The Footie Awards! + Top 10 for 2019, Brown Bombshell

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast Episode: The Footie Awards! + Top 10 for 2019, Brown Bombshell
Release Date: January 3, 2019
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Introduction and Studio Updates

The episode kicks off with the hosts welcoming listeners from their new studio, thanks to their latest sponsor, Pristine Auction. Mike Wright humorously remarks on the high-quality memorabilia available, setting an enthusiastic tone for the episode. Andy Holloway (00:26) introduces the agenda: an early look at their top 10 fantasy football picks for 2019, followed by the highly anticipated Footy Awards.

2. Top 10 Fantasy Football Picks for 2019

The hosts delve into their individual top 10 lists, offering diverse perspectives based on different scoring formats (half PPR vs. full PPR).

• 1. Todd Gurley

  • Andy Holloway (06:07): "We all have Todd Gurley at one."

• 2. Saquon Barkley vs. Melvin Gordon vs. Ezekiel Elliott

  • Andy: Chooses Saquon Barkley for his exceptional rookie performance and high reception volume.
  • Jason Moore (07:01): Prefers Melvin Gordon due to his role as a complete workhorse in the offense.
  • Mike Wright (07:18): Selects Ezekiel Elliott, factoring in his rushing touchdowns and reception involvement.

• 3. Christian McCaffrey vs. Zeke Elliott

  • Andy: Ranks Christian McCaffrey third for breaking the receiving record among running backs.
  • Jason: Places Zeke Elliott at three, aligning with Mike's choice.

• 4-10. Further Rankings

  • Andy: Includes Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Melvin Gordon, James Conner, Antonio Brown, DeVonte Adams, and DeAndre Hopkins.
  • Jason and Mike: Offer varying rankings for these players, highlighting differences in offensive strategies and player performance outlooks.

Notable Insights:

• The debate between Barkley and Elliott underscores the importance of balancing rushing and receiving capabilities in player rankings.
• James Conner's inclusion despite controversy reflects his significant impact in fantasy leagues, especially for those managing Pittsburgh Steelers players.

3. NFL News and Antonio Brown Situation

A substantial portion of the episode focuses on Antonio Brown's tumultuous relationship with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

• Andy Holloway (14:06): Outlines Brown's recent behavior, including leaving practice, public frustrations, and his desire to be traded.
• Jason Moore (16:32): Expresses skepticism about the Steelers' ability to trade Brown without significant dead cap implications.
• Mike Wright (18:40): Estimates a 65% likelihood of Brown returning to the Steelers, while Jason and Andy are more confident in his return.

Key Points:

• Brown's potential trade could lead to massive dead cap charges ($20 million if traded before June 1st).
• The episode discusses the broader implications for the Steelers' dynasty league management and fantasy football strategies.
• The hosts unanimously agree that Brown's return is highly probable, with minimal fantasy value impact unless traded.

4. Playoff Challenge and Predictions

The hosts introduce their annual NFL Playoff Challenge, encouraging listeners to join and compete alongside them.

• Andy Holloway (25:42): Details how the challenge works, emphasizing the fun and competitive spirit.
• Playoff Picks:
  • The hosts share their predictions for Wild Card weekend and beyond, showcasing diverse opinions:
    • Andy and Jason back the Chargers, while Mike favors the Ravens.
    • Disagreements arise on teams like the Cowboys, Seahawks, and Bears, reflecting the unpredictable nature of playoffs.

Notable Predictions:

• Rams vs. Chiefs vs. Saints: The hosts debate potential Super Bowl contenders, with each supporting different teams based on performance consistency and key player contributions.

5. The Footy Awards

A highlight of the episode is the announcement of the 2018 Footy Awards, celebrating outstanding fantasy football performances.

• Categories and Winners:

  • Performance of the Year: Derek Henry (59% of votes) for a standout single-week performance.

    • Andy Holloway (33:05): "Your footies are in the mail."

  • Man of the Year: Leonard Fournette narrowly beats Devonta Freeman.

    • Jason Moore (34:00): Despite challenges, Fournette's impact secured his win.

  • Poopiest Pants Award: Rob Gronkowski dominates with 69% of the vote for disappointing performance.

  • Waiver Wire Wonder: George Kittle triumphs with 41%, surpassing Philip Lindsay and Nick Chubb.

    • Jason Moore (36:44): Expresses regret for not voting for Kittle, emphasizing his crucial contributions.

  • Fantasy Wide Receiver of the Year: Devonte Adams wins decisively over Tyreek Hill.

    • Jason Moore (37:34): Highlights Adams' consistency and dominance.

  • Fantasy Running Back of the Year: Christian McCaffrey secures the title with strong performance metrics.

    • Andy Holloway (38:39): Emphasizes McCaffrey's consistent point accumulation.

  • Fantasy Tight End of the Year: George Kittle claims the award with 60.9% of the vote, outpacing Travis Kelsey and Zach Ertz.

  • Breakout Player of the Year: Patrick Mahomes wins for his extraordinary quarterback performance.

    • Jason Moore (40:52): Praises Mahomes' historic season as a first-year starter.

Notable Moments:

• Hosts engage in humorous interactions, such as Jason Moore congratulating the nominees and the playful banter surrounding the awards.
• The Footy Awards serve as both recognition and entertainment, reflecting the community-driven aspect of fantasy football.

6. Additional NFL News

The episode briefly covers other NFL updates:

• Coaching Changes:

  • Eagles' Coach Doug Peterson to start Nick Foles against the Bears.
  • Falcons dismiss their coach Steve Sarkeesian, leading to organizational restructuring.
  • Lions and Cardinals also announce offensive coordinator firings.

• Player Injuries and Updates:

  • Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, TJ Yeldon, and Marcus Mariota face uncertain statuses due to injuries.
  • Alshon Jeffery remains unfit for contact, affecting fantasy prospects.

7. Conclusion and Final Remarks

Wrapping up, the hosts encourage listeners to engage with their community through the Sleeper app and participate in the NFL Playoff Challenge at footclanchallenge.com. They express gratitude to their sponsor, Pristine Auction, and tease upcoming content, including strategy discussions, mock drafts, and league management tips for the off-season.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore (09:07): "Devonte Adams is as safe as they come."
• Mike Wright (18:40): "I would put mine at 65% back."
• Andy Holloway (33:05): "Derek Henry ran away with this one, figuratively, literally 59% of the vote."
• Jason Moore (40:52): "Patrick Mahomes, both of your footies are in the mail."

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This episode offers a comprehensive blend of fantasy football analysis, player evaluations, community engagement through awards, and the latest NFL news, ensuring that listeners are well-equipped for the upcoming season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign.

[Jason Moore]

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]

Oh, welcome in.

[Jason Moore]

Feels like a whole new year.

[Andy Holloway]

It's because it is. Jason. Thursday, January 3, 2019. You might have noticed something a little special, a little different about that introduction and that's because we have a brand new studio sponsor here. Shout out pristineauction.com youm've probably never heard.

[Mike Wright]

Of him if you listen to this show.

[Andy Holloway]

2019 studio sponsor. Thank you Pristine Auction for sponsoring the podcast. And you guys know all about Pristine Auction. Check them out. Pristineauction.com Daily Auctions hundreds, I mean incredible pieces of autograph sports memorabilia. And we'll be talking about them all year long. We'll be breaking down some of the sweet deals that you can get over there. But today's show, today's show is jam packed. We're going to talk through our top 10 picks, our early top 10 picks for 2019. Got some NFL news.

