biscuit.

[Mike Wright]

You know, Less carbs.

[Andy Holloway]

No biscuit. All right, but just so you guys know, training camps already underway. The hall of Fame games tomorrow. Week one of the preseason starts on August 9th. And I can't wait. It's going to be so exciting. The first game of the NFL season is Thursday, September 6th. Falcons and Eagles bird battle. I thought he said bird bath.

[Mike Wright]

Bird bath.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's catch you up on everything you need to know for your fantasy football roster for the draft. The Vikings have signed Stefan Diggs to a five year, $72 million extension, 40 million in guarantees. He's locked up for six years of control in Minnesota. This matters to me big time. Yeah, I mean, I like Stefan Diggs. The issue has been, does he play 16 games during a regular season? This deal matters to me. In fantasy football, you got to follow the money. And it's been one of those things where, like, how big is the gap between Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs? And look, this is a big time investment. And I don't predict Diggs to have a better season than Thielen, but he can. He definitely can.

[Mike Wright]

Remember when the Vikings signing Kirk Cousins was going to prevent the Vikings from locking up their studs?

[Andy Holloway]

Money is unlimited. I've learned that from the Rams this off season. You can sign everybody to any type of deal you want.

[Mike Wright]

The Vikings are indebted to Adam Thielen. Cashed in.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

He did not. He did not take the long term stance of I'm going to throw everything. So he took the deal, which now Adam Thielen seems like an absolute value for the wide receiver position. Stefan Diggs is fantastic. Stefan Diggs is One of the next superstars in the NFL. So I'm. I love what the Vikings have done here. Get him locked up.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that's the trick. As a gm, what you do is you sign somebody to a ridiculous deal, then you sign another player on your team to twice the money so that the first guy looks like a. Oh.

[Mike Wright]

Then you get GM of the year.

[Andy Holloway]

Then you get GM of the year.

[Chris]

How dare you call Thielen's deal ridiculous. He's the best wide receiver on the team. And I said he's underpaid. No, Andy said you sign a ridiculous deal and then you make a.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I said it's a strategy.

[Chris]

Well, no, I get the strategy. It's good. I'm just. I'm Mr. Adam Thielen over here.

[Mike Wright]

That's fine.

[Chris]

Yes, you are sticking up for my man.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I don't think we've talked about it on the show yet. Julio Jones agreed to a revised contract. He's back in camp. The Julio Jones fears, they've been assuaged.

[Chris]

Yeah, that's good.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right, Mike. Assuaged. I'm pretty sure that's the right word.

[Mike Wright]

I'm jumping on Dictionary.com.

[Andy Holloway]

You check that out while I tell you that the Titans have signed Delaney Walker to a two year, seventeen million dollar extension.

[Chris]

That was really surprising.

[Andy Holloway]

All the Joni Smith owners go. That's disappointing for those that are excited about. Look, if you thought that Delaney Walker wasn't going to be involved this year, you're wrong. They love Delaney Walker.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I have. I've been doing that quiet trumpeting of Delaney Walker when we've been talking about tight ends this offseason. Normally Delaney Walker is not the type of guy that I want to draft because he's his upside. It's not exciting, but he's just so steady.

[Andy Holloway]

So steady.

[Mike Wright]

If you believe in the ascension of the Titans offense and Marcus Mario to.

[Chris]

Jason, I do, very much.

[Mike Wright]

Delaney Walker, he might still be the top target on the team.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the average draft position. But Pat, this is get in the game. Like you give him 2 million, 2 year, $17 million deal and then you confirm what he is. And I brought this up on one of our live shows with Corey Davis argument. They were 28th in pass attempts in the league last year. This was a team that barely passed the ball and he was still steady. If you increase that, if you're a middle of the road pass attempt team, Delaney Walker starting to look a lot better.

[Chris]

Delaney Walker's usually over the last couple of years Been like the fifth titan off the board. Too expensive this year. He's going behind Evan Ingram, behind Kyle Rudolph. He's the eighth tight end off the board, just ahead of Trey Burton. And if you're looking at, look, we like Trey Burton here. We think he's a good value. But if you're going to compare what you know in the. In the known commodity of Delaney Walker, who's done it year in year out, with this quarterback versus Trey Burton, a hopeful, you know, upside guy, the value in best ball. I agree with you, Mike. I have not been a Delaney Walker guy in the past, but I'm soaking him up everywhere.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And we do try over the course of camp Hype season to read between the lines and tell you what you should pay attention to and what you shouldn't. Everybody's having a great camp.

[Chris]

They're either injured or they're having the just great camp. Really impressing.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And so there are things that are more important. There are things that are less important. For instance, Alex Smith, he looked really comfortable throwing the ball to Jameson Crowder yesterday. That was a piece of news, apparently.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he did it from the comfort of a La Z Boy recliner, so I get it.

[Chris]

Very comfortable.

[Mike Wright]

Just ultimate comfort brought to you by La Z Boy. Send me a Lazy Boy.

[Andy Holloway]

Please send me a Lazy Boy. All right, here's a bit of news that does matter to me. Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin. This is all injury news. Now. Dealing with a sore knee. Will be sidelined a few weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, this is not.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not something I'm excited about.

[Mike Wright]

This is an unfortunate thing. And I had. I don't remember where the quote came from, but coming out of the area, they've said that Doug Baldwin coming into camp didn't look quite right on top of that. So now you have that news that's surfacing. He's going to be out a few weeks. Not that Doug Baldwin has to have training camp to come in and be great, but the Seahawks, everyone is great. Everyone is going to be healthy all the time when Pete Carroll is talking. And the fact that Doug Baldwin was going to be out a few weeks is concerning for me because in a few weeks, would we be shocked if this turns into surgery? Oh, Doug Baldwin is going to go back in and get another mri. He's going to get things re evaluated. I'm not saying that we have no news that that's going to happen, but that is definitely a concern.

