Pump the Brakes, Lev Bell News + TNF Preview

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Pump the Brakes, Lev Bell News + TNF Preview" Episode: September 5, 2018

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Episode Overview

In their landmark 600th episode, the Fantasy Footballers—Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright—kick off the 2018 NFL season with in-depth analyses, strategic advice, and engaging discussions tailored to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues. The episode centers around their "Pump the Brakes" segment, updates on Le'Veon Bell's situation, depth chart insights, listener mailbag questions, and a preview of Thursday Night Football featuring the Eagles vs. Falcons matchup.

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Pump the Brakes: Player Start/Sit Decisions

Timestamp: 05:05 – 14:00

The trio reintroduces their popular segment, Pump the Brakes, where they evaluate players who may not be worth starting despite recent hype or impressive past performances.

• Rex Burkhead (09:47 – 08:24)

  • Jason Moore expresses concerns about starting Rex Burkhead in Week 1:

    "I don't think that there is a road to a very strong Week one performance for Rex Burkhead."

  • Key Points:
    • Burkhead has a history of injuries, including a rib contusion and knee strain that sidelined him for six games last season.
    • Currently dealing with a knee sprain during preseason, raising concerns about re-injury risks.
    • Facing a Texans defense that struggled against the run last year but could be tougher this season.
    • Conclusion: Jason recommends starting other running backs like Derek Henry, Jamal Williams, Alex Collins, or Lamar Miller over Burkhead for Week 1.

• Jimmy Garoppolo (08:47 – 11:04)

  • Andy Holloway urges caution with Jimmy Garoppolo:

    "If you drafted Jimmy G, he's on your roster. I would not let him go second because it's so bad."

  • Key Points:
    • Garoppolo is facing a challenging Week 1 matchup on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.
    • Suggests alternative quarterbacks such as Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota, Sam Bradford, Dak Prescott, Alex Smith, and Blake Bortles.
    • Emphasizes that Pumping the Brakes doesn't mean disliking a player but managing expectations strategically.

• Jordan Howard vs. Other Running Backs (12:40 – 14:00)

  • Mike Wright discusses lowering expectations for Jordan Howard due to a tough matchup against the Packers:

    "It's unlikely given that we're just out of the draft, that you have the depth that you have two better options to play over Jordan Howard."

  • Strategy: Focus on ceiling plays and don't overreact to early season performances.

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Le'Veon Bell Update: News and Implications

Timestamp: 14:00 – 21:52

The hosts delve into the ongoing saga surrounding Pittsburgh Steelers' star running back Le'Veon Bell, addressing his absence from team meetings and the implications for fantasy managers.

• Current Status:

  • Bell has missed the first team meeting and practice, leading to speculation about his availability for Week 1.
  • Jason Moore downgrades Bell, moving him out of his top 50 for the week:

    "I move Lev Bell out of my top 50 for this week."

• Leverage for Teams:

  • Mike Wright highlights James Conner as a viable alternative:

    "James Conner will be a top 12 running back for me against the Cleveland Browns."

  • Andy Holloway notes that without Bell, teams might explore trading him or seeking other running backs:

    "If you believe in him, drop some other fodder wide receiver from your roster."

• Fantasy Implications:

  • Managers are advised to monitor Bell's status closely and consider starting James Conner if Bell remains inactive.
  • Jason Moore emphasizes the uncertainty and advises not to win championships at the draft but through season-long management:

    "Don't overreact. You do not win your championship at the draft."

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Depth Chart Insights and Player Evaluations

Timestamp: 21:53 – 37:29

The Fantasy Footballers analyze NFL team depth charts, assessing the fantasy value of various players based on their projected roles and matchups.

• New Orleans Saints Running Backs:

  • Mike Wright discusses Mike Gillislee being listed as the second running back:

    "I would not do that. Did you hear those Antonio Brown numbers?"

  • Andy Holloway underscores the Saints' multi-back system:

    "We've never seen the Sean Payton Saints use a true dominant workhorse."

• San Francisco 49ers Quarterback:

  • Jason Moore and Andy Holloway debate the track record of Jimmy Garoppolo, questioning his consistency and reliability in fantasy:

    "I wouldn't personally start every single one of those guys over Jimmy G on the road in Minnesota."

• Jacksonville Jaguars Receivers:

  • Evaluations of Keelan Cole, Dante Moncrief, and Dede West:

    "Keelan Cole has the potential to be a top 24 wide receiver." (Mike Wright, 39:41) "Chad Williams and Ricky Seals-Jones are reliable options." (Andy Holloway, 33:36)

• Seattle Seahawks Running Back:

  • Mike Wright expresses concerns about Chris Carson starting against Denver:

    "Chris Carson, Week 1 against Denver Broncos on The road, their defense because Earl Thomas is not going to show up."

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Listener Mailbag: Audience Questions and Expert Advice

Timestamp: 37:29 – 54:29

The hosts address listener-submitted questions, offering personalized advice on roster decisions, trades, and league management.

• DEZ Bryant Dilemma:

  • Listener’s Question: What to do with free agent DEZ Bryant who hasn't signed.
  • Andy Holloway and Jason Moore recommend cutting Bryant:

    "I know for me I would cut him." "Are you going to drop Tyler Lockett for Des Bryant right now? Nope."

• Jaguars Wide Receiver Potential:

  • Question: Can Keelan Cole be a number two wide receiver, and are there other viable options?
  • Andy Holloway: "Keelan Cole has the potential to be a wide receiver One."
  • Mike Wright: Highlights Cole's recent performance metrics, favoring him over peers.

• League Payment Issue:

  • Listener’s Scenario: One team failed to pay league dues after auto-drafting.
  • Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, and Mike Wright advise setting deadlines, making the non-paying manager ineligible to win, or potentially replacing them if they fail to comply.

• Trade Proposal Analysis:

  • Listener’s Question: Should they trade Christian McCaffrey for Devonta Freeman and Brandon Cooks?
  • Andy Holloway and Mike Wright advise retaining McCaffrey for his higher value:

    "I would rather have McCaffrey."

  • Jason Moore notes the trade's close nature but leans towards McCaffrey's superiority.

• Steeling Running Backs Trade:

  • Question: Would trading Le'Veon Bell for Keenan Allen and Joe Mixon be beneficial?
  • Jason Moore contemplates the trade but ultimately decides against it:

    "I take back everything I said. That's the trade I normally would offer for Lev Bell. So he's going to play. That's what I really believe. I'm not doing the trade."

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Thursday Night Football Preview: Eagles vs. Falcons

Timestamp: 54:29 – 55:29

The episode concludes with an insightful preview of the upcoming Thursday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons.

• Eagles Analysis:

  • Nick Foles is projected to start, with Zach Ertz as a reliable target:

    "Nick Foles is getting the start. I was encouraged that JJ. He's been practicing in full." (Jason Moore, 48:33) "Zach Ertz is a must-start." (Mike Wright, 48:49)

• Falcons Analysis:

  • Jason Moore discusses the Falcons' offensive dynamics and potential flex options:

    "Julio Jones, of course, is a start."

• Strategy Tips:

  • Andy Holloway recommends considering role perceptions and matchup strengths when setting lineups for Thursday games:

    "It's a matter of what you believe. Does Crabtree still got it?"

• Fantasy Recommendations:

  • Corey Clement is suggested as a safe flex play, albeit not overly exciting:

    "I'm comfortable flexing him... but it's certainly not exciting." (Andy Holloway, 53:35)

  • Mike Wright advises caution with certain players, promoting stability over risky choices.

