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In fact, so many people have been using BetterHelp that they are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states. Fantasy Footballers listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash FOOTBALLERS. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in!
Tuesday, September 7th. Two sleep still football! You're not wrong, Mr. Moore.
That's the Beastie Boys over there. That's exactly what I was in my head thinking, Mike. Two sleep still! Football!
Well, we're back. Long weekend. Enjoyed it. Needed it.
17 weeks of football on the way. Oh, yes. 18. I was going to correct him.
Yeah, sorry. 17 games, 18 weeks. A whole lot of fantasy football fun. We welcome you back in.
Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Thank you for supporting the show. Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Leave us a review if you feel so inclined.
Yeah. And you like us. Yeah. If you're kind of, you know, out on us, just skip the review.
Yeah, look, pick a side, people. If you're coming in with this three-star review, I mean, reassess your life. If you want to hit us with a one-star, I understand. Andy's not the best.
All right. Well, not quite the direction I was heading. Brooks is here. Al Borland as well.
YouTube.com slash TheFantasyFootballers if you want to watch the show. Jam-packed show. Lots of news to talk about as we prepare for week one. Everything on our website is getting switched over to week one today, so you'll see that taking place.
I've enjoyed all of the draft analyzer results that we've been seeing over on Twitter. Tons of drafts this past weekend, including yesterday on Labor Day. And I've seen a ton of great results. One terrible one, you know who you are.
Terrible draft. Yeah, you do get bodied. But I wanted to open things up with Super Bowl picks as we head into week one before we get into where there's smoke, there's fire. Thought about this a couple of weeks ago.
Last year, I did get both of these right, so I just got to go back-to-back here. And I've seen the future. You guys know I can do that when I want to. Except with regards to Philadelphia, but yes, every other picture.
That was when I was a first-year student, like a Hogwarts student. I was still learning my magic. Yeah, you overextended. Last year, obviously, it came true, therefore.
Let's hear it. Who you got? I got the Rams against the Ravens in the Super Bowl. I've got the Rams, Matthew Stafford, Sean McVein Company, coming out of the NFC.
The defense is outstanding. This is, of course, very painful, being a Cardinal fan in the just horribly difficult NFC West. So I'm going to go Rams out of the NFC. And then the Ravens, I think they get over the hump this year, and they get a big playoff win.
Defense is strong, Lamar and company. So I have the Ravens winning the Super Bowl, defeating the Rams. Sean McVein, no matter what quarterback he puts into the Super Bowl, ends up on the losing side. So Ravens-Rams.
The team's from the two toughest divisions. Yeah, that is definitely true. I mean, it is not fair to be in one of those divisions. And you are half right, Andy.
Your half is the Rams side. The Rams, as well, getting out of the NFC. And the AFC, I went with the Bills. I think that over the last several years, every single year, you have seen this step forward, not just from Josh Allen, but from the team as a whole, getting more experience, getting more playoff tested.
And I think this is the year that they take that leap to the number one team. I mean, it's going to be hard. It seems like, you know, your guys' AFC picks here. But I do think that the Bills are ready to get all the way there and lose in the Super Bowl to Matthew Stafford.
So you've got the Rams winning, though. I do. All right, let's get the chalk out of the way. I just don't see a way that it's not Kansas City from the AFC.
I try to convince myself of a story of some other team is going to beat them out. We couldn't be Buffalo. No, I just don't believe it. They've rebuilt the offensive line, and the team is going to be too good.
There is that, like, revenge narrative going around about the undefeated season for the Chiefs. Like, they've won it. They're coming off of the Super Bowl loss. They want to reestablish dominance.
So I could, I mean, how can you not see that? I found it hard to not take both the Chiefs and the Parks. Yes, I understand that. Because it's like, the paths are there for them.
And we got the NFC. And I'm going with Aaron Rodgers riding out his train of glory in Green Bay, making it to the Super Bowl. I don't have him winning the Super Bowl. But he'll get there.
They will lose. And everyone will point fingers at each other, and Aaron Rodgers will go to a different team. Why would he? Oh, they lost.