[Andy Holloway]

Now press the pause button on all your acquisition of Doug Baldwin and Dynasty League that's what I'm doing. I just don't want to. I want to wait and see. Red. This was big news. Redskins running back Chris Thompson says he likely won't be fully recovered from his broken fibula until November.

[Chris]

Now that's him giving himself 100% not saying he's not playing correct until November.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to play. It's hard to not overreact to training camp videos, but watching him do certain drills compared to the other guys on the team, it's not the same high pass, fast feet Chris Thompson we are used to. On top of that, this the injury he had. Yes, it's. It's an awful injury to have. But a broken fibula it all the medical people said. I mean he should. He should be fine right now.

[Andy Holloway]

It was not a displaced fracture. Is that correct?

[Mike Wright]

Off the top of my head? I do not know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's an injury you generally come back from quicker.

[Mike Wright]

It's troubling for Chris Thompson unless he's just milking it out, just soaking things up. But it's. Darius Geist is going to move up ADP from this news.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree with that. And we already saw last year even when Chris Thompson was maybe the best efficiency back in all of football.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

They still weren't willing to give him a massive workload. So I imagine they're going to be careful with him on the way back.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

This is big guys. Jordan Matthews.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Matthews has a significant hamstring injury according to news breaking this morning.

[Mike Wright]

Any injury to pay attention to in training camp. A significant hamstring injury is there is a direct correlation with a player being hampered the entire season have re injuring the hamstring because it's just such a.

[Chris]

It.

[Mike Wright]

There's no test of oh, it's. It's fully healed guys. I waited two weeks. It's no you think it feels fully back and then two plays in you retweak it. You make things work.

[Chris]

Danny Woodhead last season, you know they gave him a lot of time and then he.

[Mike Wright]

It happens all the time. DeMarco Murray was the same. His was an in season but once he hurt his hamstring, DeMarco Murray was never the same. So I pay attention to these. Jordan Matthews was trying to earn a spot on this roster. His contract was a very minimal commitment.

[Andy Holloway]

For the Patriots difficult offense to learn generally for a wide receiver to come in as well.

[Mike Wright]

So he will be missing time. If it is in fact a significant hamstring injury, I would not expect Jordan Matthews to Make and the other guys.

[Chris]

There, you know, that have a. You know, that are on that bubble of making the team. Philip Dorset, Kenny Britt, they're not slot. You know, that's not kind of there.

[Mike Wright]

He had a great opportunity here with. With Edelman missing four games.

[Chris]

Come on.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that Eric Decker will sign with the Patriots. I think that's what's going to happen. The free agent Eric Decker, it won't cost a lot of money to bring him in. He's been around the game long enough. I think Bill Belichick likes Eric Decker quite a bit, but needs to know if he has anything left in the tank. We don't know if he does or not. When you're 28th and pass attempts last year and Mariota has such a down season, maybe it was just not enough work to see what Eric Decker has left. Another piece of news today, Sony Michelle walked off under his own power to a medical tent, a practice. We know nothing else about that. He has not returned to practice. So we know nothing else other than the fact Sony Michelle went off with some sort of injury today. No news that it's significant or bad. Titans wide receiver Richard Matthews is on the PUP to start training camp.

[Mike Wright]

It's very mysterious.

[Andy Holloway]

We know nothing.

[Mike Wright]

We know nothing.

[Chris]

We're like Jon Snow.

[Andy Holloway]

We are.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Ifert has passed his physical, been cleared to practice, was on the PUP for four days.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome back.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe that's just like one of those. Like, he's so comfortable being on the PUP that he's just like, let me just have a few days on the puppet to get my year going.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Chris]

Yeah, he's warming up the pup. You know, he's. They're like, well, let's put. Let's put Eifer in there. He can warm up the pup, get it ready for other players. He's good. He's, you know, a veteran.

[Andy Holloway]

So why, if he's cleared to practice past his physical. The news on somebody like Jordan Reed has been good lately as well. Does Tyler Ifert and Jordan Reed, do they need to move up your board?

[Mike Wright]

Jordan Reed has been very far, high up in my ring.

[Andy Holloway]

Very far up my ring.

[Mike Wright]

I couldn't get out of it.

[Chris]

Well done.

[Andy Holloway]

Special sentences.

[Mike Wright]

I could not get out of it. But I've had Jordan Reed ranked very high, and they have. Did you hear the news about Jordan Reed, of his surgery? Allegedly they removed. He was saying they removed bones.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't need them.

[Chris]

Yeah, don't need them.

[Mike Wright]

I'm done. I'm done with these bones.

[Chris]

That toe just Flops there. Get rid of that toe bone.

[Andy Holloway]

Cannot have a toe bone injury without toe bones. That's his philosophy. Deontay Foreman's on the PUP list. Cameron Meredith avoided the PUP list. This is good news.

[Chris]

That's great news.

[Andy Holloway]

Late round value there.

[Chris]

Yeah. I mean, that's huge. If Cam Meredith avoided the pup, he is a forgotten man right now.

[Mike Wright]

Agreed.

[Chris]

For what his value could be in that offense.

[Andy Holloway]

Kenneth Dixon tweaked his hamstring.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Did not practice Monday. Pay attention. Elijah McGuire is going to miss three to six weeks, probably longer with a broken foot.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I will say Dr. David Chow on Twitter, a physician we reference frequently. He commented on the situation and said this is very optimistic for him to be back that quick.

[Chris]

Yeah. He should probably miss more time than that. That's good news for Elijah McGuire and.

[Mike Wright]

It'S good news for McGuire to miss more time.

[Chris]

Good news.

[Andy Holloway]

Anybody trying to make the roster, and.

[Chris]

They'Re bringing people in. What? Alfred Morris.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Chris]

Came into town.

[Andy Holloway]

Orleans Dark. Would it as well if.

