Take Swap! + Tilt Prevention Tips - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/22

We have a brand new, very fun segment on today's episode. And a reminder, your drafts are coming up or maybe going right now or maybe you've got some more on the horizon. You need to check out the Ultimate Draft Kit at Ultimate DraftKit.com. Dominate your draft. Make your league mates look silly and enjoy today's episode. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in.

Thursday, August 22nd. Andy Mike and Jason, the fantasy footballers, back for another episode. Very excited to be with you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for spending some of your day with us. We appreciate that. And we hope it's worth your time and that you get smarter and that you enjoy your day more. There's a chance. There's a chance that's all true. We do have a pretty fun episode today. We have some news to catch you up on. And we're debuting a brand new segment on the show today that I thought would be fun. And we're calling it take swap. So we have written some rather concise but interesting fantasy football takes for one another. And we have not read these takes. I think what we've done is we've just corrected, you know, course for our fellow colleagues. We have, we see where they are just wrong.

And so we have done our friends across the table of service, and we have written them what they should be saying instead of what they are constantly saying. So, yeah, we're getting one another to put some things on record today. Yeah. Against their will. And they have to read them no matter what. That's the rule, right? Wait, what's on these? I just, I'm just saying no matter what, you got to read it. All right. Okay. Brand new take, Jason. We have. Trying to get me canceled? What are you doing here? See, that would hurt. That would hurt me too. I think we're safe in that department. Yeah. See you later, suckers. Fantasy footballers with Mike. Yeah, this might have been a mistake. A couple of headlines as we get into the quick question. Just a reminder of the Meglabel available open right now. Come and join thousands of Foot Clan members in the largest fantasy football tournament on the planet. And that's megalobole.com. Every footland supporter gets a free entry.

And you can learn all the rules about the league, the trades, the settings, the playoffs. The awards. Every week of the season, we update a standings list. And we often comment about that on this show. So you'll be able to find out how you're doing in the big picture. But megalobol.com. And the Ultimate DraftKit available right now. Go to Ultimate DraftKit.com. Get all of the tools and resources you need to dominate at your draft if you want. You can use the app during your draft. The mark players is drafted to set some players aside as targets and a ton of other tools available at ultimate draft kit.com. Today's quick question. Jumping right in. This one comes in over on X from Trey Snolder writes in. That's the handle, you know. Of course. Do you guys have any tips for preventing or dealing with tilt?

during your fantasy draft, which is a real thing. You've got a plan and the plan can go a little bit sideways. Yeah, we've all been there and we all have our plans and all of our, you know, break glass a case of emergency thing. And then sometimes that glass is like, oh, man. It's already been broken. It's already been broken. Now what do I do with the shard of glass? What do you do? I shank people. Yeah, but oftentimes when you're on tilt, you shank yourself. You know what I mean? You're getting in your own way of successful drafting. I would just say, look, it's backup plans or cry. You either, you know, it's like that's your plan is you. It can be both. You're saying that your way of avoiding tilt is tears. I'm saying that if you don't have a backup plan for whatever's about to happen, you will cry and tilt. I got you. I thought those were like companions. Like if your backup plans.

Don't work, then you cry. Yeah. So whenever you're a couple picks away, let's say you're four picks away, and there's two guys you like. Stop it. Stop it. Your four picks away, find four players that you like. Or I guess then five players are you like? You can't do that to yourself. You can still tier them. We want you to draft in tiers and have that successful. You know, that's going to also. tier-based drafting, which we've got all of our tiers in the ultimate draft kit, that will help you avoid these massive mistakes because you know where the value is still left over. And so you can usually have that value there when you come back around to your next pick. But really, when we tilt, it's because we're not giving ourselves enough options. We're saying that I'll only be happy if this guy or that guy's there. And you're just setting yourself up for failure. Yeah.

My answer was just acceptance because if you're in that situation where everything depends on one player coming to your team and that means, okay, my next picks, a lot of questions come in. They're like, do I start running back, wide receiver, wide receiver, or do I start wide receiver running back, running back, which, what do I do? Like, that's not letting the draft come to you. That's not accepting what's in, you know, what just happened and, you know, adjusting to what took place in the draft. That is, you know, really dependent on everything falling the right way, which will lead to you tilting.

