Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Early Breakouts for 2016, News, Mailbag

In the wide receiver three category? Three, yeah. All right. So it's good for Matt Ryan to have another pair of hands. And a big target. He's six three, right? To throw two. Yeah, he's six three or six two. And I think sinews, I think he's good. I don't know if he's. Who's better? Leonard Hankerson.

Or Mohammed Sanoon. Mohammed Sano. Yes. I agree. That's unanimous. And Leonard Hankerson had some games where he showed. So I think as a wide receiver 3. And as did Roddy White, obviously, over his career when there were still together, right? You had, we see this everywhere. Wide receiver 2 can be successful. I'm just wondering if it's going to be more in the Hankerson up and down category or you're going to find somebody that could actually be a, I mean, at the upper end, it's Decker and Hearns in those guys. Right. Yeah, he's more of a bi-week filling guy. Every other week. Yeah.

Then more than, well, I'm saying like for your fantasy team. Yeah. As opposed to a Decker who you're like, I'm plugging him in. He's going to start for me. All right. The Jets signed below, pal and Kyrie Robinson to add to the new backfield with Mr. Forte. However, the Jets did come out this week. They told Forte that they view them as an every down back. That's how I view this situation. I view Kyrie Robinson as the Stephen Ridley in the rotation next year.

I think he was paid to be the Stephen Ridley in the rotation next year, and Blah Pal will be Blah Pal. He's a pass catching back. He is a two-minute drill back. I think you're going to see Forte off the field in those situations. But I'm rising on Forte a little bit. Powell basically got paid as much as Matt Forte did. The contract difference is not tremendous. So I'm not, I know Forte was, he likes that the Jets were telling him he's a.

three down back. I just don't see it. And I got a hot take for you guys. I don't know. Let's have it. How hot this is. Matt Forte's nickname is Easy F. I know. Okay, Mike. That's not even close. That's a terrible nickname. Give us this hot take. Kyrie Robinson is the best runner on the Jets. And that's ridiculous. Yeah. All right. We can move to the next one. I'm going to play with Andy here. I am rising on Matt Forte. Yeah. I think he is going to

Get the opportunity he needs. Clearly the talent he has. He's not over the hill yet. So give me Matt Forte if he can be had at a good draft position. And we'll debate him more later because we can get into the impact of the quarterback. I don't have a problem with Forte. I'm just saying I think Kyrie Robinson is a good. No, he's a favorite player in the league. All right. Tom Brady. Second. Second. Second favorite situation. There are rumors that the Patriots might be bracing for him to lose the appeal. They released an 8,000 word document on their website trying to once again debunk deflategate.

The fact of the matter is we're just putting the news out there that Brady could indeed be facing that suspension to start the year. We don't know what will happen, and we'll let you know when we do. We've talked about Martavis. The last piece of news I want to get to is Chris Hogan. Yep. Hogan. He is 6'4, and they're saying he could play outside, and he was signed. He was signed by the Patriots. I think he's 6'1. He might be 6'1. That's still tall. But when you go and you sign with Tom Brady, you gain two inches of value.

To your wide receiver. They put him on the machine, that stretching machine from the Princess Bride, and he gets a couple inches. He is 6 foot 1, not 6 foot 3. I like him. Chris Hogan is one of those guys who I've enjoyed watching. He had his... They say he is always open. Yeah, they call him 7-Eleven on Hart Knox. There was a report that Danny Amandola would retain the role that he was already in.

previously, which is the wide receiver three, kind of the fill-in type of guy. And Hogan, if he takes the two spot, he will have an opportunity. Brandon Lafell had plenty of opportunities to be successful. And in the previous year, Lafell did have a great fantasy year. So if Hogan gets that role, I think he can succeed. And this, speaking of the offer sheets of C.J. Anderson.

