Players We’re Embarrassed to Love + CeeDee Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/27
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Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Tuesday, August 27th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast back in the building. Lots to talk about.

But not a lot of voice left. Jason has... I might or might not have over-screamed at the live show. You always do this. Every live show we've ever had, you remind yourself mentally beforehand, don't destroy my voice running out on stage and then

I don't know how it happens, man. I mean, I literally, I'm backstage. We're about to go out and I'm telling myself, I'm not going to do it this year. And then I go out and I think I am being conscious of it. Like I, when I was out there. I have pictures of you that say otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, I mean, it's a fact because I just, I black out.

I scream hard and then I can't talk anymore. You did some things with the...

T-shirt gun. He was firing. He was firing on all sides. I mean, you jumped and did a splits thing in the air, which I'm sure. Extreme athleticism. Yeah, I mean, it was a good time. So hopefully you got to watch the Megalith show over on YouTube and take in some of Jason's adventures on stage.

The big headline today, the big reminder, because there is still time left, the Megaloball is open, available. I just got a count this morning. 12,962 of you so far have joined the Megaloball. So...

Play with us. Come be in leagues with us. Their drafts will be going from the end of the month, August 31st through September 4th. So you go to megalobowl.com. There is the link there if you're in the Foot Clan to sign up for your draft slot on Sleeper. And then you'll have your draft time established. Do that draft play in the league. The league is going to be awesome.

this year. We've made a lot of improvements. It's our League of Records scoring setting, so you're going to play exactly how we play. Half of you get in the playoffs, and then whoever wins, whoever wins, you are in the Listener League next year with us. And you also get an Ultimate Tier membership for the rest of your natural life, so it's a pretty cool prize.

We had over 25,000 competing last year. We're at 12,900 so far. So go over to megalobowl.com and join us in the largest, most fun league out there, the tournament-style super league called the Megalobowl.

You can follow the show over on X at the FFBallers to be kept apprised of everything going on here, along with breaking news, some of which I know Mike and I will be very excited to talk about today. Yes. That happened yesterday. And the community, as always, the Foot Clan, mighty and strong, is over at jointhefoot.com.

Welcome to the waiver wire presented by NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. Well, I am excited to talk about all five of these names. We're jumping into the waiver wire before the season begins, looking at some undrafted gyms as we like to call them or players. You should be very aware of maybe they're drafted. Maybe they're drafted late. Maybe they're not. And, um,

We got some clarity in a few situations this weekend, which leads into some of these names. I'm going to start with a player that I have been propping up. Feels like by myself for a while.

But Chuba Hubbard, the running back of the Carolina Panthers, who was the running... Excuse me, sir. Yeah, Mike, you've been at worst neutral. It's been Mr. Jay Brooks over here telling us how great of a draft pick this guy who's going to not play at least four games is going to be sitting on your bench. It's true. Chuba Hubbard was not just the de facto accidental...

He was the player that averaged over 13 fantasy points a game for a six-week stretch to end the year last year.

with an offense that I think is going to be a little bit fixed in part due to Dave Canales, in part due to the addition of Deontay Johnson and Bryce Young looked very good this weekend. But Chuba Hubbard's the starter. And Jonathan Brooks, as Mike's alluded to, he's going to be on the PUP for at least four weeks. So a Chuba Hubbard needs to be paid attention to in the same, in my opinion, in the exact same breath of the

Yeah, and all the Zach Moss conversations. Ooh, that's mighty high praise. I'd put him more in the Jerome Ford conversation. But look at that six weeks. The six-week stretch was great. And he will have at least four weeks to be like that, just a supplemental running back for you should you go real heavy wide receiver. Chuba will be there for you late in drafts to –

to be that RB2 for four weeks as you try to figure out who's going to be permanent. Because Chuba's not a permanent solution. For your fantasy team? Right, for your fantasy team. I don't think for season long, because Jonathan Brooks will come back eventually. The question for Brooks is, does he take over the volume or is he slowly worked in and it's a timeshare? That's what I mean by it's not permanent, where once Brooks is back, it's going to be messy in a timeshare. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't mind at all taking Chuba Hubbard at the end of your drafts or if you've already finished your draft, swapping him out. Especially, I mean, we talk about if you went 0RB or if you don't have starting running backs because you were a little bit risky up top, Chuba should be able to get off to a hot start. Jerome Ford is the perfect comp because we got word that Nick Chubb is also on the PUP. Chuba Hubbard, like we give that six-game sample, but if you actually look at the majority of the season from week to week,

six on, he was on pace for over a thousand yards, 90% of his passes. He can catch the football, um, seven touchdowns in that anemic offense. Um, it was pretty good. It was over, it was double digits. That's, that's how Mike had often described Jerome Ford. It was like, he's going to get you double digits. It seems like that's on the table for Chuba Hubbard. Uh, we also got the release of Samaj P Ryan in Denver, which means the impending. Yeah. Well, yeah, they're going to release him if they can't find a trade for nothing. Um,

Audrick Estime and Jaleel McLaughlin. McLaughlin last year, 5.4 yards a carry, sixth best in missed tackles force per touch.

and caught a bunch of passes. So McLaughlin and then Estime is their fifth-round draft pick who they have confidence in. Both of those players are very interesting late in drafts. Yeah, I'm trying to ask myself, like, which one would I rather take the shot on with Samajai Pirine not being there? And I think I lean towards McLaughlin. I know, Mike, you were higher on Audrick Estime than I was, I think, than both Andy and I in the draft process.

