Fantasy Time Machine + Kyren Siren! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/28
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Great Scott! If my calculations are correct, you were listening to this before your fantasy football drafts have taken place. I've been to the future, and those that followed the advice from the Fantasy Footballer's Ultimate Draft Kit had a spectacular season and withstood many victories.

It's almost as if Biff had given each of them a copy of Gray's Sports Almanac. I'd highly recommend heading over to www.ultimatedraftkit.com without any further delay. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in.

Wednesday, August 28th. Jason Moore is here. Mike, the Fantasy Hitman. I'm Andy Holloway. And we're ready for a show. Let's see where we're going. We don't need roads. No, we've got a Fantasy Time Machine episode today. Great Scott. Some, uh, this is a... That S is just Scott. Scott.

This is one of my favorite episodes because we, you know, we get to prognosticate. We get to talk about players that were huge surprises last year and try to see, you know, that's the fun part of fantasy. People want it to play out according to chalk and the ADP and how everybody thinks about every player.

because it feels unjust. You did the work and you did the research and you want it to just work out exactly as it says on paper. But if it did, this would not be fun. No, and the ones who win are the ones who grab the guys that didn't work out due to ADP, and not poorly, but they're the ones that drafted Puka in the last round. You've got to find the windows and the things...

Like, you know, spoiler, I know on today's episode we're talking about, you know, last year's Rashad White. That was a sixth-round pick who was like, how did he volume his way to being a really, really good fantasy asset? And taking a look at the guys who have things in common, I think that – I love this episode. I think it's really valuable. It is. It's going to be fun. So –

We've each picked some candidates for a number of categories, stepping into the time machine, looking into the future, and obviously being perfectly correct on every one. Of course. The Ultimate Draft Kit, you heard it at the top. It's available right now. You've got drafts this weekend. Our big league record draft is the morning of kickoff day. So that is exciting. We get to draft, and then we'll be watching the Thursday night game on

But you've got drafts all the way through kickoff, ultimatedraftkit.com. And the draft analyzer, if you want to get your draft graded by us, that is in the UDK Plus. That is very fun as well. You can put your team in there, strengths and weaknesses. And so you can check that out, ultimatedraftkit.com. And then, of course, we want to invite you to participate in the Megalobowl, our tournament-style super league with –

I got you, Jay. Thank you. You should not do the Megalod. The shark is on rest. Yeah. Yeah, my voice is still recuperating, but it is a pleasure to hear the shark and not be the one doing the shark. It was a joy. Thank you, Mike. You're welcome. Yeah, there's a...

I think our ex-account posted a picture of Jason breaking his voice, like the moment that it happened. Yeah, he was just on this show saying he had no idea what happened. I think we know. When could it possibly have happened? And yet we have a photo. We can hear your voice going away in a photograph. Yeah, it's true if you've seen it. So join. There's over 12,000 of you in there so far, megalobull.com. And you can win a spot in the Listener League, win an Ultimate Award,

Foot Clan Membership for Life. And you have a chance to join before the drafts begin August 31st through September 4th. That is megalobol.com. All right, let's jump in. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. ♪♪

Well, I am excited to kick off this segment. Hungry for more candidates. I'm going to go with Michael Wilson, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals. So I'm going to go a little deeper here. I like it. The Cardinals offense is one that Mike has. Kyler Murray is my guy. The Cardinals spent some money picking up Zay Jones. Zay Jones has been suspended.

And Michael Wilson was a third-round pick who did flash last year. The Cardinals had no receiving options. So Michael Wilson received the predominant

coverage by defenses in this offense, and he only had half a season with Kyler Murray. So he had some big games. He had a 7-for-76-2 game against San Francisco. He's going to get a chance to start outside with Kyler Murray, and you finally have another receiver in Marvin Harrison that's going to get the lion's share of the coverage. So do I think Michael Wilson is T. Higgins? Not yet.

But he's going to have opportunities that he has not had before. And a sophomore season, this is when players that showed something as a rookie have an opportunity to break out. It's really funny the fact that second-year wide receivers are just a great bet in fantasy. They are one of the easiest layup picks to find value against their ADP. And Michael Wilson, I think because of Marvin Harrison Jr. coming in. It's because of also McBride.

Sure. I mean, but as in the wide receiver core, especially with Zay Jones now being suspended, he is the number two wide receiver on this team. He'll be there, I believe, in two wide receiver sets as a year two receiver four, which should be a good offense. And it's terrible.

Terrible defense. Yeah. The Cardinals have no pass rush. I don't believe that they can go four quarters without. They're actually considering starting thin air instead of a defensive end. Yeah, they're going to go 10 on 11. It might bring more pressure. Yeah. The Cardinals drafted Darius Robinson with their first round pick. He is injured. I think he's going to miss several weeks. A little bit of time at least, yeah. So, yeah, they're going to have to throw the ball a lot.

