REAL Preseason Takeaways + RB Rankings, Jason’s Mixon Love

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary

Episode: REAL Preseason Takeaways + RB Rankings, Jason’s Mixon Love
Release Date: August 10, 2018
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Podcast: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast

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1. Preseason Takeaways

The hosts delve into the first night of preseason football, highlighting significant observations and their implications for fantasy football.

a. Christian McCaffrey’s Usage

• Observation: Christian McCaffrey dominated running back snaps, including goal-line situations.
• Quote:
  Mike Wright [06:03]: “It was all Christian McCaffrey. Including the goal line.”
• Insight: The consistent usage in various offensive scenarios alleviates concerns about his workload and suggests he remains a top fantasy asset.

b. The Josh Allen Narrative

• Discussion: The hosts address the negative sentiment surrounding Josh Allen based on a limited number of preseason plays.
• Quotes:
  Andy Holloway [11:41]: “Josh Allen being Josh Allen... Two errant throws out of 19.”
  Mike Wright [13:36]: “He has an NFL arm talent, but I was watching for... decision making.”
• Insight: Despite some criticisms on social media, the hosts believe Josh Allen showed promise, emphasizing that preseason stats can be misleading.

c. Antonio Callaway and Baker Mayfield

• Observation: Antonio Callaway is integrating well with Baker Mayfield, suggesting increased opportunities.
• Quote:
  Mike Wright [07:46]: “If there was any buy low window left from Antonio Callaway getting in trouble with the law...”
• Insight: Callaway's improved performance under Mayfield's leadership indicates potential value in dynasty leagues.

d. Jeremy Hill’s Role with the Patriots

• Discussion: Jeremy Hill is projected to be a key short-yardage and goal-line back, potentially surpassing Mike Gillislee.
• Quote:
  Mike Wright [08:39]: “Jeremy Hill could end up just being a pain in the butt for those situations.”
• Insight: Hill's utilization in specialized roles could translate to reliable fantasy points, positioning him as a valuable asset.

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2. Running Back Rankings

The episode provides a comprehensive analysis of running back rankings, incorporating the latest preseason developments.

a. Jerick McKinnon vs. Christian McCaffrey

• Ranking Adjustments:
  Andy Holloway [24:20]: “Number 11 is Jerick McKinnon.”
  Jason Moore [25:27]: “Christian McCaffrey is going to... get 100 targets this year.”
• Insight: McKinnon’s dual-threat ability in rushing and receiving mirrors McCaffrey’s skill set, enhancing his fantasy value despite offensive line concerns.

b. Devonta Freeman’s Bounce Back

• Performance Analysis:
  Jason Moore [30:52]: “He’s one of the safest picks in his range.”
  Mike Wright [29:44]: “Devonta Freeman can get back to that top seven.”
• Insight: Freeman’s strong performance last season, combined with improved offensive dynamics, positions him as a potential top-tier running back.

c. Joe Mixon’s Potential

• Talent Evaluation:
  Jason Moore [33:08]: “I am a full believer in Joe Mixon.”
  Andy Holloway [34:19]: “Chris Carson looks good. And Royce Freeman at 21.”
• Insight: Mixon’s versatility and opportunity with the Bengals make him a frontrunner for RB1 status, especially if the offensive line stabilizes.

d. Jordan Howard and LaShawn McCoy

• Prospects:
  Andy Holloway [35:18]: “Nine touchdowns last year on a bad team is impressive.”
  Mike Wright [37:48]: “LaShawn McCoy is trending far more to him playing.”
• Insight: Both backs have shown strong finishers on subpar teams, suggesting high upside if their teams’ offenses improve.

e. Deion Lewis vs. Derek Henry

• Comparison:
  Jason Moore [50:04]: “I don’t agree that he will be inefficient. I think he will be a good fantasy running back.”
  Mike Wright [51:02]: “Don’t take Derek Henry at the back of the third.”
• Insight: While Derek Henry is projected as effective, his high draft price may deter drafters, making Deion Lewis a more cost-effective option with similar upside.

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3. Injury News

Injury updates play a critical role in fantasy football strategy, and the hosts provide timely information on key players.

a. Darius Geist’s Knee Injury

• Update:
  Andy Holloway [16:17]: “Initial diagnosis was a sprained MCL.”
  Jason Moore [17:04]: “He would be the starter.”
• Impact: Geist’s injury could hinder his preseason evaluation, affecting his draft position and early-season usage.

b. Marlon Mack and Bobby Turbin

• Details:
  Andy Holloway [17:14]: “Marlon Mack exited with a hamstring injury.”
  Mike Wright [17:26]: “Robert Turbin is suspended... next man up is Christian Michael.”
• Impact: Losses in the RB depth chart signal increased opportunities for backups, though suspensions may complicate fantasy options.

c. George Kittle and Matt Burrita’s Shoulder Injuries

• Implications:
  Jason Moore [18:40]: “Congratulations Brooks for trading for George Kittle.”
  Mike Wright [18:56]: “Matt Burrita getting hurt is unfortunate.”
• Impact: Injuries to emerging tight ends like Kittle may delay their fantasy breakout, while teammates like Burrita’s injury could open up spots for others.

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4. Key Discussions and Insights

a. Importance of Preseason Evaluation

• Thoughts:
  Mike Wright [02:19]: “Preseason is very difficult because... you can't take them all in.”
  Andy Holloway [18:07]: “We have to talk about all the time on this show, hamstring injuries are the worst.”
• Insight: The unpredictable nature of preseason games necessitates cautious interpretation of early performances, emphasizing the focus on tangible takeaways like injuries and usage patterns.

b. Best Ball Bonanza Segment

• Overview:
  Jason Moore [54:56]: “Best ball is a great format... you draft and the best players every week from your entire roster go in the starting lineup.”
  Andy Holloway [56:24]: “Drafting Kalen Bellage... even if Bellage does not have a big impact.”
• Insight: Best ball formats reward depth and strategic late-round picks, with hosts recommending targeting versatile players who can deliver high-value games sporadically.

c. Kenyon Drake’s Potential

• Analysis:
  Jason Moore [52:13]: “Kenyon Drake, to me, looked good... I am actually rising on Kenyan Drake.”
  Mike Wright [53:41]: “I think Drake is the best running back on the team, but the usage is why I am avoiding him.”
• Insight: Drake exhibits strong talent and versatility, but inconsistent usage and team dynamics introduce uncertainty, positioning him as a high-risk, high-reward option in drafts.

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5. Final Rankings and Recommendations

a. Consensus Running Back Rankings (Selected Positions)

• Jerick McKinnon: Positioned higher due to his dual-threat capabilities.
• Christian McCaffrey: Maintains top-tier status with increased target expectations.
• Joe Mixon: Viewed as a strong RB1 candidate with high potential if Bengals’ offense flourishes.
• Jordan Howard: Expected to capitalize on improved team offense under new coaching.
• LaShawn McCoy: Rising in rankings as his off-field issues seem to resolve, increasing his draft reliability.

b. Late-Round Targets for Best Ball

• Running Backs: Kalen Balaj, Jeremy Hill, Peyton Barber.
• Wide Receivers: John Ross, Tawan Taylor, Dante Pettis, James Washington.
• Insight: The hosts recommend selecting late-round players with breakout potential or consistent high-upside performances to maximize weekly best ball scores.

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6. Closing Remarks

The hosts wrap up the episode by emphasizing the importance of staying informed during the preseason, utilizing tools like the Ultimate Draft Kit, and remaining adaptable to evolving team dynamics and player performances.