But I just look at Samaj, he caught 50 passes last year. So there is going to be room for a pass catching back. And even though Estime...

We'll have, you know, the goal line opportunity. He is always, like, from day one, Sean Payton has talked about Estimé as, well, he's a first and second down back. He's their big bruising back, and they're going to use him, but I think I'm wanting to soak up the targets, you know, that are vacated here from Samajai Piran. Yeah, McLaughlin will have the standalone value where Estimé, he's probably just an insurance back for Gervonta, which it's a...

Look, the Denver Broncos offense is not inspiring for fantasy football, but the running backs, just the whole group of them, they're going to catch –

So many passes because that's what Sean Payton does. It looks like that's what Bo Nix is going to be perfectly fine moving forward with. So McLaughlin has standalone value where if Javante should miss time, I think Estime will be a real serious pickup. And then one more name I want to bring up for sure is Isaiah Likely, the Baltimore tight end. This is a team that has a great deal of need in the passing game for reliable weapons. Mark Andrews, we brought it up at the live show.

He has started as the tight end two, three consecutive years through the first six weeks. The last two years...

He has precipitously dropped. He's been outside the top 20 at the tight end position from week seven on over the last two years, which you can blame on injury because that is a fair thing to blame it on, but it's still been a pattern. So Isaiah likely came in. Well, speaking of injury, I mean, right now, Mark Andrews is not on the field. The Baltimore Ravens play the first game of the NFL season. They have the least amount of time for him to get healthy. And this is one of those like,

If you were later in your drafts and you grabbed Pat Friermuth, or even if you're the guy that has David Njoku or Ferguson, for me, if I'm that type of, I've got that tight end on my roster, I'm going to drop one of my dispensable last round picks, and I'm going to pick up Isaiah Likely, because likely when Mark Andrews is out,

is awesome and if I get to have that just look it's stupid it's silly but we do this for fun when the when the ball is kicked off right right right I want players in that game and if Mark Andrews isn't there and I could put Isaiah Likely into my lineup and watch and enjoy I'm I'm definitely doing that it's more than fun I mean if Isaiah like if if Andrews is out

I would rather play Isaiah Likely, I think, for a couple weeks over probably Ferguson. So, I mean, Mark Andrews, what is his consensus ranking on our website right now? Got the tight end position. I haven't moved him yet. No, we haven't moved him down. The news is just that he's still not practicing. So you two have him at number two. I have him at five.

The question is, if he was out for the year, where would Isaiah likely slide in? And I think he would be competitive with Dalton Kincaid for that spot. So, yeah, it's a good name to bring up ahead of that first week game. He was a tight end three from week 14 on last year when he got that opportunity, 56 yards a game. So...

Pretty important, and he's still out today. So Mark Andrews is. I expect Andrews to play, but if Andrews is back on the field tomorrow, whatever, then drop likely and move forward with whatever tight end you had, but just hold on to him for now.

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Oh, we did it. C.D. Lamb and the Cowboys have agreed to a... You mean I did it. Sure. You take all your contracts and add them up. They're probably not even the one contract that I got my guy. Now, see, he's my keeper, Mike, in League of Record. You don't know this, but it was me again. Four years. Gosh darn it. $136 million. $100 million guaranteed. Get our Yuka contract, man. And so C.D. Lamb is... Get him a team first. He got paid, so...

that's good news we can uh rest easy we've got some time before the season and cd lamb will be back out there soaking up um so many targets i think it's worth noting as well that jamar chase while not getting the money he has been practicing he's been on the field so yeah i mean that the worry to me with with lamb iuk and chase has just been

Are they going to be not necessarily out of shape? I don't think they can get out of shape. But, you know, like when you're not going full speed and then you snap your fingers and you're at game speed. Yeah. I worry about the hamstrings. Yeah, some injuries.

And then just what you wanted here, Mike, the Cowboys are hosting Dalvin Cook for a visit, which, you know, you'd say, hey, that doesn't really impact the depth chart unless your depth chart already has Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle and unproven players at this stage of their career. So if Dalvin Cook does sign a contract,

and factor into a very dumb, dumb committee, you're starting to feel like Baltimore a couple years ago. Could be. Where, you know, what was it? Devonta Freeman and Latavius Murray and Lev Bell were a trifecta for Baltimore, and they're just fighting their way through the season with that. It would, you know, some people like Royce Freeman, like who's involved in that offense. That's four names that are, you know, we're all –

Draft picks 15 years ago. The Cowboys' depth chart remains ambiguous. Even if they have Dalvin Cook, this doesn't change my upside stance for Rico Suave. Dalvin Cook has been available to NFL teams all year long. And this is, like, at the end of August here, coming in right before the season starts, that's not the biggest threat. As I mean, like,

It's not going to be Dalvin Cook. Here are some players to add to the list we mentioned earlier that will start the year on the PUP and missed at least four games. Nick Chubb, four-game PUP at least. Jonathan Brooks, TJ Hawkinson.

