Wildcard Players + Diamonds in the Rough - Fantasy Football Podcast for 6/8

On today's episode, we're talking about wild cards players that could go one way or they could go another. We each bring two to the table as well as some best ball advice. Make sure you stick around for the entire show. Subscribe. Leave us some comments about your favorite wild cards and enjoy. Great Scott. If my calculations are correct, you are listening to this before your fantasy football drafts have taken place. I've been to the future. And those that followed the advice from the Fantasy Footballer's Ultimate Draft Kit had a spectacular season and with certain many victories. It's almost as if Biff had given each of them a copy of Grey's Sports Almanac. I'd highly recommend heading over to www.orgatrathkit.com without any further delay. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Oh, welcome in. Thursday, June 8th, the Fantasy Footballers podcast, Jason Moore, Mike, right, Andy Holloway. Happy to have you with us. Great episode for you today. The best. I guess that's kind of TBD, but probably the best. Probably, probably our best. I would say an episode today has a wide range of outcomes, Andy. It's kind of wild. We'll keep you on your toes. Maybe it'll be bad. You'll have to listen to find out. Got him hooked now. Is today's episode good or not? Stay tuned to find out. So far so good, Mike. We're doing well. You can follow the show. Still going okay. You can follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Follow Mike at FF. Hitman. Follow Jason at Jason FFL. I'm adding at Andy Holloway. And we're on Instagram.

YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. We are entering the part of the offseason where we get to enjoy some like very kind of mediocre highlight videos that are made into pretty much the best thing we've ever seen because we're so hungry for football. Oh, we thirsty boys. I watched Garrett Wilson catch a touchdown from Aaron Rogers in practice. Yeah, but it was awesome. Was it for you? Yeah, of course it was because it was. Because he had Garrett Wilson. He's got it. Yeah, he's on my Dina Squad and it's Garrett Wilson running just a straight line, but he's turned around the whole time. And then it was, it's the classic Aaron Rogers back shoulder. So Garrett Wilson knows exactly when to jump and do a spinning 360 touchdown grab. Did you ever see any of the highlights? 20 touchdowns for Garrett Wilson this year. Yeah. No, that makes sense. Did, uh, same amount as Alan Robinson last year after those hype videos.

I remember the same play. Did we get it? It was very similar. Oh, we got videos. He dominated this time of year. No, no, no. I know he dominated. We had videos with videos, with videos, just moths and dudes. And they were that exact same play. Yeah, 100%. I remember it. Yeah, but it wasn't Air Rogers. So I wouldn't, I wasn't. No, I was excited. Point proven. Point proven. It is, I saw Chica Conquo with a nice touchdown catch from Ryan Tannehill. I'm starting to believe that all of these quarterbacks and receivers are catching passes and throwing balls. And I mean, practice makes perfect. Incredible ones. Yeah. What's great is, you know, you go on your Twitter timeline. You see all these wonderful videos. You know, they're just showing the highlights. And then you keep scrolling and you come across Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask.

over and over and it's their highlights and i hope it's not their highlights because it is just well you're i'm just missing guys on against air uh did you guys see the video that j j wat came out with speaking to i did not you did not neither of you did no he had a i thought it was a wonderfully well-spoken video talking about what happens now with attendance to every single practice OTA, camp, video on your phone. Every player is being recorded at all times. And his point was like, please, for the love of God, let these players develop. He says he knows firsthand from being in camp that there will be defensive ends that want to try a new move, which is something you should do to get better. Yeah. But they won't try it.

Because if they get blocked for three or four times in a row in practice, they will read about it on social media and how they are, they got blocked, they look terrible, they don't know what they're doing. And he's like, this is how players get good. They try new things. And this is the time to try them. He's like, let them develop. It sounds to me like they should just try better new moves, you know? Yeah. Succeed with them. Then they'll write about that. Not every, not every person. is like this show where we have everything so refined. Now, that's a good point. That is true. But I also, I remember, uh, the media talking to Zach Wilson and they were asking about his interceptions. Yeah. And he's like, hey, man, this is, this is where you, this is where you find out, you know, like, because I agree with that that you should at practice. You need to take chances on things because it is practice. And Zach Wilson did. And it translated to where Zach Wilson is right now, which is on the bench.

