Fantasy Football - Free Agent Predictions + Deebo Trade, Combine Chat - Podcast for 3/4

So it's $279 million this year. That means a lot of these teams, even the kind of penny pinching teams, they have to spend some big contracts. And one thing that I find, I don't even understand how it works. So the NFL as a whole must spend at least 95% of the cap. Individual teams need to spend at least 89% of the cap. But how do you hold someone accountable on that? As the league. Yeah. So it's like group? Yeah, if the whole league is at 94%. Who, like, how do you tell that team? You go to the cheap team? You go to the cheap team. You got to give out another contract. It's weird that those numbers aren't the same. Yeah. We said it next Monday. The legal tampering period begins where teams are permitted to enter contract negotiations. Players can officially sign on Wednesday when the league year begins. And basically today in a few hours is the end of the franchise tag deadline.

Apparently, no, I didn't remember this. We do a few shows. I don't know if he knew that. But Jason is the reigning champion of free agency predictions last year. That's right. But I'm not seeing any totals, which means we maybe got them all right. Don't worry about the totals. You get one of these right? That's a home run. All right. So let's start with our predictions for the quarterback position. We have. team opportunity pages inside the ultimate draft kit. It's one of the coolest sections of the Dynasty Pass. Jason. Where you can look at, you can basically, you can look at what teams are in need at specific positions. So at quarterback, we know the Titans, the Browns, the Giants, Raiders, Jets, Steelers, or some of the teams need in quarterbacks. Sam Darnold. Samuel. Where's he going?

Jason, please. Sure, I'll kick it off. This was the one that really shocked you. I have Sam Donald next year playing for the Minnesota Vikings. I don't think it is ruled out that they would bring him back, especially on a franchise tag. Bring him back for one year. That better happen quick. Well, right, sure. But I, you know, this team won a lot of games. They were inches away, basically, or, you know, one very bad game away. from being the number one seed, and I think they don't know what they have in McCarthy. Donald coming back makes sense if they can find a good enough deal for the Vikings. Now, if Sam Darnold goes out and has teams that are just money, hand over fist, we believe in you, we're going to build our franchise around you based on what we saw last year, then he'll leave. But I just don't know if there are teams out there that are going to.

really, really, really do that. If there is one that's going to do that, I think it's your pick, Mike. All right. But I, I don't know. I wouldn't do it. So you're going with the Vikings, Mike. You have him to the... I'm sending him to the Raiders. And with the way that the rumor mill has been churning with Tom Brady casually running into quarterbacks in a Montana ski lodge of all the places. Like, it sounds like... Stafford? Yeah. Stafford, that you? What? What are the odds? I just got off the slopes. Hey, you're not even in ski gear. So I'm not convinced. I think that they will be, I think the Raiders are going to be aggressive and they, it's like the, the news coming out of the combine of quarterback wise. The, the notes on Cam Ward, very positive. At least what's being leaked and I know we're in a weird time of year. But everything with Cam Ward,

that I read about was positive. And the Shadour Sanders, yet, the news yet again was like, I don't know if teams value Sanders the way that mock drafters are putting this dude automatically in the top five. He just, a lot of teams, or the rumors from teams of like, he's a second round type of a player. So if you're not, what I'm going with that is, if you don't get Cam Ward, which if you're not at number one or number two, you aren't getting Cam Ward. then you've got to do something really aggressive at the quarterback position. And so that's why I got the Raiders going Samuel Darnold. I'm not convinced the Raiders like Darnold as their guy. So I am going to, so I can see the Darno goes out, does his tour, comes back, signs with the Vikings. I can see that for sure. But I'm going to, I'm going to take a shot here with the Pittsburgh Steelers, being the destination for Sam Darnold. Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, two former Steelers that are now.

