NFC South Breakdown, Stack Attack, RoJo

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: NFC South Breakdown, Stack Attack, RoJo

Episode Title: NFC South Breakdown, Stack Attack, RoJo
Release Date: August 8, 2018
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Podcast: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast

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1. Introduction and Partnership Announcement

Andy Holloway opens the show with an exciting announcement about the podcast’s new partnership.

• Andy Holloway [01:06]: Announces the partnership with the American Cancer Society and the NFL's Crucial Catch program, stating, “We’re going to be donating a portion of every Ultimate Draft Kit sale… to help the fight against cancer.” This collaboration aims to support cancer prevention and early detection efforts throughout the off-season and regular season.

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2. Stack Attack: Favorite Quarterback-Wide Receiver Stacks

The hosts engage in the "Stack Attack" segment, discussing their preferred QB-WR pairings based on draft value rather than just performance.

• Mike Wright [06:16]: Shares his favorite stack, Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen, highlighting their consistent target share and Rivers’ ability to provide a stable quarterback option. “I think you stack him up with Philip Rivers and you’re going to have happy some happy days.”

• Jason Moore [05:00 – 05:04]: Suggests Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen as a value-based stack, emphasizing Rivers as a late-round quarterback pick paired with an elite wide receiver at a reasonable draft position.

• Andy Holloway [08:33]: Introduces his preferred stack: Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry, arguing that both players offer significant fantasy value with Taylor’s reliability and Landry’s role as a target hog: “Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry are my stack.”

Notable Discussion Points:

• The importance of balancing draft position and upside when selecting QB-WR stacks.
• The trade-offs between high-performing but expensive stacks versus value-based pairings.

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3. NFC South Breakdown

The hosts provide a comprehensive analysis of each team in the NFC South, assessing their fantasy football potential.

a. New Orleans Saints

The Saints are highlighted for their dynamic offense and key player updates.

• Andy Holloway [16:48 – 20:11]: Discusses the Saints' strong offensive performance last season, emphasizing their reliance on both the run and pass games. He notes Mark Ingram’s suspension and the potential impact on the running game: “Mark Ingram has been the leading rusher for the Saints… [His suspension] is one of the biggest questions.”

• Jason Moore [23:27 – 26:10]: Argues that Drew Brees may not maintain last season’s value due to age and changing team dynamics. “Drew Brees right now is being drafted as the fifth quarterback off the board... he won’t be ahead of five.”

• Mike Wright [21:31 – 22:12]: Supports the value of Mark Ingram, placing him in the fifth round, believing he’ll return to a significant role once he debuts post-suspension.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [22:32]: “Sean Payton has no desire to let up on offense… [the Saints’ offense] is going to remain elite.”

• Jason Moore [25:32]: “If you are into the streaming quarterback, I don't always need to have the guy.”

b. Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are analyzed for their dual-threat quarterback and emerging offensive weapons.

• Andy Holloway [29:50 – 35:22]: Highlights Cam Newton as a top fantasy pick with significant upside, especially with the addition of DJ Moore and Christian McCaffrey: “Cam Newton is the best combination of upside and value in fantasy drafts.”

• Mike Wright [37:18 – 38:32]: Focuses on CJ Anderson as a value pick in the eighth round, anticipating around 200 carries despite overall team offensive line concerns.

• Jason Moore [34:04 – 40:13]: Emphasizes Christian McCaffrey’s potential, debating his usage and comparing him to legendary backs like Emmitt Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [29:50]: “Cam Newton… seventh round quarterback with number one quarterback potential.”

• Mike Wright [37:18]: “He's nearly guaranteed over 170 carries.”

c. Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are examined for their offensive stability and receiver depth.

• Jason Moore [43:07 – 50:25]: Predicts improvement in the Falcons' offense for the upcoming season, citing better quarterback play and the addition of Torrey Smith.

• Mike Wright [45:55 – 46:35]: Discusses Torrey Smith’s speed and potential impact, though he notes concerns over his game speed declining.

• Andy Holloway [51:41 – 52:02]: Questions the relevance of existing wide receivers like Calvin Ridley versus veterans like Mohamed Sanu, ultimately leaning towards rostering Sanu for reliability.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore [48:33]: “The Falcons in 2018 will be a much better offense than the Falcons in 2017.”

• Andy Holloway [51:41]: “Give me a handicap Calvin Ridley’s redraft value… would you rather roster Calvin Ridley with the unknown or Mohamed Sanu with the Brandon Lefell baseline?”

d. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers are discussed in the context of their offseason moves and quarterback situation.

• Andy Holloway [52:38 – 60:34]: Reviews the Buccaneers' offseason changes, including the loss of Doug Martin and the drafting of Ronald Jones II, expressing skepticism about Jones’ role and effectiveness: “You’re going to be sharing touches with Peyton Barber…”

• Jason Moore [57:11 – 61:29]: Highlights Ronald Jones II’s potential but remains cautious about his production, suggesting he could be a valuable fifth-round pick if he emerges as the lead back.

• Mike Wright [54:07 – 60:34]: Advises caution with Ronald Jones II, anticipating he may share carries with Peyton Barber and Charles Sims, potentially limiting his fantasy upside.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [60:20]: “Fifteen touches through the first... I’ll take the under 15 touches.”

• Mike Wright [58:32]: “If you're a believer in Ronald Jones, trade for him after he's disappointing in the first two weeks because he's sharing touches by the end.”

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4. Interview with Ronald Jones II

The podcast concludes with an interview featuring Ronald Jones II, a second-round running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

• Ronald Jones II [63:37 – 65:45]: Discusses his transition to the NFL, his expectations, and his adaptability in both the run and pass games. He emphasizes his commitment to making an impact: “I just want to make plays... step up and block, you know, run routes.”

• Andy Holloway [65:09]: Inquires about Jones’s embrace of fantasy football, to which Jones responds modestly, acknowledging the fans’ interest but maintaining focus on his performance: “I know it's a game for them and they got to get their money.”

• Jones II [65:53 – 66:04]: Talks about the support from teammates like Jameis Winston and the collaborative environment that aims to improve his game.

Notable Quotes:

• Ronald Jones II [64:22]: “I expect a lot... I’m just trying to be the best I can be.”

• Andy Holloway [65:36]: “Do you embrace fantasy football? Do you like it when the fans come up and they...?”

• Ronald Jones II [65:45]: “They told me from day one, I got to come in here and work...”

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5. Conclusion and Final Announcements

The hosts reaffirm the partnership with the American Cancer Society and the NFL's Crucial Catch program, encouraging listeners to support the cause through purchases of the Ultimate Draft Kit.

• Andy Holloway [66:04 – 67:05]: Reiterates the partnership, providing details on how listeners can contribute: “Every purchase of the Ultimate Draft Kit will go to benefit that very important program… you can go to cancer.org/crucialcatch.”

• Mike Wright [67:05 – 67:13]: Closes with a reminder to stay connected via Draft.com and follow on social media.

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Key Insights and Takeaways

• Value Over Performance: Emphasizing draft value by considering a player's cost and upside rather than solely past performance.

• Strategic Team Analysis: In-depth breakdown of NFC South teams provides listeners with actionable insights for their fantasy drafts.

• Player Potential vs. Risk: Balancing high-potential players like Tyrod Taylor and Cam Newton with those who carry risks, such as Ronald Jones II.

• Integration of Community and Charity: Highlighting the podcast’s commitment to social responsibility through partnerships supporting critical causes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Andy Holloway [01:06]: “We’re going to be donating a portion of every Ultimate Draft Kit sale… to help the fight against cancer.”

• Mike Wright [06:16]: “That’s my favorite stack. But the other one I was going to throw out, Marvin Jones, Matthew Stafford.”

• Jason Moore [05:00]: “He is Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen… you don’t want everyone’s answer to be Devante Adams and Aaron Rodgers.”

• Andy Holloway [22:32]: “Sean Payton has no desire to let up on offense… that would be the historical argument for why Drew Brees will return to fantasy value.”

• Ronald Jones II [63:52]: “Personally I just want to come and make an impact... make plays.”