Quote:
Andy Holloway [60:06]: “Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy the rest of preseason week one. We will be back, as always, on Monday with another great show.”

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This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast provides a thorough analysis of the initial preseason games, focusing on running back performances, injury impacts, and strategic draft recommendations. By dissecting player usage, team strategies, and emerging narratives, the hosts equip listeners with actionable insights to refine their fantasy football strategies ahead of the regular NFL season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan, I got a great show for you today. Before we get it started, I want to remind you, only with NFL Game Pass you get every out of market preseason game live. Top rookies, comeback players, new players on new teams. We saw it all last night and it's happening right now live with NFL Game Pass. Even if you missed the game, you can replay it. We're going to talk a lot about what happened last night and you can replay it on NFL Game Pass. Sign up [e-mail] fantasy footballers kick off the 2018 NFL season with a seven day free trial. NFL.com fantasy footballers.

[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. Ah.

[Andy Holloway]

The NFL season is here. Sort of none of that hall of Fame game stuff. We got real preseason football.

[Jason Moore]

Real preseason football.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're on the YouTube, you can, you can see we have a special guest today. I'm sitting here with Saquon Barkley.

[Mike Wright]

No, the pink Moose.

[Andy Holloway]

I've got, I've got a pink moose in hand. Just me and Saquon hanging out.

[Mike Wright]

If you're new to the show, you're not gonna understand that.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry, you missed. Here's what you missed. We'll fill you in. You missed the worst analogy of all time on this show. When you compare the player to the pink moose, that means he's the best.

[Andy Holloway]

My daughter's favorite stuffed animal is a pink moose.

[Jason Moore]

So you stole your daughter's favorite.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no. Amazon. Amazon.com Pink Moose. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Brooks, you're going to need to hold on to Saquon for me. We are back once again. We've got our second running back show. The running back rankings part two. We're going to get into the real takeaways from the first night of preseason football. Is it just me or were you kind of like wanting to take in every possible play? Oh, but you can't take them all in at the same time. So there's like a little bit of panic and you're just breathing. Football last night.

[Mike Wright]

Preseason is very difficult because you can't sit down with the master command of just. If you have multiple screens, get every game on and they're replaying things, things are moving slowly. So you watch what you can and you also monitor Twitter and you know that you have missed something. You're like, ah. And you got to spin your head this way. And it's, it's a very, it's a very turnaround, head shaking time of year.

[Andy Holloway]

It's very difficult, people sending around screen caps of Josh Allen trying to tell me things about him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we'll get into that. I actually, I love the preseason. I realize it's a little bit harder to take in, but no advertisement here, even though there was just one right game pass is unbelievable for preseason. I mean you're just really the only.

[Mike Wright]

Way you could do it.

[Jason Moore]

But you know, I was up last night watching just click a game to game, game to game and you know, it's just so easy to watch all the games and then you can go back and skip forward 10 seconds, skip forward 10 seconds.

[Andy Holloway]

You can get the NFL needs to time the games up to where each game starts right after the first quarter of the previous game. Because that's all I really, I mean that's what I wanted to take in the most was the first quarter of these games. Now there were situations, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, quarterbacks, specifically where they rotate in later, that I wanted to keep my eyes on. But we're going to kick it off right away. We've got such a jam packed show. I want to get into the preseason takeaways. Follow us on twitter @the ff ballers if you do not have the Ultimate Draft Kit and you have a draft coming up, you need to get the Ultimate Draft Kit atultimatedraftkit.com this is our, this is our baby on this show. I mean we if you don't realize this, if you're joining us for the first time, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. We are a year round fantasy football podcast. This is all we do. We spend every hour of every day working on this podcast and working on getting you ready to win your league. And the Ultimate Draft Kit is the tool, the foundation of your draft. You've got a hundred plus player profile videos you have up to date, always changing rankings. We're going to have major changes go through today just based off of injury reports that we're going to get into from the preseason. And so I just encourage you check it out, learn more about it. Ultimate Draft kid.com what are your biggest real, I'm underlining the word real takeaways from the first big night of preseason football because Twitter is famous for another thing and that's overreactions. Mike sure.

[Jason Moore]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And the I will preface the discussion, the beginning of the discussion with this taking having a real concrete takeaway from preseason week one is difficult because starters are in for maybe one set of downs, two set of downs. They're playing against a defense that is showing you nothing.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought about, like, not doing this question, like, not answering myself as a. As a point of saying, I'm not going to give you any takeaways outside of injuries in week one, just so that our listeners don't overreact to anything.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

But there are some.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And that's. I think you have to react least a little bit. And these are what I found are my real takeaways. And I'm stealing some of Jason's thunder here, but it's toot, toot to Jason, who talked frequently at length of Christian McCaffrey and Norv Turner's usage of running backs. He's been very prone to the workhorse running back. And I've been, I've been defending CJ Anderson, believing that he will get in, but it was all Christian McCaffrey.

[Andy Holloway]

Including the goal line.

[Mike Wright]

Including the goal line. It was all McCaffrey. Granted it, like I said, this is week one. This does not mean that McCaffrey's getting every running back snap. But I thought that was very, very telling. It eases a lot of the concerns that I had for Christian McCaffrey of. Will they actually go with that?

[Andy Holloway]

In week one, one eyebrow goes up. Yeah. In week two, both eyebrows go up. And then I start to make some more adjustments based on confirmation.

[Jason Moore]

And then in week three, the jaw drops.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And when the draw drops and both.

[Jason Moore]

Eyebrows are up, oh, you know, that it's a done deal. And here's one thing I will, I will say on the, on the CMC, the Christian McCaffrey thing. People were saying on Twitter, oh, look at the, you know, look at what C.J. anderson did. He's four yards carrying. Christian McCaffrey was, you know, not that great on the ground again, but you cannot in preseason. This is just kind of a public service announcement to the entire foot clan. You can't look at box scores. Preseason box scores are meaningless. The beginning of the game is especially from the offensive side of the ball. They're showing they're trying to get their new offense out, trying to run the plays that they've schemed up, and then when the starters come out and all the backups come in, it's a completely different game. And so what you're saying is, you know, there were two drives that the starters were on the field, and of those drives, Chris McCaffrey had 100% snaps.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

C.J. anderson has zero percent snaps. It won't be that drastic, obviously, but it was showing that they were using him up the middle. They were using him in the goal line. In the red zone, they were using him in screens. You know, it appears that North Turner is just going to do what he's done for 26 years. Go figure.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, fair. My second big takeaway is if there was any buy low window left from Antonio Callaway getting in trouble with the law. I would float some offers out there in your dynasty leagues because Baker Mayfield already has Mojo going with Antonio Calloway. I know he only came down with three.

[Jason Moore]

Catch the ball. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

It was a rough start. And you, you. It's almost like you could see the nerves.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

For Callaway as the game progressed, he really settled down. I'm not just talking about the big highlight. I'm talking about Baker just going to Antonio Callaway. And then the last one I'll throw out here is Jeremy Hill. Looks like he's going to be that at least the fourth running back for the New England Patriots. He will beat out Mike Gillislee.

[Andy Holloway]

That would be third running back. Really? Right.

[Mike Wright]

Because, well.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you're saying James White.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. On the roster.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And whether that translates into he is actually the short yardage guy, I still believe it will be Rex Burkhead. But Jeremy Hill could end up just being a pain in the butt for those situations.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I did have that moment yesterday where I was going, man, the Patriots are very Patriot.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

They're just.

