Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Rising Stars, Preseason Takeaways, News, Injuries

here to the Jets defensive line. I don't think their week one is a great matchup, but then they've got a couple of weeks that are all right. The Jets are a team to look for, you know, in that second to last round when you're grabbing your defense, and their D looked great. Todd Bowles going over there, great defensive mind, and they have some pieces. So to me, the biggest Jets takeaway, their offense didn't look good. Their defense looked amazing to me. I got to watch Victor Cruz catch a pass this week. That was cute.

All right, so Eli struggled. That offense struggled. I'm not worried about them either. I think it's just one of those games. Very defensive game. Olivier Vernon looked good. He did. And Decker caught his obligatory touchdown. I wouldn't say Fitzpatrick looked good at all, but we'll just move on. Titans and Raiders. The Titans are going to run the ball this year. Their whole offense looks pretty good, and I don't know if that's them or whether the Raiders' defense looked bad. They moved the ball on the ground.

But they've been moving it, three games now. Sure. Yeah, no, you are right. I told you before the show today that Marcus Marietta is kind of moving up for me as a sleeper pick. Andy, early this offseason, way early this off season. He was like, your guy. You were planting an early flag on him. But then, as you realize that the Titans are not good, it was one of those Carlos Hyde situations, right? Where you don't want. Actually, I want to, I want to pull back because we have Tennessee fans.

think that the Titans weren't going to be good. I said I thought they were going to be a running offense, which I still think so. That's why I pulled back from Mario, is that they're just going to be so focused on the running game. But what's nice from Marioita is that he's involved in the running game. They're running a lot of read option, and he was looking through his reads and pulling the ball down and running, just kind of similar to Alex Smith.

And he's capable of doing that. And they have come out and said they want him to do that. He looked last year like he was trying his best to not do that, despite the fact that he had the longest touchdown run of the year. They couldn't protect him last year. He didn't have options. This year, if they do that, he'll run more. I, you know, Richard Matthews got involved a little bit. The offense looked okay for Tennessee this one. You can go through the entire list. Andre Johnson looked great. DeMarco Murray looked.

great. Derek Henry looked amazing. Does Derek Henry have a chance to be this year as David Johnson? That's the question I have for you because last year you had Chris Johnson led the league, led the league in rushing for the first eight games. David Johnson won people leagues. Could Derek Henry win people leagues? Or is that overstating it by a lot? I think it's overstating it by a little.

I do agree that he could be a true difference maker. The reason I wouldn't say a lot is the difference between what you have in the Arizona Cardinals' offense and the Tennessee Titans offense. The Tennessee Titans offense is not going to be putting up points on the board at the same pace that the Cardinals do. And that was what made David John so valuable was his touchdowns.

The Raiders taking away something from this game. It was good to see Amari Cooper get in the end zone. DeMarco Murray was barely on the field. They came out and publicly said they're looking for the backup. Trying to figure out who that backup for Latavius Murray is. I still feel great about planting my flag with Latavius as you have done all offseason. Absolutely. I love Latavis Murray. DeAndre Washington was welcome to the NFL with one of the biggest hits I've seen in a while. Go Google it. I mean, that.

That's probably my second biggest note was that he got murdered. And what was great, I mean, he got blown up. The ball came out like a folly's video, you know, just flew out of his hands for a touchdown going the other way. But that meant that they were back on offense and he got the next carry and the next carry and he looked okay. I will say this. DeAndre Washington could be a my guy candidate because there is no draft. There is not a single draft.

where I'm at the end and I'm not desperately wanting to get him on my roster because he, to me, could be David Johnson. He's the guy where DeMarco Murray could come and have a great first half of the season a la Chris Johnson. And if he goes down, I think that the offensive line is far better for the Raiders than it is for the Titans. And that could open it up and he's great pass catcher.