[Mike Wright]

Or man, Orleans Dark. If Orleans Dark was signed with the Jets.

[Chris]

Sneaky. You like it?

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's just. It's interesting. And I think that muddies things up for what you're hoping for from Crowell, because I believe that Dark was a good running back who can rise up the depth chart.

[Chris]

I agree with you. All right, before we get to the NFC east breakdown, I want to thank today's sponsor, SeatGeek. Guys, the SeatGeek app is the easiest, best, most effective way to get tickets to your actual. You're pointing at me. What's your name?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm pointing at you. I just want to let people know My son's turning 7 years old. I just bought tickets to go see the Phillies game on SeatGeek in a week.

[Chris]

Yeah. This is the app we use because it's so easy. They color code everything. They make it very easy. A couple of taps on their app and you've got tickets. They are fully guaranteed through SeatGeek. And they pool hundreds of different sites, so you know you're getting a great price on SeatGeek. Download the app. It's very easy. It's SeatGeek. S, E, A, T, G, E, E, K SeatGeek. Get it now. Get your tickets for the upcoming season. It's always so much fun when you go to a real game. And best of all, our listeners get $20 off their first SeatGeek purchase. Just download the SeatGeek app. Enter the promo code for footballers today. That's promo code. Footballers for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase. You know, SeatGeek life's an event. We have the tickets.

[Mike Wright]

We'd like to thank Fantasy Champs for sponsoring today's show. Fantasy Champs, the only place you need to go for all of your fantasy football hardware needs our trophies. We always get them from Fantasy Champs. They have. Listen to this. You can get a custom fantasy football jersey, show up to your draft in style, get one of these great draft boards that they have. And I want to highlight this because I don't know if we've ever really talked about this on the show. They have a crystal trophy. Do you want to up your trophy game? We have seen this thing. We have picked it up.

[Chris]

£700 cannot be confirmed, but it's close. It's.

[Mike Wright]

It's so. It's a high quality trophy. I've seen nothing like it out there. It. I mean, it feels like this is a championship.

[Andy Holloway]

It reminds me of the college championship trophy.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, absolutely. And they got rings. They got everything you need at Fantasy Champs. So you head over there, you use the promo code, Ballers, you're going to save some money. Fantasy Champs, like I said, the only place you need to go for that fantasy football hardware.

[Jason Moore]

Let's get divisional.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, boys, it's time to talk NFC East. Last season, the Eagles 13 and 3 on their way to a Super Bowl. A Super bowl victory. Victory. The Dallas Cowboys were 9 and 7 after their emerging year the year before. The Redskins 7 and 9. The Giants 3 and 13, putting them into Saquon Barkley position for the NFL draft. And we head into 2018 with, I think, a lot of optimism around some of these rosters, a lot of opportunity to improve. And then, you know, today on the show, we're going to break down the fantasy value and the changes that have happened on these rosters.

[Jason Moore]

Eagles.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk Eagles. Right out of the gate.

[Mike Wright]

Demand has demanded the Eagles.

[Andy Holloway]

Those are so jarring. I mean, he's just rumbling with that voice. All right, the Eagles, let's talk about it. Some key additions to the Eagles this offseason. Look, they lost Trey Burton, but they brought in Mike Wallace. They lost Torrey Smith, if you call that a loss. But Mike Wallace signed a one year deal. Great value upgrade. Yeah, they drafted Dallas Goodare. Good air. Goodare. And then Richard Rogers is there as well. But this was an offense that moved big time last season.

[Mike Wright]

Just laughing.

[Chris]

That's like that cheese. Yeah. So delicious.

[Mike Wright]

Laughing at our pants.

[Andy Holloway]

No LeGarrett Blount anymore, but Jaya Jay, Corey Clement, Darren Sprouls returns from injury. Look, I love the Eagles. This is an NFL where, look, injuries can just disrupt the entire season and right now you're playing Russian roulette with training camp every day you hear somebody the packers just lost a linebacker to an ACL tear, but as of right now, I think they are far and away the favorites in this division. They had the number one offensive line last year by pff grade. Guys, what are you expecting from this roster? Where are the fantasy surprises? Where are the fantasy disappointments?

[Chris]

Yeah, I mean I don't really want to go first because I, you know, I worry about the Eagles as an offense solely. You know, I know that it's hard to be down on the super bowl champions who have young talent locked in, but I have my concerns from the fact that your starting quarterback, your number one wide receiver are both recovering from off season surgeries while you lost two great offensive minds. Yes, Doug Peterson is at, you know, he's at the top of the game right now. He is in charge. That's great. But his number one guy and his number two guy, those things matter. You know, Frank Reich was great. John DeFilippo, you know, for years his name's been surfaced and now both of those guys are gone. So I do worry with a little bit of the super bowl hangover when it comes to just all of these different weapons. Alshon J. Ajayi I don't.

[Andy Holloway]

I know that we have different opinions on this, this offense here, Jason, and you proved yourself very right in this regard last year with the Atlanta Falcons. However, I look at Doug Peterson and his play calling a lot differently than I look at Atlanta. We've seen New England go through turnover at the offensive coordinator position year after year after year. It did not affect them. When you have the foundational pieces of Tom Brady in place and some of those offensive pieces. So I look at that even better.

[Chris]

To your case is Kansas City, who we've seen lose offensive pieces while they've got an offensive minded head coach, the same guy that Doug Peterson is from. So I am keeping that in mind. It's not like Atlanta where you've got a defensive head coach who loses their offensive coordinator.

[Andy Holloway]

So I think both running backs are values. JJ that's where I wanted to go. They're big time values.

