Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Post Hype Sleepers, AFC North Breakdown

leaders in rushing attempts. And that, to me, is far more important than the quality of the team. He knows he made a mistake last year in the fourth quarter. Sometimes it's out of your hands. I mean, when you're the Browns and you're down by more than two scores, you're just not able to keep running the ball. You've got a clock problem. And you haven't improved offensive line again. Yes, and that was the other. You bring in J.C. Treter, you bring in the aforementioned Zitler from Cincinnati and you bring in a guard.

And you bring in David and Joku in the draft. I mean, this offensive line was good last year. I think they're better. Pro football focus is very excited. Where do they have them? Number two. Second? Number two in the league. Checking with me in six weeks. Yeah, but no, to the point, 31st in the league and points per game last year, it's a problem. They were in the shotgun 69% of the time. That's all you need to know if you want to know how often they were coming back in games.

You can't be one in 50. This is the problem with the Carlos Hides, Joe Williams. We talk about Crowell and Duke Johnson. These teams that the game script are all negative. You're Todd Gurley's. Sure. Todd Gurley, too. The negative game scripts, the losing teams, it puts you in a tough position to have monster games as a running back. Because what is a monster game for a fantasy running back? We've seen this time and time again. It's 102. Get out ahead.

and then wear the defense down, hand the ball off, and your second half, you're just salivating because I remember this, Arian Foster all the time. Get out to a lead, let your defense do some work, and just hand the ball up over and over again. That's a rarity for Cleveland. I'm glad you brought up Aaron Foster, because to go back to my quick question, Lamar Miller, how about this? Last year in the fourth quarter running attempts, Lamar Miller was second of qualified running backs.

I mean, he gets the ball in the fourth, and Isaiah Crowell won't. I don't like where Crowell's going in drafts. He's inching closer and closer to the, you know, middle, upper question mark of that second round. It's really annoying because his ADP prevents. Well, for me, I'm okay, taking him there.

I feel like you're just saying he has to perform, though. I mean, if you're taking him at the top of the second, you're, that's a ceiling. We're agreeing. I'm saying it's annoying to me because the ADP is going to talk most people out of Isaiah Crowell and put that negative spin on his potential where I'm seeing last season, his current age, the improved offensive line and Hugh Jackson and the way this team, look, you're not, I know technically you can be worse than one in 15.

But your odds of, okay, let's say you win four games. Is that three, four more game scripts that flip for Isaiah Crowell, who already had a very efficient year with a better offensive line, with a better commitment to the run, maybe a better quarterback in place? I just see that, look, the ADP may screw that up for me. I'm very high on Crowell rankings-wise.

But I understand what you're saying. Yeah. When it comes to the passing game that will dictate a lot of whether, you know, early in the games, is their passing game good enough to keep them, you know, in a one-score game come the fourth quarter? That's going to come down to Kenny Britt and to Corey Coleman. And whoever the quarterback is, I know among the three of us, we all have very similar thoughts, but we disagree as to who will actually be the starter. Cody Castler was...

You know, surprisingly good last year. I don't think a lot of people realize because they were on a one-team, you know, a one-win team. Here's a tweet from Evan Silva, just talking about the Browns quarterback Cody Kessler. Over the last two decades, when he looks at over 60% completion rate on a seven yards or more adjusted per pass temp. The list is very small. All great quarterbacks. Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan.

Ben Rothlisberger, Dak, Prescott, Marcus, Marietta, and at number six, Cody Kessler. So he wasn't as bad as... He was competent, and he was a rookie, and he was put into a tough position last year. Yeah, quarterback of the Browns is a very tough position. The only guy... Only for the past couple decades, Jason. Looking at the list of guys, I'm glad you brought him up, but I just want to highlight Kenny Britt. He got 1,000 yards on a bad team last year. I don't... I'm not projecting 1,000 yards this year.

but he's likely the only guy from Cleveland that I'll be targeting. So you're targeting Brett over Coleman? Yes. Like at the end of the year, you think Britt's going to have a better fantasy season than Corey Coleman? Yes. I feel very strongly about that. How strongly? Are you talking to waterbed? Because if it's a waterbed, yes. I want to make the water bed, but I also want to know that Cory Coleman is going to play week one. And, um...

So if Corey Coleman's healthy, week one, you want that water bet? It's so convoluted. Waterbet. Here's a reality. No, I only did that because I want you to have a bet where you're depending on Kenny Britt. I will. I want him in your pocket. I want him. I want to.

tag you with his name forever. Thankfully, Kenny Britt is no stranger to finding success with bad quarterbacks. It's all he's known. His entire career is bad quarterbacks. Corey Coleman has the upside, though. To me, if Cory Coleman comes out and shows the potential that he showed, you know, in week two last year and gets something going, he was drafted to be that. He was drafted to be that, you know, crazy burner, Odell Beckham style guy. He's got great hands in theory. And then last year in his rookie year. In theory?

Well, no, I'm just saying in college, it looks like he's got great hands. And then he caught 42% of his balls last year, something like that. I mean, that's got to improve. And a lot of that is, you know, with Cody Kessler. He was much worse with Cody Kessler than he was with other quarterback. So if Kaiser is the week one starter as you think is possible, Andy, then that could be good for the deep ball for Corey Coleman's speed and what he's able to do. All right. Last name is David Njoku. They draft him in the first round. They let Gary Barnage go. I've been.

somewhat pronounced with my adoration for David Injoku, and that is talent and opportunity. He's a starting tight end on an NFL franchise. He's a friend to young quarterbacks. And while he is currently sitting, I believe, 12 or 13 on my rankings, I do think that Injoku will have a very solid year in Cleveland. They did give him quite the vote of confidence of when they drafted him on the phone, they said, hold on.