You know, they could bring one of them back. They could let both of them go. We'll start with Fields, though, just 26 years old, started six games for Pittsburgh. They made the controversial switch to Russ. They worked out for them. He was running the football a lot. Mike and I, we have the same team here. We're both going Jets for the Justin Fields destination. They have had some comments about where it's been reported that they like him. He could be part of a competition there. The Jets are one of those teams of like. how do they how do they get a quarterback and i think fields would be a a fantastic bet for them like he he he was winning they were above 500 right with the pittsburgh steel it's just like if you use four and two i believe if you manage fields and his gifts i think you can have a a competent starting quarterback yeah i agree completely um i've got him going to the browns uh if if it happens at the top of the draft kind of like what you're saying and and

or dart if those guys aren't the right fit and they want to take a defensive piece. I think the brands can get might be able to get Cam at two. I think I would be shocked if Cam doesn't go one. Because if not necessarily to the Titans, but it seems like other teams, whether it's the Jets. Yeah, I saw the Giants' rumors. The Giants trading up to one. Those rumors are or the Browns. Sure, or the Browns. The Browns could flip up to one to grab the guy they want. Absolutely. But if they don't, then I think Fields makes a lot of sense for their team. Remember the great trial prior days or moment in time in Cleveland at quarterback? Oh, yeah. Ever? Yeah. That was, those were fun days. I thought he was still wide receiver. No, well, he started quarterback. Yeah, he was a wide receiver. Yeah, he was quarterback for the Raiders. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What a year that was. That's what I mean. It was just out of nowhere. Russell Wilson, I have him going to the Titans and likely, you know, an opportunity if the Titans trade out, they decide their quarterback of the future isn't quite there. Let Russ compete with Will Levis. Let Russ compete. That's the new. Just let him compete. We've dropped him out of the kitchen completely. Let him find his way to the kitchen. I've got, I've got Russ going back to the Steelers. I do too. The Steelers kind of seem like they're going to pick one of these two guys and sign them to a contract. So I've got him picking Russ since they picked Russ Lester. That's how I feel about it too, Jay. All right. Let's look at the, I know what you wanted to push. Yeah, I'm still going to do it. Limited diarrhea. Yeah. Looking at running back needy teams.

Let's go through the free agent running backs. We'll be looking at Aaron Jones, Najee Harris, Nick Chubb, Giovante Williams, J.K. Dobbins, then anybody else you want to talk about. But starting with Aaron Jones, Mike and I, we're in sync again here. We think he's coming back. I'm being boring with this one. I know. I hate doing it, but Vikings is the pick for both of us. It feels like a good move for this team of. Let's run it back another year. Take Jones here. They need. They'll need to draft somebody. There's apparently the, uh, that moment in time that we have with Ty Chandler looking like he was going to be the next starting running back for the Minnesota Vikings all the way to the, they have banished him from the field. Uh, and you had can't makers doing okay as a backup. So I think it makes sense. Get Jones, draft a running back later. Yeah, I could see them doing that. I have him, um, going out and trying to get a contract anywhere he can and I've got him going to the Browns.

Is everyone going to the Browns, Jane? Well, two of the players so far that I've mentioned are going to the Browns. It will be him and Justin Fields. All right. No Brown's predictions for this next guy. Najee Harris, 27 years old, thousand yard seasons, just getting it done, but likely to leave Pittsburgh this off season. And we actually have three different destinations for Najee Harris. I have them going to the Raiders who need to figure out what to do at running back. I have them going to a team with. massive amounts of cap room to be able to spend on a running back. And they already spent cash on a running back. They did, which they still need running back help. And I think Drake May could use a veteran, someone that can come in there and establish it. So I've got Najee going to the Patriots. I got him going to the Giants, which I think no matter what, someone's going to the Giants. So if you got Tracy and Najee showed up, I would count that as a...

potential blessing that you if you're like talent wise can tracy beat out nodgy where tracy beating out one of these higher round rookies is much harder yeah you're saying the free agents would be a better yes situation for tracy than the the rookies i think so nick chub will be departing the browns potentially and two straight years with season ending injuries to me it feels like the steelers are a potential reclamation home for, I mean, it could be Chubb and Warren there. So I will go with the Steelers. I've got him going to the Bears to be kind of the David Montgomery. It's been great if you said Browns again. Going to the Bears to be that David Montgomery to D'Andre Swift, kind of the poor man's version of the Lions. And I got Harbaugh of the Chargers getting himself another cheap.

veteran injured running back. He did it last year with JK got like the productions that Dobbins put up on the contract he was on was like that's a huge win. I like that one for the Chargers. So I'm going to say they try and do it again. All right. Once a fantasy football dynasty darling. Oh man. Just 24.9 years old, but it feels like the career is over. Giovante Williams, I have him going to the Giants. You talked about. I heard you say just 29 years old, and I'm like, yeah, yeah. Feels like it. Javante is 29. No, he's not. It's 24.9. How, Javante? I agree somebody's going to the Giants backfield, so I'll go with Javonte. I've got him going to the Colts to be a backup. I know a lot of times when you're doing the free agents, it's always like who needs a starting running back, but they need someone better behind the oft injured Jonathan Taylor.