[Mike Wright]

Third in rushing yards per game this past season. They ended as Pro Football Focus number one offensive line graded out and they are graded out as the number one offensive line heading into 2018. LeGarrett Blunt has moved on to the Detroit Lions how does this workload split up? Because Jay Ajayi, if he gets any kind of workload like he was getting in Miami when he was the actual starter, then he is going to be a tremendous value for fantasy football. But you have the caveat of Corey Clements, who was emerging as a red zone option for them. It seems like a Jay, you should be the goal line guy. But they were preferring Corey Clement there. Corey Clement was elevating in the passing game as well. So what is that split look like? Because is he still going in the fourth round?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Chris]

Yeah, Ajay is.

[Mike Wright]

I'm very intrigued him as a fourth round pick.

[Chris]

While I worry about some of the pieces, the nice thing is that they're not too overpriced. Ajay is worth the risk there because if they do what, you know, the Eagles franchise has done in the past, which is, look, he's on a contract year and they don't usually pay up for running backs. So they could just use him to the end, just wear him down and then, and then move forward. He could get the volume and I do think the team will be, you know, Vegas has them at ten and a half wins.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Chris]

So they're not going to do that without scoring. You know, Jay Ajayi is not a bad pick. And. But we talked all about.

[Andy Holloway]

Sorry, go ahead.

[Chris]

When we were on NBC in Philly, that Corey Clement is the guy I would rather just because he's a 10th round pick, like he's free.

[Andy Holloway]

He's six rounds later.

[Chris]

Yeah, I would rather just take a cheap shot on. A cheap shot on the.

[Andy Holloway]

You are, you are the cheap shot king. Yes, I look, I think Ajayi is such a good value that I'd still prefer him over Clement at the draft price because of the workload. Upside. But we talk so much about these offenses where we don't know what the backfield's like. Right. And Mike, we've talked about Green Bay and Baltimore and Tampa and like all of these backfield situations where we're like, man, it's muddy so people don't want to touch them.

[Mike Wright]

Haven't even brought up Sprouls coming back.

[Andy Holloway]

But Philly, like you said, they're the number one offensive line and they have one of those.

[Chris]

They're the first best.

[Andy Holloway]

So they're the first best.

[Mike Wright]

Take a look at this. So fourth round, let's say you're at the top of the fourth round. These are the running backs according to adp that you could be choosing from. Alex Collins, Jay Ajayi, Kenyon Drake, Rashad Penny. Those are the fourth round running backs. It's to me.

[Andy Holloway]

It's Ajayi.

[Mike Wright]

Jay Ajayi. It is to me as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me ask you one more question before we move on to the next team in our NFC's breakdown. Well, maybe more than one question, but let me ask you this one first. Is there any value in Dallas?

[Mike Wright]

Good air Goddard, you keep saying.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the saying.

[Mike Wright]

I just want people to know. We know it's Dallas Goddard. There's value the way that Trey Burton had value last year. I know value, yes. If Zach Hurts misses time, then Dallas Goddard, who was my number one tight end coming into the draft as far as fantasy football is concerned, he went to close to the worst possible place because he will be behind Zach hurts. I don't think there's enough to go around for two tight ends to have significant fantasy value. So I'm bummed.

[Chris]

I would not be shocked and it would be a little bit more surprising this season, but I would not be shocked. Based on Doug Peterson always using his personnel to where it develops more into a two wide receiver, two tight end Gronk, Aaron Hernandez situation, I think Dallas.

[Andy Holloway]

Goddard is as a dynasty pick. Is he interesting to you?

[Chris]

He is. I actually just made a trade offer for him I think yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

I also before I leave and we talk about the Cowboys, I'm going to circle back to Carson Wentz here. Carson Wentz's absence at the end of the season before the super bowl is one of the reasons why I don't see Philly as much as a, as as much of a candidate for a Super bowl slump as other teams in the past. Matt Ryan with the monster season throughout the year, Cam Newton, I think there's a chip on the shoulder of Carson Wentz to come back and prove that he is everything that we saw for the the first part of the year. But my point is a lot of new listeners now joining us in August. We've talked a lot about the fact that Carson Wentz put up numbers from a touchdown efficiency standpoint that really cannot be replicated over the course of a career. But Carson Wentz still has upside. Where do you guys see him falling in in terms of the top 10, 15 quarterbacks just from a statistical standpoint. Yes, he can't sustain maybe as that, you know, throwing a touchdown every other pass type of guy, but where do you think he can fall? What's his range of outcomes this season for fantasy owners? Can he finish in the top three still?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, his range of outcomes. Why Carson Wentz won't be on my teams is that range of outcomes. I've talked a lot about his touchdown percentage of the 7%. It's, it's just bound to fall by at least 2%. I know he was fantastic this past year and it was comparing him to his rookie season, it's very different. He's learning how to play in the NFL, but it seems like people believe okay, 7%. Just a top three fantasy quarterback. We've seen it for half a season. That's who Carson Wentz is. So I'm not ready to crown him with that. And I see his range of outcomes is quarterback one all the way down to quarterback 12 to 14. I see a huge variance in what Carson Wentz could be this year. And so those who are, who want to take the shot, you could be rewarded by Carson Wentz. But for me, I'm likely out.

[Chris]

Oh, see, I think he's locked in. If he plays 16, if he's ready week one, which he did, avoid the PUP and he looks okay in camp right now. But that's very different than actually taking blows to the knee by, you know, 300 pound men trying to kill you.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Chris]

You know he had 300 rushing yards in 13 games that baseline with this offense means that you're not going to fall too low even if the touchdown, you know, efficiency drops. I see him as a top 10 quarterback if he plays 16.

[Andy Holloway]

We both have a more. We all have a conservative approach to wince. We actually have him as our consensus QB9 tied with Deshaun Watson, another player with insane efficiency last season. I have him at 6 Mike 8, Jason 11 as of today. You can see all the rankings atthe fancy footballers.com cowboys all right, let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys still turned in a 9 and 7 record last season despite the disruption caused by the Ezekiel Elliott suspension along with the regression and I think that's a fair word to use in light of Dak Prescott's second half. He is another player with a wide range of outcomes. Right now we have Dak Prescott as our consensus QB 19. But I think we all agree that if things go right he can finish higher than that. But we don't know how the wide receiver depth chart is going to break down big time subtractions. You lose Des Bryant and Jason Whitten. That is 132 targets to Des Bryant, 87 to Jason Whitten. That's 219 targets gone.