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Key Takeaways

• Strategic Start/Sit Decisions: Early-week matchups and player health are crucial for Week 1 success. Utilize the "Pump the Brakes" segment to navigate high-risk players.
• Le'Veon Bell Situation: Remain vigilant on Bell's status and consider James Conner as a primary alternative if Bell remains inactive.
• Depth Chart Monitoring: Stay updated on NFL depth charts to identify undervalued players and exploit favorable matchups.
• Listener Engagement: Actively seek audience questions for personalized advice and foster a community-driven approach.
• Thursday Night Football Strategy: Leverage specific game insights to make informed lineup decisions, balancing safe plays with high-ceiling options.

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Notable Quotes

• Jason Moore (05:30):

  "Pump the Brakes is where we take a look at a player who you are considering starting in your fantasy lineups this particular weekend."

• Andy Holloway (09:15):

  "If you're playing him over Big Ben... your team's going to put up 200 points and win no matter what you do."

• Mike Wright (21:04):

  "It's all guesswork right now, but in the end, he wants to be a great running back, and you can't be a great running back without being on the field."

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions and strategic insights from the Fantasy Footballers' 600th episode, equipping fantasy managers with the knowledge to navigate the early stages of the 2018 NFL season effectively.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

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[Jason Moore]

Hi, this is Eric Dickinson, NFL hall of Famer, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

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

[Jason Moore]

Ah. Let's go. How you feeling, boys?

[Andy Holloway]

Feeling great.

[Mike Wright]

Feeling swell.

[Jason Moore]

It's going to be a good one. Welcome in all you football fans, all you fantasy football fiends. It is Wednesday, September 5, 2018. This is the Fantasy Footballers podcast show 600. 600 shows. That's about 590 more than I thought we'd do. Not true, not true. I knew we had something. I knew we had something when I met you two fine gentlemen.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, show 600. This is, am I correct, the first official in season podcast for 2018. We are. This is like we're talking about a week one matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, we are.

[Andy Holloway]

Real one. We are fantastic.

[Jason Moore]

We have the return of Pump the brakes on today's show. We've got some mailbag. We have the Thursday night preview. The Eagles, the Falcons. And a reminder, like Jason said, this is. We're kicking it off. The NFL season is here. This show is all about getting you a title, winning your league, having fun while you do it. We try to be entertaining, we try to be accurate. We try to bring you insight that you'll get nowhere else. And I'm excited for another season. Tomorrow on the Thursday show, we'll have the fantasy forecast. The first half of the games, we'll have starts of the week. We'll have Jason's boom boom kicker back again.

[Andy Holloway]

So much research involved.

[Mike Wright]

You in the lab?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I'm in the lab. I'm literally doing experiments where I'm kicking the ball and I'm trying over here from the left, from the right, look.

[Jason Moore]

At sports science stuff.

[Andy Holloway]

Sports science stuff. That's right. And then I bring in Justin Tucker and I'm like, all right, you try.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, look, you don't make a boom boom picker with that. You're a boom boom picker. Friday we'll have foot clan Friday in or out. We'll talk through the injuries. We'll preview the rest of the games. We'll have daily dose. It's going to be jam packed. It's going to be fun and you're going to win this week. I can feel it. And I'm talking to myself because I'm playing Jason in our league of record.

[Mike Wright]

I feel a little bit of some Stuart Smally action happening over there when I'm good enough.

[Jason Moore]

So it's smart enough. Yeah, that's my team is good.

[Mike Wright]

Dang it.

[Jason Moore]

Jason's team is outstanding in LA. It's unbelievable. In 25 minutes our waivers will process for that league and something will happen that will affect who I play against Jason. And so if you remember later in the show, ask me about it.

[Andy Holloway]

I sure will.

[Mike Wright]

I'm pretty confident I know what it is.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, why don't you write it down, Mike?

[Andy Holloway]

Heading to the waiver wire.

[Jason Moore]

Mike, write it down. And then later when it happens, I'll check the tape. We'll see what happens.

[Mike Wright]

It's written down.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Follow us on twitter @ the ffballers about to get into pump the brakes. You can visit us on the website thefantasyfootballers.com there is an exciting new tool available on the website this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Very, very cool.

[Jason Moore]

It is a start sit tool. So we've got our rankings for week one up there. We'll continue to tweak them moment by moment. Made some changes this morning. We're going to talk about Lev Bell again, but it was based on Lev Bell, James Conner, some of those changes. But you can use the start sit tool now and you can compare players cross positionally. Click a button, see where we rank them. It's as simple as that.

[Andy Holloway]

People have been loving it. You can go for the foot clean out there. Up to four different players cross positionally. It is a very helpful, awesome tool. Feedback has been great. Hope you love it.

[Jason Moore]

Most popular searches right now. Marshawn lynch or Rex Burkhead for week one. Deion Lewis or Rex Burkhead for week one. Jamal Williams or Rex Burkhead for week 1. Rex Burkhead dominating the popular searches.

[Andy Holloway]

People don't know what to do.

[Jason Moore]

He's about to dominate this next segment. Let's get back into it.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, oh, oh. O'Reilly.

[Mike Wright]

O'Reilly.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's back.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's Pump them Breaks, y'all.

[Jason Moore]

It is this week's edition of did.

[Mike Wright]

You hit him with a y'all?

[Andy Holloway]

I sure did. What is all right.

[Jason Moore]

Pump the Brakes is back. What is Pump the Brakes, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Pump the Brakes is where we take a look at a player who you are considering starting in your fantasy lineups this particular weekend. It could be anything from a superstar to a hot waiver wire pickup. And we will talk about are we full on benching this player? Maybe we're just adjusting our expectations for this player.

[Jason Moore]

So I'll kick it off because I alluded to it. A lot of people wanting to know whether they can confidently start Rex Burkhead. Those three players mentioned Marshawn Lynch, Deion Lewis, Jamal Williams. I would start them all over Rex Burkhead. I I did move Rex Burkhead down earlier today and here's why. He's my Pump the Brakes for Week one and I know that there's a lot of excitement and hype around Rex Burkheadt. I look at Pump the Brakes, I look at who I want to start and I look at risk and I see some things jumping out at me about Rex Burkhead in Week one. I don't think that there is a road to a very strong Week one performance for Rex Burkhead. He dealt last year with a couple of major injuries. The rib contusion and a knee strain they kept him out for. He missed six games last season.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Already in the preseason he's dealing with a knee sprain. One of the concerns, one of the risk factors that I have about Rex Burkheadt is the same one I would give to anybody with a lower body injury in camp. You run the risk of not necessarily re injuring that specific thing, but any sort of injury we saw now the extreme is Jericho McKinnon. Right. You had the calf strain. You come out your body. It's just natural. You compensate for that injury. You put more pressure on other parts of your body. And he is not injured. Held up in the past. I don't think the pat the Patriots are going to push him too hard in Week one when they rely, they're going to want to rely on him during the year. If you listen to their running backs coach as of yesterday, it's I hope he plays on Sunday. I hope so. Now I expect him to be active on Sunday. I do. The release of Brandon Bolden tells me that they're confident enough in Jeremy Hill to fill a role there. We all believe yesterday we talked about it. James White is going to fill a role there. There are a lot of options in that backfield and Sony Michelle could still be active on game day as well. Take that. And you mix it with the fact they're facing a Texans defense that they did not run well against last year. They were very bad against them and they were. The Texans were a middle of the road, 13th in the league. So upper half against the run. Pats didn't run on them well last year. And they get back merciless and what. And they're going to be fiery for week one. So it's a matter of pumping the brakes does not mean you hate a guy. Pumping the brakes means you're choosing other guys over him. I would choose Derek Henry, Jamal Williams, Alex Collins, Lamar Miller over Rex Burkitt. I think he's going to be valuable this year, but not in week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm glad that you pointed out that it doesn't mean that you hate a guy. It's just, you know, sometimes managing expectations because Mike has picked a terrible. Pump the brakes. But I'm going to. I won't even let you go second because it's so bad. I'm going with a pump the brakes. You know, this is. This is a handsome pump. Okay. This is a very handsome pump the brakes on.

