The TRUTH: WRs Part 2 + Deep Dives & Big Bites - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/7

Oh, Funclay, we got a good show for you today. We are in true off-season form where we make a lot of sense. We're going to talk about all the wide receivers that really matter, not the studs that we all know to draft, but the teams where it's like, okay, this team has two good wide receivers. What are their situations like next year? What were they like? What's the truth about this past season? We're going to dive into all of it for you. Leave your comments on who you're looking forward to drafting next year and enjoy. Hey, this is Patrick Mahomes quarterback to the Kansas City Chief, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers podcast. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday, February 7th. The Fantasy Footballers, Andy Mike and Jason, back. Hello. Hello.

Oh, you're so dumb. For some reason in my mind, I'm just imagining I'm sitting down for like an interview or something. I'm going to interview somebody for a job at like a coffee shop and the gentleman sits down and he says hello that way and I just turn around and walk out. Hello. Well, we are done here. Yes. You're not quite what we're looking for. Chibai. Welcome in one and all. Super Bowl week. What did you gentlemen do with your lack of football this past weekend? That was a strange occurrence. We didn't have any football to watch. I mean, I guess Pro Bowl games. Yeah, which I... We didn't have any football to watch. Yeah, I was at the Super Bowl experience, so I missed all of the Pro Bowl stuff on the television. And then Saturday, I coached my son's game. So it's still football nonstop for me. I heard you kicked a mean 25-yard field goal. I did.

After waiting two and a half hours in line to do so. That was not an exaggeration of how long I had to wait. And that is the NFL experience. Yeah. You're waiting? Yeah, Super Bowl out here. Look, if we'll be at the game. If we could just get rid of people, it would make it easier. Like the experience would be top notch. I can tell you right now. It's ruined by the people, though. I'm very much looking forward to the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl this year, which we're going to do. However. My brain does not compute how I get from my house to that Super Bowl. I do not comprehend how one gets in the building. How do you possibly know, how do you get close to the building? Yeah. Like are there zip lines? Do you go to like a tower? Like how do you get to the actual? I think you have to walk. They have shut down the city. All the streets will be closed. So maybe it'll be closed for the Super Bowl. Close for the Super Bowl. So you just bicycle.

Like I know we talked, we're like, well, Uber to get dropped off at the game. Yeah, the roads closed. These Uber drivers aren't going to know what to do. No. They're not trained in this. No one is. Yeah, because it's not like they're used to this event. You know, it's not like, oh, I do this every Sunday. No, they'll be just like me driving. So I don't know what the difference would be. But we're going to try to get there at some point. I imagine security at the Super Bowl has got to be out. outrageous i hope so like full body yeah full body scans and crevice tests oh hello i hope so wide receiver truth episode part two today uh speaking of super bowl sunday why i gotta do that uh to one up you we had a trumpet my horn was pretty good yours was pretty good but i can only make one horn sound at a time this announcement pretty great yeah the 2023

Ultimate Draft Kit pre-seal starts, as always, on Super Bowl Sunday. And we're so excited. Our team has been hard at work preparing some of the stuff that you'll get access to immediately. Like if you get the UDK Plus, you're going to get access to the Dynasty Pass right away. That's rookie startup rankings, rookie and startup rankings, the rookie mock drafts, dynasty trade targets, production profiles, team opportunity pages. We're bringing all of that to the app. right away. No more waiting until June 1st to get access to that. For the first time ever. Yeah, first time ever. And it's the lowest price you can get on the UDK. You know, people come back year after year. The ultimate draft kit is a key part of that offseason plan. And so we're giving away a listener league spot if you get it right away. Hello. That is the, that's, you buried the lead. Right. I mean, we are giving away a listener league spot. People are always like, ah, I want in.

All the emphysema-laden folks are like, let me get in. You should just take like a big bite of mucus? Yes, that's what I did. I was like, hmm, that looks good. Is that mucus? Let me, let me chow down. Yep. Oh, that doesn't go down well. But yes, we are giving away a listener league spot. People are often, you know, they want in, they don't know how. They're like, I don't have something to wow you with. Well, all you have to do is what you are already going to do anyways. If you're going to get the ultimate draft kit, pre-order it on Super Bowl Sunday. You're automatically entered to be in the league with us next year. You're also getting the lowest possible price. If you pre-order, you're getting $5 to shopballers.com plus $10 gift card to fantasychamps.com.

