Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Wednesday, August 28th, Jason Moore is here, Mike the Fantasy Hitman, I'm Andy Holloway, and we're ready for a show. Where we're going, we don't need roads.
No, we've got a Fantasy Time Machine episode today. Great Scott! Some, uh, that S is just Scott. This is one of my favorite episodes because we, uh, 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 do the work and you do 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, you know, they're the ones that drafted Puka in the last round.
You've got to find the windows of 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 six-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, 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. 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+. 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 Megalobull, our tournament-style super league. I got you, dude. Thank you.
You should not do the Megalobull. 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, 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.
You can win a spot in the Listener League, win an ultimate Foot Clan membership for life, and you have a chance to join before the drafts begin, August 31st through September 4th. That is Megalobull.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. I'm going to go a little deeper here. I like it.
The Cardinals' offense is one that Mike has. Kyle 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 in a sophomore season. This is when players that showed something as a rookie have an opportunity to break in. 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, but 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 before, which should be a good offense, and a terrible defense. 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. 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. Oh, whoa! 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 Punch-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 spent the offseason worried about his efficiency a little bit, but more worried about the fact that the floor always uses a committee. That's what he wants. 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-inning injured reserve. That is a headline. That's part of the story that nobody knows yet.
Also part of it, reportedly, Marshawn Lloyd was going to go on the IR and miss four games. That was retracted. So he has avoided the IR. I mean, 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, yeah. 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 on it.
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 thought. This was a three-way backfield committee. Everyone was healthy.
And in week one, A.J. Dillon goes down to a season-inning 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, you know, skyrockets.
There's just not the choice to have a true committee. So, you know, 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, you're better, good, you're better. 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 team.
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 the whole offseason, which is my running at five. It's like what we say, stay stoned. Well, no, I mean, I think there's news that you've changed 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 one line about a punt return.
He's like, nothing has changed. This is... 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 four 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, JP, Jordan Mason, Ponchez, out here with the elite name, but he has been playing fantastic. He has been a...
He's always been a speedster. If you watch the preseason games, he looks like he fits the scheme perfectly. 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 in 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 fancy 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 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 fancy players. It is scaring fancy 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 fantasy manager because you just don't want that opportunity to be injured. It's normally something reserved for players that you are protecting.
Damien Pierce last year being named the kick returner comes to mind where it was like, oh, what? Antonio Gibson happened to you. So this news puts some fear into fantasy players. Now, I am a Kyron Williams manager.
I spent an off-season 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 buy us or impact the way we view a player, we're human beings and sometimes, you know, it's chicken or egg, right? 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.
And look, I am on the record as being concerned, not because of one piece of news from Sean McVeigh, but because the more, like eventually, like if you're dressing up for Halloween and you're going to dress up as a duck, like... I'm going to need a bill? Yeah, but like, you know, 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 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 like a web 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 slide my foot to the web foot. Oh, okay.
So it's like a shoe. Yeah, okay. Listen, officially you put the bill on and you are a duck is my point. And this has been an offseason where I started with concerns.
Blake Horne'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 Horne has moved from the second team to the first team. Sean McVeigh 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 McVeigh has said it so many times and really needs that for Kyle Williams who did get hurt. And now you're making them 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. Before we give him the floor, I want to hear, what does that mean to you?
Like, where has it, like, Jameer Gibbs? Oh, I would take Gibbs over. Jacobs. I would be thinking hard about Jacobs, yeah.
Easy in. Yep. So when Blake Horne 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 a half PPR along with Chris 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 Horne came, I mean, I've got Blake Horne 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, talk 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 Horne 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 Horne 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 fire. He was their punt returner.
Weeks one through three. Weeks one through three when he still got a lot of work. Cooper Kopp was there because they didn't have any backups. So 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 Korn. 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. You know, Cooper Kopp was their full season punt returner when he was off the player of the year in the Triple Crown Award winner.
This isn't a role. I don't think McVay looks at this 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 flexed. So it was a little, you know, you wouldn't have expected him to be up where it was. But I was happy to grab him in the fourth.
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. Like McVay, they play fast. The reason that he's always had a workhorse, a guy that, you know, whether it was Gurley or whether for a small stretch it was Cam Akers or whether it was Daryl Henderson, he employs a back that stays on the field for all three downs. And that is what Corum is.
Corum can come in and give him relief and play drives. I agree. We're kind of saying the same thing. The only difference is I don't think that's 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 pump return thing gives me a little bit of fear. And Ronnie Rivers is healthy again. And 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 just, I want to believe that Kyron can finish number one.
