Fantasy Football - Free Agent Frenzy! + Big Trades - Podcast for 3/10

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Jay Grizz in the house, Andy Holloway, Mike Wright, the fantasy footballers podcast. Someone has no shares of Kenneth Walker, so they could not show up today. Oh, I mean, dude, you and I are living large. We are living large. The people are waiting. If you've listened to this show for a long time, you know that Ken Walker's kind of my guy. I love it when fantasy forces you to believe. Because the year of Mike, by the way, continues. We're doing all right. It continues. We're doing all right. I'm not dodging like I'm not invincible as, uh, we'll see. I mean, could be the decade of Mike. My man, Trey Benson is down bad guys. That's true. He's down bad.

I love it's not perfect but the white whale was landed so everything else doesn't feel as important that poor poor Mike was in the middle of doing a guest pod yesterday when all the big news is breaking on free agency by the way this show is being recorded and released immediately we were waiting as long as we possibly could because you know even when we're recording right now even probably before you hear the show there'll be more news or little signings and trades and things that are going on but We wanted to give as much time as we can so we could come on here and react together and talk through all of these moves. But yeah, Mike was on a guest pod and, you know, right in the middle of the guest pod, we're finding out all this news about Kenneth Walker going to the chiefs. And then Mike comes in about an hour later after he's done and he's got music playing on his phone. It's a little cool on the gang, man. It was a celebration time. It was just.

Yeah, it was a special day. And I've got Kenneth Walker in our League of Record, who I picked up at the trade deadline from these two losers over here, Papa Josh and the Falcon. Oh, yeah, you're not a loser. Let me go. Let me do it. Not a loser, loser, loser. That's what I, yeah, from right to left, the two on the left of the losers. But yeah, you guys traded two. And I didn't think for a minute I might be keeping Kenneth Walker. I do now think I might be keeping Kenneth Walker, the new starting running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, Mike.

The MVP of the Super Bowl is now achieved. The Walker is on an absolute heater right now. Life is good for him. Super Bowl MVP, big bag of money. And I mean, staying with Seattle would probably be a pretty decent chance of getting some more Super Bowls the way that the team is currently built. But going to play with Mahomes. Not bad. It has to be just, you know, it might even be a better situation if you're trying to chase Super Bowls. They'll figure things out in Kansas City. And the, as much, it's as much as I am on the team of your running backs really don't matter. There's so very few difference making running backs in the league. Yeah, CMC, Gibbs, B. Sean, San Juan. And I think Walker can be one of those guys because of his ability. I think he was number one again in force miss tackles. Like, shoot, someone, someone put it up.

I can't remember who it was, but it was like a stat showing. Okay, number of Kenneth Walker 15-yard runs in the last two years versus the Chiefs. All running backs in totality. And it was like three for Kansas City versus. No, they really haven't had a weapon at that position since Cream Hunt. I think it has been part of the problem for Kansas City is. Yeah, Kansas City had one 20-yard run last year. Walker had 10 all by himself. You need. When teams have to focus on what Mahomes is capable of doing and they brought back Travis Kelsey and they'll make more moves. Who knows? Maybe Tyree Kale returns. But, you know, you just open up so much for the running game, especially if you're capable of catching the football. I think Kenneth Walker is capable of it. It opens up the pass. That's what I think is such a big deal about this is what the chiefs had at the running back position, no one had any concern in the world about having to.

You know, like, oh, we got to pick a play here, and we're going to have to sell out to stop the run. No, they were not concerned. The rubber's going to meet the road when it comes to the health of Kenneth Walker, too. Because we've talked about, like, part of this success, you know, Sharbs, as annoying as he is, and I saw all the memes going out immediately that the chief signed Charbonnet instantly. But as annoying as Sharbs was, Kenneth Walker had one of his healthier seasons of all time. It made him ready for the playoff run. He obviously was great there.

No, but I was thinking yesterday there are two players. Like Kenneth Walker, things have broke really well for him. And then, because, I mean, you win a Super Bowl, you're the MVP, and then you get a bag of money. But the other one I was thinking of was Rashid Shaheed, because Rashid Jihad goes from one of the worst teams in football with the Saints. He gets to go to Seattle, win a Super Bowl, and now he signs an extension and gets a bag of money. Not the only player we'll be talking about today. It's a full free agent frenzy episode of the show.