The sooner you accept that that player was taken that you were targeting, the quicker you'll be able to materialize a plan for the future, just understanding that, look, the draft's going to go different than I thought. It happens every year in our league of record, and we've been playing with these guys for 15 years. So, you know, just accept. And I think just really knowing who your tilt players are, and look, they can't be. first or second round guys. They like, if you're tilting over players in the first or the second, then what are you doing? Get a hold of your life. You know where you're going to be drafting and you know the range of guys that you're going to be able to get. And so after that, it's if you know that these are your guys, don't play stupid games. Because when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes as I tell my children and just.

Make sure you get those players. You might have to take a player around early, but if that is your guy that you got to have, take them in, whatever, take them in the fourth instead of the fifth or take them in the fourth instead of the sixth. I don't know. Just know who those players are. Because it shouldn't really be too many. We all have, you know, those few players, we're like, I got to get that guy. Just make sure you do it. And I would also add that, like, you might make a mistake. Like, you legit might panic pick somebody.

That happens. Like you get on the clock and you're like, I don't know what to do. And then you make the pick and then you come to your senses and you're like, oh no. And then you don't let that spiral. No way to recover. Right. When those things happen. Yeah. I mean, and what I'm saying is like redeem the draft. If you do make that mistake, try your best to just get back on the horse to make the right next pick. Implement some box breathing and like bring it all back. Yeah. Or run away from the draft screaming and never come back. Sure.

News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, Mike Tomlin said that running back Jalen Warren's hamstring injury is not of long-term concern, probably out for this week. So that's pretty big news. I did not make any extensive changes after news of the injury because I figured week one was going to be okay for Jail and Warren. I'm talking five or six carries danced around. Yeah, I really just. I think I took a little away from it, but mostly just moved his risk rating up. I don't like campstrings. Camp strings, yes. While we are giving all of this news and talking about, you know, how a player is doing this week, if they're going to be back next week, it is worth just bearing a mind. NFL kickoff is two weeks. It's in two weeks from today. So that is the timeline for when they say they're going to be ready week one. That is two weeks from now.

Yeah, it's a good reminder. I just hear this week-to-week stuff and now I start getting the... Yeah, you get to that second of the week-to-week and you're playing football. It's either a week or if it's week to week, then you're missing week one. All right, which is, I mean, Curtis Samuel. Right. On week to week right now. Exactly. Jalen Wattle returned to practice on Wednesday. That's good. Tyree Kale held out as a precaution. Waddle had been out of practice since August 7th with undisclosed minor injury. Yeah, yeah, don't like that. Don't like that. It wasn't really loud. Why you know disclosed? It wasn't very loud on social media. I went and I was like, what are you talking about? And then saw a couple, a few posts about it from like a couple days ago. But this was not like, look, the people in Miami were not sounding the alarm about it, reporting about it all the time, at least the beat reporters I follow. So I do have to be like, okay, I guess it was a minor injury and they're just letting him be fully healthy.

Dallas Goddard did not practice on Wednesday. Oblique injury. Injuries have been a part of his story for a while. And not that we ever, ever, ever want injuries, but it is one of the things where when Dallas Goddard has gone down in the past, you just see what happens to Devante Smith. It is wonderful for fantasy. Yeah, consolidation of targets. Yeah. All right, guys. Oh, man. I mean, I almost feel like sad music belongs here, but Kendrae Miller, Saints running back. early offseason hopes and dreams. He may be placed on injured reserve to start the season. It would rule him out for the first four games. He pulled his hamstring on day one in training camp. They were already changing offensive systems. The Taston Hill buzz is a running back has been building. You already have Jamal Williams there and Alvin Kamara is the RB1. And Uncle Cremudgeon. Dennis Allen, Dennis the Menace came out and also said, I know he's talented. But I don't know if he can learn this system.