I do not believe that anymore. That's the deal. Okay, that's the deal. Antonio Brown returned 187 punts.
Yeah, but wide receivers are different to me. Well, genuinely, there's a lot of them that return kicks. I mean, that's happened a lot in the past. Not as many running back.
I moved Kyron down. What team was named the pump return tomorrow? That would put some fear in you. I wouldn't change that.
I wouldn't move Chris McCaffrey at all. His chance of injury is very high on his place. That's why. I bumped Kyron down slightly.
I don't even know if he actually, like, the market... shared the move i don't know if that moved him in my rankings overall but it's like this is an exciting moment because this feels like a pivotal piece of draft changing news that we're gonna look back on and go man are we didn't react enough to the punter news or you guys look at all those idiots who overreacted to the punt return i think it is it will be an apex this is not kyron simon nice i love it uh jamar chase mike he's 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 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 situation is not like brandon iukes where jamar chase has two more years that the cincinnati bangles have the rights to him to be on the team so that and it's been really wishy-washy uh comments from taylor and the most recent ones it was it was far more of a no i bet jamar chase is gonna be there in week one uh kendra miller is going to start on the ir for the saints while i don't know if you saw this jason dennis allen on one of your biggest enemies uh he came out and went on a full-on i love tason hill rant yesterday i don't know if you've 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 there's a whole bunch of that did you see when he's nothing like tason hill be the the the mike linebacker uh back when um honestly i think it was on the k adams show um like a week or two ago he he wanted to use him on defense sure but he wasn't the head coach and even that he didn't want tason 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 one i'm like i don't like i am the ir is not surprising i am a little bit surprised that they didn't just shut him down the way that denis 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 reeman and malik davis tom palacero is so excited so excited mike is so bent out of shape over tom palacero it's fine i think it's on the take man agent tweet man that's why that's why i'm saying it's so ridiculous that look this is a 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 if you were running that account you would you would copy paste the same tweet because that's what he did i'm gonna take this money yeah look i'm not an ethical man i won't take that money like that you're gonna hear from him i don't think he took money i think he's just you know you rub my back i rub your side of the thing it so the signing is look they cut royce reeman yesterday if you missed that during the trim down dalvin will go into practice squad i don't know if he makes it on an active roster at any point if this like if you're not in on my record that'll take i don't blame you 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 because we got to get through the news here trey sermon still be back up for jct was waived the browns released the on the foreman resulting in a number of texts or sorry tweets at me um but the rumor is that he's going to be returning i brought the on the foreman up in a hungry for more segment during the preseason when he had a pretty good game uh we'll see if he's back on the roster if you're a four-year vet or 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 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 uh back home is on the ir to begin the pup he's on the pup and tim patrick yeah signing with the lions yeah practice squad guy um he'll work his way yeah he'll start there but i mean i mean it's hard when you've been hurt them many years in a row like 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 uh back with the fantasy time machine in a moment all right this is just in tyron williams is now um he's actually bringing the water bottle to the other running backs oh no oh no i don't know what that means to you does that that that's a needle mover now you're changing for sure oh i this is my favorite show good work mike yeah incredible incredible creativity hey man sometimes you gotta just pay homage yeah no it's a greatness um indeed all right we're looking at the fantasy time machine segment here looking first to find 2024's version of rashad white he was a sixth round pick drafted rb24 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 um he was 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 made the first man miss um he ran the most routes among running backs fourth most receptions third most fantasy uh or sorry receiving yards they were looking for a dead zone running back who could make his way into being an rb1 for fantasy i'll kick it i'll kick us off because mine is the highest drafted um 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 um their car just giving him the ball right over the line right in front of linebacker over and over and over that being said from weeks four through 15 remember he started the season um suspended last year he was he was running back two in total fantasy points scored um and it was on the same basis of just non-stop checkdowns uh now you have kendrae miller who is a non-factor at least to start the season and jamal williams no matter how much the team loves him they he he's wonderful love the dude he's done he's not he doesn't have much left to give so i really think you're just gonna have non-stop volume for kamara and they don't really have a great receiving core you know you're talking about chris alabi one of the reasons i like chris alabi yeah i know chris alabi this this will be the year but um kamara's going to be the number two target i believe in this offense and if that's the case you're just gonna have pure volume in 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 like this is not a player that we haven't seen it from like he was an inefficient dominator in fantasy from weeks four through 15 last year i hate where i have kamara ranked no one has the courage to move him where they know what i've got a nine i've got a nine and it feels oh i hate where you have him i think it back i hate where i have him ranked