Shady & The Wild Weekend + Roster Cut Madness

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: Shady & The Wild Weekend + Roster Cut Madness
Release Date: September 3, 2019
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

Timestamp [00:33] The episode kicks off with the hosts—Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright—welcoming listeners back to week one of the NFL season. They share light-hearted banter about the previous Labor Day off and express excitement for the upcoming fantasy football action.

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Buffalo Bills Roster Changes: LaShawn McCoy's Release

Timestamp [06:23] A significant highlight of the episode is the discussion surrounding the Buffalo Bills' decision to release veteran running back LaShawn McCoy.

• Andy Holloway: "The Bills released running back LaShawn McCoy... All offseason long, the moves the Bills made pretty much pointed towards releasing the Sean McCoy." ([06:23])

Impact on the Bills' Backfield:

• Devin Singletary: A rookie running back whose stock has risen due to McCoy's release.
• Frank Gore: Continues to demonstrate strong performance and is expected to share the workload with Singletary and TJ Yelden.
• TJ Yelden: A valuable pass-catching back whose role remains significant.

Fantasy Implications:

• Mike Wright: Suggests that Singletary might not be the primary back immediately, stating, "I think that Frank Gore and Singletary will share the first and second down role." ([08:38])
• Jason Moore: Recommends drafting Singletary at a higher position than current Average Draft Position (ADP) indicates. "I would draft him higher right now. He's in the ninth round." ([10:17])

The hosts debate the future usage of Singletary, emphasizing that while his opportunity has increased, his immediate production might not meet high expectations.

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Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Situation: Damian Williams vs. LaShawn McCoy

Timestamp [10:43] The discussion transitions to the Kansas City Chiefs' backfield dynamics following McCoy’s release.

• Andy Holloway: Emphasizes his preference for Damian Williams as the primary back due to his proven performance. "Damian Williams will be the primary pass-catching running back." ([11:46])

Key Points:

• LaShawn McCoy's Career Stats:
  • "LaShawn McCoy, 2,346 career carries." ([22:14])
• Damian Williams' Value:
  • Despite limited carries last season, Williams has been a consistent performer and is expected to continue as the lead back.
• Volatility Concerns:
  • Andy Holloway: "To me, Kansas City does not run the ball a lot... If Damian Williams goes out and he gets eight carries and he doesn't score, those are the games I'm afraid of." ([23:54])

The hosts agree that while McCoy adds experience, Williams remains the cornerstone of the Chiefs' running game, posing less of a fantasy risk.

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Houston Texans Acquiring Carlos Hyde: Fantasy Impact

Timestamp [28:01] The Houston Texans' acquisition of running back Carlos Hyde from the Chiefs is dissected for its fantasy implications.

• Andy Holloway: Declares, "Carlos Hyde does nothing for fantasy owners." ([29:03])
• Mike Wright: Disagrees slightly, recognizing Hyde's role as a backup but emphasizing his limited fantasy value. "I don't think he's drafting Carlos Hyde." ([29:26])

Discussion Points:

• Backfield Competition:
  • Duke Johnson vs. Carlos Hyde: The Texans are expected to split carries, with Duke Johnson likely receiving the majority due to his established role.
• Fantasy Strategy:
  • Jason Moore: Advises against drafting Hyde, viewing him as a low-impact player for fantasy teams.

The consensus is that while Hyde brings depth, his effectiveness in the Texans' offense doesn't translate into valuable fantasy production.

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Melvin Gordon and Ezekiel Elliott Contract Situations

Timestamp [35:02] The episode covers the tumultuous contract negotiations surrounding running backs Melvin Gordon (San Diego Chargers) and Ezekiel Elliott (Dallas Cowboys).

• Melvin Gordon:

  • Jason Moore: "I still believe there's a chance he misses the whole season." ([37:48])
  • Andy Holloway: Considers Gordon a high-risk, low-reward pick in drafts due to potential holdout. "Gordon is basically a dart throw at the back half of drafts." ([37:07])

• Ezekiel Elliott:

  • Mike Wright: Reports that Elliott is close to signing a six-year, $90 million extension. "Reports are the Cowboys are close to signing Ezekiel Elliott to a six year, $90 million extension." ([38:51])
  • Jason Moore: Views Elliott's potential contract as a positive for his fantasy value, believing it resets the market for running backs.

Fantasy Implications:

• Melvin Gordon: Viewed as a high-risk pick; avoid in drafts unless you’re willing to gamble on his return.
• Ezekiel Elliott: If the contract is finalized, Elliott remains a top-tier fantasy running back, solidifying his value.

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Arizona Cardinals Roster Cuts and Future Players

Timestamp [52:21] The hosts discuss recent roster cuts by the Arizona Cardinals, highlighting the release of Ricky Seals-Jones and its impact on their offense.

• Andy Holloway: "They don't use tight ends that much. This is going to be a four wide receiver set on the, on the reg. And Clay will certainly be the main tight end." ([52:21])
• Jason Moore: Notes the shift back to a wide receiver-heavy offense, diminishing the tight end's role and, by extension, Ricky Seals-Jones' fantasy value.

Fantasy Advice:

• June Cut: Ricky Seals-Jones is deemed fantasy irrelevant post-release, implying that tight end positions may require different strategies moving forward.

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Streaming Defenses: Seattle Seahawks Highlighted

Timestamp [55:04] A new segment introduces advice on streaming defenses for week one. The Seattle Seahawks defense is touted as a top pick due to their matchup and performance metrics.

• Andy Holloway: Recommends streaming Seattle against Andy Dalton's team. "We like the Seattle Seahawks defense because... they already have Wagner running around doing Wagner things and now you get to break out Jadavian Clowney." ([56:00])
• Mike Wright: Agrees, emphasizing Seattle's ability to disrupt Dalton. "Seattle Seahawks defense... Andy Dalton is going to get sacked." ([57:08])

Additional Recommendations:

• Dallas Cowboys Defense: Noted for their strong upcoming schedule against Giants, Washington, and Miami.
• Detroit Lions Defense: Suggested as a viable alternative, especially against the Arizona Cardinals' unpredictable offense.

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Player Injury Updates and Fantasy Advice

Timestamp [44:35] The hosts provide updates on player injuries and their availability for week one, offering strategic advice for fantasy managers.

• Amari Cooper (Dallas Cowboys): Returning to practice and expected to play in week one.
• Robbie Anderson (New York Jets): Trending towards being available. Andy states he's uncomfortable playing him in week one but is open to changes based on performance.
• Jordan Reed (Washington Football Team): Still in concussion protocol, with advice to avoid starting him despite potential high upside if cleared.

Fantasy Strategies:

• Wide Receivers: Emphasis on cautious approaches with players like Jordan Reed who have injury histories.
• Running Backs: Encouragement to capitalize on value picks like Tevin Coleman and Matt Breida, who are expected to see significant workloads.

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Conclusion

Timestamp [60:05] The hosts wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of their weekly rankings and encouraging listeners to utilize their website for detailed projections and tools. They highlight the new "Defense vs. Offense" segment, advising on optimal streaming defenses for week one. The episode concludes with acknowledgments to sponsors and a humorous recap of a jersey mishap that highlights the fun and engaging nature of the show.