[Jason Moore]

Boring. Oh, are you top 10 NFL picks for next year's draft. Who cares that cuz news. Who cares?

[Andy Holloway]

He's really into.

[Mike Wright]

I'm really confused. What is happening right now.

[Andy Holloway]

That's cuz he's into the footy.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

That'S right. I mean, look, the people are here.

[Mike Wright]

Who do you think you are?

[Jason Moore]

The people are here in 2019 for one reason and one reason only, and that is to put those socks on those feet and see who wins the footy awards for 2018 season. This show's a big deal.

[Andy Holloway]

Now we do have one of the handcrafted footy award here on the table.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And this was blacksmith. Is that what you call something that's been made by a blacksmith? They blacksmith it or is it just smith?

[Jason Moore]

They forged it, I believe it's called. They have created a weapon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We decided before the show that there's no way and I'm going to pick this. Oh, that's so heavy. This is. This is impressive. We have a footy that was sent in by a listener who is a blacksmith. And it is. If this could kill, this could kill a man. But it's also a wonderful award.

[Mike Wright]

Well, to be fair, if your award can't eliminate someone from the earth isn't actually an award.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it's the weight. Isn't the. I mean the weight is really.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

What tells you a good award from a bad one?

[Jason Moore]

You know that this award, it's not hollow.

[Mike Wright]

No. There's substance. It's filled with.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's what the footies Are we have the official winners. Thank you to everybody out there that voted for the 2019 or I'm sorry, the 2018 Footy Awards. All the biggest winners in fantasy football, including some interesting and very close races, including the very. The nickname of the year was decided by how many votes?

[Jason Moore]

40 votes.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow, that's incredible considering how many millions vote on this thing. And then the moment of the year and many other.

[Mike Wright]

The honest truth is that's with the amount of votes. It was about 1%, 1% difference in the nickname.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't forget. Follow us in the new year on twitter @The FF Ballers, follow Jason @Jason FFL. Follow me at Andy Holloway, follow Mike @ffhipitman and then subscribe over on YouTube. YouTube.com the Fantasy Footballers if you are curious how many episodes you get each and every week now that the fantasy season is over. We record twice a week. Shows come out on Tuesday and Thursday up until June and then you can get an extra [e-mail] I'm sorry, through July. Yeah, through June.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And then in July we move to three a week and then we're five a week from August through December. But yeah, you can get a bonus show, a mailbag [e-mail] if you support us over on Patreon. And you can also check out our non football entertainment podcast if you got a little extra budget room in your podcast, which you do now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, because we're not five anymore.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. There is the Spitballers podcast.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Which is the three of us once again in front of these microphones against the will of many. And we just talk about nothing. Nothing.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, we debate deeply the merits of. Of nonsense.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there was. Maybe I should pull this up to kind of summarize it in case someone's curious what it is. But we had a review on Spitballers. Do you guys have that one? I thought it described it pretty well.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, I know where that review is.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I got it. I got it.

[Andy Holloway]

You got it, Mike, what did it. What did they say?

[Mike Wright]

He says it's a bullet point.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So this is the bullet point.

[Mike Wright]

Kudos for keeping things organized with this coming in from. Oh my turtles. Yes, it's literally. This is not point number one. It's literally. Literally just three dudes arguing over pointless stuff. It's fantastic. Two, the intro is fabulous. Sounds like if Seinfeld was funky. Three, I don't know if there's a difference between the three dudes actually, like to me they are just middle aged dads. One, two, and three.

[Jason Moore]

It's correct.

[Andy Holloway]

Accurate.

[Mike Wright]

Number four, they made me laugh out loud. Like really loud.

[Jason Moore]

Gross.

[Mike Wright]

Gasp. Laugh in the middle of class, which I am not happy about, but at the same time was funny to everyone else.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry, not sorry.

[Mike Wright]

Number five. I get to use this to procrastinate. So, yes, five stars.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you want an extra show, you can listen to the Spitballers podcast, find it on Apple Podcast, Google, wherever you listen to podcasts. And we're going to go ahead and get into our quick question of the day here on the fantasy footballers. And this is related to creating a very, very, very early top 10 picks for 2019. This is kind of an in vogue discussion. I've seen some articles pop up, people saying, oh, let's look in, look towards next year. And I think we were all curious about where we would put guys right here, right now, if you're making that decision. And Jason and I, we threw ours out on Twitter a couple days ago.

[Mike Wright]

I kept mine secret.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, I haven't heard yours yet. So how do you want to do this? You want to break down one by one?

[Jason Moore]

I say what you should do is you should read through your top 10 list, Andy, and when we get to your guy, we say where we've got them ranked. How do you feel about that?

[Andy Holloway]

I think that's fine. I mean, or we can.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

I'd like going one spot at a time, but.

[Jason Moore]

All right, that's better.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's where I am. Let's put it this way. Now, Mike, did you do yours in half ppr?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Jason, you did it as well. I think I did mine technically in full ppr, so that'll give some perspective for that format. But number one, I have Todd Gurley. Do we have any difference of opinion?

[Mike Wright]

Todd Gurley, number one.

[Jason Moore]

Number one.

[Andy Holloway]

So we all have Todd Gurley at one. Number two, I went with Saquon Barkley. Just broke the rookie record for receptions in a season points per game. Right now, he's number one week through 17. I got Saquon Barkley. Who do you guys have at number two?

[Jason Moore]

I have Melvin Gordon. I think there's. Yeah, I know. I think there are five running backs worthy of the number one spot. I'm choosing Melvin Gordon, probably higher than most because I believe in the offense. The touchdown volume will be there. And he catches passes and is a complete workhorse.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, who's your number two?

[Mike Wright]

Ezekiel Elliott.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Is currently my number two. And that's. There's definitely some risk involved in that. Not that there's risk in Elliott, but risk at him being number two. It's choosing to believe in the reception volume and also believing that six rushing touchdowns is extremely low for Zeke Elliott considering he had seven in 2017 playing 10 games only.

[Andy Holloway]

I have. I thought a lot about the Barkley vs Zeke debate and for me it is just the kind of upside of Saquon Barkley. Oh, yeah, the unforeseen upside of a guy that's catching that many passes that central to the offense. I love both players. I get that for sure. My number three is Christian McCaffrey. He gets the. The nod here ahead of Zeke. I'm in a full PPR here in my breakdown and McCaffrey obviously just broke the receiving record for the running position, so he gets the number three spot for me. Who do you guys have at three?

[Jason Moore]

I have Zeke, so I'm with Mike. I believe that the touchdowns will be there now that he's being involved in the passing game.

[Mike Wright]

Zeke is my third and Barkley is my number three.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so flip flop some spots there. My number four is Ezekiel Elliott. I've got him right there. I think an argument can be made for him at three in my list, but I've got him at four. Who do you have at four?

[Jason Moore]

Four. I've got Saquon, so you can go from one to five. I think it's. Again, I don't believe in the offense as much, but their offense was trash this year and he was great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I have Gordon at number four.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. At number five, I have Alvin Camara. Mark Ingram, a free agent. Alvin Camara, explosive, that offense. And Sean Payton. I think I'm obviously talking about a full PPR league as well. So the reception totals.

[Mike Wright]

Camara is tougher to rank because you don't know the status of Mark Ingram.

