Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Week 11 Waivers, Eric Dickerson, Streams of the Week

They should be scored the same. Right. It was really a dumb suggestion. Everybody downvoted it. I just rest my case on Colin Kaepernick here because...

He's not a good real quarterback, but he is a good fantasy quarterback. How dare you? Sorry. All right. I'm going to stick in the same vein for fantasy. I was going to say what? Well, because this is a fantasy show. I know. So I'm going to go with Tyrod Taylor. This week he is actually available in half of the leagues because he was on by this week. People had to drop him. Look, he looked legit good last game.

Not just running the ball. He looked good passing the ball. They have had a lot of injuries to their wide receivers this year, lingering small stuff to Goodwin, to Robert Woods. This by week has been good for them, even to shady with the hamstring. If they get a little bit healthier and they keep their momentum up, they're playing against Cincinnati, who we have seen all year. Last year, you didn't want to play against Cincinnati. This year, their defense cannot get it together. Eli Manning had three touchdowns against them last night.

I think Tyrod Taylor is a great play. He's going to be a top 12 quarterback this week, and you can pick them up off of waivers right now. Breaking news. It's really exciting. There have been discussions about Robert Griffin, the third, returning to practice this week. So. Okay. Excited.

I'm super excited. We can make a lot of good jokes out of that. So you've got Tyrod Taylor. I've got Colin Kaepernick. Now, Mike, he didn't submit a streamer this week, but I think he was deciding between Kessler and Keenum. Yeah. It's hard to know. I got a text from him. He said Robert Griffin might be coming back. So he might go with Griffin. No, he's saying, I got a last chance to take Kessler. Sure. Also, ignore that advice. Please do not sign.

No, no, no, no. Taylor and Kaepernick are two guys. All right, we're going to talk to Eric Dickerson Hall of Fame or talk about some of these. This is a great segment to listen to if you have an interest in what's going on at the running back position right now. So let's talk to Eric. You're talking to me? All right, the fantasy footballers are excited to welcome in NFL Hall of Famer. You know him. Eric Dickerson. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. Absolutely.

Look, there are a lot of exciting young running backs out there, a lot of fantasy football decisions for the short term and the long term. And I want to talk to you because I don't know if there's anybody who knows running backs better than Eric Dickerson. So let's start with these youngsters. Let's talk about, you know, you've got these guys right now. Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott, David Johnson, and now Melvin Gordon this year that seem to be these every down type of backs where...

the NFL seems to be bending towards a lot of these two and three back rotations. So how hard is it to be in every down running back in today's NFL? I don't think it's hard at all, because you've got to understand. A lot of these guys came out of college at the every down back, and they get to the pros, and when you drop the guy high, he expects to be that guy. So I don't think it's a stretch at all. I think the league has kind of stuck in the people's mind.

make the public believe that the running back position is dying. It's a dying beat. It's all about the passing game. You know, football is almost like seven on seven now. You know, you can't hit anybody. But the running back is a very important factor in playing a football game. As you see, you know, with Ezekiel it down in Dallas. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things, you know, you do hear people, and I've heard you say the opposite. And you hear people say, oh, you can just plug and play. You can just put anybody in in this type of system or that type of system.

But, you know, look at Ezekiel Elliott. Do you disagree with the fact that Alfred Morris would not be doing this in that offense? No, I don't think Alford would do exactly what Ezek is doing. I think Zika's doing a little bit more dynamic, but I know this much effort would have a great year. Let me tell you something. An offensive line that the Cowboys has is such a big plus for a running back. The big thing is not getting hit at the blindest scrimmage, not letting penetration come into the backfield. And the Cowboys are good at that.

I see the Steelers are good at that, where the back gets a chance to kind of slide and pick and choose his hole. Or sometimes the hole is there, like the last play yesterday that Zeke ran that touchdown, that 32-yard touchdown. I mean, that hole was there. All you do is just run. So, you know, when you've got a great line, it makes it easier on the back. And it makes it easy for the football team, too, because you want to control the clock. When you've got a big offensive line, a line that can block, run block, and pass blocks. You can control the clock.

Yeah, you've definitely seen that in Dallas. Now look, I know everybody wants to talk about this. I know you get asked it a lot. They want to talk about 1808. And so I'm going to put it to you straight. Do you think Ezekiel Elliott breaks the record?

No, I don't. I don't think he breaks the record. You know, you ask me straight. If you don't want the truth, don't ask you. No, I want the truth. I want it. Look, if he breaks the record, he breaks the record. I'll just say that myself. But do I think you'll break it now? Yeah. I think that they'll try to cut back on some of its carriers, you know, possibly getting into the playoffs. Because, look, it's more about winning football games than records. It really is. About, you know, accomplishing the team goal, and that's the Super Bowl, and being healthy.

You know, being beat up is not going to profit you anything. I know they want to try to keep them as health as they possibly can, get the care as they want to get out of him, but also protect it. At the same time, I can tell you, when I went out my rookie season around, when I came in at like 225, that was my playing weight. And when you come out of college, you play a 12-game season. You're not used to a 20-game season in the NFL. Really with the preseason back in the days, you played pre-season games for real.

And then you got the 16-game regular season. When I got to around week 11 and 12, you can look at my numbers, they start falling off. I got like 90 yards, 80 yards, maybe, maybe 100. But it was tough because I was beat up and I was just tired. And also I dropped, I went from 225 down to 12. So that's one of the factors, too, that they're trying to keep him healthy to rotate him and effort Morris in the game, you know, to give him a break. Yeah.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Eric, this is Jason. So I wanted to ask you a little bit, we say for fantasy football purposes that it usually matters more of the opportunity that a running back has, their team, their system, their offensive line, rather than the talent of the running back. So would you agree with that for fantasy purposes and production standpoint, or do you think that talent trumps the opportunity?