I don't know if he can pick up the system because I haven't seen him out there. So now your barrier to success is health and a coach that doesn't believe in you. Sometimes being a leader means you protect the people who are under your leadership. And you just say he's a really talented guy. It hasn't gone the way that we saw it going when we drafted him in the third round. really excited to get him on the field, but it's been a struggle. You don't think that easy. You know what? I made that up off the top of my head. Really? Yeah. Just now. Like if a microphone was in your face, hypothetically, you could come up with that. Just now. And I have no experience being a coach talking to the media. But you're also not stressed out that your job is on the line and that you don't know what you're doing. Like you don't have fears of those. Yeah. So Dennis Allen, I mean.

Yeah, this is... Get out of my life. Not great. Kevin Stefanski said Deshawn Watson had general arm soreness. This was yesterday. And so he was held out of team drills. Has not made a decision on whether Watson will play in the preseason finale. Monitor this. But if he plays in that preseason finale, you should be encouraged. And then... We are two weeks away. We're two... The NFL starts two weeks from today. The whole thing about... I was hoping to avoid digging in here. Yeah, I know you were because you've talked up the Browns and the offense and some of their weapons. But this is a real problem. Deshawn Watson has been injured this whole offseason. His problem last year was injury. He didn't look good when he was throwing his shoulder. Deshawn Watson, I don't think you understand this. He can be inaccurate no matter how much practice time he gets. That is true. He can be. But this is not good. I mean, you had a report like this on Anthony Richardson, you know.

a month or two ago, which was kind of the expected timeline, but we're right here. I'm not overplaying it. I'm sorry. General arm soreness. I don't want to over. I know you want James. I don't want to. Oh, man, I would love to have James out just for fun. It's one of those things where last year, Deshaun Watson, I didn't think looked good. When he was on, even though for fantasy he had some games, it looked like he had a sore arm. I don't think anybody thought he looked good. And so if he's still dealing with, we're waiting for him to look good. Arm problems in his throwing arm. Yeah.

is very difficult for me to believe he's going to be back to the guy he was many, many, many years ago. Only thing that can make that contract worse is him never playing on it. Yeah. All right. And he's going to do his best. I didn't know this was happening when I brought Deont de Foreman up on yesterday's show and hungry for more. But Pierre Strong Jr., the Browns running back, who was running ahead of him. He was the backup. Suffered an apparent upper body injury at practice on Wednesday. He was placed into an ambulance. Yeah, we don't have any more information as of this recording. There you go. It's just wild timing. And remember, Deonta Foreman, he had his own ambulance ride just a couple weeks ago. So hopefully Pierre is okay, but it's a situation to monitor. Because it, Andy's Hungry for More is correct. If it's Jerome Ford and Deonta Foreman, both of them should have some value.

That is today's news and notes presented as always by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a quick break and come back with the debut of a brand new segment. All right. It is, it is time to jump in. This is what's funny over this. This segment. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I have no idea how this is going to go. Yeah. I don't know how we're brutal or intellectually honest. You guys are going to be. Oh, well, you're going to find out. Take swap. All right, we are, uh, we're going to start with Jason and myself where swapping takes written for one another. All right. So Jason, are you going to read first? I don't know what the strategy is. Yeah. Better to read first or second? I'll go first since it's in my hand. I have the script from Mr. Holloway. Yeah, let's just hear what you, what you've been thinking about lately. Okay. Hey, everyone.

Big shimmy here with a big time breakdown. A long time coming. It's time I came clean. I've put up a front for far too many years. It's time for the truth. If there's one thing I love about fantasy football, it has to be the way we score quarterback fantasy points, especially their rushing yards. Rushing quarterbacks are a true advantage in the NFL field. So why wouldn't they be in fantasy? I'm done kicking against this entirely fair and upstanding scoring setting. And finally coming out in favor of what we all know, a Russian quarterback is more valuable in real life. So they should be in fantasy. Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson, Cam Newton, Josh Allen. These guys were NFL MVP caliber players. So of course they should be our fantasy MVP's fantasy quarterback scoring is as

perfect as my all black wardrobe. Nothing tends to change. And it's about time we started embracing the truth instead of complaining about it like big fat babies. Russian quarterbacks are here to stay. And so this is the very final opinion on the matter, not to be nullified by any future comments on this topic. Whoa. Wow. Whoa. I'm a little surprised. I'm a lot surprised, Jason. Yeah, I mean, this is, this is, uh, it's a big turn about face. Yeah, I mean. It is a very big about face. It's what, uh, apparently inside I've always believed. Um, look at the, uh, the rushing touchdown scored inside the five by quarterbacks last year. Jalen Hertz 13. Josh Allen, eight of them. Mm hmm. Um,

