Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Breakouts, Busts, and Debate of the Week

There was no mention of it. And then it was just very bizarre, but he's back. All right. A couple pieces of Lions news. Jason alluded to their no-huddle offense. They ran it on 62% of plays during the preseason so far. Yes. Obviously working out the kinks because they want to implement that offense. I think it's... Get in on that. That is a high volume. That is what you want for fantasy football. They're one of my...

darlings of the fantasy world this year. I love Marvin Jones. You love Matthew Stafford. Love Matthew Stafford. We like Ebron. We'll talk about him. Interesting fact. Stephen Ridley has been cut. Yeah, goodbye, Stephen Ridley. Did I not say he looked like he's done? Yeah, he has for two years. He's the Hakeem. He's the Hakeem Knicks of the running back position. He's young, but he's done. Yeah, I wanted to believe he could come back. It just has...

Didn't happen. What does this do for you with Zach Zinner? Anything? Are you drafting Zach Zner in maybe normal leagues? Extremely late. I'm willing to take the flyer on Zener. He's going to be the big back, possibly the goal line guy, but we'll, I think I question to ask then, are they even going to have a goal line back or are they just going to be throwing the ball and going up tempo and saying, go theoretic, goal line? It's comforting to me if you're going to invest in Amir Abdullah, though.

If they're cutting Stephen Ridley, they're not worried about Amir Abdullah's health. Because if they were worried about that shoulder and him being back and ready for action, they're not going to cut a running back at the same time. We should see Josh Gordon on Friday against the Bucks. So expect to see Josh Gordon out on the field. Also, the ESPN's Jameson Hensley suggested the Ravens could be employing a four-back committee to start the season, essentially saying nobody has played well enough to separate from the group.

and that they could open up the season with Fawcstead as the starter, Buck Allen and Dixon is third downbacks, and Terrence West is the short yardage option, which is exactly how I think it will be. I think Dixon might not get as much playing time. It's very, I think three, four person. It's very, very gross. It would also be very unmarked Tressman-like to go to.

Jump off of everything that he's done in his coaching career, a very long coaching career to this point. I'm not saying it's impossible. Lots of different teams after struggling in year two. I'm just saying he still uses one running back. Yeah, even in the struggling year two. The four-man Giants rotation would, that would surprise me. Let me ask you one final question here. Who do you think will end up the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos week one of the NFL season?

I'm still going to go with Samian. Really? I'm still going to go with Mark Sanchez. I think he's looked okay and they paid him. Oh, they paid. They're cutting him. I mean, I think he will either start or be cut. Yeah, I completely agree with that. Also, in the news, breaking news. Oh, hit the button. Breaking news. We have preseason games tonight. Yes. That's the breaking news. Jason, look, the dress rehearsal games are here and I'm.

I'm wanting to fast forward time and watch them. Jason, the people come to us for reliable news. That's true. That is not breaking news. Oh, yeah. I feel like I wasted that drop. That was breaking news six months ago when they released the schedule. Seriously. All right. Before we get into our, we're going to start with the breakouts. Before we do that, I want, let's chat for a second about pristineauction.com.

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sports memorabilia that you can check out. Go over there. Let them know you found pristine auction.com from the show and just browse. See the cool stuff. I mean, Jordan Reed's jersey behind us we got from pristine auction, autographed jersey. There was a listener who sent me a picture on Twitter of he decked out his television area. I was going to bring that out. There's like six frame jersey. It looks. He calls it the Hall of Fame. It looks. It looks. Unbelievable. It's just a row of incredible signed jerseys. And some of these jerseys, you can actually.

You can win some for cheaper than you can go buy the jersey. Or you can go and find a Babe Ruth signed ball, you know, if that's your thing. And Pristine Auction guarantees the authenticity. They only use the best authenticators in the world. So check out Pristine Auction. That's P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E-Oction.com. Make an account. It's free and let them know that the footballers sent you. That's right. We thank Pristine Action for supporting the show. Let's get into the breakouts. Breakouts.

All right, we're talking breakouts. How would you define a breakout, Mike? I would define a breakout as a player who has shown some hints of skill in the past and that this is the year that they take the big step forward to become a week-to-week fantasy producer. Would you agree with that definition? Yeah, yeah. This is going to be when, you know, basically next year, these guys are going to be drafted far higher than they are this year.

because they broke out this year. Yeah, yeah, going from a fantasy player to a fantasy game changer, hopefully. Somebody that has flashed and shown signs of success, but with another year under their belt, they just might make a leap. So the way we're doing this is we're going to each pick a breakout to reveal to you, and then we're going to give you a few extra names, and then we'll get into the bust. So is there a volunteer to step out first and give their breakout candidate, or do you want me to do that? I'd be happy to go first.

Why don't you go first, Jay? Sure thing. I have liked this man for a long time. His luscious locks and flowing long hair back in the colds day. Yeah, RIP really won the hearts of many. I am talking about Kobe Fleener, and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, but Jason, but Jason, Kobe Fleener's already had a top 12 season. Hasn't he already broken out? And now.

Now I know what you're really thinking. You're thinking, wait, Kobe Fleeners had a top 12 season before? Yes. And that's part of the point here is that two years ago with Andrew Luck, he finished as the number six, Titan. And he did that.