[Mike Wright]

They certainly are.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike could. I kept thinking in my drive home, I'm looking at box scores. I'm going, you know, are you showcasing Jeremy Hill to trade him? Are you showcasing him because you like him? Are you like Mike could be upset? Is all I kept thinking is Mike could end up upset. There were, there were quite a few players that had the one eyebrow moments. Right. Like Michael Gallup had a nice touchdown pass from reception.

[Jason Moore]

Dak.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, reception. Did you know Marques Valdez scantling from green Bay, had five catches, 101 yards and touchdown. You know, you're kind of looking to.

[Jason Moore]

Equanimous look good too.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you're kind of looking to see where the wide receivers in Green Bay. By the way, those are Green Bay rookie wide receivers. My two takeaways, I won't overemphasize either of them. Carlos Hyde, Nick Chubb look pretty rotten. Nick Chubb especially couldn't get anything going. I think he was like 15 for 11 or 11 for 15, something like that. Whenever you can inverse those numbers and not know the difference. You didn't have a great game on the ground. Didn't show any. Anything impressive to me. Jason, you can talk more about Mayfield, But I mean, ultimately, I told Jason this this morning. Tyra Taylor was literally perfect. He was five for five. He was great with a touchdown. And he still, from a perception standpoint, lost last night because Baker Mayfield looks so good as a rookie on his first game. And I said it on the show yesterday, the power of gravity is the thing I fear about projecting Tyrod Taylor. The gravity of the number one overall pick looking good if things start to go south, if Tyrod has a bad game, if they lose too many games in a row, that's the fear. I still believe in Tyrod. He's the guy that shows up first thing in the morning, right? He's the last guy to leave. They have a lot of confidence in him. They believe that him setting that example for Baker will mean that, like, what's their ultimate goal in Cleveland? Is it to be great for, you know, do they believe Baker can win them a championship this year? No, they believe Baker's the future. Maybe they believe letting him learn from Tyrod for a longer period of time is important. We'll see. But the other one I want to bring up is just Josh Allen, because I'm a little bit frustrated by Twitter. I'm frustrated by the narrative around Josh Allen, and I'm frustrated even, like somebody who I respect immensely, Warren Sharp, who went out and put amazing content on Twitter last night. Every play from Tyrod, every play from Pat Mahomes, every play for Lamar Jackson. Video profile. And then the post about Josh Allen is a screen cap of him falling backwards on his seventh play from scrimmage. He had 19.

[Mike Wright]

It was funny.

[Andy Holloway]

It was funny, but it fulfilled the narrative because the quote was something like, Josh Allen being Josh Allen. I watched every play from Josh Allen. I felt like it was a nice debut. He made multiple above average elite NFL throws. He made it his touchdown pass.

[Jason Moore]

2.

[Andy Holloway]

Three guys in the NFL can make that throw. I was impressed with Josh Allen. I just want to throw that out there. I'm not trying to give you confirmation bias because I'm a believer in him. Jason probably believes that's what I'm trying to do. But I logged every play. I put it out there on Twitter. You can go read through it. You can go watch the tapes. Two errant throws out of 19. It didn't fulfill the narrative to me.

[Jason Moore]

And just to. Just to qualify that one of those errand throws was not the touch the 60 yard out of bounds throw, right?

[Andy Holloway]

I did not call the 60 yard throw. That's not an errant throw.

[Jason Moore]

He threw the ball out of bounds.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it was a completion. Therefore it's not errant. An errant throw is a ball that you were qualifying as a Cam Newton air mail by four yards. He completed every one of his screen passes. He completed every one of his underneath passes. He threw a touch.

[Jason Moore]

I'm just saying. You just threw his call. An incompletion, a completion.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't. It says incomplete on my game log. Incomplete, out of bounds.

[Jason Moore]

Well, no, but like 10 seconds ago you just said it was a completion.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm. I'm qualifying errant. It's not an errant throw if the ball is completed to the player.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

I will say I watched it. I watched every one of Josh Allen's throws as well. And he had a couple plays that. The touchdown pass was incredible. And there was one where he was rolling to his right off his back, flying. That was a throw. That number one was just a.

[Andy Holloway]

To the big tight end. Yeah. Play. That was amazing.

[Mike Wright]

It was an awful decision.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

But it came through and that. That I was more watching Josh Allen for his decision making because I've. Yeah, he can throw a ball over the mountains. I've.

[Andy Holloway]

I get that.

[Mike Wright]

I've never argued against how strong his. His arm is, that he has an NFL arm talent, but I was watching for. Was he ever flustered in the pocket. And I only recall one play where pressure actually got to Josh Allen. And to his credit, he pulled. He looked like Newton on that particular play where there was people draped all over him and he managed to get out. I think even the commentators like, he's not going to avoid the pressure. Oh, he got out. So that's to his credit. But at the same time where. If you want to, because the comparison is inevitable. But Baker. Baker's night and Josh Allen's night. Baker was under pressure frequently.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Josh Allen was in a very clean pocket for the majority of his.

[Andy Holloway]

And before I hand the torch to Jason for his takeaways, don't get me wrong, I am bringing him up solely. He's not the Hill I want to die on. The Bills are awful. I think they're going to be awful. I'm sorry, Bills fans. I do. I don't think you're going to be great this year. I don't think you have the weapons. I don't think it's like if you look at Pat Mahomes situation walking into his. His first starts and what Josh Allen faces. I don't want to die in the Josh Allen hill. I'm only bringing him up because I was Tired of seeing the narrative fulfillment with screen caps on Twitter. I'm just telling you what I believe. If he, if my eyes told me something different, I would believe something different. Jason, you're up.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So I obviously I've got a million notes from game week one or the first night of real preseason games, but the only one that I'll bring up that I think is relevant to just continue paying attention to was that Peyton Barber was the starter. He got the first drive. He looked great. He ran well. They moved the ball down the field over and over. He was picking up good yardage and then he got in the end zone on a great run, you know, in the red zone. So he was great. And then Rojo comes in the game and they throw him a nice easy screen pass that he looks like he does not know how to catch and dropped it to the ground. So now I'm not saying that to scored a touchdown. I'm not saying that to fulfill the Ronald Jones is a bust thing. But what I am, it's not about Ronald Jones. It's about Peyton Barber. Peyton Barber did nothing to lose where he currently is at right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike. Redskins rookie Darius Geist exited with a knee injury on a beast run.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Initial diagnosis this morning via Sleeper bot updates. Sleeper, yes. If you have used it before, it was Sleeper, but it's now the sleeper app. You can do the leagues and everything. But I got an update this morning that the initial diagnosis was a sprained mcl. He's still going to have an MRI to confirm, but it's. If it's a sprained mcl, you're going to miss time.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You're going to miss probably most of the preseason just to be safe. Right. You don't want a chance to re injure him. He looked great on that run. Yes, it was holding, but he was, you know, when you get him in the open field, he creates yards after contact. I would say this, you know, Rob Kelly's been left for dead in fantasy football, but it appears he's the clear next man up. Yes. Over Samaje.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he would be the starter.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, more injury news. Marlon Mack exited with a hamstring injury. We don't know how much that's going to limit him in the coming weeks, but it is a concern.

[Jason Moore]

Bobby.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Bobby Turbin.

[Mike Wright]

No, it's not.