Notable Closing Quote:

• Andy Holloway: "We also want to thank Navy Federal... We’re going to be back with you tomorrow morning. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Take care." ([60:25])

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Andy Holloway on Bills' Move:
  "The Bills released running back LaShawn McCoy... All offseason long, the moves the Bills made pretty much pointed towards releasing the Sean McCoy." ([06:23])

• Mike Wright on Singletary’s Role:
  "I think that Frank Gore and Singletary will share the first and second down role." ([08:38])

• Jason Moore on Drafting Singletary:
  "I would draft him higher right now. He's in the ninth round." ([10:17])

• Andy Holloway on Kansas City’s Run Game:
  "To me, Kansas City does not run the ball a lot... If Damian Williams goes out and he gets eight carries and he doesn't score, those are the games I'm afraid of." ([23:54])

• Andy Holloway on Carlos Hyde:
  "Carlos Hyde does nothing for fantasy owners." ([29:03])

• Jason Moore on Melvin Gordon:
  "I still believe there's a chance he misses the whole season." ([37:48])

• Mike Wright on Ezekiel Elliott:
  "Reports are the Cowboys are close to signing Ezekiel Elliott to a six year, $90 million extension." ([38:51])

• Andy Holloway on Streaming Seattle Defense:
  "We like the Seattle Seahawks defense because... they already have Wagner running around doing Wagner things and now you get to break out Jadavian Clowney." ([56:00])

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Final Thoughts

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast delves deep into roster changes and their fantasy implications, particularly focusing on the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs' running back situations. The acquisition by the Houston Texans and contract negotiations for key running backs like Melvin Gordon and Ezekiel Elliott highlight the dynamic nature of the NFL offseason. Additionally, strategic advice on streaming defenses offers valuable insights for fantasy managers gearing up for week one. The hosts blend expert analysis with engaging banter, making complex fantasy decisions accessible and entertaining for all listeners.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot clan. Navy Federal is proud to serve over 8 million members, including active duty military, the DoD veterans and their families. You'll receive a lifetime of membership benefits with Navy Federal and you can easily access accounts, transfer money, pay bills and deposit checks with the Navy Federal mobile app. Visit navy federal.org footballers for more information, call 1-888-842-6328 or download the Navy Federal credit union app. Message and data rates may apply.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in. Welcome in to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Andy, Mike and Jason back.

[Mike Wright]

Guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Doing some reps over there, guys.

[Mike Wright]

It's week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, it's week one.

[Mike Wright]

We made it. We made it. The extended bye week is over. Mercy, mercy rains down from the heavens upon us all.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome into the show. Excited to be back with you. Enjoyed, I guess a reprieve yesterday with the families. Didn't have a show. First time. We've never had a Labor Day show, which means that it takes us three or four years to learn that a lot of people are off on Labor Day and we should take the day off and give our employees a day with the family to prime up before the season.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, we didn't. We didn't give them the day off, Andy. We made them come in and just.

[Andy Holloway]

I wasn't here.

[Jason Moore]

Clean mop. Yeah, we were. Toilets.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I did make Brooks do some social media. I think just like a brief amount.

[Mike Wright]

From his work computer.

[Andy Holloway]

Were you doing the breakfast in bed with the mimosa while you did that for me, Brooks, though? I mean, you were enjoying the day. Nah, nah, nah.

[Mike Wright]

Not enjoying.

[Andy Holloway]

Not enjoying it. Wishes he was here, but week one is upon us.

[Mike Wright]

It is.

[Andy Holloway]

And the weekend was wild and crazy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

And everybody wants. I don't know if you guys know how Twitter works, but they want to know everything immediately. You want when news breaks, which we're going to get into so much of it today, from Lashawn McCoy to Damian Williams, Carlos Hyde, Laramie Tunzel, all this news, but you need to know immediately the entire future of the world on Twitter. It's an imperative, and I get it. That's our job to speculate on those things and figure it out. But news takes time to develop a real good picture of what's going to happen. And so we have, I think, a little bit more than we had on Saturday night and Sunday.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. But while you were over there being measured, I was just a volcano firing off Hot takes. As soon as the news broke, I.

[Andy Holloway]

Thought you were a man sobbing in the corner with his Damian Williams shares. Was that not your actual state?

[Mike Wright]

No, no. There was. There was some, some weeping. There was some words that we don't talk about on this podcast that may have been muttered under my breath. Well, but I pulled myself together.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's. Here's some headline news for the Foot Clan out there getting ready for week one Today. The week one rankings will be up on the website. The Start Sit tool will be up on the website. We'll have all of our. Basically, this is the transition day into week one. People have been drafting people drafted all weekend long.

[Jason Moore]

People are still drafted.

[Mike Wright]

You're supposed to finish it.

[Andy Holloway]

That was impressive.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

And you are both simultaneously correct. People are still drafting. The season has not begun. It will begin Thursday. Point of clarity, because I need to say this. I misspoke on the last show. When I inferred that Josh Gordon played on Thursday, I somewhere in the deep recesses of my subconscious I thought the Patriots always play on Thursday to start the year. They play on Sunday. So I had made the comment that you need to make sure that you move a player out of your flex into a position spot Thursday. So that would be all packers, all Bears.

[Mike Wright]

The strategy still holds.

[Andy Holloway]

The strategy holds.

[Mike Wright]

The advice was garbage.

[Andy Holloway]

The specific example was horribly inaccurate. So apologies on that. You can find us on twitter @the ffballer. Still time to get in on the signed Alvin Camara jersey [e-mail] and I also want to encourage people if you do want to be a part of the Megla bowl, the deadline is basically. Yeah. Thank you, Mike. Is that a ping pong ball?

[Mike Wright]

No, that's.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's a clock. That's the little timer.

[Mike Wright]

Little timer.

[Andy Holloway]

Egg timer.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

But you can go to jointhefoot.com all of our patreon supporters get a free entry into the Megalobol. There are over 60500 of you now in the biggest, best tournament of all time.

[Jason Moore]

This legitimately. As far as a true season long league, I don't know if it's the biggest that exists, but it might be.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that won't stop us from claiming that it is.

[Jason Moore]

That it could be.

[Andy Holloway]

That it could be. It's going to be a lot of fun. So without further ado. No quick question. Too much news to cover. Let's do it.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Andy Holloway]

I have no idea how long it will take us to get through all the news Roster cuts as long as.

[Mike Wright]

It takes, Andy, as you say, I.

[Andy Holloway]

Don'T care how long it takes. I've been wanting to talk with both of you about all of these issues as much as I have the Foot Clan, because we were off this weekend and we were trading slack messages and we were tweeting, but we didn't get.

[Jason Moore]

A chance to argue in person, certainly. And that's really what fuels us.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, yes. My blood needs to be boiling to exist in this world. The Bills released running back LaShawn McCoy. This was. I'll give a shout out to Mike, who on our show on Friday specifically said, please don't cut Devin Singletary or make any adjustments to your bill shares until this weekend happens. Because all offseason long, the moves the Bills made pretty much pointed towards releasing the Sean McCoy. All the words they said were related to Lashan's our guy. I've been told he's the guy. He's the number one guy. He's my best guy. And now he's gone.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, the money pointed to getting rid of him, and that's really. That was the cause. When we first started talking about Shady possibly being released was just because look at the money. I mean, he was owed more than so many other star running backs combined in the league. They go out and they sign Frank Gore, they bring in TJ Yelden and draft a running back. It looked like it would happen. And then all the verbiage, all the usage in preseason, we kept saying, like, we were off, you know, off show. We were like, man, it just looks like they're trying to feature him for a trade or highlight him or something.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it had to have been for the trade and just no one was going to trade for LaShawn McCoy with the amount of money he was owed.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, no question about it. So McCoy gone. Let's talk about what remains in Buffalo before we talk about where Shady went. Devin SingleTary, Frank Gore, T.J. eldon, that is the backfield in Buffalo. Marcus Murphy also released one of the other running backs in the room, but Singletary shares. Those of you with Devin Singletary, rookie running back, we're very excited about this news. Frank Gore has looked like the starter throughout the preseason. Continues to be ever the Frank Gore.

