Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Wk 9 Studs, Duds, Rising Stars, Updates

Sure did. Oh, I mean, I just can't believe it. It was like the worst drop you've ever seen. It was like playing catch in a backyard and you're about six yards away from the person and you just throw a nice. It wasn't a rocket pass. This was just a hey, you're open. Let me just toss the ball to you. And he's like, I don't know how to catch. What did he say again? I don't know how catch a ball. I'll throw out a complimentary. They weren't a full stuff about Stefan Diggs, Monster game.

And I just want to point on Eli Rogers. Darius Hayward Bay supplanted the terrible Marcus Wheaton. We have finally put this to rest. But Eli Rogers had himself a game. And now if Hayward Bay is going to miss some time, Eli Rogers could be back and play for fantasy. Yeah, Marcus Wheaton's not so good. Yes. Justice. Raising Cain's Rising Stars of the Week.

Ah, it's time for the Raising Cain's Rising Stars of the week. We each pick a guy that we were impressed with this past week and think has long-term value that you need to be thinking about as a fantasy owner. Mike, long-term value here. Why don't you give us your name, the Raising Cain's Rising Star? And this is definitely thinking long-term because he didn't necessarily wow this weekend. He didn't blow any doors off. That's Paul Perkins. Okay, it came out over the weekend.

that some beat reporters said, uh, change of plans. We think that Paul Perkins is actually going to get far more involved coming out of the by week. And what's kind of nice for fantasy players for us to evaluate, at least box score analyzing here, Paul Perkins and Rashad Jennings had almost equal work. And by almost, I mean, identical. 11 carries both. Paul Perkins outproduced him. Three receptions each. Paul Perkins out produced him. Not by a ton.

But Paul Perkins, his snap percentage was up. He was around 34%. He just, the changing of the guard. You can do something with 11 carries and three catches. The changing of the guard is coming for the New York Giants. They have zero. They have zero running game. And you got to start looking at the rookie who, who, in just, just the eyeball test, Paul Perkins is the more explosive guy. So this is early, you, we're waking up early and seeing the sunrise here. Yes. Right. This is like, you got the rising.

The Rising Stars. This is, it's peaking over the corner. Now, would you rather have Perkins or Kenneth Dixon rest of the season? I consider Dixon as well because that's a very similar situation. Dixon had nine carries. He's got Cleveland at home next week. Where the doors, like I said, were not blown open by these guys, but you can see the team starting to shift the rotation. I would go with Dixon in that because I probably would as well. I think the Baltimore Ravens are a better running team than the New York Giants.

Uh, yeah, okay. So my rising star this week, I'm going to go with the heart ring himself. The, the, oh, the OG. Oh, the OG. Darren Sproul. The number two running back. Yeah, the number two running back in Philly that got, they got 80% of the snaps. Listen, Sprouls was actually effective in this game, even though he didn't, you know, he didn't score. 13 for 57 on the ground, 80% of the snaps. Matthew's got eight snaps. Smallwood got two. Look, it's time to stop.

kidding around here. Darren Sproles is the number one running back for the Philadelphia Eagles. That's the story. And so if he's the number one running back and you recognize it before your league mates do, then you have an opportunity to take advantage of that to make some trades to... Little guys and old guys never get the respect that they deserve. This is a little old guy. He's both, yeah. He will not get the respect from league mates that...

You know, he'll be like a package throw-in on a train. Did you know that Darren Sproles has played over 80% of snaps twice in his career? Oh, wow. The last two weeks. Wow. While Doug Peterson sits on his throne and declares, well, we got to get Ryan Matthews, and he's our number one. We've got to get him involved. So I'm going to give him eight snaps. Yeah, and I think I said last week. Point made.

that I would not play Ryan Matthews. But I'm going to go ahead with... Unless you're in a touchdown only league, my friends. Since I am taking the anchor spot here, I will have the best Raising Keynes, Rising Star. And that is Mr. Number one wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints. Yeah. Michael Thomas. You know, I really trust what you say, Jason. Thank you. Because I'm verified. Because you're verified. My...