Look, I'm not saying it works out for everybody. Well, yeah. But I do believe this idea, because we get on here. All we have is the past. We didn't have the future. We can only talk about what a player has done. And we act like these players cannot improve, get better, do things. Like you see them take the step forward that are not predicted. Players come out and they become much, much better than we expected them to be. Devante Adams. Yes. Devante Adams. Yeah. And it's like, we all have kids. They go to practice. We watch them from year to year how much better they get as children. They're not superstar athletes that have these weight rooms and coaching staffs and diets and nutritionists. And like the idea that a player that was kind of pretty good can't become great or a player that's not that good can't break out is a silly notion. Like I think in fantasy we should take more, we should look at those opportunities and maybe recognize some more of those players that are going to.

make those strides we we talk about what post hype sleepers what are they that's what happens yeah um all right couple things at the top before we get into a great quick question uh we've got some news to talk about and then we've got our wild card players on today's show that we're going to dig into but two things at the top number one the ultimate draft kit available right now ultimate draft kit dot com you're going to see all of our rankings projections sleepers breakouts player profile videos tons of tools resources for you It's awesome. Check it out. Number two, the Dynasty Podcast. Yeah. New episode released yesterday. It's about Dynasty trade targets. If you're like, what is that thing you're talking about? Well, because you're joining us maybe for the first time this year, we launched the Dynasty podcast. It's once a week. Features Kyle Borgononi, Matthew Betts, and generally one of the two guys sitting across from me.

Mike and Jason. Yep. I was on this, this recent episode we did. We talked about trade targets, players who we think are, you know, of course, undervalued because that's kind of what dynasty is. But we also had a really good conversation about just trading in general of like giving tips and, you know, a lot of really good insights there from myself. Oh, okay. Good. Good. Borg and Betts, they do a good job as well. they were okay yeah i like how i was they are there i like how i was i was really i was selling i thought i was doing a good job go listen it's it's free it's once a week and i and i closed mike read you loud and clear mike took it over to comment on his performance on the show yeah it was great yeah it was thank you yeah i mean look i've listened and usually when uh mike or myself on the on those podcasts when we were speaking it's

really good. It's fantastic. Just so good. Anyways, Andy, what were you saying? That's it. I'm going to leave it there. But one more thing, Megula's show. We're live in L.A. end of August. If you haven't heard about that, Ballers Live.com, there are a few tickets remaining. You want to come watch the show live. August 26th, the Palace Theater in L.A. Come check it out. You will not regret it. All right. Quick question of the day. This one comes in from Chris over on Twitter. Hey, Ballers. Quick question from Canada. Oh, bonjour. Hey, stay safe, my friend. So Canada is on fire. On fire. Canada's on fire. But all I've heard about is the way that the American countries are receiving the smoke. Well, because is there smoke up there too, or did they send it all south? They got big, big billows. Big manual fans. I mean, all we care about is, how does it affect America? But really, stay safe up there. Sounds insane. He's indoors and he's asking this question. It's got the air filter on.

How much do you guys value ADP, which is average draft position, in your draft decisions? Because we have become an ADP driven offseason culture and fantasy. Where do players move around and where should they go? And how much do you factor that into your draft decisions when it comes to home leagues, things like that? I factor in quite a bit. You know, I'm never going to reach. more than a full round. If you're at the turn, if you're, you know, the one or the 12 spot and you're waiting 24 picks, I'll reach a little bit further. But for the most part, in the first five or six, seven rounds, I'm going to try to stick within my tiers of players I like, which are totally...

separate from ADP, but within ADP so that I know when to grab value, who's going to make it back to me? If you're ignoring ADP, I think you're making a mistake. Can you go rewind for a second and explain what you meant by, just so I understand it, what did you mean by within ADP without ADP? I'm using, so I'll look at the tiers, like, you know, when I'm drafting, I got the ultimate draft kit, and I look at our tiers, and I will. Keep in mind that I'm not going to take someone just because they're at the very top of my list of who's available. If I know that their average draft position is two rounds later, I'm going to wait a round and grab them at that point. And there's been enough, especially over the last four or five years, I think we as an industry have gotten very smart. And ADP has been a pretty accurate.