[Mike Wright]

He's infinite.

[Andy Holloway]

So how do you boys see this shaking out for the duration of this season? Like, how would you treat. Because I know the questions, right? They don't just want to. Our listeners don't just want to hear that. They also want to hear what do I do Week one with the Buffalo backfield. So where are you with those two questions?

[Mike Wright]

So I believe it will start out as a timeshare. What was great for Devin Singletary and hopefully for the majority of our listeners. You were able to draft Singletary incredibly late when the backfield was muddled on the surface. But the shady release, it just, it really felt like it was going to happen. That's why Singletary was worth the draft pick. Unfortunately, after the news Singletary just, he got in his rocket ship and he launched off to Mars. And people started paying up way too much for Singletary who they think, okay, automatically Singletary is the leader of the backfield. He's going to have be the primary guy. I don't think that's the truth. I think that Frank Gore and Singletary will share the first and second down role. And then TJ Eldon, who's a great pass catcher. Meanwhile, Devin, he'll play third downs. Devin Singletary, that's. He doesn't really have a huge production profile, especially his last year in college. So I'm concerned that he'll be able to work in on third downs. But Singletary isn't. He has a great stash. If you were able to get him in that 9th or 10th round or even later.

[Jason Moore]

I don't personally, I don't think he's going too high in drafts right now. Really, I would draft him higher right now. He's in the ninth round in like.

[Mike Wright]

That'S just ADP hasn't caught like people.

[Jason Moore]

Were asking, I will take him in the sixth round.

[Mike Wright]

That's where people were taking and that's.

[Jason Moore]

That'S what I would tell people personally to do. They did not cut Lashawn McCoy because of Frank Gore. They cut Lashawn McCoy because of Devin Singletary. He has come in, he's looked electric. There's been some people around the team that say they believe he can be a workhorse. Three down back. He has that skill set.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what hurt the ADP. It was not just the release of LaShawn McCoy. It was an accompanying beat writer who suggested that Singletary would be featured right out of the gate. And you combine those two things into kind of the whirlwind for Singletary. I, I think Singletary will establish himself in time. I do not think it will be immediate by any stretch of the imagination. And for all. I don't know if you've seen this. I mean this was a surprise to them. This was a surprise to Frank Gore. This was a surprise to Devon Singletary. Gore Came out and said in practice on Monday, he said, I thought it was a joke. When he heard that Lasham was released, he said 10 minutes later I noticed he was actually serious, like he didn't know this was going to happen. So Gore has looked better than Singletary in the preseason?

[Jason Moore]

No. Yes, Gore's looked fine. He's looked better than you expect.

[Andy Holloway]

Singletary's had a very moderate preseason. He's three point something a carry.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's. Gore has been for something a carry and he's looked better to me. So the problem the future is Singletary, the present might be Gore for a few weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Like he, maybe he turns into a three down guy. But that's what has to happen if you're going to start moving him way up your draft board. No one was excited to draft Shady McCoy. No one. He was going sometimes after Devin Singletary in drafts and he was the starter like it was. Yes, we were reading the tea leaves that he should be cut, but that was a really last second cut. And at that, up till that point, no one felt like the starting running back for Buffalo had value.

[Jason Moore]

But that was because it was shady. I mean, the truth is early in the off season I said that there's no point in which I would draft JD because he was 31 years old last season.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Last season he looked terrible. That was early in the off season. Just saying he was on his way down and out as a player. I mean that's just how it looked. And now you've got a guy coming in that was high draft capital. One of the most telling translating stats or certain stats in college that translate better for predictability and fantasy at the running back position. Surprisingly, the most sticky stat from college to fantasy production in the NFL is rushing touchdowns for running backs. And Devin Singletary had 32 in one season and 22 in his final season. I mean, you saw him used around the goal line in preseason and then, you know, I think he's got the opportunity. Do I think he comes out and is a three down back week one? No. In fact, on the season I've got Frank Gore with 150 carries. So I don't have this statted out like Devin Singletary is going to be everything there. But this is a team that wants to run the ball. This is a team that can run the ball, especially with their quarterback. And so I believe.

[Andy Holloway]

What about TJ Eldon though? Because you know that he'll be involved in the offense as well.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, I've got TJ Eldon looking for 45 carries.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he will.

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to steal receptions away from both of those players.

[Jason Moore]

So I have right now Devin Singletary for 205 carries and 45 targets, 35 receptions.

[Andy Holloway]

So you have them at 205 carries, correct?

[Mike Wright]

What running back.

[Andy Holloway]

I got him at 155 carries.

[Jason Moore]

Right. That's where I've got Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Where you have Frank Gore, 137.

[Jason Moore]

So you just have the team having fewer rushing attempts.

[Andy Holloway]

I have the team, yeah. I mean, Josh Allen takes away from that too. I mean, the team is a rushing team, will have great statistics, they will run with a great frequency, but it will be displaced across Allen, Singletary, Gordon Yelden. I still look at Singletary as a second half player if I see an emergence. But this is why we're bringing it up. I mean, you guys are hearing us break this down. We've done it mentally, but now we're, you know, where did he come.

[Mike Wright]

Where did Singletary come in for you in your season long? Running back.

[Jason Moore]

Running back, 25.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. He came in at 30 for me when I put his initial numbers in. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And to your point, Jason, last year they had 468 rushing attempts. I have them projected for 454. So 14 fewer. So it's pretty similar. I don't think I would like. If you're playing week one, let me ask you this, Mike. You have to choose between Frank Gore and Devin Singletary. Week one, who do you play? Jason?

[Jason Moore]

I would play Devin Singletary.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

I would prefer week one foot clan that's listening to play neither.

[Andy Holloway]

Peyton Barber.

[Jason Moore]

The jets have a really good defensive line. That's their week one matchup.

[Andy Holloway]

So Peyton Barber or Frank Gore or Devin Singletary. Week one, oh, dirty deeds. Oh, man, you want to feel gross. Week one, who do you play? You feel confident enough in your Single Terry, your 203 pound Devin Singletary to put him out there. Week one over Peyton Barber.

[Jason Moore]

San Francisco, which is Tampa Bay's Week 1 opponent, has had a lot of injuries. Man, I think I would go Peyton Barber slightly over Devin Singletary for week one.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

I don't feel clean. I feel like I need a shower right now.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. LaShawn McCoy, no worse for wear. In fact, much better. He ends up on the best offense in football. Signed to a one year $4 million contract with 3 million guaranteed. The Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid bring in an old friend, Shady McCoy to join a backfield with Damian Williams and Darwin Thompson. Ruh Row there is. Let's talk about the impact to Damian Williams. Sure to start because some of the doubts around Damian Williams had to do with how much the team is forced into their loyalty, money, tenure, all of those things that that's been the concern around Damian Williams for me. Not necessarily that. Like I told you last week, Mike, and I'm not, there's not a victory lap for Damian Williams. We didn't know Shady McCoy was going to go there, but he was a bust before this signing for me on the bus show. And the reason why was simply because of the range of outcomes for Damian Williams. They could fall in love with Darwin Thompson. They could bring in another back. At the time it was Carlos Hyde and we've seen Damian never receive more than 50 carries in a season. I think what we're seeing now is the, you know, early off season. Damien's our guy. Damien's our guy. Damien's our guy. Opportunity comes to bring in Lashawn McCoy and here we are. How do you see this breaking down McCoy gets, you know, it's a one year deal for a veteran. The money doesn't really concern me at all.

[Mike Wright]

Nor does, nor do I, nor do.

[Jason Moore]

I, nor do I share concerns with Buddy.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike wanted to agree with me there and didn't know how.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, we got there.