[Andy Holloway]

Bobby Turbin was next man up, but he's suspended to start the year, so.

[Mike Wright]

And who was next?

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan?

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

Who was next? I didn't get to watch that game.

[Mike Wright]

Kristen Michael.

[Jason Moore]

Bye.

[Mike Wright]

Look, the Kristen Michael special.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Necessity.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike. If Mike.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

You can mic me all you want.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, I'm c miking you.

[Mike Wright]

If Marlon Mack is hurt and we. We talk about all the time on this show, hamstring injuries are the worst. The worst. That's not what you want to see in the preseason. If Marla Mack's hurt and Robert Turban. Robert Turbin. This is not an if. He is. This is Robert Turban's missing four games. Christian Michael, as of now is the next man up. Just saying, what a world.

[Jason Moore]

What a world that we live in.

[Andy Holloway]

You're like an evil genius cackling in the night because it's just hilarious.

[Jason Moore]

I've never seen you so happy.

[Andy Holloway]

George Kittle and Matt Burrita both left with shoulder injuries. Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, said both players will, quote, miss some time. This is unfortunate. Both were having great camps. George Kittle was the probably the only tight end outside the top 10 rounds that was likely to get every down type of snaps and have an opportunity to emerge.

[Mike Wright]

It was on a big play.

[Jason Moore]

Now, Brooks, Brooks, you just traded for George Kittle yesterday, right? Hours before. Maybe two or three hours.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Congratulations.

[Andy Holloway]

So we'll find out more and break it down with you on Monday. It really was Matt Burrito getting hurt is unfortunate.

[Mike Wright]

It's unfortunate. It is fortunate news for Jerick McKinnon because Joe Williams looked.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, Jerick McKinnon looked the same. I mean, you know, one of my notes, and I'm a starter, sure. I'm not going to put a lot of stock in it week one, whatever. But he, Jerick McKinnon ran exactly like Jerick McKinnon ran when. I always hated Jerick McKinnon. He's a freak athlete. But it's like, wait, why didn't you go there? Why didn't you burst now, didn't he.

[Andy Holloway]

Have, like three carries?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, it was just. It was just the first drive. But I'm. But my point was not like, that's why I said, I don't want to overreact to it. But it wasn't those three carries that was like, oh, man, he sucks. The three carries reminded me exactly of the 50 to 100 carries that he's had when he had the opportunity to start in other teams where it's just so frustrating because there's opportunity there and he lets it down. But then Burrito goes down and McKinnon is as safe as it gets right now from a volume standpoint.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. John Dorsey, Browns gm said there is no timetable for Josh Gordon's return and DEZ Bryant is going to visit the Browns this week.

[Jason Moore]

Did you see the timing of the Tweet?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, look, 100%. Des Bryant was watching hundred watching the game and going tyrod.

[Jason Moore]

Balls out.

[Mike Wright]

Tyrod looks pretty good.

[Jason Moore]

Baker comes in, balls out. And then Des goes tweets. He's like, I'm coming to Cleveland for a visit. It was unbelievable because you know what?

[Mike Wright]

That's what I would do to go. I guess they looking all right. Looking all right. Hey, before we jump into the running backs, want to thank today's sponsor, Pristine auction. The place to go for your sports memorabilia. Starting running back Rex Burkhead, we got his jersey up on the wall. Signed authentically, signed by sexy Rexy himself. Want to point out some of these deals that that have been happening lately. These all happened recently. Jarvis Landry signed Browns jersey 75 bucks. Speaking of players who looked fantastic, Jarvis Landry looked like a stud last night. And people are getting assigned jersey of Jarvis for just 75 bucks. Assigned Keenan Allen jersey $78. Assigned Josh Gordon football, 40 bucks. Pristine auction. This is where we get all of our memorabilia. All the signatures are authentic. They use the best authenticators in the business, JSA, etc. Check them out. Pristine Auction P R I S T I n e auction.com. you make an account, it's completely free. It's completely free to browse. There are hundreds of new daily auctions. But when you make that account, let them know that the fantasy footballers sent you.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And look, if your draft is coming up, you got to get the ultimate draft kit. Right now it's only $29.99 and it is not. It's a one time fee. This is not $29 month. It's $29 for your entire draft season. If your draft is a couple weeks away, you need it now. If it's further than that, you'll want it now because we've got all of the charts in there, the reports of all the coaching changes. So much to read. All the hundred plus video profiles of us breaking people down and saying what we believe. The good, the bad, the ugly, upside and downsides, the risk ratings on every player. And look, we've got stuff for auction. We've got stuff for different scoring formats. Sleepers, breakouts, bust values. People have said for years that they really love the ultimate draft kit. It helps build a foundation for their championship. And we want you to win your draft. So check out ultimate draftkit.com right now.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's do it.

[Jason Moore]

Running backs.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Yesterday we did the top 10 running backs. You can listen to yesterday's episode if you want to hear our breakdowns on those players. We're going to try to fly through these today because we want to get through more of the running backs all the way down to what, 24? Brooks? Yes, sir. Number 11 on our consensus rankings as of this morning. Are these are these ranks as of this morning?

[Jason Moore]

The individual ones are, yeah. The order might be a little shifted.

[Andy Holloway]

On these consensus because of updates from last night. And now, for instance, McCaffrey is going.

[Jason Moore]

To get brought up and he's now.

[Andy Holloway]

In our top 10.

[Jason Moore]

I was going. That was the name I was going to bring up. I tweaked McCaffrey a little bit up based on, you know what? I believe he is going to the workload change.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 11, Jerick McKinnon. I have him at 10, Jason 13, Mike at 11. Right now his PPR average draft position is the ninth pick of the second round. Last year, Jerick McKinnon showed enough to convince Kyle Shanahan to give him a whole bunch of money to come in and be the Devonta Freeman in the San Francisco offense. He's going to have to overcome an offensive line that is ranked 28th for 2018. In fact, it won't just be Jericho trying to overcome that. It's going to be Jimmy Garoppolo, who Mike, you brought up looked a little rusty yesterday. McKinnon flash, so handsome. He didn't look so good, but impossible. Game 1 and last year, McKinnon flashed at various times, especially in the in the receiving game. Last night he did have a reception on his one target for seven yards. Jerick McKinnon at number 11. Is there something you want to bring up about Jericho that our listeners need to know about?

[Mike Wright]

Everything with Jerick McKinnon is going to be very similar to the argument for Christian McCaffrey. It's going to be the passing work. Kyle Shanahan is a master of using his running backs and his running backs get targets. And Jerick McKinnon like you said he should be, the comp is easy. Devonta Freeman, and sometimes when the comp is that obvious, you have to take a step back and go, what am I missing? But I think in this case it's literally right there is they are similar players. They have similar skill sets. Freeman's probably the Better player. But Jerick McKinnon is a great pass catching running back and a target is worth more than a rushing attempt. So even if he's only getting 200 carries, he's going to be up in that, what, 60 plus reception area, which is elite for fantasy football. You mix in some goal line work and Jerick McKinnon is. That's where he gets safer than he, safer than his, than he feels. Yes, thank you.

[Jason Moore]

I agree.

[Andy Holloway]

And if Burrito is banged up, the goal line is where McKinnon could benefit the most. Because last year you did see him lose goal line work from the time he came in after the Dalvin Cook injury in Minnesota to the end of the season where Latavius Murray was handling the majority of it. That would be the big benefit to Jerick McKinnon. Number 12 is Christian McCaffrey. Jason, you said you moved him up. I have him at nine. Jason, is this where you moved him to? You have him at nine as well?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And then Mike has him at 12 currently.