And I got Javante going into a competition with Mr. Jerome Ford. I'm picking someone to the Browns. All right, J.K. Dobbins, I'm going back to the Chargers, that they work it out to get him back on the field. I think that was a good fit. And I don't think it will be that expensive. Yeah, that's where he should go. The Raiders are where I've got him going. I've got him going there, too. They are in desperate need of help, and he's available. Mike, you have them there as well. Yeah, I think that they, I think Dobbins. It will be have priced himself out of the chargers. That's just, that's, you know, that's the gut. And good Lord, the Raiders running back position is, I mean, it's so brutal right now. What did you, did you hear the big news though? Oh, they might be willing to let go of somebody in the back. Oh, yes. Did you hear who that was? Was it Zemir White? Zemir White available for trade. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. We don't really want to.

But if someone. Someone pays enough. That's absurd. That's like if you want him, you got to come in here and get him, but then all the gates are open. Like you show up at the facility. All the gates are wide open. The security guards are turned around. I feel like, don't you dare steal this guy. It's like a joke. It's like trying to get someone to clean up your dog poop. Like, I've got a really nice pooper scuba. You should, you should check this out. Why don't you use it? Tom Sawyer people over here? Yeah, exactly. Try it out. All right, we'll take a break and we'll talk about wide receivers. Yeah, the Falcon chimed in. He's like, it'll be a breaking trade where Zemir White and a six goes for a seven. Okay. T. Higgins, he would have been the exciting prediction. I predict the Bengals. Me too.

So, which I think he tweeted and just said tag. He did. He's a funny guy. Yeah. All right. Unrestricted free agents, though, starting with Stefan Diggs, who is on his last leg, quite literally, tore his ACL in week eight, 31 years old. Obviously, we know Stefan Diggs does not lack any amount of confidence in his own abilities. And he could go and contribute someplace in a reduced capacity. Just hard not to look at him and say you're entering your final, you know, you're entering your. Titans Julio phase of life. You know, who's willing to pay for quality old wide receivers? Who's that? The Panthers. Yeah. Yeah. I was waiting for Adam Thieling to chime in. Oh, I'm so sorry. He's asleep. Yeah, he's a nap time. So I think they've got enough money. They're trying to get some weapons for Bryce Young and there's not a ton out there. Big enough for the both of us. Yeah. I will go with the Ravens. A team's going to be sponsored by Metamusel.

When you need to stay regular. Ironic, because the quarterback's name is young. Oh, that is. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm surrounded by old. So you went with the Panthers. I'm going to go with the Ravens. Mike stays in the energy north. Ravens. Ravens make sense. I'm going Steelers. And you win Steelers. Yeah. The Ravens still have needs on the offensive side. They've dealt with injuries. We had Zay Flowers hurt at the end of the year. Bateman, hard to rely on him. Diggs would be a good, like that's the right place to bring him in where you have Henry in the locker room, Lamar in the locker room. Diggs can come and contribute. You know, maybe to a capacity greater than Deontay Johnson did. I think that would be pretty easy. Mike hasn't gone to the Steelers, similar situation there where they have a need. Keenan Allen is almost 33 years old, 15th all time in receptions. That's right. 58 more receptions this year and he enters the top 10 all time.