[Mike Wright]

I do not like where this is going.

[Andy Holloway]

Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy Garoppolo. Oh, mercy. Jimmy Garoppolo. Look, he's the 10th drafted quarterback off the board. He was someone that, if you, if you've listened to.

[Jason Moore]

I'm actually surprised to hear you say that because, like I should know that. But because of where I've placed Jimmy Garoppolo in my own rankings for the entire off season and thought of him and where I wanted him. I didn't realize he was that high.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes, People are very excited for the hands.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it's the, it's the breakout. It's the next Tom Brady trained behind Tom Brady, but we've got a very small sample size. This is why this also, you need.

[Jason Moore]

To pump the brakes.

[Andy Holloway]

We have. This is why we've been down on him a little bit is because the look, he's not just given the reins to succeed, but now take that out and say, okay, well, I like Jimmy G. I drafted Jimmy G. He's on my roster. I did grab him as the 10th quarterback off the board. Dude, you're going on the road to Minnesota for their home opener.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's not a good matchup. That's not going to be easy. Sledding and there are so many guys on the waivers right now that I would pick up. Drop fodder if you can't. If you can't get rid of Jimmy G. He's just too handsome. And you've got some wide receiver sitting there on your. You know you have Philip Dorset on the roster. Drop them and pick up someone else. Here's a list of guys that I would start this week over Jimmy Garoppolo. In order. Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota, Sam Bradford, Dak Prescott, Alex Smith and Blake Bortles. I promise one of those are available available in your league. I would personally start every single one of those guys over Jimmy G on the road in Minnesota to start the season off.

[Jason Moore]

Can I have a follow up there for both of you guys?

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

It's hard to let a guy like Jimmy Garoppolo go week one, though.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, he's not saying to drop Jimmy Garoppolo.

[Jason Moore]

I missed that part.

[Andy Holloway]

I would personally, if this was my team, I would have no problem dropping Jimmy Garoppolo because I.

[Jason Moore]

Did you just resign him?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, maybe I'd resign him. And if someone else signs him, I'd sign a different quarterback. I would not.

[Jason Moore]

You feel the same about Patrick Mahomes?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, I would not worry about. I've got to have Jimmy G. But I'm saying if. If you out there listening are like, no, I really believe in him, then yeah, drop some other fodder wide receiver from. From your roster.

[Jason Moore]

Mike, who's your week one? Pump the break.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so I'm trying to lower the expectations for this fella because we love him on this show. I think he's going to be great for fantasy football. But Jordan Howard draws a really tough week one matchup. I've talked about the packers defense. They're passing my eye test. They are. They're decent against the run and I believe that they've improved against the pass. It's in Lambeau. You are opening up against Mr. Millionaire up there, Aaron Rodgers. And they are. The packers are heavy, heavy favorites. I know we're all very excited for Jordan Howard to show us his stuff on third down, catching what, 300 passes off the jugs after every single practice. But the game script is not going to be in the favor of Jordan Howard being able to hit that 20 carry mark in this particular matchup. So I am simply adjusting my expectations and I'm pumping the brakes. It's unlikely given that we're just out of the draft. That you have the depth that you have two better options to play over Jordan Howard. So I would still play him. It's similar to like Lashawn McCoy. I'm lowering my expectations. I'm still going to play them, but perhaps I make adjustments with the rest of my roster because I'm expecting a lower total output from these guys.

[Andy Holloway]

So would that mean in your flex if you've got Jordan Howard, that you would go safer or you would go higher? Ceiling.

[Mike Wright]

I would go ceiling.

[Andy Holloway]

Gotcha.

[Jason Moore]

Huh? Yeah, I. Look, this happens every year. The biggest overreactions fantasy football owners are going to make are going to be after week one.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

You've put months and months of effort and work and draft thoughts and process and predictions together and you want to see them all come to fruition immediately.

[Andy Holloway]

And they won't.

[Jason Moore]

They won't.

[Andy Holloway]

And don't overreact. You do not win your championship at the draft. We've set it all off season. That's where you build the foundation. Make sure you keep pressing on through week one, week two, all the way to week 16. None of that week 17 nonsense.

[Mike Wright]

I'll tell you who's going to be on my week one trade targets. Jordan Howard.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, and maybe Rex Burkitt. Sure, I know you believe more that he's going to have a good week.

[Mike Wright]

You brought up last year's Houston game. You know why they didn't run very well against the Texans?

[Jason Moore]

Because he wasn't.

[Mike Wright]

Because Rex Burkhead didn't play.

[Jason Moore]

Good reasoning. Good reasoning. And here's the thing. He's a beast, Rex Burkhead. Look, the same hype existed for him last year, Mike, in week one. And he came out there with that first snap of the game.

[Mike Wright]

No, to be fair, the hype was gillisly.

[Jason Moore]

He poof. He poofed. He disappeared. He got a boo boo. Yeah, he gets boo boos. That's the problem.

[Andy Holloway]

That is the problem.

[Jason Moore]

Those were the pump the brakes with O'Reilly Auto Parts. Better parts, better prices every day, once a week, we'll bring you pump the brakes. Three players that we are saying, whoa, whoa, horsey, whoa. As Jason would say. Hold on there.

[Andy Holloway]

Hold on there, partner.

[Jason Moore]

Let's get into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Jason Moore]

To piggyback on the Rex Burkhead first snap start last year. We are going to talk through some depth chart news on the news today. And that is one of the things that I think people need to recognize and understand is, yes, if the 49ers choose to start Matt Breida that doesn't mean Matt Breida gets the most snaps. That doesn't mean he gets the most carries or anything. There are certain offenses where someone like Kyle Shanahan or someone like Adam Gase in Miami, who, by the way, is a butthole. Wow. Tell us what you really think.

[Andy Holloway]

How do you feel?

[Jason Moore]

Are you. Is that because he put Kenyan Drake or Frank Gore on the depth chart?

[Mike Wright]

It's. It's freaking nonsense.

[Jason Moore]

But here's what my point is. Before we get into those very strong.

[Mike Wright]

Analysis, it's very upsetting to me that. That I hate you. You are that a head coach in the NFL. There are 32 people, 32 people in the known universe that have a job like this. And you're like, well, I'm not picking one.

[Jason Moore]

Well, how many?

[Mike Wright]

Or like your. Your better running back is Kenyon Drake. Give him.

[Andy Holloway]

Give.

[Mike Wright]

Give him the push. Give them the support. You're the starting running back. You want to give Gore carries, fine. Just don't be a butthole.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness. How many coaches in the unknown universe, though, Mike? Well, because you said there were 32 in the known. I'm just. It's fair if we could be hundreds.