[Mike Wright]

That's a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Poof. Opportunity exists for players like Alan Hearns, Michael Gallup Cole Beasley, Terrence Williams to step into those target holes. But I don't know how excited we are for one to emerge as of today. This is one of the bigger things. If you put in the top 10 camp battle situations. I'm excited to see where the wide receiver situation goes.

[Mike Wright]

See the talk of Cole Beasley. They're shifting him around now trying to move him to the outside.

[Andy Holloway]

Good luck.

[Mike Wright]

I like Beasley. I think he's a good NFL player for sure. He's a slot wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I mean, we got Tavon Austin arrived now as they're going to use him.

[Chris]

As a big body box out red zone threat. They just think that would be, you know, good for his fantasy value.

[Andy Holloway]

Who do we put in that Des Bryant spot? Let's put Cole Beasley. No, he. I think Tavon Austin has. I think his situation is interesting because there is just an absence of playmakers on this offense outside of Ezekiel Elliott.

[Mike Wright]

Fair.

[Chris]

Yeah. To me, Alan Hearns is the clear cut beneficiary of the absent targets. I am firmly confident that he will be the guy to emerge as the number one. Now what I'm not confident in is that the number one weapon for Dallas is going to be something really special for fantasy. You know, DEZ was still the number one guy last year and it didn't amount to very much. But I am, I am confident as of this moment that Alan Hearns will be the primary target. Both, you know, red zone and between the 20s.

[Andy Holloway]

Right now, Alan Hearns is a average draft position of nearly the 10th round.

[Chris]

I love the value right now that he presents.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, when you talk about 10 through, you know, the 16th round, taking a shot on somebody. Alan Hearns or Cameron Meredith. Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Man, that's tough.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll still go Alan Hearns, Cole Beasley or Cameron Meredith?

[Mike Wright]

Meredith. Okay, I'll take the ceiling over the guy. Beasley will get you, you know, the four, five points a week.

[Andy Holloway]

Blake Jarwin is a top 20 tight end.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe that's a camp battle you have to watch.

[Chris]

That's genuinely one of the most important camp battles because, you know, it's not just because Jason Whitten is so great. That role still will exist and Dak will target it and we don't know who the Titan is going to be.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm shaking my head over here because here's how fantasy football works. Right now. Today, we can be in the middle of a show and get news that Sony Michelle walked off the practice field to the medical.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, he's back.

[Andy Holloway]

And no, now, now we have, we have news coming up in the Redskins section. Let's just put it like that. I won't break it yet because we're not talking Redskins, but there is some news. What other big fantasy storylines exist in Dallas? We know Ezekiel Elliott is a top five back.

[Mike Wright]

You got to talk about Zeke. And I just want to remind people real quick. Zeke missed six games, as I'm sure you know. He finished as the running back 10. He had one game against Denver that was atrocious. An atrocious game. That means in the other nine games that Ezekiel Elliott played last year, he ran the ball 233 times for 975 yards and seven touchdowns. He is a monster. If you want to take him@the101. I personally would not, but we've talked about this recently in the office. How at the 101, generally speaking, okay, there's one or two guys. There are so many guys that if you want to take them at the 101, including Zeke, I don't think it's a wrong move.

[Chris]

No, there's at least start your fantasy team, maybe six if you include Camara that are, that are worthy of the one on one pick. His 16 game pace last season was 1573 yards with 11 touchdowns on the ground. 42 receptions for 430 more yards and three receiving touchdowns. That was his 16 game pace.

[Mike Wright]

And Leonard Fournette bottom, a treadmill if.

[Andy Holloway]

His tweet is true for a birthday present. Yeah, yeah, look, Zeke's great. Zeke's absolutely great. You just gotta, you don't know, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Let's move on.

[Jason Moore]

Redskins.

[Andy Holloway]

This is what I wanted to mention because you know, when we get into the Redskins, we're talking about a lot of turnover on this roster. You have a brand new quarterback. Oh, come on. I know you have a lot of. You have a brand new quarterback in Alex Smith. You have Josh Doxson, Paul Richardson, Jameson Crowder. I've already seen this video. Josh Doxson was shaken up after hitting the ground. Josh Norman landed on top of him. He walked off the field. I've seen the video of him walking off the field. Josh Dachshund is favoring the left arm and left wrist. Could be a shoulder injury. We don't have any updates yet other than the fact that he walked off with an injury. So it's been a problem for Josh Docks staying healthy to basically deliver on his promise both for the Redskins in the NFL and for fantasy owners. So now we wait and see about Josh Dachshund. He's been one of the camp highlights thus far.

[Mike Wright]

He's also had many injury problems throughout his NFL career.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we can add to it today. Hopefully the injury is not significant, but you never know if this is an AC joint in the shoulder because he landed on it and somebody landed on top of him. You're going to miss time. Let's talk about the Redskins. I still like Alex Smith as a middle of the road starter in fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

I want to talk about Alex Smith because I do it. I am rising on Alex Smith. He, I think he can't be what he was this past year. That was peak Alex Smith, but his coach is Jay Gruden. Jay Gruden is invested a lot into Alex Smith. They turned away who Minnesota saw as a franchise quarterback of Kirk Cousins who was pretty solid for your team and he put everything, including a massive extension into Alex Smith in the past six years. Quarterbacks playing for Jay Gruden, five of those years he has had a quarterback one, including three top five finishes, two from Cousins, one from Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton was a quarterback one twice.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Under Jay Gruden. Please do not forget this. So Alex Smith is quickly becoming one of my late round sneaky. If I have missed out on some of my faves in that 10th, 11th round, I'm just going to wait forever. I'm going to grab Alex Smith because it will not shock me at all if Alex Smith once again turns into a weekly starter.