the Patriots gave Hogan an offer sheet because he was a restricted free agent. Immediately, the bill said, okay, he's yours. They didn't even have to think about it because the team knew how they valued him. So that just piggybacks on what are the Broncos doing, decide when where or the other. Yeah, yeah, I agree. So I think that they may be in the midst of many different things right now in Denver, too, with the quarterback situation and what they want to actually do. Do they need to pay him to just save him?

face on the offensive side right now. It's tough in Denver, but you're the champ, so I have no pity for you. Fantasy Forecast. All right, we're looking to the future right now. Very early breakout picks. We want to bring them to you. This is a fun show. Guys that we really like right now to take a leap. That is what a breakout is. A player that will take it from this level, and I have my hand very low near the desk, to this level, up here where Chris Hogan is.

Hey, hey. Hey. So guys that can make a big leap last year, what are some examples of breakouts from last year? Hearns. Alan Hurons? Alan Robbins was a great breakout. Huge breakout. We categorized Hopkins as a breakout. DeAndre Hopkins. Because he was very solid and then went nuclear and became nuke for fantasy football. So Mike, we'll let you get it started. Give us your breakout pick.

for 2016. All right, I'm going to start off with a quarterback here. We've talked about him. A little bit, a guy I like was a rookie, showed me enough that I believe he can succeed. And that is famous James, Winston. Oh, here. Here you go. Oh, yeah, there. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. James Winston has joined me on set here. Miniature version. Not to scale. Not to scale, James. And it really started off slow.

It did not only start slow. It started with a full-on disaster. Week one, if you remember, when the Bucks played the Titans, and people immediately were saying, did the Buccaneers make a mistake by taking Winston? So it took him some time to calm down as far as fantasy. It wasn't week seven. Week seven was the first time he put up a top 12, a quarterback one performance. But from week seven out, he was a QB1 five times. And that's enough for me.

that I understand the growth that Winston has. In the final 11 games, he was four fantasy points better. His attempts slightly rose. So him throwing the ball, it didn't rise that much, but his completions went up, his yardage went up. He just became a more effective quarterback, add on the fact that he scrambles them in every once in a while and gets some Russian touchdown bonuses. That's...

That's good stuff to add in. You had the coaching change. Lovie Smith is gone and mostly because they wanted to retain Dirk Cudder, who they felt was crucial to the growth and James really learning to become an NFL quarterback. So I like that. The offensive line from football outsiders was ranked very solid in the top half. Something we want to do for all these guys is we're going to give a projection.

So you know what we're talking about for the breakout. So for James, I've got him around 4,400 yards with 30 touchdowns. Wow, 4,400 yards. Oh, my goodness. What did he do last year? Like, just over 4? Yeah, that's right. He was one of the only two. That's a big stat line, though. That is. It gets bold. Here, let me read off. You're fine, but it's bold. Well, I just want you to know that it's like, you're like, wow, 4,400 yards. He threw for over 4,000 last year. Okay.

Well, about 3,000 were to Mike Evans, I think. And you know who's still on the team? Doug Martin. That's actually one of the things that I really like about James Winston's situation is that there hasn't been a lot of turnover. All the weapons of the offense, you know, Charles Sims still there, Doug Martin's still there. Mike Evans has another year of rapport with him. And even though there was change at the head coaching position, it was to bring their offensive coordinator, Dirk Cutter, to the head coach. So, yeah, I could see him taking a step forward.

I guess since we've gone with the number one draft pick of last year, we might want to kick our next breakout to you, Andy? Okay. That's fine. I'm going with Marcus Mariotta.

Which is ironic because, like Mike said, they started the year facing off and everyone compared them all year long. But I've been on the Mario de Janeiro bandwagon all off season, and it's only been enforced by the signing of DeMarcom or the trade for DeMarco Murray and the signing of Richard Matthews, a guy who is kind of a do-it-all wide receiver who I think can make an impact there can help Dorio Green Beckham. But I like Marcus Mariotta. I know people aren't excited about Muncheck staying there, but the thing I like about Muncheck is everything he's said and done with Marioita since he became head coach, which is.