David. Let me switch lines. They click the, uh, switch over to the other line. Oh, sorry, Gary, Gary Barnage, we, uh, the pick went in. We got to let you go. Yeah, pretty much. So, all right, hey, we don't have time to get into the NFC North. We don't. So we're going to get into some mailbag. Okay. Mailbag. Yeah. All right. Let's start with some, uh, here's a question that comes in from Diego in South Plainfield, New Jersey. That's how he wrote it.

That's how he wrote it. By the way, if you have a question, not my words. Go to the fantasy footballers.com, click submit a question. You can also dial our voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. His question is basically, look, how do you have Keenan Allen as a tier five guy in standard formats? I understand the injury concern. The presence of other targets in the offense. His talent, though, is undeniable. The chemistry between himself and Rivers was apparent.

It's a fair critique, and I think a lot of it has been... Diego's a wise man. Well, look, with a guy like Keenan Allen, I've been, much like Martavis Bryant and other players this off season, it's been a patience thing on my rankings. If you think my rankings in February need to look the exact same as they do in August, I really need a crystal ball. I mean, it's not going to happen. I'm being patient with the recovery of Keenan Allen, with the recovery of Mike Williams.

with what we've seen from Tyrol Williams last year. I think you ranked number one in the league on two different route types in terms of the post and the out. And so I'm being patient with Keenanella. That's too low as a tier. So if that's what our standard tier is, that's too low. Tier 5 sounds a little too low. But in standard, you've got a guy that, you know, there's worries. He hasn't, you know, over the last two years and his career averages.

under 11 yards of reception. It's very low for a wide receiver. That's a guy that's playing the slot role or the, you know, the move the chains role. And he's not been a real touchdown guy. I mean, his rookie season when he was needed to be in that role, he looked great at it. But, you know, he's had four touchdowns essentially since then. So it's just one of those things where- I take back my apology. You want, you want Keenan Allen or do you want Larry Fitzgerald? Keenan Allen. Would you agree there in the same tier? Sure.

Yeah, I can agree with that. What about Martavis Bryant? Oh, Bryant. Yeah, I think I want Martavis. Tyreek Hill? We're just talking to standard, right? I want Keenan Allen. This is just a standard Lee. Jeremy Macklin? Keenan Allen? Okay. So he's on, he's teetering the line between a four and five, according to our rankings. He's, you know, fours are like Crabtree, Demarius Thomas, Devante Adams. I think he's right around that range with the huge upside of if he can put together like a season.

similar to the first seven games of 2015. He will. Okay. You will. You and your injured players. My goodness. All right. What's the best way to join a Dynasty League for free if that is even possible? That's from Jake in Delaware. How do you join a Dynasty League? Jake, have you tried opening your front door and shouting? Does anyone play Dynasty Fantasy football? Or?

I'm just asking if he's tried that. Since it's no longer the 80s where you can only be friends with people on your street, pull out your cell phone and call friends. I mean, hopefully you've got a league that you're in right now with other players, see if they want to start a dynasty. And if any of them have any friends that want to start a dynasty, if you want to go for free, if you're a member of the Foot Clan, we've got Foot Clanleagues.com where Dynasty leagues are starting up all the time and you know that they're good people.

They know what they're doing. They're going to have fun in the league. So that's another approach. All right. So we're going to get into the NFC North on the next episode, the Packers of the North. The Packers, the Lions, the Vikings, and the Bears. There's a lot happening in the North these days. There is a lot happening in the North. How did you like that first episode? Oh, I'm still recovering. Game of Thrones. Well, we got to save that for the show after the show, gentlemen. What did you eat during? Did you get something special for the episode?

I actually did a pizza party with the children before Game of Thrones. Not while watching. Carb them up so that they sleep. That's smart. Take, you know. Yeah, we'll tell that to my three-year-old who was up to like 10 o'clock because he's a monster. That's no good. Yeah, well, you're the father of dragons. So.

All right, that's it for today's episode. Thank you very much for tuning in. Definitely check out the Ultimate Draft Kit over at Ultimate DraftKit.com.com. Get you ready for the 2017 season. And don't forget, get hooked up with Playdraft. We play basketball leagues over there, Playdraft.com slash ballers. It's a lot of fun. Michael will be doing another live best ball draft this week. It might happen later today. Check the Twitter. Really? I don't know. Maybe. Goodbye. Goodbye. For listening to another edition.

of the fantasy footballers podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.thefantyfootballers.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFF Ballers. As a fan chosen for the halftime challenge, I love sports. For a chance to win the big prize. But when my half-court heaved only goes half the distance. How embarrassing for him! I wonder, is sport clips better than sports?

Because Sport Clips Haircuts is sports on TV plus an expert haircut, hot steam towel, and massaging shampoo. Tear up his comically large check. Which is better than sports plus public embarrassment. Sport Cliffs. It's a game changer. Check it online at sportclips.com. Your favorite fall flavors are back at Starbucks. The one and only pumpkin spice latte and the deliciously smooth iced pecan crunch latte have arrived and are ready to sip all season long.

Or find a new favorite, like the new iced banana bread latte that tastes just like fall in a cup. You can find your favorite taste of fall, only at Starbucks.