Yeah, and we've made no adjustments for inflation. Not yet. Someday. It's the same price it's always been. I need to talk to our money people about this. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. It's tough. Ultimate draft kit.com Super Bowl Sunday. It's going to be fun. And the team is, they're hard at work. Yeah, very excited for the dino pass. All right. We are hopping into some news. News and notes from around the league. The dino pass sounds like it has dinosaurs in it. I'm going to be honest with you. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It might. You won't know until you jump in. I'm in. I'm in. All right. There was a little bit of a story with Joe Mixen over the past few days. He was reported as.

You know, that there was a warrant out for his arrest for aggravated menacing in Cincinnati. The charges were later dropped. They could be refiled at a later date. We're putting it on your radar because it's something, you know, that you need to know happen because we don't know for sure that it's over. Right. All right. The athletic reporting that Gerald Everett and Keenan Allen. What? Could be cap casualties. I am just hearing this for the first time. I kind of. disconnected for the weekend. Our sweet, sweet Keenan? You got to be kidding me. Kyle. That guy will be scooped up in a heartbeat. This is kind of your dude. I mean, can you picture him in anything other than baby blue and yellow? No, he's my guy, but it's black and red. It's probably going to happen based on their off season. Wow. That puts the chargers squarely in the find a wide receiver in the draft category. Yeah. Jeremy Fowler writing that Lamar Jackson could be a

I love the language of it. It says could possibly be $100 million apart in contract talks. How far apart are you? Well, could possibly be anywhere from zero to $100 million. I know that from the beginning of the contract extension discussions, the Deshaun Watson deal, the fact that Lamar represents himself, I believe, you know, the resetting of the market that might have transpired with the Watson deal. There has been a large gap. It's been very clear. The team has tried to say the right things. Lamar has stayed mostly quiet. But if there is a large gap, I mean, that's just, you know, if it's a $50, $75 million gap, I don't know if the Ravens are the organization to bend to that amount of money. They should probably, but there are rumors out there that Lamar Jackson could end up with a new home.

in 2023. Yeah, it's a bad situation because of the Watson contract where everything's fully guaranteed. That's the money that they're disagreeing on is how much is guaranteed. Obviously, Lamar Jackson injured this year puts himself in the line of fire as a mobile rushing quarterback. Except he didn't get hurt on a rush this year. No, no. Or last year. Or last year. Yeah, every player in the NFL can get injured. on any play doing anything violent sport. But the point here is, is that's where the disagreement is. And I think they're going to end up franchising him. If there's not, you know, there's rumors. Everyone's always, you know, as soon as a report comes out, the teams are far apart. Ooh, trade for Lamar Jackson. Trade for Lamar Jackson. I'm sure half the league would love to do that. But I expect them to end up franchising him if they're far apart. The thing is, is he could say he's not playing on the tag. Yeah.

And put them in a corner. I mean, there's several players like that. Once they put, like, because they will. Like you, as this is just the way that the NFL works. If they're not agreed on contract, you have to put him on the franchise tag to make sure that you get more time to work something out. But that's when the game of chicken starts. Like, because if the way that Lamar has handled his side of this of saying, you know, when he's cutting off discussions, we're this far apart. The rumors that he wants a fully guaranteed deal like Deshaun Watson, if they are, if he's really digging into that, it doesn't seem difficult at all to me to say, Lamar Jackson is just going to sit out for the year and force your hand to do something else. This is his big payday, so you can't, you can't necessarily risk yourself to injury. Let's just do the, let's play the game temporarily right here. Okay. This moment in time.

percentage chance that Lamar Jackson is back in Baltimore based on the information you have read. 90%. I got it about 80. Yeah, it's still the majority. So I'm with you, 80 to 85. All right. Let's talk about this one. Maybe Brooks has some insight. The Cowboys. They've moved on from Kellanmore, and they have brought in Brian Schottenheimer as their new offensive coordinator. Run, run, run. Yeah, I mean, that's always been the Schottenheimer way. He has been a more rush forward type of coach. That being said, this last year worked with, you know, I think he showed that he can be the number two to an offensive head coach like he did with the Jacksonville Jaguars this last year. And that's what the Cowboys were looking for, someone that could, you know, run the offense but be.

