Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 8 Fantasy Football Questions, Chris Harris

Make Tannenhill beat you down the field. Make sure Lamar Miller doesn't get off. Make sure Jarvis Landry can't make his bones with the two-yard passes. And, you know, Tannahill really hasn't proven that he's ready to beat a good defense down the field consistently. Yeah, I definitely think that New England is going to be able to tackle better than Houston last week. Oh, my God. Was that not the worst thing you've ever seen in your lights? It's just, I mean, you never want to say that pro athletes quit because I think that's that's.

perilously close to narrative and getting inside guys' heads. And it's not like some guys don't quit. I just don't think we know it. You know, we're never really going to know for sure. But boy, if you ever wanted to show film of somebody who looked like they were quitting, wow. Yeah, it was atrocious, just absolutely atrocious. So let me follow that one up with a question for you, Chris. What is your kind of philosophy on like the transformation in Miami? Is this something, I mean, what is your take on the new coach and what's going on there?

I think you look real good when your first two opponents are Tennessee and Houston. So there's a little, you know, like a little skepticism there. But listen, you can only play the opponents they put on the schedule. And, you know, I don't think any of the four of us could look at this team and say that before, when they had the old coach there, old Chipotle manager himself, that, you know, that they would have rolled over those two teams. I don't think they would have. So it's an improvement. For me, the...

The big story is Cameron Wake and, you know, Sue waking up a little bit in this most recent one. But Cameron Wake has given the Patriots a big problem for years and New England's offensive line is a big old mess. And the Jets did a nice job taking advantage of it. And I think Cameron Wake will too. I'm a little less sold on the offensive transformation, but I think the defense might be for real. I completely agree with the defense. They were, I'd love them coming into this season. We gushed several times. And I still have nightmares of.

of being at an Arizona Cardinal game watching Cameron Wake, I think roll off at least four sacks in a game. He was a nightmare, and he really, really jumped on my radar at that point, and I've been following his career. So the beginning of this season was just, like what was going on? Nobody on that line was doing anything. And like you said, Cameron Wake is revitalized, and I'm buying more into the offense of just...

of a coach saying, hey, Lamar Miller is pretty decent. Maybe we should try and get him the ball more than once every 10 snaps, which I think will really help a guy like Tannenhill. So I'm, let's say, one foot, one foot in the water. What if, you know, this will be a test for them this week, obviously, on Thursday night. So let's go ahead. I still, by the way, I still have some sadness. Did you guys ever hear, Cameron Waite could have been an Arizona Cardinal.

Yeah, I've heard the stories. Yeah, before the Super Bowl. All right. Pedro in San Palo Brazil. Bonjour. There it is. All right. Let me ask you this, Chris. Yeah. Tony Romo is on waivers for Pedro here. And is he somebody that you would stash on your bench, therefore roster two quarterbacks because of what he'll be when he comes back? So what we're getting in week 12, we're assuming, and it's actually against Miami? Is that right? Is it 12? I thought it was 11.

Well, maybe you might be right. Maybe it's 11. So, you know, I don't, I don't mind. It is against Miami and 11 though. Yeah. Okay. It is Miami in week 11. Yeah. So like I would say, you know, very much depends on the league format. I think at a 10 team league, it's awfully tough to justify carrying a second quarterback when you're having to fill in by weeks as these by weeks are still going along. But then again, as the, as the season gets later, more and more buys have passed.

You know, you don't need to be hanging on to the guy who might get 10 touches, you know, and rescue you that week because he might, you know, you don't have to roster Andre Ellington to speak of the Cardinals right now, you know, relative to Tony Romo because just the workload isn't there. So I am all aboard as the season goes along. You want those potential league changers on your bench just in case they come through. It obviously comes down to what the opportunity cost is, though. Would you guys agree with that? Absolutely.

I personally wouldn't roster Romo right now. I don't, I agree with just the buy weeks. I mean, looking at some of my teams, because the system rolled over, so I can see my matchups. I got some nasty looking buys, and you have, and week nine, week nine is coming, people. Yeah, Seattle and Arizona on by that way. Beware. It's not just them, basically half the league is on by. Six teams, yeah. So that's coming up.

I just, I can't hold on to Romo if that long. Maybe, maybe in two weeks if he's still there, I'll think about it. But just right now, I can't do it. Okay, let me, I've got a couple of listener questions here. They are rest of season questions. And we're just going to, we're going to put these in the 12-team standard league context here. But Ryan and Boston wants to know, would you rather be, would you rather have Legerrett Blunt?

or Danny Woodhead, rest of season? Is standard? In a standard league? Okay. What are your thoughts there, Chris? We'll start with you. It's just like, don't... Anytime you can get rid of Ligarup Blunt, you do it. I'm not far off on that. It almost didn't matter what the second name was. So, Chris, what were your thoughts going into the Colts game for Ligarget Blunt, where the history was there for the New England Patriots to run all over them with a guy like Lerick Blunt? And then he did it.

Did, were you, how did you feel about him during that game? Is that just that one particular defense or, and we won't see that again, that's just that one matchup? I'm guessing we'll see it again two weeks hence when they play Washington, you know, that there are going to be games where Ligarup Blonde is useful, but I don't think he's worth rostering for those games. You know, I, I think he's a trash bag. I think he's a bad, really bad player. Honestly, if you lined up the worst players in the NFL, I think Lickbert Blunt is part. He's terrible football.

Yeah, but he's getting into the passing game now, Chris. Yeah, he caught his first. Yeah, that was real nice. While I would definitely roster blunt personally for those upcoming matchups that you could, you know, have some good opportunity, I definitely would.