And then Keaton Mitchell, who had a brief moment last year in Baltimore, and then a major injury. Tyler Higbee had the major injury. And then Kendrick Bourne as well in New England. So opportunities like New England is – they're a really interesting situation because it seems like Drake May is emerging as a favorite to start. And then Jalen Polk.

who I think is very talented. Seems like he's going to have an opportunity early with Kendrick Bourne on the shelf. And, you know, this is a team that let go of Juju. So they're moving forward with the youth movement. They're only projected to win four games by Vegas. So, you know, if you're the Patriots and it's about experience,

it's interesting to see Jalen Polk to start the year. Yeah, I like Jalen Polk a lot. I was caping for him pretty hard during the rookie draft process. It's going to take some time. He's been playing with the twos. They're really making him earn it the Patriot way. So it could take a few weeks. I'm saying if you're drafting Polk,

You're going to need to be patient. I think it might take a couple weeks. They have not named the starting quarterback, though, right? Correct. I loved the quote from Drod Mayo just recently of saying, he said, quote, it's a true competition. And I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby, which...

At this current point is when you have to name a starter. Like, isn't that saying that? Yeah, there's another headline that basically said, yeah, May has outplayed Jacoby, but other things factor in. I'm like, what factors in other than playing football? What also factors in is

That their offensive line is bad. Like, Jacoby Brissett, part of this discussion is Jacoby Brissett got dropped on his shoulder in a preseason game because the offensive line is so brutal. So there is, I think, something fair of don't put the number three pick out there to be the sacrificial baby for the New England Patriots. Let a veteran be out there. Try and calm some things down before you get them in. But it's still up in the air.

We mentioned the Broncos are expected to move on from Samaj P. Ryan, but they're also expected to move on from wide receiver Tim Patrick. Fireball Jones. Weird. So wild because he had a great preseason. He looked like the number two target. He had established himself, had a good connection even with Bo Nix. And then it's like, and we're done.

I don't blame them in the sense that he's still got a bigger contract. He's not the future. This is a youthful, rebuilding Broncos team, and if they could get something for Tim Patrick on the market, I would do that if I was the Broncos. I don't think they're going to get anything. I don't know that someone's going to trade for him, but it is a surprise. It is, and...

What else do we have going on? Marshawn Lloyd. The Marshawn Lloyd news. Expected to be on IR to start the year with the hamstring. It has been, from the moment of the draft, every day it's a little worse for Marshawn Lloyd. Yeah. But they also have A.J. Dillon, who was held out last week due to a stinger, who is the second role in the running back room. Had that injury last year, and suddenly you're starting to talk about, in deep leagues, Emmanuel Wilson. Oh, yeah, we are.

because he's next man up, and he was 11 for 52 on the ground in the final preseason game. And you're talking about Josh Jacobs. I mean, one of the reasons I had been against Josh Jacobs is how adamant this coaching staff has always been that he employs a committee. Well, if you don't have other healthy backs –

Sometimes your hand is forced. Like Josh Jacobs can start the year. He was a hot starter. We just talked about that on a recent show. And if he starts the year getting a large volume while they're waiting for these backs to come healthy for a great offense, he might be real good. Real, real good. He was the number one running back in all of football last year on percentage of his team's carries. So when you talk about capability to a workload, number one.

Teams are willing to give him everything, and he's able to handle everything. That's one of the big discussions. Today's not the day, but when you look at, you know, we look at the yards per carry and the efficiency on that team, but there should be some additional math done

based on workhorse running backs. It's not a surprise that Julia McLaughlin's at 5.4 at carry or Devon A. Chan's at 8. Well, that's a surprise. 8's pretty high. Or Lamar Miller was at 6 before he became a workhorse. You know, there are...

There's Nick Chubb and Jamal Charles, and then the rest of them don't really do that over 300 carries. And when you look and you say Josh Jacobs gets every carry of every down, of every situation on a team that had no offense...

Obviously, the Packers, who have a great deal of trust in their team building, looked at Josh Jacobs and didn't go, well, let's just hyper-focus on his efficiency numbers right there. They didn't. They went out and gave him the bag to be hit the running back. And the confidence level is not in, wow, did he, you know...

When they're stacking the box against Aiden O'Connell and he runs for one yard, it's all his fault. That's not how the team looks at it. And I think it'd be educational, I think, on some degree to look at workhorse and just total carries, short yardage, goal line. If you score from the one, it's one a carry.

Sure. Right? I mean, all those things factor in, and he gets a ton of those opportunities too. So I'm not just speaking about Josh Jacobs. I'm speaking about anybody who gets massive workload, and it looks like – I mean, Rashad White got everything for that team with a bad offensive line. The team has a different view than we do on that number. I'm just bringing that up. Chiefs signed Juju, bringing him back. He knows the offense. They do this all the time. That's fine. They bring back guys that – you know, McCall Hardman came back. Mike Williams returning to team drills.

And we had Jameer Gibbs back at practice, Laporta back at practice, Najoku back to practice. And the only one that wasn't Mike, Jalen Waddell. No, no. He was seen. He's a non-contact jersey. You couldn't miss him. He's at practice. You couldn't miss him because he's wearing a bright red jersey that says, don't hit me. What? Here's a. What? Yeah, he has a. What is happening? That's red. The panic alarm is red, too.

What do you mean what's happening? This is Jalen Waddell's entire career. Oh, it is not his entire career. I don't know if you noticed, half the games last year he actually wore the red non-contact jersey out onto the field on accident. That would be awesome. That would be awesome. No, you can't touch me.

Yeah, I mean, having had the Waddle experience all year last year, he doesn't miss the games, but he misses parts of all the games. Last year and this year. He played 16 games as a rookie, played the entire season the next year,

Two out of three years. I'm just talking about two out of three plays. I'm not talking about the game. You know it. He goes out injured every fourth play, and then he's back. Last year that did happen. But I'm saying more of what is happening of like. Knee soreness, back soreness, concussion. It's undisclosed. It was an undisclosed injury. Where are the beat reporters out of Miami when this is really starting to take off?