[Andy Holloway]

I actually. You think he's coming back?

[Mike Wright]

I actually think he will be back.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting. I think he may have. I mean, you could be right. He might have to settle. I don't think he's coming back of his own first pick. Right. Because the money he would want, they're not going to give him. But if he doesn't get it somewhere, maybe he comes back. So I've got Camara at five. Mike, what do you got? A five?

[Mike Wright]

I got Christian McCaffrey at five.

[Jason Moore]

I have Christian McCaffrey at five as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, then I've got Gordon. Melvin Gordon at number six.

[Mike Wright]

And I have number six. I got James Conner.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I thought you were going to say James White.

[Mike Wright]

James. James White. Connor.

[Jason Moore]

I have James Connor at 6 as well. And this was the. When I tweeted this out, this was the number one. Like people did not agree at all with James Connor.

[Andy Holloway]

People including your. I don't have him in my top 10. I don't think he belongs there.

[Jason Moore]

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back has pretty much always been a top three running back in the Mike Tomlin era. It doesn't even matter who it's been. So to have James Conner, who I presume it will be the complete nutter starter. I wish we had the playoffs right because if the, if the Steelers had made the playoffs we'd see what's their plan with James Conner and James Samuels. I think it's going to be the Conner show in 2019.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll get into the news here in a minute and we'll be talking about the Antonio Brown situation and some of the interesting things happening with the Pittsburgh Steelers. At number seven. I do have currently Antonio Brown. Now I said this a couple days ago. The cost to trade him is too high. I think he lines up outside again and I've got him at seven right now. His offseason situation will be one to monitor. But he's my first wide receiver in that top 10.

[Jason Moore]

At seven. I have my first wide receiver as well. But it's not Antonio Brown. It is Devonte Adams. Whoa, Adams, huh? Look, he's been unbelievable. Double digit touchdowns in the last three years. He's done it not just with Aaron Rodgers, he did it with Brett Hundley and now they might get an offensive coordinator in here to open things up a little more. I don't. I think Devonte Adams is as safe as they come.

[Mike Wright]

And I got Camara here at number seven.

[Andy Holloway]

My number eight is devonte Adams, the aforementioned. So I've got him just behind Brown.

[Jason Moore]

And I've got Antonio Brown there. So just a flip flop of wide.

[Mike Wright]

Receivers and I'm here to my first wide receiver who is in fact DeAndre Hopkins.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

DeAndre Hopkins.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely worthy. I mean there's similar to running backs. I think wide receivers has a handful of guys that you could take it the the top spot and it wouldn't. Wouldn't be weird at all. In 2019.

[Andy Holloway]

My number nine, this was the one that I got a little bit of feedback on. People didn't want to rank him because he doesn't have a team yet. And that's Le'Veon Bell. I went with Le'Veon Bell at number nine. He's going to, he's going to get paid and he's going to be put in a position to be a workhorse in the NFL. So I think, you know, the perennial number one type of guy will get the contract someplace. Le'Veon Bell. I've got a knife.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's super interesting because you got flack for having him in your top 10. I posted one without him. I got flack for not having my. For not having them in. So people aren't going to be happy no matter where you have left Bell at number nine is where I've got Alvin Camara. And again, that's. It's hard to rank him not knowing Mark Ingram situation.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's where. That's why Camara's where is where he is. If Mark Ingram does not come back.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Camaro will move up a few spots. I got Adams at the number nine spot. My wide receiver, too.

[Andy Holloway]

And number ten. Rounding it out, I have DeAndre Hopkins. So, Mike, you brought him up as your first wide receiver. I thought about it as well, and he's in my top 10 at number 10, which means that James Connor's not in the top 10, which means that Joe Mixon, David Johnson, Nick Chubb, Tyree Kill. If it was a standard league, I would have had Tyree kill higher than DeAndre Hopkins.

[Jason Moore]

And I've got DeAndre Hopkins at 10 as well.

[Mike Wright]

My number 10 is Joe Mixon.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, interesting. He was almost in my top 10 and then I thought better of it.

[Andy Holloway]

I think it means more with you having him there. To me, it means that you give him the. Not over a player like Nick Chubb. Right. David Johnson, some of these other potentially. I'm Sony Michelle. I mean, I think Sony Michelle belongs in the second round. This is, you know, my take, obviously, so interesting. Obviously, it's going to be hotly debated all offseason. We're going to have a lot of discussions, mock drafts, a lot of free agency, draft implications. And I will. The questions like Mark Ingram. That'll be very interesting.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Before we move into the news, it's the last time we have to do this. So that excites me greatly that it's the last time we have to do it. Because, look, you're exhausted, I'm exhausted. I get it. But we got to finish strong. FootClan. Vote.com help us secure that iHeartRadio podcast award, the first one ever. Your votes and your time has been so appreciated, Foot Clan. Thank you. You're not gonna hear me talk about it on the show anymore.

[Andy Holloway]

And of course, that's because voting is almost Close.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Closes on Saturday.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Go, go vote right now. Footclaimvote.com and it's rally time. It's time to finish strong. All right, let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you got that Sleeper app alert this week, you probably read a few things about the very unsettling Antonio Brown.

[Jason Moore]

It escalated rapidly as the Antonio Brown owner in our dynasty league. I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's give you the bullet points because maybe the last thing you heard about Antonio Brown was fresh off of an incredible near 20 target week in which he had almost 200 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Or did he have over 200 and 200 touchdowns?

[Andy Holloway]

He didn't last week.

[Jason Moore]

Well, he was injured, right?

[Andy Holloway]

No, he wasn't.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe.

[Andy Holloway]

Apparently. Well, there are reports that he turned down a test on his knee, but basically, look, he went AWOL again on the team. He left practice, he was angry, he was upset. There was frustration. He yelled, he was done. He talked again about why don't they just trade him. And something happened where he was away from the team. Showed up on Sunday wanting to play. They said, no, you're not going to play.

[Jason Moore]

So bizarre.

[Andy Holloway]

You're disrupting this team. Now, this team has gone through headache after headache lately. The Lev Bell saga continued through the majority of the year. They started 7, 2 and 1 and didn't make the playoffs. Mike Tomlin has been questioned repeatedly in the press and he was pretty forthright about Antonio Brown situation coming out, saying, look, he was a no show at walkthrough at that point. He said it became something different. And look, Brown said he felt better, was ready to play. Tomlin said, it doesn't work like that. You don't get to skip things and then play at your own volition.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, and there's reports leaking out of the locker room that teammates believe Antonio Brown was not hurt and that in fact he quit on the team.

[Jason Moore]

Which that's a serious accusation.

[Mike Wright]

And that's in my opinion, that's when things changed for Le'Veon Bell earlier in the it really seemed like Le'Veon Bell was going to come back after a week or two. But then this started happening where the team turned on him and he said, okay, well, I guess I'm not coming back. This is. It's rough for Antonio Brown and you.

[Jason Moore]

Might have seen the report that he's requested a trade. I believe Jason Locafor said that, but that seems to be overblown. That was him saying as he walked off like, well, then why don't you just trade me? That's not an official request. I don't believe they're shopping him. But whenever anything comes out like that, you know that if I'm another team, I'm picking up the phone, I'm going, ring, ring. Is Antonio Brown there? Can he come out and play?

[Mike Wright]

And you're right, Andy. It's from the fact that if they trade him, the Steelers will still eat a huge dead cap situation.

