The Fantasy MVP Episode! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/31

Last year, it just didn't work out for Herbert, and he still finished as the quarterback 11. What went wrong? Well, everything. Keenan Allen injured his hamstring in week one, then missed essentially half the year. Mike Williams got banged up, the offensive line was injured off and on all year, and Herbert himself dealt with a rib injury that affected his fantasy production for about a month. To put some numbers to it, just 23% of Herbert's dropbacks last year came with both Big Mike and Keenan Allen on the field together, and in that sample, Herbert's 77 completion rate would have led the entire NFL. Herbert is also one of fantasy football's most obvious bounce back candidates, specifically in the touchdown department, after his touchdown rate plummeted from 5.7% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022, despite attempting 699 passes last season, aka the second most in the NFL. If that touchdown number bounces back to even league average,

Herbert has a great chance to beat his ADP and put up some big time fantasy numbers. With new OC Kellynne Moore in town, the Chargers offense should remain extremely pass heavy, up in pace, and Herbert should be pushing the ball down the field more often this season, which should help keep him in contention for the league lead in passing yardage. Oh, and one final note on Herbert's bounce back season that's going to come this year, he's quietly due for more fantasy production with his legs. 14 quarterbacks logged 50 plus rush attempts last season. Justin Herbert. AKA your fantasy MVP is the only one who didn't score a single touchdown with his legs, and 12 of those 14 quarterbacks ran for three plus scores. If you pass on the elite options at the top of the draft board, Herbert is an awesome target in the middle rounds. That's the best audio Betsy's ever put forth. He doesn't do that on the regular shows, right? I don't know. I liked the bonus we got there about the running. Jason didn't bother to bring that up.

Actually, I did bring up that exact same stat. I didn't listen. Thanks for listening at our live show. I was making an assumption. Yeah, no. You assumed he would not bring that up. I obviously agree with this. He was my breakout bold prediction pick to be the number one quarterback this season. Justin Herbert's situation is very difficult for me because I lived that entire experience last off season, including just acknowledging all of. All of the things that were present for him last year are present for him this year. What happened last year is he was dealt some really tough hands with the injuries to his wide receivers with the injuries to his ribs. It just kind of the plan didn't come together. So, you know, maybe this here, Jason. You can live the life I wanted to leave. I will show you how it's done. All right. Moving on, Danny Kelly co-hosted the Ringer Fantasy Football Show and Ringer NFL Draft Show with his fantasy MVP.

What's up, Ballers? Danny Kelly here from the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. And my MVP for the 2023 season is Lamar Jackson. And look, I get it. He's been a little bit disappointing over the last few years. He's underwhelmed relative to his ADP. He's missed too many games. But I do think this is the year he puts it all back together and turns back into the guy who we saw win the real life MVP back in 2019. The Ravens have put together a really talented group of passcatchers for him, along with Mark Andrews. They signed Odell Beckham, who has looked great in training camp. They drafted Zay Flowers, who looked awesome in the preseason. They get back for shot Bateman. They get a healthy J.K. Dobbins back onto the field, and they could get a nice jump from tight end Isaiah likely. Most importantly, add in the Todd Monkin effect, which should transform this Ravens' offense from one of the slowest, run-heavy groups in the NFL to potentially an uptempo, spread out, pass-happy scheme.

And there is no ceiling to what this offense could do. More plays, more yards, more points, and a much bigger pie for all the above-mentioned players to split up in fantasy. Lamar brings potential to rush for over 1,000 yards, and he could leave the NFL in passing touchdowns. He's exactly what he did back in 2019 when he won a million people their leagues. And so I'm just hoping that's what he can do this year. Okay. Lamar Jackson, I'm sure you will have. You know I like it. Yeah, Mike will be on board. Yeah, absolutely. No notes. Before we comment further, I have a feeling somebody else has a similar opinion.

What's up everybody? Marcus Grant from NFL media. And if I'm talking about my fantasy MVP for 2023, it's going to be Lamar Jackson, right now being drafted as the fourth or fifth quarterback, depending on what room you're in. But this is a guy who has the potential to be the QB1 overall, maybe even the highest score in fantasy football. We already know about the rushing upside. That is not going away. What is different this year is that he is working with what is probably the deepest wide receiver core he has had in his career. Now, granted, there are still some question marks. What is Odell Beckham going to be after another knee injury? Can Rashad Bateman return from injury? What is Zay Flowers going to do in his rookie season? But there is talent here in this room. They've got Mark Andrews and Todd Monkin.