[Mike Wright]

He will more than likely move up for me too.

[Andy Holloway]

So last on seeing the workload last night, utilization in the red zone. Yes, last year, 117 carries for 435 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but 80 receptions, 651 yards and five touchdowns on 113 targets. Talk to me about Christian McCaffrey. Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, so Christian McCaffrey last year was an RB1 in PPR. People were disappointed because of his ineffectiveness on the ground. But the value in fantasy football of those targets cannot be overstated. Now the worry coming into this year is, okay, Greg Olson is there, DJ Moore is there another year for funches. Will he actually get those targets? And in that first drive, that second drive, you could see, look, all those players were out there on the field, but it was the exact same usage. We saw the second half of last year with Christian McCaffrey really getting a lot of work, a lot of volume in the screen game. There were design screens for him. They used him in the red zone.

[Andy Holloway]

He looked good last night.

[Jason Moore]

He really did. I expect him, I really expect him to have 100 targets this year. And then, you know, look, last year he only had 117 rushing attempts. So even if he stays poor, he can go up from 117 rushing attempts to. He doesn't even have to hit 200 rushing attempts to take a huge step forward. And he was already a running back one. This is, you know, you look at very similar comp to Jerick McKinnon. I agree with what you were saying they are probably not going to be a 250 carry back. No, but they're going to be a high volume involved in the passing game, which is obviously so important.

[Andy Holloway]

If Nora Turner feels most comfortable with him on the field in most circumstances, it's just going to benefit McKinnon. You know, opportunity means everything.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And you know McCaffrey. McCaffrey, yes. They both start with the.

[Mike Wright]

I was like, where are we? What is happening?

[Andy Holloway]

Would you let me ask that question as though I meant to mispronounce his name. McKinnon, McCaffrey. You comfortable with them as your two running backs?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think I would be comfortable with them as running backs because if.

[Mike Wright]

We'Re in a ppr, I mean, man, that's.

[Jason Moore]

So that means to me that I'm. That I'm putting those two with an Odell Beckham or, you know, someone like that. Because what.

[Mike Wright]

How are you possibly putting those two with Beckham?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I guess. I guess Christian McCaffrey's what, back of the first, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Either you are. You could not possibly get all three guys.

[Andy Holloway]

You probably can't get both of them. I'm just curious about.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, you could, you could do it. You could do it with Julio. You could get McKinnon in the back of the first, Julio in the second, and McKinnon has dropped to the beginning of the third. So, I mean, it is possible to do something like that. But I prefer. I mean, I'm going to take the better offense in Carolina over, you know, San Francisco's offense. And McKinnon doesn't have the pedigree coming from college that McCaffrey has.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 13 is Devonta Freeman. Right now I have him at 15, Jason at 12, Mike at 13. The question with Devonta Freeman is can he, you know, get back to the 2015, 2016 form that turned him into the number one and number six overall fantasy running back last season. He missed a couple of games in week 11 and week 12. Started the season very well with four consecutive games inside the top 24, including two inside the top seven. It was a hit and miss season for Devonta Freeman. Some injuries banged up. You always have Tevin Coleman over his shoulder, but still a pretty good year from Devonta Freeman. And you expect the offense to be a little bit better this year. Second season under Steve Sarkeesian, upside range of outcomes sort of onto Freeman. Can he get back to that top seven, top eight guys?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, I think he can. Personally. I think he can get there.

[Andy Holloway]

He scored eight times last year running back 13.

[Mike Wright]

And that was. He missed essentially three games. So it's, it's hard to know exactly where he would have finished if he had played a full 16 game season. The target drop was, is the most perplexing part of Steve Sarkeesian's offense where he went from 65 targets down to 47. Now he would have been much closer to 65 if he had played the full season. But we're just sounding like a broken record right now. But these guys in this range truly gain a bunch of their value from, from the pass catching. But Freeman is also an excellent. He's excellent on the ground last year, almost 200 carries, 865 yards. So Freeman is in line for another 220, 230 on the ground. And if we can get that reception total back up to close to the high 40s, low 50s, then Freeman can certainly hit that top seven mark.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree. He's one of. To me, he's one of the safest picks in his range. The best predictor of future success is past success. And you've got a guy who for the last three years has, for all intents and purposes, been a running back one. Like you said, he was the running back 13.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

But that was in 13 games. So if he plays a full season, I think that he's locked and loaded there. And yes, Sarkeesian comes in the targets drop, but it's still, it's still the same quarterback. It's still the same rapport between Matt Ryan and Devonta Freeman. I'm not worried about Freeman. Ikes. I actually love the Falcons this year. From a fantasy football standpoint, people react undervaluing. They're undervalued right now. I like Julio.

[Mike Wright]

Julio.

[Jason Moore]

I like Devonta Freeman, I like Tevin Coleman. All of them are going so much lower than they did last year, but I expect their offense to be better this year than they were last year. So yeah, you know, I was off The Falcons in 2017. I'm back on. Oh, I'm flying like a falcon now.

[Andy Holloway]

I got, I gotta circle back here now. I gotta give Warren sharp credit because 43 minutes ago he finally posted every single attempt from Josh. He's awesome, no question. But we're back. 43 minutes ago he did that and last night we got screencap. So I'm just, just reining it in. Number 14, Joe mix.

[Mike Wright]

Good for you, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

Joe mixon.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 14. Number one in your heart, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Look, he gets me a little hot bothered. I'm just saying I get A little heated.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, okay. All right. Getting a little fired up about. Joe Mixon had a touchdown yesterday.

[Mike Wright]

His touchdown was on. Incredible play as well where he was lined up out wide.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, they put him all the way out wide. And the best part was if you watch just, just.

[Andy Holloway]

We knew he could catch the ball though.

[Jason Moore]

Pre snap. Yes, pre snap. That was. There was only one place this ball was going. I mean, Andy Dalton grabs the ball, turns to his right, throws, and it's not, it's not a screen pass. This is a route. He runs like a six.

[Mike Wright]

This is the hot and bothered.

[Andy Holloway]

This is your love letter.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my love letter. Joe, listen, I really expected big things last year from you and I don't blame you. The Bengals were historically bad. The amount of plays they ran, historically low. The amount of rushing attempts, truly, historically, unbelievably low. It can't be repeated even if they tried. And you're so good, Joe. You're so fast.

[Andy Holloway]

Please write. Please write me back.

[Jason Moore]

Please write me back, Joe. I may. I am a full believer in Joe Mixon.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you moving him up from 14 overall in your individual rankings?

[Jason Moore]

I took a look at my rankings and I'm not moving him up from there. He has the ability, in my opinion, to finish as the number one running back. He's got that level of talent because he can be used around the goal line and in the passing game.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's a little known fact about Joe Mixon. I'm seeing this in our notes. Brooks put in there last year. 178 carries, 626 yards, four touchdowns on the ground, but 30 receptions. Oh, 30 receptions for 2,870 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Joe, man, wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks had the look of such disappointment there where he, he forgot the slash in between the, the end of those receptions and his zero touchdown. I was gonna say we missed something. He's number one now, but no, the offensive line has to hold up for Joe Mixon to be successful. But he has so much potential. And the thing about Joe Mixon is he is a three down type of guy. They are. You know, like you said, even if geo's around, the future is Joe Mixon.