[Andy Holloway]

$20 million if they trade him before June 1st of dead cap, but it.

[Mike Wright]

Actually frees up their actual money and in the long run, getting rid, if, if they choose to get rid of him right now, they will be saving a lot of money if they think that, that this has to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

It would be a monster cap hit for this season. You're saying over the lifetime of the contract it would be a savings. I get that. It also if they wait beyond June 1st, it's a, it's a 15 million dollar cap hit.

[Mike Wright]

Right?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think he's going anywhere. I think this is Antonio Brown doing what he's done three times this year. I don't know whether they give him a. I mean, it sounds silly, but they may give him a raise to assuage the emotions of Antonio Brown. But I've told Jason this for about three or four weeks. I'm questioning the whole Steelers offense and the situation there with Mike Tomlin. This is just another iron, you know, thrown onto the fire, so to speak, where this locker room has changed and everything's fine when these problems happen. Lev Bell's contract, Antonio Brown, everything's fine when you win. They didn't make the playoffs for the first time since 24.

[Jason Moore]

That's why I don't think they can trade Antonio Brown because can they do it without Lev Bell? Yeah. James Conner can step in, Jalen Samuels can step in. Can they do without Antonio Brown? Juju's great, but no, that is much more difficult. Look, they barely, barely beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a must win game without Antonio Brown. His presence was sorely lost.

[Andy Holloway]

So for sake of fantasy, give me the odds that you think Antonio Brown is back with that team that has massive dynasty implications. I think we'd all agree if he goes somewhere else, it is not a good sign for his fantasy value.

[Mike Wright]

No, Jason and I, before the show, we were looking. Okay, let's, let's just play make believe.

[Andy Holloway]

Gm.

[Mike Wright]

Is there actually a spot where Antonio Brown can go and you get maybe.

[Jason Moore]

A boost or you just say the.

[Mike Wright]

Same or just expect the same. It is not.

[Jason Moore]

Nothing jumps out as San Francisco wouldn't be bad. You got Garoppolo, no other star wide receiver there.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe the Troy, maybe Detroit. Everything is just.

[Jason Moore]

It's not better. And I say 85% is my number. I think 85% that he is returning next year to the Steelers.

[Mike Wright]

I would put mine at 65% back.

[Andy Holloway]

And I'm about 90, about 90% sure he'll be back. But he good news, though. He did like The San Francisco 49ers on Twitter.

[Mike Wright]

He's doing the dude. This new wave of athletes, the way.

[Andy Holloway]

That they communicate, the way that they.

[Mike Wright]

Speak is by liking and following.

[Andy Holloway]

Passive aggressive.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's amazing.

[Jason Moore]

Social media pouting.

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna go like some tweets myself.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of, you know, finding validation from tweets. Oh, yeah, Michael Keaton did like one of our tweets, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

More than.

[Mike Wright]

We didn't talk about this.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we didn't bring this up.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I thought we did.

[Andy Holloway]

See, we've. If you don't know, if you haven't seen the great moments of this show before, long ago, multiple years ago, Mike and I simultaneously said, I love Michael Keaton on the show. It was just a serendipitous moment. And ever since then, that's been what we say when we have a kind of a jinx moment on the show.

[Jason Moore]

Say I love Michael Keaton. Because we all three love Michael Keaton.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Who doesn't? I mean, really?

[Jason Moore]

And he's my Batman's a national treasure. He's my Batman and Michael Keaton. Shout out if you're listening. We do genuinely love you and you're.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome on the show anytime.

[Jason Moore]

You can come in and guest host.

[Andy Holloway]

Also, he said he wrote us back on Twitter. He said he loves us back. So there's kind of a mutual, growing best friendship happening here.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like it's not too early to say we're best friends.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think it is too early.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like we're at that point right now. I mean, we can still take it, like next level, but not forever.

[Mike Wright]

Not like bff, not forever.

[Andy Holloway]

But at some point, we'll be having dinner from him across a very big table and he'll be on one end and we'll be on the other end.

[Jason Moore]

But we'll have one of those speakers where we can easily talk.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Eagles coach Doug Peterson said Nick Foles is going to start this week against the Bears. Steve Sarkeesian fired the Falcons, cleaned house.

[Mike Wright]

Ocd dc That sounds like a band and special teams coach gone.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

I love it. I love it. If I was a Falcons fan, I'd be ecstatic.

[Andy Holloway]

The absence of Sarkeesian, the hard thing.

[Mike Wright]

Is as much as two years ago, I would have been all about this. Their offense was pretty dang good this year.

[Andy Holloway]

That and we talked about this. Matt Ryan, it takes him two years in the system. He had an off year last year. He was the number two by fantasy points per game quarterback. This year. Julio Jones ended the year on a touchdown. Hot streak.

[Mike Wright]

Hot streak.

[Jason Moore]

I love Michael Keaton.

[Andy Holloway]

So I don't think it's great news. No.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll see what you're doing. The devil, you know, equaled very good fantasy value. So I'm a little bit less inclined to be behind it. Although I know Falcons fans are very, very happy. Jim Bob Cooter, oh, jbc.

[Mike Wright]

He's gone.

[Andy Holloway]

I love Michael Keith.

[Mike Wright]

It's a lot of that happened.

[Andy Holloway]

Agreed to mutually part ways. The Lions have fired their offensive coordinator. Cardinals fired their offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich. Thank goodness. Speaking at Monday's season ending presser, Winston's gonna remain the quarterback moving forward. And the the Bucks general manager has come out and said, look, any new head coach we get in Tampa is, is going to be all about Jameis Winston. This was a complete. If you look at these comments, these comments weren't just like, we're kind of confident that, you know, Winston's going to give us a better year. It was, he's 24, 25 years old. He's done stuff nobody's ever done in the history of the National Football League at that age. He is our quarterback moving forward. He's our guy. He's our franchise guy. That's, I always thought, framework for next year.

[Jason Moore]

I always thought when watching Hard Knocks, that dirt cutter hated Jameis Winston. Hates too strong a word. But he was like, that's not the guy he wanted. He was always like just trying to reel him back. Try to focus. Like, you know, if, if you think you've got this shot but it could be dangerous, don't do it. Jameis and yeah, I think they want someone to support their franchise quarterback. I would say half the teams in the league if Jameis were cut.

[Mike Wright]

Oh yeah, like he would be picked up immediately, come on board.

[Andy Holloway]

And his age and ability that he has shown at times he needs somebody. He does seem like he has the psyche that needs a coach's confidence, has confidence in him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, the contract situation will speak volumes Too, for Jameis, because he's in his fifth year option, which means he's in a contract year. Do they actually bring in a new coaching staff and just lock that up and say, jameis, you're the guy for the future?

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that was today's news and notes. With fantasy football ramping down, now is the time to ask your commissioner if you are using the right platform.

[Mike Wright]

It's a good question.

[Andy Holloway]

Use Sleeper. All you dynasty owners out there, check out the Sleeper platform, the Sleeper app. All right, we're going to get into our playoff picks real quick because we do this every year. We've got the playoff challenge, the Foot clan. We'll all compete together and then we'll get into the footy award winners. All right. Brooks, do you. Are you on board with that plan?

[Jason Moore]

Sounds great, Andy.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you have a nice new year, Brooks? Yeah, I actually made it. And you stayed up.

[Jason Moore]

You made it incredible.