Pulling the levers on this offense, I expected to be more of a vertical passing game. So you're getting Lamar in the fourth round, the possibility that he is the top score overall. It's as good a situation as you can possibly imagine. No notes. I feel like, yeah, you got no notes. I just feel like that, you know, maybe this is just my personality. Maybe this is nine years of fantasy. And like, I don't know if there's been a more consistently positive drumbeat for one offensive situation. where nobody can say anything potentially negative about it than this Lamar Jackson one, where it's like bona fide guaranteed. You know, I know there was a lot of excitement around Denver last year in the offseason and where they got picked, but like this situation, even more than that, has just been exclusively positive. And I don't think I've heard much detraction from that. You've been a detractor. You've, you've, you've.

told the world how much you hate the Ravens. No, no, no. I've hung some street signs that say slow down. This road is slippery. It's a cliffside. Like the view from the top is great, but you've got to get there the right way. You can't just slam on the gas. And that's how I felt everybody has handled the Ravens. Yeah, I'm not convinced necessarily that Todd Monkin's going to come in here and make the Baltimore Ravens a better team. I am, you know, I think they could turn the ball over a lot. They could, you know. hurt the defense in certain situations first year under the system. But I am convinced from a fantasy perspective, like, you know, it's like when James Winston with Todd Munkett threw 30 interceptions. It didn't matter. It was pretty cool. It was like, heck yeah. I'm glad that went pick six. Get back on that field and throw it. All right. We're going to share our fantasy MVPs. And then we have one extra special guest to round out this episode. So you want to stay tuned for that. I'll be brief. My fantasy MVP's, I'm cheating.

I'm cheating this year. A little bit you are. It is Debo Samuel and Brandon IUke, wide receivers for the San Francisco 49ers. Both of them, I think, are being drafted too low. We've seen Debo's ceiling before up at number two. He came out not in shape last year. The contract situation, all reports this year, very positive. And I think this is just one of those reactions, right? You had the incredible year, drafted very high, a lot of disappointment. Now he's drafted too low, in my opinion, and I think he has the potential on a Super Bowl contender to be a dominant force. And then Brandon Ayuk last year, 114 targets. He was the wide receiver 15, and he's still being ignored in fantasy drafts. Like Brandon Ayuk is sitting out there with a real opportunity to be a wide receiver won, potentially, in this offense. I think both guys will be bringing fantasy MVP value to your roster this year. And Debo brings the rushing.

upside in this in this offense and they work game plans around him i'm very excited for both players and i think they are both co fantasy and vps for your fantasy team all right i like it that you get two ways to go down on that one uh they they scare me the passing game scares me but i know that the last time that you were very bullish on debo samuel it was the time that he was the wide receiver two so i i take Notice my MVP this year. Yeah, I mean, look, the heart wants what the heart wants. This might not be the best value in the draft, but this is an MVP type of pick. This is one of the very few players that you can draft that will next year be everyone's consensus 101. Like he has that potential. He is not the last time we saw a rookie running back who's drafted in the first round.

of both real life and then that caused him to be drafted in the first round of fantasy drafts was Clyde Edwards Alleyer. And that didn't work out that great. He was still decent. It was like 12.5 points a game, his rookie season. But obviously. Yeah, it finished at 22. Yeah, it didn't work out phenomenally. And I'm just, I want to make sure it's clear. This is not that situation. Bejohn is a different caliber athlete. a way different prospect. Before the NFL draft, Clyde Edwards O'Lear that year was my running back six in my own evaluations. Like he wasn't even up there with Jonathan Taylor or the other guys. It was going to Kansas City that vaulted him into the first. And Bejong goes to Atlanta. And that situation is so much better than I think most people even realize. Here's a tweet from Warren Sharp after the draft happened.

This is what the scheme allowed the Atlanta Falcons running backs to do last year. Number one in rushing yards. Number one in yards per carry. Number one in rushing first downs. Number two in EPA per rush. Number three in success rate. Number three in first downs or touchdowns per rushing attempt. This scheme. from Arthur Smith that Derek Henry used and then has worked well with, you know, a hodgepodge of running backs is adding a superstar running back to it. He's going to be phenomenal. He's going to be great for fantasy. It's going to put up huge points, catch the ball enough, get the goal line opportunities. And even if Tyler Algear is very involved, which I think he, I think he'll have 150 carries, it's not going to stop Bijon from being great for fantasy.

