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

Considering how efficient he was with the ball, it was actually weird that he didn't score very many touchdowns last year. To me, that's one of those regressing towards the mean number. And if he's utilized just the same way he was last year, he should have more touchdowns in 2017 than he did in 2016. And now the answer for that is two. Two touchdowns. Yeah, that's no go. And rather, 2016 as opposed to 2015. So last year, if you just look at the numbers, you know, he'll finish ahead of Bernard.

Right. Yeah, but he wasn't as consistent. He had only eight double-digit games where Bernard had, I think, 10 or 11. So I imagine that he scored in every single one of those. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Jeremy Hill was the worst type of running back to face because he would struggle and then he would just score. But that's enough. You know, we're playing fantasy football. So you can like the guy or not like the guy. He can be in the dog house or not in the dog house, but if he scores double-digit touchdowns, you better own him.

What about Ligaritt Blunt then? Just throwing this out there, like a similar guy where he's going to score, since he's been a Patriot, he's well over half a touchdown per game. And that's great. And so it's like, but Ligarit Blunt's a guy who's going so super late is the difference between owning and having to choose to start Jeremy Hill and Ligarit Blunt that different? It is to me because we saw what...

they wanted to do. Ligarrett Blunt started to get playing time once Dionne Lewis Tours A.C. And it's a monster difference. It is. Just because Ligarit Buntz never been in the upper echelon of touchdown totals. Ligarantz, like, peak in his career was like seven back in 2013. And he was six last year to the year before. I just think that he's like the pounder in the right game playing in situation. And then all of a sudden he disappears. That's the fear with, with blunt. But, you know, those six touchdowns might have been in two games.

I mean, that's the problem. So I think we've talked enough about Cincinnati. Let's move on to Pittsburgh, the Steelers Big Ben and Company, Antonio Brown, and his running mates at the wide receiver position. Martavis Bryant has been suspended for the season. He's out. He's done. I thought about drafting him in Dynasty. Just to hold on to him, I chose Gordon over him. But let's talk about...

the wide receiving court, because I think people want to know a couple of things. One is Big Ben and Upper Eschalon Fantasy quarterback, and can he be with what he has at the wide receiver position right now? Can he be? The answer has to be an absolute yes. This is a guy that's throwing for over 5,000 yards. When you put up that kind of volume and you have receiving options like Antonio Brown, like Levi-on Bell out of the backfield, like Lederius Green in the red zone.

Absolutely he can be. For me, I don't like the value of where he's being drafted versus what he usually does in fantasy, which is surprisingly not throw that many touchdowns. He's only been over 30 touchdowns twice in his career. Most of the time he's, you know, mid-20s. The lack of Martavis Bryant hurts the touchdown numbers. For sure it does. And the incoming Lederius Green are...

Green has arrived, but we don't know how involved he'll be in the red zone yet. He should be. Right. The biggest question is the receivers. Who's going to step up and be that too? Is it Marcus Wheaton? Is it Sammy Coates? Is it Hayward Bay? I mean, probably not Hayward Bay, but I'm so happy to hear you finally say that, Mike. Look, like I've said before, I'll repeat it.

I would rather draft Hayward Bay for free than invest in Marcus Wheaton. Which brings me to my point. The guy I'm targeting is Sammy Coates. We saw that he did not do very much his rookie year. You can go back and look at the track record of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

with their rookie wide receivers. I believe it is Mike Wallace is really the only guy of note to have substantial numbers, the rookie year. They like to develop them. And I want to see what Sammy Coates can do. He's got athleticism. I don't know if he can replace. He's very raw. The alien, Martavis Bryant. Those are some big shoes to fill. But I think that Sammy Coates should be the target for...