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This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers a thorough examination of the NFC South with strategic insights into player selections, emphasizing value-based drafting while balancing potential risks. The engaging discussion, coupled with actionable advice, equips fantasy football enthusiasts with the knowledge to optimize their team selections for the upcoming season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. We've got a big announcement. Huge. We're excited to let you know that we're partnering with the American Cancer society and the NFL to support crucial catch in 2018. But what does that mean? That means that a portion of every Ultimate Draft Kit purchase will benefit the American Cancer Society's Crucial Catch partnership with the NFL. So you can do your part and win your league. So check it out. Ultimate DraftKit.com hey, it's Ronald Jones II.

[Ronald Jones II]

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and 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]

Welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast shall begin.

[Mike Wright]

It's begun. It began like 30 seconds ago.

[Andy Holloway]

It already happened. Welcome in Andy, Mike and Jason Brooks and company here, the Fantasy Footballers back again, Wednesday, August 8th. And we have a great show for you. You heard it at the top. We're very excited, very. To announce that we have partnered with the American Cancer Society and the NFL and their crucial catch program. And we're going to be donating a portion of every Ultimate Draft Kit sale. And this is important stuff. This is a way that we can give back and help the fight against cancer. So we're super excited about that partnership. It's going to last through the entire off season, the whole Ultimate Draft Kit.

[Jason Moore]

Season, and even into the regular season. We think it's a good cause and we want to give back and we know that the Foot Clan are good people and so it's. Yeah, it's exciting. We're, it's, it's pretty cool that we're able to do that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's what it's all about. So we, we have a great show. As I said, we've got the NFC south breakdown today. We've got some stack attack. Oh, yeah, that's what I was waiting for. I'm always waiting for Billy Joel. That's. That's how I live my life. You ought to know by now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I apologize for nothing.

[Andy Holloway]

We have an interview with Ronald Jones. You heard him on the intro to the show. Rookie running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We'll talk to him at the end of the show. And so it's jam packed. I mean, happy Jeff Fisher day. Oh, it's, it's eight, eight, 2018. Wasn't there some Jeff Fisher news yesterday? Yeah, he's going to be some way.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to be calling a game, at least one. That's, that I've heard of. And the results and the reviews are already in mediocre at best.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, come on.

[Jason Moore]

I would say he'll be exactly average.

[Andy Holloway]

50, 50 on all of his takes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So sorry, Jeff.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's start by the way, you can follow us on Twitter @The FF Ballers. We're on YouTube. YouTube.com the Fantasy Footballers. What were you doing with YouTube yesterday on Twitter, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, what was I doing?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I want to know. I mean if it's still available to people, I want to know.

[Mike Wright]

You know what, we'll run it back one more.

[Andy Holloway]

So one more day.

[Mike Wright]

One more day. I've got a copy of Madden 19 Woo. On the PS4 and the Xbox giveaway. And the way that you enter, you go, you go subscribe to the YouTube, you go ring that bell so you get notifications and then on today's video you leave your Twitter handle and then I will be randomly selecting a winner by the end of today. Sweet.

[Andy Holloway]

This is good. This is good. I've had a chance to play. Oh, the new Madden.

[Jason Moore]

I've.

[Mike Wright]

It's downloaded. I am ready. When I told my son that we got Madden 19, he proceeded to have about five minutes worth of karate kicks and air chops because he's so pumped.

[Jason Moore]

Amazing.

[Andy Holloway]

Now did I make a mistake, Mike? Because I got it on PS4 and you have it on Xbox. Yeah. So we can't play each other.

[Jason Moore]

No, mine on Xbox.

[Mike Wright]

To be fair, you did not make a mistake because I don't want to have to do that to you.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, come on.

[Mike Wright]

And destroy you.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I believe that you probably would. All right, let's jump right into the quick question which is indeed the stack attack. The quick question of the day is what is your favorite quarterback wide receiver stack to draft? So keep in mind this is not the best wide receiver and quarterback in football. This is favorite to draft because you're considering things like draft position and upside and things like that and where you.

[Jason Moore]

Can draft these players.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, because we don't want everyone's answer to be devonte Adams and Aaron Rodgers.

[Andy Holloway]

That's accurate.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Or that would be my favorite stick if I could get that one.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they all cost the same but.

[Andy Holloway]

If you or Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Oh, I'd love it.

[Jason Moore]

And those quarterbacks are going to cost you a lot. They're going to cost you a fourth, fifth round pick to grab Aaron Rodgers even, even higher in a lot of home leagues to grab someone like Aaron Rodgers. For me I build this approach backwards. I look at what late round quarterbacks I really, really like that. I'm planning to draft this season and do they have a number one wide receiver that I think has a good value? That would be Philip Rivers, who you know I like late in the draft. And he's got Keenan Allen. You know, his target share is always up there when he's on the field. I expect him to be a monster this year. And of all the top guys, you know Keenan Allen has the ability to go into that tier with the Julios and the Odell Beckhams this season and he's clearly going to be the cheapest of them. You know, he's the bottom of that tier or the top of the next. And so yeah, I think you stack him up with Philip Rivers and you're going to have happy some happy days.

[Andy Holloway]

Happy, happy days.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's, that's my favorite stack. And I said, Jason said hey, you got to get your favorite stack. And I said it's Keenan Rivers. And he said no taken, that's mine.

[Jason Moore]

Seats taken.

[Mike Wright]

So I'm on record. That's my favorite stack. But the other one I was going to throw out, Marvin Jones, Matthew Stafford.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought about that one and it's.

[Mike Wright]

Because like Jason, I'm looking at the late round quarterback that I can get in the double digit area in my home leagues and he's going to be a plug and play quarterback. One that I will rarely have to consider going to the waiver wire and streaming. I know that Stafford's going to work out. I can grab some other quarterbacks later but they might not work out. Stafford will and Marvin Jones, while he I think over succeeded a little bit this past year, he's still a dominant. Touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if I've heard that word before. Over succeeded.

[Jason Moore]

I like it.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason Moore, I don't have any problem with it. I just never heard that phrase. He over succeeded. He succeeded and then he did it a little. He did a little bit extra.

[Jason Moore]

He was really successful.

[Andy Holloway]

He threw in some extra success.

[Jason Moore]

I will say this on Marvin Jones. We've talked about how like you know that I doubt that the touchdowns stay where they were last year for Marvin Jones. And so you know we are all expecting a little bit of regression for Marvin Jones. But that's built into his adp.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

He's not being drafted. You know, he finished as you know, depending on your.

[Mike Wright]

He was a wide receiver one.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, 11 or nine. He's not being drafted anywhere near the ninth wide receiver or the 11th wide receiver off the board. So he is a, he is A value because I think he's being drafted where he will probably finish. But he's got a ceiling that is obviously higher than that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I am going to shock you with my answer.

[Jason Moore]

I believe the word you were looking for was discussed. Here's.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen. If you are eating, swallow. Put the food down.

[Jason Moore]

If you're drinking, pause the podcast before you finish.

[Mike Wright]

If you're driving, pull over to the side of the road.

[Andy Holloway]

I want every listener out there.

[Mike Wright]

This is true. This is not.

[Andy Holloway]

I want every listener out there to tune in right now. And for those of you that have been with the fantasy footballers for multiple years, I want you to harness the power of of the trust built up by this show in your innermost being. And I want you to trust me.

[Mike Wright]

At Andy Holloway on Twitter.

[Andy Holloway]

By the way, my stack is going to be the announcement. It's going to be the beginning of my campaign for Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry are my stack. Tyrod Taylor is going to be talked about by me for the rest of this off season. I believe that the undrafted Tyrod Taylor is a steal in fantasy drafts. Tyrod Taylor had seven top 10, I'm sorry, top 12 weeks last season. He had another five in the top 24. That is 12 of 16 weeks where he was hyper relevant for fantasy. He has elite level talent. Jarvis Landry is one of the best wide receivers in football. He is a target vacuum. Josh Gordon is one of the most talented wide receivers in football. We'll talk about Antonio Calloway in a little bit. Yeah, but he's very talented. They have Todd Haley that has arrived in Cleveland and the world. You get a built in value on Browns players. That is the way it works in fantasy football. When you go 0 and 16 and Jarvis Landry is being drafted at a very reasonable level now I believe he's late fourth round for Jarvis Landry because of the regression concerns. You cannot look, regression concerns are real for Jarvis Landry. They're starting to fade away from me. He is too talented and too much of a target hog not to play that same role in that offense. They spent too much money. He's too committed to that team. I also thought this was a nice transition into discussing whether you watched Hard Knocks at all last night, which I did get a chance to watch the entire show episode.