So those two guys are good, good, you know, if you're at the very end of your draft, looking for flyers, I think that they're sitting on waivers right now. Yeah, and DeAndre Washington are good grabs. The Broncos played the Rams. We'll get to see this up close and personal on hard knocks this week. Jared Goff struggled mightily. He left a second of, you know, all three preseason games shaking up again.

Not a lot to be excited about on the offensive side of the ball. Looks like Case Keenham's going to be the starter there for a while. On the other side, you know, the Broncos defensive line looks like the Broncos defensive line. They were dominant again. I don't think they're going to need piles of offense on this team. And we now know that Trevor Simeon's going to be the starter. Yeah. So what does that do for the wide receivers here? In your opinion, having Simeon as the quarterback, that seems like a step down?

From what, though? Peyton Manning was terrible last year. No, it didn't matter to me who was going to start. These guys are going to be involved, especially Demarius Thomas. How high are you taking DeMarius Thomas? I'm taking DeMarius very high. I think I haven't been in my – let me pull up my exact ranking right now as we talk about this game because I don't want to understate my love for Demarius Thomas. Yeah, well, I think he's going to be – In the draft that we had last night, I took Demarius Thomas. I got him as my third wide receiver, which was incredible.

And, you know, that was in a full PPR league. So I like how this draft from last night has now turned into your team. Like I tried to tell him like, hey, these guys, you make the pick. And then he's just, just tell me. I just like that you're wrapped from now. It's like I took this guy. It's my team. It's pretty much. I have Demarius is my number 10 right now.

There you go. I don't blame. I mean, that sounds like a perfect spot. That being said, look, the Broncos have thrown 89 passes in two games. They've only run the ball 53 times, which is a little strange. I know it's the preseason. I know that they're testing out these quarterbacks. I think that's what it is. They're going to be a run first team, but they will pass the ball enough. You saw them through a lot of this preseason come out four wide receiver sets. They're not going to be running that as their base. All right, three games left. We're going to talk Vikings and Chargers. We've already talked about Melvin Gordon. He had the big touchdown run.

He looked good on four carries. There's a very good game for Woodhead as well in terms of snap percentage, right? Woodhead was out there. It was every other play. Melvin Gordon would come out. Woodhead would be in. So he is going to be involved. I've been a little bit down on Woodhead just from the standpoint of, you know, if Melvin Gordon is looking as good as he is, and they drafted him as high as they did.

then they're going to have him be that lion's share guy. And while I think on the ground, they will, Danny Woodhead is absolutely an involved piece for this team. And we can't, we can't sleep on him the way that, you know, fantasy owners sleep on him every single year. If you translated Danny Woodhead position-wise, so I'd receive him in your mind, I think you would think of him like. West Welk. Yeah, like Wes Welker.

You would treat him like a slot receiver that will give you PPR production, and that's what he is. On the other side, Bridgewater looked great. You had nothing but good things to say about Stefan Diggs again. Stefan Diggs is the clear cut number one. That would be my number one takeaway from this Vikings game, was that Stefan Diggs is the number one wide receiver. He had some great catches. He had some great moves after the catch. You know, the Vikings' offense as a whole is not really an erred out style team.

So they're not going to be passing in the top half of the league. But it is nice when you've got that situation, like with Buffalo, it's nice when you know, look, there's a clear cut number one. And I'm not calling Diggs Sammy Watkins here as far as talent. But he is going to be, I am confident to say that Stefan Diggs will be the number one wide receiver. And I would absolutely draft them. All right. I want to talk about the Texans and the Cardinals game. I'm going to start on the Houston side of the ball. You had a...

A very good game from Brock Osweiler. They protected him very, very well, and he drove the ball downfield. He was almost perfect in this game. It was kind of a perfect storm. The Cardinals played without Patrick Peterson, without Tyran Matthew, and they lost Mike Jenkins, their other DB very, very early in the game. So you didn't have the best secondary out there, but Osweiler took advantage of it, and I was pretty impressed with him. I also think we saw, again, the evidence of DeAndre Hopkins is a very, very good wide receiver.