Like, it was just whispers. You know, it's not. If the superstar wide receiver on any other team is missing that much practice, I feel like reporters should be saying very loud, hey, guys, he's not here. They're used to it. They're too used to it. They're like, this is not news. Look, I've had the same experience. It was very, very frustrating. And some players, for some reason, they just get banged up. I hope that's not the case. I hope that's not his story moving forward. Feels like, you know.

We need some long stretch of healthy games. All right, that was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break, and we're coming back with a brand new segment, boys. It's going to be fun.

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Josh Footballers. Terms and conditions apply. You need to hire. You need it indeed. All right. We are. I feel like we almost had a consensus level of embarrassment moving Josh Jacobs higher and higher in our rankings as things work in his direction. He was a player that didn't get a lot of love from this show early on. But we are talking about players that we might not want to admit that we're kind of into this year.

Players we're embarrassed to love. Andy, why don't you start us off with Tank Bigsby? That's not one of them.

Sorry. Did you or did you not just this morning draft Tank Bigsby? I did draft Tank Bigsby. It was, let's go ahead and qualify that really quickly. No, no, no, move on. No, no, no, let me see what round. No, we'll start it because he's on my list, Jason. Maybe you should read the show doc and see what's about to happen. So he was a 15th round pick for me. It was the right place. So Mike, go ahead and start. Yes, I will start with it because look,

Watching Tank Bigsby play on an NFL field last year was embarrassing to all people who believed in him. It was embarrassing to Tank Bigsby. Mr. and Mrs. Bigsby were also embarrassed. Yes. Anyone who was associated with Tank Bigsby last year watched what happened, and it was awful. It was the second lowest rush success rate amongst the rookie running backs. He caught one of his four targets. All of them were caught, though. Yeah.

He turned many of them into interceptions somehow. But for me, for Tank Bixby, it's going back to what I believed in him about when he was a collegiate prospect. And he has looked much, much better in this preseason. And I will jump in before anyone else says it because, yeah, he looked pretty good last preseason. 5.7 a carry last preseason. He...

He was excellent. 97 of 105 rushing yards were gained after contact. That's per Jacob Gibbs.

For me about Tank Bixby, it comes down to, again, I thought he could be a good player coming into the league. The Jacksonville Jaguars also thought he could be a good player coming into the league, spending day two capital on him and just saying over and over and over, we don't want Travis Etienne to have to be this player. He has had to be that guy for them. They don't want that to be the case. And looking at the rest of the roster,

If anyone is going to be the player that can actually spell Travis Etienne, it has to be Tank Bigsby. I don't know if he can do it. It's embarrassing that I have to keep talking about him. Super embarrassing. But I like him, and I think that he could be a huge reason why Travis Etienne is –

It doesn't come through with his ADP. What does that mean for drafting Tank Bigsby? Like Andy just took him in the 15th round of a best ball. That's fine. You're drafting the insurance running backs who, you know, if they get a week or two later in the season, then they hit. What are you doing in redraft leagues with Tank Bigsby? Tank Bigsby is only an insurance draft pick. Blake Corum or Tank Bigsby in a draft? Corum. Okay. Blake Corum. This is...

Honestly, both of my players that I'm embarrassed that I am into their opportunity this year, it's more about what does it negatively do to the other player. What was your second player? It's Bucky Irving of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was drafted in the fourth round. There's...

Bucky Irving, oh, he's too small. He's actually like the same size as James Cook, maybe even a little bit thicker than James Cook, and he excels at pass catching, 56 receptions his final year at Oregon.

I think that if Rashad White doesn't come through, it's because of Tank Bigsby. 58% of his runs this preseason have gone for five or more yards. This guy has gotten it done. Not in our news because it

embarrassing to mention news, Chase Edmonds, the perceived backup for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is expected to go on IR and miss the entire season. So if anyone is stepping up for the Bucs, it's going to be Bucky Irving, and I think that he's going to come in and make Rashad White

Not torch him, but make it so that his ADP that you're drafting Rashad White at, you're a little bit disappointed. I feel like you're not embarrassed. This is embarrassed to love. These players you're embarrassed to love. I feel like this is almost a reverse embarrassed to hate situation.

on Travis Etienne and Rashad White. Sure, you can look at it that way. You're like, I'm down on those guys because of their backups. I watched every preseason Bucky Irving snap earlier this morning, and Sean Tucker also had a really strong preseason. The biggest thing with Irving's size is not, to me, that it's prohibitive for him to have a role on the offense with Rashad White healthy. It's more that taking him or believing in him

I don't think that there's any chance under the sun where if Rashad White went out, it's all Bucky Irving. I would think it would be a committee behind them. Yeah, I could agree with that. You know, he's 20 pounds under where Rashad White is, a couple inches shorter. And he looked pretty good, looked pretty spicy. I still don't see a world – like, I know I'm – like, I've been demonstrative about Rashad White.

I don't see the world where the team trusts Irving above White on third down. And Irving's one of his special skill sets, ironically, also one of Keyshawn Fonz, also one of Chase Edmonds, everybody that's been part of this depth and backfield. Edmonds was a prolific pass catcher in Arizona, never really came together in Tampa Bay. They're trying to find a complement there. But Irving seems like a very talented player. I just don't know what spelling Rashad White translates to

For fantasy. I think if he does spell him as a pass catcher, a little bit.