Thank you for joining Mike and I, Tuesday, March 10th. Ultimate DraftKit.com. The post-combine update is available now. The Dynasty Pass is available now. Go check that out, and the community has joined the foot.com. We appreciate each and every member of the Foot Clan supporting this independent podcast going into year 11, 12, something like that. Are we at the point where we forget how many years? I mean, the 10-year anniversary of Megal's show was... two years ago. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So 10 plus two equals. Inso facto. Something around 12. But yeah, big show today. Appreciate you joining us. Let's jump right in. Pre-agent frenzy. So we will circle back to that move, the Ken Walker move, and some of the implications. They're good. But let's start with the first bit of news or one of the first deals that we heard about yesterday. It's not Arizona.

and that might be good. I don't know. The Dolphins signed Malik Willis to a three-year deal where a $67.5 million. Jason got this one in his predictions. I thought the dolphins would not be able to find the money after, you know, they hadn't cut to at that time. We knew it was just a matter of. You mean the $99 million in dead money that they have to absorb letting to a Tunga Viloa go? That is what I am referring to. And giving a 27-year-old. Malik Willis, $45 million guaranteed. The truth is, if it works, this is a great quarterback contract. There's two types of working on this show, though, Mike. There's the working for the team and the working for the fantasy team. Oh, it's going to be, it should be solid. And that one should be pretty good. It should be solid for fantasy. I'm looking on our profile right now. Malik Willis, four years in the league, we are at six starts.

Six starts. So, and again, it could work. Malik Willis in the limited action has looked great. He has, but we have seen backups come in who will start one or two games in a season, and all of a sudden you're like, well, that guy should be a starter. Mike Glennon. Sure. Is one of them. It happened. I think it happens more of a backup looking like. in one to two starts, they should be a starter than the other way around. But the contract could be okay. But going with all that dead cap, putting all the chips in the basket of Malik Willis, I think it's just, it's so, it is a intestinal fortitude move. I'll say that. It was something I thought, I thought Arizona was going to make the splash for Malik Willis. Kurt Warner went on, I don't know what podcast it was, but he was talking about like he.

He watched the last two years of Malik Willis, and there were 28 plays. So the Green Bay years? Yeah, there were 28 total plays in which he had to basically play quarterback. So you're not talking about design runs. You're not talking about little screen passes that any quarterback in the NFL can make. You're talking about, I sit back there, read a defense, make a throw. So he didn't say it was bad. Like the 28 wasn't, there were some good, there was some bad. He just said, like, that's what you're evaluating 45 million guarantee on is 28 basic dropbacks. to make a decision on Malik Willis. Now, I really, I'm not going to change my tune just because he goes to Miami instead of Arizona. I believe that Malik Willis will be successful. I think he's a good player. I think what he brings to the running game is going to be amazing, not just for fantasy, but just for that team. But yeah, it's impossible to say it's not a risk.

It's impossible to say that there isn't some unknown with Jay and then Waddle and what he's going to be able to do in that offense. Devon A. Chan in that offense, like we are, we're entering a brand new head coaching era for Miami. Part of the connection there, their new head coach is the former, you know, they have two, two different connections to Green Bay, so they have familiarity with Malik Willis. But, you know, it's going to be one of those things that you're like, Malik is a gamble, right? Like, he's going to get drafted probably. Malik will be a fun late round target in single quarterback leagues. And if you're, you know, we're in dynasty season. If you have Waddle or A-chan, it could have gone bad. It could have gone horrifically bad here. So I think you can at least have optimism and you don't have to, you know, just go all the way into the season, just quaking.

Quinn Ewer's fans are... Oh. Oh. Quinn Ewer's sports cards holders not happy at the moment. Yeah. Rushing totals in his three stars last year, 41, 73, and 60. Yeah. I mean, that's a lot. So, and Tua Tongue by Loa ends up leaving Miami. He'll get paid, and now he's got a one-year deal being the second lefty in Atlanta. I know Kyle is so excited about all the amazing Atlanta signings yesterday. Atlanta? and Arizona. Oh, God. Just. Handshake. Just dominating the free agency period. If, if your goal is to be bad. It's so embarrassing. It's so for both teams, the signings have just not been. I mean, they needed someone. Maybe things work out, but. They needed someone with, you know, Pennix already looking very shaky as a potential franchise guy, hurt yet again.

