Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Listener Questions, Fantasy News

If your team is struggling, don't be afraid to trade your best player. Let's say you have an Adrian Peterson, but you have a bunch of holes. If you can go to a team and get two quality starters, you have to think in terms of point differential of if Adrian Peterson is getting you this many points per week, but you can get two starters where the running back replacement, he's getting a couple points less, but you're also getting a wide receiver who's getting...

a couple points more than what you have currently starting for you, you can't be afraid to make those trades. You know another good strategy for trades? I call this the Andy Holloway from our... I like it. You do. Sounds intriguing. Keep trading. I mean, trade, trade, trade, trade. I know you've only been playing for two years, so probably you're not going to be the best at trading yet, but...

What Andy does always blows me away in some of our leagues is he just essentially, by next week he will have made 80 trades in one league. And each one, you know, he wins a little bit, just a little bit on most of them. Maybe he loses a little bit on one of them here. But then you look back over time and you go, okay, wait, you turned this guy, this guy, this guy into...

these five guys are, or, you know, it's just one of those things where if you keep winning a little and you keep trading, your team gets monumentally better as opposed to you make one trade, you like it, and then you sit. Maybe you have kind of a bigger picture and is an analogy for the way that Andy trades is like a mosaic puzzle. When you're shuffling those pieces around, you have no idea what it is and this looks just like crap. And then you're done, all of a sudden you got the Mona Lisa because the final...

Pieces go into. Trading is all about leverage, you know. And honestly, we can give you little bits of, you know, information on, oh, we like this, we like that. But the more you know fantasy football and the more you know your league and your league mate. Knowing your owners and their personalities. I mean, you're going to be able to leverage that knowledge into winning in trade, whether that's taking advantage of somebody's home team bias. Man, we could do a whole trade show. Yeah, we probably will sometime. I mean, it's May. Come on. It's going to be my.

Thank you, JT. No, I forgot about that. All right, so that's enough on trades for now, I guess. But yeah, pay attention to your league, your league mates, and keep doing it. All right, this email comes in from Phil. He says he has a keeper question for a 12-team half-point PPR scoring league. I can keep three players designated for the first three rounds. He has to decide between Eddie Lacey, Julio Jones, LaShawn McCoy, and Calvin Johnson.

He says he also has a development rookie player component where he can keep or get Todd Gurley in the seventh round. I'm not exactly sure how that works. But let's help him answer that first question. Eddie Lacey, Julio Jones, LaShawn McCoy, and Calvin Johnson. I'm very curious, Mike, which three guys you're going to take here. Oh, man, that is rough. First, I believe he's saying he could keep two of these studs and then get Gurley in the 7th.

So give up his one and two. That's the way I'm taking me. So instead of giving up his first three, he could give up two and a seven. I would just rather have the studs rather than... Yeah, that's just how I'm reading it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just saying I would pick three of those four instead of three of those five. So Lacey, Julio Jones are locked in. And it is a really, really tough call for me between LaShawn McCoy and Calvin Johnson. I believe...

I would go, despite my running back bias, I would go with Calvin. Of course you would. So we're in agreement then, Andy, right? Well, I would go, yeah, I'd go Lacey, Julio, McCoy. Yeah, me too. I think that if you've got Julio as a stud wide receiver there, and you can have LaShawn McCoy as an RB2, man, I love locking up those two positions. And then I can, because I think it's much easier to find wide receiver depth than running back depth. So I would.

For me, too, I don't really care if you keep, as long as you keep Lacey and McCoy of those three, if you like Calvin more than Julio, Julio more than Calvin, I don't really care which one you take. To me, it's... But it is a keeper league, so you probably want the younger guy. Jones and Johnson, because they're both top five for me, where LaShawn McCoy is... I think 12 for me right now. So, I mean, he's still on RB1, but for wide receivers to have two top five guys is...