Not the main guy. McCarthy wants to be the main offensive guy in the room. That's how I'm seeing in this situation. Yeah. Last year, to be clear, he was with Dallas as a consultant. So it was the year before, I believe. Oh, okay. Yeah. So they had some familiarity with him in that offensive system and then moved from consultant into, I mean, it kind of speaks to me about what you said, about McCarthy probably wanting. A big influence here. And since Schottenheimer was already not calling plays, it wouldn't be too bad for him to just be in the room. I believe I'm looking at it right, but it looks like Schottenheimer has had a top 15 offense as an offensive coordinator two times? Well, out of how many years. We're looking at like four? 12, 12 years. Okay, yeah.

I mean, that's real good. That's good stuff. That's how you win in the NFL, D. Yeah. Bottom half offense. Well, he had all that time with Urban Meyer in Jacksonville, so that was a good experience. Oh, man. No, it's an uninspired hire. Yes. All right. Dallas is going to be, I mean, at a minimum, you could, you can use this as fuel for, look, they pay, let's say they pay Tony Pollard, Zeeke comes back, they're going to run the football. I don't know if the decision-making process in the offseason was. Zeke threw two picks, so we're going to wreck everything. But it felt that way, right? Like the public persona was, Dax screwed it up again. Oh, let's do something to get it out of Dax's hands. Kind of a mess. I mean, the Cowboys just didn't play their best football in the playoffs. We've seen their best football a lot. And it was, you know, Super Bowl worthy performances from their defense and their offense. But if you have a defense like the one that they do,

Maybe a higher running game focus would be beneficial. I'm not sure. All right. We have the Cardinals still without a head coach as of this recording. We're recording Monday. Any moment now. Afternoon. Any moment now. I believe the latest team has gone without hiring their head coach when they haven't had one in the offseason was February 11th. But that was due to Josh McDaniels saying, just kidding. leaving the Colts. That was Dumpgate. And then they got Frank, I don't know about Dumpgate. That was a whole different. That was Chippole last week. No, that was the. Yeah. It was due to Dump G. Yeah, that was Dump G. That was Chipotle that year. Frank Reich was the 11th, February 11th was hired. AJ Green. Goodbye. In the arms of an angel. Goodbye, friend. He made $112 million in 12 years. Oh, nice. It's the third most money.

of any wide receiver in history. He is retiring. He also was elite for many, many years. This is... With Andy. With Andy Dalton. Yeah, this is unfortunately... Not with me. When he was with me in Arizona, he was not elite. The unfortunate part of the NFL is you either go out on top. And then there's always the questions of, oh, man, you could have, you had so many years left that you could have contributed. Calvin? And, yeah, like, yeah, Calvin Johnson did that move. Or you keep playing and then you become what AJ Green and Julio Jones are right now is you forget how great these players were. And in Julio Jones, AJ Green were both on top of the NFL at the wide receiver position.

And it's just, it's how it goes. But so, I mean, it was a really, really, really good career for AJ Green. Yeah. Are you worried about that with your boy Keenan? If he departs, I don't know if we're going to see vintage Keenum again. I mean, he could be a PPR guy for a couple more years. He's only 30, so he's fine. So a matter of fact. It sounded like he said Jarvis Landry. Yeah, that's what I heard. Yeah, look at Landry now. Yeah. All right. Any more news to talk about? Any updates on the travel situation to get to the Super Bowl Brooks? Can you fix that for us? I got nothing for you there. You've got ways to get us there. What if we're like a tunnel system? Do the chopper. Yeah. But we obviously we jump out and like parachute down. I would like to instead of parachute, I'd like to slide down a rope, but I'm going to need some gloves. You want to slide down a rope. I think you're letting go of the rope, man. I would not recommend sliding down a rope from that.

Type of a height. Okay. Well, you do it your way. Even with gloves on. I can just see him start the slide and then scream, let go. And then it's a fall. Yeah, I'll have a shoot on. Just, you know, JIC. Or what about drones? Can drones drop us off? Maybe. Are we there yet? I can hold on to those drones for a long time. We do. We tested that. You had a two minute. That's right. Can you get me from here to the Super Bowl in two minutes? How fast is this drone? Yeah, speed it up, drone. All right, into the truth. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers. I want the truth. You can't handle the truth. Was it this show or the spitballers were we talking about banisters? That's spitballers. Yes, spitballers. Yesterday's episode. Because the banister is like an English lawyer. Something like that. Someone was recommended. But they were a wig. Yeah, the banister wig to be part of the wheel of shame next year. Oh, yeah. If the wheel of shame is there, the banister will be.