Yes, yes. Oh, he'll go out either way. He'll either win, and we know which finger he'll put that ring on, and he'll show them that ring and say, peace up! Am I the only one that thinks Aaron Rodgers is most definitely staying for more than this year?
Al, what do you think over there, Packer fan? Yeah, I think he's leaving. Oh, you think he's gone? Yeah.
They'll trade him this offseason. I do not see that. I hope you're right. A lot of smoke.
I'm not sure the fire ends up. It's not a certainty to say that, but certainly the stars are aligning that way. So, in summary, Ravens, Rams, Chiefs, is that right? Mm-hmm.
Okay. I wonder if our producers have a Super Bowl pick for us today, and so I'll throw to Al. Al, do you have the Packers winning the Super Bowl this year? It's Packers versus Packers.
Mike got it half right, so congrats. So, you've got Packers in. Al, or I'm sorry, Judge Giamatti, do you have the Cowboys winning it all this year? Definitely not.
Okay. Do you have a Super Bowl winning squad selected? I'm going really excited. You're going Chiefs, Buccaneers.
Oh, there it is. I can do the Bucs, win it again? The Chiefs this time. Okay.
So, we get a one-to-one. How's that cottonmouth choking on all that chalk? It's disgusting. Okay.
You set that up, all right. Once they're on the show live. Oh, no. I was talking to him.
I mean, I threw to Al first on purpose to give Brooks processing time. I actually really appreciate that. Yeah. I mean, we all knew that Al was prepared with Packers.
Yes. Yeah. All right. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
A couple of storylines we'll talk about. The first one to report out of Miami, the Dolphins coach Brian Flores suggested, Miles Gaskin has become the player the team can trust to be on the field for all three downs. A quote from him. He made pass protection a part of his game, and he's not a guy that we have to take out in those situations.
I am all in on Miles Gaskin. I have him. I think I've drafted him in every draft I've had over the last week because I like the value. I've tried to trade for him in the leagues I don't have him in.
So I am a believer. It was a slow process this offseason, and I know you're not as bullish, Jason, but I think it's fire, obviously, based on the investments that I'm making in him in fantasy. So 18 touches a game last year. Where are you with the smoke fire of this report, specifically the confidence of the team to kind of make him a workhorse?
Well, so if that's what this report is, is making him a workhorse, I do still think it's more smoke than fire. Watching kind of the interview that all of this came out of, there was talk about Gaskin being able to be a better pass protector, which is important. That's why they brought him up in Brown. He's one of the better pass protecting running backs out there, and so if Gaskin can do that, that's great.
I still have a hard time believing, you know, all the time. Coaches will talk their players up. He's great. We don't have to take him off the field, yada, yada.
But whether or not he can withstand a workhorse role at 200 pounds, like for instance, you know, Austin Eckler is the greatest comp. Same height, same weight, pass catching duties, and I love Austin Eckler, and he's not a workhorse back. They're going to have other, you know, he's not going to carry the ball 250 plus times, and I don't think Gaskin is either. It's a matter of whether he can stay as efficient as he was last year in the pass catching game.
I still think that there will be all three running backs involved in the backfield, and I worry about the offensive line, but it's certainly trending up for Myles Gaskin right now after how it started in the preseason. I do think this is smoky. Where do you land, Mike? The comment is, you know, you can take it however you want to.
Like, it just can be a confirmation bias if you're in on Myles Gaskin, but he's just saying he's not a guy we have to take out. But they're going to. Like, they're going to make choices to take Myles Gaskin out, give him a break, put Malcolm Brown in. They still like Ahmed over there in Miami.
It's just so the question becomes, how often do those other running backs get in? I've kind of landed, you know, where I was, which was in the middle of, I think that Myles Gaskin as ADP was a fine risk-reward pick with some real upside there that if he gets that same role and that the team is solid, then he's going to be a three-down running back that by the end will finish as a top 15 guy. So I would say this is, if I have to pick, I guess it's more fire than smoke. What I like about Gaskin with the Eckler comp is, like, we have a basketball we're drafting right now.
Eckler was the 112. Gaskin was the 4-7. Right. And so, and I think that both of those players can have very similar years.