Very impressive performances. I mean, these guys are more and more. I agree. I mean, a touchdown is worth a touchdown, just like it is in all of the leagues I play. Six points. Six points rushing, six points passing. You're right, Andy. We are right together. Yeah, we're just, we're very. I kind of, I, I, I tend to forget about that. When I get mad about the quarterback of 10, 10 rushing yards is a point or 20 slash 25 passing yards is a point. I don't even factor in my anger. is not influenced by, no, there's leagues out there where a quarterback throws a touchdown, it's four points, so they run it in and it's six. It's so dumb. It's the same exact touchdown. Um, here's a question for you. I mean, it's perfect because it lets, I mean, obviously, if you look at the greatest of the greats, uh, you're going to, I mean, who's the greatest quarterback playing right now? It's that listing that I just said.

It's not Mahomes. It's, you know, it's Cam Newton. Hey, by the way, do you think teams will adjust to the quarterback sneak situation? Because we've seen so many scoring on that play, that design play. That has become more prolific. There were 18 different quarterbacks that had more than two rushing touchdowns inside the five. That was an NFL record. That's 18 quarterbacks that got more than two on sneaks. Like we talk about the tush push, Kelsey leaving. What happens when there's an adjustment to that? I mean, are you looking at it? It's not a sneak anymore. If you can see it coming, it's not really sneaky. Oh, I see what you're saying. It's now just a quarterback touchdowns. Just a quarterback run. Yeah, I mean, they're going to try to stop it, of course, but they've been trying to stop Jalen Hertz for two years and they haven't been able to. All right, Andy, what do you need to get off your check? Yeah, I've actually been thinking about something lately. And fortunately, Jason wrote it down for me. So here we go. I have not read this.

Have you ever had those great moments of clarity when you notice something about yourself that you need to change? I think I'm having one right now. Hey, hey, hey, hey, stay on script. Thank you, Mike. And then you never, ever change a thing? Well, that's what I, Andy Holloway, like to do. Really? Years ago, that's how I talked. Years ago, I talked about how I don't give enough credit to valuable wide receiver twos on their team. But the cool thing is, the cool thing is I just keep making the same mistake. Oh, man. Year after year after year, always the wrong decision. But now, thanks to my incredibly handsome and super funny friend in a black shirt, I'm going to write that wrong. Good for you, brother. T. Higgins is a very talented wide receiver. I just haven't given him enough credit because he's a wide receiver too. Last season, he was a second round draft pick.

And what has changed in his situation to make him drop so far in my rankings other than getting rid of Tyler Boyd and his 100 targets? Yes, last year he was injured and Joe Burrow was injured. It was a bad lost year for the Bengals. But T. Higgins is really good. Oh, it's good to hear you say that finally, Andy. Joe Burrow is really good. And wide receiver twos for good offenses tend to crush in fantasy football. And I am finally going to realize my mistake and become a man. Grow some hair on my chest. Oh, yeah. And draft T. Higgins everywhere. Wow. Everywhere. Everywhere. That's your, that's your guy now. And that's my opinion on the matter. I'm happy to hear you say that since it felt like you have been off of T. Higgins with dumb, dumb, dumb opinions. Like I, so basically I admitted my mistake years ago, but then made no changes. And now it's time for me to.