We're going to keep him in the shotgun. We're going to utilize his legs. We're going to continue to commit our offense into creating creative opportunities for him to do that. And that's going to be less on Muncheck, more on the offensive coordinator, who I think can do that for Mariotta. He's a 62% passer. And I see him in the mold, fantasy-wise, of Russell Wilson from a couple years ago. And that's where I project a stat line. I haven't met about 25 passing touchdowns, about 3,500 yards through the air. So he's not...

throwing for 5,000 yards. But somewhere in the 25 touchdown, six or seven on the ground, 500 rushing yards. Six or seven on the ground is a lot. Yeah. Well, six is about where I have. That's where I projected him was six, and I think that's fine. You know, I think didn't James get in five or six times last year? I did. Let me, I think it was only, oh, yeah, he got in six times. Yeah, I have, I'm very comfortable with that. Russell did that a couple years ago when he was getting outside the pocket. He's a.

He's a low interception type guy. DeMarco Murray is going to help that as well because once you get to the goal line, being able to have James Winston have the threat of the running game. We see that with Cam where he can roll out and take that goal line red zone rushing touchdown. And Mariotta was banged up. And the reason for that was an offensive line that struggled immensely. I think 38 sacks against Marioita. He got banged up a couple times because of that. They signed Ben Jones. They're supposedly looking at, who is it, Louis?

Vasquez from... Yeah, they got the Denver coming into town to talk to him. They're going to reinforce that line. They're going to protect Marioada. They've got better weapons on offense, and he's 22 years old. He's ascending. So I think this is a natural next step. And so I have Marioada as a breakout top 12 type of guy with those numbers. I mean, that could be top six in the right type of league format. Yeah, and you should be able to get him at a good value. So I'll go with my next guy, and since there was not a quarterback drafted at number three...

I'm going to have to go to a different position. But I will stick with the rookies. A rookie last year who I think is going to break out this year is Devante Parker. You've heard us talk about him a little bit. I'm sure you've heard a lot of different people talk about him because he is a very talented guy who came on strong at the end of last year. But here is kind of what we can expect or what we can hope for in Devante Parker and why. Before week 12 last year, he was injured for part of it.

But he wasn't used. Richard. Richard Matthews was really their outside wide receiver. Before week 12, he had four total catches.

Total receptions on the year, he basically was not a part of that team. Of his career. Of his career. Which was still infinitely more than Breshad Perman. Yes. 400%. Now here's what happened, though. And Kevin White. From week 12 to 17, the very end of the year, they started, oh, and here's a little note. Guess who stopped playing in week 12? Rashad Matthew. Rashad Matthews stopped playing it. From week 12 and on? What a quitter. Yeah. He quit the league.

And so from week 12 on, DeBonte Parker was the number 18 wide receiver in fantasy football as a rookie when Rashad Matthews was gone. Rashad Matthews is gone now. He's six foot three. He's got four four speed. And Adam Gase, Adam Gase has come in and uses his outside wide receiver more. Last year, no team used the slot receiver more than Miami with Jarvis Landry.

They're going to start putting the ball outside more. Devante Parker is going to be in that role, and he is very talented. It's opportunity plus talent. So I'm going to say he gets 72 catches for 1,050 yards and seven touchdowns. That would put him in the solid wide receiver 2 range. I have absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. And I'd love to see Gaze use him a little bit in the screen game, too. He's just an athlete. Yeah, I'm, I think we're all on board with Devante Parker.

So I'm going to keep the wide receiver theme going here, and a guy who a lot of us had slotted for a breakout last year, and then everything kind of fell apart with the entire team. And Dante Moncrief, do not forget about Dante Moncrief, 6-2, 220 pounds, 4-4 speed, a 40-inch vertical jump. It's his third year in the league, the magic number three that we always like, and he's 22.