Gaskin needs more shirtless workout videos. I'm not confident that Gaskin is as shredded as Eckler right now because I haven't seen it. When I think about Austin Eckler, I know he's small in NFL turns, but he's a sturdy dude. I like, I love your comment because, because when you get the videos, it's like, everyone freaks out as though, if you don't see it, these players are not in shape.
That's right. But if you see the quad, oh, quadricep muscles for the running back? I have, I have no, uh, proof of abs. I, I, I, I, I have no proof of abs.
I need today's paper in the photograph with proof of abs. Okay, Gaskin is the same size as Eckler. I don't view them as the same size. I think in my head, Gaskin is like 30 pounds lighter than Austin Eckler.
Is Eckler getting a three round ab bump? At least two. Maybe. I think one, one round's gotta be Justin Herbert.
18 touches a game. That's what I want from, from Miles to continue. And that will be enough. Uh, okay.
So we've got a couple of fires, one smoke, another report and another one that I will go fire on. The Athletics, Zach Kiefer reporting Colts coaches want Naeem Hines to have more touches in 2021. Naeem Hines is a good football player that when you listen to Frank Reich talk about the team and his role, what is communicated to me is a tremendous amount of trust. And I think that Naeem Hines is probably, he may be the most annoying player in fantasy to know when to start or when to sit, but he will get a lot of work this year.
10 opportunities a game last year. I don't know. I think that they, I think he'll be above that. This is one of those situations that happens every single year in fantasy where there is a stud who is an awesome option for fantasy that we want and believe should get the entirety of the workload.
And that is irrelevant. There are, these are coaches. You're talking about Jonathan Taylor? Yeah, I'm saying Jonathan Taylor, but the fancy community wants him to have 100% workload and 100% snap share.
And that, that doesn't matter. It matters what the actual NFL coaches want. Last year, they gave Hines a lot of work. It wasn't like Jonathan Taylor wasn't great last year.
Do you remember the fantasy finish for Hines? If they're coming out, yeah, he was a top 24th at 20. If they're coming out this year and saying, I want to get him more involved, I don't know how you could, like, like, there's, there's one side that's just fluff, right? There's, there's a side that's like talking up a player for no reason, but this is, we've seen it on the field.
We saw them utilize him in those situations. He did great with it. And they're saying they want to keep doing that. That's just a nice, consistent fire from last year.
And they, he is officially the number two running back on the depth chart. I know Twitter was kind of making a, making some ruckus this morning over that situation happening. T.Y. Hilton will be missing at least a handful of games in as much as I like Michael Pittman.
Other guys have to catch the ball. And Maheem Hines is, that's his specialty. And so I would say that this one is fire as well. Hines, if you, if you were grabbing Hines, you know, at that later round ADP, I think he's going to be a spot starter for you.
Yeah. It was still difficult. I mean, he ping pong between, I mean, week one and two. I had him last year.
It was the perfect example. I mean, number five running back in week one. Everyone's freaking out. Then he goes 82, 30, 43, 45, 33.
And then he gets a string of five games where it's like, you know, 7, 44, 3, 37, 16, 21. So difficult to start, but exists to take away your dreams for Jonathan Taylor. That's for sure. All right.
That was where there's smoke. There's fire. Nightmine's the dream stealer? Yeah.
Him and J.D. McKissick go, they run through the meadows. I stole another dream today. What did you do?
I stole a dream. Oh, thank you. Who are we calling goblins? Was it Chris Goblin?
No, no, no. We were talking about these backup running backs. Yeah. No, that's 100% what they do.
I stole your dreams. Yeah. They stole the dreams. I mean, it was super creepy.
I've not watched that movie. Sorry, Nightmine's and J.D. McKissick. But I mean, that's what they're there for.
Oh, I mean, James White's there too, just for the record. Tell me. He's there to take some Damien Harris dreams away. Oh, man.
No, A.J. Dillon is not there. Sorry. He can't fit in that door.
It's way too large. No, he's the opposite of a guy. He's like more of a troll. Not a goblin.
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News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper. I mean, they're not really just target goblins. They're more like snap goblins, right? Yeah.
