Fantasy Football 2017 - Preseason Week 2 Recap + Rising Stars

He's a running back one. This offense is going to move the ball. I think that will, I think he's more of a running back two, but I actually, you know, the third and fourth round, that's usually going to be an RB2. I don't blame people for taking them there. I'm going to be. Are you comfortable with that? I am comfortable with that right now. He's, he's shown everything that he showed in college. And, you know, their offensive coordinator now is as usually focused on a feature back. And Sam Bradford has been.

you know, notorious for checking down. Just look at last year what the running backs combined to produce as receivers. I think Cook is starting to become safe in my eyes. All right. Let's talk about the Panthers and the Titans. McCaffrey was in consideration for my rising star of the week. He is. He just does a lot of burst. He's the real deal. If the question you brought it up of Jonathan Stewart, how much time does Stewart eat into?

McCaffrey, how much time does McCaffrey get to play as an actual wide receiver? Is it a situation where he's still going to be on the field, just in a different position with the possibility of getting some more targets? Because McCaffrey, like Cook, he's being taken in that rounds where you're saying he's my two and he's going to be starting for me essentially every single week. You know my feelings on this offense and my belief that they're going to bounce back. So I do.

Feel comfortable if McCaffrey was my number two, even with the rotation. I think the big playability of McCaffrey is going to be the thing that sets him apart. He may not have the snap counts you want to see from a two or from a bona fide, you know, number one caliber guy. But you're not going to see those snap counts from a guy like Danny Woodhead either. He's going to catch the ball, and McCaffrey's going to be able to make some big plays in the running game, in the passing game. I was very impressed with him.

I was equally unimpressed with Derek Henry on the other side. 16 for 36 with a long of 17, which was a 17-yard touchdown. He looked good on that touchdown, I will say. But that means he was 15 for 19 for 0.78 yards per carry in the preseason against vanilla defenses. It wasn't impressive. Jason, you were, and I gave you a right into work today because your battery was dead.

Yeah. So was Derek Henry's. I'm telling you, man. I had just given him mad respect as saying, you know, I think he's a legitimate top 10 running back, real running back in the NFL. Jogging back. That's what I've seen. But I told you on the drive-in, I mean, it looked like he, every handoff he got was it came right after he had just finished running a mile.

He finished running a mile and then they gave him a hand off. He just looked tired and gassed every single play. Now, yeah, he had two touchdowns and he would have been fine fantasy. What that showed me was DeMarco Murray with this offense, with this offensive line, with the touchdown opportunities that are going to be there, and DeMarco Murray's a much better pass catching back. Yeah. I really like DeMarco Murray. Tomorrow, tomorrow, guys, is our my guys show.

and DeMarco Murray was almost one of my my guys. When all the DeMarco Murray owners, they were sweating when you were talking about Derek Henry last week. And this was the kind of performance that really, with DeMarco not playing and with Henry not producing at some otherworldly level, it was a kind of one, you know, the sweat. Yeah, I'm just trying to crush DeMarco Murray's, you know, average draft price so I can get them in more drafts. Well done. Before we move on from. Mario is a good, too, by the way. Yes, he did. Want to bring up.

want to bring up Delaney Walker who at the time of our tight end show was not in our our tight end one area and we got a lot of heat for that I think he has I think he's moved in there because we agreed you know maybe he's a little bit too low but are you are you in on Walker do you are you trying to draft him I mean because that's he's going in that middle round range where he always goes no

I'm not, I don't want him. I agree. I've been saying that for months, and people are like, well, look, this guy, he always does this and that. No, he doesn't. He had one outlier season, and then he always catches around 60 balls, 50 balls. I don't want him because he's not, he doesn't represent the upside I want it to tie-in position if I'm drafting somebody that late. Yeah, and I'd rather have Ebron. That early, you mean. Huh? How early is he going? Well, I mean, he's mid-round. He's the seventh.