[Mike Wright]

If you want me to dive into string theory and alternate dimensions, we can have that conversation.

[Jason Moore]

So my point is this is somewhat that.

[Mike Wright]

Which means that somewhere there's an Adam Gase who is not a butthole.

[Jason Moore]

This is part of. Congratulations, you're on your game. My point is, is if Kyle Shanahan wants to start the game with a passing play, he might start the game with Matt Breida. Kyle Juszczyk on the field, if he wants to start with a running play, might start with Alfred Morris on the field. If the Dolphins want to start with a passing play, it might be Kenyan Drake. There are backfields in which. Who's out there for snap one? Don't get too excited. If you did it last year with Rex Burkhead, you were disappointed pretty quickly.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, you were.

[Jason Moore]

Because Mike Gillespie found the field and it was James White as well. Let's start, though, with the big news that needs more analysis. I put a note in here, guys. Lev Bell. Gulp. Epotemus.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's not good.

[Jason Moore]

I move Lev Bell out of my top 50 for this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, this week on a. I don't.

[Jason Moore]

Think he's going to play. I do not think he's on the field. And if he is, he's not on the field enough.

[Andy Holloway]

I completely agree with that at the very least.

[Jason Moore]

What's the latest news?

[Andy Holloway]

So the latest news is that as of 9:00am this morning, which is when the team meeting started, technically, today was the first. First practice of the week for the Steelers. 9am was the first meeting. Lev Bell was not there for that. I am hoping and wishing, I am really hoping that we have a breaking news button by the end of this show because news has, you know, changed and he is in camp. But even if he shows up this late, you know, I would have had him as my pump the brakes. Because, look, last year he. He held out week one, week one, they gave him 10 carries on the road in Cleveland. And so, yeah, you know, you can't rely on Love Bell this week, but everyone wants him back because the worry now shifts to he has until November, where if he waits until November and then shows up, he retains his eligibility for becoming a free agent at the end of this season, he will give up a significant amount of money through the first half of this year, which is, you know, that's, that's the reality that's keeping him. Like, hey, get to practice.

[Jason Moore]

They cannot extend him. He is beyond the date in which that could have happened. The only options they have now are to. He needs to sign the franchise tender if he wants to get paid in that full amount and show up or they can trade him. Those are the options Pittsburgh has with Le'Veon Bell. And so right now, you know, you don't know what kind of message he's trying to send. You don't know what kind of precedent he's trying to set. There are a lot of opinions about Le'Veon Bell all across the board. He's 26 years old. He's going to get one more contract. He watches Todd Gurley go get paid, and it's too late for that. So now it's, it's. What are you going to do with your future, James Conner? Mike, how high are you going to rank James Connor this week? Where is he right now? Because I'm sure, I'm sure you're not counting on Love Bell.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, I haven't made the adjustments. I was going off of the comments. I believe it was Pouncey. Yes, Pouncey said yesterday, Pounce, he had said, I expect Le'Veon Bell to show up on Wednesday. And if he had showed up today, then it would have. I believe it still would have been Le'Veon Bell starting week one. Now that we are at Wednesday and he's not there, I. I'm on the side of Levy and Bell is not going to play. Mike Tomlin's going to bench him for week one if he. Even if he returns this week. And then James Conner will be a top 12 running back for me against the Cleveland Browns, there was the quote of trying to get some information from Mike Tomlin saying, are you concerned with your running back room? He said, nope. And they said why? He said, James. And James Conner has looked freaking great, great through this preseason.

[Jason Moore]

At what point do you start to applaud the fab spin when you saw some of these leagues, people go out and grab James Conner because what if left does hold out three or four games?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. It's way too early. I mean, if he shows up, you know, I think Ross Tucker tweeted out that the smart move would be for Love Belt to show up Friday or Saturday because then he will get paid in full.

[Mike Wright]

He will not have to play.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. He will not take a big discount, not have to play week one and get treated the way he did last season. So if that happens, the then, you know, huge money for a one week starters, probably not a good deal.

[Jason Moore]

I know that you have confidence in James Conner, Mike, but I can't help but downgrade the offense a little bit. James Connor cannot do everything that Le'Veon Bell can do.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

And we can't look at Lev Bell as you know. I know you brought up the fact that they've put up points without Lev Bell in the past and that's a strong point.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's. JJ was a good friend of the show. JJ was tweeting out about it this morning. And in the 16 games worth of data where Le'Veon Bell has not played for the Steelers because he removed the games where they rested starters. Those ones, of course, don't count. So 16 games, a full season of data. They have scored 26.6 points without Le'Veon Bell and 25.2 with him, they're still scoring points. Their win percentage is down by from 70 to 69%.

[Jason Moore]

So suddenly it doesn't seem like they need him.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Mike Wright]

You want to have him. I'm not saying the team is. They don't want to have him on the team. He definitely helps. He makes things easier. But I mean, the numbers are the numbers. It's. They win the same amount of games, they score the same amount of points. So I'm still in.

[Andy Holloway]

I think the realistic question with Connor and Big Ben is trying to compare, if you're looking at those numbers, is trying to compare James Conner to D'Angelo Williams. D'Angelo Williams, you know, was a first round talent.

[Mike Wright]

D'Angelo Williams was old. D'Angelo Williams was old, Busted, was cut by his team, barely found a job.

[Andy Holloway]

He was cut due to money reasons. But yeah, I mean, the point is.

[Mike Wright]

And 33.

[Andy Holloway]

The point is it wasn't just the next guy came in and he was a nobody. D'Angelo Williams is a good player.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, all the news about James Conner, his preseason performance has been great. Last year he struggled with soft tissue concerns and some he was banged up. He never developed. This year he's got the time to develop. They have confidence in him. And what else are they going to say? I mean, at this point, this is the game they play and the Steelers take responsibility for that. You have to. If the Steelers want to put, you know, basically what they're doing is they're taking the risk. They're paying for or saving money by risking their locker room, risking Lev Bell's health, risking. They. They're making the choice by not extending Lev Bell to withstand these other concerns in the locker room. So support from today's show comes from the Menlo Club. The Menlo Club is a clothing service that sends monthly curated style packages straight to your door. We're talking brands like Five Four. You've heard us talk about them before. New Republic footwear by Mark McNary. The Grand A. Listen to this. The Grand AC athleisure wear.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, whoa.

[Jason Moore]

You are Athleisure Leisure expert.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoa, Jason, that sounds nice.

[Jason Moore]

They've been transforming men's style for 20 years. And what's nice about this is it's simple. You get to build your wardrobe. You get two or three items a month. They're chosen for you based on your preferences. It's that simple. I've gotten these packages. They're great, comfortable clothes. They're all made in house, so they control the quality, the pricing. It just makes buying clothes less stressful. That way you can stress out about Love Bell, not clothing. Okay, for 50% off your first month's package and a free pair of 54 shoes and socks, go to themenloclub.com and use the promo code FOOTBALLERS. That's themenloclub.comand use the promo code Footballers. That's M E N L O. Trust us, the deal they're giving you, you do not want to miss it. Whether you're a young professional, an entrepreneur, a dad, anybody balancing work and life, it's tailored for you.

[Mike Wright]

We want to thank Pristine Oxen for sponsoring today's show. The absolute best sports memorabilia website.

[Jason Moore]

Did you give me that Cortland Sutton jersey yet.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, I've got my eye on.

[Jason Moore]

I thought you were my friend.