They're out there. They're just taking up snaps that you wish your other player had. Like, Jonathan Taylor can catch the ball. And Tommy O'Gipsey can catch the ball.
Both of them are pretty darn good at it. But then the snap goblins come running off the sideline. Get out of there. It's my turn.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jason. I think based on this voice, I'm realizing this isn't a coach's decision. Right.
I think they just run on the field. They choose themselves. They're like, you're out, Jonathan. Oh, it's nice that the season is here.
Let's get into a lot of news. Talk about how it impacts your fantasy team. Mark Andrews, four-year, $56 million contract. Probably gave Jason a pep in his step after trading for Mark Andrews in our dynasty league.
I don't know that it changes much of anything. We all assumed that he would get a contract extension and that when it happens, he would be one of the highest-paid tight ends in the league. Good for you, Mark. Yeah, congratulations.
But obviously, they're not doing that if he's looking fat and terrible at camp, you know? So, good. Yeah, fat and terrible is one of the worst ways you can look at camp. Also, this way is not great either.
Justice Field. torn Achilles at practice. Raven, he was the third string running back for the Baltimore Ravens heading into the season. Yeah, he's probably going to split time with Tyson Williams.
Now, Tyson Williams is an interesting potential flyer. But by the Indy Hill, they're bringing Liv Bell to practice to try out Demonta Freeman. Yeah, I mean, I think they'll probably sign one of those guys too. They will have to.
Just as an insurance running back with Gus Edwards. This is his backfield. Demonta Freeman is on a mission to be released by every NFL club, which he's getting close to. So, yeah, they have to bring somebody in.
I mean, two devastating injuries. You talk about a season ender for J.K. Dobbins, a season ender for Justice Hill. And so, you know, I haven't seen a lot of Tyson Williams.
But this gives me more faith that you should pick him up because where we had talked about Williams that the all-news at a camp center, like he had secured being the backup role and kind of becoming the, you know, for lack of better phrasing, the new Gus Edwards in that Raven system where he's going to get carries because the Ravens simply have not full-time featured a running back. They split up the work. Williams is going to be that backup guy, but you didn't know how often is Justice Hill going to get on the field. He's been on the team a while.
He knows the system. He's a solid pass-fetching running back. But if the third option is now these other running backs who can't get on an NFL team because they're washed, then like Gus Edwards and Williams, those are going to be the guys. They are.
And for those that don't know, Tyson Williams was an undrafted player out of BYU. I've heard the, hey, there may not be a James Robinson this year, but he's one of the candidates of potentially having a bigger impact than we think. His team, I mean, think about how you viewed Gus. Yeah, exactly.
When J.K. Dobbins was the starter. You viewed Gus as like, hey, look at this team has a big lead at the end of the games. You may be seeing a lot of Tyson Williams in the fourth quarter running out the clock instead of, you know, risking losing Gus because this team's Super Bowl chances, they take a huge hit without Gus.
Yeah, and nothing against Gus Edwards. He's looked great when he's been on the field. If Gus was running behind the Arizona offensive line, I don't think we'd be as excited. When you watch Gus Edwards dominate back there, it's in part because the running lanes that open up for that system with Lamar Jackson, they're going to open up for whoever is there and Tyson Williams should be certainly rostered in a dynasty format.
I think he should be rostered in redraft. And you know, in week one, the Baltimore Ravens play the Las Vegas Raiders. Raiders. So Williams, he should be picked up because he's going to be a week one waiver guy.
Get ahead of the crowd. He's a perfect name of if you've got someone that is missing week one and you need to throw them on your IR and pick someone up, grab them. And before we get into some more of this news, now is the time to celebrate. The first NFL Sunday of the season is about to kick off in DraftKings.
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Join today and you'll get six bottles of wine for $29.95 and free shipping. Just go to tryfirstleaf.com slash footballers at six bottles of wine for $29.95 and free shipping at tryfirstleaf.com slash footballers. All right, some injury updates. Clyde Edwards-Alaire and Daryl Williams both going to be ready for week one for the Chiefs.
Saquon is, quote, gearing up to play week one against the Broncos is very close to being cleared. Takes them a long time to lace those cleats. I think we brought it up on the show already. Oh, they're super...