It's your turn, Jason. Okay. Dude, I'm hungry for more Josh Jacobs, baby. I never doubted him. Everything I said this offseason was a long con. So there's a lot of news. In fact, today in the news segment, I can't wait to discuss –

a big breaking hullabaloo. Yeah, you can say it now. We'll talk about the Kyron Punt returner news later, but for now, Josh Jacobs news is news that is actually important and there's nothing that can be done about it. So I have spent the offseason worried about his efficiency a little bit, but more worried about the fact that LaFleur always uses a committee. That's what he wants. That's what he says. He says it so confidently like,

Guys, you know my system. I don't like putting a workhorse back out there. But guess what? He don't have no choice no more. Like, to start this season, you have Emmanuel Wilson as the backup running back. Well, let's break that news. A.J. Dillon was put on...

Season ending injured reserve. That is a headline that's part of this story that nobody knows yet. Also part of it, reportedly, Marshawn Lloyd was going to go onto the IR and miss four games. That was retracted. So he has avoided the IR. I mean, the

Obviously, Lloyd is still dealing with a hamstring injury if they were even considering that, but they're not going to use the IR. Lloyd won't be ready for week one. Right. Yeah, I agree. They're not going to put Lloyd on the IR and use a designation to return. They're just going to keep him on the... They're not going to do anything with him, but he will miss time. Yeah, put it this way. Let's say...

We're heading into week two of the NFL season and week one started the way that we, we, we thought this was a three-way backfield committee. Everyone was healthy. And in week one,

A.J. Dillon goes down to a season-ending injury, and Marshawn Lloyd gets injured for at least like two or three weeks. We know he's going to miss a chunk of time. I mean, Josh Jacobs skyrockets. There's just not the choice to have a true committee. And the Packers are a great offense. They're due for rushing touchdown upside. And Josh Jacobs has been on the every other year plan. You know what I mean? Good year, bad year. Good year, bad year. He's coming off the bad year. Have you...

moved him so much in your draft rankings like

Are you taking him ahead of Pacheco now? I haven't gotten to that point because I don't think this will be a season-long thing, and I still worry. And I love Pacheco, but I think it's fair to put him in that tier. He is on a great offense, projects right now to have a lot of volume. What about Kyron, a player that people are questioning the workhorse back, whereas Jacobs is falling into the workhorse back? Yeah, I mean, I've still got Kyron ahead. Kyron, to me, is where he's been.

been the whole offseason, which is my running back five. He said it's like we always say, stay stoned. Well, no, I mean, I think there's news that you change on and this is news I'm changing on. I've moved Josh Jacobs up tremendously when we get to the news and talk more about the

The one line about a punt return, it's like nothing has changed. We'll talk about it. Yeah, we'll talk about it. We have different opinions. We're still hungry. Mike, hungry for more? Jordan Mason, because this was huge news from yesterday as well while all the cuts were going on.

Elijah Mitchell, the backup for years for the San Francisco 49ers, was put on a season-ending IR. He had a hamstring injury. I read that it wasn't really widely reported, but then he re-aggravated it. That was kind of what turned into this, we got to shut him down, we got to make some decisions here. On top of that, J.P.,

Jordan Mason, Ponchez out here with the elite name, but he has been, he's been playing fantastic. He has been a, like, he's always been a speedster. He's, if you've watched the preseason games, he looks like he fits the scheme perfectly. We've, we haven't seen him in a ton of real life game action, but last year against Dallas, you know, he was mopping up 10 for 69 and a touchdown. It's a good game. It's,

The backup for Christian McCaffrey, I should say the backup for San Francisco, has always had huge fantasy value. And Mason, I think, is... He's looked so good. I think that he has looked tremendous, and he is now, like Blake Corum, in a range where if I'm in a 12-teamer, he's in consideration to draft and sit on my bench as an upside play.

All right, that was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Get almost almost anything for game day delivered with Uber Eats, official on-demand food delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. All right, now we can talk about the Kyron Williams blurb from yesterday that is...

what I think is scaring some fantasy. It is scaring fantasy players. That is a factual statement because his ADP has dropped in certain places. The Rams head coach, Sean McVay, said running back Kyron Williams will be their team's punt returner. We generally...

generally speaking not just isolated to the rams generally when you find out a player is going to be involved in special teams you cringe as a yeah as a fantasy manager because you just don't want that opportunity to be injured it's another uh it's normally something reserved for players that you are protecting damian pierce last year being named the kick returner comes to mind where it was like oh what give antonio gibson it happened to yeah so

This news put some fear into fantasy players. Now, I am a Kyron Williams manager. I spent an offseason trading for him in our league of record, making a calculated decision. And as much as I'd love to say that our home rosters never bias or impact the way we view a player, I'm not.

We're human beings, and sometimes it's chicken or egg. You trade for the player because of what you believe, and you believe in the player, and so you go trade for them, and they work together. Look, I am on the record as being concerned, not because of one piece of news from Sean McVay, but because the more—like eventually, like if you're dressing up for Halloween, and you're going to dress up as a duck,

I need a bill? Yeah, but maybe you put the shoes on. I need a tail. You put the shoes on first. You put the tail on. The shoes? Whatever. You put on parts of the costume and eventually- Ducks wear shoes? Eventually, a costume- I've never seen it, Jason. I've never seen a duck with shoes. You're not a duck. You don't become a duck on Halloween, Jason. Oh, okay. You wear a costume of a duck. Right. I just thought I had a webbed foot.

