Bounce Back Players + The Return of the Hitman

And there's only two available. All right. I would take Trey Burton. Okay. But I'm just, Trey Burton is an unproven full, full length season player. Delaney Walker. Great toes, though. Those Burton toes, they are legendary. They're like bear claws. Delaney Walker. Jason, close your ears. Kyle Rudolph. These are guys all going ahead of Jordan Reed. And like I said, okay, maybe you don't get a full 16 games from Jordan Reed.

You're aware of this. You know that you can grab someone off the waiver wire, but tied in two, 14 games. I would take Jordan Reed. 12 games. I would take Jordan Reed ahead of Kai Rudolph. Oh, come on. I want a chance. Let's water bet that. Here's what I want. I don't want a chance at the Titans 8 or 9. Or I don't want the guaranteed tight end eight or nine. Maybe I'll give Rudolph the credit for that. I want a chance at what you brought up with Jordan Reed. Smith is supported a top two tied in four times. I want a chance at a top two tight in.

Yeah, I will say this. The Alex Smith numbers. The Alex Smith numbers are very telling. And it actually gives me a lot of confidence in Vernon Davis. I think that he'll have a great season because he supports tight ends. And he'll be the starting tight end in short order. Look.

Now, that's funny right there you go. Just draft Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis. And you'll have, that's actually not, that's one situation where's what will happen. Reed will stay healthy the whole year. Davis will somehow perform him. Yeah. Jordan Reed, like an old flame. 2018, we're bringing Rule 86 back. Oh, goodness, are you? We're bringing it back. Jordan Reed. You got to dust off that t-shirt. He's playing at least 12 games. Ooh, that's a hot take. It is at least 12 games. Yeah.

You realize that's three quarters of the season. Can I ask a question? Is he healthy right now? I don't believe so. That is correct. Okay. So my neck's bouncing. It's his toes. Well, he still needs those. His hooves. My hooves. Clippity. Can he play in roller skates?

Is that permissible? It's only if you can get the... Ill-advised. If you remember the cartoon All-Stars, I think that's what it called, where Wayne Gretzky had the shoes and he could push the button and the rollerblades popped out. Those are permissible. I loved that show. It was a great show. All two episodes. Okay, my next bounce back Canada is a guy that I genuinely believe will have a great season. I like this pick. I've said this for years that he very well might be my favorite.

player to watch. I just love how he runs routes, fights for the ball. He's got a heart for football, and that's Emmanuel Sanders. He has spent the last three seasons before last season as a wide receiver two or better. And then last season, he was the wide receiver 61. This was a combination of both injury.

and horrific quarterback play. I am on record as a Case Keenham believer. I don't sit here and say that Case Keenum is a top 10 quarterback, but I believe he is a good quarterback. He is, you know, in that over the last few years, you know, you think back three years ago and there was a lot of conversation as to whether Kirk Cousins was a real quarterback or whether he had a good year. That's kind of the type of quarterback that I see in Case Keenum. Case Keenum coming in.

a healthy season. You know, I think both Demarius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders take a step forward, but he, Emmanuel Sanders was, you know, Demarius Thomas disappointed, but he was still a serviceable fantasy asset. Emmanuel Sanders was irrelevant last season. He's going to be a late round value to me where a guy that in those middle to late rounds.

I can get a guy that I believe will be a wide receiver two on the season as opposed to having to shoot for the moon and take your 5% chance on a player that he could be a wide receiver one. I'm just going to take the tried and true. He's not, you know, he's 30 years old, which is not the age that wide receivers fall off. So I believe he bounces back. There's a lot of, a lot of. Mike, you're a pretty big Emmanuel Sanders fan. Yeah, I love.

Sanders, I'm with Jason, and he was in consideration for me on the bounceback, but I had to proclimate my love for Jordan Reed yet again. And I'm looking at the average draft position. That's where it's interesting for Demeris Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. In recent years, it's been, you know, I'll take the discount. I'll take Sanders because he's going around.

a round or two after Demarius Thomas. I mean, it's a big split right now. Where are they going? So Sanders is going at the 710 and Demarius Thomas is going at the 407. Yeah. That's a great value on both of them, honestly. But to get Sanders in the seventh round, I'm with Jason. He's a wide receiver too. He is currently my wide receiver 22 according to my rankings. That is aggressive.

And he, well, I mean, it's a low end too, which is what he's been the last, you know, every year except for this past season. And I think he bounces back to that. Right now he's being drafted as the wide receiver 34. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's a pretty bold take. I think it's fine. I don't disagree with it. I think competency at the quarterback position is kind of important. All right. My final bounceback candidate, it's Greg Olson. Greg Olson is 33 years old. There were.

rumors about him stepping into the booth and walking away from football. And I know Jason's brought up his fears of the foot injury recurring, but you know what gives me confidence in any player recovering to play a full season? It would be nine consecutive years of playing a full season, 144 straight games. He was an Iron Man, and I believe that he's healthy and he's going to play. Jason Whitten thinks it's cute. Well,

Yeah, Jason Wollin thinks it's cute what Olson did. Look, his 2016 line was standard Greg Olson, 80 receptions, 1,073 yards, three touchdowns. Last year, he was 17 for 191 and 1 due to the foot injury. He's already got the rapport with Cam Newton, who's my favorite fantasy quarterback based on average draft position and an opportunity. His finishes. Greg Olson was 6, 7, 4, 5, 3 before the injury.