Are they late gas? We would play him if he's starting, right? Yeah, I think you have to. Both of these guys, Clyde Edwards-Alaire and Barkley, you drafted them so high.
They're in your starting lineup and even though I don't think we necessarily expect, especially for Saquon who's missed the entirety since his last injury, I don't think we expect a monstrous game. You pretty much have to plug him in your lineup. Let me throw another player in there for some advice for week one starters. Would you play Odell against Kansas City in week one?
Oh my goodness. Because you don't have as high of a draft investment on Odell, but at the same time he's supposed to be healthy. I'm asking for a friend. He is someone that I think you can pivot off of.
He's obviously recovering from the knee injury and I would like to see how he looks in week one if you have another option. What about AJ Green? Oh my gosh, you're literally naming players that I just can't stand. No, but if you had like Robbie Anderson or Odell Beckham, I would go Chanel.
Mark Wes Calloway. Probably Mark Wes. Okay. What a world.
So you are waiting to see what OBJ has. There's more options at wide receiver to take that match. I think that's fair. I mean, my friend's going to make those changes.
Evan Ingram, he's a long shot to play in the season opener. He's not going to play, but he has been doing work off the side of the field, so there was concern that he was going to get put on the short-term IR, but I would expect him to be back to the Giants sooner than later. DeAndre Swift ready for week one against the 49ers according to head coach Dan Campbell. The discount that people have been getting on DeAndre Swift over the last three or four days is significant.
This one is tough. I mean, it's clearly been a pretty nasty groin injury, groinindex.com, for DeAndre Swift to have missed this much time and it's week one. How much work is Swift going to get versus Jamal Williams? How much work when they're both healthy?
What does that time shirt actually look like when Jamal Williams was the free agent that they brought in and the way that Dan Campbell talked about this backfield? So, yeah, Swift was probably a draft day discount if you completely are bought in on the talent, but that's what the problem all offseason has been for me with DeAndre Swift is it is 100% talent. You're buying it on talent only and that can absolutely work, but the situation is going to try and drag him down into the muck. Yeah, he's one where you certainly got a discount if he's healthy without a shred of doubt.
A great pick in fantasy if he's healthy. It's scary because when you have an entire offseason program missed, you just can't be sure. When that news came out this morning that Dan Campbell said he's ready to go week one, he's going to be playing. Before I read the headline against the 49ers, I think he will get less work than if he was just healthy this whole camp process.
Players that I would play ahead of him would be like Raheem Mostert, Miles Sanders against Atlanta, Gus Edwards against the Raiders. If those are your decisions, then I think you might have the luxury to wait and see, but he's also a good pass catcher and he's talented players. Top 10 run defense from San Francisco last year even with the injuries, so yeah. Good analysis.
Noah Fant returned to practice on Monday. That's good. I can tell you as someone who needs to play him in week one, I was happy to see it because I was looking through dynasty options like Jordan Aikens and Dan Arnold and I wanted to play Noah Fant. Well, I think I will.
Yeah, for redraft, it's been so difficult to decide what to do. I mean, you drafted Noah Fant to play him and it would be a scary proposition, but are you confident? Like, let's say Gronk is on the waiver wire, Andy, and you're going week one. Would you just hold Fant because you draft capital and play him week one?
Yeah, I'm a little worried about Fant week one, whether or not, even if he's active, just because Albert O is going to be available and a contributor they may share sometimes. So would you be willing to drop Fant for Gronk on the waivers? No, I don't think so. I guess in that situation, if you're worried about losing a season-long tight end for you, then you just play him and even if it's a point or two difference.
Hunter Henry says he's expecting to play in week one as well. Sonny Michel on track to play for the Rams in week one against the Bears. Jameson Crowder might play, might get clear from the COVID list. He might?
Yep. Oh, this is interesting news from a standpoint if Crowder is out, I think Elijah Moore then goes right into starting as the slot wide receiver for the Jets, which that could be a problem for Jameson Crowder if Elijah Moore is able to get out there and showcase his talent sooner than later. Dak, full go for Thursday's week one opener, which is what we want to see. We want to see Brady back on Thursday night.
