Fantasy Football 2017 - Zekepocalypse + Undrafted Gems, Pump the Brakes

almost always has a solid defense as well. And there was this nonsense streaming out, I believe it was earlier this week or late last week of, well, maybe, just maybe it's actually going to be a timeshare. And Cream Hunt isn't going to be the featured back. But if you read through that article, it was just saying that, yeah, the backups are going to get work. And we know that.

We know that... One man does not take... I mean, like, the best case scenario, you're getting, what, 65% of the work? 60% of the work? Exactly. And so you're like, yeah, Sharkandrig West is going to get a couple touches here and there. But Kareem Hunt, it was again confirmed. He's going to be the workhorse. And you brought up a ton of names in the Andy Reid passed from the beginning of his time that were second, third round picks that he felt more than comfortable to give all the work to him. And when he...

To be fair, Andy Reid has had timeshares in his past, but that was because of injury and just he didn't have a guy step forward. And I fully believe in Kareem Hunt that even in this tough matchup, that the volume and the pass catching is going to make Kareem Hunt a very solid play every single week, including this one in a bad matchup. Okay. Let's, what do you want to talk about? The quarterbacks? Yeah, sure. Go ahead and start Tom Brady.

I mean, we always question which weapon will get used. Is it going to be grunk? Is it going to be Amandola stepping up? How will cooks be used? Will it be the running backs? But the common denominator across the board is obviously Tom Brady. With the weapons he has as an offense, I think this is his best overall offense that he's had in recent memory. And so if that's the case,

You start them in every matchup. I don't care if it's, you know, the Broncos. I'm starting Tom Brady 16 games this year. The other side of the ball, Alex Smith. That's bold. What's bold? To play Tom Brady. I know, right? I'm bringing straight fire. I'm stuck with Alex Smith, which is my perspective. I'm stuck with Alex Smith in this matchup in our Dynasty League. That's also the Chief's perspective. We'll see. Yeah. For those that have wondered about that circumstance, the head coach, the GM,

They've talked about Alex Smith just being so much more mentally advanced than Pat Mahomes right now. So if you have an expectation of a takeover right away, it's not going to happen. But Alex Smith, I have to start in this week. I have Andrew Luck in our Dynasty League. It's Simeon or it's Alex Smith. So I'm going to go with Smith. What do you think about the wide receiver core? What do you expect from Tyreek Hill in this game?

Tyree Kill is the, to me, he's the only guy who has a chance to put up a really electric game. I think the Patriots are going to game plan for Travis Kelsey, and he'll get his, he'll get, you know, work. But I don't think you're going to see Travis Kelsey blow up against the Patriots in week one. The one thing that you can hope for in Tyree Kill is because of his freakish speed. There's something where you can game plan and you can scheme a guy out, but if...

If he just beats another human being in a race and gets to the edge and gets to the corner, you always have the chance. So I think if I had to pick a player from, you know, outside of Kareem Hunt.

to start from Kansas City. It would be Tyreek Hill even over Travis Kelsey. No, that's what I was going to say. I mean, Kelsey's an auto start because of where he's drafted. Yeah, you're going to start him. But the Patriots are pretty good against tight ends. At least they were last year. I don't see any reason to believe they wouldn't be this year. I'm taking the under in this game. Okay. I'm taking the under. It's 48 and a half points. I'm taking the under. The Patriots defense at home. First game figuring things out, not having Edelman in place. I'm going to take the under in this game.

Anything else you want to touch on before we get into pump the brakes? I think that Chris Hogan is a very solid flyer this week. We know that Marcus Peters can shut people down, but I think that their cornerbacks on the other side of the field, not nearly as good as Peters. So I think that Hogan has a very solid chance to hit a home run. It's funny because I really like cooks.

So we'll have to see. Welcome to talking about the Patriots with Andy Mike and Jason. I mean, it involves a large black hat that you stick your hand in and then you pull a name out of. Yeah, I mean, we did a three person draft where it was just the three of us for week one. And you could pick any player. I actually picked Brandon Cooks. I think he'll be a surprising. Oh, I would much rather have Cookston. Yeah, that wasn't my argument. No, no. My point is not I'm taking him over Hogan. My point was I picked.

Brandon Cooks when I could pick anyone in week one. I mean, there are only three people drafting wide receivers. I expect, I think Brandon Cooks has a really big game. Which is great for you because you're playing against them in our League of Record. Oh, man. All right. Hey, guess what's back this year? Oh. It's back again. Oh. Oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly. O'Reilly. Auto parts. Yeah.

Ah, it's pumped the brakes with O'Reilly back again for another season. It's time to pump the brakes. On a couple of players. On Bilal Powell. Oh, don't do it to me. It's so trendy. It's so cool to love him again. It's awesome. We've gone up and down the roller coaster of Bilal Pal all off season. And now you've got another upswing with Bilal Powell and the Forte trade rumors and Forte's health. Well, Matt Forte is still there and the Jets still.

are not good and I think we need to not get too crazy about this with Bilal Pal and look I see the upside if all of the passing targets are there but it's it is not a good situation in New York and I just don't want to buy in to Bilal Powell as my running back to and lock that in for this season so I'm going to pump the brakes on Bilal Pal heading into the season and look if he's on your roster great

Just make sure you're establishing more running back depth with your team. It's ironic because it looks like he's got a better matchup, but I look at Malel Powell and think he will be more utilized and have better fantasy games against more difficult matchups. I think it's going to be in the games that the Jets are close and they're in the running with him that Forte will be used more. They won't be using Powell as a passing game. So against the bills...