When you already, and when you have Eddie Lacey to make sure you're running back core is okay. You're not going to be in a bad situation. No, those are all good, good options. So, Ben, Benny Last Call says, says, gentlemen, appreciate the fact that you guys promote the fantasy draft wizard.com. I came across it late last offseason, and other than it making me think that AP was my best option, it was very useful. He was. Believe it or not, Fantasy Draft Wizard.

dot com cannot predict um the disciplinary habits of running backs in the NFL that's new this year right they've got the formula worked in made with wizardry but he says he's already set up with the um with it this year and he can't wait to dominate said he's in a 10 team full ppr league that we turned into a one keeper league a couple of years ago i like that if you want to keep a player you drafted last year you have to uh what you keep them for the same pick

Okay. If you want to draft someone you picked up off of waivers, you add 30 spots to their current ADP. I like that. Yeah, that's cool. Any thoughts on who he should keep from the following? And then, so I'll give you the name and the cost, okay? Jordy Nelson for a second rounder. Joyke Bell for a seventh rounder. Travis Kelsey for an eighth. Latavius Murray for an 11th. And then he could take Ligarit Blunt for a 14, Charles Johnson for a 14, Victor Cruz for a 14.

So he thinks Kelsey might be the no-brainer, but he also wonders if he has a brain, so he wants to know our opinion on that. What do you guys think here? This is tough. Yeah. Personally, I see... I'm sorry. I was going to say, I personally see Kelsey as a no-brainer. I think he's a differentiator, and I see his value in the fourth. So him in the eighth, I would take him all day. I don't see anybody else here that...

Far exceeds their value, you're saying? Yeah, exactly. Just on a value. The only other person that maybe far exceeds their value would be Latavius Murray in the 11th. I mean, even if you like, I like Jordy Nelson a whole lot more than Latavius Murray, but Latavius Murray in the 11th, I mean, that's just really, what kind of running backs do you find in the starting position for their team at the 11th round? Yeah, I'd say I'm not a huge Murray guy.

But in the 11th to get a starting RB is spectacular value. Jordy Nelson, you can draft in the second. Oh, man. Andy, go. I'd love to tell you that I would take Joyck Bell in the 7th here. I was waiting for that. It's Latavius Murray in the 11th for me with Kelsey Closeball. Either option there. Decide between the guy you think you need. Obviously, this is a keeper league, so your league mates are either going to keep.

You know, maybe they're keeping a few more of the tight ends. Maybe they're keeping a few more running back. So maybe use that to gauge the difference because both of those are great. Fair? Yeah, that's fair. All right, Boz writes in. He says he was offered D'Andre Hopkins straight up for Todd Gurley in a one quarterback, two running back, two wide receiver league. No flex.

Yeah, are these his keepers, the other guys he has? Yeah, I can't tell what he's saying here. Russell Wilson, Arian Foster, Andre Ellington, Levy on Bell, Joyke Bell, David Johnson, Dez, Alshon, Jackson, Jackson, Jackson, B, Jax. Yeah, I'm getting lost on the end of this. Dejacks. What do you think about this trade here? Hopkins for Todd Gurley. I would take the Hopkins side of it. I think that Todd Gurley's still got a lot of question marks. I mean, I kind of brought this up last week. The fact that he's got...

question marks out there, just saying we don't know for sure what he's going to develop into. And we know DeAnd Hopkins is, I mean, last year, what did he have yards last year? But he was a top 15 guy, right? I think we had a question very similar to this, where somebody else was offered Hopkins for Gurley in a dynasty league. It was a different email, but I think we all said, or Mike and I said Hopkins on that one. Yeah, and I would go Hopkins. Hopkins is an emerging superstar who,

will be there at that level and could take the leap to be an elite wide receiver. Todd Gurley is a guy who supposedly is the best since Adrian Peterson, which we've heard that before. Well, essentially what you're saying is both guys have potential, but one of them's hurt, and one of them has shown it in the NFL already. Yeah, the last guy. They both have upside. You don't have to think of Hopkins as not having upside. He does because he's the potential.