However, Zach Martin is not going to play on Thursday night. He's on the COVID list. That's the Cowboys offensive lineman, Zach Martin. Tampa Bay was the number one run defense in the NFL last year, so maybe temper your Zeke expectations.
Yeah, Zeke? Oh, I like that. Zeke. It's not good.
Well, I said I like it and I started to try to say it and I didn't like it. Zeke expectations. Whoa, that's not what I was like. So you liked it.
I liked it. Then you let it process and now you don't like it. It certainly, the numbers were going down. It really wasn't supposed to be talked about ever again.
But he is, I was going to bring this up and now I am. He is a trade for candidate after week one. Zeke. Zeke, because I think some people maybe don't remember how dominant Tampa Bay's defense was against the run last year.
If you lose an all-world guard and then you go up against that matchup, it's possible that he looks really bad this week. And if he does, I think there are plenty of leagues where Zeke drops to someone. You know, some leagues someone is calling a shot and grabbing Zeke, but there were concerns of is this the beginning of the end for Zeke? He's on his second contract and if he comes out and looks like a turd in week one, I think you're going to have some managers that are really scared of, oh no, is he not what I thought he was and that's when I would scoop up.
Tampa Bay gave up the fewest rushing yards, the fewest rushing touchdowns and the lowest yards per carry in the NFL last year. At least they returned all their starters. Yeah, I mean, the other side of the coin is if Zeke comes out and gives you a good game against Tampa, watch out. Because, I mean, that's certainly possible.
It's not like they don't give up anything. So, it's going to be a fun Thursday night game. Tyrod Taylor, the official starter for the Texans. Goodness gracious.
Which means that Deshaun Watson will sit and watch maybe from home on Sundays. Doesn't this just mean in a couple weeks whoever the starting quarterback is for the Texans is going to be awesome? Does that mean you had Baker come in after a couple weeks of Tyrod. Exactly, then you had Justin Herbert come in.
I mean, when Tyrod starts and then leaves, if there's a rookie behind him. Is he just walking around protecting his lungs right now? Isn't that what happened last year? Yes.
Yeah, he got the rib shot in him. Oh, man. I guess I'm happy for Tyrod that he gets the opportunity because he's had a few taken away from him due to injury. He's a great dude.
He's a genuinely great dude. Ever. Duke Johnson was signed by Jacksonville to the practice squad. Okay.
I don't know if there's anything else significant to talk about. Is there anything that's happened this morning, Brooksy, that we need to discuss? Nothing yet. Okay.
All right. Saints kicker Will Lutz is on injured reserve. Don't care. Aldrick Rosa.
Oh, stop talking about it. We'll be there. We'll be there, kicker. Really turned down the kicker position.
Yeah. Well, no, we turned off the kicker. Yes, we did. Which was awesome because we added a flex, got rid of kickers.
It was a lot more fun and, you know, there's purists out there to say, you know, what kicking matters in the NFL and to that I say, let's change that. Let's get rid of the field goals. Let's get rid of the punts and the kickoffs. Just play the game of football.
All right. That was today's news and notes presented by Sleeper. They have incredible breaking news alerts. So if you want to be up to date beyond this podcast, up to the minute, you can grab their breaking alerts.
Well, you grab the app and you subscribe to the breaking alerts channel and you'll get those alerts faster than anywhere else. Download the Sleeper app today to check that out. I didn't mention it at the top. I really should have, but today's really the last day you can get in the Mega Bowl because this episode is being recorded Tuesday, September 7th.
There's drafts through tomorrow night? Tomorrow. You can technically still get in tomorrow as well, but drafts tonight, drafts tomorrow. You can get in.
Go to megalobowl.com. That's got all the information, the rules, the sign-up process. We are over 15,000. Oh, brother.
Over 15,000. If you think you're the best fantasy football player, come approve it. And if you win, you're in our listener league next year. And goodness gracious, 15,000 plus that is, I mean, I'm in it.
I'll say this. I'm not drafted yet. I'm either drafting tonight or tomorrow. So sign up.