[Andy Holloway]

What'd you. What'd you do?

[Mike Wright]

Were you able.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you and Dylan stay in? Yeah. Were you watching, like, Office episodes? We watched the Ball drop Eastern time. Okay. Oh, wait a minute. Is that what you meant by waiting?

[Jason Moore]

Made it up?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but then we made it till midnight, too. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

All right. That 7pm he drank the five hour energy. He timed it. He's like, I got to stay up.

[Andy Holloway]

Congratulations. That's better than I did.

[Mike Wright]

How many slices of pizza, Brooks?

[Andy Holloway]

Only a few.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

My man, My man, My man.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Hey, we want to thank Fantasy Champs for sponsoring today's show. If you need a trophy, if you need a belt, if you need some hardware to celebrate your big time title that you just brought home, check out fantasychamps.com use the promo code Ballers. Get a deal on a great gold trophy, crystal trophy. There's loser trophies, there's rings, custom engravings. It's pretty cool. And that is fantasychamps.com Absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

And Folklon, you're missing the footballers. I know. You don't get us five times a week. You get us twice a week.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Can't play us in half speed, though. It's not advised. But you can do that if you want. Twice.

[Jason Moore]

Pretty funny.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

From time to time we get the. Hey, play it at half speed. You sound like you're drunk. Sound like you're having a party. Maybe that's true, I don't know. But you can get a third show if you help support the show [e-mail] among with many other perks, but just, Just consider it. If you want more footballers in your.

[Jason Moore]

Life, you can get the episodes earlier now. We record them the day before so you can get them earlier.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's jump in here. Every year we do a playoff challenge over at the NFL Playoff Challenge on the website. You can enter our group and compete against us in the playoff challenge. It's super fun. And you do [e-mail] completely free. And what are we giving away?

[Mike Wright]

Something awesome.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's going to be incredible. It's going to be.

[Andy Holloway]

We don't know.

[Mike Wright]

Amazing.

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't think we know, but trust us, it'll be great. Here's what matters. Here's what matters. Last year I think we had the fourth largest group because there's groups on the playoff challenge over NFL.com I think we had the fourth largest. Fourth.

[Mike Wright]

Fourth or third.

[Jason Moore]

But this year I want to be. I want to be outside of like the actual NFL's group because that. That's the website.

[Mike Wright]

They put everyone in it. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Outside of them. I want to be the biggest.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fine.

[Jason Moore]

So go do it.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fine. And you don't even know what we're giving away.

[Jason Moore]

It doesn't matter.

[Andy Holloway]

Give them no reason.

[Jason Moore]

I'm playing for fun. I can't even win.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, you want to break down how that works real quick.

[Mike Wright]

The playoff challenge.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So you can certainly. You pick.

[Jason Moore]

It's just.

[Mike Wright]

It's fantasy football. You pick your players and if your player survives into the next week, they get a multiplier. So double the point.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So first round, let's say I play Dak Prescott. Cowboys win next week because I have Dak. His points will be worth two. If they go further, his points will be worth three.

[Jason Moore]

And you can take bye week players even for week one. Obviously you're not going to score anything week one, but you got them on.

[Andy Holloway]

A multiplier for week two.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You guarantee that. That they'll get pretty fun.

[Andy Holloway]

It is.

[Mike Wright]

It's super fun.

[Andy Holloway]

And they have prizes over there, too. So we do it every year. Footclanchallenge.com to enter our group. Or you can go to the NFL Playoff Challenge website and just type in fantasy footballers and find us and join it for free. And we wanted to break down our picks for wild card weekend and beyond because, look, there's nothing we like more than bragging. And if we get it right right now, I mean, you've got the whole audio record. I want the glory, man. I want the glory of nailing it. Perfect. Perfect bracket.

[Jason Moore]

I'm pretty confident that I Have a perfect racket.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it similar to your Giants pick?

[Jason Moore]

I hope the beginning of the year. I hope not. Last year in the playoffs, you mean?

[Andy Holloway]

I think it was a couple years ago.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Two years ago.

[Andy Holloway]

But no, don't worry. Before the season, you said they were going to make the playoffs. Don't worry about that.

[Jason Moore]

Said they were. All right, I might have.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's walk through the first round with our picks real quick. Ravens, Chargers. Who do you have winning that game?

[Jason Moore]

I've got the Chargers.

[Andy Holloway]

I do as well.

[Mike Wright]

I got the Ravens.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Texans. Colts. Who do you got winning that one?

[Jason Moore]

Texans.

[Mike Wright]

Colts.

[Andy Holloway]

Colts.

[Jason Moore]

Cowboys.

[Andy Holloway]

Cowboys. Seahawks. I have the Seahawks.

[Mike Wright]

Cowboys.

[Jason Moore]

And I have the Cowboys as well.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, the Bears. Eagles game. I have the Bears.

[Mike Wright]

Bears.

[Jason Moore]

And I have the Eagles.

[Mike Wright]

So we have no unanimous.

[Jason Moore]

That is the first time in the history of the show that the first round has not one.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we're all glory. I don't want to share share any of that glory. All right, so my second round matchup on the AFC side, Chiefs, Colts. I have the Chiefs winning.

[Mike Wright]

I have the Chiefs winning that matchup as well.

[Jason Moore]

I have the Chiefs playing the Chargers and losing.

[Andy Holloway]

So you have the Chargers going to the AFC title game.

[Jason Moore]

I have the Chargers in the AFC title game. The Chiefs keeping that hot streak of losing in Kansas City in the playoffs alive.

[Andy Holloway]

Patriots. Chargers. My second AFC matchup. I have the Chargers winning that game and facing the Chiefs in the AFC title game.

[Mike Wright]

I have the Patriots, Ravens. I have the Ravens winning that matchup.

[Jason Moore]

And I have Patriots, Texans. And I'm taking the Texans for the three Pete of all three of us saying no, no, Patriots.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, Mike, just to be clear, that means your AFC title game is Chiefs, Ravens.

[Mike Wright]

Ravens.

[Andy Holloway]

Two rookie, or I guess not rookie, but first year.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Quarterbacks on the NFC side. I have the Saints, Seahawks playing one another and the Saints winning. Going to the NFC title game.

[Jason Moore]

I have the Saints also winning.

[Mike Wright]

But against the Eagles, I have the Saints losing. Really losing to the NFC north division champion, the Chicago Bears.

[Andy Holloway]

I have the Rams. Bears in the other matchup and the Rams winning. So they face the Saints in my bracket in the NFC title game.

[Mike Wright]

And I have the Rams playing the Cowboys. But the Rams are going to win.

[Jason Moore]

I have the exact same as you there, Mike. Rams, Cowboys, Rams win. So Rams, Saints for me in the NFC Championship. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And who wins?

[Jason Moore]

I have the Saints winning in New Orleans. They're the home team.

[Mike Wright]

You have.

[Andy Holloway]

I have the Saints. Rams in the title game as well. And the Saints winning. Going to the Super Bowl. So I'm with you on the Saints.

[Mike Wright]

And I have the Rams playing the Bears to go to the whole big dance. The whole big dance. It's not just.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what they call it, the whole big dance.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you got to use.

[Jason Moore]

Wins the Rams. Okay, so. And then on the other side, I've got the Chargers facing the Texans with the Chargers winning.