[Mike Wright]

Well, here's the thing. Yesterday there was a signed Cortland Sutton cleats. And you specified.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I could wear the cleats. Is it just one?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it was just one.

[Jason Moore]

Interesting.

[Mike Wright]

And they have a signed helmet of him, but it is from his college team, so it's not the Broncos helmet. So I'm holding up.

[Jason Moore]

There is.

[Mike Wright]

I do have my eye on a particular jersey today. I almost don't want to share it because I know that you people get out here and try and snatch it from. Out from underneath me. There's a lot of Baker Mayfield stuff going on today. I am so excited for Baker and clearly the people are, too.

[Jason Moore]

They're.

[Mike Wright]

They're trying to get that authentic signature on the jersey so they can put it up on the wall. Get. Get Baker up there. We've got. Who do we got? We got, oh, Tevin Coleman. We got him up on the wall. All of all my memorabilia gear comes from Pristine Auction. Check it out. New things. Hundreds of new things every single day. P R I s t I-eauction.com. you make that completely free account. You bid for free. You only pay for what you win. Check it out there. Like I said, hundreds of new things every single day. Pristine Auction.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's get into the depth chart. Let's talk about some interesting depth chart notes, things that came out yesterday. We'll get you guys thoughts and whether they're important, unimportant. Mike Gillesley officially listed as the Saints number two running back on the week one depth chart.

[Mike Wright]

Makes sense. Makes sense. Sean Payton had a lot of good things to say about him. I believe that Camara will see an uptick of volume compared to what he was getting with Ingram. But I also do believe Gillislee will be involved in this offense.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we've never seen. We've never seen the Sean Payton Saints use a true dominant workhorse. They. They always have two or three running backs involved. And so why they would shift from that now after signing Gillisley wouldn't make.

[Mike Wright]

A lot of Kamara's high game in carries per game was he had 12 carries three times. Now. I expect that to go up, but I'm not expecting 20 carries from Alvin Camara. I would right around that 12 to 15 range and then catch a bunch of passes.

[Jason Moore]

Chris Carson listed as the starter in Seattle.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, he should have been my. Pump the brakes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Chris Carson, Week 1. Week 1 against Denver Broncos on The road, their defense because Earl Thomas is not going to show up.

[Jason Moore]

I wanted to bring that up because Earl Thomas is doing the defensive player imitation of Love Bell right now. He said he's not showing up without an extension. The Cowboys have been upping and upping and upping offers to get him, but if he falls out of that secondary, that, that defense, I mean, I would upgrade past catchers in Denver.

[Andy Holloway]

I almost, I almost pumped the brakes on Russell Wilson as and it would not be.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it wouldn't be bad, but Wilson is going to have to throw the ball a ton. I similar to Jordan Howard. I think that the game script is going to go away from Chris Carson.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's. It's not a good week one for Seattle.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Ronald Jones has been fully bodied.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, by me.

[Jason Moore]

Number three back on the Bucs initial depth chart behind Jacquiz Rogers and then starter Peyton Barber. I do think his time will come for an opportunity, but not necessarily for relevance for quite a while. You cannot say that anything went well for Ronald Jones in the past four weeks.

[Mike Wright]

If you've got Peyton Barber in your dynasty team, just a friendly reminder, you might want to reach out and try and shop him. In one of my dynasty leagues, I had a terrible quarterback problem. As in Matt Ryan was the only starter on my team. I had one quarterback I was able to flip Peyton Barber and a two for Derek Carr, which I was extremely happy with.

[Jason Moore]

Peyton Barber this week against New Orleans in New Orleans or Rex Burkitt?

[Andy Holloway]

Peyton Barber?

[Jason Moore]

I'm asking you, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Burkhead.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Peyton Barber with Ryan Fitz Magic.

[Andy Holloway]

I think, I think I'm not down on Peyton Barber in.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not, I'm not disposing of Payton, but it's gonna be.

[Andy Holloway]

The thing about New Orleans is that.

[Mike Wright]

They'Re really, really good.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I mean last year defense is incredible. No, look at the numbers from last year about their passing defense versus their rushing defense. They were not an upper tier rush stopping defense. That wasn't what they did. So I think that the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to be able to stay in this is only going to be through Peyton Barber. So will he fail? Sure, maybe he fails, but I don't see Peyton Barber as a terrible play. Also, real quick, I just wanted to throw this out there because I know we've moved on from Love Bell, but I'm tracking the information and I just saw this incredible tweet from Anthony Staggs. Pyro Stag. Listen to the last 16 games from Antonio Brown in those 16 games you talked about where Love Bell was missing.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's his. And this is a season, so you'll know. Are these totals good for a season or bad? Here's his line. The 16 games without Lev Bell. A 146 receptions, 207 targets, 2,080 yards and 13 touchdowns, so.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and you know what? He's got a good matchup.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

He'S a good player.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I'm moving him up.

[Jason Moore]

Did you watch, by the way? Did either of you complete? You're darn right, yeah. Any difference of opinion on Hugh Jackson over the course of this, or is it same as when it started?

[Mike Wright]

I would say it is roughly the same.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Any other takeaways from the final episode?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's.

[Jason Moore]

Other than the fact that the Browns just cut everybody that you wanted to.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you have to root for hbo has to form storylines and they.

[Jason Moore]

Which storyline was going to be the one where the guy stays around?

[Andy Holloway]

They picked the wrong.

[Jason Moore]

They cut them all. No. It'll be interesting in Cleveland this year. I think what I took away at the end was. I know that you can say what you want about Hugh Jackson. I love Todd Haley.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And the roster turnover was 59%. That's the turnover from the. From the an 0 and 16 team. You turned over 59%. And they had a very good preseason and they have some very interesting pieces on defense. I think it will be a fun season.

[Mike Wright]

I really hope it is. I want the Cleveland Browns to be good. I just think that they're going to be good next year.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. Yeah. You can't help but think that Todd Haley and Williams are both looking at that head coaching opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my.

[Jason Moore]

When they took their coordinator jobs, they're going, hmm, this is just a stone's throw from being a head coach.

[Mike Wright]

A takeaway from Hard Knocks is Greg Williams is the worst.

[Jason Moore]

You still. You still greatly dislike him.

[Mike Wright]

Bounty gate cannot be forgotten, people.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Mike, the time has come. The waiver wire has run in our league of record, and you wrote something down. What did you write down?

[Mike Wright]

Tyrod Taylor.

[Jason Moore]

You are correct.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I have acquired and I am starting Tyrod Taylor.

[Mike Wright]

Good luck.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

He's.

[Mike Wright]

He's a pretty good play this week. I don't hate it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. But I'm playing him over Big Ben.

[Mike Wright]

I would not do that. Did you hear those Antonio Brown numbers?

[Jason Moore]

I did hear those numbers.

[Mike Wright]

You got regrets?

[Jason Moore]

No. No. You got to call your shot early in the season about defensive Monday morning regrets. We'll find out. We'll find out there'll be very public regrets that that's the fun thing about having a show like this is I get to be very publicly right or very publicly wrong.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say this Tyrod is a good play, but based on what he just said, I'm very happy that he's playing Tyrod Taylor against me. It's not going to matter. My team is going to put up 200 points and win no matter what you do.

[Jason Moore]

I wish you were wrong, but you're not. Your team's really good. Let's. Let's get into the oars. Why? You know, sometimes people listen to the show and they say, am I going to listen to Jason or am I going to listen to Mike? Would just do both. Just like the Buccaneers and Dolphins have chosen to do. Chris Godwin or desean Jackson were listed as the starter across Mike Evans and then Kenyon Drake or Frank Gore listed as the starter at the running back position. So why do and when you can do or.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think these guys understand what the word starter means.