[Mike Wright]

I have not gotten to watch Hard Knocks and I saw the Jarvis Landry speech. The man is passionate.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll give him that passionate and profane.

[Jason Moore]

He.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, look, you get not on brand for us.

[Mike Wright]

But you get your message across. How you get it across. That's what we always say. And he.

[Andy Holloway]

That's certainly flip flops and profanity. That was the method.

[Mike Wright]

Unfortunately for Tyrod Taylor, he does not get to play the Dolphins or the jets twice this year.

[Andy Holloway]

He does get.

[Mike Wright]

Which account for four of his great weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. So I did what he's supposed to do.

[Jason Moore]

Here's what I'll say in support of your stack here, Andy. I think Tyrod Taylor is actually a really good, if not a great piece to draft late because if you're into the streaming quarterback, I don't always need to have the guy. You know, you bring up Stafford. Stafford's great because you draft them and you might not need to stream the position. You know, Stafford's going to be fine the whole year. Now, Tyrod, if you draft tyrod, I am 100% confident that you'll have to stream the position at some point. I can't imagine him playing the whole season.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he plays the whole.

[Jason Moore]

I know you do.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just saying that now just so that people understand. Because you both believe there's no chance of him playing the full season.

[Mike Wright]

0% correct.

[Andy Holloway]

And I believe he will.

[Jason Moore]

But that, you know, that doesn't matter when you start, I mean, stream the position, you're fine. If he gets replaced, go to the waiver wire. I will say this. Tyrod Taylor will absolutely be a valuable fantasy asset because I mean, he always is. He runs the ball, he's got good weapons, you know, during the beginning of the year where he is the starter. So like I don't draft Tyrod Taylor in a best ball league because I don't think I'm getting 16 games. But in a redraft.

[Mike Wright]

He's also never played 16 games in a redraft league.

[Jason Moore]

I would definitely be willing to start the season with Tyrod as my quarterback come week one.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, before we get into the NFC south breakdown, I do want to mention a piece of Browns news. Unfortunate, especially in light of the Corey Coleman trade. Who Corey Coleman was featured frequently last night on Hard Knocks from a Todd Haley yelling at him standpoint. Oh, so maybe the writing was.

[Mike Wright]

I gotta catch up.

[Andy Holloway]

The writing was on the wall in that episode where outside of Jarvis Landry, there was a lot of letdown on the field for a while. Hence the Jarvis Landry speech. But yeah, Coleman wasn't. Wasn't performing a lot of frustration. But Antonio Calloway, fourth round wide receiver, was cited for marijuana possession on Sunday morning He was also driving with a suspended license.

[Jason Moore]

If you're not familiar with Callaway's history, his past is very checkered. That's why he fell in the draft.

[Mike Wright]

That's why he didn't play college football last year, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, he didn't play football for a year. A lot of NFL teams were reportedly, they had him off their draft board. So the fact that he didn't make it out of his first training camp ever without a problem is bad news. Now, you know, there's the upside side of that, right? This checkered past, the fact that he fell and the fact that he was still drafted in the fourth round shows he's clearly a hyper talented player. It's that risk reward, you know, Josh Gordon, super talented, but comes with risk right now. It's just, it's, it's not a good start. Especially right after, you know, you get your opportunity. Corey Coleman is traded. Here's your chance to say, all right, I'm stepping up and you're gonna take.

[Mike Wright]

He had a job. He had a job for the taking. And now it is a, it is.

[Jason Moore]

A misdemeanor right now. This is not a huge, this is not like something where I think he's, you know, going to lose.

[Andy Holloway]

The misdemeanor is going to turn into Mr. Game or two.

[Mike Wright]

Two. It. This will be a two game, but it may not be this season. For example, Aaron Jones, we know that his incident with the law happened last year, but his suspension is this year. The NFL lets it play out a little bit, but he will be hit with a two game suspension.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll throw this in there as well. There was a little bit of insight on Hard Knocks as to kind of the team and Josh Gordon from the perspective that coach Hugh Jackson sat down with Todd Haley and the other coaches and basically said, you know, sometimes we don't know how much the team knows versus the fantasy player or what our expectations are for Josh Gordon. I mean, this is a player that's missed 43 of the last 48 games for the Cleveland Browns. Hugh Jackson basically sat down and told Todd Haley. He said, we're not going to have Josh at the beginning of this camp. That's it. And he didn't want to make a promise as to when he was coming back. Josh Gordon texted Hugh Jackson during the show. Josh. Hugh Jackson talked to Dorsey and said, look, he's going to be back soon. They kind of seem to not know exactly when Josh Gordon's going to be back in camp other than they expect him back in camp. When the timing is right. And we don't know how much of that coincides with a desire to keep him out of the limelight at the beginning at least of Hard Knocks.

[Mike Wright]

And on top of that, the Browns did not put him on, I believe, the NFI list, which would have a huge impact on Josh Gordon being able to be a restricted free agents. He would not accrue a season of eligibility for his free potential free agency. So the Browns are the trade of.

[Andy Holloway]

Coleman also enforced that they believe he's back.

[Mike Wright]

Just saying that the Browns are. They're siding with Gordon. So I think that also speaks very positively to the way that the Browns are feeling about Gordon being back sooner than later.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Well, I think it's. By the way, Brooks has let me know through verified means that we apparently we've said the word. We've said over succeeded before Brooks. Yes. And we made fun of it then.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So we're set it up.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, cool.

[Jason Moore]

Let's get divisional.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. This is the final divisional breakdown, is it not Brooks?

[Jason Moore]

That's correct. The final breakdown.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

You're welcome. I'm so sorry.

[Mike Wright]

I thought we talked about this. Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

You did not over succeed with that.

[Jason Moore]

That was just a regular success.

[Andy Holloway]

It was nice though, because the silence came and then you broke in.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you know, you guys stop talking. I gotta sing.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm gonna stop talking more if I get that. The NFC south, we're breaking down. The Saints, the Panthers. The Falcons, the Buccaneers on the show today. Last year, the Saints and Panthers tied at 11 and 5. The Saints won the division. The Falcons were 10 and 6. The Buccaneers at 5 and 11. The disappointing year. It's probably going to be another disappointing year for the Buccaneers. This is a very competitive division. I expect that we'll probably see three teams make the playoffs out of this division. And it's been one that has had a lot of turnover in recent years. You had a monster year from the Falcons the Super bowl season. You had the Panthers go to the super bowl the season before that. And the Saints last year were great. A great offense. They scored 448 points, which was just about 100 more than the Panthers. So we'll kick it off with them Saints. Let's talk about the New Orleans Saints. This Jason shed a tear as Kobe Fleener was jettisoned from the roster. Tight end Kobe Fleener, they literally put.

[Mike Wright]

Him in a seat and ejected him out of the building.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Sometimes you need to do that. They made him push the button.

[Mike Wright]

Whereabouts of Colby Flane are currently unknown.

[Andy Holloway]

Unknown, but probably in the lower atmosphere somewhere. Wide receiver Willie Snead, wide receiver Brandon Coleman recently. Snead was signed by the Ravens or was traded for.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, he was somebody.

[Andy Holloway]

He was a free agent and he's gone. And Brandon Coleman is gone now as well. Brandon Coleman always felt like a placeholder.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he really did.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, he wasn't on the team forever though. He just kept sticking around.

[Jason Moore]

He was a big kind of slower slot guy who did not seem like he belonged in the slot. The role was never, it was never really replaced.

[Andy Holloway]

You need another White House.