it will he be ready to start the year they had to do something so i don't i don't blame the the falcons for going for you're going to i mean you're going to get him what super cheap would you rather have minchu like the cardinal sign or tua for your backup pro i think two uh i'll take two probably probably um let's cost us low risk no reward Oh, that's the move. It's a classic low risk and no reward move. That's a good line, Kyle. I mean, it's like if you have to see to a play, something bad has happened to Pinnix. He's either played poorly. I like to imagine the GM was like, we gotta get the lefty. I know. We can't, we can't flip the offense. It's impossible. The ball must spiral the same way. It's like when you have a, your, your quarterback is a mobile running quarterback. It's like the Ravens.

Oh, yeah. You got Lamar. Okay, well, we want to go to Huntley. He's also athletic and can sort of duplicate what Lamar is able to do. And they're just applying that to left-handedness. That's amazing. All right, we did talk about it. Ken Walker, three-year deal. Let's get into the details. The chief signed Ken Walker, three-year deal worth up to $45 million. $28 million guaranteed. Nice. He's just 25 years old. He was number one in force mistackle rate. Kansas City was dead last in that stat last year. Is it two years in a row, Kyle? Walker was extremely high on that, and in that stat two years ago as well. So now the question becomes, Mike, for this show, where does Kenneth Walker go in fantasy football? Because there are, you know, there are players like Buck Irving, who they signed Kenneth Gainwell. Yeah, give me Walker. There are players like the...

Incredible, Chase Brown after last year's run. That one's tough. Derek Henry, a year older in Baltimore. And they lost their center. They lost Lindenbaum. Yeah. That's a devastating blow to that. That's huge. I mean, he's getting paid more money than all the other centers by a lot. Josh Jacobs at Ken Walker. See, it's one of those things where... People are going to be very excited for Kenneth Walker. So just to zoom out real quick, this is awesome. Like on paper, this is so incredible, a truly dynamic running back. Like you said, number one enforced mistackle rate. Last year, Kansas City, if their running back's dead last in that advanced metric of, like the one truly, like a big thing you need for when you're running back is I need a guy who can actually make something happen on his own.

Not just get what's there, make something happen. He, Walker, he probably jumps into the late first based off of the hope and the dreams of how, just how awesome the player was into the situation. I don't know. It's going to be risky business, but he will be, like, between Walker, Chase Brown, Jacobs. I think those are really difficult questions to answer right now. I feel like the hype for Walker, like there could be a plan in Kansas City to not, like we all want Super Bell cow. I don't think you're going to get that. But I don't think you're going to get that at all. And whether they bring back Cream Hunt or something to be, I mean, that's the best case to me for the Chief's backfield is not bringing in another younger, able-bodied running back. You need, you need? But someone like Cream Hunt.

Someone coming, the problem with Kareem Hunt is like, goal line? Yeah. Yeah. We need to know. So they have, they have Breschard Smith still too. We need to know that walk. Yeah, Smith is not a, not a, nothing competition for the high value. We need the receiving, we need the goal line. We need to know for sure that that's locked in. Triple threat of super running back. But it carries the receiving and the goal line. It is very, very exciting. If you have him in Dynasty, like me. I mean, that's just part of it. But, but I mean, seriously, he, I went back into my dynasty startup rankings and you're like, you have to move, you got to move Walker up. He's 25. He's on the chiefs. It seems like he probably took less money to go to Kansas City. Because Travis E.T.N. signed a four-year deal. Possible. Worth $52 million. I mean, that's more money than Walker got.

We still haven't seen the guaranteed money on ETN. So, I mean, total value is potentially higher for ETN. But, you know, I mean, that's, it's not a huge difference of $7 million. Yes, that's, it's a lot. I get that. But I'm saying, I was two years older. It was a little surprising. You, the Saints had to, you know, we talk about the loser tax. When you go to the Saints, you should at least be believing. that you're not really going to have a chance at a playoff run this year. It's not impossible, but your odds are against you. Maybe two years from now you'll make a run. And so it's like, can you actually win a Super Bowl? If that's your goal, where it's a much higher odds with the Chiefs than you take just a little bit lighter on the money. I don't blame Walker for doing it. So the Saints made a big splash. Travis Etienne ends up in New Orleans, four-year deal, $52 million, no guaranteed money that we've figured out yet.