So Michael Thomas, look, he has really been the best, I think the best rookie wide receiver out there this year. You want to know, every year someone comes out and performs well. This is going to be the guy. We talk so much about Mike Evans because his playoff schedule.

Two times in the playoffs he gets to face New Orleans. Well, guess what? Tampa Bay does not have a good defense either, and those games are going to be high-scoring games. So you want to know who's a lot. Evans doesn't have Drew Brees. A lot cheaper, a lot cheaper than Mike Evans is Michael Thomas. So Michael Thomas has been great. I went back to see, like, well, how's he been finishing, right? Because so far this week, Monday night hasn't happened, but he's the number two wide receiver this week.

And last week, he had a down week. He was 44th. Wasn't terrible, but wasn't the best. The week before that, 14th best wide receiver. The week before that, the 9th, the 22nd before that, the 16th before that. So while he is about tied with Brandon Cooks and total fantasy points,

I would much rather start Michael Thomas and have a more secure, consistent, road, home. You know, look, he is the number one wide receiver there. And he's filling the role of the New Orleans Saints all-time leading pass catcher that just retired. And he's coming in. Marcus Colston. And he's doing it better. So I am really rising on Michael Thomas. I think he's a weekly must play. Yeah, this is the week that confirmed that to me. Because my worry with Thomas.

was that during his productive weeks, it was touchdown dependency, not touchdown predictability. Right. And so now you've moved into the point where this is more decker than it is Wallace, right? Where you're doing something where you're a first read, you're a goal line read. Now you're a deep threat. And you're a big, strong, young.

Buck, right? You're not some old guy that's getting production. So I'm all in on Thomas as well. Last thing I'll say on Michael Thomas. I agree. He is leading the New Orleans Saints in receiving touchdowns, which are not always predictable. He is also leading in receptions. Sure. And he is also leading in targets. And they love him. They love him. You can tell. Those were the Raising Cains Rising Stars of the Week. Don't forget the game day. It tastes better with Raising Cain's tailgates full of that fresh 24 hour.

Marinated, hand-battered chicken fingers. And that fresh-brewed sweet tea that you just want to pour all over yourself. When you win. When you win. And Twitter, Fookland. People keep sending me the snapshots. They're like, thank you for pointing me to Raising Kings. This has changed my life. So visit Raising Kings.com to find your nearest location. Let's move on. Pooped in his big boy pants. Well, this is the kind of dichotomy you have between real life and fantasy sometimes. Andrew Luck.

ends up in the poop section. Yeah. With 23 for 36. He was very good. 281 and won a big game, but had two interceptions, and that hurt minus four right there. Cam Newton won as well, and he had another struggling, non-efficient, really just a bad fantasy day. He's won two weeks in a row, and he hasn't done anything for fantasy. The question that we got asked a lot last week by listeners that wrote into the show was,

Hey, is he no better than a streaming option now? And how is that possible? Oh, man. I mean, look at last year, right? Cam Newton, Russell Wilson were championship winning fantasy quarterbacks. But they were also guys that you could have in certain leagues found on the waivers at the midpoint because they both sucked the first half of the year. Do you think Cam Newton is a top eight quarterback rest of season? I do. Do you believe he's top five?

I would put him very close to that. I would probably put him about five or six rest of season. So you would go buy him? If he's, yeah, yeah, I would. I don't think I would either. I'm not getting, if I have. Maybe that's because I've already been burned on buying Russell Wilson for like three different weeks. But if I have Cam Newton, I'm not actively looking to get rid of him. If a package comes where I can get some value, sure. But if I have him, I'm just going to write him out. I'm saying if I do not own Cam Newton, I'm not trying to acquire him.