I mean, whatever, man. You see some weird ducks out there. How would you put it on? How would you put your web foot on? I'd slide my foot into the web foot. Oh, okay. So it's like a shoe. Yeah, okay. Listen, a

Eventually you put the bill on and you are a duck is my point. And this has been an off season where I started with concerns. Blake Corham's my favorite. He was my favorite running back coming out of college in Michigan. He has done it all. I have tremendous confidence in the Rams and who they draft and what they believe they can do in the offense. Blake Corham has moved from the second team to the first team. Sean McVay has been, you know, you talk about Doug Peterson trying to say that Travis Etienne needs a break.

Like they've never done that. Sean McVay has said it so many times and really needs that for Kyron Williams, who did get hurt. And now you're making him your punt return. So for me, this is a downgrade because I went from, in my head, a 90-95% chance of being a workhorse back at the beginning of the offseason to the draft happening, to practice happening, and now he looks like a duck.

And so now it's 80% or 70%. And I want the workload chance. Not that he has to have it to be amazing, but Jason is on the opposite side. I want to give him the floor. Well, before we give him the floor, I want to hear what does that mean to you? Like where has it, like Jameer Gibbs? I would take Gibbs over it. Jacobs. I would be thinking hard about Jacobs, yeah. ETN. Yep.

Okay. Saquon. Saquon? Yeah. Yes. Okay. So you have moved him down. I would take him above Pacheco still.

But Jason is not concerned at all, so I want to give the other side. And I am more interested in Jason being right here. That is much better for my team. I don't want to dress up like a duck. So when Blake Corham was drafted, it definitely affected things. It affected the outlook of Kyron Williams. But what it didn't do is it didn't say, oh, they're in a committee now. Like, as in...

He's not the primary ball carrier. I don't expect, I don't want, genuinely, I don't want him to be on the field 93% of the time. Last year, he was the only player at 20 fantasy points or more per game and half PPR along with Christian McCaffrey.

If you take five opportunities away every game from Kyron and then you get 17 games out of it, that is way better for fantasy. So when Blake Corum came, I mean, I've got Blake Corum with 136 carries this year. I have it being a shared opportunity. However, Kyron Williams is the main guy. And if you listen to the whole quote talking about how this was a question about releasing a certain player, and he just mentioned, he said, yeah, Kyron's our punt returner.

And now we've got Blake Corum and we've got Ronnie Rivers where if Kyron needs a spell, he can get it. I see that as a good thing for him, but I don't see this as new information. We've known that they drafted Blake Corum for months. We've known that he's been having run with the ones for a while. Kyron Williams, I don't know if you remember this last year when he started so hot on the

on fire uh he was their punt returner last one through three weeks one through three when he still got a lot of work uh why they stopped cooper cup was there because they didn't have any backups they kyron the thing is is i'm not saying that kyron is going to get the insane workload he got last year but i haven't been saying that at all since they drafted quorum i've been saying he is their main running back and he's going to be really really valuable for fantasy i still believe that

Cooper Cup was their full season punt returner when he was the Offensive Player of the Year and the Triple Crown Award winner. This isn't a role, I don't think McVay looks at this like,

Like, well, I can't use him as a running back now. This is like I want him to have more opportunities to impact the game. And so I just think it's over. I just drafted him in the fourth round of a real draft. It was super flex. So it was a little, you know, you wouldn't have expected him to be up where he was. But I was happy to grab him in the fourth. If he if he drops to being the running back 10, 11, 12, I'll scoop him up everywhere.

I'm mostly worried that he's going to miss drives, not plays. He will because McVay... Which means he's going to miss touchdown opportunities. Yeah, I mean, I will say this. McVay, they play fast. The reason that he's always had a workhorse, a guy that, whether it was Gurley or whether for small stretches it was Cam Akers or whether it was Daryl Henderson, he employs...

a back that stays on the field for all three downs. And I, and that is what Coram is. Coram can come in and give him relief and play drives. I, I agree that we're kind of saying the same thing. The only difference is I don't think that's just changed for me. Yeah. I get what you're saying. And I'm not, look, this is not saying one of us believes Kyron's a top five back and the other believes he's, you know, shouldn't be drafted. That's insane. Like Kyron is very highly ranked, but when you invest in Kyron,

You want more security, and the punt return thing gives me a little bit of fear. And Ronnie Rivers is healthy again. Don't ignore him. The team loves him. The team was using him, even with Kyron on the field, before he got hurt. So it'll be interesting. I want to believe that Kyron can finish number one. I do not believe that anymore.

That's the difference. That's fair. Antonio Brown returned 187 punts. Yeah, but wide receivers are different to me. Genuinely. There's a lot of them that return kicks. I mean, that's happened a lot in the past. Not as many running backs. I...