round pick i would have yeah he is he'll never be in the seventh round and that is the problem will delaney walker finish the year as a tight-in one i think he's got a great chance to finish the year as a tight-in one he'll probably be you know the eighth ninth tenth eleventh-twelfth tight-in but that is usually i mean you know richard rogers was a tight-in one that that didn't mean anything for fantasy because you you couldn't you couldn't really rely on him and yeah if you're if you're giving up a seventh round pick go look at the running backs and wide receivers

that are available in the seventh round. Or the, I mean, even though you're sacrificing something important to take Delaney Walker, whereas you can take. Rudolph, Henry, Ertz, all going after Walker. Exactly. Doyle, Ebron, just guys that I'd rather take the shot on. So, Jason, with your temperament of Derek Henry's play, do you still buy into him as that potential RB1?

if he's given the starting job. I absolutely still do. I realize he looked a little sluggish, but he is a freak athlete. And you saw, I mean, with this offense, even when he was looking poor, he scored two touchdowns. I mean, you know, for fantasy, he's going to be fine. If the Marco Murray goes down, Derek Henry is going to be a great fantasy option. And let me just throw this out. I said this before the show. If you're in a dynasty league, make sure you have Jonu Smith.

rostered in that league. I really think he will be the heir apparent to Delaney Walker. He's cheap. He's free. He looked great. I thought in that game. And so if you're in a need for future tight end, take a look in a book. All right. Let's go ahead and talk about this Chiefs Bengals game. A lot of exciting stuff happening in that matchup. A lot of it had to do with, look, Pat Mahomes is in a wonderful one. I want to just talk about Pat Mahomes for a second. Okay.

Pat Mahomes is in a dream situation. He is with the Walrus. He's with one of the best quarterback gurus, Andy Reid, in a team that can have some success that's built the right way, coached well. He impressed the heck out of me. Don't freak out in fantasy about Pat Mahomes. This is not going to be, I think that he could end up taking snaps by the end of this year. I said the same thing about where and Alex Smith.

if they get off to a bad start, you may see some snaps from homes, but it'll be a while. It'll be a long time. I think Alex Smith showed that he's willing to take a couple shots down the field. What does a bad Alex Smith game look like, though? I think the difference between a bad Alex Smith game and a good Alex Smith game is really not that. It's about 20 yards. It's called victories. It's just the victory. It's the team. Yeah, it's the win. I mean, Alex Smith never played bad to lose his job to Kaepernick. Right.

He was actually winning. But he didn't do things that, you know, Andy Reid has been known to do. And Andy Reid's been a field stretcher. Andy Reid's been a guy that wants to be aggressive in that passing game within the context of the West Coast offerings, take a few shots. I think Pat Mahomes is going to be incredible.

from an arm strength standpoint. But he's going to make mistakes. He's going to do some of the things that don't help that defense. So I don't think you're going to see him right away. I was super impressed. I thought I saw Brett Favre on the field again. That time when he shook out and rolled to the right and laser-beamed that ball. You can – Alex Smith can be more aggressive. Not many guys can do that. No. Alex Smith can be more aggressive in the world. He can't fit it into that window. He can't make that throw. That throws a one-and-a-million throw. So –

Let's talk about Spencer where... Let's talk about some more fantasy relevant situations. And Kareem Hunt, because I think you and I and Andy, we totally disagreed on this. We completely disagree on this. So you guys can listen and be the judge. The way that I saw the game... Do we need to go to the court? I don't know. I don't think we have enough formulated arguments for the court. Dom, don't know. So here's Andy's reached for a button. I don't know if this is actually happening or not.

So I will just continue on and say, Spencer Ware, I watched this game and Spencer Ware gets first carry, and they said they want to see what they can get out of Cream Hunt with first team offense, give him some opportunity. So Spencer Ware, first carry, three yards. They give him a pat on the butt and they say, go rest. You're done for the day. This is not a bad thing. If this happened with any other starter that you know is locked and loaded for that role,

Water off your bag. You don't care at all. I mean, David Johnson played one series that was three, he got three carries on the first series, and he was done. And nobody's like, whoa, Chris Johnson, you got to, no, of course not. Well, because the Arizona Cardinals did not trade up in the third round. They're not wanting to take a look at Chris Johnson to see what they have for starting potential. And they are with Kareem Hunt. I get that. And Hunt looked great. He looked great. He was very involved.