[Andy Holloway]

But at this point, when you think about McCoy coming into a situation, he was really bad last year. Lashawn McCoy was like what, 3.4, 3.2 a carry, throw that out. He was PFF, ranked 41st on two of their major rushing metrics. He was a bad running back last season.

[Jason Moore]

That's just like Damian Williams was his whole career.

[Mike Wright]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

Prior to the Chiefs.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct. But if you say, hey, Lashawn McCoy, I want a chance to resurrect your career, let's go to a situation where Damian Williams was really good. Let's go to a situation where you're with a former head coach who views you maybe in a light that the other play other coaches in the league doesn't view you. If he went to a random, you know, the Chargers were rumored as a destination for McCoy. Same offer is what I heard. He got offered money to go to the Chargers because they're done with Melvin Gordon. That's a whole nother story. But if he goes to Los Angeles, they don't know him. They're going to let him. You know, what he did and does on the field may matter more in Los Angeles than what he's done before. Matters in Kansas City.

[Jason Moore]

Right. 100%. I mean, the fact that you're coming in to a team where the head coach knows you, trust you. Because remember, look, if you, if you think back to last year, Kareem Hunt goes away. Do you remember Damian Williams stepped up was great because I don't remember that. What I remember is Spencer Ware stepped up and then it was once Spencer Ware went down that Damian Williams got his shot. And so yeah, coming into this season, you've got one A and one B. You've got two starters now. I have. We were arguing on slack immediately following the news. Our initial reactions, I truly believed Shady was going to be the guy. Not, not, not the, not like he was taking over and Dwell was going away, but he would get first snaps. You'd be, you know, great after week one or two. And when I started him out, I still had Damian Williams being the more valuable back because I do think while I've got Shady down for as many carries as D. Will on the season, D Will's usage in the passing game is fantastic, especially for the Chiefs. And the amount of fantasy points that will flow from this position are great, but I've got them very close to each other. D Will slightly ahead. But this, I mean, he tumbles now because you take so much opportunity away from Damian Williams. You know, we always say talent and opportunity. The opportunity was unbelievable. Talent, not so much. But now the opportunity gets cut in.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what his, his ceiling is? Aside from an injury to me, the Damian Williams ceiling, which is where I think he was being drafted for the majority of the off season, is gone. To me, the volatility is the problem now, not production. I've been saying that since this move happened. I'm worried about the volatility. Somebody will be great very frequently on the Chiefs in the Chiefs running game, but I don't think this throws Damien Darwin Thompson. Now, for fantasy purposes, Darwin's probably not a player you want to mess with, but for NFL purposes, I think he'll still be utilized. So now you're talking about a three headed situation and I'm worried about the volatility. Is there going to be a backfield that you're more interested in watching run out onto the field in week one?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

As they take the field and everyone's scanning for numbers is 25 out there.

[Jason Moore]

Mike and I are still really, really excited to see Mike Davis get the first carry.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's a whole different story.

[Jason Moore]

Thursday Night Football just.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you're talking about the Chicago Bears.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Just so the whole world could. Well, you said, is there any backfield you're more excited to watch.

[Mike Wright]

I just want to watch because that's going to happen. Mike Davis will get the first snap.

[Andy Holloway]

You really believe that?

[Mike Wright]

And Twitter. I don't think Mike Davis will be the primary guy. I just think this. That's one of those veteran weird things that can happen. And Twitter is going to lose its mind. Okay, back to Kansas City. I still believe that Damian Williams is the primary running back. Like everything Jason. That's why I thought your. Your take on Shady McCoy's value in Buffalo was interesting, like there. To me, there is a large difference. If you think a player is not as talented as other players, as a running back who you think is washed, that's a very big difference. Shady McCoy is. He's a Hall of Fame running back to me, but part of that is longevity. And he. That guy has seen so many touches that. I mean, he is way past the running back, Cliff. And you kind of saw it really catch him the past two years. The past two years.

[Andy Holloway]

I've got those numbers if you want them.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, please.

[Andy Holloway]

LaShawn McCoy, 2,346 career carries. Damian Williams, 183.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Someone has tread left. And it was up until 2017, 13.

[Andy Holloway]

Times as many carries as Damian Williams.

[Mike Wright]

So 2017, two years ago, that was the lowest yards per carry of McCoy's career at just four until last year when it dropped down to 3.2. I still have Damian Williams as the primary guy. There was. There's a quote from Andy Reid, who. This one isn't circulating as much, which is interesting. The one that went viral and went fire was them talking about, okay, we have two starters, but instead this is a quote from Reed. He knows what to expect. I've been speaking of McCoy. I've been very honest with him about Damian and how good of a football player he is. It doesn't matter if we think Damian Williams is a bad football player. If Jason thinks that Damian Williams is a bad football player, Lashan or Andy Reid thinks he's a good football player. This is. This is the needle in the haystack. A running back who he had a huge amount of production with years ago. And this is. You're going back to 2012. Talk about getting back together with your ex and things could be really, really bad. So I'm still drafting Damian Williams. If I'm drafting right now, I'm not taking him in the second round. You got to buy that dip. He. If once he hits around the fourth or the fifth round, then I'm still interested. Damian Williams will be the primary pass catching running back. And there's lots and lots of touchdowns to go around Kansas City.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's where the volatility argument comes to head. To me, Kansas City does not run the ball a lot. People need to understand that. They run it well. They don't run it a lot. Last year, 387 carries. Baltimore, Seattle, they're in the five 30s, five 40s, they're in the. Kansas City's in the bottom third in rushing attempts. If you split that up, you could have great weeks. If you roll the dice correctly, you could have absolute bottom of the barrel problems. If Damian Williams goes out and he gets eight carries and he doesn't score. Those are the games I'm afraid of.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And it certainly could happen. It just would go, it would be removed from what Andy Reid has done his entire.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't you, don't you think it's interesting that Reid would come out though and pronounce the committee weeks ago and then bring in McCoy?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

That matter to you?

[Mike Wright]

What he was saying about the committee doesn't matter to me because the committee was with Carlos Hyde, which every beat reporter was saying, this guy's not going to make the team. Which is undercutting everything Andy Reid is saying to me. When that happened, that was. This guy that I have put my entire support behind to be our starter is hurt and he's not out there and I'm super frustrated with it. We all have read into it.

[Andy Holloway]

We all have. Damian Williams statted for more fantasy points than Sean McCoy, but I would take the cheaper one in drafts.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. I mean right now that's. That was the question I was going to bring up is where are you drafting Damian Williams at this point?

[Mike Wright]

Fourth, fifth round? I'd still take him there.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. I think that's fair, I guess. Fair?

[Mike Wright]

I Man, before we move on to more news and there's still more.

[Andy Holloway]

We haven't even tip of the iceberg here.

[Mike Wright]

Look, fantasy football is back. We are all excited and that means that fanduel is also back and they have more ways to win cash prizes and once in a lifetime experiences during every game every week. If you've never played on FanDuel, fantastic. Because new users can get a five dollar bonus with their first deposit. FanDuel is the perfect complement, the perfect complement to your season long. You look, you want Damian Williams, you didn't, you didn't get him and now you're interested in what's happening with his price. Or maybe you're trying to buy in On Devin Singletary who he could see a bump, but he's got that cheaper salary. Week one. You can do that over on FanDuel. You get to pick a new team every week. And with the FanDuel app you can play anytime, anywhere. No matter how you like to play, there is a contest for you. Get in on the action anywhere you want. Sign up for FanDuel now and get a $5 bonus with your first deposit of at least $5. Go to FanDuel.com Footballers or download the FanDuel app and see why they why FanDuel is way more than just fantasy sports. That's FanDuel.com Footballers and we want to.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

Right, the Texans acquired running back Carlos Hyde from the Chiefs in exchange for offensive guard Martinez Rankin. Carlos Hyde joins yet another franchise you should like.