Yeah. Like, just not just admit it, right? You got through the first step of the problem. Yeah, admit you have a problem. Yeah, but there's a step two that you need to move on to. Which I believe is fix it. So fifth round pick right now, T. Higgins. Wide receiver 27. You're pulling the trigger then, both of you. In ADP, I am looking Joe Burroughs, two healthy seasons. He was top 15 in points per game in 2021. Wide receiver 14 points per game, 13. In 2022, he was wide receiver 13 and points per game. The Cincinnati offense, since they have figured it out, which was a few years ago, they have been just, they let it rip. Like they let Joe Burrell be the man for this team. We don't have to get mad at their coaching staff for repeatedly running like cowards. It's just a good thing that despite the fact I'm not sure why my opinion is finally changed on this. Yeah, it is. I think the football is going to appreciate it because.

He's a better wide receiver than you give him in the past credit for. Okay. Okay. Well, it's time for Mike and Jason to swap takes. All right. All right. I've already read one. So, Mike, I'm going to give you yours. First. First. Okay. All right. This is. I'm excited to, too. This is a bad kind of cathartic today. Yeah. I mean, sometimes we got to get. Lord, this is long. We've got to get stuff off our chest, you know. All right. All right. What do you have to get off your chest, Mike? I love stats. I love a good behind the scenes metric. Some juicy numbers.

That's going to help me know if someone is good or not. Yeah. You do. All right, Mike, keep going. But sometimes I will finally admit I get too caught up in the advanced metrics and can't see my nose from my face. What? Your nose from your face. I just coined that phrase. It's going to be famous someday. You heard it here first. I can't see my nose from my face. So stupid. Anyway, I had a revelation. Joe Mixin, the player I have always thought was inefficient and not actually good. And just yesterday I said would be a bust is well, good at football. Really? Joe Mixon is a really good running back. I know it might, I know it mind sound crazy. I mean, I got to read it. Yeah. Me saying that the running back five last year is good, but he is. How good? Did you know that Joe Mixon is the only running back who's been in RB one each of the last three years?

That's right. The only one, not Christian McCaffrey, not Derek Henry, nor any other RB in the NFL only my dude, Joe Mixon. Yeah. And now he's the bell cow back for a top 10 offense again after getting a new bag of money, new big bag of money. What was I thinking? Of course, Joe Mixon is going to be very good for fantasy this year because Joe Mixen is very good at football. According to me, Mike Wright. Wow. That's a big change. Yeah, I feel like that's a rapid change. Yeah, just had a bust episode yesterday. Yeah, well, this is, look, sometimes it takes us saying something wrong to have to correct it. And I think yesterday's bust take, I'm proud of you for seeing it so quickly. Let's put the ADP to the test for Joe Mixing. James Cook, my guy, Joe Mixen, I think, I think both of you are on the cook side of that one. Yes. Yes, I am. I mean.

No. What about Alvin Camara, who I feel like nobody wants to draft, but everybody knows will be better than people expect. Or Joe Mix it, Mike. Because that one's one where you're getting kind of, you're dirty on both of them. Yeah. You can't keep getting away with this on both of them. Yeah, I will, between the two of them, I would take James Cook. I want to chase some youth upside here over Camara. Well, I think it was Joe Mixon. No, no, sorry, Mixing or Camero? Oh, well, that's not even a question. Oh, it's Camara? Very, no, Joe Mixon, very good at football. Oh, I see. I see. But genuinely taking the, taking it away. No, I will take up with Camara. Okay. I'm curious Rashad White because Rashad White is in his own right. He is. Stop doing this to me. He is a can't keep getting away with an inefficient player. He's not on his good in office and he's being drafted ahead of Joe Mixon. I have.

Rashad White. Yeah, where are you with Rashad White? He's impossible. He is 100% impossible because it's now been multiple years of him showing the team he can be a Belkow running back. And I think he's just going to do the same thing. He 100% can. I do have, but I have some fears that they finally have a player on the team in Bucky Irving who can come in and. do the superpower that Rashad White has, which is pass catching. Rashad White is inefficient on the ground, but he's a good pass catching running back. He can make things happen in that part of the game. And I think that if Bucking Irving gets started to work into that part of the game, like that's a huge, huge downgrade for Rashad White. The part about Bucking Irving can do that, but literally Rashad White's the best at it. And that's what kills me about it. Like when I think of what makes.