predictor of future success. Generally speaking, you know, we know what we're talking about. Now, in the later rounds, you know, if I'm round nine and this guy's a round 11 pick, I want the guys I want at the end of drafts and then I kind of throw it more out of the window. The ADP is incredibly important because it's the market and that's when you're in the draft. That's what you're playing. You're playing the market saying, I know things better than other people do. And the ADP is saying this is what everyone, not everyone, but of course, but just a generalized consensus, this is the value of this player. And what is the true value of drafting a player? Because it's not just the selection of that player. It's who did I not pick? That also has to factor in when I'm at the end of the first round. So ADP is incredibly.

importance for actually knowing what is the value, the true value of a pick. Yeah, I think it can be complicated when it comes to, obviously there's an ADP for Sleeper, for Yahoo, for ESPN. Yeah. If you're drafting on platform, that ADP is being shown publicly because the player rankings are going to be in order of how they've been drafted. So it's going to be something you can use to your advantage when you're on platform in a live draft. I will say this. I mean, we've been in 16 years, I think, now in our main league. We get surprised every single year. Of course, yes. The first two rounds we get heavily surprised. So it can be one of those areas where, you know, I think we've all probably gone, oh my gosh, like I thought I could get that guy around later. I thought I could, you know, those are the gambles that you take.

I think the big thing is it's the data point that you factor into your kind of master plan. But don't let it give you a false sense of security, especially fourth, fifth, six round and later that, oh my gosh, I can't take, you know, I think Justin Herbert's way better than I think he is, then Lamar Jackson. So I'm just going to wait because ADP says I'm going to guarantee get him in the sixth round. I mean, that doesn't always play out that way. Yeah, and realize you are playing a game that is everything is probability. And ADP can help you make an informed decision or take a risk, an informed risk because I know that this player is eight picks behind on ADP. My next pick is in four picks because I'm close to the turn. I know that the probability, the risk probability of this player making it back to me, it's a high percentage chance that that player will.

dropped me so I don't have to pick to them and give up this other player that I want to pick. It's funny, though, because if you are really convicted about a player, Jason, that you love. If you take him, you're happy. In the moment, yeah. But you're also happy later because you don't know if he would have gotten back to you. And I'm not trying to make an argument on the other side of just throwing it out the window at all. I'm just thinking logically, like, if you pass in this one spot, you are taking a measured risk. and the only possible outcomes are you're happy or you could be really disappointed. Well, and that's why when we... If you love the play. Yeah, that's exactly why we're talking about. It makes a big difference whether you're doing this in the second or third round round versus doing this in the eighth or ninth round round because of what you're giving up. Because if there's a chance that I... The difference between a second round player versus a third round player is pretty drastic. The difference between a third round player versus a fourth round player is pretty drastic. So if I'm reaching to grab a player...

that I might be able to get next time. It's usually more worth the ADP risk to play the game because you're going to add a more impressive piece at those earlier rounds to hopefully pair with the guy you get closer to ADP. News and notes from around the league. Well, I don't think I knew how ridiculous this quote sounded until I just read it to myself. NBC Sports reporting Brock Purdy will start week one if he is ready to play football. when the season rolls are in. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, I guess that the news there is that like, Purdy, if he's ready, he's the one. It's not currently being put out there that Lance can have that job. Yeah. That's the news. I mean, it's the belief. The belief of this reporter. And I think that that is most everybody's belief. I know in the UDK. That's how we. George Kittles belief. We statted it out. You know, and they've come out and said that the team has said like he's.

earned the right to be the starter. It's unfortunate he got injured. And he did. He did earn that right. He just won a ton of games played excellent. His numbers like downfield throwing in those games and on the move out of the pocket. They were like best in class, best in the league during that stretch. So I think it might be more overwhelming to them than it is to us. Yeah. How much he has that role. But that's the belief right now being reported. All right, Jason. I don't know if you can handle this one. Commanders, head coach Ron Rivera. I mean, this makes so much sense. He said Jacoby Brissette and Sam Hal are competing for the week one starting job. This is a wolf versus a cow fight for the week one starting job. Where's the beef? Brisket. There we go. Yes, where's the beef? I'm on team brisket. Look, Jacoby Brissette is a better quarterback right now.