Let's say a target and a half a game end up going to Bucky. That's a big deal. You're talking about 24 targets that you would lose. That's dropping you from 70 down to the high 40s or the 50s. What are your thought processes with these two guys, Jason? Mike might be embarrassed to love them, but I would like to hear what you think. I don't personally think that Bucky will...

really spell white. They...

This team views Rashad White, I believe, as their bell cow. They drafted Bucky Irving because he's a talented, explosive, short-area burst guy that I think just at value where they were in the draft and they needed depth. Seems like a smart pick with Chase Edmonds being out on IR for the year. I don't think it's a bad pick at all, but when push comes to shove and the games are being played, and this is also a team that is –

They're not that good, but they still are fighting for playoffs. Obviously, they made the playoffs last year, shockingly. But they're going to want to do everything they can to retain their jobs. This staff thinks that White is their best chance to win these games. So I have a hard time.

believing that he's going to be pulled off the field when he wasn't last year. Yeah, I think the point there is great. I mean, this is a playoff team. They didn't just make it. They destroyed Philadelphia in the playoffs. That's what happened. This was not a failure of a team. This was a team that had a recipe for success that they literally spent the offseason committing money and capital to repeat. They believe that the weapon that they have is

The weapons that they have are what they needed to win games. So if this was a team that really needed a change, I think that would be a different discussion. I thought Rashad White was incredibly successful for this team. Yeah, he was, and it was great for fantasy for sure. But I do totally understand the point.

that what Bucky Irving does well is the exact thing that caused Rashad White to be good for fantasy. So if that does, if that is what, you know, is, is changed, then Rashad White will be a disappointment. But I go back to the things to remember episode where it was like, if someone is really good on the field,

them drafting a backup is not going to pull them off. Yeah. Which, but I don't apply that here. I don't look at what Rashad White did on the field last year and go, that's an elite player. Fair. He is excellent in pass catching, absolutely. But, I mean, on the ground, I know, Andy, the workhorse, you're talking about it, but for a workhorse to be under four yards, like you destroy Najee Harris, right?

Whenever you possibly can for his inefficiency. He's more efficient than Rashad White on the ground. Well, but I don't question Najee Harris getting the workload in Pittsburgh to some side backup. You know what I mean? Like Najee gets the work.

Yeah. It sounds like you should love Najee. Well, look, I would be embarrassed to love Najee. That's for sure. And just to wrap it all up, I still have Rashad White at RB14. He's being drafted as the 13th. So this is not a panic alarms in the streets. This is

I'm looking towards the end of the season, and if things go wrong for Rashad White, that is what has happened. I get it. And because of the inefficiency on the ground, his situation to me is more fragile. I think there are definitely people in your camp of being very worried about Rashad White. Yeah, I mean, that was us last year, and we took the L on that. So I'm going to learn –

my lesson and I'll be in on white, very white. That is, um, all right, become him. Let's talk about another guy. I am embarrassed to love this guy. We, I, he's a nasty boy of summer, another running back. It's Zach Moss. And I have, I've joked this whole off season that he's my dude and I've always loved them. Um, if you are new to the show or you didn't understand the joke, I, I,

Did not like Zach Moss as a prospect. I think that's not telling the whole truth. I thought Zach Moss as a prospect was terrible. Yes, there we go. And I loved being proven right for his whole career until all of a sudden last year in backup form for Jonathan Taylor, he was awesome. He started the season. He was really, really good. Obviously, when Jonathan Taylor came back,

The whole Zach Moss experiment was over. And now he goes, he signs a new contract with the Bengals. He's 26 years old. He's entering his fifth year in the NFL. And I like him. I really, really do. I think that he's going to be the replacement of Joe Mixon. I think Zach Moss fits the Bengals running scheme really, really well. And there's just...

You know, there is – I think there's two camps, right? Like you're either on Chase Brown or you're on Zach Moss. Right. I'm on the Zach Moss side. I think he is the veteran that they will put in place for protection, for short yardage, for everything. I think Brown profiles as a change of pace kind of explosive –

backup versus having the veteran presence of Moss in there. What do you do when Samaj P. Ryan ends up back on this team? That will be very... Vomit. He vomits. Jason vomits. I will no longer be embarrassed to love Moss because I will not. The Zach Moss history is so wild. I mean, we've talked about Devin Singletary in New York.

Devin Singletary lost the battle with Zach Moss in Buffalo. You got to go back and remember that. Zach Moss was the one that kept Devin Singletary off the field. He seems to be beloved by these. We didn't like him. We thought he was slow and Jason made it very vocal. But Zach Moss, he earned that role in Buffalo. Then he moves on. He's a backup and he takes over the league. And now he goes to a great situation outside.

I won't lie. I mean, I put a lot of stock in what Zach Taylor said about Chase Brown. He's shown a great deal of giving him a lot of praise as far as what the expectation is. I'm mostly worried that there'll be a committee of disappointment. Yeah, I mean, that's the truth. You don't have to be in one of the two camps where you're either Chase Brown or Zach Moss. You could also be in the third camp, which

which very well might be the right cam to be in, which is these two guys are going to platoon and make it irrelevant. But Mike talks about how bad Joe Mixon was, how inefficient. Yeah. And it's like Joe Mixon was the running back five with all of his inefficiencies because the offense is good. They're going to pass to their running back. I think that will be Zach Moss. He's so late in drafts. So that's one of my two guys that I'm embarrassed to love. And who's the other one? The other one.

