Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Trivia Time, News & Notes, Combine Reactions

I have a hard time not doubting. I really do. I'm not saying he won't be worth something, but I have a hard time not doubting the fact that they drafted Kevin Coleman for a reason, that Coleman's built a little bit more prototypically for what you want between the tackles and in that offense. And it's a situation where I could see it going both directions, and that's what makes me scared about it. It could be great for Devante Freeman drafters if he comes out and he is the past-catching.

kind of PPR monster he was again a year ago, even if he doesn't rush that well, he still had the high value. That being said, I could see if Coleman came out and had a couple great games to start the year, you could be in a full platoon. Yeah, it's tough because I don't think that Freeman is going to go away. I think he's going to have a fine season next year. The question is, will that return on where you have to draft him, which is a first round pick? You're spending a first or second, yeah. This might be a bad comparison. However,

build wise the you know the ellington david johnson situation where you know if freeman got banged up a little bit and coleman was the david johnson and came in and did really well to start the year you just wonder you know ellington's never getting that rollback right he and it's not the right perfect comparison but at the same time i could see some things where you got the guy that the

Johnson and Coleman were the rookies, and Ellington was the incumbent, and Freeman did really well in the time that Coleman was out. But I'm just, I'm a little afraid. And I think if Freeman's being drafted like an Adrian Peterson or those type of players, you have so much more risk. Even if he doesn't get injured and stays the lead back, he probably won't return the first round value. So it's tough to take him there. I talk about...

from time to time, a part of the way that I play fantasy football and the way I, a philosophy of with a particular player, you have to be okay hitting or missing on that player. And certain guys fall into that category. And Vanta Freeman is in that category for me, that I am perfectly fine missing out.

on Freeman and being wrong and him having a great season because he will not be on any of my teams. Unless somehow he's in like a third round or something, some weird freaky thing happens. But generally speaking, paying the price up front for Freeman, he won't be on my teams and I'm perfectly fine with that. Before I get to question number five, I have a quick, did you watch the show after the show from the episode you missed? I did. The Antonio Brown Levy on Bell debate. Where did you fall on that?

I'm Antonio Brown. Okay. I'm Antonio Brown number one overall right now. If you looked at the comments, we had tons of comments on that one, and people were on both sides of the fence. It's very interesting. A lot of it was what Jason, the type of attitude Jason had, which you must do this. There were a lot of, you must take Levi-on-Bel. You must take Antonio Brown. And for me, it's not a, where I didn't agree with Jason was, it kind of sounded like he was going into risk aversion, and that's not how I play.

For me, Antonio Brown is, maybe it sounds like risk aversion, but I know that he's such a lock that that's who I want. I want a guy who's going to be dependable on my team no matter what the situation is. Like, we remember the streak, the 5 for 50 streak that he had of 20 plus games that was only destroyed because Michael Vick sucks. But if it's not risk aversion and running backs are more scarce.

And Levy on Bell represents that level of consistency if you don't take, if you don't consider the fear of injury. Right. At the position that's more scarce. I'm perfectly fine with Bell going, just going number one. Just to me it's, and it's, because I'm saying like where I think Julio Jones is is going to be great, O'Dell Beckham will be a monster. I just...

I'm locked in with Antonio Brown. No, it's very fair. And again, nobody's going to be disappointed if you have a little bit of both because it's not risk aversion in Antonio Brown. It's the fact that normally running backs are more valuable there because of the position scarcity, but it's the risk aversion of the running backs that I have. I'm an agreement with you. Antonio Brown's locked in as a top end highest tier caliber player.

I would normally still lean a running back over that because of the position scarcity, except all of them are giant question marks, in my opinion. Yeah, and like Brown, not to keep going too long, but Antonio Brown, the worst he will finish to me is wide receiver three. Sure, sure, probably. So that's why, to me, that's where I got him like, oh, things go really wrong, he's wide receiver three. All right, we'll move on. Number five, 2015 was a contract year for me.

In which I finished with more rushing touchdowns, eight, and more receptions, 47, than my fellow upcoming free agents. Which one of these free agents am I? Ooh. Chris Ivory. Doug Martin, Lamar Miller, Matt Forte. Can you read it again? Can you read the stats? 2015 was a contract year for me. Finished with more rushing touchdowns, eight, and more receptions, 47 than my fellow upcoming free agents.

Chris Ivory, Doug Martin, Lamar Miller, and Matt Forte. To me... Which free agent am I? Oh, man. Because we hear about the running back free agents and which one should get signed first. Jason, what are you doing over there? Is he cheating? No, I'm not. I'm looking at lists of players. Hmm. Well, I just gave you the four names. I find these techniques questionable over here. You don't need to look at list of players. You have the four names. To me...

It's between Doug Martin and Lamar Miller. I'm trying to recall the touchdown amount. I know that's exactly what I'm. I wanted to be Miller, but I don't remember him getting four receiving touchdowns. Did you? I didn't say four receiving touchdowns. He said eight rushing touchdown. I said eight rushing touchdowns. And more receptions, 47 receptions than my fellow upcoming free agents. That's what I said. I don't think Miller had 47. 47 receptions? Correct.