[Jason Moore]

A couple years ago when Willie Snead was great in that role. They've not been able to replace him. And I think that's what the hope is here with Cam Meredith.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, Cam Meredith is one of the big off season acquisitions. He was very, very good a couple of years ago. Got injured at the beginning of last season. There was a lot of hype around him in fantasy football, but he steps into an important role potentially in this offense opposite Michael Thomas. Ted Ginny, I want to make sure that if you are just joining us here in August and you're not aware, you're certainly aware of what Alvin Camara did last year, you're certainly aware of how good Mark Ingram was last year and how much they ran the ball in New Orleans. But maybe you're not aware of Mark Ingram suspension and he's missing the first four games. So Terrence west was added as depth at the running back position. This was a team that rushed the ball for 129 yards a game. That was fifth most in the league. They passed for 261 yards a game, fifth most in the league. A dynamic offense. Where do we begin? Where do we start? The conversation about the New Orleans Saints because this is a team that has a lot of fantasy value.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it definitely does. I mean, last season I think you have to start at the running back position because that was what was so dominant and different last season. I don't expect for the running game to be as successful as it was last year nor the passing game to be as unrelied on as it was last year.

[Mike Wright]

But you have to keep 5th most passing yards per game.

[Jason Moore]

You have to keep in mind it's pretty good. Yeah, but I'm speaking of scoring fantasy touchdowns. I mean Drew Brees, you know, touchdowns were very low for him. And you've talked in this offseason, Mike, how you love.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just sitting over here, I've got my I've got my cape on. You're just waiting for Drew Brees.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You're waiting to talk about the quarterback position. The running game has always been very valuable for fantasy from the Saints as a team. They pass the ball to the running back position more than anyone over the last, you know, in the entire Drew Brees era. And because Drew Brees is getting older, you see what they do in the draft, the free agents they're signing, they are now focused on defense and running the ball more than they have been in years past, where Drew Brees always had to throw a ton of touchdowns to get back into the game because they were down by three scores. That's not the case now, but when you look at the breakdown of Mark Ingram, who has always been my guy, literally was one of my three my guys last year, it's a scary proposition drafting Mark Ingram with that suspension. They have a week, six by week. He suspended the first four weeks. So think about it this way. By October 20th, you will have had one game out of Mark Ingram.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's not great. I, And I think fantasy owners, that's one of the biggest questions here is when is the value of Mark Ingram? When does that overwhelm the risk of.

[Mike Wright]

Mark Ingram and for Mark Ingram, I'm still depending on my team. People have asked when is the earliest you're considering Mark Ingram? And it's fifth round for me because I believe that when Mark Ingram comes back, he comes back right to his role on a dominant team. And even if Alvin Camara is the one A, I don't think it's a. I don't think it's a 1, 2 situation. I think it's back to really splitting time. And Mark Ingram will be a very valuable second half running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Mark Ingram has been the leading rusher for the New Orleans Saints for five, five of the last six years. I want to. I'm going to put the softball on the tee for you. Okay.

[Mike Wright]

All right. I hope I don't miss because you.

[Andy Holloway]

Want to talk about Drew Brees, here's. I'm going to. I'm going to set it up there for you.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I disagree with the contention that this is not going to be as good, if not better, of an offense under Sean Payton, who started as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 2006. The offensive rank of the Saints is as follows. Okay. 5, 12, 1, 1, 12, 2, 3, 10, 9, 8, 2, 4. In total points, the year they won the super bowl was the second Most points scored in the Sean Payton era, which goes back now 12 seasons. This is a team that while their defense is going to be essential to winning the Super Bowl, Sean Payton has no desire to let up on offense. So that would be the, that would be the historical argument for why Drew Brees will return to fantasy value. Now the argument against is related to age. It's related to total pass attempts. Last year he had an arguably his best season ever.

[Mike Wright]

Best completion percentage of all time.

[Andy Holloway]

But how do you overcome fears about. Look, they had great success last season, right? They were 11 and 5. They won the division. They relied on the run game. They relied on their defense. What's your counterpoint for Drew Brees? Is it based in history?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So I'm glad you brought it up because over the era of Drew Brees in New Orleans, besides this past year, there is, there's other, there's two other times where they had a dominant defense. You're talking 2010 where their defense gave was fourth best in allowing yards. And in that season, Drew brees was the quarterback six in 2013, once again fourth in points, fourth in yards for the defense, quarterback two on the season. I don't care how good the defense is, I care how good Drew Brees is. And Drew Brees was still an elite quarterback this past year. The past three years the passing touchdown to rushing touchdown ratio has been what has been 2 to 1. This last year you had a fluky 1 to 1 pass to touchdown ratio. It's just, it is a complete outlier to me. Like I said, he set the NFL best completion percentage. It comes down to me to looking at, let's look at deep touchdowns. Last year there were five passers that had 30 plus deep completions. Three of those five guys had 10 or more touchdowns on those completions. Drew Brees only had five. It's just one of those things. If you remember the year that Calvin Johnson was tackled about 10 times on the two yard line. It just happens sometimes in football. Drew Brees is elite. He is going to return to form.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you, you swung, you hit the ball, Jason, I'm setting it up for you now. I'm putting it on the tee. People seem to believe this story about Drew Brees because he's the fifth quarterback off the board right now in the sixth round. You're not getting value based on his performance last year, are you? I mean, I guess that's the question.

[Jason Moore]

You're definitely getting split. No, you're definitely not getting value based on.

[Andy Holloway]

You have to draft them Ahead of wins last year, Newton around later, Cousins two rounds later, Luck two rounds later and then Stafford Rivers, Ryan, you can draft three rounds later.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean the reality is this. Drew Brees right now is being drafted as the fifth quarterback off the board and that is his ceiling. Now, he's had many years above the number five is his ceiling. Five is his ceiling in 2018 at 39 years old with nonsense good defense. He is not. I mean, I would easily water bet that he will not be a top four quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

He just changed from five to five.

[Jason Moore]

No, I'm saying he top five is ceiling. He can get the five. He's not going to be ahead of five.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, Tom Brady was 40 last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

All the age argument.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Make it against me. Say, say. But that's, that's very.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, are you willing to go top five? Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Because it's Drew Brees.

[Andy Holloway]

So Jason, are you on board with that?

[Jason Moore]

No, I, I suggested it waterbed.

[Andy Holloway]

This will give Brooks a chance to use the new Water Bet video graphic on the YouTube channel. So, I mean, really, you guys have done a service to the world.

[Jason Moore]

Very nice. Yeah. I mean, look, Drew Brees, he, he finished as a quarterback 12. You know, the, you know, he was a quarterback one this past season. That's great. And I do expect he will have more touchdowns this year than last year. But he also only had four weeks the whole season. There's 16 games. He only had four weeks where he was actually in the top 12 during that week. He destroyed you last year. He just didn't need to have those big games. And I don't think he's going to need to have them this year.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not leaving the Saints. We're going to stay here. We're going to talk about Alvin Camara and expectations. We're going to talk about Cameron Meredith. But we're going to press a quick pause button to thank Pristine Auction for supporting this podcast. Pristine Auction is the best place to get autographed sports memorabilia. I get a message, this is not a lie. This is not a line. I get a message pretty much every day, every other day from somebody who thanks me yesterday for letting them know about Pristine Auction. Yesterday I had posted on Reddit, somebody replied to my thread on Reddit, completely unrelated to the thread, and just said, I just got a Keenan Allen jersey for $63. Thank you so much for telling me about Pristine Auction. People don't understand. We have an Alvin Camaro jersey, signed authentic jersey on the wall. An authentic signature Pristine Auction. We Get a deal. Todd Gurley signed photo yesterday, 43 bucks. Josh Gordon signed photo, $37. Corey Davis signed jersey win for 40 bucks. That is asinine. That's crazy. And these are all JSA authentic signatures. You've got to check them out. Pristine Auction.com longtime partner of the show.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And look, another really important partner that we are very close with is fantasy champs. And here's why it's important, because you're listening to the show and you're going to be a fantasy champ. You're going. Your league needs awesome trophies, and there is a gold standard, and that's fantasy champs. If you look at the trophies, if you inspect the trophies that we have, you know, in our set, that we use in our league, they're truly the best trophies that are out there. I love their gold trophy, their perennial gold trophy. I think that is my personal favorite. You got to check them out. If you use the promo code ballers, you can save 10%. But this is the time of the year where you get your league ready. You get that perennial trophy. You get it, you know, displayed at your draft. You can get custom fantasy football jerseys to wear at your draft. You can get the best fantasy draft board if you want to have. If you do in a live draft. It's all. At fantasy champs. You're a fantasy champ. Go to fantasychamps.com and improve your league.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, the swag of fantasy football is kind of just connected to the game of fantasy football. Right. So we. It's important that that partner is right.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know why. For our listeners, I should be at all times wearing all my fancy champ rings, you know, during the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

I gotta. I gotta start doing that.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Let's talk about Alvin Camara.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Super Comario.