[Mike Wright]

GEO is around, he's around.

[Andy Holloway]

But efficiency wise, Joe Mixon was even better than Geo last year. So if they like him and they want him on the field and he's the future, there's upside. Number 15 overall, Jordan Howard. I think we all love Jordan Howard. We respect Jordan Howard's game. He's a banger. He had 276 carries. He's going to get the ball. He's probably going to drop a few targets, but we think he can get to 30, right? 30, 35, 30 receptions. Yeah. Receptions probably get there.

[Jason Moore]

I think he will get there this year. I've got him projected for 27, but I mean, with all the extra work they're putting in and with the new coordinator, I think he can get to 30.

[Andy Holloway]

He was a running back one or two in 50% of his games last season on an atrocious Bears team that did not run a lot of offensive plays either. Kind of the same story as Joe Mixon.

[Mike Wright]

That's the, that's the deal for Jordan Howard and why people are actually really excited for the potential of Jordan Howard this year. Running back 10 his rookie year when he wasn't even the starter for the first quarter of the season. Running back 12 this past season. And those were both bad, bad teams.

[Andy Holloway]

Nine touchdowns last year on a bad team is impressive to me. He could be. That tells me he can be a 12 to 15 touchdown guy if things went the right way.

[Mike Wright]

That's, that's why people are excited with Matt Nagy coming in. Can this team turn it around? You have your franchise, your alleged franchise quarterback. There are weapons everywhere for.

[Andy Holloway]

Didn't look good last night. He has not looked good last night ever.

[Jason Moore]

To me, he looked good in North Carolina.

[Mike Wright]

Trubisky.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. But it just, I was really excited and granted they didn't play a lot of their starters. He kept having to target Kevin White, which has not, you know, worked somebody right. But no, Trubisky looked bad, which sucks because I, I wish the whole offense.

[Andy Holloway]

Looked out of sync, that's for sure. You didn't see anything that made you go, yeah, Matt Nagy, you've changed things.

[Jason Moore]

So excited to see Jordan Howard and then you. And then they didn't play and they rested their guys. I thought for sure that Jordan Howard and Cohen, they would be playing because this is their second preseason game.

[Andy Holloway]

But no LaShawn McCoy at number 16 right now his average draft position is the fourth pick of the third round last year. 287 carries and another 59 receptions on the stat book for LaShawn McCoy. The offensive line was not good last season. They don't project to be good this season. And he was stuffed the most times in the NFL of any running back. Now, you know, this is a product of when in doubt, hand the ball to Shady. I mean, they didn't have much else on offense. They probably don't this year either. Still had a Very good season. In RB1 or 2, 62.5% of the time. In RB1, 43% of the time. He finished the year as the RB7. So I think that we are still doubting him too much. I am the highest of the three of us. I'm at 13, Mike at 14, Jason 16.

[Mike Wright]

I still have. And I moved him up. I had, I had bumped him way down. Simply a risk mitigation with his off the field situation, which is. It's still not resolved. But at least now where I would say a couple weeks ago it felt impending that LaShawn McCoy may not play football this season, it's trending far more to him playing. So if we're. As we approach the season, LaShawn McCoy is going to be ranked higher than 14. For me, it's. It's just a matter of where would I draft Shady right now? Where am I willing to go in on that risk? And I would rather have like Howard or I have Howard one spot behind McKinnon, but even Joe Mixon, who I've ranked behind Shady right now just because of the. What could happen. And what could happen to Shady is he doesn't play football at all this year. Nowhere.

[Jason Moore]

Not a. You're lighting your pick on fire.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Not a. Just, oh, hey, he's suspended for a few games. It's. He literally does not play. And you have just thrown your third or second round pick into the garbage.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I really, really want to talk about. Oh, no, we have to. We have one more guy before we get to the guy I actually want to talk about. Number 17 is Darius Geiss. I think we are all going to drop him based on the news, the fact he's going to miss some camp time. We can still wait for the MRI to confirm what the. What the timeline looks like for Darius. Guys, he looked great on the field. You know, I, I'm coming out with my 32 Bold Predictions article and I was pretty close to putting Darius Geist as a, you know, top 10 running back. So it's disappointing to see injury maybe get in the way of that. But we don't know enough. I mean, what do you guys. What is there to say about Guy Southern? That he looked good and he got hurt?

[Mike Wright]

That's exactly the takeaway. I. He is the monster I believe he can be. But now as a rookie, you have to. You have to work your way up to the top of the depth chart. Unless your name is Saquon Barkley.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we didn't bring him up because he Looked like Saquon Barkley because then.

[Mike Wright]

You come out and your first touch of is a 40 yard carrier or whatever it was on an incredible play. But second round picks, they have to work their way up and Geist was no different. I think he's going to have to work his way up and you miss camp, you can't, you can't do that. Can't make the club if you're in the tub.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he did look good. Again, if you're just, you know, joining us now, he, I don't expect him to be a pass catching back in the NFL. He'll, you know, he'll get 25, 30 balls, but I think 30 is basically his cap in this offense with Jay Gruden, with Chris Thompson there. So that's where I think we disagree. I've got him a little bit lower at 19. He can get it done on the ground. He's a talented running back, but I just don't project him to be one of those valuable, you know, you, you talk about putting him in the top 10, he could do that. Alfred Morris did that without catching the ball. Jordan Howard's done that without.

[Mike Wright]

So essentially your comp for Geist is Jordan. Jordan Howard.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good comp.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the situation I want to talk about and it probably should have been. I don't know if it was a takeaway just from last night, but this is more of a trend that is happening and I am, I am rising immensely on Alex Collins who comes in.

[Jason Moore]

I love hearing you say that.

[Andy Holloway]

18. Ironically, I'm the highest on Alex Collins in our rankings. Despite your love letters repeatedly. But here's why Kenneth Dixon did not play last night. He took the field. He took the field in full uniform during pregame warmups. Then he wasn't suited up by the time opening kickoff came around. He's been banged up. Alex Collins, he only had two carries, but he ripped off a 23 hard run last night. And he's the guy I, I want to be very clear. He's the guy I went. Sometimes they do trade offers real quick in the preseason. Alex Collins is one of those guys that last night with the way it's training for Kenneth Dixon, with the fact that, you know, the gap between Alex Collins and Javorius Allen. Buck Allen is very big to me. Alex Collins is the guy on a team that wants to run the ball and he's good.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I agree.

[Andy Holloway]

The concern was that, that Dixon would threaten that and he's not going to.

[Mike Wright]

I Agree with all of those takes. Even saying there's a big gap between Alex Collins and Buck Allen. But Buck Allen. Buck Allen is a thorn in your fantasy, in your book. But. But you messed me up.

[Jason Moore]

What do you mean? I nailed it. He's a thorn in the buck.

[Mike Wright]

He's a thorn in your buttocks and he is. He's going to be obnoxious. Assuming that they move, the team moves on from Dixon. You're going to look up and go, boom. PI Pass interference on the in the end zone. Alex Collins. Free touch Buck Allen.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Buck Allen will be a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Annoying, but Collins will be a value pick. I'll predict the value pick.

[Andy Holloway]

You're going to see Buck Allen in two minute drills. He'll be the only running back on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the kind of thing you're going to see. And you're going to be like, man, where's Alex Collins? And it's going to be Buck Allen because they trust him. And third downs. Yeah, and third downs.