You know, superstar number one. He's potentially elite. Yeah. And I won Hopkins. Yeah, I like Gurley. I like his tape. But I just keep thinking of the last time someone said all the AP comparisons. It hasn't been a back this good since AP. And it was Trent Richardson. And it's like, okay. So true, though, right? Yeah. No, I mean, like, oh, he's so good. He's, he's, he's. 1.5 yards to carry. You guys are going to eat your words on Trent Richardson. Oh, yeah, you have, you have him very high in your rankings.

I wouldn't be surprised if you put him above Latavius Murray, all that shade you're throwing. He is not. So cruel. He is not. Yeah, you better disclaim that now on the air. It's erroneous. Yeah. Mike, the fantasy hitman. It's all up on Twitter. Yeah. Well, the Chipotle love, I wouldn't doubt it. But email from Brian. Spotted at Chipotle. Right. Trent Richardson and the fantasy hitman. Yeah. Hi, guys. Just started listening a few weeks ago. Love the show.

He has two quick questions. He's in a 12-team, one-keeper league, one-point PPR, but listen to this. This is crazy. One point per QB completion. Whoa. Yeah. League positions, normal league pretty much, starts three wide receivers. So.

Does he keep DeAndre Hopkins in the 8th, Lamar Miller in the 10th, or Teddy Bridgewater in the 15th? And we will talk about his league format in a second, but let's answer this first question. Hopkins in the 8th, Miller in the 10th, or Bridgewater in the 15th. You can throw Bridgewater out. I don't care if this league gives 10 points per QB completion. You'll be able to get a quarterback, a better quarterback than Teddy Bridgewater in the 15th round. And even if you can't,

You'll get Teddy Bridgewater. Yeah. Who I like. I don't know why you're crapping on Teddy Bridgewater. No, I'm not really crapping on him. I just don't see why you'd decide he'd be part of your decision here. Right. For me, I will go Hopkins, which might surprise. No, it doesn't surprise. That's who I'd go to. I think. I'm not big on Miller, so. Yeah. Mike and I are both higher on Miller because I know you've got Jai Love. Speaking of which, they came out today and said he's three down. Three down down. But Mike's giving me grief because it was a...

It was a beat writer. So he's, we before the show, and he's like, you see that of Jai News? And I said who, yeah, who said it? He said it was a Miami beat reporter. I said, so when I was talking about Kevin White and the Chicago beat reporter was saying he was great. Oh, no, that's way different. It is way different. How is that any different? Because that Chicago guy was exceptionally hyperbolic. Oh, my goodness gracious.

This was very, this is a... Okay, so the way it was different is that it disagreed with your opinion. Got it. Yeah, I think they said Kevin White was a Hall of Famer. So we'll prove that one. Okay, so he wants to know, he says we don't value quarterbacks as much as other, maybe other hosts. But he wants to know, does it matter now that this league is one point per completion? And yeah.

That's huge. That is a monstrous difference. Who do you think of the top completion guy was last year? Top completions. I don't. Top, give me three guesses. Three guesses would be Rogers. I wouldn't put Rogers in there. Drew Breeze. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Did I get it? He's number one. All right. But listen to this. Number one, Drew Breeze. Number two, Matt Ryan. That was my second guess. Yes. Number three, Big Ben.

Okay? Really? But listen to this. A guy like Russell Wilson had almost 200 less completions than the number one guy. And so it completely changes your equation. Obviously, you're still getting points for touchdowns. You're still getting points for production. But it just, I think it's not going to change my value of quarterback. It's going to skew who the top guys are. Right. And that's probably true.

But I might be moving them up because there was an elite group of completion guys versus, because I looked up the numbers thinking it's just going to be, you know, you're just raising the water level, right? It doesn't make a difference. And I was blown away that a guy like Wilson who could still finish number 10 in completions or 11 in completions or something was a 200 gap.