I'm hanging with Mr. Cooper. Amari Cooper. This is like I. I think he's really, really good. And I think the reason I'm embarrassed. I don't think that's an embarrassing statement at all. No, it's it's Deshaun Watson. I don't think Deshaun Watson is good. I do not think he's good. I think he's lost it. You think he was good?

I think he was a good football player. And, yeah, Amari Cooper, you look at his 17-game pace with the five full games that Watson played last year, and it was world-beater stuff. 95 for 1,632 yards and seven touchdowns. That was the guy he was looking for in the offense. And even when Deshaun Watson was playing putridly,

He still found Amari Cooper because Amari Cooper is a really talented wide receiver. I don't think he's aged out. But every time, every time I'm on the clock, I'm like, do I really want to put the eggs in the basket of Deshaun Watson? You would have to watch Watson play quarterback in order to watch your wide receiver. Yeah, and I don't want to do that.

Yeah, Amari Cooper is – You can, like, put your hand up. I'll cover that for half the screen. I guess usually the quarterback's in about the same spot. Just put a piece of tape on the screen. Can AI, like, blur him so you just see the ball come out of his, like, blur mark on the screen? You could see the offensive line, and then all of a sudden the ball is –

What if we AI in Joe Flacco? Like it's the same play, but we just put Joe Flacco on the, on the camera. Would that be, yeah, that was a good time. It was, but also, you know, Amari Cooper, he was good with both players. And the reason is because Amari Cooper is, is super, he is a very, very talented wide receiver. He's always open. He's always in the right spot. He's got great hands. And this depth chart,

I know they're trying to fix it. They go out and get Jerry Judy. Jerry Judy is not that good. He is just a guy. He was supposed to be this great otherworldly wide receiver, and he's not. He is an average NFL wide receiver. He's a starting caliber NFL wide receiver, but Watson has his eyes set on Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper or Tee Higgins?

T Higgins. Okay. Higgins is two spots later than Amari Cooper. I'm big fan of T Higgins. George Pickens or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Terry McLaurin or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Zay Flowers or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Calvin Ridley or Amari Cooper? Amari Cooper. Rushie Rice or Amari Cooper? Rushie Rice. Okay. It's not as bad as you thought it was. I am embarrassed to love...

A player that has finished wide receiver 28, 21, 25, 14, and 28. 14? All right. I am embarrassed to love Terry McLaurin this year. I think it's going to be the year for Terry McLaurin. I'm also embarrassed to love Will Levis this year.

That one's way more embarrassing. I think it would be kind of impossible for me to be as bullish about Calvin Ridley without believing in Will Levis. No, no.

Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Bananarama himself, I think he's way better than people think he is. And I think you're going to see it this year. I think if you're in a two-quarterback league and you're deciding how late to wait for that second quarterback, which is something that Mike loves to do, is to kind of push that

uh, down the draft a little bit. I just like to feel alive. Yeah. Well, I look, we'll love us. We'll make you feel alive. Okay. I will. And never been so close to death. You know, we have Will Levis. Tennessee was a different team last year. This is Derek Henry. This is Mike Vrabel. This was a disappointment of a season. It was also a season in which we'll love us took over halfway through the year. No off season, no practice, no Calvin Ridley. Um,

To me, he's exciting. He has the opportunity to come out and be a gunslinger. That's what you want to see. So is he dangerous? Horribly dangerous. Is he going to make some mistakes? Yeah. Oh, yeah. But so does Jameis Winston, and we love the ride. So Will Levis, to me, I think he's sneaky. I think when you look at the very last third of quarterbacks in ADP and you say, can this player –

do anything for my team in the range of outcomes. Like Derek Carr's range of outcomes, right? Bryce Young's range of outcomes. Bo Nix's range of outcomes. Geno Smith's range of outcomes. Like to me, Will Levis has some of the high, like you look at him and Matthew Stafford, like Stafford, despite the weapons, we've been on the ride for a really, really long time with Matthew Stafford. Like Matthew Stafford spent the first seven weeks of last year

almost repeating quarterback 15 every week. Will Lovis is going to have some games, man. He's going to have some three or four touchdown games this year. I'm booking it. Like his first game when he tricked us all and he goes out there and first game as a starter just throws for four touchdowns. He...

He is a gunslinger. He is not afraid to throw the ball downfield. He has much better weapons this year in adding Calvin Ridley. He was under pressure so much last year. Not if you ask him. Yeah, he had no idea. No, he had no idea. He can't see it. But they did improve their offensive line. I don't mind taking a shot on Will Levis. I am curious, though, where he's going in drafts. Would you rather have Baker Mayfield or Will Levis? They're going...

On the edge of undrafted territory. Yeah. In a regular redraft. Levis is two spots behind. I think I'd take Baker still. What about Deshaun Watson or Will Levis? That's a good one. I would probably take... I think I'm going... I would take Watson because despite the...

frustration displayed. He played a handful of full games, and three of the five games he played, he was a top 10 quarterback. Yeah, for fantasy, he was all right. You would have to cover your eyes and watch it, but he ended up okay. But Terry McLaurin, we saw DJ Moore emerge from the mist, this kind of perpetual, we know you're good, but it doesn't matter list, and there are certain players on that list that

DJ Moore came out last year with Justin Fields at quarterback and redefined his story as a fantasy weapon. And McLaurin has four straight 120-plus target 1,000-yard seasons. He just hasn't had the ability to...