I moved Kyron down. What if CMC was named the punt returner tomorrow? That would put some fear in you. I wouldn't change it. No, I wouldn't move Chris McCaffrey at all. His chance of injury is very high on this place. That's why. I bumped Kyron down slightly. I don't even know if he actually, like the market share that moved. I don't know if that moved him in my rankings overall, but this is an exciting moment because this feels like,

a pivotal piece of draft-changing news that we're going to look back on and go, man, we didn't react enough to the punt return news. Or you're going to say, look at all those idiots who overreacted to the punt return news. I think it will be an apex moment. This is not a Kyron Siren.

Nice. I love it. Jamar Chase, Mike. Zach Taylor says he's confident he will play in week one. That's right. That's right. Pretty important. Well, I mean, this is actually fair to report on because we had, you know, whispers like growing louder and louder by the moment of Jamar Chase won't step on a field until he gets his contract extension. His leverage is...

situation is not like Brandon Ayuk's where Jamar Chase has two more years that the Cincinnati Bengals have the rights to him to be on the team. And it's been really wishy-washy comments from Taylor. And the most recent ones, it was far more of a, no, Jamar Chase is going to be there in week one. Kendri Miller is going to start on the IR for the Saints while

I don't know if you saw this, Jason. Dennis Allen, one of your biggest enemies. I just love him, man. He came out and went on a full-on...

I love Taysom Hill rant yesterday. I don't know if you got to follow that. It was like, I don't know if you've ever seen a player like this. Nobody's like him in the history of the NFL. He does everything. He's amazing. He does my taxes. He did it. It was a whole bunch of that. Did you see when he's nothing like Kendra Miller, I believe is what he said. Did you see he, he tried to have Taysom Hill be the, the, the Mike linebacker.

Back when... Is this real? No, no, he talked about it. Honestly true. I think it was on the Kay Adams show like a week or two ago. He wanted to use him on defense. Sure. But he wasn't the head coach. Right. And even in that, he couldn't... He wants Taysom to be the OC. He couldn't... I'll bet he couldn't even name Sean Payton. He's like, you know, the head coach wanted... I'm like, I don't know. I don't like anything he says. I am...

The IR is not surprising. I am a little bit surprised that they didn't just shut him down the way that Dennis Allen hates him. So you're not coming back, dude. We'll see you next year. Dalvin Cook was signed to the practice squad for the Cowboys who released Royce Freeman and Malik Davis. Tom Pelissero is so excited. Mike is so bent out of shape over Tom Pelissero. Because the tweets are out of control. It's fine.

I think he's on the take, man. It's an agent tweet, man. That's why I'm saying it's so ridiculous that, look, this is an NFL reporter who just called Dalvin Cook a marquee signing. Do you know how they get their insights and their tips and their tricks? Yeah, they grease the wheels. They work with agents and they grease the wheels. If you were running that account, you would copy-paste the same tweet because that's what he did. Oh, I'm going to take this money. Yes. Yes.

Look, I'm not an ethical man. I'm going to take that money like Tom. Oh, man. You're going to hear from him. I don't think he took money. I think he's just, you know, you rub my back, I rub yours type of thing. So the signing is – look, they cut Royce Freeman yesterday. If you missed that during the trim down, Dalvin will go into the practice squad. I don't know if he makes it onto the active roster at any point. If this –

Like if you're not in on my Rico Dattel take, I don't blame you. It's, it's a bold prediction. It's, it's a hotter take, but Dalvin cook should not. If you were in Dalvin cook should not be pushing you out. All right. Uh, just really quickly. Cause we got to get, get through the news here. Trey sermon, still the backup for JTT. Evan hole was waved. Yeah. Was waved. The Browns released the onto foreman, uh, resulting in a number of texts or sorry, tweets at me. Um, uh,

But the rumor is that he's going to be returning. I brought Deontay Foreman up in a Hungry for More segment during the preseason when he had a pretty good game. We'll see if he's back on the roster. If you're a four-year vet or more, then you don't go through the waiver system. You're a free agent to sign anywhere. So this could very easily be a situation where they talk to him, say, hey, we're going to resign you. It's accounting. They only have two active running backs on the roster right now. You can't go into the season like that. And then Odell Beckham is on the IR to begin.

The pup. He's on the pup. On the pup to begin with. And Tim Patrick. Yeah. Signing with the Lions. Yeah. Practice squad guy. He'll work his way up. He'll start there, but I mean. It's hard when you've been hurt that many years in a row to make an impact, but they got opportunity there for sure. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usa.com slash insurance. Back with the Fantasy Time Machine in a moment.

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All right, this just in. Kyron Williams is now, he's actually bringing the water bottles to the other running backs. Oh, no. Oh, no. I don't know what that means to you. Does that? Now, that's a needle mover. That is a needle mover. Now you're changing. For sure. Marty, you've got to come back with me. Where? Back to the future. Oh, this is my favorite show. Good work, Mike. Yeah, incredible show.