All right, Bijon Robinson, surprise pick from Jason Moore. Didn't know you liked him. Well, everyone was really upset that he wasn't one of my my guys. Yeah. My MVP. No, it makes perfect sense. And we had a very fun discussion on Bijon on the Dynasty podcast yesterday morning, the three of us. So Mike, give us your fantasy MVP pick. It's rookie wide receiver. Mr. Zay Flowers of the Baltimore Ravens. You have become smitten. The ships have gone all in. Well, you know how I felt about the potential of the Ravens offense and Lamar, kind of the whole offseason. That's why I have no notes for these people who, if Lamar is your MVP, fantastic. I think that it's going to be a great season for him. And it was, well, who's going to be the benefactor of it? And it seemed early on that it would be Rashad Bateman.

But he just cannot get back on the field. He's missing practices yet again. Zay Flowers of the first round rookie wide receivers. He is the most complete in his production profile. We're talking the share of receiving yards, receptions, touchdowns, an absolute dominant player in college. Again, Bateman is still not around. OBJ coming off of his second ACL Terran the last time we saw him with the Rams. He was averaging about 38 yards in eight games with them. Like this was not a special player. He was catching touchdowns, but the yard is just, it wasn't there. So I'm in on the Ravens, and I think that Zay Flowers can take the leap and actually be the number one wide receiver for this team, and he's being drafted in the ninth round. And the bonus stat here is talking about the difference of offense. So last year, the Ravens used 11 personnel, which means three wide receivers are on the field.

They used it 12% of their plays dead last. In the preseason, we were up over 80%. And why is that important? Well, last year in quarterbacks with 80 plus dropbacks in 11 personnel, so we have three plus wide receivers on the field. The quarterback that led in completion percentage over expectation, Lamar Jackson. He is a good passing quarterback. He's not just a running back. He is a great passer as well. I am in on Zay Flowers. One, disappointed in you that you didn't go Alexander Madison. Okay. I want that. No, I'm just going to take that decision. Sure. As a sign that you believe I am right about him. No. You made the decision. I do want to give the notes. No, no notes. Yeah, no. You said no notes. I had no notes for it. It was Lamarie MVP. You did say no notes. No notes. Because we did the listener league draft last night and.

Uh, B-Ket, the biggest loser is my co-manager over there. And we're, we're planning, we're, we're planning things out. And he's like, have you cooled on Alexander Madison? I'm like, no, not at all. So just don't see how he thought. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. But I'm more in, give me a rookie wide receiver in the ninth with the potential to be the number one for a really high powered offense. Yeah, the draft capital. price for Zay Flowers makes him immune to all of the potential criticism that I might have. Because I worry that he could be their number one receiver. He could be their number four fantasy producer in the passing office. Sure. That is an outcome that, you know, I worry about a little bit. But one more special guest, the legend himself. Yes. The host of the Emmy-nominated NFL game day morning, two-time Emmy-nominated Rich Eisen Show host.

Rich Eisen joined us yesterday for a special interview, including his own fantasy MVP picks. Enjoy. All right, we got one final special guest for the MVP episode today, none other than Rich Eisen himself coming in here to share some insights. Man, the myth, the legend. That's right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Welcome in. Thank you. This is the back end of a home and home. That's right. Yeah, these two gentlemen across from me had the privilege of jumping on your show last week. And we thought, you know what? No one knows football better than Rich Eisen. So why not have him come on and talk fantasy football with us ahead of the season?

I appreciate that. I appreciate the opportunity. Are we on the clock right now? Am I on the clock? I was going to bring it up. I think you are on the clock. I can't get another email from your producer or your guy saying, you know, with the emoji of football and a clock, which he sent to us in the middle of a second. This is a flex and also a complaint. He sends this to us in the middle of us interviewing Odell Beckham Jr. Who last called into this show. six years ago. So I'm sorry if I'm holding anybody up. I'm interviewing Odell Beckham Jr. Is he available? Is Odell Beckham? If the listeners haven't... Draft Odell right now. If the listeners haven't picked up on... Rich is joining us on a fantasy football league this year.