[Mike Wright]

His fourth team and I think it's.

[Jason Moore]

Five teams in two years.

[Mike Wright]

Smith Schuster just.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, juju goes down.

[Andy Holloway]

We just. If you heard a sound on the podcast, we just lost a large frame jersey off the back wall. Now, fortunately, it did not hit Batman's head.

[Jason Moore]

Nothing could take Batman down.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Batman's safe. However, Juju is not.

[Jason Moore]

We gotta go to the YouTube to see.

[Mike Wright]

Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a foreshadowing of things to come.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I will say this week one is not looking. I think. I think Bill Belichick is gonna take juju out week one, but he's preparing.

[Andy Holloway]

Yourself for the long haul.

[Jason Moore]

Is it a coincidence that juju's jersey was hanging behind the fantasy reaper when it came down.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Brooks just let it be. Let it be. You're good. Yeah. I don't know if I thought Brooks was going to come over here and we'll just leave him down there. Okay. Back to Carlos Hyde.

[Mike Wright]

Hooray.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't care about him when he was on the best rushing situation or one of the better offenses in football in Kansas City. I don't care about him now. I didn't care about him in Jacksonville. I didn't care about him in Cleveland. Carlos Hyde does nothing for fantasy owners. So that, that would be. Do you guys disagree with that in any. Do you have any interest in Carlos Hyde?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think.

[Andy Holloway]

I know he affects other players, but I'm saying him specifically. That's the question out there.

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm not drafting Carlos Hyde. And I was going to say he, he does nothing for me. He does things to me. Because we all expected the Texans. They had to make a move for Duke Johnson. They can't say, okay, Duke, you're going to touch the ball 300 times. That's just not who Duke Johnson is at this point. So bringing in Carlos Hyde, that's best case scenario? It is best case scenario.

[Andy Holloway]

You were happy when the Chiefs signed him.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because it represented something for Damian Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. So it's, it's certainly. He's the backup. He is the backup to Duke Johnson. He's going to get on the field, he's going to get touches. Will he get goal line over Duke Johnson? That's the big question. Because Carlos Hyde is still a big bruising guy.

[Jason Moore]

Now, when you say that he's the backup, do you mean that you believe Duke Johnson will have more rushing attempts than Carlos Hyde?

[Mike Wright]

I do.

[Jason Moore]

Do you, Andy as well?

[Andy Holloway]

I lean that way.

[Jason Moore]

I find myself on the opposite sides of most of the arguments. I mean, I completely agree. I don't want Carlos Hyde. I don't want to touch him with a 10 foot pole. He's not as good as Lamar Miller who, you know, had the whole role to himself and you know, we've talked about this. The utilization of The Texans and DeSean Watson so far has been near the goal line. It's a lot of pass plays. It's not a lot of rushing work for the running back and they don't pass to the running back over the last several years. Historically now they haven't had a Duke Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Expect that they will, they will do that.

[Jason Moore]

I expect that to go up because now they have A good pass catching back. But now you're splitting the situation where, you know, Lamar Miller last season had 210 carries. Neither one of these backs is going to approach that number, in my opinion. I think that Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson will both be sharing those carries. And while the total pass catching work will go up, it has to go up for it to just be near the bottom of the league. I mean, they've been pretty much dead last over the last five years. So I don't want Carlos Hyde and this is a good situation for Duke Johnson as far as who's going to come in to replace him. But I still don't think, I think with a big bruising back like Carlos Hyde, I just can't imagine them giving the majority of rushing attempts to Duke Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, let's, let's say this. If Bill O'Brien was so lucky, so fortunate to have Alfred Blue in his own backfield, a healthy alfred blue, Bill O'Brien would give him carries.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And he would give them with no regard to their productivity. So if Carlos, I could have handpicked a situation where he could say, hey, I can go and be not productive somewhere on the reg and keep getting the ball and keep getting the ball, it would have to be Houston. And I do think that they, I think they'll be similar in terms of total carries. Duke will be far more productive. And they picked up Laramie Tunzel. This was a big piece of the.

[Mike Wright]

Puzzle here, big time.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, they acquired arguably, you know, top, the top or a top five left tackle in football.

[Mike Wright]

One of the top, especially one of the top young left tackles in the league.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And they signed, they acquired Tunzel, Kenny Stills and a fourth round pick and they gave up everything else that they have.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, the offense gets better, which means maybe, maybe goal line opportunities do go up. If they're able to move the ball, you know, you take a couple sacks away from.

[Mike Wright]

There will be no goal line, man. It's all DeSean Watson.

[Jason Moore]

I love DeSean Watson.

[Mike Wright]

40 yard touchdowns, great friend of the show, J.J. zacharias. And he had a hilarious tweet to me, said the NFL's out here playing chess and the Texans are playing Madden. I was like, yeah, that's perfect. They, the Texans, they peeked over the yard and they saw what the Chiefs were doing when the Chiefs just have everyone who's faster than everybody else. And now they're Fuller and Stills on the same field with hot. Look with Hopkins, who's still fast in his own right. He's not as Fast as Fuller and Kenny Stills. But when you have two lightning speed guys who are also a little bit bigger with Hopkins. Good luck. Good luck stopping that passing attack.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think part of stopping the passing attack is going to be whether or not they have a running game with the aforementioned Duke Johnson won't need it. And Carlos Hyde. I'm not willing to chase these acquisitions all the way to Deshaun Watson being my number one, but he's got. He's just set up. I mean, I think Mahomes is still. I still firmly have him there, but Watson's going to be a blast. He's going to be a blast to own for fantasy owners.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he will.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's going to have some mondo weeks.

[Jason Moore]

I'm really jealous of people because I have him nowhere. He was still, you know, one of the higher drafted quarterbacks, and I'm not drafting a quarterback in those early rounds, but I'm jealous. I'm jealous of the people that get to play to Sean Watson this year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's going to be fun.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Are we good? Moving on, Kenny. Still, some people want to know relevance.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think he has fantasy relevance for himself. It's just. It's a. It's a huge upgrade for desean Watson.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably similar to, like, you know, when you give deep threats to Drew Brees over the years. Those guys, you didn't generally play, but, man, they helped Drew Brees.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly Right. The only thing I want to say before we move on from the Texans is as you brought up Alfred Blue, I went back and looked at his game last year, and they're delightful. Can I interest you in 20 carries for 40 yards? Yes. Give the guy the ball more.

[Mike Wright]

He had 40 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, 46 yards. I cut six of them off, you.

[Andy Holloway]

Know, for, you know, for a fact.

[Jason Moore]

He kept getting the ball 20 carries.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think Bill O'Brien cares that much about productivity. Obviously, the evidence shows that it's more. Do you set up the play action pass? Do you set up what the offense is trying to do? There is no doubt alfred blue high five Bill O'Brien on the way into the locker room after his 24:40 performance. That's what I believe. All right, let's talk about Melvin Gordon. Let's talk about Ezekiel Elliott. The great holdouts, they continue. The Chargers, they're done. They're done negotiating. They're done talking. They're not even. Maybe they never began. And so Gordon is either going to put his tail between his legs and roll up at some point during the season, he has to do it before week 10 or his contract doesn't toll. And if I'm Melvin Gordon, I show up because I need to get out of here. If I'm not going to get my money, I need to get out. And the only way I get out of town is if I show up for half the season and move on.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, it's one of those situations where they're not going to renegotiate until after the season. They've given him permission to seek a trade. So he either gets that trade with a team who clearly has to pay him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't think he's going to find a trade.