Like, Jacoby Brissette can lead an offense. He did very well last year with the Cleveland Browns. He won games. He supported Amari Cooper. He is, like if your job right now for the Washington commanders is I want the best chance of winning week one, then it probably will be Brissette. I believe that Brissette's ceiling is just not anywhere near where. you need it to be. We also know what he isn't. And he isn't. It's not the moon. Yeah, it's not the moon. You're looking for, you know, maybe dunking on a 10 foot hoop. You know, that people can do that. That's Jacoby Brissette. And, you know, he can move the offense. He can support you enough. But you're not, you're probably not getting to the playoffs with him. And so I think that the chance there where you say, okay, Sam Howell has some gifts that Brissette doesn't have. He's,

I think more mobile, more has a better arm. And if you can develop that, maybe you can actually do something a little bit more special. So that, I mean, that's always the gamble for all these. Last year for the first 11 games, Cleveland and Mr. Beef Brisket himself. Second most plays per game, 24 points per game. Amari Cooper was a revelation. Are you rooting for one or the other for McLaren? Are you rooting for one of the other for Dotson? I mean, I know McLaren is kind of your. Yeah, I'm still... Number one guy. I'm still rooting for Sam Howell here. I mean, this is just a matter of talent evaluation. We haven't seen enough out of him to know whether or not Howl is very good. But I guess the way that I look at it is if he's as good as I hope he can be, then he should be the week one start. I bet my life that both these guys play this year. I have him statted out to split. I mean, so do I. And it's like, this is what Washington does, 12 starting quarterbacks in five years, which is...

by far the most in the league. Like both of the, if I'm Ron Rivera, this is the most fatiguing, tiring exercise I've been doing every single year. Do you think Howell starts week one or do you think it's percent, Mike? I think it will be Howell. This quote is interesting to me simply because this is a complete. 180 from everything that we've heard over the off season going into the draft. Like we're not even, it's Sam Howell. We are confident that Sam Howell is our guy. I thought bringing in Jacoby Brissette, that's a fantastic football move. Great backup. But Sam Howell, he's our guy. He's it. Well, they're competing to be the starting quarterback for week one. And the good news for Ron Rivera is he's not going to have to be concerned about this in 2024. Because he won't be there. He will not be there.

All right, neither will either quarterback probably. Gus Edwards. They won't have to be concerned about it either. Gus Edwards, Michael Thomas, both will be ready for training camp. Quick news there. Rashad White says he expects a lot of balls coming his way in the passing game. This was him speaking on Sirius XM. I expect that too. And I think there are, that's his fantasy value. Their offensive line, if healthy, will be a vast improvement over what we got last year. So whoever's running the football. having opportunities in the backfield, that will be better. I don't know if it would be good, but last year was kind of terrible. And then one more piece of news. This one's interesting. The Vikings offensive coordinator, West Phillips, on whether Ty Chandler, who we've talked about, he's part of the second year running back for the Vikings. Part of the depth chart there in Minnesota with the Delvin Cook situation hanging over their heads. When he was asked whether Ty Chandler was ready for an increased role,

The quote he said was, I think he's going to have to be, which means Madison Chandler should be what is on the way. Dalvin Cook's still a Viking. Yeah, that's the biggest thing on here. Like this, Ty Chandler is who we talked about, oh, goodness, like week 16, week 17 of last year when you're doing that. When you're starting to scan ahead on your dynasty waiver wire of someone who can just skyrocket and value, Ty Chandler was one of those players that we highlighted of you need to pick them up just in case the Vikings move on from Dalvin Cook. And what is going on? What is going on in Minnesota with Dalvin Cook that even the offensive coordinator is talking about Ty Chandler who, if Dalvin Cook is there, Ty Chandler is just at the back of the depth chart, probably getting.

10 touches this year. Why are you talking about, well, he's going to have to be ready. Make your move. Do something. Get your team ready. Yeah, but I enjoy watching you. All right. Let's move forward here. Take a quick break and then we'll get into our wild cards. Breaking news. Did it happen? Is Dalvin gone? Breaking news. He is still a Minnesota. Oh, man. Take another break. He just bought a new house in Minnesota. Well. I hear it's lovely in the summertime. Yeah, yeah, all right. Uh, let's get to it. No, I'm saying, no, guys, why are the brakes working? Because I cut the brakes. I enjoy that very much. Yeah, I think, uh, I think the judge enjoys it very much as well. Oh, yeah. Always sunny in there. Oh, by the way, the verdict is in.