And I guess our management is just, but Rich is actually on the clock. Hey, what's up, fellas? And by the way, out of fairness to you, Andy, I'm cutting the third guy of her program out. No, that's fine. Yeah. We're allowed to come on your show, you know? Yeah, no, that's good. All due respect to TJ. Or like, TJ, you can come here. Or you come in here and we'll like bust the norm. Come on. So Rich is allowed to have around? Hold on a second. We're in the ninth round, yeah. He wants Brandon Cooks. TJ wants Brandon. Yeah, we kind of, good value. I was going to say, are you really going to take Odell right here? Not bad. That's kind of a thank you for coming on. I think he might get back to us. Oh, yeah, you hit the all button here. Oh. Yeah, I imagine he'll get back. I think he'll come back to a couple rounds. Let me set the stage here. Rich has Echler, Camara, Rashad White, Dalvin Cook at running back. We're taking Brandon Cooks right now. Brandon Cooks off the board. He's been drafted.

He's being drafted by us right now because TJ is a big Dallas cowboy fan. And, you know, there may be an eye in Rich and Eisen, but I'm a team player. So I'm getting, you can tell TJ that I actually, I'm all in on Brandon Cooks this year. I love the fact that they traded for him. They need a number two over there. And Dak Prescott has shown us that he can sustain multiple fantasy options. So I think that Brandon Cook still has it. I think we have at least one more year of him being a thousand yard guy. Mike is very.

proud that Rich took Brandon. I love it. I think it's a great pick. I appreciate the checkmark from you. I appreciate it. I apologize that I'm, I'm sorry. I'm a control freak. I normally do the cue, not the A. So I'm the A here. You're the cue. I'll back off. I didn't mean to take things over the minute I popped on your pod. My apologies. We noticed you were on the clock. We thought that might have been strategic. You're setting up. It's called content. But also, I don't want any more emails. You know, that I'm taking up too much time while I'm talking to America, you know? Yeah, he'll hear about that. Oh, yeah. He'll hear about that from us. You know, I have a little bit of an ego, but I don't think everybody should know when I'm on the air all the time. But to send it, to send like, hey, you're on the clock when I'm talking to Odell Beckham, Jr. You know? This is going to be. Yeah. It's going to be a good league.

This is going to be fun this year. We are fresh off a number of fantasy MVP picks. I am curious if you have a few names, and they can't all be Jets, but do you have a few names for fantasy MVP this upcoming season? Fantasy MVP coming up this season. Gosh, I mean, it's tough not to go Justin Jefferson, and I know that's the lowest of the hanging fruit, One of my favorite statistics, and I'm saying this for real in the now 20 years that I've been with the NFL network, I've seen a lot of stats. I've seen a lot of numbers. And I think I might have recited it with you guys. Not you, Andy. You weren't on. No, no. Andy would never know. But that Justin Jefferson has set the record for most receiving yards and touchdowns for a player in his first three years of his career.

Those numbers are a record for a player in their first four years in the NFL. So he's going to add onto these numbers and keep on pushing out so there'll be a record for a player through four, for any player through five and things of that nature. So it's tough to. It's tough to think otherwise that Justin Jefferson isn't, and I know he didn't even go first in our league. I was going to say, I wonder who got him in our league. I was just looking at that. Andy has Justin Jefferson in our league with you, Rich, and he went third, shockingly. Yeah, that was a little bit surprising. I was definitely thinking in a league with you and who you're bringing in, it would be a tough one. We'll tell Dan that.

Come on. I mean, I couldn't believe. I'm like, wait a minute, it's a half point PPR and Justin Jefferson isn't first. It's the first time I've seen it this off season. Anywhere, right? Yeah. But if I got to go with somebody that's off the radar screen, and I haven't gotten him in either one of the two leagues that I've done so far, and I've got a third one coming up, and this is the one that I've been in the longest, the one that I want to win the most, no disrespect to you guys. But we all have one of those, right? Oh, yeah. So it's been the one I've been in the longest. And we always wait till kickoff because we don't want to be caught up drafting before Josh Jacobs signs or Jonathan Taylor goes on Pup. We want everything to be as said as possible. So I'll go, Jemir Gibbs. There's something about him. There's something about him that I just cannot shake.

