Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Offseason Fantasy Questions, News & Notes

Yeah, well. Because there's 30 quarterbacks and there's 12 owners in a fantasy league. I was going to go with the owner who drafted both Breeze and Rogers and then could not unload Drew Breeze later in the league and had to take a far discounted deal to get rid of him. The thing is, Eric, I guess if your league freaks out about him. Yeah, certainly. But we've talked about this of the power of streaming quarterbacks off of the waiver wire, 40 quarterbacks last year posted a top 12 week.

You can go back historically. I think it was 43 the year before that, 40 the year before that. So, I mean, these guys, you can, and it's not a mystery magical science of figuring out who's going to have a great game. You look at defenses. We talk about it throughout the season. Think about what you're giving up.

Yeah, potentially, especially with taking Brady in the third round. Take the bird in the hand situation here. I'd rather get the running back, the known player instead of maybe I get to trade one of these quarterbacks later. Maybe I don't like Wilson. If you had done this with Wilson, you're sitting there in week four going, oh, crap, no one is ever going to trade for Russell Wilson. Now what do you do? He's burning a bench spot. You can't cut him. And the reality is you are, and we all are either one-tenth or one-twelfth.

of the league. We just don't have enough power in the draft to affect the other 11 teams by our decision. You know, you can do it a little bit when it's like, okay, I'm coming up near a turn and there's two guys that are picking before my next pick. You can also do it if you have a real homer in your league. That just loves, I don't know, for instance, Philip Rivers, right? And you know they're going to trade for Philip Rivers if you draft him. You can take advantage of a single owner in that strategy.

Maybe the Drew Brees, the Super Patriot fan, but as an overarching supply shortage, you're not creating one unless you take a quarterback with every pick of your draft. Maybe this is, if you're talking just kind of a holistic of your league, and you feel like you want a shortage of supply for the quarterback, then turn it into a two-quarterback league. That's right, right, you're saying as a whole league strategy. Okay. Mike in Niagara Falls, this isn't you, is it? I've done the barrel.

Oh, you did the barrel over Niagara? Yeah, I survived. Wow. Me and Pippi Longstocking. A lot of people put Alan Robinson in that barrel last year and threw them over. Need help picking two keepers, a standard league, no round restrictions, and I can keep them forever. Forever. O'Dell Beckham Jr., Todd Gurley, Carlos Hyde, or Jordy Nelson. What a great...

Because O'Dow Buckham Jr. is done. He's in. You're not, he's not even part of this conversation anymore. So now you're deciding between Gurley, Hyde, and Nelson. Very tough question. I think it's Gurley for me. You know, look, I've spoke very poorly on Gurley. You spoke, to your defense, you speak poorly on everything. That is factually accurate. I think I would take Gurley here. I prefer usually having the...

You know, in this situation, it's between Gurley and Jordy, right? And in general, I think I might like Jordy by a hair more than Gurley. I believe in him to be a top option. But they're very close. And I would rather go into a draft if they're very close.

being able to have, I've already got a wide receiver and a running back. So now whoever falls to me, I could take the best that I want available in the draft versus saying, man, I have to get this running back because I've got my two wide receivers. And now all the running backs are gone. And I worry about that. So I think I would go Gurley and Beckham here. One year removed from Todd Gurley being quite the dynasty looking prize. Yeah. So.

We're not one year removed from that with Jordy Nelson. Like Jordan Nelson doesn't look like a- We're zero years removed. Well, he doesn't look like a dynasty prize today, is what I'm saying. O'Dow Belcom Jr. is a dynasty goldmine. Jordy Nelson is not a dynasty prize. Well, this is a two-keeper league. Yeah, I'm not going to, yeah, I view two-keeper leagues as a redraft. No, and I wouldn't overreact to it either. I'm just saying if anybody has the potential of being a multi-year, like, goldmine for your-

Keeper League, I think Gurley is higher if it's a close debate. I know Mike's about to tell me he's going to take like Gates, Antonio Gates over Gurley. I was just going to say to your point about Todd Gurley, I mean, you had, if you go back two or three years, Eddie Lacey has skyrocketed to be a top three dynasty running back as well. It's a great example. These guys can fall off extremely quickly for fantasy production.

And if we're talking a one year Carlos Hyde versus Todd Gurley, I'd prefer Carlos Hyde this year. Okay. But I'm with Jason that I'm not going to overreact to the keep forever. It's awesome for Odell Beckham. And he's probably going to be on your team for years to come. But I would take Jordy and know that by the end of next season, I'm on my roster will be someone who I'm going to feel great as my second keeper. If it's not Jordy again. Sure.

Sure. Let's move to this question from Channing in Linside, West Virginia. I have two second round draft picks and the eighth pick in the first round. I'd really like to have David Johnson, or Lev Bell. Yeah, we all would. But I know they will not be available when it comes to my turn. The guy at number two does not have a second rounder and wants to do the following trade. I receive the number two overall pick. I give...

the eighth pick in one of my second rounders. Do I take the top round value or do I sit tight and take depth with those early picks? Very similar to, you know, in a lot of ways to Mike's dynasty trade. Do you... Yeah, kind of, but here's how I would do this. Probably don't do the trade. Well, this is what you should do. Try and do...

the best of your ability right now, do some mock drafting, and, you know, estimate who's going to be there at the eighth pick, and then who's going to be there in that second round? Would you trade those two guys for Levion Bell? Because it could be yes, it could be no. It's also a two-quarterback league. So, I mean, I can't say for sure if I would.

do if this is a yes or a no for me but that's that's the exercise that i would run and to help me figure this out yeah if if i could if i could make sure that it was um my later second pick so i've got a a high second rounder still and now i get a high first round what if they're what if they're what if they're the 11 and the 12 like well if they're both basically the same yeah then it does make a difference because i would like a a high first round high second rounder the two quarterback league

It does play to the advantage of having more picks, though, because all of a sudden you've got a little bit more position scarcity at an additional position. So there's an advantage to having three, you know, picks in the first two rounds. So I agree. I would probably not do the deal. Yeah, I can, I mean, I don't have everybody laid out in front of me, but what, that second round pick is Amari Cooper, if you want him, and you mix Amari Cooper with.

