Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - AFC & NFC North Previews, Fantasy News

for a Mark Trestman offense. Okay, but I was going to say this. This is not the Justin Forset hype from last year. Last year, Justin Forset hype was the Trestman offense. This year you have Buck Allen, you have Kenneth Dixon, you have others in the offense. Well, Buck Allen did get some hype last year. Well, Buck Allen also received passing down work when Forset was hurt, and he was very effective. But then that's my point, is it took a broken arm.

to Justin Fawcett to get Buck Allen onto the field because he was having... They liked Fawcett. Fawcett had, for fantasy purposes, had a down couple first games, and then he was great. He was on pace for over 1,000 yards on the ground. So I think people have the bitter taste of those first couple games and not remembering that Fawcett did have had some fantasy value. Well, you know, our culture is full of a lot of non-peaceful situations. So I will bring some peace to this one. It's not mutually exclusive.

to like Justin Forset and his value and like Kenneth Dixon for the future. It's something where I think Kenneth Dixon is just far and above a better talent and will overcome Forset by the end of the year. But you're right. Justin Forset's going to start the year as a starter. Even if you buy yourself three or four weeks of that. You remember when Ben Tate started in Cleveland? Oh, that was great. The first couple games was all right. So that's my... Sure.

my take on four sets. So let's talk about Brandon Cooks and the New Orleans offense real quick. There was a little bit of news that came out from the New Orleans Advocate that said that his floor is 1,200 yards. Michael Thomas is a guy that you could have brought up maybe in that quick question earlier. I like Michael Thomas. I like Willie Sneed and we love Drew Brees. So Brandon Cooks, is this a reality for him? Isn't that aiming a little high? Yeah. I think it might be a little bit high, but the problem for me,

is you have Brandon Cook's 1,200 yards, okay, and he's like a second round draft pick, maybe in the third. Maybe he sneaks into the third. Or Willie Sneed, a thousand-yard receiver in the eighth, ninth round. So to me, I'm going to go with Willie Sneed. I'm going to grab somebody else who I believe in a little bit more than Brandon Cooks.

All right, let's move over to this report from Roy Cummings, saying that Vincent Jackson could see more time in the slot. He's reaching the point in his career where that might be his best location. The bucks, the bucks are a perfect example of sometimes news just makes no sense because there are so many conflicting reports coming out. It's like, okay, Vincent Jackson's going to be in the slot. Why is he going to be in the slot? Because Kenny Bell is like taking over. He's going to have that role. Oh, wait, wait.

Different report says Kenny Bell might be that final fourth receiver on the team. He's on the bubble. Wait, which is it? You know, it's one of those things where there's a lot of tumult right now for the Bucks when it comes to their receiving core. We don't have a clue who that number two is going to be. Probably Vincent Jackson, but obviously his value for fantasy goes down a little bit if he's in the slot. What it says to me is that Mike Evans is really...

clearly cut apart from the group of other wide receivers there. Yep, no doubt. Making him a bona fide one. Yes. Yeah, a bona fide one. All right, this last bit of news is super exciting. New York posts, Brian Costello is reported there is no progress between the Jets and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Just a little update for everybody. They're going to get it done. How's your guarantee over there, Andy? My sources say they're going to get it done. You're sticking to it?

Yeah, I'm sticking to it. You guarantee you're going to get that Ryan Fitzpatrick signed jersey? Yeah, can I get that in the like Pro Bowl jersey version or something? Well, let's get divisional here in just a second, but let's take one second thank our awesome sponsor.

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Right now, our listeners can go post jobs at ziprecruiter.com for free by going to ziprecruiter.com slash sports fan. That's ziprecruiter.com slash sports fan. One more time to try it for free. Go to zip recruiter.com slash sports fan. Let's get divisional. There's a quick blurb that popped up that I just wanted to talk about real quick. Apparently the Rams and the 49ers are going to open the season.

In 2018 in China. Their first game will be in China. Just down the street. That's crazy, man. That is incredible. That's crazy. If the NFL can take over a market over in China, they're going, they will go global. We're in the right business. The football business. Watch out for week two for those teams. Had you guys heard about that? When does the game kick off? Are we like flipping on the TV at like midnight or?