[Jason Moore]

No, I mean, what, what team at this point in the season is going to pay what he is asking for.

[Mike Wright]

And give up pieces?

[Jason Moore]

I mean, this is one of those really weird situations where I know that there's all the rules of if he doesn't sign by this time or do this thing, you know, the season doesn't accrue, he'd be on his fifth year option next year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I still believe there's a chance he misses the whole season. I think that you can't just apply really simplistic binary logic to these situations. Look, left bell. Other than a season ending injury, he lost a ton of money by holding out last year. Yes, he got paid up, but overall he was going to get paid either way. He lost I think approximately like $14 million.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just really hard though because Gordon can't do anything. I mean, they could seek to trade him. Like if he held out through the year, he's losing the game checks and you know, is he going to trade all the game checks up to week 10 and then he doesn't have any free agency. He has no, no ability to be released. I just don't know what happens. Do they trade him in the off season? That's one of the outcomes that he doesn't play through the whole year. He gives up all that money, then they trade him, then he has to find a paycheck. I tend to believe he's back by week 10, which means basically not even touching him in drafts because there is a percentage chance Jason is dead on. Right? Or I guess you're not even. You're not predicting that he will miss all year. You're just saying he could.

[Jason Moore]

It's in the range of.

[Andy Holloway]

And I do believe that as well. Therefore, Gordon is basically a dart throw at the back half of drafts. If you want to be the guy with his pants off running around the room saying, I did it. I did it. I stole Melvin Gordon. You know, week six, seven, eight, whenever he showed.

[Mike Wright]

Gordon stole you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he did. And the thing is, is this team is 100% planning to be without him. They're content with Eckler Jackson and what was going to be Shady McCoy or some other option. So Melvin Gordon is in a bad. In a bad spot.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he's also not made a lot of money in his career. So you're giving up a lot. Not rolling up. So. And then Ezekiel Elliott, get this. He's. Things are trending the right way. Things are trending the wrong way. He's in Cabo. He's in America. He's. Things are looking real good. Things are looking real bad. So where are we with Zeke? Because now the latest.

[Mike Wright]

We have more.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you want me to hit the button?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Breaking news according to Pro Football Talk.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

This. Oh, my gosh.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, let me have it.

[Mike Wright]

Reports are the Cowboys are close to signing Ezekiel elliott to a six year, $90 million extension by the time you listen to this.

[Andy Holloway]

This could be done based on this report because he is back in the country. And, oh, man, I think we almost need.

[Mike Wright]

How crappy does Melvin Gordon feel if this goes through? Like he's. He's thinking, oh, this is a victory. Zeke has reset the market. No, Zeke had two years left, and his team said, yeah, we're going to. We're going to open up the vault. And the Chargers said, nab, bro.

[Jason Moore]

No, Mel, Melvin Gordon, I totally get what you're saying, but he'll be. He'll be thrilled about this because he thinks this just raises the baseline of what running way. Yes, He's. He's probably wrong to do so. This is what we've been saying for this entire offseason. We've been so much more scared of Melvin Gordon than Zeke. Now this not to maybe that maybe the deal is done by the time you listen to this podcast. And maybe they go backwards and he's not there for week one or maybe week two. But there's communication. They both want the deal to get done. They're just squabbling over all of the details. Zeke is playing the vast majority of this season. I don't think that is really something that is scary at this point is losing him for.

[Andy Holloway]

Not based on recent news. And I would tend to believe. I mean, it looks like this thing is likely to get done. It matches him flying back into the country. Now. They also signed Lael Collins to a five year contract extension, locking up their tackle. So if this deal goes through because we need to, we need to talk like that. What do you do if you're a Tony Pollard owner and you don't have Zeke? Because if you have Zeke, maybe you hold on to Tony Pollard, maybe you don't. I mean if he signs this deal.

[Mike Wright]

Then Tony Pollard is a. Is a useless. Not useless. He is completely a handcuff which a.

[Jason Moore]

Handcuff that I would not have drafted.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. That's why. That's why the word useless came out. Was the only reason I'm interested in drafting Tony Pollard because Jerry Jones was. He was preparing at least posture wise, preparing to be without Zeke maybe up to six games and Tony Pollard was going to smash if that was going to be the case. But if Zeke inks this right now, then Tony Pollard is. I'm going to reach out to the Zeke owner. I'm going to see if maybe like.

[Andy Holloway]

You sure try to get something for that sixth, seventh round pick you spent on Pollard.

[Mike Wright]

You sure you don't want some of this insurance?

[Jason Moore]

Remind them what happens when a player stays out of camp. Comes in late sometimes they week one.

[Mike Wright]

You go spin doctors.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I'm very thankful that we waited a little while to talk about Zeke on this show because this looks like it's happening. So Jay Z inked.

[Mike Wright]

Zeke is inked. Does he shoot right back to your number one guy?

[Jason Moore]

He is my number one running back on the season. If he is inked, that is such good news for me because I have him in a lot of best ball. I feel like roster I've got them.

[Andy Holloway]

Week one is you get the same workload coming back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting.

[Mike Wright]

He's Cabo fit.

[Andy Holloway]

Man, I wish I was Cabo fit.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, me too. I mean the thing is is if you do ink something like this.

[Andy Holloway]

Is his head getting bigger, by the way?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Like is Zeke's head. Is it one of those like, is this a permanent like situation where it just keeps getting bigger every year?

[Jason Moore]

We'll just have to refer to Mike for those answers. He's the only one that can understand.

[Mike Wright]

And the answer. Does your head keep getting larger?

[Jason Moore]

It.

[Mike Wright]

The answer is apparently.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my gosh. Well, yeah. I mean this, this is.

[Mike Wright]

I feel your pain, Zeke, for what.

[Andy Holloway]

It'S worth that big heads unite. That average would have him tie Todd Gurley as the highest paid back in the league.

[Jason Moore]

But a lot of years, a lot of years.

[Andy Holloway]

I know that they didn't want to front load the deal. They need flexibility. They've got. My goodness. You sign your tackle, you signed Zeke. Now you got to deal with Dakota, then you got to deal with Cooper.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

How much money do you got, Jerry? Extended Jalen Smith last week. Yeah, they did.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, boy.

[Jason Moore]

Gonna pay out the nose for. What's that? College coach Lincoln Riley.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Gonna pay out the nose for him next year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you might. And I don't know if you pay. I mean, Amari Cooper probably has a bit of a Melvin Gordon problem going on.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he does.

[Andy Holloway]

And that is thinking that you're more valuable than you are. And it's not to say Cooper's not a good receiver or Gordon's a good running back, but I don't think you have the right appropriation of your importance to the team. And you can. If Michael Gallup takes a step up and you can go draft the white out. I don't know why you pay Cooper. I really don't know why you would if you're Dallas with all this money going around, no flexibility. You want your defense to be good.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you get to see this year whether or not, I mean, if he. If he steps up and dominates and is a clear cut wide receiver, one in the league, then you pay him. But if he doesn't and he's just one of your wide receivers that maybe gets the most targets, then, yeah, you don't. You don't pay the level he's looking.

[Andy Holloway]

For or deals with plantar fasciitis all year long.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Hey, guess what? Jacoby Brissette got paid. Two year, $30 million contract, 20 million guaranteed. They're certainly committed to Jacoby Brissette as the starter.

[Jason Moore]

Super smart move because otherwise. Otherwise, I mean, he's not the future there. But he's their starter all season.

[Andy Holloway]

He could be their future.