Now, Mike, I see you have deleted the team. What? The team that you had in here. I filled this out last week and, uh, making a change, may have overlooked it this morning. Okay. I was making everything good because I had the manders down, but with the, oh, with the Debo trade. With the Debo trade, uh, quick, quick pivot. I will go. Jay, you might. I'm looking at a Mari Cooper over here. I, uh, that's a good point, Mike. Well, look, I'll, you, you buy some time. I'll put Keene and Allen. Let me name the guys that he's behind on the all-time reception list. Why are you just talking about all the teams that could use Keenan Allen? He's behind Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald and Marvin Harrison. No, the team, the wide receiver needy teams. Like if those guys were playing this year, what teams would want those players? Try to guess what team I put him on. It's one of the 32 NFL teams. Okay. Plays in one of the two conferences. Whoa, slow down. Slow down. Plays in one of the eight divisions.

Okay, okay. You go ahead and talk about your thing. I'm having them back. Back for a swan song with the Chargers. That would be so much fun. That's what I'll go with. That would be really great. I have him going to the Chiefs. He has played some really good football. The last couple of years, he's looked great. And DeAndre Hopkins is not under contract. Juju is, this is basically, I think, an upgrade right now, even though he's older. for Patrick Mahomes, his play style to come in. This is a player, I think maybe he will take less money because he's at the point where he'd love to just chase that championship. Sure. Chiefs can't afford much, so maybe he'll come in a little bit cheap. All right, the team that I had Keenan going to the whole entire time. I mean, it's the Saints. You've been talking about this around the office a lot. Guys have been pumping this one up is this is my can't miss.

Yep. You've been saying Saints, Saints. Uh-huh. Uh, and then Amari Cooper. I've got the Saints. I think Amari Cooper going to the Saints is perfect. It's just been like Mike. Where is this the huge debate as to which guys are going to grab between these two players? My bad. I will go with the chiefs for Amari Cooper. I'm sending him back to Dallas. Yeah. Uh, Maybe some unfinished business. I don't think Amari Cooper will be really expensive. He could be finished business himself. He could. Man, what a weird year for Amari Cooper to come off of finishing two years ago the way that he finished and then turns into this. It's just a, it's a good reminder to fantasy players. It's really hard to switch teams midseason and contribute. Yeah. I mean, you didn't get like Hopkins to the Chiefs. Okay, you had to play here, there. It wasn't big. It wasn't integral. Integral? Yeah.

Nailed it. I don't know. You can't not go through camp and join midseason and be old. Yeah, and be old. Because I do think you can change midseason if you're great. Amari Cooper was a great. He went to a wide receiver needy team with a great quarterback and did jack squat. Now granted, didn't he break his arm or wrist or something shortly after getting there? Small injury. Yeah. I'm not sure he broke all those things. shattered his arm from his shoulder to his finger. They removed his arm, right? He's played like it. Chris Godwin, we all have returning to the Buccaneers. Yeah, I think we've talked about it before, but the injury that he suffered, I think we'll price him back to the bucks. Wild card for him for me would be the Cowboys that you mentioned with the Murray Cooper. That'd be a good thing. Because I do think the Cowboys, like, I didn't have them as one of my predictions for these guys, and there aren't a lot of great, like, they'd be a trade candidate.

The Cowboys got to figure some stuff out on the offensive side. What did they trade for Tolbert? Oh. Didn't they trade like a fourth or something? I don't think it was that much, was it? Kyle, do you remember? Oh, Mingo. Not, not Tolbert. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mingo. Jonathan Mingo. Tolbert just was their own player. That's fine. Mingo and Tolbert are fine. What was the Mingo trade? Yeah, it was a fourth. Okay. A four-seven swap. Yeah, maybe they think they've got to figure it out. But we're not talking tight ends because there ain't nothing to talk about really. There's nothing real fun. I think they said Tyler Conklin's not going back to the Jets. You care about that? No. No. No, I mean, like, honestly, the landing spots matter more. It's like does Ertz go back to Washington? Where does Gassiki had those, had a couple spike weeks. So there's some interesting players, but it's more about.