Yeah, that feeds into your point. He might not be the best week one play. For me, I'm pumping some heavy brakes on, like, you know, I'm saying like semi-truck brakes. Okay. I'm pulling the horn. Well, I mean, it's harder to stop a semi-truck. That's why they have those runaway ramps. Yeah. Which is how we describe having you on the podcast. It's one of the runaway ramps. So I'm throwing on the Jake brakes here. The Jake breaks on Matthew Stafford.

What are the- I don't get. Who is Jake? Jake breaks are what you call brakes in a semi-truck. What? Really? Brooks. Really, Jason dropping that automobile knowledge. I don't know. You guys can bet me a lot of times it's Jake breaks. I believe that they are called Jake brakes. An engine brake for truck diesel engines that cuts off fuel flow and interrupts the transfer of mechanical energy to the drive mechanism. Blood out. A Jake break. All right. Well, there you go.

So here are the Jake breaks on Matthew. Man, corrected. Here are the Jake breaks on Matthew Stafford. Someone write this day down because this is, what are we, September 6th, the date that will live in infamy. Remember the sixth. All right. Look, I feel the need to apologize to people because had I really.

looked into it earlier, I think I would have told people a couple weeks ago not to draft Matthew Stafford. He's high in my rankings. Well, here's why. Here's why. I like to stream quarterbacks, and I hope when I grab one that it's a quarterback that can play all the whole season. Now, at the end of year rankings, I've got Stafford pretty high. I think he's my number 11 quarterback. So I'm not saying he's terrible and

an undraftable, unstartable asset. I actually like Matthew Staffordes this year. My whole argument, though, is that week one, I think the Arizona Cardinals passing defense is fantastic. I worry a little bit about their rush defense, but they have looked great. They've got the personnel, I think, to match up well with the Detroit Lions. So I don't like a week one match up there. And then they go from the Cardinals to the Giants.

And so I'm expecting a harder week one and week two. Look, he'll be fine. I'm not saying you can't start him. But what I am saying is that later in the draft of Carson Palmer, who gets to open up with a great schedule, would have been a better guy to start with. That's it. I mean, I don't want to send the message you need to drop Matthew Stafford. Pick up a second quarterback. And if there's a guy with a juicy matchup, play him over. All right. And I am pumping the brakes on the new hotness, Leonard Fernette.

And I'm not, I'm with Jason. I'm not saying you bench Leonard Fernette. You spent the draft pick on him. So you're just tapping the brakes. You, yeah, okay. There you go. Just a little, little nudge ski over here. So not Jake breaks. So I'm not Jake breaking. I am not jack knifing the semi on this one. No, but the red lights are coming on. Yeah. But here's the thing. He's coming off of this foot injury. This mysterious foot injury that we can't really get a clarification of. Maybe he got cleated. Maybe there's something else going on. But.

Coming off the foot injury gets to play the Texans week one. And all I'm saying here is in your flex, we talk about your roster construction in the draft and on a weekly basis. You may need to put a little bit of upside into your flex to offset the week that I'm expecting from Leonard Fernette, which is not a spectacular week. Yeah, I don't blame either.

All right, Blal Powell, Matthew, Stafford, Linterfrenet. The initial Pump the Break segment will bring it every single week. Some guys that we are saying, watch out, be careful. Sometimes there'll be Jake breaks. Sometimes there'll be regular breaks. That was. Pump the brakes with O'Reilly Auto Parts, better parts, better prices every single day. Mike, let's do a little mailbag. Okay, do okay, dokey. Mailbag. Big old bag, yeah.

I think we have a great first question in our mailbag section today. If you are interested in sending a question to the show, go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com, click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. Let's go ahead and turn to a voicemail question to start it off. Wait for it. Hey, guys, this is Austin in Nashville. Love this show. Got a quick question. I managed to get two chargers, pass catchers on my team.

And they play Denver week one. I got Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry. As far as set in to go, there's plenty of good waiver options. But as far as my other pass catchers, I got Beckham, Crabtree, Diggs, and Garsohn. Do you trust Keenan Allen enough to start him week one against that Denver defense? Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Have a good one. Good question. I mean, based on the past catchers that at least I heard. Yeah, Decker, Garsohn. I think you're okay. And I feel like Decker, Garsohn, and Crabtree did.

Did we hear all three of them? You're right. And why not just see what you have with Allen on your bench for his first week back? Yeah, I would as well. I mean, if you don't have other good options, I think Keenan Allen will be involved enough in the offense to where you didn't get him as a touchdown high upside guy. He's a guy that's going to get, you know, four, five, six dinkadunk receptions and hopefully do something. I don't love him. I almost pumped the brakes on Keenan Allen because of. Perfect candidate. So who are you going then?

I would over Keenan. I'd play Garsohn over King. Against the Panthers? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I would. All right. I really would, Mike. How much would I? You want to do a Garcon, Keenan, Week 1, Waterbet? That'll be paid out quick, swiftly. Oh! Waterbed. Look, I didn't get a draft Garcon in our League of Record. It broke my heart, but I sure as heck I'm going to water bet with him. And here's the deal, Keenan, Alan.

I have believed in you for years. Keep me dry. Keep my britches dry. Yeah. Yeah, you haven't turned your back on him. I have not. So don't turn back on me, Keenan Allen. Okay. This question comes in from Dylan Raspberry. Oh. Which is a great name. That is a great. That's a Twitter handle. Which rookie running back is getting too much hype and will end up disappointing owners the most if there is any at.

All there definitely will be. I just sums the brakes on my choice. Yeah, but is that a global season long view? I mean, is that the rookie that you would answer this question with? Yes. Wow. That's what I've said all off season. I just that him and Gurley, I get the allure, but bad team going to be in bad game scripts. Let's so.