[Jason Moore]

He could be. But the point is, like, I don't think that this team, I mean, it was two year deal. It keeps them from having to franchise him next year if they clearly don't have the known future in Place.

[Andy Holloway]

He's 26 years old. Then they went out and perfectly signed, perfectly signed Brian Hoyer to a three.

[Jason Moore]

Year deal right in the box. Nothing outside the lines.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Perfect signature.

[Jason Moore]

Unbelievable.

[Andy Holloway]

Three year, $12 million deal. I say perfect because this is the exact kind of signing you need behind Jacoby Brissette and with Chad Kelly, Hoyer will be the backup to.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

To Jacoby Brissette.

[Mike Wright]

Congratulations.

[Andy Holloway]

And Colts and Hoyer. I know I've mentioned it before. I can see the future Colts will be better than you think.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think they're going to be a bad team. Their defense is great, their offensive line is good and their head coach is outstanding. But they're not going to be the super bowl contending Colts that I so desperately wanted to see this year.

[Andy Holloway]

You are correct. Injury Updates Amari Cooper returned to practice after missing nearly a month. He will play Week one. Jets Robbie Anderson trending towards playing in Week one I'm trending towards being uncomfortable playing in Week one. It's not in one of my lineups as of today. I'm willing to move him in if things turn the right direction this week. We'll keep you. It's already updated.

[Mike Wright]

Really rough matchup. It sucks.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to talk briefly about some hype Darius Geist hype, jay Gruden said. And this is a rare thing, and I think it's a rare thing when you pay a guy like Adrian Peterson, who was productive and Darius guy's coming off the injury. Gruden came out and said he's going to get more carries than Adrian Peterson this year. He said the offense carries Wise will go through him. Now. I don't think the offense carries Wise is going to be great but fair.

[Jason Moore]

This is as good as you could possibly.

[Andy Holloway]

This is as good as you could get for a guy who had a very tumultuous, uncomfortable offseason in fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

Most coaches, there's, there's, there's fluff. There's. Most of the time they're just not answering anything.

[Andy Holloway]

There's guts.

[Jason Moore]

They say things like, you know, oh, fluff and go. They're all good. But to say that the offense carry wise is going to run through this player. Yeah, I mean, you have to. That matters. And the time of year that it's being said also matters. They feel like he's healthy. I have been up to this point saying that I would rather have AP over guys based on the head coach coming out and saying something like this. You, you can't. You have to stay water. You have to say, okay, Geist is clearly going to be the one with the more carries on the season. Now the question then becomes how valuable.

[Andy Holloway]

Are those carries and can he stay healthy?

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. The Redskins offensive line is watch out.

[Mike Wright]

At left guard, they'll be starting Eric Flowers. If you've played fantasy football for any amount of time, that name should terrify.

[Jason Moore]

You or excite you. If you're on the defensive side.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man, hold on.

[Jason Moore]

It gets worse.

[Mike Wright]

Hold on. At left tackle, they Will be starting Donald Penn, who they just scooped up off of the streets.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he's so washed. He's so washed.

[Mike Wright]

So the so case Keenum quote won the starting job.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he lost in a lot of ways, didn't he?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Yes. While we're talking about hype, I had tweeted about it over the weekend when they cut Josh Dachshund. I don't normally love rookie wide receivers, but Terry McLaurin is in a really good situation.

[Andy Holloway]

Great situation.

[Mike Wright]

I have him stashed in a couple weeks just to see what happens. Week one. Let's. Let's just see what happens. And on top of that, if you're just talking long term, he was the go to wide receiver from.

[Andy Holloway]

For Dwayne has.

[Mike Wright]

For Dwayne Haskins.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

It's like that connection's already there. Who will be forced to be the.

[Andy Holloway]

Starting quarterback probably second half of week one. The way that the offensive line looks in Washington. Jerick McKinnon placed on injured reserve. Jeff Wilson release. The situation at the running back position in San Francisco, it's pretty clear. Is really clear. It's going to be Tevin Coleman and Matt Breida and it's going to be pretty good. And hopefully you have them. Hopefully you got both those players at a value because there was no way you couldn't. That was. You want a gift from fantasy football over the off season, if you drafted Tevin Coleman or you drafted Matt Breida, you got them cheaper than they. Than what their real value is.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, 100%.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Reed is still in the concussion.

[Mike Wright]

Protocol, which is not surprising at all. When you've had multiple concussions, you're in the protocol longer.

[Jason Moore]

Let's say he's cleared right now. He's back starting week one. You would play him over, say, Darren Waller.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not. I would not touch Jordan Reed. I've got enough guys I'd rather just roll out their week one.

[Jason Moore]

That's where I am too. That's why I was curious, Mike, where.

[Andy Holloway]

You were, because I wouldn't see. I don't mind rostering him. But then you're rostering too.

[Mike Wright]

You're saying, like if I'm playing Jordan Reed, that means I'm in the. I'm in the bowels with, with guys like Darren Waller and get out the bowels. Yeah, you don't want to be there. But Jordan Reed, if he's out there, he will be a focal point of the offense.

[Jason Moore]

I guess my point is, let's say you have those two guys. You've got Jordan Reed or Darren Waller and they both could have a great week one.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

If they do, I'm terrified to have Jordan Reed and I it can't keep up because it's one more hard hit literally anywhere. It doesn't have to be concussion, head.

[Andy Holloway]

And shoulders, knees and toes.

[Jason Moore]

And toes. What toes.

[Mike Wright]

But yeah, I don't need toes.

[Jason Moore]

So that's where I think I would.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think I'm just adding someone.

[Jason Moore]

Like Waller where if it's if he pops, I trust that I've got something for the season.

[Andy Holloway]

You might need read over Trey Burton. He's day to day Thursday night game. It's not looking great for Trey Burton getting out there.

[Mike Wright]

Even if Burton's cleared to play, I'm not going to play him.

[Andy Holloway]

Nikhil Harry on ir Non season ending IR for Nikhil Harry. First round rookie Demarius Thomas got resigned by the Patriots. Right now Josh Gordon is expected to play a full allotment of slaps. Of slaps, not snapshot slaps.

[Jason Moore]

That's what, that's what they call him because whenever there's press coverage you just.

[Andy Holloway]

He slaps out of the way. I was speaking once again very accurately about Josh Gordon on this show. But you feel good starting him up week one, seeing what you got with Josh Gordon?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I am fine throwing him out there. Right. Right off the bat. Week one.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Slap him into your lineup. That's what I do. Alpha Blue Jags running back on ir.

[Jason Moore]

So if there's ever been a Jag running back, it's Albert. Oh my gosh, just a guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Fournette looks great from a guaranteed workload standpoint. Jason's SEAL clapping I'm so happy because.

[Jason Moore]

I was forced into him in two of our three main leagues and I've got Fournette, which I wasn't super thrilled about. But lately I'm getting happier and happier.

[Mike Wright]

With Alphabet Blue gone. Raichwal Armstead is he is the primary backup. If I believe if something happens to Fournette, Reichwell will slide right in and he'll have.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he'll have. He'll get work week one. He'll get work, sure, but not work that you care about. Jason, I think this is important because you will never probably get to do it again. But Ricky Seals Jones. Okay. I was wondering which direction you were going to go. I thought maybe a slow death. You went the choking, choking to death method.

[Jason Moore]

It was a quick cut.

[Andy Holloway]

He was cut from the Arizona Cardinals claim by the Browns. Ricky Seals Jones Days of fantasy, relevance.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, look, if a guy who already has positive feelings for you and Cliff Kingsbury, he's already connected to Ricky Seals Jones, if he said no, you can't play for my team.

[Andy Holloway]

Does it say anything about Charles Clay? I mean, Clay is going to have a significant role in the offense.

