Fantasy Football 2017 - Week 7 Keep/Trade/Cut, Pump the Brakes, Hype Check

Because he's been great when he caught the ball. So Sean McVeigh, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt of understanding what's great about Todd Gurley and his utilization. So I'm not going to let the ebb and flow of the season dissuade what we saw from Gurley last season moving into this year at the reception in the reception department. And you know how I feel about Lance Dunbar. Yeah. No, I totally get it. But just saying, the last two weeks combined 11 receiving yards total. Yeah.

He was averaging five receptions a week through the first four games, and then he's had three receptions since then. And the problem is that in those situations, in those passing situations, we've seen other backs in the game. So I'm curious. You have concern? I have a little bit more concern, but my concern is almost, you know, a matchup type. These last two weeks have gone up against really good defense.

defenses Seattle and Jacksonville. Before that, and the easier, so I'm curious, you know, this week, Arizona, in theory, an above average defense. So I'm curious if we're going to see this kind of split where when you're playing these really good passing defenses that they utilize, you know, a passing expert, quote unquote, versus using Todd Gurley in those roles and use him more when they feel like there's a very,

easily beatable passing defense. It's too early to tell with a new head coach, new coordinator. All right. Let's talk about Hugh Jackson. Hugh Jackson came out. He said, he beat himself up, guys. Oh, man. For not running Isaiah Crowell Moore in 2016. The Brown's running backs coach Kirby Wilson said he's only scratched the surface. He's not even in his prime. But what did we end up with guys? Splat.

We ended up with a little bit of crow to eat if you know what I'm saying. You know what's funny is expectation says so much about how we evaluate these players obviously and the hype was real with Isaiah Cruel. Was it not? I mean, certainly. When you look at Crowell and you look at James White, who do you think has had the more successful season?

You think of it. Off the top of my head, I would say James White. Your impulse says James White. And the reality is they're ranked about the same. I think 34th and 36 throughout the year. And that's not good. I mean, Isaiah Crowell, you hoped could be a top 12, 15 guy, at least a top 24 guy. And he's sitting there at 36 through week six. So he's been a disaster. And that's come from, do you think it's come from poor performance? Do you think it's come from poor opportunity or is it some combination? It's definitely a combination of it.

I mean, the way that Hugh Jackson has handled this team with all, even going back to last year, just highly questionable decisions. This year, again, with the quarterback, I mean, I know Kaiser was rough those first few weeks, but you made the decision at the beginning of the year that said, okay, we're a rebuilding team. We're going to go with our second round draft pick into Sean Kaiser. You, in my opinion, you have to ride that out, write that out.

You can't do this flip-flopping. But Kevin Hogan, oh, he's terrible. Okay, now we're going to try Kaiser again. It's just these things don't work for a rebuilding football team and a coach that can't follow through with his word or decisions. It's not good. I mean, Hugh Jackson is not long for the coaching position of the Cleveland Browns.

Yeah, I think the Cleveland Browns might stick with them. I think they should stick with them for the long term. But what we've actually seen, if you look at the stats, last year through the first six games when Crowell was impressing and people were getting better value than they expected out of him, he had 74 rushing attempts through those first six games. How many rushing attempts do you think that Isaiah Crowell has so far through the first six games?

In 2017. What did you tell us? 74. It was all big plays last year. And so it's one of those things where, yes, the hype train didn't follow through in the sense that they're not giving them two more carries a game. But he is getting the same workload he had last year. Crowell is the one not getting it done. I mean, last year through the first six games, 5.6 yards per carry. This year through the first six games, 4.1 yards of carry. And it really.

It's pretty much the same as just those big plays. We expected this line in the preseason, the line to be this all-powerful offensive line in Cleveland. And it's just been a mess. I mean, this is a team that's going to struggle to win a game again. All right. Is there anybody else? I mean, look, the big talk in the offseason, Carlos Hyde. Yeah, he was a big one. He's going to have to compete for the starting job. Greg Rosenthal talked about the fact that he could be a surprise cut.

Santa Rosa Press talking about the slowest and most indecisive running back. Tim Hightower took the first rep at practice. It's nonsense. Yeah, I mean, looking back, and we actually said this at the time, especially you, Mike, he is clearly their best player. Like, when you look at the running backs. Because I've watched football. Our issue with, you know, our issue with Hyde has been injury. But you look, he's really good. And everyone behind him was at.

best. The best behind him was just question mark of unknown. And so you got hope, but you have nothing other than that. And so I think you need to stick to your guns in the future when you see a player who has proven it, who is very good with question marks behind him and not overemphasize hope. One worth mentioning is Marshaun Lynch. They talked about him being held potentially under 200 carries. That's happening. I did the math.

If you take these first six games, he average it out over his season. He's on pace for 186 carries. So that's coming to fruition so far. Also, I mean, if you listen to us talk about Doug Martin, my guy for the year, Doug Martin, there was so much hype about, okay, the Bucks GM says there's no assurances that Doug Martin takes the job back. ESPN reporter talks about Jquiz Rogers could unseat Doug Martin.

Brooks, you put this in quotes. Was that my quote? Yeah, that's from the original show doc. I said Tampa Bay bull crap. Yeah. About the hype about someone taking over for Doug Martin? Oh, yeah. All that hype that was happening that week. You weren't having it. Yeah, well, look, if you invested in Doug Martin, you're going, you have, and you will be rewarded for that investment. He's been a 16-point guy the first two weeks. He's clearly the better running back. Yeah, no arguments here.