Incredible creativity. Hey, man, sometimes you got to just pay homage. Yeah, no, it's great. Greatness. Indeed. All right. We're looking at the fantasy time machine segment here. Looking first to find 2024 is version of Rashad White. He was a sixth round pick drafted RB 24 and was

arguably the second most valuable player in fantasy at the running back position from week seven on. That is a majority of the season. That was 22 opportunities a game. He was the RB2.

And that was incredible. He was a really good pass catcher. You cannot argue efficiency on the ground. You can argue he was just dynamic through the air. He would make the first man miss. He ran the most routes among running backs, fourth most receptions, third most receiving yards. So we're looking for a dead zone running back who could make his way into being an RB1 for fantasy.

I'll kick us off because mine is the highest drafted, but he's still in the fifth round, which I think is a great value. When I think about Rashad White, I think about an inefficient player who PPR'd his way to...

real greatness and I genuinely believe that's what happens with Alvin Kamara this year Alvin Kamara is not going to be a super efficient player at this point in his career not for this system Derek Carr just

giving him the ball right over the line, right in front of a linebacker, over and over and over. That being said, from weeks 4 through 15, remember he started the season suspended last year, he was the running back 2 in total fantasy points scored. And it was on the same basis of just non-stop checkdowns. Now you have Kendre Miller, who is a non-factor, at least to start the season,

And Jamal Williams, no matter how much the team loves him, he's wonderful. Love the dude. He's done. He doesn't have much left to give. So I really think you're just going to have nonstop volume for Kamara. And they don't really have...

A great receiving core. You're talking about Chris Olave. One of the reasons I like Chris Olave a lot this year. The Shahid hive is coming after you, man. Yeah, I know. Shahid, this will be the year. But Kamara is going to be their number two target, I believe, in this offense. And if that's the case, you're just going to have pure volume in the fifth round for a player who it doesn't matter if it's pretty. Don't watch the Saints games. I try not to. Yeah, no, I mean, Kamara showed it last year already that he can do that.

This is not a player that we haven't seen it from. He was an inefficient dominator in fantasy from weeks 4 through 15 last year. I hate where I have Kamara ranked. No one has the courage to move him where they believe he is. I've got him at running back 9. And it feels good. I hate where you have him ranked. I take it back. You've got courage. I hate where I have him ranked as well. But I go and I look at the numbers, I'm just like,

I think that's going to happen. I'm not drafting him as the running back. He's in the fifth round. I'm going to wait and get value, but I do think at the end of this year he's probably a low-end RB1 on the back of, I mean, if you're in a PPR or a half PPR league, not in standard. It's Tony Pollard for me. Last year it was all the failed expectations. This year he's the RB26, which is right around where Rashad White was drafted. To me this is a DeAndre Swift, Kenny Gainwell situation.

I know people like Tajay Spears. I think Pollard is the better player. He played every snap of the Titans' first drive. He's going to be the goal linebacker. That's what Swift did. Like, you can show respect to the incumbent, which is exactly what Philadelphia did. They said, Kenny Gainwell was here. DeAndre Swift is the new guy we gave the contract to. We're going to say you're a starter. And then on the field, Kenny Gainwell couldn't do enough to –

to hold off DeAndre Swift. That's the exact situation I expect in Tennessee. I think Tony Pollard is the better running back. I think the offense is better than people think. And I think that you're going to see it over time. So when you look at a player who let you down being drafted in the first round last year, why don't you try the seventh round out? That might be a lot better situation. I'm going to go with

Javante Williams, I think he fits the mold exactly of what we were watching about Rashad White last year. Javante was...

Very inefficient this past year, and yet the volume was still way up. Now you have Samaje Piran and his 56 targets going away from this system. Yes, Jaleel McLaughlin will 100% see more action. He will see an uptick, but I think that Javante is going to

just purely volume his way there. And you're hoping, you're hoping that because he has had another full off season to rehab, strengthen, recover from the knee injury, that it is not as bad as it was last year. I think it's a fair assumption because Samaj AP Ryan has been released from the Denver bat field. So you're talking about a player that was handpicked by coach Payton versus a player that was drafted before he was there. And yet,

Javante is still around in number one and people are just scared. He had 58 targets last year. I mean, like there is a chance that that actually goes up. All right, let's find 2024's Jordan Love. Jordan Love was the quarterback 26 last year. So this was like undrafted, unproven, young. He ends up with 32 passing touchdowns. He has another four on the ground, completely left for dead.

and instead ends up a top 10 quarterback on a top 10 offense? What do you got, Jay? Well, I will say this. I like Andy's answer probably the best of the three of ours. This one, my answer is not a young guy that's been left for dead. Obviously, he is later in his career. But Matthew Stafford, when I look at Jordan Love, who made him great,

was he had all these weapons to throw the ball to. And, you know, it was like the touchdowns came for Jordan Love. And we've seen Matthew Stafford be a great touchdown thrower. Now, as a Ram, especially this last year, Kyron was the machine on the ground. The touchdowns, you know, he was great through the 20s. And then it wasn't like he was bad or struggled to throw touchdowns. It was just...