[Andy Holloway]

Last year, the Invincibility Star. It was on all season, pretty much, except one. Yeah. You're talking about the concussion.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he was not invincible that week.

[Andy Holloway]

No, that week he. The star went off. He got hit by a Koopa shell, and he went down early in the game. But Alvin Camara, I think people are on every. Well, there's two thoughts, right? He is this. He is great. He's got marking or missing the first four games. There's no reason why he can't be dominant. And then there's the regression fears. There's the health fears. There's the, you know, what do we. What do we really have, you know, people brought up C.J. spiller's monstrous season. We don't get the opportunity. You don't get to look at Alvin Camara and go, what'd he do over the last five years? You get to say, what did he do last year? So Alvin Camara is the ceiling for 2018. The number one overall running back. Mike, is that a possibility for Alvin Camara?

[Mike Wright]

I would say no.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I don't think, I don't think Camara, even with. I believe he will get an uptick in volume. But even with that, I am on the side that we haven't. We've seen so few seasons.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this the best season he ever has?

[Mike Wright]

Probably.

[Andy Holloway]

You think so?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

His 81.

[Andy Holloway]

81 reception, it was outrageous. But only 120 carries. Right.

[Mike Wright]

But what's his yards per carry?

[Andy Holloway]

6.5.

[Mike Wright]

What's his yards per reception?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm sorry, 6.1 yards per carry, 10.2 yards per reception. That'll stay. 81 receptions for 1,000 yards is very, very.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

In the cards for Alvin Kamara.

[Mike Wright]

It's very, very possible. But over six yards of carry, I. He's. He's an incredible talent. I just am not going to put my chips on someone repeating that or coming anywhere close to that. We've. We've seen.

[Andy Holloway]

That would be Jamal Charles. You'd be putting. That's why I was going to bring him being Jamal Charles.

[Mike Wright]

And could he be Jamal Charles? Sure. But there's only been one Jamal Charles.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

So that's why I don't think top one is available to him when. When Gurley and Le'Veon bail.

[Andy Holloway]

What about bottom one?

[Mike Wright]

Bottom one.

[Jason Moore]

It's a good point, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, you said he couldn't be top one. I want to know if he could be bottom one, maybe middle one.

[Jason Moore]

Those.

[Mike Wright]

He could be. Certainly if my argument against him being.

[Jason Moore]

At the top is you got to lean in.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

For what it's worth, I agree with Mike. I don't see the, you know, finishing in the. As the number one running back in the cards for Alvin Camara. He is. I expect him to have a great year. I really do. And the reason I expect him to have a great year is because of the Saints, because of the system, because of Sean Payton as a quarterback is elite. They use the running back so well. It's not just that they use him a lot in the passing game. They. They scheme so well for the running back. So I think he will succeed. But at the same time, he's my scariest first round running back. I think I've come to the. That place where I just even when my rankings say he's the next guy up, I'm, I'm going with the volume of the, the guy a little bit down in my rankings over the hope that Alvin Camara is as efficient or, you know, close to as efficient as he was last year. Whenever you've got a guy who had 120 carries last year, no, he had.

[Mike Wright]

He had 120 carries. But those first three weeks or so before the buy and they traded Adrian Peterson away, he was very uninvolved.

[Jason Moore]

If you take away the first two games and you look at a 16 game pace from that point on, it would be 128.

[Andy Holloway]

They start the season the four, the four non Ingram games. The Buccaneers at home, the Browns at home. So as in the Saints are at home in both those games, then they play the Falcons and Giants. Even if you believe that it's unsustainable, isn't he going to dominate for four weeks? Can you trade him at that point?

[Mike Wright]

I wouldn't trade him if he's dominating for four games. I don't think there's any way.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, with Ingram coming back, if you say that you don't believe the volume is going to be there for four weeks, is it not?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I don't expect it to be an outrageous swing. I think Terrence west is going to get on the field.

[Andy Holloway]

Cameron Meredith is undrafted. Do you want him?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. And that's, it's a Brandon Coleman type of thing that they were able to waive him and maybe they'll bring him back. But I think that they believe that Cameron Meredith is ready for Michael Thomas. This Michael Thomas is one of the reasons why I believe that Drew Brees will return. Michael Thomas went from nine touchdowns to five touchdowns and that was not because of opportunity. He had more targets, he had more receptions. He had more targets in the red zone. He had more targets in the 10 zone. The touchdowns just, just didn't go Drew Brees way. And I have been on record that I love Michael Thomas very, very much as an elite level wide receiver this season.

[Jason Moore]

Panthers.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's talk about the Carolina panthers. They were 11 and 5 last year. Cam Newton. I've been pretty vocal about Cam Newton this year. I think he's the best combination of upside and value in fantasy drafts. Seventh round quarterback right now with number one quarterback potential. He has a new weapon in DJ Moore, wide receiver and he has a weapon that ascended over the course of last season in Christian McCaffrey.

[Jason Moore]

Gets Greg Olson back.

[Andy Holloway]

Gets Greg Olson back. He didn't have him last year and Cam Newton was still a dominant force for fantasy football owners. He ran the ball. Lions going to roar and he roared. Now he's going to be my guy for me again this year. So Cam Newton, I'm locked and loaded. I think he's that best value. But I want to hear you guys weigh in on this team. They were the fourth best offensive or I'm sorry rushing team last year, 131 yards per game. They were 28th in passing yards per game. So Cam Newton and company expectations for this team where the fantasy values, you know they lose into Norwell on the offensive line. We cannot underestimate the loss. And if you, if you do want to underestimate it, go talk to Andy.

[Mike Wright]

Dalton and we've been talking about Pro Football Focus and their rankings Last year the Panthers ended and as the 10th best offensive line coming into the season they have them at 21. So they they are factoring in the loss of Norwell A by a large amount. I'll start with the value because that's what you word I was hearing. Even with the offensive line getting the massive downgrade, the value of this team is still CJ Anderson and for me that's because the Jonathan Stewart has moved on. He is now a New York Giant. But he still received a ton of work, a frustrating amount of work for Christian McCaffrey owners. He, I mean he had, he had 206 touches on the year which was 198 carries. So I expect CJ Anderson up close to that 200 carry mark. Now can he do something with it? That's the question. But finding you don't you're not hype training him.

[Andy Holloway]

But I'm just there's been a lot of talk 2530 touches for Christian McCaffrey. Mike.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And Christian McCaffrey getting 30 touches a game, it would be a tremendous mistake and a you would be not utilizing Christian McCaffrey to his fullest to overwork him like that. So I expect CJ Anderson up near 200 carries for a running back that you are drafting. Where is he? Where is he currently going? Does anyone have that in front of them?

[Andy Holloway]

I do not.

[Mike Wright]

I've got it back of the eighth round. So back of the eighth, early ninth. A running back that in my opinion is nearly guaranteed over 170 carries that those guys don't exist in that range. And the reason he is there one people just don't like C.J. anderson. I understand it but he was a.

[Andy Holloway]

Thousand yard rusher last year One of nine only. And he was also near the league lead in yards after contact.

[Mike Wright]

Once they, they gave C.J. anderson the ball over the second half of the season, he proved once again that he is a good running back in this league. And people are so caught up in the Christian McCaffrey hype train that they are letting CJ Anderson fall to the back of the eighth round. Tremendous value.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree that CJ Anderson is a value for where he's being drafted. If he doesn't pan out, that's fine. If he does pan out, you're going to have a really good value. He is so far and away superior to what Jonathan Stewart was last year. And when we talk about Christian McCaffrey, you know, there's all this upside, hopeful he's going to get more carries, but there's a lot of reasons also to worry about him, right? D.J. moore, Greg Olson, are they going to take some of those valuable targets away from Christian McCaffrey when he was so heavily targeted last year? The fact that Jonathan Stewart has been upgraded into C.J. anderson this year. Now I said all that to basically say I am actually a believer. If I had to put my odds on I believe that Christian McCaffrey will be used as a workhorse back. I don't know that they should, but when I go back north Turner, you know, we always look into the offensive coordinators and the systems and you know, try to put everything into proper context. When you have a guy with over 20 years with, you know, so many different teams, so many different players, you have such a large sample size that you can really get a grasp for what a coach does because he switched teams so many times, you see, does he change to his personnel, does he not, etc. Etc. And over and over and over and over. He is almost always a one back guy. Now for some context, he had some pretty darn good, you know, Emmett Smith, Ladanian Tomlinson.