[Jason Moore]

I think it says a lot about the Arizona Cardinals offense as a whole. You saw them using a lot of tight ends in preseason and some of the writers that follow the Cardinals very closely. This is all just. This is not what you're seeing in practice. They don't use tight ends that much. This is going to be a four wide receiver set on the, on the reg. And Clay will certainly be the main tight end. Without a doubt.

[Mike Wright]

Could be Max Williams, Wendell Smallwood, Danelle.

[Andy Holloway]

Pomfreth, Josh Adams and Boston Scott. Cut, cut, cut, cut.

[Mike Wright]

Clearing, clearing house. When you spend a second round pick on a rookie running back, still have.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders, Darren Sprols and Corey Clement.

[Jason Moore]

Good for you. Corey Clement. I mean, just holding on, just being able to make that team this year. I didn't think you'd do it.

[Andy Holloway]

We got all of our week one rankings will be on the website the fantasy footballers.com today. If you are a member of JoinTheFoot.com, you get access to flex rankings, you get access to the actually week, the actual full stat projections for the week because of the matchup. Now I don't know how it'll all shake out for all of my teams, but because of the matchup, would you consider playing Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders together at home against Washington this week, knowing that both will see a significant amount of work and both have touchdown potential against Washington. Is that a stack you would consider? It's a rarity. But the matchup and the productivity seems.

[Jason Moore]

Interesting because of where they were drafted. I doubt that anybody in the world would need to start those two guys. They probably have starters ahead of them, but I do believe both guys are startable. So if you're in a deep league and that happens to be your situation, that's fine.

[Andy Holloway]

Can I put a hypothetical to you?

[Jason Moore]

Please do.

[Andy Holloway]

Caleb Belage plays Baltimore, week one. Okay. Do you play Caleb Bellage or do you play Jordan Howard?

[Jason Moore]

Jordan Howard.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Devin Singletary plays the jets on the road, week one.

[Jason Moore]

Miles Sanders.

[Andy Holloway]

So you going, so then would you play those?

[Jason Moore]

Then I would play those.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that, that's the situation that a friend of mine, a distant friend of mine.

[Jason Moore]

I did not realize what was happening. This is real life.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

See, we're playing games this Week, Jay.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my God.

[Andy Holloway]

So I needed to figure out what.

[Mike Wright]

Set his lineup against you. You bad dummy.

[Jason Moore]

Ridiculous.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I think we're gonna wrap things up today. News and notes is always brought to you by the sleeper app. Don't miss a piece of impactful fantasy news this year. Download the free sleeper app today. Now, before we close it down, we are breaking out a brand new segment.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Now each and every week we're, we're looking towards.

[Mike Wright]

Tuesdays is all about waivers, man.

[Andy Holloway]

It's normally the waivers show. So each and every Tuesday we bring you the waiver picks. But this is appropriate for this week. You're getting ready. A lot of you didn't even draft defenses because you're waiting to the last minute.

[Mike Wright]

Good for you.

[Andy Holloway]

By the way, it's very smart because if you had Devon Singletary instead of a defense, yeah, you're sitting pretty. But we've got a new Tuesday segment.

[Jason Moore]

Defense vs. Offense, presented by Head and Shoulders and Walmart.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's pick some streaming defenses for week one. We like to look at low ownership defensive opportunities going up against struggling offenses or offenses we don't think are going to be great. So you don't have to, you know, if you went out and drafted Jacksonville, you get to play them against Kansas City, Week one. Congratulations. But I'm bringing the Seattle Seahawks defense to the forefront. They are 13% owned right now. I don't get it. I don't know why they have an at home matchup against Andy Dalton. They get a break out their new weapon and I mean they've already got Wagner running around doing Wagner things and now you get to break out Jadavian Clowney. You know, this is a team last year that I think the reason this, they're not getting any love. Middle of the pack. Last year as a defense and yards given up per game, they were 11th in points given up per game, they were 11th in takeaways. Those are both top half this is going to be and when you play at home, when you play with the 12th Man, Seattle shows up. So for me, my streaming defense pick in week one is Seattle against Andy Dalton without AJ Green. It could be rough with, with that Seattle defense going at him.

[Mike Wright]

My streaming pick is also the Seattle Seahawks defense because that's the one that I want to go with. Andy Dalton is going to get sacked. Andy Dalton is going to turn the ball over against that defense and that's a promise. It's just going to happen to you. But because Andy was first to the dock to put Seattle in I want to throw out the Dallas Cowboys, who they are still available. I know they were drafted far more than the Seahawks and certainly more than the defense that Jason's going to throw out. But they are available in some of these leagues and their opening schedule, the Giants, Washington, Miami.

[Andy Holloway]

So this Keenum Fitz Rosen fits.

[Mike Wright]

So this segment is all about streaming a defense. You might not have to stream a defense if you grabbed the Dallas Cowboys, who in their own right, they're a strong defense and then they get three plus matches. That's what I like to start the season out well.

[Jason Moore]

So now I get to talk about mine. I love yours because your mine is the Seattle Seahawks. If you're out there, play Seattle Week one.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe these are in order of your.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, yes, this would be the order because I love. I mean any league that I was in, if I couldn't get Baltimore, which was kind of my team I was trying to draft, I would then go to the Cowboys because of what Mike said about their upcoming schedule. But you want to talk defense versus offense, right? This is a scary one. But if you're out there and there's no other options, I think you can take a gamble on the Detroit Lions because they're playing the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, the exciting air raid number one overall pick Kyler Murray led Arizona Cardinals. The hope is that the Cardinals are going to torch the world, but we haven't seen it yet.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't hope they torch the world.

[Mike Wright]

That's scary.

[Jason Moore]

We haven't seen it yet. We haven't seen the air raid. We did see against the Oakland Raiders. The only time in preseason where there were blitzes and they blitzed all the time that that frustrated Kyler Murray and they got sacks. They've got snacks as well. Snacks. Harrison on the defensive line, Darius Slay out there shutting some guys down. So I think that it's one of those things where you've got a rookie quarterback. There's a lot of unknown. He's the type that he will take sacks, he doesn't take hits, but he'll just go down. If you're close enough to him behind the line of scrimmage, he'll slide, which I think is smart. But you get fantasy points for that.

[Andy Holloway]

I like. I think for Kyler Murray's sake, it's nice that he's at home in Week one. I'll tell you that. To get at least they get if you're looking for the upside of like I am, I don't know what to do with Kyle. I own Kyler in a lot of leagues because I drafted him late as that secondary option and I don't know whether to play him or not. See what I got or see what I got. Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

[Jason Moore]

It's really tough.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, head and shoulders offense for your hair, defense for a flake. Free scalp. Check it out on Walmart.com or at your local Walmart. We're going to close today's show out. As always, we want to thank Pristine Auction for being our studio sponsor. A Matt Breida signed Jersey went for $41 yesterday, guys.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's $41 is always undervalued.

[Andy Holloway]

Always, always. So check them out. Pristineauction.com use the registration code ballers and you'll get $5 towards the sports memorabilia purchase. We'll be back with you tomorrow morning. It's going to be a lot of fun. Take care.

[Mike Wright]

It's season time.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantas podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on TwitterFFballers.

[Andy Holloway]

We also want to thank Navy Federal they are proud to serve over 8 million members, including active duty military, the DOD, veterans and their families. You'll receive a lifetime of membership benefits with Navy Federal and you can easily access accounts, transfer money, pay bills and deposit checks with the Navy Federal mobile app. Visit navyfederal.org footballers for more information or call 1-888-842-6328 or download the Navy Federal Credit Union app. Message and data rates may apply.