Anybody else that you want to mention? I mean, Javoris Allen, they talked about him having a nice camp, but injuries have brought that to the forefront. He's been good. Yeah, talk about Eddie Lacey and Thomas Rawls fighting for those early down carries. They're the 85th and 96th ranked running backs through six weeks. Any other players do you want to talk about it or should we get into? Let's get into that Keep Trade Cut. Trade Cut. Well, let's talk about a couple of the, what are you going to say something, Mike?

Nope. I'm just jamming to the music. You're just putting some fingers out there. That's right. Okay. Trail prior, Jameson Crowder, keep trade cut. Trade if you can. I mean, I, you know, hopefully you traded prior after his touchdown game last time. I think we encourage that after his three for 70 in a touchdown game against Kansas City. I would definitely be looking to trade trail prior. I don't think he turns it around and has any kind of season where you can rely.

on him. Will he have, you know, three or four more good games where he's a valuable asset? Sure. But I don't want to have to start him week in, week out. And if I can find someone who does believe and I can grab someone, take a Terrell Pryor and someone else and turn him into a Jarvis Landry type where I can rely on him, I'd much rather go that direction. Yeah.

I'm not, I don't think you're going to be able to trade it. Maybe if you package and you can get a guy like Jarvis Landry, I'm not, I'm also not cutting him. I'm going to hang on. Would you cut Crowder? I've seen him on waiver wires in two of my three leagues. He's out there. Did, man, I'm going with the idea of if James and Crowder was out there, would I pick him up? And the answer is, I don't know. Would you pick up Crowder or Aguilar?

I would pick a bagelar too. James and Crowder is to me a pretty easy cut. I don't think he is, you know, getting it done in the target department. And I believe based on his talent, that's what he needs. He needs to be a predominant target. I would keep prior. I would cut Crowder. Yeah. For a better option. Yep. Keep trade cut. CJ Anderson. What do you guys think about C.G. Anderson rest of season. I mean, that's where this decision comes into play. You.

You got to keep him. I mean, you've had. Devante Booker, Jamal Charles. Yeah, and I understand the three-way timeshare that it looks like, but still three of five games, 20 or more carries. Last week was rough, but that was, I mean, I feel like that Giants game, that's one that the Denver Broncos just have to just wrap it up.

shoot that into the dumpster and move on. What do you do to it? That's crumpling up like a piece of paper. Yeah, you definitely, you put crumple and wrap it together. Did I really? Oh, yeah. You said crapp it up. Well, I stand by it. Which is what they did on the field. I stand by it. Yeah, they sure did, Andy. You crumple it up. They, they crap it up. And you move on. And C.J. Anderson is still a fine running back to.

in my opinion. Yeah, I don't think cut was really an option there. The question was more, do you want to trade him away? Not with running backs being what they are. What do you do with Derek McKinnon? Obviously, he's not a, he's not a cut, but is he a keep or is he a trade? He's, he's a keep for me understanding that he is still in a time share. Latavis Murray is still getting a bunch of carries and a bunch of touches. And Derek McKinnon is have being, he's had explosive plays. So.

Don't expect running back one numbers every single week, but he is still a keep. As the anti-McKinnon, one of the three of us, I am 100% not trading Jerich McKin. Oh, I'm keeping him. He's got 16 carries and back-to-back games, over five receptions, back-to-back games. So if he doesn't have the big explosive play, okay.

He's not going to be, you know, a top five running back like you've seen him these last couple weeks. But he's still going to be good. He's still going to be safe. And there's very few people in the National Football League that are getting that kind of volume. I think that the Minnesota offense is pretty good with, you know, they have enough weapons with Thielen and when Diggs gets back healthy. And Rudolph, I'm keeping McKinnon. I think you picked up a steel off the waiver wire and he will help you win your league.

I'm going to give you a couple tough ones. Tariq Cohen, Andre Ellington. Keep trade cut. I'll have Jason answer this one. Sure. I'm definitely keeping Andre Ellington for now. Last week, the Cardinals were up. Game script. 31-0. They did not need Ellington whatsoever if they are down. If it's a matchup where you expect them to need to rally back, I think Ellington will still be involved. So he's just a hold for me for now. Tariq Cohen, on the other hand, we said trade him last week.

and, you know, get value because his name was still there. Then he came out and got 14 carries, which is fantastic, except he only turned 14 carries into 32 yards, didn't do much, and would have had a pretty awful fantasy day if it wasn't for the fact that he threw a touchdown. I think...

People need perspective on the 14 carries. Do you know how many carries Jordan Howard had in that game? 30 something if I'm... 36. Yes. 36 carries. So from a proportion standpoint for previous weeks, like where, you know, the previous week Howard had 19 and I believe Cohen had a handful. I think that's what you saw. You saw a similar... Yeah, yeah, it's six. So six to 19, 14 to 36. It's back to back weeks where...

The valuable place for Tariq Cohen, which is in the receiving game where you get him in open space, back-to-back weeks with one reception. That's the problem. Both of those weeks with Tribisky. I'm still trading him. I'm so happy he threw that gimmicky touchdown so that his value looks good. I'm looking to trade him, unfortunately. Keep trade cut Jordan Reed. Oh, come on. You got to keep him. Absolutely. He's getting healthier. If he watched him play last week, he's making some linebackers look foolish again.

It's, and it's the time bomb. The Jordan Reed time bomb, but you got to run around the city like Batman right now. You have the bomb. Sometimes there's no place to get rid of a bomb. And you just got to play him. And you just got to let him blow up. Yep. You just got to hold that. And then you look like a cartoon eventually because you're just, there's covered in smoking. But you deal with it, man. Oh, I love you, Mike. All right. I'm afraid to bring him up. Keep trade cuts. Sammy Watkins.