in terms of the numbers, but we'll get that. 27 years old, year six of the NFL. Earlier in the week, the Saints had converted $10 million of Alvin Camara's salary into a signing bonus, cleared a bunch of money. Multiple reports from Beat Riders saying this may clear the way for Alvin Camara's retirement. Do I understand how that all works? No, but I mean, this is like a, this is a legendary Norland Saint player in Alvin Camara. And at least last year, he was the one saying, don't trade me. Yeah, I feel like that, I feel like he was setting the table for the sunset. And for them to go out and spend this kind of money at running back, to me, like, I don't think, I don't think Camara necessarily wants to play that secondary role. Maybe that's what he'll accept for a year and being a leader in the, in the, you know, clubhouse, so to speak. Camara's advanced numbers were horrifically bad. No, and it's kind of, and he was banged up again. I mean, we get Kendry Miller back out there. He got hurt again.

So this will be Travis ETN, Tyler Shuck, Crystal Lave. Kind of exciting. Yeah, oh, it's an exciting young team. Well, I mean, Shuck's kind of old. Can ETN? Yeah, well, he's young enough. Can ETN finishes a running back one again in New Orleans? It's in the range of outcomes. You still have the Kellynne Moore offense, high pace. We'll get a lot of receptions for Travis E.N as well. So I think it's possible. It's just will they score enough on the ground? And then you can't miss this part of all these deals, right? Ken Walker obviously leaving Seattle. Their backfield is now completely in flux. Charbonnet is coming off a major injury. They're going to, they got it covered, man. Well, there's rumors this morning about Rashad White to Seattle.

So Mike finds this very funny. Dude, because Rashad White and Sharbs on the, that's your back field? One yard of carry. Well, we'll see. We'll see what they do. They're trying to defend the title. But, you know, the big move here. That will be the real wake up moment of like, oh, I guess Walker was really good. Yeah, it could be. Or they could make a splash. We'll see. But ETN leaving Jacksonville is huge. Oh, man. Bayshaw, Tooting. I don't know. That's Jason's bit. That's Jason's bit. No, he's and he's not here. But Bayshaw Tudin right now, sky's the limit. There's a great offense. It's very exciting for him. I mean, E.TN was a super surprise last year in terms of how fantasy relevant he ended up being under Liam Cohen after a down year. So, you know, Tudin was fifth in rush success rate and 11th in force miss tackle rate among 55 running that. So.

You know, going into a sophomore year, that's exciting. And ETN will, I mean, with him gone, that vacates, he had 52 targets last year. If you're telling me, Tutin gets the majority of those, it'll be very, very fun. And the Cohen system just, it seems to be. Like it might be one up there with like McVeigh and the Shanahan system. It's just, it's going to work. I mean, you have to look at last year even with Buck Irving. I know he was hurt. But Bucking Irving's success with Liam Cohen the year before compared to his success last year, Mike? Right. Let's take a break. We'll talk about some more moves.

All right, we're back into the free agent frenzy here on a Tuesday morning. The Buccaneers signed Kenneth Gainwell, who was a revelation for Pittsburgh last year, two-year deal, worth up to $14 million, $10 million guaranteed. It's not a crazy deal. He's 27 years old or about to be, and this was the leading wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers last year at the running back spot. This one's a blow to Bucky because... You know, I just shared my thoughts on Rashad White. He was not a threat. You know, Sean Tucker is just this imaginary, nebulous being that the Buccaneers never actually care for. You'd see him flash on the field, but then they would never give him work. They let him, like they didn't tender him. And Kenneth Gainwell is a true, a true player who can take away.

from Bucky Irving and duplicate what Bucky Irving does on the field. I've seen a lot. Not as good as Bucky, but... Yeah, he's not as good as Bucky, but... It's like if you're getting 85% of Bucky, that's someone who should get touches. The thing about Kenneth Gainwell that I think we've seen throughout his career as he forces his way on the field, whether you believe he should be or not. There was a point of time, middle of the offseason. Jason could not handle the inference, the suggestion. that Kenneth Gainwell could take away from Caleb Johnson. There was not a pot. And he's not here to say nothing. But I remember the conversation. It was like, hey, it was like, hey, buddy, people like Kenneth Gainwell. I mean, great teammate, great player, versatile, does the little stuff that you don't see in the fantasy football stat sheet, but teams love. Now, I've seen a lot of people say, what are you talking about?