[Andy Holloway]

So Chargers, Saints, Super Bowl, Chargers, Texans. Seems like such an improbable AFC title game. Yeah, but you never know. Chiefs, Chargers. I have the Chiefs winning to take on the Saints in the Super Bowl.

[Mike Wright]

I have Chiefs, Rams, and I got the Rams winning Super Bowl.

[Andy Holloway]

We're talking about the Chiefs.

[Mike Wright]

I have the Chiefs playing the Ravens and the Chiefs winning, and then the Chiefs playing the Rams but losing.

[Andy Holloway]

So you have the. Just to be clear, the Rams are your super bowl title.

[Mike Wright]

That is correct. Sorry, that was a little tough.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike. Chief Saints. I got the Chiefs winning the big.

[Jason Moore]

Dance, and I've got Chargers, Saints. With the Saints winning the Super Bowl.

[Andy Holloway]

So you got Saints, Mike, you've got the Rams. Rams. And I have the Chiefs. We'd love to hear from you on Twitter @ the FF Ballers. Let us know who you think is going to win. And my bracket is going to be perfect, obviously, and you guys can give me praise for it. All right, let's move on.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome, one and all to the 2018 Footy Awards.

[Andy Holloway]

We've got your winners. Foot clan. We got your winners, we got your losers, and we got this music that I never want to stop. All right, let's break it down, guys. You excited?

[Jason Moore]

I'm very excited.

[Andy Holloway]

Very close matches. Brooks is excited. He just tried to cheer or what he's heard people do when they cheer. Very nice. Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You know what would be fun next year? I'm just throwing this out there. And we won't. Keep in mind, no chance. We remember zero.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, but it'd be fun.

[Mike Wright]

What if I write it down?

[Jason Moore]

Then you'll lose that paper. But it would be fun next year if we don't, because we, the three of us, we've tracked these results. We've watched the votes come in. We know who wins.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't completely know that, actually. I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

I know what you're.

[Andy Holloway]

I haven't looked in a while.

[Jason Moore]

It would be fun.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you want to make an envelope.

[Jason Moore]

And Brooks tracks it and prints out the winners and the. And the voting record. And then we open it up and we're surprised.

[Andy Holloway]

That needs to be what it is.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm writing it down.

[Jason Moore]

Brooks, I believe that you can remember for next year.

[Andy Holloway]

It's going to happen.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks doesn't forget. Number one, our first category, the performance of the year. Single seat. Which single week performance was the most impressive of the entire year? Well, our winner ran away with this one, figuratively, literally 59% of the vote. The next closest was 15% and that was Derek Henry in week 14. Congratulations, Derek Henry. You have a footy for that?

[Jason Moore]

70 is in the mail.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, your footies in the mail. 17 for 238 and four against Jacksonville.

[Mike Wright]

I liked sending the footies in the mail when we didn't have to pay for the shipping.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Now that they actually exist.

[Mike Wright]

Of this trophy.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, this trophy. Yeah, this trophy is there. You gotta pay some and you have to have insurance, taxes or something.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's not insurance on the product itself, it's life insurance on the recipient.

[Andy Holloway]

So congratulations. The big winner, Derek Henry in our first category.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

The second. Mike, you want to alternate with me? Sure, I'll jump in here.

[Mike Wright]

Question number. Not question number two, award number two.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm taking it back, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Get out of my face. The Fantasy Reapers. Man of the year. Talking about that painful injury, we had two very close vote leaders in this one, and Leonard Fournette came out on top. People felt the sting of Leonard Fournette just barely over Devonta Freeman.

[Jason Moore]

I voted for Freeman myself.

[Mike Wright]

I voted for Freeman.

[Andy Holloway]

I voted for Leonard Fournette. I felt like he had the most drastic impact because Freeman, beginning of the year, injury, time to pivot. Fournette felt like it was the meat. That's why I took that bite in the middle of the season. That meaty bite of failure.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know, man. And it was as a Freeman owner because he wasn't put on IR until late in the season. And you kept thinking, he's back this week, he's back this week, Then he gets back, then he goes out.

[Andy Holloway]

He only missed two games.

[Jason Moore]

It was.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, sorry. He only missed. He only played two games.

[Jason Moore]

He only started two games. Yeah, it was very close. It was not good. I'll take the Poopiest Pants award on, please. Obvious reasons, the Poopiest Pants award was not a close race. They were big boy pants. And it was taken down with a home run by Rob Gronkowski. Gronk.

[Mike Wright]

Poop.

[Jason Moore]

Gronk had, of course, 69% of the vote. And of course he did. Gronk, he let everyone down. He let Mike down more than anybody. There wasn't Even.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, thanks for the reminder, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

You're welcome. David Johnson was the next closest with only 10% of the vote. And you know, he was the running back. Nine.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

See you later, Gronk.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that was, that was a runaway. Rob Gronkowski was a disaster.

[Jason Moore]

I believe Bill Belichick is the one that just pulled that lever.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, the waiver wire wonder award. Which undrafted waiver wire stud was the best signing of the 2018 city? Didn't we used to have a drum roll sound effect?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I feel like we needed. We need.

[Mike Wright]

Did we?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm pretty sure we did. I feel like the quality of the footy awards this year is the best ever.

[Jason Moore]

No, it's the best. Somehow we've added the most special award this year, making this year's awards.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't have. I don't have one.

[Mike Wright]

All right, well, keep moving.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, here we go. The waiver wire Wonder. Which undrafted waiver wire stud was the best signing of the 2018 season? This one was very close as well. The winner had 41% of the vote. The second place contestant, 37% of the vote. So it was close. And George Kittle ran well. He might have won more than one award this year, well, let's put it that way, but he won. Philip Lindsay was second. Nick Chubb was third.

[Jason Moore]

I voted for Philip Lindsay and I instantly regretted it. Not only because Kittle was unbelievable, but Kittle became an actual. Like the definition of a Kittle was established as 44 fab dollars on the waiver wire. If there's ever a person in the history of the show that deserves the waiver wire Award, it's Mr. Kittle.

[Andy Holloway]

He almost had 44% of the vote. I mean, that would have been perfect.

[Jason Moore]

He let us down again.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you let him down because you voted for Philip Lindsay. You could have really helped that.

[Jason Moore]

I would not have been 3% of the vote.

[Andy Holloway]

So congratulations, George Kittle. Your. Your footies in the mail.

[Mike Wright]

It's in the mail. Number five, the fantasy wide receiver of the year. I forgot where we were alternating, but factoring draft position in the big game performances, who was the wide receiver of the year? This one was not close. Receiving almost 50% of all votes. Green Bay Packer, Mr. Devonte Adams. Congratulations, sir. This was truly a breakout year for you. Even though you've had multiple seasons of many, many touchdowns. I think that this was the year that the NFL and NFL casual NFL fans, this was learned of. Devontams.

[Andy Holloway]

I am shocked by this result because Tyree Kill is well worth a conversation here. He is currently the points per game leader on the season. I feel like he must have had these, you know. I know Devonte Adams was just unbelievably consistent.

[Jason Moore]

That's what it was.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just surprised, though, that the gap is 47 to 17. It shows that maybe the consistency of Adams led to more Foot Clan titles.

[Jason Moore]

Than Tyree Kill did the last few weeks. You had Tyree Kill on your team that lost in the semifinals. I had Devonte Adams on my team that won the championship because he was so. He was so dominant and so consistent. He did this year. What he did was what you have to do if you are the middle seat on an airplane, and that is established dominance on those armrests. He established dominance this season.