And are we still doing the thing where the winner gets to swim with the sharks then? That's right. Okay, Joe. We can't afford that.
No, and they don't need it. You're friendly. You're the king or queen of the megalobowl. Sharks fear you.
Trust me. Don't worry. You'll be fine. Sharks super fear you because you won a fantasy league.
Under the lead, we have another open spot in the listening league. That's right. So megalobowl.com, basically anybody that supports us on Patreon, jointhefoot.com gets an entry into the megalobowl. And through the year, you get access to all of our premium tools and resources, an extra episode of the show every week.
And that community is now 20,000 strong. Best people in the world. They really are. So, into the mailbag we go.
Mailbag. Mailbag. All right. Into the mailbag.
If you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline, 302464-TFFB. Kick it off with a voicemail. Hey, ballers. I'll keep it short and sweet.
Do either Cooper Cup or Chase Claypool for week one or my flex. Thanks, guys. Bye. Cooper Cup, Los Angeles Rams, will be playing against the Chicago Bears.
And Chase Claypool is at Buffalo. So, I view these matchups pretty similar. It's Cup. Yes.
Good analysis. I do agree. I'm going to let you finish, Jason. I'm going to let you finish.
But it's Cooper Cup. That's right. No, describe why. Back to you.
Well, I mean, just even on the draft capital argument, I mean, you invested more on Cooper Cup than you did on Chase Claypool. It'd be nice to see one week of the new Pittsburgh offense and what the snap counts look like. Your potential for Claypool to not be on the field is so much higher than Cooper Cup. Yes.
I don't dislike, I mean, I think Cup's got as good of a matchup, so both on the road. And Chase Claypool got banged up in the preseason. In the week. Yeah, exactly.
If you have Cooper Cup, then play him over Chase Claypool. Don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not overly concerned about Claypool week one, but this is, if you're looking for a way to decide on a raise within margin, go with the player who's healthy. Yeah, and the Rams are also at home.
Yeah, they do. Oh, okay. I should have wrote at Bears down on my little sheet here. Let's go to YouTube.
Christophonis says, Hey, ballers, I'm in the league for the first time with Fab this year. Okay. Can you share any tips and tricks on how you approach waivers in this format over the course of the year? For those unaware, BearFab is the free agent acquisition budget.
It is a set amount of dollars. I actually just had a question about this on Twitter, too, so it's always good talking about it. Virtual fake dollars. Yeah, so you can essentially switch a league to it now if you want to before the season gets started.
It is a different way to approach waivers. A lot of leagues use waiver priority, which is basically... After the week one, the worst team ends up with number one waiver priority. They can hold that or they can use it.
And we don't really like that in part because of week one, where that's not really an indicator of your season-long power rankings for a team. And yet in week one, some team that finishes last gets first priority. Fab is a way to kind of equalize that and add another element of strategy where you get a set amount of virtual dollars. Maybe it's $100 over the course of the whole year.
And the day after the game's finished, people put in their bids on players. And it's blind bidding. And so, you know, Mike and I, maybe Tyson Williams is out there. He has a nice week one.
And Mike and I both want him. Mike may put a blind bid of $10 of his fab, and I might put $15. And so I overpay by $4, I guess, and what I needed to get him. But I would get him when waivers run the next morning.
So there's some strategies people should use with that. So our strategy that we like to give out, if it's the league's first time in it, people are going to be nervous. And they're not going to know when to go hard in the paint after trying to get one of these free agents on their squad. So week one, don't be afraid to go after somebody.
When we're doing our waiver shows, you know, next Tuesday, we'll be talking about what percentage of the fab we're willing to risk to try and go after these potential waiver studs. So that's it. Be ready to go after a player in week one. And make sure you're, by the end of the season, save at least a little bit.
It doesn't have to be a ton. Save $5 for the playoffs. Yes. Because a lot of people will be out, and you'll only be able to do out of your budget, and you'll only be able to do $0 bids.
And when there's that great defense that you want to either keep your opponent from getting in that matchup, or you'll put that $1 bid in and guarantee you get them if your opponent is down at $0. Yes, it's equally offensive and defensive by the end of the season when you can take a player or a defense away for just a $1 bid. And if you want to conserve fab over the back half of the year, I always tell people to pick up that defense a week early. Look at the matchups ahead of time, because then you won't have to spend fab.