I think it was great. But my point in all this was I think people are overreacting to Kareem Hunt and Spencer Ware in the wrong direction. It said to me that the Kansas City Chiefs know what they have in where, and he is their starter, and he will be their starter, and they wanted to see what they get in Kareem Hunt. So...

Spencer Ware's draft stock because of last game, it's going to continue to go down. And I think his role as the starting running back for a good offense is safe. So I really like Spencer Ware right now because he's going to be available in the fourth or fifth round. This is going to be one of those times listeners that you're just going to have to decide what to believe. And that's, I mean, on this show, we're just trying to give you the information so you can make those decisions. I do not read it the way Jason does. I...

I know that Andy Reid came out. He said he wanted to see him. He wanted to see him against a good defense. He wanted to see him where the speed of the game was what he would expect if he's a starter. And so I think his production in that situation showed he can be a starter and can step into that role. So it doesn't help Spencer Ware. Spencer Ware's not left Bell, David Johnson. He's not LaShawn McCoy.

I think he is the starter. So I will agree with that. I think Spencer Ware is the starter. But Kareem Hunt coming in, playing against first team defense, and producing only helps Cream Hunt. I agree with that. I lean on the side that Spencer Ware is the starter and will be the starter for quite some time. So I think that he is worth his draft price because I don't, I think it's where his job for at least the majority of the season. Now, the nice thing is, I mean, Kareem Hunt,

Kareem Hunt's going to be a top three round draft pick next year, the way I projected. So if you're, we've gotten a lot of questions for people saying, hey, we get to keep rookies for their ADP. Should I reach on anybody? Wait on Kreme Hunt. Maybe reach on him a little bit. Yeah, eighth round pick. If you end up having to trade an eighth for Kreme Hunt next year, that's going to be beautiful. That's a great point, Mike.

Real quick, Joe Mixon didn't talk a lot about him last week. He was very impressive last week. This week's six for 16. Jeremy Hill, six for 28. Jeremy Hill has looked. Still have geo in that backfield. Jeremy Hill has looked good for two weeks. And I know that's a crazy thing to say, people. I totally understand. But he looked patient. He looked strong. He looked like an adequate running back. And this wasn't a situation where the Bengals said, okay, Jeremy Hill, take your turn. Okay, you're done.

Joe Mixon, you take your turn. They kept swapping them in and out. I think that's what you're going to see. So, I mean, that's what I'm saying. That could be trouble for the fantasy value of Joe Mixon, assuming that everyone in that backfield stays healthy because people are paying, all these rookies are getting paid up for. Yeah, they are cook. Hill's a 10th round. That's what I was just going to say. Jeremy Hill in the 10th round. Yes, please. He's worth taking. All right. You're drafting him next to.

a guy like Matt Forte, who's on a team without an offense. What do we think about Marlon Mack, the Colts, the Cowboys, Marlon Mac, five carries, 45 yards, also had two receptions. He had a spring in his step that Frank Gore does not have. He also looked capable enough to go between the tackles a little bit more than I think I expected to see. Moncrief didn't play with the shoulder injury, anything on the Colts side. What do you think about the Mac situation before we talk Cowboys? I think Mac, he looked.

He looked great. I liked Mac coming into the draft process, but I still believe that if something happened to Frank Gore, Robert Turbin will be the biggest beneficiary of it. They're just, I believe they will go with the security. Marlon Mack is not a handcuff. Right. If you're handcuffing Gore, if you're betting against Gore, it's still Turbin for me. All right. Darren McFadden. Also, the passing game for the Colts, if Andrew Luck, it's like you were saying about Joe Flacco, if Andrew Luck is missing time.