I heard that when the Lions took him 12th overall, he beat a whole bunch. They beat a whole bunch of teams to the punch. Yeah, I heard that. A whole bunch of teams to the punch. And everyone was shocked that he went 12th overall. And I heard that night going back to, you know, the lobby of our hotel and talking to a bunch of people after that first round in Kansas City that there were a ton of teams that counted the table in their. draft room for him and then pounded the table in anger after the Lions took him 12th overall. Do you think that a lot of their excitement that kind of got mocked trading up for a running back was because they knew there were other teams in contention there for him? I don't think they care, to be honest with you. They clearly don't care about taking Jack Campbell and all the crap that they got for that. It's just who do they like? Who do they want? And in the same way that we were.

you know, conversing last week, not to you, Andy, but, you know, the way that we were conversing last week, I'm sorry, Andy, I didn't mean to do that. No, no, no, keep it up. It's a good bit. It's a good bit, you know, and I come from the Letterman style of broadcasting where, where I take the bit and I pound it down to the ground and then keep hitting it. So, you know, if you like somebody in. you know, your third or fourth overall and Bejohn is up there and it's still too early to get him. Well, you're not getting him when he comes, when you come back. So take him. It's just the mentality in the draft for real that all it takes is one to make someone a first rounder. So, you know, we're all just afraid of being the Cleveland Browns being the one to make Johnny Manzella first rounder. But I don't think Bejohn is that type of player. So I was going to, Gibbs is a guy. And I'm not saying I would take him top five.

But man, do I like him a lot? Yeah, I was going to ask if we are suckers for the consensus sometimes, right? You don't want to look stupid during your draft. What was number two here? Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill went number two in our league. But, you know, it never plays out the way that anybody projects the NFL draft or fantasy drafts. We just have like six months to fill putting an order together. Maybe it's better to just go with that, you know, go with your gut on some of these players. And like you said, You know, if you're drafting at three, you will not have an opportunity to draft Bijon ever. So if that's the guy you want, that's your only shot. That's where Gibbs is a really interesting pick because Gibbs is someone that right now is usually like in the third round, but you'll have an opportunity if you want to reach a little bit for him. We do a lot of mock drafts, obviously.

do fantasy. And Andy has grabbed Gibbs all over the place. He's one of his my guys this season. So you guys are in sync right now on Justin Jefferson and Jemir Gibbs for sure. One final thing for you, Rich, before we let you go, I want you to know, and maybe this will endear me to you for the future. I think you're endearing. I picked in our Bold Predictions episode, which we had a live event out there. You guys were talking about it. in L.A. I didn't realize the vitriol that would be coming from a Los Angeles crowd, but I picked the Jets to win the Super Bowl this season. Why does everybody in Los Angeles hate that team? Because I was booed into submission. Yeah, they gave him the business. I don't know why either. I don't know. There's no. You think it's an Aaron Rogers thing?

I don't know. Maybe they just don't like you. Oh. And the truth shall set you free. I mean, I don't. I don't. I don't know. I don't know why. It's probably an Aaron Rogers thing. I, you know, and again, it's kind of funny. It's just, you know, sick and tired of the jets are like, look at me. Rogers is like, look at me. But they didn't want hard knocks. They didn't want to be looked at. They didn't want that. Rogers hasn't, for all his look at me, been on McAfee's show. I don't think since he said that he wanted, he had an intention to play for the Jets. I don't believe. I think he might have come back once after that. I mean, you know, he's just posting and going to Taylor Swift concerts like the rest of, you know, America. So right. So I.

I don't know. There's a backlash in the same way. It's just, you know, I went all in. I had no idea. My guy Brockman, who was standing over my shoulder moments ago, had no idea. He told me on the air live that there's a bar in Milwaukee that's going to pay bar tabs of everybody on days that the Jets lose. And I'm like, okay, you know, like I'm sorry, Fav. to Rogers Packer fan that you're, you know, upset that maybe Jordan Love is foisted upon you right now. But more often than not, he's, you know, odds are he's going to go to the Hall of Fame because that's what's happened. You got the FAR, it went to the Hall of Fame. We got the FAR who used us as a transfer portal of the Vikings, you know, honestly, you know, and tough bar owner, you know, saying, uh,