DeAndre Hopkins has competition to compete with him now. He has Braxton Miller. He has Will Fuller, Jalen Strong, Lamar Miller out of the backfield. You even saw targets to the tight end. You don't have to just be what Brian Hoyer was last year, fade back and throw it up to Hopkins on every play. You have guys that can stretch the field. Hopkins is elite. He's not a top five guy to me. He hasn't been all offseason. We've said the same thing. And he wasn't for the second half of the year. I think he's great. But I put him more in that Demarius.

Thomas category. Yeah. Where those are guys I'd be picking between. So the Texans, you know, look, Lamar Miller, he's the goal line guy. He's the not goal line guy. He's everything because Alfred Blue is Alfred Blue. And so Lamar Miller's on the field all the time. Oh, man. Got into the end zone. Yeah. I'm so excited for Lamar Miller this coming year. You know, the way that you have, it's so ironic to me because your guy for years has been Arian Foster. And I have had.

you know, deep years-long love for Lamar Miller. And it's so ironic that these guys have essentially been traded to each other in free agency. And I'm going to win that one. I agree. The Cardinals, they struggled again. If you want to continue the struggles from that NFC championship game right into the preseason, it's, you know, that's the perception. Turnovers again, two-tip-pass turnovers for Palmer, playing without Larry Fitzgerald, playing without John Brown.

Are you scared about the John Brown head concussion injuries, the headaches that keep recurring? I am not. I feel like that was Mike with Tony Romo right now. I hope that's wrong. I hope you're wrong about that. I think Brown is going to be okay. Here's what I believe. I believe that Jay Brown for the Cardinals will be very good. There you go. And whether that's John Brown or Geron Brown, who has also looked amazing, the role is secure. I expect that I...

Should have mentioned Will Fuller again. He had another touchdown. He's really beating D.Bs down the sideline. His speed is stretching the defense. I think he's going to continue to have deep shots because that mixture of Osweiler throwing it over the top to Fuller.

It's what this offense needs. And if he can continue, he dropped one too. I mean, he had like four or five for 67 and a touchdown and he dropped a really good pass from Osweiler. You've seen for running teams, teams that run, run, run, run the ball. When they've got that deep threat, you know, it opens up for him, whether that's Sammy Walkins with the bills. You know, if they're running to Lamar Miller over and over and over and then they've got a guy who can beat you over the top, it's going to be open. And Will Fuller's on a lot of waiver wires right now. Yeah, I love, I love him as an upside guy.

Let's talk about the Jaguars and the Bengals, the final game Sunday night football last night. This was a Geo Bernard game. This was a game where he looked great. He was patient. He was good in between the tackles. He caught a pass, ran it in for a touchdown when the O line got out and blocked for him. Geo got stuffed a bunch. I'm sorry, Hill got stuffed a bunch. He had an inefficient game. It's, it's par for the course with this backfield where you'd love to just buy in and say this guy's the guy, and it's never going to be the case there. Well, it.

It could be the case when there's an injury, which is why I like drafting both of these guys. Not at the same time. I think their draft capital kind of precludes you from taking both. And they only let you take one pick at a time. You can't take. I will take Jeremy Hill and Gio.combo right now. But my point is, I like drafting Jeremy Hill where Jeremy Hill is going, and I like drafting Gio Bernard where Gio is going. I am fine with either of them because both individually.

will be very productive, and I think we'll return on where they're going in their drafts. That's a good way to say. But with either guy, should the other one go down, you're going to get, you know, not 100% of the volume, but they're going to get an uptick. They're going to be more involved. And, you know, I think that they represent decent floors for where they're going and very high upside. Really like the Bengals. The defense was very good. Dagwires couldn't move the ball a lot.

I think their defense, the Jaguars defense, did not impress me, which means they could be in a situation where we hope that they took a step forward, would lead more in the running game. They might be throwing the ball again. Yeah, I mean, the Jaguars have looked good all preseason up until this point, their offense. And you said that they were struggling, but did you know they won the game, Andy?