[Andy Holloway]

It's like saying who's the best?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, like the. I get into this with. With the wife where we talk about, okay, well, who's your best friend? Well, this person and this person.

[Andy Holloway]

The best.

[Mike Wright]

I want to know the best. There's one there could. It's Highlander. There can be only one. But not in Miami. No, it's or.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Mike Wright]

They're going to need some oars to row their lifeboat.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it's not. It's not into the draft. Oh, man. Well done.

[Jason Moore]

Into the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

It's. It's not an or in Arizona between who's the second wide receiver is. It's not Christian Kirk or Chad Williams. Chad Williams listed as the second wide receiver on the depth chart.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's an or for me, though. Chad Williams. They've come out and publicly said it's going to be a rotation between Chad Williams, Christian Kirk, J.J. nelson for that second role. This is one of the depth chart things that I actually don't read too much into. And this is a person who I have Chad Williams on Dynasty teams. I'd love him to become something great. I don't think this offense can sustain him. I don't think he can be fantasy relevant. I don't. I would rather like if you would rather start this week, Mike Week one, Chad Williams, number two on the depth chart. Would you rather start Chad Williams or Ricky Seals Jones?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's an interesting question. In your flex spot.

[Jason Moore]

Cardinals tight end in a flex Spot like how confident. And this goes for you too, Jason. You can feel confident answering this one. Would you go Chad Williams or rookie Seals Jones?

[Andy Holloway]

I think I would go Chad Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Washington. It's close though, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, very close. It is very close. It's a matter of.

[Jason Moore]

And that's the problem. I have.

[Andy Holloway]

Both guys are touchdown target type of guys.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Jags have listed Keelan Cole and Dante Moncrief as the starters on their week one depth chart. This is a look. This is obviously an endorsement of Keelan Cole. He's been running with the ones Dante Moncrief had slipped in the depth chart but had a very good final preseason performance. Any thoughts here?

[Mike Wright]

Kalen Cole's the Jaguars wide receiver. I want still agreed.

[Jason Moore]

Moncrief and Wes Dede Dee Dee is.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to be fine, too. I mean, he's in the slot. It's. You know, I don't. I don't worry about the three of them. I think are going to kind of take turns this whole season. Especially now with news coming out that Austin Safari and Jenkins is dealing with a core injury.

[Jason Moore]

He may not. He did not practice.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

I missed that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we'll have. We'll have to see because he has such a Great matchup. Week 1 against the Giants trending up for Keelan Cole. Yeah, I agree. Keelan Cole is the guy I would want.

[Jason Moore]

Evan Ingram cleared the concussion protocol. He's expected to play in Week 1 against the Jags.

[Mike Wright]

Hope he bought the dip.

[Jason Moore]

Jay Gruden talking about Chris Thompson looking fantastic, ready to go for week one. I think Thompson and we brought it up a couple weeks ago. I'm very high on Chris Thompson this year. I think his opportunity, the value he represented in drafts, nobody wanted to touch him. He made a comment about not feeling 100% yet, but all the coaches talk about how good he looks in camp and he doesn't have much ahead of him in terms of valuable players, so.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no one else on that roster. The running back positions pass catcher.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. I think Thompson has a good opportunity. Devonte Parker is not going to play Week 1. Wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins. Who do you start in? Is it Kenny Stills?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it's Danny Amendola and Kenny Stills for me. I mean, Kenny Stills is throwing out an or.

[Mike Wright]

Huh?

[Jason Moore]

You're going Miami here.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you didn't say who's the best. He said, who do you start?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll start.

[Mike Wright]

You only get to start one.

[Andy Holloway]

If I could only start one.

[Jason Moore]

If I could, you would start two. Miami Wideouts.

[Andy Holloway]

I am willing to.

[Jason Moore]

In week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Both of those guys.

[Jason Moore]

What does that mean as a wide receiver? One or two?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I mean, this is. This is pretty simple, right? I'm saying that both of those guys are startable players in fantasy football for week one. Now, if I were to rank them, I would have Kenny Stills ahead of Danny Amendola.

[Mike Wright]

There we go. We got there. We got there.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't think it was that confusing.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I.

[Mike Wright]

We didn't think it was that confusing.

[Jason Moore]

I think we. What we were looking for, though, is when Devontae Parker goes out, we're asking who steps into opportunity specifically, and that is my answer.

[Andy Holloway]

I believe both of those guys get a bump. I mean, it's not going to be all of the targets that were going to go to Parker go to park.

[Jason Moore]

Kenny Stills or Josh Gordon?

[Andy Holloway]

Week one, Kenny Stills.

[Mike Wright]

Probably Stills.

[Andy Holloway]

You just.

[Mike Wright]

It's hard to start Josh Gordon right now. You just have no idea. No idea.

[Jason Moore]

Kenny Stills or juju Smith Schuster?

[Andy Holloway]

Juju.

[Mike Wright]

Juju.

[Jason Moore]

Kenny Stills or Michael Crabtree?

[Mike Wright]

Very, very close.

[Andy Holloway]

That one's tough. It's just a matter of what you believe. Is Crabtree still got it? Does he have it?

[Mike Wright]

I think he does, but Alex Collins is one of my favorite plays this week.

[Jason Moore]

Danny Amendola or Robert Woods?

[Mike Wright]

Amendola, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Danny Mandola or Jameson Crowder against Arizona?

[Andy Holloway]

Amendola.

[Mike Wright]

Crowder.

[Jason Moore]

All right, without further ado, let's get in the mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

Mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

All right, if you have a question, go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com. check out the new Start Sit tool. It's pretty fun. It'll answer a lot of those tough questions. We'll answer a few on the show today. You can dial Our voicemail hotline, 302464, tffb. B. Let's jump into a voicemail.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, ballers, this is Bryce from Tennessee. I got a question about DEZ Bryant. I was able to pick him up in the last round of my draft a couple weeks ago and obviously he's still not signed anywhere, which I'm pretty sure is baby Josh's fault. I'm blaming him right now. My question is, what do I do with him? Is it time to go ahead and.

[Jason Moore]

Cut ties if he hasn't signed anywhere?

[Mike Wright]

Or should I hang on to him for a couple weeks and maybe see what happens? Thanks, guys. Love the podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

I. I know for me I would cut him.

[Mike Wright]

He's a cut.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, I. I'm not holding on. When he signed somewhere, if he signed somewhere, he's coming in with no training camp, no practice, no preseason. And he's not going to just walk into being a wide receiver one up. You know, you're, you're holding on to a name here. Yeah. Thinking that when he signs, maybe you'll have a wide receiver that is a clear cut top 15 guy. That's not going to happen when he signs. He's going to be brought along a little slower. He's probably not going to be the definite one without a, you know, just the name. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, think about it. Are you going to drop Tyler Lockett for Des Bryant right now?

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

No way.

[Jason Moore]

No. I mean, you get down to that, you're going to drop Danny Mandola for a shot on.

[Andy Holloway]

I would drop DEZ Bryant and pick up Danny Amendola, no problem.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So I mean that, that's the thing. And yes, obviously most of DEZ Bryant's struggles over the last this offseason can be directly traced back to baby Josh.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah. Like most of the world's problems.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Always coughing on the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Hi, Guich from Germany.