Bucky's everything. And Bucky will be, he'll be okay. His ceiling's down. But I think the question that you have to ask yourself is Kenneth Gainwell, a better player than Rashad White. Yes. That's enough. You know what I mean? And that's not a, well, you know, in my opinion, no, he's better. Yeah. He's more versatile. He's a better athlete. Yeah, I agree. He'll get you more than two and a half yards on the ground. I don't know if the team. And I don't know all the details of what went on with Bucky Irving's absence. It clearly wasn't all recovery from a physical injury last year. But from the vibes were weird. Well, I mean, I think there were some mental health things going on and they were dealing with that. But from a reliability standpoint that puts things in flux and Kenneth Gainwell is a stabilizer. So they bring them in. The Cardinals. Oh, the Cardinals. Oh, they reworked James Conner's contract.

Right? Yeah. And then they said, what if we made two of you? The Cardinals signed Tyler Alger to a two-year deal worth $12.25 million, $8 million guaranteed, 25 years old. I hate this just because of Trey Benson. Like, Alger is good. Algier with the money. I mean, James Connor had to take less money just to make sure he kept a job. and to be on the team. And then you go day one and sign Tyler, Alger. I know it's not as, you know, it's not the high profile money that the other guys are making. But Alger is a good player. And $8 million guaranteed is enough that I will project that he will end up being, it'll be him and Connor. And then Trey Benson is just cooked. Yeah. Yep. I mean, this is the, this is the we don't believe. We'll never get to find out if it could fly. No, this is the we don't believe in you at all.

This isn't pushing you out of the nest so that you can fly. This is so you land on the ground and the animals eat you. I mean, Alger and Connor are workhorses. I think that's the headline. Like, these are not guys that need plays off. If they get it going, they're not going to turn to Trey Benson. And they wanted Connor back enough to rework the contract. Connor keeps a job, like you said. I mean, Algeria himself had seven red zone touchdowns last year. The Cardinals had six total. Alger is a pretty good player. Yes, he is. It's not a flashy signing. I thought Arizona would not rework the contract of Connor and would sign ETN. Instead, they brought Connor back and they spent less money on Alger. But I don't think it's going to be a very fun fantasy situation. No. And by the way, they basically have come out and said, just if we want to get into Arizona, which nobody does. But you should kind of in fantasy because Michael Wilson was crazy and Trey McBride. And they basically come out and said Jacoby Brissette's our starter.

They signed Gardner Minshu. And Mike's like, why would you sign Gardner Minchew? Are you getting rid of Brissette as your backup? Little did you know. Brissette was the starter in that situation. And Minchu becomes the backup. So it's weird because the Cardinals are going to be awful. This is a tank, tank, tank move. They were one and nine with Brissette, maybe 0.19. I don't even remember. But Michael Wilson was insane with Jacoby Brissette. Tray McBride set the world on fire with Jacoby Brissette. There was, I will remind people, there was an astronomically high pass rate as they could not run the ball at all. You know, Connor went out early. Trey Benson went out in week four, and then they were rocking Demarcato and Michael Carter and Bam Knight. That was the trio. That was getting absolutely nothing done. Algerian James Connor is a much, much better tandem than anything that they had last year for the majority of the year.

So I don't think the pass rate will be anywhere near what it was. But we know how Jacoby plays and we know how he plays with these guys. So you can keep your optimism and still, you know, wherever, it's pretty much wherever you were going to draft, Arizona Cardinals, you just kind of leave it there. The Broncos re-signed J.K. Dobbins to a two-year deal worth $20 million. I think all three of us got this one. Dobbins back to Denver. Do you remember in the... I don't know. I don't remember if we actually predicted this one. I think. I think we had all said it was going to be Denver, but. I think we predicted dominance. It seemed the easiest one. But yeah. That one in Wondale, we're like the lowest hanging fruit. Oh, no, me and you got it. Jason missed it. I think that puts me in the lead then. Because Jason got the, uh, Jason got the Miami-Milke one. That was big. I got the Evans 49ers. Right.