I'm planning on no spins next year. The barrister. Oh, Barrister. I was going to say, isn't that the thing on the side of the stairs? The banister? Yes, yes. Yeah, that sounded wrong to me. When were we talking about banisters? It sounds really wrong. Well, we were doing some home rento talk. Right. And we're going to put that on the wheel of shame. You're going to have to hold a banister. Put a banister on there too. It's going to look like you're in prison. Definitely off season mode. All right, part two of the wide receiver. Truth episodes. Last week we talked about the top 10, Jefferson Cup, Tyreek, Waddle, Devante Adams, Stefan Diggs, AJ Brown, Devante Smith, C.D. Lamb, Amon Ra, St. Brown, and Amari Cooper. Today, we're getting a little deeper, talking about some names that I think will be very interesting to forecast moving forward. A reminder when we look at the truth data, we're looking at consistency for a player. How often did they...

Give you a great game, 20 or more points, a good game, 12 points, bus games, fewer than eight points. Half PPR scoring. And we don't count missed games against them. Coming in at 11, that would be their fantasy finish, Christian Kurt. Great year. First year in Jacksonville, 11 overall, consistency rank was 16. A little bit better in the first half of the year, 53% good games. This was the trouble, the 41% bust rate. You know, that's up there. But like Mike said, I mean, a pretty good first year he had a good rapport with Trevor Lawrence, 84 for 11008. I mean, it was like a ninth round fantasy pick. I mean, he was a sensational pick. Yes, I agree that you're hoping that you don't have that many bust games. Like, it's great. He gave you the amount of boom games from a ninth round pick that certainly you're very, very happy with.

Hope that the consistency can balance out. For next year, it's going to be very interesting with the addition of Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones kind of broke out there. And Evan Engram, do they bring him back? So where are you guys feeling about, or how are you feeling about Krisha Kirk moving forward? Go ahead, Jay. Yeah, I think that Krisha Kirk's probably going to be a value next year because of the additions that will happen. I assume Evan Ingram will be back, but with Calvin Ridley. in tow, I think people will be afraid to believe that Christian Kirk is still the guy, and maybe rightly so. Maybe he's just set to be a two, but he had a really, really good season. You're talking about a wide receiver one finish, and while he wasn't very consistent, you're going to hear that a lot on today's show. He was basically the same as D.K. Metcalf, but D.K. Metcalf, I mean, we just think, well, he impressed us this year, and he's so...

Big and strong and handsome that, you know, there's no way you won't draft D.K. Metcalfe high next year. Christian Kirk proved he is a very solid wide receiver. Trevor Lawrence, I believe, is better next year than he was this year in year two under this system. So Christian Kirk, to me, a great draft pick, a great value, obviously paid dividends. Next season, I don't think he will skyrocket in. the draft season, and, you know, he's probably a wide receiver too going forward. I think that's fair. He's only 26 years old. He had eight touchdowns. That's kind of, you can see that dipping, you know, potentially. But signed the big contract, four years, $72 million was huge for these guys. The first three weeks of the year made a quick impression for fantasy players. You saw Zay Jones have an emergence at one point in time, but.

It was an impressive season. So I agree that wide receiver two categories probably right. At 12, Jamar Chase. Not fair. Not fair. Missed some time during the year. So from a fantasy finish standpoint, total points didn't put up enough, yet somehow is still at 12. Consistency ranked, though, number three, he was awesome. I mean, he is a dynamic playmaker, indefensible. Is that even a phrase you can use for a wide receiver? I mean, it seems like it's in the wrong spot. I mean, it's a word. You can't defend him. But usually it's like, oh, my actions were indefensible because I did something bad. The use of that word was indefensible. That is also true. He's such a bad man on the field. It's indefinable. Do you want to know how often Jamar Chase busted this year? Let me, let me count them up for you. Yeah. Done. Yeah, none. Oh. That's zero. Zero bus games for Jamar Chase. That's how high I can count.

