Free Agency Preview & Predictions, Big Name Busts

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Coming to you from pristineauction.com studios with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Bat bitty, bow. It's going to be a great one. I promise. Welcome in to the fantasy footballers podcast. Mike and I are going to hold you to that. Yeah. I hope you don't break any hearts today.

No, he won't be breaking a problem. I'm going to hold you to. This is going to be an excellent show. Well, guys, they're always. Great, Jason. They're always great. You see? See what I'm saying? They're always great. I'm always right. That's a good point. Wait, is there a difference between great and excellent? Yeah, now you're over promising. You took his promise. Wait, is excellent above great? Of course it is. Really? It's excellent. So if you got, if you did some work. But it's great. Look, go back to elementary school. That's what I'm saying. Like, the teacher puts it on your paper. If she writes excellent.

What makes that better than great? It's just a bigger word. Bigger word? More syllables? Solobbles? Yeah, I think it's the syllables. That really takes it over the top. So that's what praise comes down to. The more syllables and the praise you receive. Then how come greatest is one fewer syllable than excellent. But clearly it is... He did break you down. The greatest. He broke you down. But here's a thing. Outstanding. Excellentist.

would be better than greatest. Oh, my goodness. And Andy's promise is quickly disappearing. Evaparating as we know it. Tuesday, February 26th, always nice to be back into the studio, fresh week of shows. The fantasy footballers, you can find us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Make sure you follow us over there. You get all the latest news, notes, information about the show. You can also follow us, Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers. Watch the show on YouTube. Click the bell.

You'll find out when we do some fresh live streams and different video stuff. And you can support the show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts on Spotify, IHeart Radio, and ad free on Stitcher Premium. All right, let's get right into it. By the way, a lot of exciting stuff coming up. This is our free agent preview and predictions show. And we'll talk about who's available, who's out there, what teams can benefit. Maybe talk a little bit about, you know, we're going to make predictions on the show.

When the chips start to fall, we'll be able to see what players are not, you know, not just the players signed and what they do for fantasy, but who's impacted? What quarterbacks get a wide receiver that are going to change their outlook for the new season? Sure. This episode is the equivalent of the pictures on the menu. Oh, because it may not. We're just setting you up. We're tantalizing. We're getting the appetite going of, ooh, now I know what to look for.

That looks good. That looks fun. So it's just all about having a good time. Normally the pictures don't actually translate to what you get on your plate, though. Well, that's very often what free agency is as well. Yeah, yeah. And it's a weird year. So we'll talk about that. I'm excited. We'll make some predictions on the show. Quick question of the day is about big names. Who's a player that you will stay clear of or you think you'll stay clear of?

that other players won't simply because of the big name. Okay? Sure. Jason should start because his is the best kind of example of what we're talking about. Yeah, I'll lead it off. And it's a shame because he's one of my keepers forced into that situation in our league of record. But in general, I believe next year in the draft, I will probably be universally bypassing Leonard Fournett. I talked on our recent episode of Things to Remember.

The injury risk is a bug I want no part of next year. And clearly I'll have a piece of it because it's the NFL. Every single player is an injury risk. But Leonard Fournett has a special talent at that. He's been injured in high school, injured in college, injured in the NFL. And so, you know, when you've got a guy that is struggling with that for that period of time and the injuries are...

leg related, a lot of reoccurring injuries of the same injury. I'm just going to avoid that situation. In general, you can look at it from a fantasy standpoint. Forget the injuries. He's been very inefficient with his touches, but he's had so much volume. Now he's been old school Melvin Gordon. Yeah, sure, where he's getting enough volume where he's fantasy relevant, but in general he's not doing what you would expect. He's not even doing what average efficiency would dictate.

the results to be. So, you know, I think the combination of him being further removed from his, you know, fourth draft pick overall, they lost a lot of games last year. They're probably going to bring in, you know, someone else to help compete for touches and back him up. And I'm just, I'm going to wait. You can have the Leonard Fournette explosion. I'm going to keep waiting and pivoting to other players. No, it makes some sense. And I think it's less.

Like it's starting to translate as an attitude slash work ethic issue for Leonard Fournette. He's had issues with weight in the NFL. He's had issues with injuries, which often, I mean, look at the, there are, everybody gets injured. Every single player in the NFL gets injured. There are some players that just don't miss games or they fight to get back and they stay healthy, they battle through it. And some players that don't, we don't know what category of Leonard Fournette is in. I know that last year was a lost year, but it's not translating to average draft position to ADP. I'm seeing him go.

a little higher than I'd expect, much higher than guys like Devante Freeman and Dalvin Cook. So I understand that, and it's translating so far an average draft position because people, he's still young. Two years ago, when he was playing, he was winning a week, right? Yeah, yeah. His running back efficiency score was still running back 14 this last year, even though he finished, you know, clearly much further down the list. But even still, I think the hope when you draft four net is not that he's the RB 14.