[Mike Wright]

I would be a one back.

[Jason Moore]

Adrian Peterson. It's unbelievable the running backs he's had, but Christian McCaffrey was a top 10 pick. And so if, if he, if, if Norv is saying these things, the man.

[Mike Wright]

Who picked Christian McCaffrey top 10 is no longer with the team.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. But my point is he was valued to be that coming out of college.

[Andy Holloway]

He was also great last year, guys. Yes, the storyline and the passing game. No, I'm going to bring this up. I want people to remember something. Last year all I kept hearing and kept getting thrown at me was Cam Newton doesn't throw to the running back. And all I kept saying was he will if he has a good one. And he did. He threw it and it worked. They were 11 and 5. They were a great team. What they did worked. These are not, you know, non pliable robots. If you have a great player in a great position, suddenly you're great at throwing to the running back. That's the equation. And you're great when you throw to Christian McCaffrey, including in the red zone.

[Jason Moore]

And I, and I believe that North Turner will try to use Christian McCaffrey as he used the comp that I, that I see is the Ladanian Tomlinson, Michael Turner years with San Diego. And that was, you know, Michael Turner was involved. He's a good backup.

[Andy Holloway]

He does need to be better between the tackles. And if their offensive line is downgraded, that could be a challenge.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And I like that you bring up the point though. If you have a great player, you, you get them involved. That's Greg Olson. In the games where Greg olson played, Christian McCaffrey had two fewer receptions per game. Nearly three targets fewer per game. That's a lot of opportunity when you are the pass catching running back. So I'm not saying he won't have value for fantasy, but I think that he's overvalued.

[Andy Holloway]

You know my retort though to that. Right. I don't have to tell you it.

[Mike Wright]

What he was shared with the people.

[Andy Holloway]

He was a rookie beginning his career. Those are the games that Greg Olson were really active for. Right. So I don't read a lot into a very small sample size with Greg Olson involved in the offense when Christian McCaffrey wasn't trusted in the passing game. Yet that's, that's my only counterpoint. DJ Moore.

[Mike Wright]

So you're saying that the games, Greg Olson was a second half guy. Greg Olson missed the entire first half of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

When did he come back?

[Mike Wright]

Week 11. Week 11 is when he came back the first time. And then he played 13 through 16.

[Andy Holloway]

He was hurt before game one.

[Mike Wright]

He was hurt in week two.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, that. Okay, so I was.

[Mike Wright]

So that does not fit your narrative.

[Andy Holloway]

It does for week one, if that's part of the sample size. Right. Week one and week two are both in your sample. Right. Because he got hurt during week two. So that's my only point is that I think that it is a very small sample. It is not a point that lands on deaf ears though. If you have more people to throw to that you trust, you probably aren't going to throw to one guy. So I Get right. Let's move on, though. Let's talk about Devin Funches. He emerged out of necessity last season. They spent a high draft pick in D.J. moore.

[Mike Wright]

He got a cool nickname last year.

[Jason Moore]

Who emerged?

[Andy Holloway]

This guy.

[Mike Wright]

Devin S. Scrumptious.

[Jason Moore]

Scrumptious.

[Mike Wright]

I love Michael Keaton.

[Andy Holloway]

Not going to be as scrumptious this year.

[Jason Moore]

No, no.

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to let. This is. The food has been left out.

[Mike Wright]

The chocolate is melted.

[Andy Holloway]

The chocolate is melted.

[Mike Wright]

Scrum Billy Umptious bar.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, unless you have injury, I don't see how Devin Funches has the year he had last year because he's not built to be the number one. He's built to be a tight end.

[Jason Moore]

I actually think he's a pretty good number two wide receiver. So with DJ Moore coming to the team, I have DJ Moore slotted into immediately year one, take over the number one wide receiver role. Take it away to be out targeted to out target Devin Funches. That's how I have this projected this season. Breaking news.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, big news, guys. This show is going to be extra long. Oh, that's the breaking news. I realized that we've got two more teams to get through and I'm not sure we can leave the Panthers yet. I do want to remind people, Curtis Samuels coming back this year as well.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. So it's fair.

[Jason Moore]

Been very. He's coming back, but the injuries coming back from. I think it's. I think it's been a slow process and I.

[Andy Holloway]

Wide receiver. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Wide receiver Curtis Samuel, rookie last year for the Carolina Panthers.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you guys, you feel comfortable moving on to Matty Ice and company?

[Jason Moore]

Yep. Falcon.

[Andy Holloway]

I just. I don't want to get Mike a little. He gets a little finicky.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

A little bit clemsed. If you move on too quick and there's somebody who wants to talk about. But I guess when you get a chance to talk about CJ Anderson, everything is well on the way. Whoa, whoa.

[Jason Moore]

We didn't talk about Tor Smith.

[Mike Wright]

I could. I could bring him up. He's an upgrade for that team. Mostly for Cam.

[Andy Holloway]

Cam Newton likes to throw the ball.

[Jason Moore]

Really? Really.

[Mike Wright]

He does.

[Andy Holloway]

Really, really far off his back foot. And Ted Ginn benefited from that.

[Jason Moore]

Torrey Smith is no longer fast, though.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Mike Wright]

I think he is already looking at his game speed.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to look that up. You guys talk Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

I find this a presumptive slow down.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I did watch football.

[Mike Wright]

You had a Tory Smith Cam. I was going to say, were your stopwatch out?

[Andy Holloway]

Were you Watching all untargeted receivers last year.

[Jason Moore]

We can make fun of me in a second when I verify. Or probably not.

[Andy Holloway]

Falcons 10 and 6. The Atlanta Falcons squeezed into, you know, playoff. The playoffs last year. Matt Ryan disappointed. Fantasy owner Steve Sarkeesian came in as the offensive coordinator last year, ruined everything. And we all blame him for. For all the toils and problems. Whereas we really should give credit to Jason for the obvious truth that Matt Ryan had an outlier season in 2016. So this just in.

[Jason Moore]

Torrey Smith was anything. He ran longer than 20 yards. Well below the average NFL wide receiver in game speed.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, because he does them backwards.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you to air yards.com he does them.

[Andy Holloway]

Does them backwards. Backpedaling. That's. Yeah. Well, that's interesting to know. I mean, we've all agreed that replacing Torrey Smith with Mike Wallace in Philadelphia was an upgrade for the Eagles, but they didn't really have anybody in Carolina. Is Tori Smith better than nobody?

[Mike Wright]

Sometimes there is not a difference.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, this just in. Mike Wallace last year way the heck faster than Tori Smith.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, the more you know, Tori Smith is living off of the.

[Mike Wright]

How is that not a segment?

[Andy Holloway]

The more you know.

[Mike Wright]

Seriously, we need a drop M M or, sorry, the M O O R.

[Jason Moore]

E. You know, that's my last name, Mike. Did you realize that?

[Mike Wright]

I did. Clearly you did not, because I got the pun and you didn't. Andy's writing it down. Yeah, that's a great idea.

[Andy Holloway]

The more you know. And then we're not copying that at all. It's really a name tie in. Very good. All right, Devonta Freeman, does he return to greatness in 2018?

[Jason Moore]

Greatness as in top five running back? I don't think so. Greatness as in one of the most reliable known commodities. Still in prime condition. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

One of the best offensive lines in football.

[Jason Moore]

I really do like Devonta Freeman this year. When you drop into that second round area and you're deciding between a couple players. I find myself so often in mocks and in real drafts, taking Devonte Freeman because he's solid. You know what you have in him. I can't imagine, barring injury, that he's not an RB one, a low end.

[Mike Wright]

RB one, and to his credit, he was a running back 13 and he missed two games and essentially missed that third one where he was injured. So you give him his full 16 games. He was easily a running back one this past season. So I'm with Jason, a return to top five. I don't see it shaking out that way. But Freeman is. Freeman's actually a good value right now in the, even in the second round.