Kyron, they were really good at just running in touchdowns. But you've got years before, multiple years as a top five fantasy quarterback. Andy, you brought up on the live show your belief in Puka and Cooper Kopp as great receiving options. And I do think if you're looking, okay, what is a quarterback this year who's kind of left for dead in drafts, who's later drafted, but has the weapons to maybe throw for 4,535?

In the real late rounds, Stafford to me would be the guy I would go after. For me, it's Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence. I mean, the sentiment around Jordan Love to start the year was bad. It is very bad around Trevor Lawrence right now. I'm a big Brian Thomas Jr. believer. I like what Doug Peterson normally does on the offensive side, and Lawrence is somebody that has the ceiling –

to do something special if the season comes together the right way. He actually tied Brock Purdy last year with the most 20-plus yard passing touchdowns, and we've talked a lot about the near misses. He's looked pretty good in the preseason. He's had stretches of games where he's been elite as a passer, and nobody wants him. That left for dead applies very, very specifically to Trevor Lawrence. Yes.

If you believe that Brian Thomas Jr. has more of a upper echelon ceiling, then you're talking about the fact that he actually added something to this offense that is pretty special. Ingram is going to be heavily involved. So he has the weapons.

And so I think Lawrence fits that bill as the ignored, but maybe you don't ignore him after four weeks. Lawrence totally fits the bill here. Going back to the beginning of last year, I did not believe Jordan Love could do what he did. I really genuinely didn't see that as one of the outcomes. And Trevor Lawrence, we've seen him enough where you go, ah, he's not that great. But

You know, we bring up those missed touchdowns, those how many a handful of missed touchdowns, all the injuries that Trevor Lawrence had. If you want a guy who could really come out and establish establish himself as like a future star, the way Jordan Love did. Trevor Lawrence fits the bill. I have I was the most outspoken on the show about Trevor Lawrence last year. I hated his ADP.

It has swung way too far for Trevor Lawrence. Last year in the second half, weeks 11 through 14, QB 1, 6, 5, 11, and then he kind of got injured there at the end of the season. Would you take him or Herbert? Oh, man. I think that's...

That's so close. Probably Herbert, just because I know Herbert's really good. I think Trevor Lawrence is good-ish. Gabe Davis is pretty much an invisible fantasy player that we don't talk about, probably for accurate reasons, but Gabe Davis is one of those guys that

It helps the quarterback. I mean, he is a good deep ball guy. A big target. You think he could be good for five or six touchdowns in a year? Yeah, and that really helps Trevor Lawrence. The name I'm going to bring up, because I was looking at ADP of guys in the mid-20s, is Geno Smith. All of the reasons Jason just talked about with Stafford is, looking at the Seattle offense, DK Metcalf is a great wide receiver. Even if Tyler Lockett isn't what he once was...

He's still good. I mean, he was good enough that they needed to give him a little bit of a contract extension. And then the hope and the promise of last year's first round or first wide receiver off the board in JSN and this new offensive scheme. Gino Smith was actually still good last year as a quarterback. The numbers weren't prolific for fantasy, but it was the same average depth of target. His adjusted completion rate was still at 77%. It was just...

The big plays did not go there. He dropped from 15 passing touchdowns of 20 or more air yards down to five, and that's something that should positively regress back up. All right, let's try to find 2024's Jake Ferguson from last year. Undrafted tight end, ends up number two on the team in target share.

And so you're looking for that weekly floor, touchdown upside. Right. And somebody that can be the number two target on the team. And for me, this is Tyler Conklin on the Jets. Conk, conk. Conk, conk. You know, we've seen –

Aaron Rodgers is going to throw the football to the players he trusts the most. Conklin is a trustworthy target. He's a trustworthy target around the end zone. And this situation lines up with, you know, you want to use the parallels. Garrett Wilson is the seedy lamb of this equation, right? And Tyler Conklin, like who's Mike Williams is hurt. Malachi Corley is a rookie. Xavier Gibson is somebody. I mean, Conklin knows what to do and he actually has a,

reached just under 100 targets the last three years. So, you know, he is being completely ignored. I don't think we've brought him up one time. Maybe in passing as a sleeper tight end. So I think Conklin is, you know, Conklin is a lot like Ferguson, even from a

You know, he's not going to blow your mind with athleticism, but the physicality size and being a kind of, you know, lunch pail tight end, go out and do everything you're supposed to do and then be available to your quarterback. That's how Conklin hits for me. He was like last year for the Jets. It was Garrett Wilson with all of the targets. Oh, I know. 168. Second on the team is Brees Hall. Third?

Tyler Conklin. With how many? With 87. I mean, those are bad targets last year, but if he can get anywhere close to that type of volume from Rodgers, that's a huge upgrade. And not a lot of talk. Yeah, for me, the Ferguson comp is Pat Fryermuth, who is a post-hype sleeper. We have to remember how this guy's career has worked out. Yeah.