And I don't really see any way that he is not a top seven tight end if he stays healthy. And so I think the odds are that he stays healthy. I'm not going to bet he gets hurt. And therefore I think he is a great bounce-back candidate. Greg Olson is as reliable as they get. And I think we've got more time with Greg Olson before we have to have him hang him up. I will say he was pretty disappointing to start the year.

He had a, if you want to look at his targets per game, I believe they were down a little bit to start the year. Well, week one, he was two for 18. Week two was one for 10. Of course, that was when he hurt his foot. I know he had the two monster games. That's a couple games, yeah. Right. He had the two monster games of the playoff game over 100 yards of the touchdown, the game against Green Bay over 100 with a touchdown.

And generally, I do agree with Andy that Greg Olson is going to bounce back. But there is a slight amount of pause for me when you're taking Greg Olson because you've got to grab him with that. Yeah, he's right now the fifth round. He's the fifth tight end off the board. Yeah. Yeah, he is, he's not, him or Hilton aren't really values. But I wasn't factoring that into the bounce back aspect. Yeah, and you don't need to. It's more whether they performed.

to where they're being drafted, and I think both of them will. Didn't he just sign a contract extension as well? I mean, he's 33, but he just signed, I believe, a two-year, $17 million contract. And so they look at him as a staple of the offense. And while I like DJ Moore, he is of no threat to me to what Greg Olson provides to that offense. So I like him. If I can snag him, I think I'm going to be happy. I think I'm going to get great performances.

when he scores that touchdown, but otherwise he's going to be pretty good in PPR format. Right. Anything else? Nope. All right. Let's answer some questions. Mailbag. So much better than me, Mike. Did you hear, did you hear Jason's? I heard a mile bag. Something like that. Hey, guys. It wasn't good. I told him, like, you didn't hear him do it on the footcast. No, I did not. But he, in the footcast, he was.

It was the first half was great. And the second half, he was afraid. Like he lost confidence. And it would have finished great. Like he did it. And so I wanted him to see it. I was like, just be confident. I went for it. He just started in like a mail bag. Hey, everybody.

All right, we're glad you're back, Mike. Someone said that you have no greater job security than listening to the mailbag drop when we're gone. At least I can do that. Maybe I'll be kicked off the show and I'll just pop in from the mailbag. Well, I'm putting yourself out there with Jordan Reed is a risky business, Mike. He's the kind of candidate you back silently in the shadows. He's not the kind that you come out. I've got to expose it to the world. Okay. Well, you can.

He's all yours. If you have a question for the podcast, go to the Fantasy Footballers.com. Click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline 302-464 TFFB. We learned last week that I'm the only one that knows that number. Yeah. I gave Jason the opportunity to say it a couple of times, and he was unsuccessful. Let's jump into a voicemail question. Hey there, ballers. Adrian from Tulsa. For Carrie.

and I'm flirting with the idea of three straight running backs. Can you help you out here? Thank you. Yeah, my answer to that question is that, sure, if that's the best player on the board, I don't have a problem with you ending up with three straight running backs. I generally have a problem with you deciding before the draft that you're going to have three straight running backs because that will possibly eliminate great value on your roster if you lock yourself in beforehand. You can keep that in there as a...

I'm going to be happy with it if they're the best three players on the board. That's how I'd look at it. Yeah, I completely agree. It's good to at least get the thought process going and working out just some mental exercises of what your team would look like. Hopefully you have a top five pick because those top five running backs, you know, Gurley Lev and David and David Johnson, who are going to see the 100 targets or whatever and then get the 200 plus carries.

It's a nice security blanket for your team. Yeah, if you're not that high, maybe even a four net jumps up a little bit because he's going to have so many carries. The quarter point per carry would be fine. Yeah, I completely agree with Andy's take on that. I mean, if a great third running back drop, go ahead and take them. But quarter point per carry, but he said it's a full point PPR. So if you're in the second round, I'm not.

valuing Fournette over someone. Derek McKinnon's going to be good in that league format. Yes, yes, you will. But I'm saying against a wide receiver in the second round, if you're looking at, okay, well, I got Howard and Fournette, who they're going to carry the ball a ton. I'm still going to draft someone like Keenan Allen over those players. Sure, sure. That makes sense. Andy in Philadelphia says, hey, footballers, love the show on your insights. One thing you don't really talk about are two tight-in league formats. What is a strategy for drafting in those leagues? Thank you.

Well, yeah, we don't talk about two tight-in league formats very often because they are, they're much more rare. Usually it's just tight-ins can flex in, in which case it's still a one tight-in league. If you have to play two tight-ins, there's a clear advantage to getting one of, you basically have to have one of the...

tried and true guys. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying you need to have a Gronk Ertz Kelsey. That would be helpful depending on where you're at in your draft. But you need to make sure that your first tight end isn't a complete question mark past the Trey Burton tier. You know, and then you're, if you can have one to plug a spot and then just completely stream the other position. And you can also value some of the higher, you know, really low end tight end.

guys that are being drafted who have the potential. Mike's brought up Vance McDonald. I like Ricky Seals Jones, Austin Sfarion Jenkins, even David Injoku. Those are guys that you can get really late who have a chance to be in every week starter. All right. Let's move on to another voicemail. Hey, guys. It's Nick from New York, but school Vikings. Question about drafting multiple players from the same team. You've mentioned it before not to stress too much about it,