You two are doing really well. Well, then I'm going Lamar Miller. I'm going with Matt Forte. The answer is Lamar Miller. Dang it. He had 47 receptions? That is correct. Wow, I did. He's a great receiver. I didn't realize it was that high. I heard that he, that, I heard the question wrong with receiving touchdowns. And I was thinking, I don't remember. I was always frustrated because they always passed on the goal line. I was a Lamar Miller owner. And he never caught the touchdowns, even though he was open on those little routes. Is Lamar Miller a better running back?

A better free agent running back than Doug Mark. Maybe. I would say yes, because in this era of the NFL, I think you have to have a pass catching back. And not that Doug Martin can't do it. But I think Lamar Miller is an excellent pass catcher, good pass protector. Pass protector and pass catcher. What I know about Lamar Miller is he hasn't really had a crap season.

where you were massively disappointed in Lamar Miller, maybe his rookie year. But ever since then, he's been great, where Doug Martin has had a career, a good, bad sandwich, where he started awesome, and now the current year was great, but in between there, where injury plagued, very inefficient years. So I'm going to go to Lamar Miller as a more consistent type of...

Running back. All right. So Jason has four points. Mike has three. And we move on to question number six. I am a second year wide receiver that plays on a team with the most first downs per game. And I finished this season as a wide receiver one. Brandon Cooks. Yes. And the giveaway there was obviously the most first downs per game. Because I heard the quick question of the day when I was out of the office. Yes. He finished as the...

wide receiver 12 in ESPN standard scoring formats. But much like his quarterback who disappointed people with, what, eight touchdowns in his first six games, he was under the radar, much like even Jordan Matthews did, where he finished at a place that was different than the perception of his season. Now, you could interpret that both ways. You can interpret that as, well, you know, he let me down when I needed him to start the season. He wasn't the...

He's certainly not the physical type of receiver you would have and expect to be a wide receiver one, but he ended up as a wide receiver one. So where do you project Brandon Cook's heading into next season as a wide receiver one again? Is he on the cusp again? I think you put him in the cusp or firmly in one. To look at him as a middle tier wide receiver two.

is too low. One of the things we have to remember about the New Orleans Saints last year was their defense was not bad the beginning of the year. It was...

epically bad. It was so horrendously bad. And while game flow says, well, you're still throwing the ball, it changes what other defenses are able to do to you. And you saw the Saints become a better team the second half of the year, especially after they changed their defensive coordinator. And it coincided with a better offense where you could be balanced. And I believe that Brandon Cooks has the talent, has the quarterback, and has the offense that says,

He should finish as one of the 12 best wide receivers in the league. So a couple of things I just want to talk about Brandon Cooks really quick. I have him as a high level two right now without having ranked every single player. That's about where I value him at this current point of time. My question for you guys is Brandon Cooks is in things like a dynasty redraft. He goes quite high.

and at the same time, Drew Breeze goes very, very low, usually in like double-digit round, the beginning of double digits, where I did a startup mock with the Dynasty Nerds, and I got Drew Breeze, I think in the 10th or the 11th round. And my question for you guys, and I was talking to them about it, it's like, if you think Brandon Cooks, do you think he's that great? Or is he just a product of Drew Breeze's Hall of Fame?

level of play. When Drew Breeze is gone, do you think Brandon Cooks is going to be that dominant? No. No, I think he's better than most wider series. We saw where he got drafted in the NFL draft shows. He is a true talent. His speed is great. But he's not going to be able to put up these numbers when a backup quarterback or a rookie quarterback or someone like that comes in for a couple of years. So from a dynasty perspective, I think you might be right.

in worrying about the super long term. But I think Drew Bree's plays for a couple more years at a high level, which means, you know, we talk about not worrying too much about three years down the road. Here's the thing is it doesn't matter if you're Brandon Cooks or Larry Fitzgerald. If you get put with the wrong quarterback, you see a career and fantasy numbers that just completely aren't even close to what you've put up in the past. And then you...

Wow, you know, Larry Fitzgerald found Carson Palmer again, and wow, he's great again. I mean, from a fantasy perspective, that's just a hard thing to replicate with the different quarterback. I am on record, I think two episodes ago, one episode ago. I really, really believe in Drew Breeze is here. I think Drew Breeze is going to be undervalued like he was in your dynasty draft, and I think that he will, has potential to be a top five quarterback again. And my other quick points, I feel like his name came up when I was not on the show.

I am very excited for Willie Sneed. Yeah, I am too. I think all the shine, all the hype is going to go on Brandon Cooks. I'm with Andy. I think Drew Breeze can have another great...

high-level quarterback year, and Willie Sneed is going to be the guy you can get in the later middle rounds. Almost had a thousand yards, but didn't, so let's slip back again. I don't remember if he was brought up in the conversation, but I know that there was the question of, like, who could be next year's Eric Decker? That's super consistent, wide receiver two. Yeah, he was. Okay, because that's, he seems perfect for him. Yeah, you're right. So question number seven. In the last three weeks of the NFL season,

I had more touchdowns than any other wide receiver, which accounted for half of my total touchdowns on the year. Okay. Who am I? Option A. Doug Baldwin. Option B. Jordan Matthews. Option C. Jeremy Macklin. Option D. Demarius Thomas. And what I will say is that all four of those guys had at least three touchdowns over that time.