The two biggest disappointments for me at the running back position this week were by far Charkandrick West and Devante Booker. Yeah. Both of those guys had what looked like juicy matchups. They looked like they had the backfield to themselves. And instead, we saw very bad performances, specifically Booker, 10 for 22 and everywhere else. I want a, I will give a shout out here. Raider Nation. I doubted.

the Oakland Raiders this weekend against the Broncos. And that, well, I've doubted them because of their defense. But that, their defense was spectacular for almost that entire game, shutting down Devante Booker. I mean, it was. That Capri Bibbs touchdown was insane. Yeah. That was awesome. I mean, I'm just giving Bibbs credit for that. Sure. Like I said, not the whole game, but as a whole, the Raiders were very impressive. All right. Booker moving forward, though.

I think we had, like, talked about him saying, hey, look, opportunity, talent, what we had seen on tape was awesome. Is this anomalous? Do you start rolling back out there? Yeah, you got to roll him out. I think it's the, the shoulder injury has to be hampering him. And Charr West showed why he is at the bottom of the rotation here. Come on, Char West. 13 for 39, 3 for 35 through the air. I believed in you. You know, not having Alex Smith, I think probably hurt the way that they use the running backs there. What? Nick Fools? Yeah.

It doesn't help things. I would expect Spencer Ware back, but you need to pay attention. Don't just drop Char West right now because we'll see if Spencer Ware can get back on the field. They are talking about Jamal Charles guys. Big news. Might be available week 17. Ooh. For those who unfortunately have to play into week 17 for your fantasy playoffs. And a guy coming off the IR, you're like, yep, throw him in. You know, another huge. I'm in the championship. Doesn't get more disappointing than Isaiah Crowell this week.

He couldn't garbage time his way to much of anything unless you're maybe were in a PPR league. He had four for 63. But he basically didn't even run. So, Corwell, Aziata, McKinnon, and Gurley, you know, Gurley was all right, but that's like the best. He's been in a while. Gurley is Todd Gurley. This case Keenom denial situation, too. They're going to keep him in there. I mean, either Jared Goff's really bad.

Or I read somebody, somebody left us a five-star review on iTunes. Thank you, by the way. But it said you had to get over our unfair bias of Jeff Fisher. Jeff Fisher's last five seasons. I believe this is off the top of the dome. But I believe I am correct. At this point in the last five seasons, it is three and five, three and five, three and five, three and five, three and five, three and five, four and five. That's what he's been through the eight game mark. Yeah, I believe that is the last five seasons.

Is that what you would define as progress? It's tried and true. Steady hand. Steady. Steady. Steady Eddie. They don't want things too hot. They don't want them too cold. Right in the middle. I'm not biased towards him. I'm biased towards failing. And he's failed for five straight years. And now you have a situation where they either drafted the wrong guy or they didn't draft the wrong guy, but they don't want to go see it. I mean, it's like Treadwell finally got on the field, by the way. And it was like you had to have a new offensive coordinator come in to put your first round talent on the field.

Well, everyone who passed on Dak Prescott drafted the wrong guy. I agree with that. And Ezekieliot for those three teams that passed on him. Wait, did he go? He went four, right? Yeah. Elliot, look, I think Elliot's a tremendous talent. But Elliot on a team that does not have the Dallas Cowboys offensive line, would he look similar to Todd Gurley right now? It's a fair question. We'll never know.

No, it's a very fair question. All right, wide receivers, we talked about the aforementioned Marvin Jones Jr. He had a junior stat line, one for five in a game where, you know. How does that happen? Xavier Rhodes? Yeah, I mean, he caused a couple of penalties on roads, including one that moved him down the field, but you don't get fancy points for penalties. So Marvin Jones, I think I'll bounce back. This is not the normal for him, but not a good. Des Bryant won for 19.

That might be the most disappointing wide receiver of the week. They just didn't need him. No, they sure didn't. It reminded me of those games last year where, like, Kansas City would blow out a team 35 to 3 at the end of the year and Macklin would have two catches. Well, because that's what Magland does. All right. Michael Crabtree, I don't think people expected a ton from him against Denver, but he did not give you a ton, two for 27. Willie Sneed, you know, we talked about Michael Thomas. Thomas has taken that.