[Chris]

And one of the sneaky things with that, if you look over the past, is that they do manufacture a few rushing touchdowns for the quarterback. Think about how many rushing touchdowns Andy Dalton and Kirk Cousins had in those systems.

[Andy Holloway]

Smith can run.

[Chris]

Smith can run. So the rushing baseline, I think he is one of the best super. If you're in a two quarterback league, Alex Smith is a perfect one quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

I'm putting it on the board.

[Chris]

I'm fine with that if you, if that's the guy you want to target. Because if you're in a single quarterback league, he's the 19th quarterback taken off the board. Meaning he's not taking off the board. You just grab him with your last pick and he is an absolutely fine starter to start the year.

[Andy Holloway]

He won me a dynasty championship last year on the back of that productive season. And the thing is, is in Washington, if you're, if you're looking at what he did to get those bonus yards, yards after catch from the running back position, you have weapons and tools there in Washington and Chris Thompson and potentially Darius Guice to get you some of those yards that he needs to be relevant. Let's talk about Darius Guy's Mike, you are a monster Darius Guy fan. I love Darius guys. I love the opportunity, I love the talent. In college he was prolific, right? He's one of the best college running backs in history. And look, Jay Gruden, I think he believes in Darius Guice as a workload type of player.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I agree with that. It's all projection, of course, because Darius Geist has not taken a real NFL snap. But Washington, they love to run the ball. They actually have a good offensive line. This is a thing that should not be forgotten. How many injuries that they suffered on the offensive line. It was, it was out of control. And I've talked about him just a couple years ago or a couple shows ago how I think that guy is. He's my pick. For a player outside the top 10 that could finish as the number one running back. Workload will be there. You're talking 250 carries. If he can be in that 35 reception area, then he is easily a top five running back. To me, the goal line attempts will be there and he will be the guy. They gave a bunch of goal line carries to Robert Kelly and Samaj P. Ryan this past season. They just couldn't get it done. That's why they spent a second round pick.

[Andy Holloway]

One of the things about Jay Gruden that I love is that even when he has an obvious, I mean, like Rob Kelly, nobody's out there saying he's a super athlete. Right? Jay Gruden. Regardless of what he has in the backfield, whether it's a guy off the street because last year they had so many injuries that they even brought on a practice squad running back. He is relentless with his commitment to the running game and what he believes is required to win a football game in the NFL. He does not want a running back that's going to put the football on the ground. He does not want a quarterback that is going to take chances with turnovers. He believes in winning the turnover battle and he believes in a reliance on the run. Geist has to prove it, right? Geist has to earn it and prove it, but I think he's going to have every opportunity to do that. Jason, unless you want to weigh in there, I want to ask you a follow up question.

[Chris]

Well, I do want to weigh in very quickly. Just that, you know, I've thrown a lot of shade on Darius Geist because of the past catching and I don't want that to be interpreted that I think Darius Geist is going to be a bust or not be valuable because I actually think Darius Geist will be an extremely valuable running back this year. Allah. Alfred Morris, I completely standby. He's not going to be more than 35 receptions. I mean, Chris Thompson, is that where.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys water bet 35?

[Chris]

I don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

Or 30?

[Chris]

It was either 35 or 40.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys water bet on the reception. Totally.

[Chris]

We did. And I stand by. He's not going to be used in the passing game. But I also don't think he, I mean, Alfred Morris was a top 10 back in this system and he caught like, you know, eight balls. But if you look at the last.

[Andy Holloway]

Three years, eight balls caught him.

[Chris]

Yes. If you look at the last three years, you know, their big workhorse backs have never hit the 30 mark. And I'm, I'm combining people when I do that. I'm saying Samaj P. Ryan plus Rob Kelly did not, you know, last year they had 26 receptions. Matt Kelly and Rob Kelly and Matt Jones had 20 total receptions. You know, and that's with, you know, Chris Thompson being injured for part of last year. So. But I do think Geist is a quality back.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, here's a follow up question. If Josh Dachshund, if this injury is serious enough to cost him time in the regular season, you are running to draft who in this offense, is it Jordan Reed earlier than he's going? Is it Jameson Crowder and that rapport with Alex Smith who loves and is very accurate in those intermediate, shorter routes? Is it Paul Richardson who they invested money in? Now look, last year they invested money in Terrell Pryor. That did not pan out right. Paul Richardson got paid a five year, $40 million deal. Who are you running to grab in Washington as a pass catcher? If indeed Dachshund kind of takes some of the muddiness out of that situation.

[Mike Wright]

It would be Jordan Reed for me. A good friend of the show, Scott Barrett from Pro Football Focus. He's been talking about how, excuse me, how his tight end strategy, it's Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis.

[Chris]

It's not a bad strap.

[Mike Wright]

Good, good friend of Alex Smith. If you recall, Vernon Davis had a.

[Andy Holloway]

Couple years, good friend of fantasy owners in those years.

[Mike Wright]

Fantasy stuff. And Vernon Davis still got it done last year when he was called upon. So between those two guys, I think you have, you have top five upside when it comes to the tight end position. Especially if Josh Dachshund goes down to. And I'm saying this Because Josh Dachshund is a humongous man with an incredible vertical. He is a ultra dynamic red zone, end zone type of weapon. And Jordan Reed can make some serious money there. So if there is 1, 1 fewer player of competition for him to get end zone targets, that's where I'm going to go.

[Chris]

Yeah. You know, I love the strategy, but for me it would be Paul Richardson because then you've got one big, tall outside field stretching option in Paul Richardson.

[Andy Holloway]

And I would vote Jameson Crowder. I think he's an elite talent over the back half of the year.