as well but i go and look at the numbers i'm just like i think that's gonna happen i'm not drafting him he's in the fifth round i'm gonna wait and get value but i do think at the end of this year he's probably low in rb1 on the back of i mean if you're in a ppr or half ppr league not in standard it's tony pollard for me last year was all the failed expectations this year he's the rb26 which is right around where rashad white was drafted he is to me this is a deandre swift kenny gainwell situation um i know people like tajay spears i think pollard's the better player he played every snap of the titans uh first drive he's gonna 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 gonna say you're a starter and then on the field kenny gainwell couldn't do enough but to you know 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 you know 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 gonna 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 was still way up now you have samajay p-ron p-ron samajay p-ron 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 offseason to rehab strength and recover from the injury that it is not as bad as it was last year i think it's a fair assumption because samajay p-ron has been released from the bigger backfield 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's still around at 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 uh jordan love was the quarterback 26 last year so this was like undrafted um unproven young uh 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 top 10 offense well you got it well i i will say this i i like andy's answer probably the best of the three bars um this one my answer is not a young guy that's been left for dead obviously he is uh later in his career but matthew stafford when i look at jordan love and what 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 um be a great touchdown thrower now as a ram that especially last year kyron was the machine on the ground the touchdowns you know he was great for the 20s and then it wasn't like he was bad or struggled to throw touchdowns it was just kyron was they were really good at just running in touchdowns but you've got years before multiple years as a top five fantasy quarterback uh and you brought up on the live show your belief in in puka and cooper cup as great receiving options i do think if you're looking okay what is a quarterback this year who's kind of left for dead and dressed who's later drafted but has the weapons to maybe throw for 4500 and 35 in the in the real late rounds stafford to me would be the the guy would go after for me it's trevor lawrence trevor lawrence i mean the sentiment around love to start the year was bad it is very bad around trevor lawrence right now i'm a big brian thomas jr believer uh i like what doug peterson normally does on the offensive side and lawrence is somebody that was you know 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 um specifically to trevor lawrence so you know 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 i think lawrence fits that bill is is 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 didn't see that as one of the outcomes and trevor lawrence you know 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 such all injuries if you want a guy who could really come out and establish establish himself as like a future star the way jordan loved him trevor lawrence fits the bill i have uh i was the most uh spoken on the show about trevor lawrence last year i hated his adp it it swung way too far for trevor lawrence last year in the second half weeks 11 through 14 qb1 6 5 11 and then he kind of got injured there at the end of the season is i don't take him or herbert oh man i think that's that's so close i'm probably herbert just because i know herbert's really good i think trevor lawrence is good ish but and we don't like gabe davis is pretty much an invisible fancy player that we don't talk about we're probably for accurate reasons but gabe davis is one of those guys that it helps the quarterback i mean like he's a he is a good deep ball guy a big target you think he could be good for five or six yeah and that really helps trevor lawrence the name i'm gonna bring up it was because i was looking at adp of guys in the mid-20s is geno smith it was all the reasons jason's 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 his new offensive scheme geno 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 like 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 um undrafted tight end ends up number two on the team and 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 jacks conk conk you know we've seen aaron rogers 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 uh you know you want to use the parallels garrett wilson's the cd lamb of this equation right and tyler conklin like who's mike williams is hurt malachi corley's a rookie and saver gibson is somebody i mean conklin knows what to do and he actually has reached uh just under 100 targets the last three years so you know he is being completely ignored i don't think we brought him up one time uh maybe in passing as a sleeper tight end so i think conklin 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 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 all of the targets oh i know 168 second on the team is breece hall third tyler conklin so how many with 87 with 87 i mean those are bad targets last year but if he can get anywhere close to that type of volume from rogers like that's a huge upgrade and i did not a lot of talk yeah for me the uh the ferguson comp is pat friarmeuth who is a post-type sleeper we have to remember how this guy's career has worked out like he was he showed flashes as a rookie he's 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 he was the tight end eight looked great and it was like okay so we've got we've got a real player here and then he was injured last year and kenny pickett fell apart the offense fell apart so it was like this is a post-type sleeper where i think what can you pick it for 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 friarme's big season was with big ben uh 2022 would that not have been pickett's rookie season played in 22 yeah that was friarme's yeah that was friarme's so he's had two years and then pickett's had two years uh maybe maybe pickett didn't play much that year that's probably what it was 