[Mike Wright]

Elbows out.

[Jason Moore]

The most consistent wide receiver in fantasy.

[Andy Holloway]

Football, certainly for this year and in your top 10 for next year.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. So the fantasy running back of the year. Drumroll, please. You're welcome.

[Mike Wright]

I'm so sad we don't have a drum roll. What happened?

[Jason Moore]

I don't know. Brooks ate.

[Mike Wright]

It ate a sound effect.

[Jason Moore]

I, you know, this one. I feel the way about this.

[Mike Wright]

You gotta be pac, man. You're gonna eat a sound effect.

[Jason Moore]

I feel the same way about this one that you feel about the wide receivers because there was a pretty heavy favorite receiving over 50% of the vote, and that's Christian McCaffrey. Look, he was amazing. He was consistent. His, you know, his volume was there, and he finished the year in some scoring formats as the number one running back. But the conversation with how dominant Gurley was Saquon's value. They were the next closest. But it was really. Look, the Foot Clan decided that it was Christian McCaffrey as the most valuable running back this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you had a couple of marks against Barkley and against the guard league. Barkley in the playoffs, the fantasy playoffs, and then Gurley towards the end as well, missing the big game. And, you know, when you look at impact, I guess Christian McCaffrey was on more winning teams.

[Jason Moore]

And CMC, your footy is in the mail.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The fantasy tight end of the year, when factoring in all those things, it was George Kittle, man. Which may be surprising. Again, it is 60.9% of the vote. Travis Kelsey came in second with 23% of the vote, and then Zach Ertz came in third. Kittle was both a breakout and ended up at the end of the year very close to that top spot. But Travis Kelsey, I'm surprised, was not a little bit closer.

[Jason Moore]

I Voted for Kelsey. And I thought when I clicked vote, I literally was like, oh, this one's clearly going to be Kelsey. He had, you know, he was already a top three tight end, but he completely took it to the next level this year. He was the number one tight end in fantasy. He, he didn't cost you a first rounder. So I thought for sure it was going to be Kelsey. But I guess when you factor in the draft cost or getting him off of the waiver wires more appropriately, Kittle probably helped more people win championships. And at the end of the day, when you win a championship, you don't vote elsewhere. You know, I'm not going to not vote for Devonte Adams, the fantasy quarterback of the year.

[Mike Wright]

I'm really glad I get to do this one.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you telling me it was Mitch Trubisky?

[Mike Wright]

He was a nominee.

[Andy Holloway]

Along with 1% of the vote.

[Jason Moore]

He did get 1% of the vote.

[Mike Wright]

So. Okay, so this is how intense this vote was. Andrew luck was in second place with 2.8%, 2.8% of the votes for second place.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, we've never ever seen any. You know, we say, oh, this guy Derek Henry ran away with it. Yeah, yeah, because he had like 60% of the vote or something. This is insane.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, and we all knew it was going to happen. We should have had one option.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

When the quarterback puts up, what? The best fantasy scoring season of all time.

[Andy Holloway]

50 touchdowns, 5,000 yards. Welcome to the NFL. Patrick Mahomes.

[Mike Wright]

Patrick Mahomes.

[Jason Moore]

And I'll just follow right in with the breakout player of the year. Great options like George Kittle and James Conner.

[Mike Wright]

This one was at least close.

[Jason Moore]

It was closer. But obviously the breakout was the best quarterback performance of fantasy football in the history of the NFL in his first season as starter. Patrick Mahomes, both of your footies are in the mail.

[Andy Holloway]

The breakout player of the year second place was James Conner. And then it was Kittle and Lindsey. So those were high impact players. Now the rookie of the year. Which player was fantasy football's rookie of the year? Lindsay Monster year. Chubb Solid Baker. Breaking records, more touchdowns than any rookie quarterback in history. Despite not playing in a couple of games. Lamar Jackson. Well, none of them could compete with the obvious winner here. Saquon Barkley. The rookie of the year in our half point league format. He is currently the point per game champ at the running back position and looks to have a long workhorse style career in the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

The comeback player of the year. This one was very interesting with the nominees being Andrew Luck, Adrian Peterson, Lamar Miller, Mari Cooper and Emmanuel Sanders. But the foot clan came with a resounding final for Mr. Andrew Luck. Congratulations, Andrew Luck. Welcome back. It was.

[Andy Holloway]

And welcome to the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

It was a tumultuous off season for Andrew Luck of him not throwing. Not throwing. We're getting close to draft season. He still hasn't thrown a football.

[Andy Holloway]

Throwing a full size foot.

[Mike Wright]

He's not throwing the Duke.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he. I'm glad we don't have to talk about the next off season.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's great and he came back. And Frank Reich found a way to get that offensive line to protect him along with some of the draft picks. For Fantasy football news, I don't know if you guys saw their center, Ryan Kelly. Ryan Kelly is going to be healthy for the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

That's good news.

[Jason Moore]

So very, very interesting coming up here.

[Andy Holloway]

Mari Cooper finished second, Adrian Peterson third.

[Jason Moore]

And for the steal.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's a shame for Adrian.

[Andy Holloway]

Peterson to finish third.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Thousand. More than a thousand yards rushing.

[Mike Wright]

Adrian Peterson was left for dead, man.

[Jason Moore]

He was.

[Mike Wright]

He wasn't in the league.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just recency bias, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, maybe. But I don't think it's just recency bias. I think it's Andrew Luck. He deserved it. He was, you know, unbelievable. I don't think many people are winning, you know, a lot of games with Adrian Peterson this year. He had a couple monster games, but he didn't take people to championships. Andrew Luck did. For the steal of the draft in 2018, your nominees are. Chris Carson, Andrew Luck, Robert Woods, Pat Mahomes, James Conner, Adam Thielen and Matt Burrida. And this was close between two players. And James Conner has done what no one else in any other category seems to have been able to do, which is defeat Patrick Mahomes. That's how valuable James Conner was in the draft. Because when you drafted him, you said, I don't believe Le'Veon Bell's coming back. And you were rewarded with a top five running back week in and week out, whenever he played.

[Mike Wright]

Or you were just handcuffing Le'Veon Bell.

[Jason Moore]

Sure, maybe you did that. But I think the voters, they called.

[Andy Holloway]

Their shot the week in and week out only lasted until your fantasy playoffs.

[Jason Moore]

That is true. But then a lot of times those are the players who were handcuffing with Jalen Samuels. So I don't feel like people were. I mean, a lot of times the James Conner owner had Samuel, so it might have been the left Bell owner with James Conner with Jalen Samuels, but he took it down with 52% of the vote. Next closest, Pat Mahomes was right there in the 40s.

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. Compared. That's a. You know, when you get a guy at 153, that's a top five running back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Means good things. I think he's one of the top five players that are common on championship rosters. So. Hey, guess what? The guest host of the year, Another close one. I'm so excited with the opportunity to give this one away yet again, went to Jay Grizz this year. Jay Grizz with the what? This is our fourth footy awards. Brooks. Yeah. So he's won, what, four of these?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Has he? I don't know if he was around.

[Mike Wright]

No. He wasn't even born yet.

[Jason Moore]

Right. He's only three years old.