[Mike Wright]

Also, Paul Richardson is only six feet tall, just so, you know, fair.

[Andy Holloway]

It's pretty good for a wide receiver, though.

[Mike Wright]

If you call me tall, then Paul Richardson, if you're a wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Defensive backs are generally shorter.

[Chris]

True.

[Andy Holloway]

Six foot is not. That's a. That's a large size wide receiver. That's a good size wide receiver.

[Chris]

And it's got what, four.

[Andy Holloway]

Larry Fitzgerald looks like a giant out there and he's six to. That's all I'm saying. Let's move on.

[Jason Moore]

Giants.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about the Giants. Jason has them, what, undefeated, Going to the Super Bowl.

[Chris]

Look, I've put it out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Got the Eli Manning tattoo on your wall, the Jonathan Stewart tattoo.

[Chris]

I believe that the Giants are a good team. I think they are going to be a contending team. Definitely in playoff contention this year. I think this whole division is. I'm not huge on Dallas or the Redskins, but I. The Giants had a huge problem with their offensive play calling ever since McAdoo took over the head coach role. They've just been atrocious in that front now with Pat Shermer and Mike Shula. I think they've got great minds, plus the health. I mean, they had no wide receivers last year. Right now you've got a great core. You add Saquon to that. And I think that the defense is not as bad as it seemed last year due to the horrific offense. So I do think there's a huge bounce back here for the Giants.

[Andy Holloway]

I have been very. I've been thinking long and hard about my approach to Saquon Barkley this year because there's part of me that believes that Saquon Barkley could be the number one running back in NFC football. The involvement, the. The guaranteed involvement in the passing game heading into the season, the otherworldly talent, the fact that they invested what at the time, they brought in Nate Solder with the most expensive offensive line contract in history and then they drafted Will Hernandez. The offensive line is going to be improved. Saquon Barkley to me represents this kind of wild card potential of being, you know, do I, if I have a top pick in a fantasy draft right now, do I want to trade down to 3, 4, 5, 6 and just draft Saquon Barkley for that value over Alvin Camara? I don't know if I want to do that. I'm starting to think about doing that because of what I believe Saquon Barkley means to this offense. They spent so much of this never before draft capital where you could have drafted a quarterback to come in and replace a 37 year old in a couple of years and they said, no, Saquon is our guy. And what last year Kareem Hunt, rookie, led the league in rushing. The year before Ezekiel Elliott was a rookie, led the league in rushing. Barkley could do it for the third straight year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, 100% he could. The pass catching is fantastic. His pass catching ability, no one on that team can get him off the field. It's. He will take breaks.

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to be the goal line.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to be the pass catcher.

[Mike Wright]

He better. So what we're saying all this, he better speaking directly to New York. If Saquon Barkley is not all of these things and you spent the number two pick on him, then you made an egregious mistake.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, no doubt about it. And the nice thing is it's not like Jonathan Stewart will have efficiency in those locations that are going to take him off the field. The greatest value, the best value on New York's offense, fantasy wise, is who.

[Chris]

If we're only talking value, that is what I said, then I think it's Sterling Shepard. I think Sterling Shepard is a great.

[Andy Holloway]

That's who I thought you'd say receiver.

[Chris]

In real life for the NFL and I think that will translate to plenty of fantasy points. As you know, you got to double or triple or quadruple Odell Beckham, do whatever you can to try to contain him and Sterling Shepard will have the ability to have big fantasy games and he is basically free double digit rounds, you know, it's not going to cost you a lot in the draft. So I think he will outperform where he's being drafted.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, say the best value is Eli Manning.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

On the Giants, if Saquon Barkley is finishing as the running back one, if Odo Beckham is finishing as a top five, if Evan Ingram is finishing as a top five wide receiver, then Eli Manning Certainly has to out produce his draft price.

[Andy Holloway]

Evan Ingram finishes with fewer or more fantasy points in 2018 than he had in 2017. Ooh, and you guys can both win.

[Chris]

Good question. Good question. He finishes with fewer.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I lean the way of fewer. But a reminder that what he did with the amount of targets granted by necessity, Odo Beckham was out. Brandon Marshall was out. Sterling Shepard was in and out. The amount of targets that he got his for a rookie tight end since the year 2000 has only been seen by Jeremy Shockey. One player in the history of the NFL since the year 2000 has done what Evan Angream was able to do, and that was his rookie year. So a lot of people are talking about, okay, well, regression, opportunity regression. How about the player gets better right. His sophomore year, and I mean, he had one of the worst catch percentages at the tight end position. Fine. Take targets away, improve his actual catch percentage and. And then Evan. Evan Ingram is still the same fantasy player.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a mismatch in the routes that Eli Manning. He throws well as well.

[Mike Wright]

He's Jordan Reed.

[Andy Holloway]

We're going to circle back to Josh Dockson here. We had the opportunity to interview him at the nffc. Now, if Brooks had been really on top of his game today, he would have strategically placed the Giants ahead of the Redskins in our NFC east breakdown so that we could just seamlessly transition into the Josh Dachshund interview.

[Mike Wright]

No, Brooks. Brooks did the right thing here because he made a Josh Dachshund sandwich. And before the news, I would.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not a sandwich I want to eat.

[Chris]

Technically, this would be a Giants sandwich, and Josh Dachshund is merely the bread?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You've never heard of a kaiser sandwich? A sourdough sandwich?

[Andy Holloway]

Is that where the meat's on the outside and there's one piece of sourdough on the inside?

[Mike Wright]

It means I put butter in the middle and that's all I'm eating.

[Andy Holloway]

Of course, Mike's food takes come to light once again. Let's talk to Josh Doxon.

[Jason Moore]

You talking to me?

[Mike Wright]

All right, dude.

[Interviewer]

I like to start with draft stories because something I will never get to experience, clearly. You did walk me through just a couple days before leading up to the draft and then the moment when it actually happened.