Two in the morning or something? That sounds great. Because normally there's not football on during those times. And so now there would be football on during those times. So it's just great. So any time that football is there when it hasn't been before is good. You hear me loud and clear. That makes a lot of sense. So let's talk about the AFC North. Let's start over there. Let's talk about the Bengals. Got off to the very hot start last season. Very much a complete...

football team. Well coached, good defense, good offense. You saw some things from Andy Dalton last season that made you believe he could not only improve but be a upper echelon NFL and fantasy quarterback. I know it's hard for a lot of fantasy owners and regular fans to comprehend that as a truth, but that was the case on the field. You had a lot of changes, and I'm going to go through some of the changes for the team. You guys can comment on them. The big one is...

you know, Brandon Lafell and Tyler Boyd come in at wide receiver. You lost Marvin Jones, right? And you lost Mohammed Sunu. And you had a big ear from Eifford. So let's lay out the landscape here of the Bengals offensive passing game specifically. Where do we project them this season?

I think the season on a whole, they're going to be pretty good. The offensive coordinator now was their quarterback's coach. A lot of times in the past when we see a quarterback coach take over that offensive coordinator role or a running back coach take over that offensive coordinator role, they tend to focus in their specialty. And so I expect that the passing aim on the season is going to be good. I do worry.

a little bit about how they're going to get out of the gate this year. If Tyler Eifert isn't there for week one or week two, because you're going to lose a lot of dependable weapons, especially red zone weapons, between Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert, which hurts Andy Dalton's value. To me, I think that by the end of the season, when Tyler Boyd gets more involved, because we know from history that the Bengals with this regime, they do not trust.

rookies to start. So Tyler Boyd, all my love aside for him, he'll be relegated to the slot and he'll just get more work as the season goes on. Brandon LaFelle? You respect the talent of Tyler Boyd, but you're also respecting the offensive philosophy of their head coach. Yeah, Marvin Lewis, he's just not one to give the love to the rookies right off the bat. We have to be aware of that, you know, going into fantasy seasons. Tyler Boyd, to me, is a guy that I'm going to be looking for on waivers.

you know, some part through the season as he's getting more and more involved in the game. And the part I want to talk about is the running game of Cincinnati. The Dallas Cowboys, I feel like even the fans who are not really connected to football, they've heard their friends talk about all the Dallas. They got the best offensive line in the league.

Cincinnati's offensive line is tremendous, and that should not be overlooked. Only the eighth most sacks allowed. They allowed the lowest amount of quarterback hits. They were 13th in rushing yards per game. So I know that the running back committee is not the most attractive situation, but Giovanni Bernard, we've been talking them up, provides, I think, a lot of value. And Jeremy Hill, who is Jeremy Hill? Is he the sophomore that we saw?

that just could not get it done, who thought he was Barry Sanders in the backfield and just getting hit behind the line. Or is he the guy we saw the rookie year who was decisive, made the one cut and went, and we saw that he even had some breakaway speed and power?

I tend to believe that Hill is closer to the rookie year than he was to last year. I think he can bounce back. Or something in between. I think he's in between those two spots. And if we honestly believe, well, he's in between that incredible rookie year and this sophomore year that left a bad taste for him right now, but was still productive, right? He still put up good fantasy numbers on the year, not necessarily an easy start sit.

option, but if he's in between those, shouldn't he be big value? Well, Mike and I were staring down the Geo Bernard, Jeremy Hill decision in our dynasty draft this past Saturday. I drafted, I think, five picks before Mike did, somewhere around there. I took Geo Bernard over Jeremy Hill in a dynasty draft. He was, uh, I was considering both guys. Geo specifically, let me set the table for you, because I have him at number two.

12 or 13, I think, in a half-point league, which is high. I realized that. Last season, he finished around 19 or 20 in half-point leagues. He started the year last year. On fire. Nine of 10 games in double digits. That's how he started the year. For fantasy scoring? For fantasy scoring. Yeah, for our league of records scoring. So I know it varies a little bit, but it was right around there. He only had double-digit carries in what looks like seven of the 16 games.

So he does his damage obviously in the passing game. He makes plays with his legs, but he catches the ball quite a bit, and he's just used. He's a weapon that's used where I don't, I feel like my odds of getting a two or three point game from Jeremy Hill are so much higher than they are from Geo Bernard in any half or full point system. Oh, for sure. Because he can get dog housed.

Absolutely. He could get doghouse. He could get game script. And the other thing I'll throw in there on Giovanni Bernard is that people think, well, Jeremy Hill is the clear, clear-cut goal line back. And that's true if you're talking about on the one or two-yard line. But inside the red zone, how they use their backs, Giovanni Bernard was one of the most used running backs inside the 20. And he was still, I mean...