He showed flashes as a rookie, but he was a rookie tight end, and rookie tight ends don't do much. His second year, which keep in mind, was Kenny Pickett's rookie season. He was the tight end eight, looked great. And it was like, okay, so we've got a real player here. And then he was injured last year, and Kenny Pickett fell apart, and the offense fell apart. So it was like, this is a post-type sleeper where I think

What did Kenny Pickett throw? Seven touchdowns? Like on the season? And so you're talking about, I know Russell Wilson is not the former Hall of Fame looking quarterback. I thought Friar Muth's big season was with Big Ben. 2022, would that not have been Kenny Pickett's rookie season? No, Pickett played in 22. That was Friar Muth's? Yeah, that was Friar Muth's breakout season. So he's had two years and then Pickett's had two years?

Maybe Pickett didn't play much that year. That's probably what it was. Pickett started 12 games, I believe, that year. Oh, man, he only threw seven touchdowns. That's what I just said. And he was the quarterback eight. So if you get a quarterback in here who can throw 25 touchdowns, that's not a wonderful number. Russell was 26 last year. Yeah, Russell was 26. So if he throws 26, who's it going to? If they don't get Brandon Ayuk, okay.

Okay, you got George Pickens looks great, but then he could be the number two target in this offense. Could be. What other tight ends does Arthur Smith want to ruin you with? Yeah, that's my concern. The utilization of the tight ends has been sketchy for the youth. Tight ends are so annoying sometimes because you need more to make a tight end good.

Like we always say talent rises. It feels like with a tight end, you need circumstance. Yeah. Other, you know, the wide receiver. Oh, Miami stinks. Jalen Waddle, 106 targets, rookie season. Doesn't matter.

But with a tight end, sometimes you've got to get on the field. You've got to have the right coordinator. You've got to have a quarterback that likes throwing to the tight end. You almost always, almost always have to be one of the top two targets in your offense. The only exception I can really think of is like George Kittle is oftentimes the third, or if you put McCaffrey out there. But there's not a lot of – Yeah, I mean, Kelsey, top two. Andrews, top two. LaParis.

Laporta, top two. Yeah. Kincaid this year looks like top two. McBride. Top two. Yeah, I mean, it's like. Kincaid didn't have it, but now he will be. Yeah, so if you really want to be good, not just like, oh, I'm the tight end 11. I'm occasionally good. You have to be one of the top two targets. There's not a lot of guys that fit that bill. Fryermuth does look like he could be. Should be. Yeah, I mean. Arthur. Makes sense.

I am filing this one under protest. However, I think it's Taysom Hill. Last year's tight end, 12-1.

Kind of your guy, I would say. Just kind of like your favorite player. Guys, I don't like the way that the tables have turned on me here. Get him a jersey. I don't like what Dennis Allen has done to the Saints. I don't like what he has done to me and my opinion of the Saints. Peyton did it too. But it's magnified now. And Kendra Miller out at least four games.

I think Taysom Hill is the backup running back. I think he's the backup quarterback. I think he's the backup tight end. He is going to be a Swiss Army knife for the team.

It will be ebbs and flows. You sound so much like Dennis Allen. You do. You sound exactly like him. You have never said something worse to me on this show than what you just said right there. It will be hot and cold. There's going to be games where he completely vanishes, and then there's going to be games where he puts up 20 points and you win because you had Taysom Hill starting. All right, we'll take a break, and we'll come back with another Fantasy Time Machine player.

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All right, this one is less fun than some of the other ones. Let's find 2024's Stefan Diggs, who was the first-round pick in fantasy drafts last year, was the wide receiver four off the board. He was the wide receiver three in the first half of the year, and then he just averaged 7.5 points per game over the last half, yet you kept starting him because he was Stefan Diggs because you start Stefan Diggs. So this is an alpha wide receiver who could end up

Being a bust in the second half of the year, a.k.a. runs out of steam for fantasy football. Thielen would be another name that was like Diggs. Thielen, well, he's getting more confused now.

Yes, it sounds like. But Dillon was on fire to start the year, loses steam. But he wasn't the fourth wide receiver taken in the draft last year. So when I looked at that, trying to comp, who would I be worried about to pull a Stephon Diggs this season? I brought him up as kind of my bus pick late in June, but Devontae Adams still scares me. I think he's great. I thought Stephon Diggs was great last year going into the year, but when you're at that age where you go, okay,

he's going to turn 32 towards the end of this season. That is pretty old for a wide receiver and the situation around him. You know, Luke gets his office offense going to be very run heavy, super slow. You know, in 2022, they were 27th and neutral pass 32nd neutral pass rate. This is a, a poor quarterback situation for,

On an offense, I don't expect to be prolific for an older player who is being drafted very, very highly. So that's where if I've got to call a shot on someone that I want to try to avoid who is a phenomenally talented, highly drafted wide receiver, it would be DeMonte Adams. Go ahead, Mike. I don't like to say it, but I will whisper the name. Both of your guys shocked me. It's Debo Samuel. Look, Debo.