[Jason Moore]

Buck Allen's a sneaky pick right now. Here's a tweet from Ben Cummins last night. If you don't follow Ben Cummins, he's on our Fantasy Footballers DFS show. Does a lot of writing for him at Bincuminsff. You should give him a follow for us. Yes, for us.

[Andy Holloway]

He does a lot of writing for himself.

[Mike Wright]

He writes to himself.

[Jason Moore]

Ever heard of him? No. This is his tweet and it got my eyeballs last year. Buck Allen saw more targets per game than Rex Burkhead and Devontae Freeman. More total opportunities than Derek Henry and Tevin Coleman. More red zone carries than Leonard Fournette, Alex Collins, Derek Henry and Alvin Camara. Same amount of 10 zone carries as Jordan Howard.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you know who he will be?

[Mike Wright]

Obnoxious.

[Andy Holloway]

His photograph is in the corner of TJ Eldon's mirror. That's who he looks up to. Like TJ Yelden wants to be that thorny. Yeah, that's the same comp for me. Number 19 and number 20 on our running back consensus rankings, Jay Ajayi, Rashad Penny. I feel like I've talked about Rashad Penny. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

We're not skipping them.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we're not. But J Ajay kicks it off. What do you guys want to say about Ajayi and Penny?

[Mike Wright]

Ajayi? He's been a slow roast, a slow burn for me over the off season of what I believe that he can do for fantasy football.

[Andy Holloway]

But you're the highest on him right now. Of our group.

[Mike Wright]

But with his offensive line being dominant, I am just. I'm very confident in Jay Ajayi. He's going in the fourth round right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, so.

[Jason Moore]

So both Jay Ajayi pick in the fourth.

[Mike Wright]

I think if, if Brooks is correct, which we know from the 2000 yard mixing situation, he's not always accurate. He's actually going behind Alex Collins. And not that I see a huge gap between those guys, but both of them are. Those are the running backs in the fourth round that I'm very interested in.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think he's a great pick there. I have him at running back 25 and I feel like that is definitely too low. Philadelphia does not pay up for running backs. Historically. He's on a contract year.

[Mike Wright]

Unless you're Ryan Mathis, they will use.

[Jason Moore]

Him a lot on a great offense with a great offensive line. He looked good last night. You know, he had a one breakaway run.

[Andy Holloway]

And you know who else looked good last night? Corey.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Corey Clement.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we did it.

[Andy Holloway]

Five for 36 a carry. Just saying. He looked. He looked mighty fine. Ajayi looked great too. But you're right, Mike. Pro Football Focus projects the offensive line in Philadelphia to be numero uno. So he was what, five?

[Jason Moore]

Those of you that don't speak Spanish, that means number one, Rashad Penny.

[Mike Wright]

Soy El Nino.

[Andy Holloway]

Rashad Pinney, at 20, his current average job position is 509 in PPR leagues. It's even lower in standard leagues. And Rashad Pinney is dropping due to Chris Carson. Fire.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Jason Moore]

I love that he is dropping. I can finally get me some Rashad Penny. Him and Chris Carson, if you watch that first drive, they, they were both in on it. They were going back and forth. You know, a lot of times you see whether or not you see some plans, like, is this like in Green Bay? Green Bay last year, Green Bay preseason. They give a drive, it's like Jamal Williams gets this drive, then they're going to put in Aaron Jones or they're going to put in time Montgomery. This was like four.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're going to grief Jerick McKinnon, you got to grief Rashad Penny. Eight carries for Rashad Penny. He gained a total of 16 yards.

[Mike Wright]

We couldn't have negative yards on three carries.

[Andy Holloway]

All I'm saying is that be fair to your, to your player because Rashad Penny, this is the problem, right? This is not a good offensive line.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Chris Carson averaged six and a half a carry on his four carries last night. Rashad Penny averaged to a carry on his eight carries.

[Jason Moore]

If you watch the film, I think that he showed very well on the, on the touchdown pass at the end of the drive. It was Rashad Penny's past protection that opened up Russell Wilson to be able to find Vanette. Who.

[Mike Wright]

Oh yeah. Who did he find?

[Jason Moore]

Dude? Look, I immediately went and had to do some research because Vanette was one of my takeaways. He was looking at way all the time. However, that's also because Ed Dixon is not even playing right now.

[Mike Wright]

Ed Dixon's not.

[Jason Moore]

But I, I have, I have at least opened my. I appreciate that my hate block. My, my shades like you're peeking through. I'm like you're on a stakeout. Possibility of Vanette being their pass catching tight end. But I want a Dixon to be there.

[Andy Holloway]

Number 21, Royce. Oh, by the way, I'm drafting Chris Carson in leaks. I mean he's, he's going solo with the upside and potential. I know Pete Carroll is, is a hype machine, but Chris Carson looks good. Chris Carson looks good. Royce Freeman at 21. Deon Lewis at 22. Royce Freeman, what do you think about his opportunity?

[Mike Wright]

It's still projection for Freeman because the Broncos have not played yet. We're waiting.

[Jason Moore]

Chart says we're waiting to see what.

[Mike Wright]

We're waiting to see what they're going to do. Reports out of the mountains are that Devontae Booker and Freeman will be sharing during the first two drives and then they're going to get the other guys involved, see what they can do.

[Andy Holloway]

Normally a really good sign for a.

[Mike Wright]

For the rookie.

[Andy Holloway]

For the rookie to share. I mean it's a good sign for Rashad Penny that that happened. It's a bad sign for Ronald Jones that it didn't happen. It's a good sign for Royce Freeman if it does happen tonight because that you never there tomorrow or. Yeah. Outside of Saquon situation right. When you're the top of top five pick. It's extremely rare to see a rookie come in and get all the first teamwork. I mean that's just not going to happen. So your best case scenario is that you go in and the incumbent and the rookie share time. That's how a rookie running back becomes a day one starter. That's the means. Deon Lewis at 22, we have him ahead of Derek Henry who ends up at 26 later on. But Deion Lewis, I have him at 20. Jason 23, Mike 26. I think that we're going to see inefficiency from Derek Henry this year and I Think Dion Lewis is a better Overall runner.

[Jason Moore]

Tennessee's first team offense, 7.1 all purpose.

[Andy Holloway]

Yards per touch for Dion Lewis last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they, they looked pretty good to me. I was happy with Marcus Mariota. He was actually looking like he was running well and accurate on the move. They had a nice drive.

[Andy Holloway]

Derek Henry, just five carries between the two of them last night. So not a lot to see.

[Jason Moore]

No, but the reason there wasn't a lot to see is because their first drive, they came out, they played great, they march down the field, they score, you guys are done for the night. That's what you want when you're projecting an offense to take a step forward. So I did like seeing that.