for fantasy players. I think you're going to get them after Marcus Wheaton, which is just a bonus for me. But if you're talking, let's say they were going in the same round, back to back. I'm still going to put my chips onto Sammy Coates. I think we know who Marcus Wheaton is, and that is not a stud wide receiver too. You're playing on the upside of, okay, if something hits with Coates, at least you've got something special. And if it doesn't, you're letting them go, you're signing somebody else. Exactly. Yeah, and I want to throw a little bit of,

a little bit of love towards Marcus Wheaton after your dismantling of him. Because he's not as bad. I realize he got off to a really bad start, did not look good. Who was not playing in those games? Martavis Bryant was not playing. But that, I mean, that's just, look, some guys get off to a slow start no matter what. If you think that those four or five games are just, that means that that's what's going to happen the rest of his career. I think that that's absurd. Going with.

Ben Rothlisberger for another year developing that rapport. Those things matter. And I've said this before. But the last half after their by week coming into week 12, week 12 through week 17, Marcus Wheaton was the number 12 wide receiver. I mean, that's absurd. So I'm not saying he will be a top wide receiver. Do you believe he'll be better than Sammy Coates? In a redraft league, yes. How much so? I would love this water bed if you'll take it. Oh, I'll take it. I will take it.

Waterbet. Now, with that out of the way, I do think Marcus Wheaton is the guy that will perform better this year. Sammy Coates is also a great and favorite target of mine. I was so, oh, so angry. So angry. This last, we did our Dynasty startup draft, and Mike, you got Sammy Coates. Sure did. I thought for sure. When I was picking between two guys, I was like, okay, this guy or Sammy Coates, I was like, well, Sammy Coates will get back to me the next round.

So I'm not going to take him. And then you took him. And for dynasty players out there, Marcus Wheaton is in a contract year, and he's pretty much in a lose-lose situation. There was a great report out there. Look, if he plays great this year, they're not going to be able to afford to re-keep him. And if, if, to keep him. To keep him. To re-keep him. To re-sign keep him. But if he stinks.

Then they probably don't need to keep him. So Sammy Coates from a dynasty perspective is the guy I would rather have. Okay, redraft. Make a decision here. Philip Dorset or Marcus Wheat in a redraft. Wee. Ooh. I'm going to get the upside of Dorset. Mike Wallace or Marcus Wheaton in a redraft. Wallace. Oh.

Mike can never decide on these quickly. Because I hate Wallace. There's never a quick game. Because I think about it. When you name two guys on Mike's like dead list. Cannot. Yeah. It's just like I can't draft either of them. I don't care where. Pass. Jeff Janice or Marcus Wheaton. Well, he's going to take Janice. I'll take Janus. I would take Wheaton still. Yeah, I like, I like Wheaton. I think it'll be okay. That's the thing. I think he will be.

Okay. Yeah, we are not talking. I do not think. Marcus Wheaton will produce a level of fantasy joy that Malcolm Floyd used to produce, which is like, how many times did you draft Malcolm Floyd? Never. Well, I think he'll be more consistent than Floyd. But you know what? I signed Malcolm Floyd for a lot of bye weeks.

Okay. That's the kind of player he'll be. Well, we're not talking ceiling here, and we're talking about him way too much. Yeah, Marcus Wheaton, to me, is a wide receiver three. I think he's got a good chance of being a wide receiver three, and where you're drafting him, that's okay. All right. They had a good offensive line last year. You get Levyon Bell back. Nobody needs to know anything about Levyon Bell, except for the goat. You should probably just draft him. Russian guards per game, they're in middle of the pack without him last year, and then passing yards. Jason alluded to it.

That's always a number that Big Ben can accomplish a very high total on, but it's just a matter of those touchdowns. We have him consensus right behind Bordles. Big Ben? Correct. But Andy, Ben's like a Hall of Flamer, and Blake Bortles is a stupid third. Your guy who stinks on the bad jags. Why in the world would you hate Ben Rafflesburg so much? Oh, I don't hate him, voice of public opinion. I just...