Put it together week after week. No Jahan Dotson. Diami Brown on the other side. We're figuring out Luke McCaffrey. There's one guy. Yeah, there is one guy. And then there's a big gap. Oh, man. And I believe in Jaden Daniels, obviously. He's a my guy. So these both have correlation, right? Jaden Daniels is my guy. And so inadvertently, I love Terry McLaurin. Calvin Ridley is my guy. And inadvertently, I love Will Levis.

I'm embarrassed because I've spent most of those five years telling you that McLaurin wasn't going to produce for you as there was hype going into every season. So, you know, we got to stay water with what you believe about these offenses. I think Washington is going to be a little bit of a better team than people think they will be. And I think McLaurin is that guy. He's a dog. He's going to go out and he's going to give you wide receiver one opportunities every week with a much better quarterback.

and plus probably 24% target share in the offense. And I hope it comes together for him. I mean, the touchdowns have been a major problem. That's not something you generally get from a rookie quarterback, but you're telling me you can't get to six? You can't get to seven? If you get to seven touchdowns, which is well within the range of outcomes for a rookie quarterback, you're going to have a much, much better year than his ADP. He is going in the late sixth round right now.

And he's also a player with great fatigue in the fantasy community. So I don't think people want to take him. Yeah, he seems like he'll be a wide receiver too. Let me see who's going around him and who's sexier name-wise. Okay. Pickens. I would probably take Pickens, but...

I would go McLaurin there. Okay. Pickens is currently three spots higher in ADP. Keenan Allen. I'd go McLaurin. I'll take Terry. Yeah. I mean, Christian Kurt. McLaurin. And then you've got to decide between McLaurin, number one for Jaden Daniels or Tee Higgins. Tee Higgins. So that's a tough call.

T. Higgins has... I feel like T. Higgins needs to be in this list for you, Jason. I'm not embarrassed, man. You know what I mean? I love T. Higgins. T. Higgins has 2,000-yard seasons. Last year was a disappointment with only playing 12 games. But they're kind of similar. Higgins normally scores a touchdown or two more than McLaurin.

He'll catch fewer passes. He'll get fewer targets. Yeah, I mean, we talked about this last week of just whether or not wide receiver twos on good offenses are worth it, and they're usually very good picks. Who should be most embarrassed about the names mentioned today, Al? I want to know your opinion because you've heard all the names. Who should walk out of here most embarrassed that this was put onto a podcast? I think I'd have to go with Mike. Yeah.

Yeah, he went deep. Yeah, because I put myself out there. The players I talk about are Jeroz. Why do you love them? I'm embarrassed. I already told you why. No, that's fair. I have put my shame out into the world. Man, I hope Tank Bigsby can redeem himself from last year. Yeah, you know what? And you don't get to be on the ride. You're banished. I will watch from afar. No, you are banished. Yeah, he's my guy. That's true. That's true. All right, let's jump into some mailbag.

Mailbag. Mailbag. Okay, we have some questions here. Erica in Palm Beach, Florida. What's everyone's temperature on Brandon Cooks this year? That's a good question. I just saw him go in that 15th round as well. He's currently on my bench as a wide receiver for a redraft. I haven't heard anybody talk about him, and I was wondering if I should drop somebody off.

Drop him for somebody like Wicks or Mooney. I wouldn't drop him for Mooney. I wouldn't drop him for Wicks either, honestly. I think he's in the same tier as those players. I think that if everything works out for Brandon Cooks this year,

He'll be a solid player. It's just if you're going to chase the upside where Dontavian Wicks, if it works for him, a lot of things have to happen on the chessboard. But if it works for Dontavian Wicks, then you're like, oh, man, I stole a top 24 wide receiver where I don't think Brandon Cooks, he's not going to jump into that range. He'll just be a solid flex player.

Yeah, and Brandon Cooks, to me, is a very good best ball pick. You know, if you look at how he's kind of converted into more of a touchdown guy, not a volume play. So if he gets a touchdown, you're happy. If he doesn't, his lows are really, really low. Like last season, he finished as the wide receiver 36th.

but he had games of 5.7, 4.7, 2, 1.8, 1.2, 2.7, 3. Like he's just not an integral part of the offense. So you get the spike weeks when the touchdowns happen, but I don't want – I would rather have a guy at the end of my bench be more the Dontavian Wicks personally where –

I'm going to move on from this player no matter what unless he comes out and says, oh, he did level up. He is on the field. He is the guy that is the next big thing versus the used to be a thing. I can keep either Kyron Williams, Aaron, and Nashville riding in. I can keep Kyron Williams in round 10 or Sam Laporta in round 11. I've been going back and forth. Kyron. I think we'd all say Kyron in that one.

Logan in Utah. Hey, Ballers, just wondering if you are avoiding players with the same bye week or avoiding onesies with the same bye week. Well, onesies being tight end and quarterback in most leagues. Generally, I'm not drafting multiple onesies. There are times when I'm going to have two quarterbacks if I take them very late.

I mean, I imagine. But I don't really care. I think what he's asking is you draft multiple onesies every draft because you draft a quarterback and a tight end. And so because you don't have depth at those two spots, you would have to sign off the waiver wire. So maybe you avoid having them on the same bye week because then you've got to sign two guys. No, I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about that at all. I'm trying to grab the best players for the weeks they're on the field. And my roster is going to look so different. If this is not like a best ball league, if this is just –

My home league, my roster is going to look so different by week four than it did leaving the draft. I don't know what my bye weeks are going to be by the time bye weeks start rolling around. Unless you spent up on the two onesies. That would be the one situation you might want to keep in the back of your head. If you spent up on them both. But I'm not really thinking about it either. Sure. I mean, obviously, if you spend up and you get that Mahomes-Kelsey stack, I promise they have the same bye week. Yeah, that's a good point. Hey, we'll take a quick break and answer some more questions.