Yeah. So he was awesome. We'll talk about T. Higgins at the same time. I think there are some discussions to be had here. But Jamar Chase, ultimately, when you look at Cooper Cup, Justin Jefferson, like Jamar Chase belongs in the same stratosphere to me. Yeah, 100%. Jamar Chase will most likely be drafted ahead of Cooper Cup next year. I think it'll just be a who do you want, Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson. He was outlandishly good because Justin Jefferson had a few disappearing acts where he, you know, scored two fantasy points multiple times this last year, even though he was obviously excellent. You never had a bust game here from Jamar Chase. And then you still had the number one overall fantasy finish capabilities. Jamar Chase is obviously just that dude. And then speaking of T. Higgins, if T. Higgins.

goes elsewhere. If he has moved, I can't even imagine, I mean, Jamar Chase will be, you know, near the very top of the first round, probably ahead of Justin Jefferson in that situation. I think that there is, I would not blame anybody for taking Jamar Chase next year over Justin Jefferson. Strictly on the grounds that Joe Burrow is greater signed Kirk Cousins. Right. You know, he missed, Jamar missed five games, four due to injury, one due to the deleted game at the end of the year. and his pace was 124 receptions for almost 1,500 yards, 12 touchdowns, almost 13 touchdowns. So I think those are, you know, I wouldn't blame anybody for doing that. Yeah, you have like Jamara, third most red zone targets missed five games. Like he missed four to the injury. Then you had the game that got canceled in week 17. So to be that far up when when the team, you know, we.

You saw the shift. I don't remember if it was like week five or week six when the Bengals, they looked like they're about to be same old Bengals of let's be the run first team. And then they went very, very pass heavy at a neutral script that led to, you know, fantastic numbers for both of these wide receivers targeted on 24.5% of his routes. That was even better than the last year where he was at about 21%. Jamar Chase is fantastic. But moving the conversation to T. Higgins and. Like we said, we don't count games against players when they miss a game. However, T. Higgins had two games where he was active and destroyed you. You had the week five against Baltimore, played 16% of the snaps, and left, I mean, left with injury, had absolutely nothing. Week one, he played 26% of the snaps, two catches left with injury. And then week 14, that was the...

the week that we got the news after the fact that T. Higgins was only going to be used as an emergency because they, you know, prefer not to share that information with fantasy football players and it sucks. But so, I mean, that's like, that's three games. The numbers that T. Higgins put up, which is 74, a thousand and 29, and seven touchdowns. And he missed the week 17 as well, but he essentially missed three games. Yeah, I mean, Higgins is. So his numbers were great. Higgins was finished at 17, consistency rank of 21. Like you said, I mean, this is two straight years for T. Higgins where he's missed time due to injury now. Last season, he finished at 22 at the position. This year he finished at 17. He is a very good player, leads the NFL in contested catches since 2020. The storyline with T. Higgins is going to be, can the Cincinnati Bengals maneuver?

in a way that allows them to keep him. Right. Because last year is his final year under contract. And they're going to have... This year. I thought he said last year. No. He said last year. Oh, okay. The upcoming year. Yes, yes, yes. In the future, not the past. Yes. It will be his final year under contract. He is not a first round receiver. There's not a 50-year option for T. Higgins. They're going to have to sign Joe Burrow to $50 million a year. I'm hoping for the $55. Yeah, I mean. So is Joe Burrow. Yeah. And so there are some decisions to be made on this Cincinnati roster. And, you know, the way I look at it is T. Higgins is a fantastic wide receiver. We know that the wide receiver market this offseason in the free agency is very bland. It's very shallow. Yeah. I mean, Juju is the headliner.

and we don't have a thousand-yard receiver in the free agent class, and he was hurt, and maybe he would have hit it. But, you know, Jacobi Myers is another name. DJ Shark. Yeah, so this is not a headliner class. And then next year, you know, unless Mike Evans is out there, which he'll be older, like T. Higgins reasonably could be the best name in the free agent class next season or next off season. And I don't know his mindset when it comes to resigning in Cincinnati. But I don't think Cincinnati can pay him. what another team can pay him. So something has to happen there. It does not seem like he wants to give a hometown discount. And I don't necessarily blame him. I would love for him to stay in Cincinnati and have this offense. Just keep clicking. We know he can get it done. I think the question then about T. Higgins is if he were to leave, either by trade this off season or free agency the following season, is he a Stefan Diggs?

AJ Brown level talent where when he leaves, he becomes absolutely elite, helps the new team. You know, we've seen some of these elite. We knew Tyree Kill was elite when he changed teams. But when it comes to like Dig and AJ Brown, they were great digs and AJ Brown. They were great wide receivers who hadn't really crossed to the threshold of. super duper star. Right. And that's where T. Higgins is. So if he were to get the opportunity, and just to give you some frame of reference here, I took out those three injured games just to see. It's not fair because fantasy players played him in those games. But in the games that he played full allotment of snaps, he would have had our consistency score of wide receiver 12. So do you guys believe that he can be a super duper star in another location as the one? No.