[Mike Wright]

I have a question.

[Andy Holloway]

Have Keelan Cole the potential to be a number two wide receiver and if not, have any Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver potential to be wide receiver Two.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Keelan Cole has the potential to be a wide receiver One. That is my actual opinion when Keelan.

[Mike Wright]

Cole caught fire at the same time as Blake the Snake. Here are his finishes. This is just in a four week stretch. Wide Receiver 1812, 1 11. He was a wide receiver 13 weeks in a row. So yes, he has the ability to be a top 24 wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

And I don't think that Moncrief can be a one, but I think he can be a two.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. And I think Dede could be a 2. This is one of those murky situations where we're just going to have to wait and see. You know, it's, you know, playing probability. Exactly. That's all it is. You're just playing probability right now. It would go, I would say Cole, Moncrief. Dede.

[Mike Wright]

Agreed.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Here's a question that came in this morning directed to me, but I'm asking you guys, despite your disagreement with Jason on yesterday's show about Mike Gillesley, he has been listed as second on the depth chart. Is it worth me dropping a guy like, and this is why I'm asking you, would you drop a guy like Tom Montgomery or Isaiah Crowell or Adrian Peterson for a chance at Ingram's full backup, getting goal line work in his absence? Because that's the upside of Gillislee, right? The scoring. You know, maybe you get 10 to 12 carries and a touchdown or two in a couple of these games. So would you drop any of those guys, Montgomery Crowell or Adrian Peterson, for Mike Gillislee?

[Mike Wright]

I would not.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not either.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I wouldn't either.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm the Gillisle truther. You're not going. I think Gillislee is going to be a fine play for these first four weeks, I really do. After that, he's going to be completely irrelevant. He's just a handcuff that needs an injury in front of him for him to be relevant. These other guys that you've mentioned will be, you know, it should be throughout the entire season, so long as they're healthy. At least a flex play.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

Brandon, in Kansas City, do you guys post weekly rankings for each week of the season based on matchups or a sit start feature?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, what a great question. Not only do we post them for free and have developed a new sit start feature, you know, we were the most accurate entity as far as having two top 14 ranked and the only one out there that did that last year for our in season rankings. People got to know.

[Mike Wright]

Ridiculous.

[Jason Moore]

Where, where do they get the rankings? Atthe fantasy footballers.com.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay.

[Andy Holloway]

You didn't know that?

[Jason Moore]

Thanks, Brooks. I've been looking.

[Andy Holloway]

I've been looking.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I feel like Brooks wrote this question.

[Jason Moore]

It seems that way. No, Brandon in Kansas City. Mike. Brandon training. This question comes in. It's a commissioner question. I'm the commissioner of a league this year and I got all the guys to agree in our Facebook group that money would be put up for each team. All of them paid on draft night. Except for one. That was a guy who didn't show up any auto picked. He's now made a trade. He's not responding to my message about payment because it's not fair to the rest of the league. Who is paid? Do I cancel the trade? What do I do?

[Mike Wright]

Wow. So everyone is paid except for one team. That team didn't bother to show up for the draft and now they're making transactions.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, I know it's. I know it's absolute insanity to auto draft, but it's. But people do auto draft and they, and they have to. If he's making trades and is involved, I think that you don't boot him out, but you make it known that this owner has not paid and he give him a deadline. Say you've got to, you've got to pay. Your deadline by any. Or we'll have to replace you.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You could try to replace him with someone that'll pay.

[Andy Holloway]

But do you.

[Mike Wright]

Whatever you just trade.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think you do unless it's. I mean, unless he's throwing the trade or something crazy. I don't think you do because I think at a minimum. Right. He could be ineligible to win any money. Right. So sure there. If you wanted to path of least resistance, you could just make him ineligible to win then not include him next year if you don't want to blow the league up and you don't have anybody to replace him with. And he is being active. But. But ultimately pay.

[Mike Wright]

Come on.

[Jason Moore]

Everybody agreed to pay. Cheapskate.

[Mike Wright]

Don't be an Adam Gase.

[Jason Moore]

Don't be a Pittsburgh Steelers.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry, Adam.

[Jason Moore]

Tony in Ohio, I am in a full point per reception league where we can keep three players each season. I was offered Devonta Freeman in Brandon cooks for Christian McCaffrey. My wide receivers are Tate, Diggs and Benjamin. They're decent. And he has Bell and Gordon on the roster. What do you think about trading McCaffrey for Freeman & Cooks?

[Andy Holloway]

I would rather have McCaffrey.

[Jason Moore]

Do you have enough confidence in Golden Tate and Kelvin Benjamin alongside Diggs for him to not need Cooks? That's my concern is that Cooks could stabilize that wide receiver core. The difference between Freeman and McCaffrey might not be as big as the difference between someone like Tayton Cooks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

It's a close trade. I don't. I don't think you have a problem doing it either way. Personally, I would rather it is a full PPR. So Golden Tate, solid.

[Mike Wright]

I'm keeping the McCaffrey side and I'm going to stabilize the wide receivers through. Even through the waiver. Through the waiver wire. Get it.

[Andy Holloway]

Get a Danny Amendola when you can't start Benjamin for these first three weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

James in a place that has to be not America.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, bonjour.

[Jason Moore]

Let's go with Chisubic.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's. Oh, I see. Because you can't pronounce it well.

[Jason Moore]

It's C, Z, U, B, E, K. So we'll. We'll let the people tell us how to pronounce it.

[Andy Holloway]

It's because of back.

[Jason Moore]

It's because of back.

[Andy Holloway]

Clearly.

[Jason Moore]

Would you trade the worst. We are.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Bonjour.

[Mike Wright]

There we go.

[Jason Moore]

It's Poland, I think on shore somewhere in Poland.

[Andy Holloway]

So he says, would you trade Le'Veon for Keenan Allen and Joe Mixon? Man, that's a great question.

[Mike Wright]

Le'Veon. Levy on. Levy on.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, you're obviously downgrading your running back. Assuming Le'Veon plays, let's say, standard league.

[Jason Moore]

I would do it.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I would as well, because.

[Jason Moore]

I pick up a top five, top six wide receiver and a top 15 running back. What am I saying? That's the trade I would offer for Lev Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Bell shows up Friday and you're like.

[Jason Moore]

No, that's the Bell tilt. That was. The bell is ringing and it's messing my head up.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So, no, I take back everything I said. That's the trade I normally would offer for Lev Bell. So he's going to play. That's what I really believe. I'm not doing the trade.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, that's. This is. This is a philosophy question. This is, how do you approach the risk of losing multiple weeks of Lev Bell? And where do you. Where do you land? Like, where. What do actually believe?

[Jason Moore]

Guys, we don't know. That's the thing. We don't know what's going to happen to Love Bell? It doesn't matter what qualifications you have. Do you know who doesn't know what's going to happen to Love Bell? Mike Tomlin.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

You know who doesn't know? Pouncey? They don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

I wouldn't be surprised if Left Bell doesn't know. If Left Bell's like, I don't know when I'm going to show up. I might show up Friday. I might show up Saturday. Maybe I'll take a couple more weeks off. Yeah. It's all guesswork right now, but in the end, he wants to be a great running back, and you can't be a great running back and prove that you're the best without being on the field.

[Mike Wright]

In the end, he just wants money, which I'm not blaming him, but I think that that's what he cares about is a big guaranteed contract.