Rather have Woodhead here. Just from a consistency standpoint, it's really tough to pull the trigger on putting Blunt in your lineup, not knowing if maybe he'll only get three carries when the other running back is gone. And look, if the Chargers are going to continue in this consistency of being terrible first half, a terrible first half football team like they were against the Packers and last week against the Raiders, and there's all this.

makeup that they have to do. Danny Woodhead is going to feast. Even if it's standard, you don't get the point for the catch. You still get points for the yardage. And Danny Woodhead is going to see a lot of work if that continues. Okay, so Sam in Germany, this is maybe a little bit better question because Legeriblund's not in it, basically. Rest of season, Doug Martin or Latavius Murray. That's great.

That's a good question. And my guess is I'm still going to say Latavius Murray, even though Martin has been spectacular for a couple weeks in a row and has been my binkie for like three years running. My fading years of the ESPN were very much marked by my love of the muscle hamster. Doug Martin's injury problems are not directly related to my no longer being at ESPN, but they're really not. But, you know, my worry with Martin is just he'll get hurt. You know, you can't really predict injury.

I've seen what it looks like as the second this guy even has anything nagging with his legs. He just isn't the same player. The tape on him is wonderful right now, but it doesn't look wonderful as soon as he starts hobbling around or even, you know, doesn't have that explosiveness. And so I'll probably continue to say Latavius Murray.

For the athletic potential, you know, I felt like we lucked into a touchdown while the game was still at, you know, at question against the charges last week. But you could sell me on Martin. I think Martin's probably playing a little better right now, but I'm just looking down the road worrying about health. How did you feel about James Winston this week, Chris? With that, the touchdown pass to Evans was spectacular. But overall for the whole game, how did you feel on him this week? Just look like a rookie.

Looks like, you know, that team makes so many mistakes. I think they had 16 accepted penalties in that game. That's bad. Yeah. Sounds like a recipe for Kurt Cousins coming back from 24 down. Back to back, roughing the passer calls. Back to back. Wow. I did not catch that. Oh, yeah. That takes skill. It does. It really does. And like, clearly it's not James who's committing those. I think he's probably telling the defense, though. Right, right.

You know, I think James has his moments, and I do think he knows where to go with the ball. It's not a Blake Bortle situation where Blake Bortle's just doesn't know where to go with the ball. He really doesn't have a concept. He's a good athlete, Blake Bortles. You know, he's got a terrific arm. There are throws where you see a lot of future in him, but in general, he just isn't making progressions. And, you know, it's a lot of empty calories there. Whereas with Winston, I think there, you can see a future. You can see a future where the mistakes are fewer.

his accuracy does need to get a little bit better, but he seems to be working within the context of an offense. I'd be interested. Do you guys feel the same way? Yeah, I completely agree with that assessment. I just really wanted to get your opinion after that. I have that the Evans touchdown, just replaying in my head of how it dropped in perfectly for him. So for the question, though, back to Doug Martin versus Latavius Murray. Give me your thoughts, Jason.

Yeah, you know, I actually really am a big fan of both of these guys the rest of the season, the trade for either. But Doug Martin, to me, he's looked great. He's done it before. And while he does have a little bit of an injury history, I'm not as worried about that going forward just because you don't have it right now, and we can't predict that. And his...

strength of schedule. Tell me and Foster that. Well, if we're talking about Darren McFadden or someone like that, okay, well, you know, there's a whole lot more data for the injuries. But with Doug Martin, his schedule coming up is just so incredibly beautiful. Pretty much from here until week 16, I believe he only has like one somewhat difficult matchup against the Rams. Everyone else is just...

pretty much the bottom half of the league. And so I expect Martin to keep up the numbers he's putting up. And right now, that's pretty much RB1. All right. All right. Let's answer a question from Drew in Wine Country, California. Now, he is talking about Detroit. And I'm going to make sure that we know Drew put this question in there. I'm not just forcing a joick-bell question into the...

into the show because for goodness sakes i don't want to talk about him anymore goodness not now uh coaching change all right it's his best game of the year how do you not want to talk about joick bell yeah 10 snaps uh coaching change in detroit is it worth his question here drew's question is is it worth looking at abdula again with the jollombardi you know he's out the door uh the offensive line changes uh he's in a ppr league himself

What are your thoughts on the coaching change in the running back situation in Detroit, Chris? I mean, if you're up against the wall and you've got to start one of these guys or you've got to invest in one of these guys moving forward, do you do it at all or who is it? Oh, I mean, it's Riddick and a PPR. I don't think it's close, right? I mean, I think he still leads the NFL in running back receptions. He was the one who played the most snaps. He played something like 28 snaps or something relative to 10 for Bell and 11 for Abdullah. And clearly that is game flow dependent, but...

If there's a team, I think, you know, could the game flow would tend to benefit Redick more weeks than not. He got a red zone carry. He's looked a little bit better as a running back. I think actually as a waiver ad in a 12-team league, and even if it's standard scoring, he's not a terrible option if you're in biweek hell. You know, what will the philosophical change be with Lombardi gone? You know, anybody else's guess is as good as mine. We're really not going to know until we see it. Probably going to be better.

Well, if it's a change, I wouldn't think that it would be a change in the direction of Joach Bell. Right, right. It feels like it would be a change in the direction of, all right, we've, you know, we're going to clean house, Caldwell, you're probably on your way out too. Like, let's see if Amir Abdullah can play. Let's see if Theoretic can play. You know, Joyc Bell for as much as we all thought he had potential for this year. Maybe not healthy plus 30 years old. Like the future of that backfield is not Joick Bell. But.

Anybody who says they know what the actual boots on the ground difference is going to look like is speculating. I think Abdullah will be worth another look because, like Chris was saying, to me, if I'm running the Detroit lines, I'm throwing Abdullah out there. I'm going to see, is this guy capable of doing what we drafted a guy in the second round? Let's see what he can do. While I agree.