[Jason Moore]

And this is the second. You know, last year I called for a lot of regression on the Falcons and I, you know, I'm swung back the other way. I actually think that The Falcons in 2018 will be a much better offense than the Falcons in 2017. This is the year two of this offensive system. You had so many balls just, you know that were going to Julio in the end zone that were just dropped. I mean those, those things, those things return to form. So I think this is going to be a good year for the Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, how do you approach a player like Tevin Coleman? You know the backup running back dynamic, a pass catcher, somebody that if they did step into the number one role would be probably a top 10 guy because of the volume. But how do you approach him as a fantasy owner? Because it's not always fun to draft a player that doesn't have a week to week defined role.

[Mike Wright]

Now it's a little bit more palatable this year. The Tevin Coleman mania has died down a little bit. He's going in the at the beginning of the seventh round according to fantasy football calculator.

[Jason Moore]

It's a great value. But.

[Andy Holloway]

But do you like start would you put them into your lineup in that.

[Mike Wright]

Range you could get Marshawn, you can get Crowell who are starters for their team. And like Andy said that the role for Coleman is, is undefined. Good friend of the show JJ zacharies and has pointed out many times over this off season they are rarely, rarely are they both relevant. And I'm talking about Coleman and, and Freeman. If one of them has a good game, it is statistically rare that they both have a good week.

[Jason Moore]

I disagree. I disagree.

[Mike Wright]

You disagree with numbers.

[Jason Moore]

I disagree with where he's putting the baseline of that numbers of what qualifies as good. When you're drafting a running back in the seventh round, you're not drafting an RB1, you're drafting an RB2. He had 10 games last season. Tevin Coleman had 10 games where he was an RB2 or better. Now usually he was in that range of RB2 19, 24, 23, 21, 23, 20. Those aren't great games. So those would show up for JJ but if he's your RB2 or even your RB3, I'm super happy to have my third running back constantly put up, you know, numbers that are solid, that are in those.

[Andy Holloway]

Not a bad point. Not a bad point.

[Jason Moore]

And then you have the upside of you know, last year, where was Tevin Coleman going? I feel like it was, you know, much higher.

[Andy Holloway]

Fifth round. Yeah, fifth round. I love Michael.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, me too. So I actually like it, you know, seventh round. I mean, it's hard, right? Crowell, the known starter, but if you're telling me Crowell has basically the same season Tevin Coleman had last year where he's got 10 top 24 performances, I'm not going to be shocked. But, you know, the opportunity for Tevin Coleman to take over in the sad situation of an injury, a little exciting.

[Andy Holloway]

They lost Taylor Gabriel to free agency and then he signed with the Bears. They added a rookie. Maybe surprise people by drafting arguably the highest ranked wide receiver by some in Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley joins Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu as pass catchers of, you know, in this offense that can be very prolific. Give me a handicap Calvin Ridley's redraft value, you know, what are the odds that he contributes in a meaningful way? And would you rather roster Calvin Ridley with the unknown or Mohammed Sanu with the kind of what you'd call that the Brandon lefell baseline?

[Jason Moore]

That's a great question as to which one you would rather roster. I think I would rather roster in redraft. I would rather roster Mohammed Sanu.

[Mike Wright]

Am I playing four wide receivers?

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, because it's.

[Mike Wright]

Then I'll roster Sanu.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. So there's no real relevance.

[Mike Wright]

Am I playing six wide receivers?

[Jason Moore]

You're probably.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so Julio Jones, then I will roster Ridley.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so that tells me that question. I was gonna say if, but I did. If Julio Jones gets injured, who do you want to start?

[Jason Moore]

I do think this. I think Sanu is a great best ball pick. When you. Because you are rostering, you know, nine wide receivers and you know, Sanu was valuable last year. And keep in mind, it's not like Calvin Ridley is taking over for Sanu. He's taking over for Taylor Gabriel, who left the team. He's an upgrade there. But Sanu was, you know, he had plenty of weeks where he was relevant last year. Buccaneers.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're going to move on and talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[Mike Wright]

What about Austin Hooper?

[Andy Holloway]

We're saving Austin Hooper for your other podcast, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, for the top 10 tight end show.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think you meant to say the top 30 tight end show.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we're coming out with a bottom 10 tight end show. All right. It's looking rough for the Buccaneers, by my estimation. Now, that doesn't mean that they can't come out and surprise. They have a lot of weapons on offense. But you're missing Jameis Winston, starting quarterback for three games. And I think fantasy owners were very disappointed in Mike Evans last year relative to his draft position. So I think we have that question of whether he returns to elite form and whether he can do that temporarily with Ryan Fitzpatrick until Jameis Winston gets back into the fold. It's a tough start to the season for the Buccaneers. They have jettisoned. That'll be the word. Word of the day. They've jettisoned Doug Martin. He's gone. They've drafted Ronald Jones, the second, who I am a fan of, the talent of Jason is not. In fact, Jason has put on the hate blockers and declared him a bust on multiple occasions, much to my chagrin. But let's talk about this offense. Let's talk about the fantasy pieces. People want to know which tight end they should roster between Cameron Brayton, O.J. howard. People want to know, can they rely on Ronald Jones? What is the depth chart going to be between Peyton Barber, Ronald Jones and then Charles Sims involved on third down? What are our expectations here and how much are they hurt by the likelihood that this is not a winning ball Club in 2018?

[Jason Moore]

So here's what's interesting. I think it's rough sledding for the Buccaneers right now because this division, the Falcons, the Saints and the Panthers, are three contending teams. If any one of them ended up in the super bowl, you're not going to be surprised. But they all three have great offenses and so forth. Fantasy purposes. While I expect the Bucks to have a bad record at the end of the year, I think there will be value here. They're going to have to try to keep up. They're going to have to try to score with Cam and score with the Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

Happened at the end of last year.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. I think Chris Godwin moving to the outside, getting involved helps the offense. Jameis Winston, prior to the suspension, was one of those guys that I thought this is a potential year to break out. So when he gets back after a rough opening schedule, I think Jameis Winston's second half of the year and really the last three quarters, you know, most of the year that he's going to play, I think is going to be really valuable. He's got the best weapons that he's ever had. A year to O.J. howard, a year to Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, you know, Cameron Bray. I really do think there will be fantasy points to be had here.

[Andy Holloway]

After the suspension. Jameis was a breakout in our ultimate draft kit. He's not in there right now due to some of the, those factors that you mentioned. But the upside is still there. It's just a matter of. At that time you were drafting him. Right now, Mike, you've been prescribing a hands off approach to Jameis Winston and a weight and grab him off the waiver wire later.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And that's why you don't have to. It's not a Mark Ingram situation. It's not Julian Edelman where I. If you want them on your team, you're going to have to grab and stash Jameis Winston. I would be shocked if you're, if you're in a single quarterback league and someone is drafting Jameis Winston, they are wasting a bench, they're doing it wrong. Because a quarterback clogging up your roster for three weeks that you can't even use is just such a bad decision. It's a bad decision. It's a, it's a waste of an asset. But Jameis Winston was a yardage machine when he came back from his shoulder injury those final five weeks of the season. He hit 300 yards two times, 299. So essentially threw 300 yards in three of those five games. His fewest yardage total was 270 yards. That's a pace of over five yards. The elusive 5,000 yard mark. Jameis Winston puts up big yards. We need to get those touchdown numbers up. But if you are, let's say, let you go with Andy's method of Tyrod Taylor. You grab him early, you play him those first three weeks. Then when Baker takes over in week four, you just grab Jameis Winston off of the waiver.

[Jason Moore]

It's just really important because you usually. We don't even, I mean, I don't hardly ever even draft two quarterbacks. So to draft a second quarterback that isn't going to play for three weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

Feels really bad.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about Ronald Jones. For me, the Ronald Jones situation is simple. He's the best running back by a wide margin on this team. I believe he's a much better running back than Peyton Barber, who had value by necessity last season. Charles Sims hasn't been able to stay healthy or involved or relevant for fantasy and dirt. Cutter really likes Ronald Jones. This was an investment in the running back position. Dirk Cutter's come out. He says, I have faith in Ronald Jones. I see how he works. I see the explosiveness. I have faith in him. And the preseason is going to be a part of how big of a role he's going to have. But they like everything about Ronald Jones and I liked everything that he did at usc.