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 so if you get a quarterback in here who can throw you know 25 times that's not a wonderful Russell's 26 yeah Russell's 26 so if he throws 26 who's it going to? you know if they don't get Brandon Ayuk okay you got George Pickens looks great but then he could be the number two target in this offense what other tight ends does Arthur Smith want to ruin yeah that's my concern is that the utilization of the tight ends has been sketchy you know tight ends are so they're so annoying sometimes because they you need more to make a tight end good like where I was the talent rises it feels like with a tight end you need circumstance yeah the wide receiver oh Miami Stinks Jan Waddle 106 targets it doesn't matter but with a tight end sometimes you gotta have you gotta get on the field you gotta have the right coordinator you gotta have a quarterback that likes to go into 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 off the top of the third or you know if you put McAfee out there but there's not a lot Kelsey top two Andrews top two Laporta top two yeah Kincaid this year looks like top two McBride 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 you have to be one of the top two targets there's not a lot of guys that fit that bill Frymouth does look like he could be should be yeah I mean it's Arthur makes sense I am filing this one under protest however I think it is I think it's Taysom Hill last year's tight end 12 kind of your guy just kind of like your favorite player I don't like the way that the tables turned on me here 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 Payton did it too but it's magnified now and Kendrick 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 you sound so much like Dennis Allen you do you sound exactly like it 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 alright we'll take a break and we'll come back with another Fantasy Time Machine player alright this one is less fun than some of the other ones let's find 2024 Stefan Diggs who was the first round pick in Fantasy Drafts last year was the wide receiver 4 off the board he was wide receiver 3 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 he starts Stefan Diggs so this is an alpha wide receiver who could end up being a bust in the second half of the year aka runs out of steam for Fantasy Football Thielen would be another name that was like Diggs Steve Thielen well he's getting more confused it sounds like but Thielen was on fire to start the year lose his team 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 Stefan Diggs this season I brought him up as kind of a bust pick late in June but Devontae Adams still scares me I think he's great I thought Stefan 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 the season that is pretty old for a wide receiver and the situation around him you know Luke Getze's offense can be very run heavy super slow you know in 2022 they were 27th in neutral pass 30 second neutral pass rate this is a poor quarterback situation 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 the month ahead go ahead Mike I don't like to say it but I will whisper the name both of you guys shocked me it's Debo Samuel 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 Waddle a hard time yesterday of being banged up Debo has never played a whole year in his entire career because he plays so physically he plays like a man because he is a man he plays like a man he misses games like 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 Diggs for what it's worth was 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 is 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 not going to say breaking down but slowing down there's literally no comp for him though because here's all the wide receivers since 1990 with all digit touchdowns of the season at least four of them coming on the ground regardless of age Tavon Austin did it Devo Samuel's done it and Devo Samuel's done it so of course there's no 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 the Mike guy because Diggs is 29 and Evans is 31 I thought Evans aged two years this season he got two birthday cakes this year he did, he got one for his birthday and one I gave it to him for the Mike guy I said you know what for my birthday if you want to give me two cakes I'm not going to complain so Evans is tough because this is kind of because he's the first ballot actually I don't think he is I don't think he's the first ballot because it's almost impossible you know Terrell Owens didn't do it almost impossible like his thousand yard streak I think Rice and Moss are the only two that I can think of recently Fitz was? is he done that?
first ballot? yeah he's no Fitz is good no but he will be I'm just saying I mean it's really hard to do now listen Evans was incredible last year but this is perfect like the older you get the back half of the season is more difficult he gets the same by touchdowns if Baker has a rough stretch if they don't do what they did last year you know there's a lot of talk in this office you lost Dave Canales you bring Liam Cohen in a lot of talk about Chris Godwin getting more work so from an ADP standpoint Mike Evans cost 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 those are the only first ballot hall of fame wide receivers ever so the guy that Mike Evans already has more receiving yards was the first ballot hall of fame would that be Calvin that would be Calvin the guy who didn't play that much I'm just saying I bet it per year it totally matters 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 alright so there you go there's your fantasy time machine you know not to leave Evans 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 he still had 1100 yards he still had everything go his way it was just kind of he crushed my soul every week he just didn't catch touchdowns I mean until that week 17 thank you Mike Evans but yeah I mean he can if the touchdowns don't come in a specific stretch of games you can be very disappointed alright that'll do it for today's episode we got a mock draft this week we got our fantasy MVP show this week 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 quick ways to support the podcast one last reminder here as we close it out the Megalobowl come compete with the Foot Clan in 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 theffballers