[Mike Wright]

And for Derek Henry, I don't agree that he will be inefficient. I think he will be a good fantasy running back. However, his draft price is, it's really all I focus on these days. Because it's too high. His draft price is too high. Don't take Derek Henry at the back of the third. There are better options there. I mean, if you're talking back of the third, that means you're passing on Alex Collins and Jay Ajayi at that point to grab Derrick Henry. I would, I would not do that. I believe that Henry and Lewis come the end of the season where are actually going to be closely ranked with each other and they'll each will have their big games. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Back in the third right now you can get Doug Baldwin or Larry Fitzgerald and then Jay Ajayi or Alex Collins.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The last guy I actually want to talk about is Kenyon Drake. We've talked quite a bit about Sonny Michelle, Rex Burkhead and that backfield. So I want to talk about Kenyon Drake for a minute. You can see all of our rankings at the fantasy footballers.com so you can go well beyond what's on this show. You can listen to yesterday's show for the top 10. I want to bring up Kenyon Drake because one of the takeaways that I wrote down on paper that didn't put in the show doc was the performance of Kalen Balaj and the amount of work that Bellage had in the game yesterday. Yes, he made a rookie ridiculous hurdle fumble. That was embarrassing. But he showed explosiveness. He showed chops in the passing game yesterday. I am a big fan of Kalen Balaj, running back for the Miami Dolphins. Rookie running back. When I was asked on the Fantasy Pros podcast yesterday who I would regret drafting, I brought up Kenyon Drake's name for his current draft position. So between Drake, Gore and Balaj on a team that I don't think is going to have a lot of fantasy weapons. I'd love to hear you guys weigh in on what you saw from Bellage last night. Mike, Jason, what do you guys think about the situation for Kenya Drake and company?

[Jason Moore]

Kenyon Drake, to me, looked good, and then they took him out of the game pretty early and gave everything to Balaj, who showed a lot of, you know, what he showed in college. He's explosive. He, you know, he's got, he's a guy that's got to get ahead of steam, though. I mean, it's one of those. If you, if you get him early, he goes down early. If you let him get ahead of you, it's going to be hard to catch him. But I, you know, honestly, what I saw from Drake was Gore wasn't there, but he was a starter. He looked good. He was using the passing game, using the running game. And I've always, since college, thought Kenyon Drake is an exceptional talent. If you look at the run that he went on last season when he was the starter, he was exceptional. So I'm, I'm actually rising on Kenyan Drake, and that's nothing against Caleb Bellage. That's not an anti Bellage take. That's just. I believe Kenyon Drake is clearly the best running back there.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I don't see a situation, though, where Drake's going to get all three downs. I mean, I agree.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think it's facing him three downs.

[Andy Holloway]

Balaj had three catches yesterday for 23 yards. I think he's going to rotate in at times. And then if, if Gore and Drake are sharing time on first and second down, I mean, do you think, do you think Drake has third down on lockdown?

[Jason Moore]

I think Drake.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't.

[Jason Moore]

I think Drake has double the receptions that that Balaj has on the season.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, you watched the game. What did you think?

[Mike Wright]

It's. For me, it's not just watching the game for Miami because Jason said it. Gore wasn't. Wasn't out there. I agree that Drake is the best running back on the team, but the usage is why I am avoiding him. So right now, going in about the middle of the fourth round, those two names again, Alex Collins, Jay Ajayi. I would much prefer one of those guys over Kenyan Drake. Even if the ceiling for Drake is actually higher than those two running backs, if he hits, if they really commit to giving him more snaps and that passing down work when he Had, I mean, the run, three straight games of top 10 running back performances. He showed a lot last year, but it's concerning with the pieces that they have added around him.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, it is Friday, which means.

[Jason Moore]

Best ball bonanza brought to you by draft. Cool.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, what are we doing on the best ball bonanza today, boys?

[Mike Wright]

Today we are talking about late, late guys in basketball that we just, we find ourselves gravitating towards. 17th, 18th round.

[Jason Moore]

Give you a couple players to target at the end. Hey guys, real quick, what's best ball again? Oh, Brooks, you don't know what best ball is? What an idiot.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it's my first time.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man. Best ball is a great format. You know, I say all the time, you don't win the championship at your draft, but you do in best ball because that's all it is. You draft and the best players every week from your entire roster of if you're playing on draft of 18, get put into the starting lineup. So your best quarterback, your best tight end, your two best running backs, your three best wide receivers, your best flex all go in the starting lineup. You get max points, but there's no roster transactions, there's no waiver wire, there's no trades. Once you're done with your draft at the end of the year, that's the team you've got who put up the most points. It's really fun and it is a great way to prepare for your redraft leagues because you're putting a couple bucks on the line with the chance to win money. So everyone's taking it serious. You can actually see what people like, what people value. So there you go, Brooks. Now do you know what best ball is?

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

That sounds like a lot of fun. Oh, it's a blast.

[Andy Holloway]

Can you. Is there any specific place that you can play it?

[Jason Moore]

Maybe draft.comballers yes.

[Andy Holloway]

That's where I draft Kalen Bellage in the last round. That's where I draft Dante Moncrief in the last round. That's where I draft Tyrod Taylor in the last round. Those are my three selections for those late round values. Even if Bellage does not have a big impact in year one and he may have a game or two where he breaks off a 60 yard.

[Jason Moore]

He will, he will have a 60 yard touchdown runs.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he will.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, I, yeah, I don't like Bellagon redraft, but in Best Buy I actually do think that's a really solid pick.

[Mike Wright]

And a couple names. We've actually talked about him two running backs that I think are absolutely worth your final picks. Jeremy Hill, if he somehow manages to become the short yardage goal line running back he's going to give you a few very high total weeks. And Peyton Barber who we've talked about, Peyton Barber could still be the starting running back for Tampa Bay. They spent a high pick, they spent a second round rounder on Ronald Jones but that as a second round running back if the player in front of you is outplaying you I don't think they force you on the field and it could end up being Peyton Barber for for a lot of Tampa Bay's carries.

[Jason Moore]

And I'm going to throw out for my last round pick or 17th, 18th round I'm going to throw out a couple wide receivers because I think you should have more wide receivers than you probably expect in best ball and the has the haven't proved it yet. Wide receivers with immense talent are around at your last pick. John Ross is the 194th player off the board. He'll probably rise but if you're drafted now he's a great pick. Tawan Taylor, we don't know what Rashad Matthews injury is but he's a great pick. Dante Pettis and James Washington, a couple rookies that will definitely have a few long bomb touchdowns I think through the year and should anything happen to the starters ahead be thrust into great position. So you know I like to grab a wide receiver like that with my 18th pick and if you just to.

[Mike Wright]

Follow up on the best ball I've been I've been live streaming at least one a week and people are asking how can I get involved in that as Draft.com ballers get that account ready and generally Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon I will tweet out I will give people about 20 minutes heads up saying that the link is coming and then you better be ready.

[Jason Moore]

Those fill in about 10 seconds.

[Mike Wright]

That is, that is not a lie. It takes about 10 seconds for them to fill. So you better be following us all on Twitter.

[Andy Holloway]

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare around the office. I'm going to share this as we close out today's show. The judge himself, Judge Giamatti, our producer, our leader behind the scenes, jack of all trades guys, he was in court.

[Mike Wright]

He was.

[Andy Holloway]

And he wasn't pulled over. He wasn't dragged in. He was summoned. And look we summon the judge all the time. His wisdom is known to all.

[Jason Moore]

He's great at making rulings and they said oh yeah, what a great juror.

[Andy Holloway]

It just makes sense. So he got called in for jury duty yesterday, and the court, you know, they said, hey, August 10th's a good time to call in the producer for a Fantasy Football Podcast. August 10th's a good day. And so we were on pins and needles as Brooks waited down there to find out if he would be. And the sad thing for us is we knew he'd be such a good judge.

[Jason Moore]

He would be so fair.

[Andy Holloway]

He's such a good judge. But luckily, we have him back today. Brooks, welcome back. Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

I took the gavel and just said, you can't make a judge a juror. Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. It's just incompatible. So, hey, thanks for listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast once again. Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy the rest of preseason week one. We will be back, as always, on Monday with another great show.

[Mike Wright]

We will see you then.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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