[Josh Doxson]

Yeah, I think a couple days before. Like you said, not everybody gets to do that, so I know it's a choice. Some people like to be at home, and I wanted to make sure my family was able to feel that moment along with me. Because you Know, that's how pretty much I've been able to get to that point in my life. But so, yeah, a couple days before is just, just knowing the whole family is going with me and we don't know we're going after that. You know, that day when you get drafted, you don't know which, you know, part of the country you're gonna be living in. So I think when we got there and we got to the seats in the green room, man, it was, it's still surreal because you see all these players, you know, just watching college football. These guys are, you know, big time name players from Alabama, lsu, sec. I was, you know, one of the only few from Big 12 there. So it was, it was a crazy moment, man. And then, you know, having the phone call and getting your name called and it just really can't process that moment. Honestly, man, to say for me that I could have processed the moment to the next day and then it still took a little while to understand what just happened. But no, it's, it was an amazing moment, man. One I'll never forget.

[Interviewer]

So you've got a big change coming. The guy who's throwing you the ball, it's a little bit different. How are things going with Alex Smith? Mr. Smith went to Washington, I guess. So how are things going with Alex?

[Josh Doxson]

Yeah, everything is going good, man. He's a veteran, man. He's a leader and a veteran. You can see it in the way he comes to work, man. To pick up the offense that fast at that position, to be able to execute cute seven on sevens, team drills, team blitz drills and like you've been there forever, you know, that's, that's big, man. People take that for granted, but that's just showing him and showing us that, you know, he's a professional man, he does this for a living and he's very good at it. So everything's been going very smooth with Alex and looking to rolling the training camp with him.

[Interviewer]

So the rookie season had some injuries, had work through all that. So he's, you know, he's basically like last year was the real first year. So moving into your second year, what have you, which part of the game have you said, okay, this is what I'm improving this offseason, this is what I want to, I want my strengths to grow in this area.

[Josh Doxson]

Yeah, I mean, honestly that, you know, people keep talking about the rookie season, that might have been the shining light of my career, just because I'm able to take the steps necessary in terms of learning the Game. You know, you get a lot of people tell you this, mostly mentally or mostly mentally, and that is going to be very true. The physical assets of it has already been given. You're here for a reason. The mental part is what separate people. So having that year under my belt of just mental and notes and watching Pierre and Deshawn and, you know, just everybody be a professional helped me do my second year the right way or my first year. And then, you know, my second year, I get to just work on what I did wrong last year. So I think these steps are necessary to take. Even though everybody wants to be healthy all the time, these are just blind, blind blessings in my, in my eyes. So it's going to be all right.

[Interviewer]

Have you already told Alex you're open on every single play?

[Josh Doxson]

Yeah, well, he, he finds that man. And he. Seriously, man, he. He. He can feel that, man. And that's, that's what I love to know that he can feel that, man. Just what I had with Trey, being able to, even when I, I'm not sure if I'm open, but he, he just, he can understand that it's a one on one situation. What can go wrong? You know, most DBs, even in the league, man, you know, having that ability to turn around and high point the ball, it's very tough. So, you know, just having Alex, Darren as a better man and seeing what he's been doing in ota, he's gonna, he's gonna feed me.

[Mike Wright]

Well.

[Interviewer]

The year you were drafted, one of my personal favorites. You're on my, you're on my dynasty squad, man. So just loving it, hoping for big things. We'll get you out on. One more question for you. How's Jordan doing?

[Mike Wright]

How's.

[Interviewer]

How's Jordan Reed? Fantasy players, we gotta know because we love him, but he's had some. Had some trouble staying on the field.

[Josh Doxson]

I absolutely love Jordan, man. That's. That's one of the guys I really admire from afar and up close, man. He's. He's a great dude to be around, man. He very. He cares about football and his teammates, man. That's one of the things that stands out pretty quick when you get into the league. I, I've. As I've seen so far and it's just, just, man, seeing. Seeing him work every day to get back healthy and taking the necessary surgeries and things, to be proactive in such situations. He's gonna be all right, man. I think like I said, for me, I think this was. All. This has been a blessing for him, man. I see him coming healthy this year and never being injured the rest of his career, man, and just I don't know what God's doing in his corner, but I know he's working. So Jordan's gonna be all right, man. He's gonna be big time.

[Interviewer]

You have, like, we talked to David Johnson and he's. He's quick. When you say, what's your personal goal?

[Mike Wright]

Thousand. Thousand.

[Interviewer]

That's what DJ wants.

[Mike Wright]

Is.

[Interviewer]

Is there. Is there something that you really, really are shooting for this year with for your. A personal goal?

[Josh Doxson]

Yeah, I think I keep my personal goals to myself. With a personal goal, I would. No, honestly, like, I just like to. To make sure that I know that I failed or I know that I achieved what I did. I don't need everybody to know. But I think one of the personal goals that I think everybody has, but just stay available and healthy for my teammates, I think that's a good foundation goal. And, you know, I got my other ones behind the corner, but yeah, so really just staying healthy, man, being available for everybody.

[Interviewer]

All right, man. I appreciate it.

[Chris]

Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Great to talk to Josh Docks and Mike, you had the opportunity to have a few words with him. And the thing is, at this point, we're just hoping that the injury we reported on the show today seems like old news. Tomorrow on the episode, because there is an episode tomorrow and every single weekday until the season is over and we are burnt to a crisp and happy to be burnt to a crisp. We love doing this. Thank you so much for supporting this podcast. Thank you to [e-mail] who is an official Foot Clan member and supporter of this show. This independent podcast bringing you fantasy football insight and information all year long. Hopefully you enjoyed today's show. We will talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for joining us.

[Chris]

Head over to draft.comballers if you want to get in on some awesome best ball action with us.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, so many Josh Dawson chairs over there Tomorrow.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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