[Jason Moore]

So he scares. He scares the tar off of me because I've put him on blast so much. And he has an absolute path to fantasy relevance. You know, I worry that he's not going to catch the ball and that he's not going to be a true workhorse if Peyton Barber and Charles Sims are involved and it's not going to be a great team. They're not going to be in winning situations. But like I just said, there's going to be fantasy points to be had for the Bucks. And if he does take over that role and surprises in the past catching game, then he's a great pick in the fifth round.

[Andy Holloway]

You kind of understand why they picked him because last year The Bucks were 27th in the league in rushing yards, 27th in yards per carry, which doesn't speak well of whomever was in there. 25th and rushing touchdowns. This was not a team that could move the ball on the ground consistently. So I think that they want to usher in a new situation there. Mike, I don't feel like you've really weighed in very much on the Ronald Jones. You've left it for me and Jason to sling the mud at each other.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's a really good point, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you even know what he thinks?

[Jason Moore]

I don't have a clue.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, because I lean more with Jason of he will be a bust for his draft. You lean more.

[Andy Holloway]

You lean more.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. Thank you. But here's. Here's my problem with Ronald Jones. Charles Sims is the third down back. He's. That's who. That's what he's working as in training camp. That's what he can specialize at. Ronald Jones does not have pass catching in his college production profile. That doesn't mean he can't do it. But you already have a guy who's been great in that role for that team for a few years. They've talked about Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones for the first. At least the first few weeks are going to be splitting time. When you're investing a pick in a guy that is only going to get that first and second now work and then he's going to have to share that work with Peyton Barber, who's. Ronald Jones is probably a better running back than Payton Barber, but Barber is a serviceable running back who's been in the league improving it in the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

Fifteen touches through the first. You know, on average, Ronald Jones for the first four weeks under. I'll take the under 15 touches.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So here's my advice for Ronald Jones. If you, if you are a believer in Ronald Jones, trade for him after he's disappointing in the first two weeks because he's sharing touches by the end.

[Andy Holloway]

I think you're right that he may have a monstrous preseason game and that may jack his adp.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he is. He is one Amir Abdullah play away from jumping into the fourth back of the third round.

[Andy Holloway]

I can't wait for preseason. I just realized that tomorrow I cannot wait.

[Jason Moore]

You are speaking the truth.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, it starts in reality, it starts tomorrow. But Ronald Jones, I really think in those first few games is going to be sharing carries with Peyton Barber by the end of the year. But maybe the halfway mark, Ronald Jones could push Barber to the side.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but that happens a lot with rookies.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, but it's.

[Mike Wright]

You're going to have to put a big investment into Ronald Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to jump into the interview we had with Ronald Jones, a brief one, but not without asking the question of O.J. howard and Cameron Braid so you can give fantasy owners a moment of insight to the tight end situation.

[Jason Moore]

Look, I still take Cameron Brait, and it used to be a lock, solid, easy call, but it's really not. O.J. howard is the clearest better prospect. He's, you know, a freak. More explosive, by far more explosive, but he's also a better athlete, to his detriment in the fact that he is used in the, in the running game a lot. And I think that what's going to happen Even in year two with O.J. howard is that he will because he's such a good blocker. He's going to have more of those plays where he gets wide open down the sideline, has that because, you know, that's not the, the guy that the defense is targeting on. He's not the normal route running tight end. That's going to be Cameron Brait, which means for fantasy purposes, if that plays out, that you're not going to always know when to be able to start O.J. howard. And at the end of the year, he might have a really nice line because he had a couple big touchdowns, but you weren't able to necessarily predict that. Whereas Cameron Brait is more of the between the twenties. And he's also still used in the red zone. So I would go Brait, as of right now, the ceiling is higher with O.J. howard. If they just opened him up and said, hey, we're going to use you in the passing game. Then he would be a beast.

[Mike Wright]

I agree that that's, that's what could happen for Howard. And that's where Eileen. I took a look at the Cameron Brait contract because he got an extension, much to the surprise of everyone. And this thing is a six year, near $41 million deal.

[Jason Moore]

Agent did work.

[Andy Holloway]

That's like a hockey contract.

[Mike Wright]

But if you actually look at the deal, it's in an early out, it's 7 million guaranteed. So he accounts against. He's $7 million against the cap this season. After that, there is no dead money for the camera break contract. So somehow GM did work. Somehow he signed a six year deal that is in fact a one year contract. If they want it to be that interesting. Crazy.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's wrap this show up with a conversation with second round running back from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, Rojo, Ronald Jones ii.

[Jason Moore]

You talking to me?

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Andy Holloway here with Ronald Jones ii.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, sir.

[Andy Holloway]

Talk about the arrival to the NFL. What was it like being drafted and then going to Tampa Bay? What were your expectations?

[Ronald Jones II]

Yeah, it was crazy, man. You know, I got there sometime right after the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Ronald Jones II]

And then OTA's rookie minicamp. You know, that heat hit me the first couple days. You know, being in Cali, I was spoiled. But I got back to my Texas.

[Andy Holloway]

Roots, so I'm good. Humidity.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So look, the NFL, they, they drill you down and you gotta run the 40, you gotta do these drills. You're never gonna do them again in your whole life. And they tell you what you can do and what you can't do. So tell me what you do. Tell me what you think you can do. What do you expect from yourself in both the run game and the passing game?

[Ronald Jones II]

You know, I expect a lot. You know, I gotta hold myself to, you know, high expectations because obviously, you know where they took me and you know, they believed in. Yeah, just trying to be the best I can be, you know, it's going, it's a process, you know. Still haven't played a game yet. Yeah. So I'm just go from there, break down the tape as much as I can to just become a student of the game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We had Dirt Cutter out in Arizona as the ASU coach for quite a while. And obviously you got the opportunity to work with him and Jamis and some veterans over there. Year one, you said you follow fantasy a little bit. Do you have expectations for how you perform? I know the team line. You want to do everything you can do. But what are your own expectations for yourself?

[Ronald Jones II]

Personally you know, I just want to, you know, come and make an impact. You know, my name is called, my numbers called. I just want to make plays, you know, whatever I'm asked to do, step up and block, you know, run routes, return, you know, whatever it may be.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you pride yourself on being able to move into that pass catching role? They didn't ask a lot of you at USA in that role, but from what I saw on film, it feels like you have the ability to excel there.

[Ronald Jones II]

Most definitely. That's something that, you know, I'm looking forward to showing people, you know, this year, fantasy football players as well. So, yeah, because I know the PPRs and all that stuff. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to all that stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you embrace fantasy football? Do you like it when the fans come up and they. And they look at that type of thing from you, or do you prefer to stay away from that?

[Ronald Jones II]

Nah, I mean, I don't like it too much when they come up, you know, hey, you only got me wound up some points, but, you know, I know it's, you know, it's a game for them and, you know, they got to get their money, so.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. And Jameis and Evans and all them, have you been had an opportunity to spend time with them and have they welcomed you into the team?

[Ronald Jones II]

Yeah, most definitely. You know, they, you know, they told me from day one, you know, I got to come in here and work, you know, to get on a level. So they just trying to make me better. And I spent some one on ones with Jameis, you know, just looking at the playbook, trying to read defense and things like that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, thanks a lot. Appreciate it. All right, that about does it for this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Excited about preseason football tomorrow? I do want to reiterate the very exciting news that we opened the show with, namely that we have partnered with the American Cancer Society and the NFL's Crucial Catch program. A portion of every Ultimate Draft Kit purchase will go to benefit the American Cancer Society's crucial catch partnership with the NFL. The NFL and its players are committed to saving lives from cancer. And so that's why we've made this partnership. We want to be a part of that. And they focus on prevention and early detection of multiple cancers. If you want to learn more about that program, you can go to cancer.org/ crucial catch. So again, every purchase of the Ultimate Draft Kit will go to benefit that very important program that does it for this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Check us out each and every day during the entire season. Thank you for joining us.

[Mike Wright]

Play some best [e-mail] Ballers. See you tomorrow. Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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