I have him ranked very high. I love Debo, but it is... I think it is disingenuous to not actually look at the career of Debo and say...

The guy's had two great years and three other years that you're like, this was not great for my fantasy football team. He will turn 29 this year. You wanted to give Jalen Waddell a hard time yesterday of being banged up. Debo has never played a full year in his entire career because he plays so physically. He plays like a man because he is a man. Yeah, he plays like a man and misses games like a man. Now you're a man.

A huge part of Debo's success is all of those rushing touchdowns. Debo's going to be 29. I mean, they probably still will. This is not a time machine that I hope comes true. It's just trying to look at what particular outcomes could be. Part of digs for what it's worth.

It was a surprise to everybody. So if you're trying to guess somebody, it's not somebody that is obvious. We've never had a wide receiver at the age of 29 or older score more than two rushing touchdowns. He would become the first one ever. I understand that it's a huge part of his game, but he is a player I have concerns over the second half of the year. He could start.

You know, slowing down. I'm not going to say breaking down, but slowing down. There's literally no comp for him, though. Right. Because here's all the wide receivers since 1990 with double-digit touchdowns in a season and at least four of them coming on the ground, regardless of age. Tavon Austin did it. Debo Samuel's done it. And Debo Samuel's done it. So it's like, yeah, of course there's no buddy at his age to ever do it. He's the only one that does it.

Yeah, I'll bring up a name that has blown out the candles on two more birthday cakes. Mike Evans is 31 years old, and it brings me no joy to bring this up, but the cost, the draft cost, much higher than last year when he was a MyGuy. Why is it two more birthday cakes? Because Diggs is 29 and Evans is 31. I thought Evans aged two years this season. He did compare to Diggs. He got two birthday cakes this year.

He did. He got one for his birthday and one. I gave it to him for the, my guy. I say, you know what? For my birthday, if you want to give me two cakes, I'm not going to complain. Okay. So Evans is, it's tough. Cause this is kind of, uh, cause he's the first ballot hall of fame wide receiver. I actually, I don't think he is. Oh, that's fine. I don't think he's the first ballot because it's almost impossible. You know, Terrell Owens didn't do it. Uh,

Almost impossible, like his 1,000-yard streak every year. I think Rice and Moss are the only two that I can think of recently. Fitz was? Is he done yet? First ballot? Yeah, he's – no, Fitz isn't. No, but he will be.

I'm just saying it's really hard to do. Now listen, Evans was incredible last year, but this is perfect. The older you get, the back half of the season is more difficult. He gets sustained by touchdowns. If Baker has a rough stretch, if they don't do what they did last year, there's a lot of talk in this offense. You lost Dave Kanellis. You bring Liam Cohen in. A lot of talk about Chris Godwin getting more work. So from an ADP standpoint, Mike Evans costs you a lot more than he did last year.

You have the same expectations. And he's 31 years old. So, you know, that's tough. And here's a stat for you. Over the last decade, there have been 11 wide receivers, 31 and older, that were drafted in the first three rounds for fantasy. Three of those 11 finished in the top 20.

So the track record is not there. I love, you know, Mike Evans has just kind of gone to work and got it done. But I got paid, you know, human nature a little bit. I don't know. That could be. He's already rich. That could be a little tough. Yeah. Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, Steve Largent, Paul Warfield.

Lance Altworth and Raymond Berry. Those are the only first ballot Hall of Fame wide receivers ever. Yeah, so since 2000, just Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson. I don't think Evans is going to do that. So the guy that Mike Evans already has more receiving yards then was the first ballot Hall of Famer? Would that be Calvin? That would be Calvin. The guy who didn't play that much?

Just saying. I bet a per year basis. Totality matters. It does. Calvin was the best wide receiver on the field for most of his career. All three of those guys were the best of their generation. All right. So there you go. There's your fantasy time machine. You know, not to leave Evans. Yeah.

The year prior, when you looked at the stats for Mike Evans, he finished as the wide receiver 16, and you looked at a lot of his stats, you're like, he still had 1,100 yards. He still had everything go his way. It was just kind of some touchdowns that didn't happen. It was a split of seasons, kind of like what we saw from Stephon Diggs last year. Evans was really good in the first half of that season two years ago.

Oh, that was the Brady year. That was the year where the second half he crushed my soul every week. Brady was so bad. He just didn't catch touchdowns. I mean, until that week 17. Three touchdown championship burger. Thank you, Mike Evans. But yeah, I mean, he can. If the touchdowns don't come in a specific stretch of games, you could be very disappointed.

All right. That'll do it for today's episode. We got a mock draft this week. We got our fantasy MVP show this week and make sure you click that follow button on Spotify, on Apple podcasts, wherever you're listening. It helps the show. And if you want to leave a review over there, that helps the show as well. And those are a couple of quick ways to support the podcast. One last reminder here, as we close it out, the Megaloball come compete.

with the Foot Clan and the largest fantasy football league on planet Earth, megalobowl.com for all the details and information. Check that out. Until tomorrow. Goodbye. 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 at the FFBallers.