[Jason Moore]

Marlon Mack has remained sidelined at the practice today. Mr. Wilkins, running back for the Colts. So it looks like. It looks like it's going to be Jordan Wilkins and Kristen Michael in Week one against Cincinnati.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Would you rather start Adrian Peterson or Jordan Wilkins?

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan.

[Jason Moore]

And let's throw Chris Carson in there. How would you rank those three? Chris Carson, Jordan Wilkins, Adrian Peterson?

[Mike Wright]

I would go. That's. Man, that's a really tough question. I'm going to go. I'm gonna go Wilkins, Peterson, Carson.

[Andy Holloway]

And I think I would go. Carson, Wilkins, Peterson.

[Mike Wright]

They're all bad.

[Jason Moore]

I'll tell you what I don't want.

[Andy Holloway]

I Don't want to start any one of those guys.

[Jason Moore]

How excited are you, Brooks, that we're actually going to get to see things come to fruition this week?

[Mike Wright]

It's football eve.

[Jason Moore]

It is football eve. We do have a Thursday night game and you know what? Let's preview it. The Falcons take on the Eagles.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, rematch.

[Jason Moore]

Is this an up to date line, Brooks? Are the Eagles favored by two still? Yes. Okay. The Eagles are favored by two. It's a 45 and a half point over under. The game is tomorrow night. Thursday night because of some light rain. Thank you, Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

You're welcome.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you so much. Let's start with the Eagles side of the ball. Nick Foles is getting the start. I was encouraged that jj. He's been practicing in full.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

He may be the one player you can kind of count on in this game. On the Eagles side.

[Mike Wright]

False.

[Jason Moore]

Who's the other one?

[Mike Wright]

Zach Ertz.

[Jason Moore]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

Zach hurts. Could have.

[Jason Moore]

Can you though?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Because Nick Foles over targets him.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Nick Foles, Zach ers, you can 100% count on. He's going to be a great start. No.

[Jason Moore]

Alshon. Jeffrey. No. Carson wins.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

How do you feel about Corey Clement right now? Because I was trying to make a roster decision. So this morning in the league of record, I had to decide between two players to drop. I had Pat Mahomes on the bench because I just kind of wanted to have him there. Similarly to the Garoppolo situation.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

I dropped my homes for Tyrod Taylor.

[Mike Wright]

Good move.

[Jason Moore]

I could have dropped Corey Clement.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, so you're not worried about like. I'm just worried that Clement's not going to have a big enough role in this office.

[Mike Wright]

He certainly may not. But this is not a situation where you want to find out on Sunday watching the game. Oh, crap. Corey Clement is heavily involved and he's the red zone guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Corey Clement here is to me the exact same as Mike Gillisle, except he's been with the team this offseason. He is fair a chance of that goal line back. He will get some work. But he's not the main guy. He's at home in, you know, without.

[Jason Moore]

An Ingram coming back.

[Andy Holloway]

Right, right. Yeah. I mean, obviously on the, on the season. I'd like Clement more for this week. You know, the matchup is better for Gillisley over Clement, but I think you can throw him in, in the flex and hope for that touchdown. Hope that he gets a little bit of passing work as well.

[Mike Wright]

What's your confidence in Jay Ajayi, though I don't know that we've had much Jay Ajayi talk from Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

I am 100% fine firing him up. He should be started in most leagues. And here's another thing we haven't really talked about weekly strategy. Not just the fun, but there is legit strategy to playing guys on a Thursday night game. Now, historically speaking, over the last few years, we've had a lot of pooper Thursday night games. Once after the NFL opener because they got plenty of time to prepare for the NFL kickoff later. You know, week two, week three, week four, it's a short week and so you get some down offenses, but you also get to see how your guys did. If you've got one or two or three players in that Thursday night game now, you can make adjustments going, okay, I'm off to a huge lead. I'm going to play the safe guys or man, those guys, you know, poop the bed. I really need to swing for the fences here, so. But Jay Ajayi, to answer your question, Mike, I would be surprised if I'm not starting him. You'd have to have really good running backs on your roster.

[Jason Moore]

What about the other side of the ball, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

So Matt Ryan, I'm okay playing him. The Eagles defense, I still don't really want to mess around with them. And then Freeman's a start. Julio Jones, of course, is a start. So let's talk their auxiliary players to see if there's any interest there for Jason. I know you like the combo of Freeman and Coleman in general.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. But I would do what I, I would hope I can get away from Coleman this week.

[Mike Wright]

Even though you've spent the draft capital on him? I mean, if you have Coleman on your team, you've got him in the fifth or the sixth round.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, I've seen Coleman go later than that. And I think that when you've got a fifth or sixth round guy, a lot of times you can, you can swap those. Your fifth or sixth option, that's a flex play. You can swap them out with someone else with a better matchup. And I would prefer to do that due to Phillies great defense at home. And the defense is going to know they need to step up. You know, Wentz isn't there. This is a Foals led team. And yeah, I took the under on the points.

[Jason Moore]

All right. It's interesting that I was looking at the average margin of victory Thursday night games compared to the average for Sunday games.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

And last year it actually ended up being Pretty similar. The average in the NFL for the regular season since 2012 has been 11.5 points. That's the average margin of victory last year was 10.7. On Thursday night games.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

We had a four point game, a two point game. 5, 5, 1 5. I think that that's been the biggest concern about Thursday night is you end up with these. You have had some crazy blowouts.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

On Thursday night games. But it'll be interesting. I'm excited for the season to get started. You can check out all the rankings if you want to compare players. By the way, on the fancy footballers.com.

[Mike Wright]

Just to close out the matchup. Nelson Agu should get a target bump. I mean, a perceived target bump because Alshon Jeffrey is out and he's the one who really knows the offense. But it's Nick Foles throwing the ball and right now it looks like it's bad. Nick Foles. It's not Super Bowl Foles. So are you, are you comfortable flexing Nelson Aguilar?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm comfortable flexing him. You know, he's not a guy that I think shouldn't be, shouldn't be started and you have to bench him. But it's certainly not exciting.

[Jason Moore]

Is there any way they can trick Nick Foles into thinking it's the super bowl again? Ooh, I don't know how you would go through that. I mean, he did play Atlanta in the conference title game last year and got it done.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was going to say that, you know, preseason, he didn't show up. Well, where he showed up well was the playoffs, the big games, the super bowl and this game. This is, you know, you're kicking off a season here. They're building a gargantuan stage in Philadelphia to have a rock concert leading up. The city is got to be foaming at the mouth right now waiting for this game. So, you know, if it's a matter of him, you know, getting jacked up for the game, there's going to be no, no issues there.

[Jason Moore]

Well, he can't play worse than he played the last game in the preseason. No, he can't. He's got some retribution, setting some standards up.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, certainly. Hey, everybody, want to remind you about the Sonos Beam, the smart compact sound bar for your TV from Sonos. It lets you play everything, music, radio, movies, TVs, podcasts and more. Fills the room with a very rich sound. It's super easy to set up, but even if you don't want to, Sonos will send someone to do it for you. I used that service. They came, they were very helpful. I loved it. So if you live in a major metropolitan area up and running, we'll have a Sonos expert deliver and set up your system absolutely free. Just order from sonos.com and select up and running at checkout if you qualify.

[Jason Moore]

And don't forget to check out draft.comballers if you want to jump in. Play some draft this week. Thanks for joining us on the podcast. Make sure you subscribe, review, support the show, and we'll be back as always tomorrow for the Fantasy Forecast and much more.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

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 Layers.