The Rap Scalion has arrived. Oh, we're going with it. We're going with the Rap Scalion? Oh, what a rap. You get with that, J-Rap? I mean, let's find out. Get on the mic. Yeah, it works. All right. He did tell me earlier today, it's not the, I mean, come on, it's not the first time he's been called the Rap Scalion. It makes sense. I mean, his name is Rap. It's the beginning of that word. But I think that that was the runaway hit. It's fantastic. Look, Rap Scallion. It's good. It's fun. Should he mess up? Crap Scallion is right there for us. Oh, boy. Thank you, Mike. You're welcome, everybody. All right. Do you still like your name? I don't like it quite as much. It was better about five seconds ago. Yeah. Yeah, no. I'm really happy right now. Don't screw up, buddy. All right, wildcards. What are we talking about? Players with a wide, big range of outcomes.

There are a handful of these guys that, look, you bet on them, you get it right, they could be keys to a championship run. It's all going to be about cost, confidence that we have that you have in these players to have a wild card season that ends up on the good side. But it could go two totally different directions. To Otanga Vailo is the first name I'm going to throw out there. And, you know, you, I think there was some news this morning. It seems so unnecessary because of how good he was last year. But it was Mike McDaniel coming out and saying Tyree Kill is so far ahead of where he was last off season. It was like, wait, you can't be better than you were last year. But just knowing the offense, like the capability of the Miami offense, they could be the best offense in football. That is he, yes, that could, they could average the most points per game. They could be the most electric.

You can't do that unless Tua puts up an incredible season. Could you imagine an NFL wide relay race where every team grabs four guys? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like Miami's gone. Oh, yeah. What you got? Tyreek runs the anchor, right? And then Mosterts in it. And Waddle. And Waddle and A chain. Yeah. Oh, baby. I mean, they're gone. So you can't, this is the equation here for Tua is you can't have. They can be the best offense in football. And you can't be the best offense in football and have your quarterback not making a big impact in fantasy. And we saw it in stretches last year. And so, you know, led the league in yards per attempt, passing yards on play action, highest touchdown rate in the NFL, had a six touchdown week. So you even see it in like a single week, his ability to be the best quarterback, fantasy-wise.

and there were parts of last year that fancy players leaned on him to be their starter. And so that's the, that is in the range of outcomes. Like I see him in drafts now. We go through a basketball draft and you're like, do I take him now? When do I, you know, especially in basketball where you're like, oh, you might be able to throw out some of those injury games. Like if you told me to a tongue-a-law right now, or I'll throw it to you, if I told you that he's a guarantee for 17 weeks, how does that change the equation?

for where you might rank him. Because he's a player that I think is fairly underranked due to the injury situation. Yeah, I mean, I really like Tua, the, you know, I've got him statted out for 17 weeks. So the risk when you're making that pick is certainly high, but I think Tua could easily be, you know, the top eight quarterback with the weapons he has. When I'm at his ADP, I've oftentimes selected him to be my quarterback in baseball. He's being drafted outside the top 10 right now. He was ninth most fancy points per game last year. Mike and I have him at 11 in our rankings. I'm very interested in two. I think he's a perfect wild card to talk about because you had that stretch. Yeah, week two where he was dominant. He followed it up with a game against Buffalo where...

He finished out as quarterback 25 despite playing 93% of the snaps. Then he has the first big injury comes back for an entire month, is tearing it up being a top five quarterback, a top four quarterback. It was awesome. It was so fun. In three straight weeks, misses another game to injury. And then here's where he becomes the wild card because he comes back. And he's from week 12 through 16. So you have five games. Doesn't pass 20 points at all in that time period. He gets over 16 points just one time. And it's was that, was that a scenario that was that happened because of the, the concussions that he had sustained throughout the season? We don't know exactly what happened or is just like he, he had a stretch run in the middle where it was just he happened to be on fire and that.