Only with number six. He finished as the number six. Exactly. Exactly. I actually just a little caught off guard. You said top 12. Why didn't you say a top six season in your point? That was the voice of public opinion. I mean, you know, not the wise. I just seem like you could have sent a stronger message there. But he has been a top six. And that was on 92 targets. Okay. So now he comes to a team that over the last few years has.

extremely targeted the tight-in like jimmy graham in his last three years and granted that was jimmy graham but he had 125 targets 142 targets 135 then ben watson comes now i love i love ben watson he's one of my favorite players we hope to get him on the show uh just to chat but he's a little old he's a little long in the tooth

He's not, you know, he's no spring chicken. He's not a spark score free. Keep the cliches coming, please. Kobe Fleener is the spring chicken.

Last year, Ben Watson had 110 targets. And if you remember how the season started for the Saints, it wasn't very good. Ben Watson wasn't that involved. In fact, he kind of really got more involved starting in week six. And he finished with 110 targets. Yeah. So I think Kobe Fleener, who is a spark freak, he's 95th percentile in SparkScore. It's about where I'm at. Wait for the Combine video coming shortly, and you will see that these are lies.

Not on Kobe Fleener, but on Andy Hollow. Fair, fair. Anyways, my point is, I believe that there is, he's going to have enough targets to truly break out. Right now, he's going in the sixth round. He's the fifth or sixth titan off the board. And the thing about Kobe Fleener is, the average draft position is really average. I see him usually go as either the fourth titan off the board or like the seventh or eighth tight-in. You know, it's one of those things where...

People might not believe. I believe, and I think he's going to have a breakout year. All right. I like that one. I'm going to jump in now. We'll save Mike for the end here. I'm going to go with Melvin Gordon. And just as my fantasy MVP pick was a little bit scary for me to step out on a limb with Latavius Murray, I'm going to do it because I believe it. I believe Melvin Gordon is, I think he's a breakout candidate. And look, last year, if you looked at the statistics.

By the way, my argument is not based in last year's statistics, thank goodness. He had a very, very bad season. He had one of the worst seasons for a first round running back that has really ever happened. And you can find some small nuggets of success last year. He was actually very efficient in the passing game when he was targeted. He caught more passes percentage-wise than any other running back in football. But he had a bad offensive line. He was...

not decisive behind the line of scrimmage, something you see a lot of the times from super athletic guys that come out of college and think they can do everything. And then all of a sudden they realize NFL players are much faster. But to me, in the preseason, when you watch him, it's obvious that Gordon is making decisions quicker. He's fighting through contact, which was something that he struggled with at times last season. And I think plain and simple, he's going to have every opportunity. And right, you've got talent, you've got opportunity.

And you've got every chance to succeed if you have those two things. And so I think as a breakout guy, a guy that's going behind DeAngelo Williams. Ridiculous. In drafts, he represents a breakout value. So I think, you know, you get him in the fifth round, starting running back. I don't think, now I can be proven wrong. And the first, you know, a couple games off of the preseason haven't leaned me one way or the other. But you probably aren't going to get as bad of an offensive line as you had last year.

uh in in san diego so to me melvin gordon i think has has everything that you want i think they're going to give them every opportunity they invested a high draft pick in him and i like what i've seen in the in the preseason so far so melvin gordon is the breakout candidate i'm bringing forward on today's show and the guy that so the guy that i'm going to bring forward i'm going to ask just a couple questions if i could peak your interest in a wide receiver who is six two sure

220 pounds. Perfect. That's how I design them. Can run a 4-4. And this wide receiver is going to play for a team that will certainly throw the ball over 600 times. His quarterback is sure to have over 4,500 yards and most likely over 30 touchdowns. I'm talking about Dante Moncrief, wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts. Look, the breakout was coming last year. It was already in progress.

It really was. But we had to hit a pause button. We did. We had to take a step back while Andrew Lug had to get healthy. The breakout took a kidney shot. Yeah, it certainly did. Look, last season, Dante Moncrief with Andrew Luck as the quarterback. And we're talking a bad Andrew Luck. If you remember, he was not great while he was healthy. 55% completion or something like that. Andrew, so this is Moncrief's numbers with luck last year, averaging 14 PPR points a game.

almost a full touchdown a game, and eight targets a game. And I'll break that out for you in case you're wondering, that's 128 targets. That number can even go up. Dante Moncrief is in his third season. That is the breakout number. That's the magic number where we see wide receivers take their big leap if it's going to happen. I hope that happens for our show next year. Hope we can take the big leap. Yeah, that'd be nice.

But I just see Moncrief in a perfect situation. They have transformed him. In his second year, they used him as just a big play guy. And then last year they said, you're going to be our possession guy. T.Y. Hilton will man the reins of the big play, and you're going to be the underneath guy who also has the physical ability to take it to the house at any moment. So you give me a team with a high-powered offense, high volume in passing, and a guy who could end up being the primary target. And for a team that, look,

The Colts are not going to be able to run the ball. They're going to have to run through the air, New England Patriots style. Dante Moncrief, I love him. You're getting him in the middle of the fifth round right now. A guy that I see has as a wide receiver two upside, and I'm talking high wide receiver two upside. That is exactly what my final question to you is going to be. What is the peak of Dante Moncrief in your mind? Everything goes perfectly fine. Is he one? Is he the one there? If you want, I will go bold. The absolute peak for Moncrief is a wide receiver one.