but that he's the RB4. Yeah, his situation is interesting because it's very tantalizing right now. Because right now it's Leonard Fournett. The Jaguars have talked about they're going to release Carlos Hyde. T.J. Ellen's a free agent. Corey Grant's not a huge risk, but he's also a free agent. So, I mean, you're talking, right now it's Leonard Fournett. But then you have all of the off-the-field stuff with the team. Is he a dynasty by yourself for you, Mike?

man if you're making that call right now if if i can get a really solid return like there's people there's people who are still in on leonard four net if i could sell him for that i would probably do it here's a question i've seen this i literally saw this yesterday on twitter is Leonard for what would you rather have a top three pick in this year's uh rookie draft or Leonard for neck if you could trade Leonard for now for the 101 would you do it I had the 103 in our dynasty league and I would trade it for for Leonard forne I would too yeah yeah

things can change as soon as the I mean next week right Brooks we've got combine combine review on Thursday we'll start talking rookies and how they're tantalizing yes sir you might bump that up to Tuesday but it's coming next week the player that fits the bill for me that I'll stay clear of that others won't because of the big name and maybe he'll burn me two years in a row but it's Tyler Lockett I am simply not investing

in 57 receptions under 1,000 yards just to try to hit the jackpot on double-digit touchdowns again. You know, there was a time when Vincent Jackson, you remember Vincent Jackson? Oh, yeah. There were seasons that Vincent Jackson had in the 50 catch category that he totally salvaged due to the big play potential. I'm not saying Tyler Lockett will not win people fantasy weeks. He's just not a player for me.

trying to grab 57 receptions. And where you draft lock it, which by the way, he's going ahead of Doug Baldwin right now, where you draft lock it, I feel like you have to make him a more important part of your fantasy team than I want to make him with 57 total receptions last year. And it went as good as it could go in terms of touchdown totals. Yeah, he's not going up from there in his touchdown percentage. You know, if he's a 75 catch guy, then you're probably fine. But.

They could add some other pieces. You know what they do with the running game and what they want to do with the running game. So Tyler Lockett's my current avoid despite the big name and the big popularity. Sure. I got... Sorry, Lockett. I got a pair of guys, and it's simply because of the price. The first one...

It's going to be all off season. So get ready for it. But Patrick Mahomes will not be on any of my teams. I'm looking at fantasy football calculator. He's going in the second round. And that's right now. Like it's the back of the second. That could easily make it up to the beginning of the second, fringe back of the first. Especially when they grab left bell, right? Yeah. So here's what else is. I don't think that Patrick Mahomes is going to be a huge disappointment for fantasy purposes.

I think Patrick Mahomes will not be on winning teams. I think that you will, the cost of grabbing him will be too much. But the other guy I want to highlight right now because of the price is bewildering to me. It's Philip Lindsay. Like, fantasy darling. Yeah. And I like him. I like the player. Things just went so right for Philip Lindsay for most of the season. And then, I mean, you saw him towards the end, like.

Things really started to fall apart when he wasn't hitting consistently on those big plays. You have the concern of the new regime coming in, shaking things up. There's still a third round competent running back on the team in Royce Freeman as well. So just for people paying up right at the beginning of the third round for Philip Lindsay, it's a little too rich for me right now. If you want to peer into kind of the way we manage our teams, I can be honest with you.

I like Philip Lindsay. There's part of me that likes the Joe Flacco equation with Philip Lindsay, but I find myself trying to trade him in Dynasty. I'm trying to cash in on Philip Lindsay's value right now. And a lot of this free agent show bends itself towards kind of a dynasty buy-sell angle because you're betting, right? This is like...

the time of year where you are betting on Damien Williams being the guy or not being the guy. Yeah. You're betting on Leonard Fournett having the backfield versus not having the backfield. Well, in some of these situations is not just, it's not just bets of I think this player will go there, but the knowledge of, oh, this team has openings at this spot. This would hurt or help their quarterback or help, you know, someone.

Maybe that was drafted last year as a rookie who hasn't broken out yet. He has real opportunity. This is like the insider information. The SEC is going to be calling soon saying shut it down. I like that. By the way, no news on the show today. We don't have anything big to report, but make sure that if you're playing on a fantasy. How dare you? A fantasy sports platform that doesn't suck. Check out Sleeper. Overlooking the Michael Crabtree News.

Is that news for you, Mike? Yes. Well, we're not overlooking it. We're talking free agents. We're talking big news. And now he's a free agent. D.U.N. I said it once. I'll say it again. Done, done, done. Yeah, you called your shot on the Michael Crabtree being done last year and you were 100%. Yeah, that went quick for Crabtree. It was over. Free agent frenzy. Well, there's so much to talk about when it comes to free agents. They redefined kind of the way that...