With the players who are free agents right now, it's more about where they go. All right, let's do a little mailbag. Mailbag. All right, Instagram question from Mike says, in a dynasty league, would you rather have Devante Smith or T. Higgins, which I think is a pretty interesting question there. It might depend on whether you believe T. Higgins is going to sign a long-term deal with the Bengals, which. It's not a guarantee, but I think it's going to happen. At this point, I think T. Higgins does resign and I'm going to go T. Higgins. I agree completely. Yeah. Wow. You're the Smith guy. I love Devante Smith, but T. Higgins, when he has been on the field for the Bengals, is a fantasy star more than you realize. The injuries have plagued him, and that would be a reason to maybe go Devante Smith. But I don't think that the injuries are just.

a guarantee to always happen. I don't think he is injury prone. I think he's just had injuries. We've seen that in lots of players. And if he's on the field, he is more valuable for fantasy on the Bengals offense with the Bengals defense than Devante Smith is on the current version of the Eagles. TTT. All of our answers are the same. That's dangerous. I said it slowly. The website, we had a question is Isaiah Pacheco, a by-low candidate for the 2025 sweepstakes. says thank you guys rock I think we talked about him a little bit on the footcast maybe it was on the main show but I think we're all pretty afraid that they're going to take one of these meaningfully talented running backs in the draft yeah I would say yeah I am overall I'm very afraid of of his position and what his opportunity is going to be but if you can actually trade low for him I don't know you don't mind it yeah but I mean

It has to be low because I think that he is, him in particular, he's in a really scary situation. Middle of the second round, non-superflex rookie pick. Would you rather have Isaiah Pacheco or the second round? Dude, we are in the middle of. Non-superflex? Non-superflex. I think Pacheco? We're in the middle of our mock. But it's final year of rookie deal for him. So we're in the middle of our mock for the dynasty pass for addition to that's coming out here for the update. And we're in the second and there's. Caleb Johnson gone? Oh, yeah, yeah. He's long gone, but it's just there are, there's still fascinating running backs going in the, like, Ollie Gordon went in the back of the second round. It's tough because Pacheco was so important and so valuable. Right, but then his final year rookie deal on the injury and didn't come back and play well. Obviously, if they were to roll back to the, go into 2025, the way they went into 2024,

Isaiah Pacheco would be great for fantasy. I don't believe that's going to happen. No. He didn't come back strong from the injuries. In the final year of his rookie deal, they need future anyways. And with a deep running back draft class, I think they're going to bring someone else talented in. And then that could just completely ruin Isaiah Pacheco, both immediate term and long term. I love this question here. Tommy Reed writes in on Instagram, who makes you more optimistic for Brock Bowers? Veteran quarterback. Or rookie quarterback. Hmm. Veteran. Yeah, I would say veteran. I mean, if you say, you know, Darnold or, you know, Shador Sanders, it's definitely Darnold. Yeah, that's how I look at it. Yeah, but what have you said, you know, Aaron Rogers or Sardor Sanders? Because veteran quarterback does not Darnold. It would have Russell Wilson or. I think it would be pretty much all of the veterans.

The hard part there is obviously, I think you guys are right. I think in a one-year, you know, redraft scenario, that is 100% true. But if you're a Brock Bowers dynasty manager, do you hope that they make the move for their future now to try to get that stabilized? I'd take Sanders over Rogers, if that were the case. Right. That would be my hope. Right. Well, the nice thing is if you've got Rogers. He's clearly a stopgap. They're still looking for their quarterback of the future. I don't believe this draft class for quarterbacks is great. So I would rather them go with, like, if I've got Brock Bowers from a dynasty perspective, if I get Rogers this year and then they're probably going to be bad, then maybe they can get a quality quarterback next year that over the next eight, nine years is better than, you know, if you're not a Shador Sanders believer, and that's the guy that's falling to them.

then that ruins Brock Bowers or could potentially ruin him for four years while they figure that out. Yeah, that's he's going to play as well as he could possibly play with what he's got. And it's going to be pretty good for fantasy. But, yeah, the quarterback play for the Raiders last year was not good. Right. And he was outstanding. But some more touchdowns would be cool. Mm-hmm. All right, that is going to do it for today's show. We've got 10 things to remember on the Thursday episode, so don't miss that one. And then the free agent frenzy begins next week. Next Tuesday, we'll already have some news about that tampering period before free agency. And we'll have some answers as to who wins the free agency predictions this year. So if you want to get into the action, the Dynasty Pass available now, ultimatedraftkit.com, get the UDK Plus, or join our community at jointhefoot.com. We'd love to have you.

Take care. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.