Even if it's $1 or $2 a week, that's a lot to conserve for the sake of the end of the year. Absolutely. Even right now, we'll be talking about undrafted gyms on tomorrow's episode. Defenses will be in that, like the Browns.
We can talk about that a little bit later. Yeah, they play Kansas City in a week once, so nobody's drafted them. Exactly. Nobody's drafted them, but we do look at them pretty nice.
Probably coming off a loss. Probably. Here we go. Voicemail.
Hey, Ballers, do you have a general preference as to whether you like to start running backs or wide receivers more at flex? Thanks, love to show. Do you have a preference? I mean, does it depend if it's half or full?
Yeah, I mean, the scoring format will make a difference. Obviously, in full PPR, wide receivers will catch more passes, and the baseline is higher. The way that I look at it is this. Usually, the top running backs will outscore the top wide receivers.
The next tier of just really solid wide receivers versus really solid running backs are about even. But that's usually when you're in your starting positions. You know, you've got two running backs and two or three wide receivers. Then, once that pool is dried up and you're looking at the flex option, in a full PPR league, it will usually be, I prefer to start a wide receiver.
They'll score more points than the running back on average in that range. But running backs are a little bit more consistent in known volume. It's easier to know a running back is going to touch the ball 12 or 13 or 14 times versus knowing on a flex range wide receiver whether they'll get the targets. So, volatility of the rest of your roster could have an impact on what you play there.
Yes. If you need more high-end production versus, like you said, guaranteed volume from the position. All right. You like that, writes in from YouTube and says, are we going to have the start of sit-up tool on the website this year?
You betcha. It'll be up there today. You betcha. It'll be up there today.
The whole transition, if you heard at the beginning of the show, the week one website changeover is happening today. On Tuesday, it will probably take the majority of the day to happen. But our week one rankings are going to be up there today, and everything is returning the page into week one. Yeah.
I mean, all of the strength of schedule, the flex rankings, the snapshot tool, everything will be available by the end of today for week one, whether you're a supporter at Join the Foot and you have access to all the premium projections, all the free projections on the rankings by the end of today. All right. Last one. Dan in Missouri, how do you guys feel about trades in a redraft league before the season even starts?
I love it. I'm a big fan of if I can do a two-for-one and grab, usually right now, there are about 20 players on the waiver wire that I usually like before week one that, oh, man, just, you know, these undrafted gems. And if you can do a two-for-one, improve your starting lineup, and then grab one of those guys off the waivers, I'm thrilled to do that. All righty.
Well, that'll do it for today's episode of the show. We want to close out by thanking Traeger Grills for supporting the podcast. A reminder, I mean, look, the season is here. You don't need a reminder that the season is here.
No, you don't. What you need a reminder about is the fact that Traeger can make game day exquisite. Unless you've had meat off of Traeger, then you don't need a reminder. No, it's built into your calendar for your family.
You just put it in there. I did a little Labor Day BBQ on the Traeger last night. Okay, how'd that turn out? Delicious.
What'd you do, burgers? You know it. You do burgers a lot. Yeah, because they're the best.
Yeah, I don't blame you. And the weather's starting to get a little, it's going to get better here, too. Yes. Wi-Fi or technology.
That's what lets you watch the game and then keep track of your cooks and makes it super easy. Grill, smoke, bake, roast, grace. Check them out. Traeger.com slash footballers.
I've been getting tagged on pictures of giant Traeger grills in boxes where people have made the decision. One guy said advertising doesn't work on me and then sent me a picture of the Traeger on the box. So Traeger.com slash footballers if you want to check out a Traeger grill. They're not only a sponsor, they're our friends.
And we love Traeger. And I'm a member. All right, that'll do it for today's show. But there's another one tomorrow.
See you then. 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.
In Foot Plan, we want to thank pristineaction.com. A Robert Woods signed jersey yesterday, $57 against the night. Christian McCaffrey signed jersey, $61 right now. Cool.
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