Oh, that's a great question. I mean, if the talent is just superior and you've got the opportunity there, that makes it even that much better. It's like if you've got a great offensive line and you've got an average back, okay, well, he's going to be good, but he's not going to be great. You have a great offensive line and a great back. Well, that's really what you want. That works. That works. That's, you know, that's really a tough one. But me personally, I mean,

I would rather have that great offensive line. I mean, I'll give me them guys up front because sometimes you can put, if your main guy gets hurt and you put a guy back there that may be in any other system, he may have be a guy to get 700 yards in his best years. But behind a great offensive line or a great defense, playing on a great defense, he may have, you know, 80 tackles. You know, with a great offensive line, he may have 1,400 yards. So I would say, you know, give me that system.

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So let's shift and look at another one of these stud young running backs who you have to be more familiar with than most. Nobody knows the Rams running game better than Eric Dickerson. When it comes to Todd Gurley. What running game? That's a strong point there. Yeah, what running game. So the opportunity there, right, is not that great. That offensive line, the quarterback situation is a mess.

But here's the reality. I was looking at some stats. Todd Gurley right now on the season has 167 rushing attempts. He has zero carries of 20 or more yards where Benny Cunningham, he only has 18 carries on the season and he has rushed for 20 or more yards on two different plays. What insight can you offer us on what's going on with Todd Gurley? Should we be scared the rest of the season or not?

No, you should be scared. Look, when teams play the Los Angeles Rams, even if I'm a defensive coach, 30 is not going to beat us. That's their mindset. He got us last year. He snuck up on us. But this year, we know who he is. 30 is not going to beat us. We're going to let 17 beat us. We don't believe he can beat us. He might throw a touchdown. He may throw two if he's lucky. But we don't believe it. So we're going to stack the box.

The offensive line isn't that good. They can't block us. So we don't worry about it. And that's what's happening down right down here in L.A. is that, you know, they don't really worry about Case Keenham throwing the football because, you know, I mean, I hate to say it. I like Case. I don't really know him. I just feel bad for him. He's a backup quarterback. He's a guy that comes in when the starters gets hurt and he manages the game for three or four weeks. Not 10 weeks, not 14 weeks, but three or four weeks.

The Rams offensive line is not good. They're just not a good unit together. They haven't been together that long. They've got a lot of high draft picks that are not panning out. They're not playing well together. And it's showing. So for Todd, it's just a struggle. I mean, I watch it every week. You know, even getting back to the line of scrimmage is a struggle. I mean, getting hit in the backfield. It's no fun. I got a text. I think in week two.

from my friend Thurman Thomas, another Hall of Famer. He said to me in the text, that offensive line is going to get Gurley killed. I mean, I'm watching on television. I'm watching it live, so he's seeing what I'm seeing. Does that become demoralizing to a running back then? Because Gurley, you know, we know the talent. We could see it flash last year, and now you go game after game of, you know, he wants to carry that load for them, but all of a sudden you've got a tin in the box.

It's frustrating. I mean, it is. It's so frustrating, especially when you can't block them. I mean, and if you play it against another team, like we played the bills, what, up three, four weeks ago, we played the bills, and LaShawn McCoy is laying all over the field. I said to my buddy, I know that's killing Todd. Because another back, you watch another back get all, you're like, man, he said, man, why come I can't get holes like that? That's exactly what you're saying. Man, look at that hole, my God. You don't say it to anybody else that you said to yourself.

Why come I can't get that? So then I guess the question has to be asked, can anything change the rest of the year? I mean, I agree with you. If I'm the defensive coordinator, I'm saying I'm stopping 30, but that's going to happen every week the rest of the year. So can Todd improve? You know what? I'm just going to be honest. It's just going to be tough on Todd to have a great year this year. He's just going to pop some big ones if that's possible. You know, some of those guys get caught up too close to the line of scrimmage.

If he can, you know, later get by, later they say six can't block eight, six can't block nine. But you have to make sometimes two and three guys miss it. That can happen. He can have, he can salvage his year as a player, you know, and have a good year. It's stressful fantasy football. I mean, the fantasy people are looking at him like, man, this is a bus. I mean, golly, I knew I shouldn't get this, but really, it's not his fault. It's just he doesn't have the opportunity. I mean, I watch it and I keep saying this week after week.

if they keep letting these guys get into the backfield so fast, they're going to get him hurt. Because one thing, when you get into the back field that fast, you know, you barely get in the ball. That's when guys, you know, fall in your knee or, you know, you throw your ankle. And I'm just hoping that doesn't happen. Yeah, you know, out here, we're Cardinal fans. We've had David Johnson and Todd Gurley on the show before. They seem to have a playful rivalry. And one decision that fantasy owners have to make,

you know, in Dynasty Leagues and Keeper Leagues moving forward is, is Todd Gurley or David Johnson? So I want to put you on the spot. From what you see, who do you think is the better dynasty running back? Is it David Johnson? Is it Todd Gurley? Right now, David Johnson, you know, especially because the system he's in, the blocking he gets up front. He has a real veteran quarterback. I mean, a real veteran quarterback and a veteran football team. But most definitely is David Johnson.

But for it, talent-wise, I mean, I think I might have to go with Todd Gurley. But, you know, and that's even. I mean, I'll say it's very close. I mean, it's not, I would take, I would take A or I'll take B. I mean, I'll take A1, I'll take A2. It didn't make a difference. Yeah. You know, for right now, for fantasy players, I would have to take David Johnson, because what he's able to do, the system is working. You know, they can score points. I mean, we can get in the red zone. We can't score any points. But you'd have to take David Johnson as a fantasy player. Certainly, certainly right now. I guess the question is over the next five years.