You know, I just would rather draft somebody else. You didn't convince me. You can give me Matt Stafford. I take Stafford over Big Ben. Yeah? What? I wouldn't. I would not. That I would not do. Andy's writing it down. He's writing something down. Okay. I don't know. Where are we? Let's move on. All right. The Browns. Let's talk about Cleveland. All right. Moving on. The Ravens. We're moving on to the. Oh, wait. Browns. There's Gary Barnage. There's Duke Johnson.

There's things to talk about here. I'm just giving them a hard time since they never get one. Gary Barnage, let's talk about the tight-in position here. I think he's going to be very consistent this year in terms of target numbers. He's not flashy, but you have a limited amount of options, especially in the red zone. I think you're going to see a lot of red zone targets, targets inside the 20-yard line inside the red zone for Gary Barnage. Do you agree?

Yes. I think it depends on who his quarterback is. I said this before, but when RG3 was... Pass. Pass. They're going to pass on quarterback this here. Yeah. And when we say a lot of red zone, I mean a high...

percentage of the red zone targets that they actually get. Right, which is... I'll frame it that way. A slightly smaller amount. I think what's going to happen here for the Browns is you're going to have kind of the tale of two fantasy seasons. This is a little ridiculous to predict early, but I think RG3...

won't play all 16 games. And when he goes down, if Josh McCown comes in, Josh McCown is going to bring up the value of Cory Coleman, of Duke Johnson, of Gary Barnage, and then whoever, my big question for the Browns is who is that second wide receiver? Who is Andrew Hawkins? Is it Taylor Gabriel? Is it one of the roots? Terrell Pryor. No. Nope. I still think it could be. Okay. Let me ask you a very difficult.

Standard League, you got to flex a guy. Would you rather flex Cory Coleman this year, or would you rather flex Gary Barnage? Gary Barnage. Ooh. Oh, man, that's actually really a, that's a very astute and difficult question. And I would, I'll take Coleman for the upside. Gary Barnage was the, where do you think you ranked in Red Zone targets last year? I was just going to say, I know he had, I know the number. I know he has 24 Red Zone targets, which I think is a good amount.

He was number six. For position or for overall? I'm going to guess number six. Overall. Overall pass catchers. He was six in the league in Red Zone targets. You're right. They're not in the Red Zone a lot. You got Hugh Jackson coming in. They're going to run the ball a lot. But Barnage is really, I mean, when you're down there and you've got to throw, and it's second along, it's third down. I just think it's going to go his way. Throw to the big guy. Yeah. That's what you do. It's worked for Gronk. Yeah. And I don't hate Cory Coleman. I think he's a good dynasty pickup. I think he's going to be there one.

And I think what Jason said is true. It's going to be up and down, probably a rotation at the quarterback position. And this is a team that last year they gave up almost the most sacks in the league and the most quarterback hits. You cannot get it done in the passing game with an offensive line. They can't protect the quarterback. And that's, man, can you imagine having Joe Thomas is your left tackle? Joe Thomas might be the best left tackle in football. And the rest of your line is that putrid.

That has to be just demoralizing. Alex Mack. Yeah, and they lost Alex Mack. It's gone. Mac went to Atlanta, correct? Yes, and Mac also turned into a puddle. Oh, yeah. I don't get it. Secret Life of Alex Mack reference. I didn't have cable, bro. I was watching PBS. Let's talk about the running backs. You got Duke Johnson. You got Isaiah Crowell, who's still on the team, apparently. So, Andy, you love Duke Johnson.

Briefly explained your Duke Johnson love. Yeah, I brought Duke Johnson up as one of those guys I think is an ascending player. Outside of any of this Isaiah Corral nonsense has been going on over the last couple of days, I just think that the team likes Duke Johnson. If you remember, when we were in the offseason last year, we were talking about Duke Johnson, not as a third down past catching, that's all he does, type of back. We were talking about him being the starting running back for the Cleveland Browns to start the season. Injury.