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All right, the next question comes in from Brandon. Have you ever left a fantasy draft where you were unsatisfied with your team, and what did you think about it? Oh, yeah.

Of course. I was the auctioneer of an auction draft that I was participating in, and that was impossible for me. I left that draft going, I don't know why I drafted any of these people. Generally, if it happens, it's because there was a player in the middle of the draft that was my target.

I'm not prepared properly for them to be drafted. And then I tilt, and when you make a tilt pick right in the middle...

It usually turns into a second tilt pick, and then you're upset with yourself and your draft. So that's why... Be ready. It's okay if your target gets taken from you. Have the other players ready. All right, Bob writes in from Ohio. Where are your tier-based draft rankings located? Yeah, so the Ultimate Draft Kit, you can go to myudk.com if you have it. That's just a quick URL, so you can always pull up the UDK. But all of our rankings...

by default in the Ultimate Draft Kit are going to show up in their tiers based on your scoring setting.

Yeah. Positional rankings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's worth mentioning because people ask about where are the tiers in Dynasty? Where are the tiers in Top 200? Dynasty is so... The reason we don't have tiers in Dynasty is because you can draft your team for about 100 different potential strategy types. So there would be a different tier grouping if you were going to build a long-term team. There's a different tier grouping if you were to build a team to win tomorrow. Yeah. At some teams, Derrick Henry is an incredibly important Dynasty asset. At

At some teams, he is a very expiring, not valuable dynasty asset. Jose writes in, Mike, he says, hey, ballers, love the show. What would be the biggest change in strategy between drafting

In a 12-team versus a 10-team league, and I'm going to throw one more in there. Somebody had asked recently on Twitter about a 16-team league. So what's the biggest difference in strategy that you find between a very large league or a smaller league like 10 and 18? So the 10 and the 8s, that's where everyone's team, their starting lineup is going to be awesome. So you have to find the small edges, which is the easiest one is your quarterback in your tight end position. When you are in the larger team,

I'm a little more focused on... I don't like the cost of spending an early round pick on a quarterback. Because depth, you lose it so quickly. Yes, and then that might be a league where I'm more likely to take the two quarterbacks at the end. I'm taking Jaden Daniels. I'm taking Jared Goff. Just trying to find some upside at the position because I bypass it. And...

I mean, this may sound like common sense, but you need to be more informed about the NFL. You need to be deeper in the weeds of paying attention to all the cuts that are happening because there's movement happening right now in fantasy players. It's not usually top-tier guys who are getting affected, but it's those depth guys that are getting changed right now, and you need to be on top of that news.

In a 16-team league, suddenly you're talking about Josh Reynolds in Denver. Suddenly you're talking about Greg Dortch in Arizona. Those are names that are going to be not just, oh, maybe it's a last-round pick that gets lucky. No, these are like players you're probably playing. That's a good point, Mike. I don't think we say that enough with the big team. The big leagues is just you need to go deeper. You're going to have to have more intel.

All right. Website question from Garrett in Wyoming says, how many fantasy leagues are you guys in and how many of each kind? Yeah, I mean, it depends on my number is always depending on what do you mean? Like because because are these the leagues I really care about? Then there's like four. There's four leagues that I really care about. Well, I'm probably in six, seven, eight leagues total. But there's there's a big four.

We try to keep it that way. It's a hard thing to maintain, but I think this show's going to always benefit from us being dedicated and committed to a core small group of leagues where we are emotionally invested like every one of you. And that's what we enjoy about fantasy. There's not a lot of fun to me about having every player on every single team

in every single league. Because I'm in 20 of them. Yeah, so this play that, oh, he got a touchdown, that's good for me, that's bad for me, for every player across the league. I think seven or eight years ago, we all started adding more and more and more leagues, and we experienced that. And so we've cut down, and we're trying to always be committed and dedicated players.

to our primary leagues. My tip for people who ask, say, how do I know if I'm in too many leagues? If you get to Tuesday's waiver wire and you're not excited. Such a good point. If you're not excited to go into each and every league and be in the weeds, because waiver wires, to really be successful, you have to have

a view of the entire league. It's not just your team looking at what do you need. You have to be looking at what everyone else in the league needs because that's going to affect what you should bid. If you're in fab, that's going to affect when you know to. I'm burning the priority this week. So if you are not excited, you're in too many, cut them down. If I have to go into 20 different waiver wires and cut Tank Bigsby in 20 different waiver wires. It's the worst.

All right, that is going to do it for today's show. A reminder, the Ultimate Draft Kit available right now for your weekend drafts.

for your weekday drafts. I mean, people are drafting all throughout this week with the NFL starting next Thursday. So head over to ultimatedraftkit.com. Get yourself equipped to dominate your draft. Set that foundation for your season so you can go win a fantasy championship. We have the fantasy time machine this week on one of our episodes. Great Scott. We've got – I got that one. Great Scott. Thank you very much. We got another mock draft, our final mock draft of the –

draft season and then we've got a fantasy MVP episode which is always very fun and then next week guess what it's going to be football time oh man it's going to be football time I can't freaking wait for football I need the real thing it's coming it's coming very quickly alright catch you tomorrow goodbye music

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.