[Mike Wright]

He hadn't been cut out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Jay Grizz, your footy is in the studio. You can pick it up at any time.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, I'll let you. I'm gonna let you handle this one. Yeah, we'll. It's time for the nickname of the year. Which incredible life changing fantasy football nickname from the show was the Foot Clan's favorite in 2018? The nominees. Oh, there were so many good ones.

[Mike Wright]

Hot locket.

[Andy Holloway]

None of them as good as this music.

[Mike Wright]

I know. I almost don't want it to stop.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like I'm walking into a theme park. So what are they, Mike? Hot locket.

[Mike Wright]

Hot locket. We got Booty Scootin. Cam Newton. Oh, oh.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, guys, don't forget about me. Mark Waltenberg.

[Mike Wright]

Mark Waltenberg. We got Adam Gacy. Mr. B. Hole is apparently a real hot commodity. People are all about a coach who was just fired.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, yeah, as long as they're young, they love it.

[Mike Wright]

Will Disley, Big Montana.

[Jason Moore]

Yeehaw.

[Mike Wright]

And I was chastised for not proclaiming. The moose is loose. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Will Disley come back strong?

[Mike Wright]

Red Dead Dixon. I don't know how he's in this.

[Jason Moore]

He just needs one more big score.

[Andy Holloway]

The Infinity Stone. Frank Gore. He is infinite.

[Mike Wright]

He is all he is. Frank Gore. Jared Garf.

[Jason Moore]

Jared. Wow.

[Mike Wright]

Latecomer Josh Stallion. Excellent. Turok the dinosaur hunter. How do Jason's get on this list?

[Jason Moore]

I love it. Got a solid 1.7% of the vote.

[Mike Wright]

That's 1.7 more than he deserved. Darnold Schwarzenegger. Who? He's gonna be strong this year. I'm feeling that one. He's gonna be a strong contender. Carry on, my wayward son. Just not really a Nickname.

[Andy Holloway]

No, luckily, it did not win.

[Jason Moore]

It's close.

[Mike Wright]

Performed really well. And then the final nickname nominee of the year was our fitness consigliere, Sony Michel.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, before you reveal the winner or before I reveal the winner, I want to break down. This was a close, close vote. The winner had 18% of the vote. In second place, it was 17.5% of the vote. And two more nicknames at 15 and 14% of the vote. So this was narrow. I make sense. Highly competitive. They put this one on par with kind of like a Best Picture of the Oscars. That's kind of the publicity that this will get you. The Winner of the 2018 nickname of the year was Mr. Mark Waltenberg.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, What? Oh, this is.

[Andy Holloway]

Congratulations, Mark.

[Jason Moore]

I can't believe it. I mean, it's like I can't get playing time, but here I am winning awards. This is. This is fantastic. Hey, guys, do me a favor.

[Mike Wright]

What, Mark?

[Jason Moore]

Say hi to your mother for me, okay, mister, I'm taking the footy right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, your footie is not in the mail. It's right here.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it is.

[Mike Wright]

Congratulations, Mark.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks. Thanks so much. Hey, can I. Can I say hi to my mother for me?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, you may. Can you congratulate? Can you congratulate Mr. B. Hole?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Oh, hey, B Hole. I'd like to thank the other nominees. Great group, Mr. B Hole. Look, I'm sorry that you got second place and you got second place. This is a bad time for you. Say hi to your mother for me. And Booty Scooter. I mean, you did. You did good. Sorry about your shoulder. I know that's not feeling well right now. Heal up and of course, carry on my wayward son.

[Mike Wright]

But I know Mark Waltenberg.

[Andy Holloway]

I think we may need a Mark Waltenberg T shirt at this point with the award. So congratulations, Mr. Mark Waltenberg.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And then new, new for 2018, our final award.

[Mike Wright]

Hit that music again.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy footballers moment of the year. Which moment from the show was Your favorite from 2018? Your nominees. Jared Garf. Jarf Hate Blockers, starring Jason Mort. Accidental Funky news Drop with the crew. Jason hating on Mitch Trubisky before his six touchdown explosion. Horse puns featuring Michael Gowen. Breaking news. Hugh Jackson fired. Mark Waltberg. Mike gets his Twitter verification. Starring Mike wright. And Red Dead 2. References starring, not a sponsor. Red Dead 2.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, good timing.

[Andy Holloway]

That was wonderful timing, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

I'm jacked up.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The winner, by the way, the winner had 36% of the vote. A very close result for second second was Mark Waltenberg. Third was.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa.

[Mike Wright]

Spoilers.

[Andy Holloway]

I know. Third was Jason hating on Mitch Trubisky. But the winner with 36% of the.

[Jason Moore]

Vote, the best moment of the year was really.

[Mike Wright]

Let's just flash back to it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's do it. Okay. Let's move on to the news.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. Super newsy. Oh, yeah. Best of the 80s.

[Andy Holloway]

What on earth? I'm leaving this in.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, this is magical.

[Mike Wright]

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the MRI has confirmed so Jimmy Garoppolo's initial diagnosis of.

[Jason Moore]

A torn left acl.

[Mike Wright]

Someone call Axel F. Get Axel Foley in here immediately.

[Andy Holloway]

So if you could see Brooks face. It's a gasp. So a couple days ago, we lost our whole soundboard.

[Mike Wright]

That's.

[Jason Moore]

Where did that come from?

[Andy Holloway]

We lost our whole soundboard and Brooks rebuilt it and he. I. We hadn't played news since then.

[Mike Wright]

Put that back on.

[Jason Moore]

That is maybe my fa. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Cardinals coach Steve Wilkes announced Monday that rookie Josh Rosen will start at quarterback going forward.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Dalvin Cook day to day. Unsure of his Week 4 status, Jaguars.

[Jason Moore]

Coach Doug Marrone said running backs Leonard Fournette and TJ Yelden will be day to day this week.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking Monday, Titans coach Mike Brabel said there are still throws. Marcus Mariota can't.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, guess what, Alshon Jeffrey still hasn't been cleared for contact.

[Mike Wright]

The best news.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, the funky news. Brooks, you took it down. You had to make the. The greatest mistake you've ever made. Yeah, pretty much. That's the only way to put it.

[Jason Moore]

Until forgetting the drum roll.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe that'll be show of the winner. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So the winner was the Funky News Drop. Congratulations to the Funky News Drop. I think it will make a future appearance.

[Jason Moore]

Your footy is already here.

[Mike Wright]

It's on the Internet.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

So I want to thank everybody in the foot clan for an incredible fantasy football season. I'm so excited for the prolonged bye week, the off season, the NFL draft, free agency, all the discussions that we're going to have on strategy on commissioning a league, on how to making a league better, all the coaching goodness. We're going to be hearing about those very, very soon and breaking them down each and every week. Again, the show Tuesday and Thursday. And we want to thank Pristine Auction for being the new studio sponsor for 2019. That's a big deal. You can see them right here on the set. You can check them out@pristine auction.com and every day we're going to close it out with the Pristine deal of the day. Here's what went yesterday and mind you, there are hundreds of daily auctions on pristineauction.com Michael Thomas signed Saints jersey Beckett witnessed Authentic Autograph Jersey $77.40 $77.40. You can check them out. Pristine Auction.com thank you so much for supporting the show. And a reminder, go to footclan challenge.com join the NFL Playoff Challenge with us as we head into a fun weekend of playoff games. We'll be back next week.

[Mike Wright]

We will be back. Foot Clan thank you so much for the magical season. We'll see you on Tuesday.

[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.