You know, the eighth pick in the draft. I'm pulling up some ADP. The eighth round, or I'm sorry, the eighth pick is going to be a fan-tastic player. Yeah, it might be Mike Evans. It might be. I mean, you've got, you've got the three fantastic player regardless. You've got the three. Uh,

you know, stud, stud, wide receivers in Odell Beckham, Julio. And I know you put, you guys are putting Mike Evans in there. But, you know, Antonio Brown, Julio, and Odell Beckham. Those are clearly in there. Then you have David Johnson, Zeke, and Lev Bell, which is six. Now it's a two-quarterback league. Aaron Rogers will absolutely be going to the first. Andrew, Andrew Luck. I mean, there's going to be a superstar there for you. All right. Keeper question from Connor and Omaha. Who would you have as your third?

Keeper. He already has Shady and Antonio Brown and he can choose between Sammy, Sammy Watkins and Tony, I'm sorry, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, or Devante Adams. Who you got? Read those names off. You already have Shady and Antonio Brown and can choose between Watkins, Hopkins, Hopkins and Adams. Man, who is, who is DeAndre Hopkins quarterback? Oh, I can tell you right now, DeAndre Hopkins is the lowest of these three for me. Unbelievable. You guys are on fire today. We are opposite. There's no.

For me, it's Hopkins. Fire up the Paula Abdul. Let me just verify. Let me verify. And this is good breaking news. I believe by the end of the week, our initial rankings will be on our website for 2017. Yes, sir. I'm going to check my wide receiver rankings real quick. February ranks. Just to see. Does he give the scoring format? Half point. So in a half point PBR. So it's going to be Tom Savage, right?

Are we assuming that it's Tom Savage? No, I think it's, I'm gonna, Tony Romo. You think it'll be Romo? Well, then give me DeAndre Hopkins. Look, here's what I think. I think that I know that Houston's not going to live an entire year with Brock Osweather like last year. And so, I'm guessing you're back to back to back. So for me, for me.

They're not going to live in that situation. I think Hopkins is the target monster of this group. Adams can disappear at times. Watkins has had the injury history and the quarterback situation. To me, it's Hopkins. So they are back to back to back. Which is crazy. And I have them ordered right now. Sammy Watkins, Devante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins. There you go. Mike, what do you think?

I agree that it's all quarterback related for Hopkins. Sammy Watkins, I do think it will be Tyrod Taylor, but the injuries, Watkins disappearing at times is scary, but do you really want to buy in to Devante Adams having one monster year? He's the only guy in this list. That's not a one. He's not the one on the team. Yes, very fair, but he is the one.

1B on a team that has the best quarterback in the National Football League. It is far more valuable to be Devante Adams and be the second best wide receiver on your team than it is to be the best. Look at Sammy Watkins last year and DeAndre Hopkins last year. They stung. DeAndre Hopkins finished, I think, wide receiver 36. Look at the top wide receivers. You had Brandon Cooks and Michael Thomas, right? Both in the top 12. You had a Mari Cooper, Michael Crabtree.

Both in the top 12. You had Jordy Nelson and Devante Adams. Both. When you have a Hall of Fame level quarterback or a great, you know, offense that's moving ball. Do you think Devante Adams is putting 12 touchdowns up again? Because these are the same arguments that were used to justify Randall Cobb. No, no, no. For years. And I don't think 12, look, Hopkins caught more passes last year than Devante Adams did. In my rankings, they are 20, 21 and 22. Sure. So I'm not, I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it.

But the upside potential to me is much higher for Hopkins. We knew the number one, and you've seen what he did before, where he had a season. I think if you're going true upside, then it's Watkins. No, true. You're telling me Watkins upside is 111 catches, 1,500 plus yards and 11 touchdowns, because that's what Hopkins already did in 2015. Yeah, but not with Brock Osweiler. He did it with nobody still. He did it with Brian Hoyer and two other backups.

You cannot tell me why. You got to say the upsides higher on the guy that's already had an otherworldly year than the guy who hasn't done it. I will say this. Aaron Rogers had a, because we want touchdowns, right? You're talking about can Devante Adams sustain that? Aaron Rogers was number one in the league with 128 passes inside the red zone. All right? Huge number. Down here you have, I know Brock didn't play 16 games, but he played mostly the whole season.

Brock Osweiler, 62 passes in the red zone. Tyrod Taylor, 56 passes in the red zone. And I know that Sammy Watkins is a dynamic deep threat, but the Packers are just, they're going to score boatloads of points. They will score those points again next year, and they will continue to throw inside the red zone. That's just what they do. You say all that to say, who are you taking?

Who are you taking to that group? Oh, man, this is a really, really difficult question. Like I said, the problem with being the number two is it could be, you know, it was Randall Cobb two years ago. Yeah, it's not top anymore. Devante Adams has one year of 75 catches. I'm not buying in. He's going to, I just wrote down, he's going to be one of my fades. Because if people are picking him over Watkins and, uh, you're on the clock. Only those three players are available. I would, I'm going to take Adams. So Jason, you took Watkins?