The Fantasy MVP Episode! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/4

He's not on grindindex.com. It's a bit of a blessing because Luther Burton's ADP had reached a point where it was just, what are we doing? What are we doing here? I love Luther Burton. I love the potential of the upside. But we're drafting them around wide receivers where I'm confident in who they are as players. Where Luther is, we still don't know. But now I'm seeing a sleeper ADP of wide receiver 26 going.

at the 601. That's great. That's so... That's fine. That's so amazing. I mean, I got to draft him in our mock draft for like the first time of this off season. He was being drafted inside the top 20 in the fourth round just like a month ago. So, yeah, I think the groin actually did make him a viable option this year. All right. Groyne makes me a viable option as well. This is my contribution to the show. Go on. Gonna keep this train moving.

Good friend of the show, former NFL running back, former NFL fantasy superstar. I think he wants to, I mean, I think former is presumptive. I think there's a chance he could become current soon. Could be. I was a little hesitant, but I went with it anyways. I think a couple injuries happen. I think you see this guy on a roster. It is Austin Echler, champion of workouts, a, like I said, an absolute fantasy superstar for a while. The fantasy community loves and adores Echler.

And he's just, he's in it. He's been on this show quite a few times. He has a fantasy guy. So let's see who his MVP is. Austin Echler here in my fantasy MVP this year is Christian McCaffrey. No one gets the volume that Christian McCaffrey does. No one is dependent on a running back like the 49ers are. The upside for Christian to have another massive year like he did last year is right there in his hands.

Yes, he has to stay healthy, 100%. But guess what? In the years that he stayed somewhat healthy in the last four years, three out of those years, he's been a top free back. Come on. Yes, there's some other great options out there, but I think for the most potential point output, Christian McCaffrey, is the go-to. Also, I am running a free-to-play contest this year. It's a fantasy league. If you want to join my fantasy league this year, check it out at Fantasy Rail Sports. If you think...

I don't know what I'm talking about with my pick. Come try and beat me. I'll see you over there. Appreciate you guys. Have it going. Austin Eckler doing his. Oh, no, he's going again. I was like, whoa, he really psyched me out. It was tough because I was in the chat and I was telling Al, I go, really nice presentation on this one, you know, throwing it on the back wall, the picture, and then he does that. And then, you know, the loop, the loop was in there and kept him humble.

So Echler, but really nice. Doing his best fantasy hitman impression going all in on Christian McCaffrey. We don't really need to say much about McCaffrey. If he's healthy, he's healthy is good. If he's healthy, he will be a league winning running back. You know what's really tough is what? Okay, so there are guys like Ken Walker, Mike. You like Ken Walker. Yeah. O'Marney and Hampton, Jason. Mm-hmm. Okay. If you had those guys, Walker and Hampton, you'd rather have CMC.

Is that the answer? Yes. Because, yeah, in your voice is exactly what I'm getting at because I don't know what the compensation should be in a trade for that situation. Like, if you have those guys, there's part of me that's like, I definitely want CMC more. Of course, it could be number one. And then there's part of me that goes, would I really give up that much more than Hampton or than Walker or then, you know, name another, James Cook? I mean,

I find myself in a weird place with CMC where it's like I know how good it can be, but I don't like the San Francisco vibes. And I just, I think part of it is in the back of my head, CMC lost the, like the volume's been there and that's going to get him through and it'll probably be there again. But he did lose some of the explosiveness. I don't know. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you can take him anywhere from the third pick to the...

You know, you could pass on him to the end of the first round. And I think that that's all reasonable. Obviously, Austin Echler, he's saying, I'm buying in. I'm not afraid of the injury. And, you know, as a former slash current potentially NFL running back, he should know a thing or two. Which I did forget about this. We got a blurb. An Echler blurb the other day of him's talking potential. I mean, he lives in Vegas now. And he's putting the bat signal up.

He was like, hey, Raiders. You want some echoes? That was probably during the prayer circle injury fear for Genti. Yeah. He's talked on his socials quite a bit about like waiting for the right situation and also at this stage of his career just being a great third downback. Yeah. Which I bet he could still be great at that one. Oh, for sure. Yeah. All right. We're going to take our second quick break and come back with the rest of our fantasy MVP's. This message is brought to you by Apple Pay.

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He helps host on the Dynasty Pod and our Fantasy Footballer's DFS and Betting Show, one of our headwriters. Let's see who Betsy's got is his MVP. All right, FootClan, it is time for my fantasy MVP. And like most people out there, I love the lion's offense this year. Unfortunately, if you don't have the first pick, you're not getting Jamir Gibbs. If you don't have a pick somewhere in the middle part of the first round, you're probably not getting Aminara St. Brown. So if that's you and you can't get those guys,

I think Jameson Williams is an awesome, awesome pick in the middle rounds of your draft, getting him as your wide receiver two or wide receiver three. I just want pieces of this offense. On paper, they project to be one of the best in football. Their third and average implied team total favored in 14 of 17 games. And that's all with the Lions defense, specifically the secondary projected to struggle this year, especially early on.

as they deal with so many injuries in the secondary. They could be one of these shootout teams similar to the Cowboys, to the Bengals over the last couple of years. And if that happens, I think all pieces of the offense are going to eat this year. So give me Jameson, who transformed into a completely different player in the back half of the year last year, what Dan Campbell took over. Basically, with John Morton, he was just a deep ball type guy, high variance, low usage type of receiver. Guns Mahoney said, no, no, no. We need Jameson's this offense to work.

I think that this self-scouting from Dan Campbell and the staff, they just know how important he is to the offense. So I am buying a player who, in my opinion, is still on the ascension as far as a talent in the NFL. Look, you know, Jamo has been a guy we've kind of heard about off and on for various reasons early in his career, usually not the best reasons. It's been radio silent out of Detroit for Jameson Williams, which is actually, in my opinion, a good thing. Like he's learning to become a pro, learning how to be an NFL wide receiver. And the area was still pointing up for a guy.

that is average 2 plus yards per out run in back-to-back seasons over 11 yards per target two years in a row. So give me Jamison Williams in the middle round of your draft, take him as your wide receiver 2 or your wide receiver 3 and let's go win some foot clan titles. I had no idea this was his pick. I didn't either. I'm a little sad it wasn't Christian Watson. Well, I mean, look, I can't go back to the well and my guy Jamo another year. I would never... But you want to. I would never double up on a lion back-to-back. Right. The lessons learn.

But, I mean, I think we all acknowledge the drumbeat around Jamison, the end of the season, the comments from golf, Dan Campbell being, you know, somebody that switched to the play calling. I don't know, like Jamo Ammon Ra, both top 10, not impossible. Yep. I mean, Jamo was Jamo top 10 last year? I mean, he was close, right? Yeah, I thought. 10 or 11? Let me look that up.

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't consistent, but is that, that's the big question. Probably 10, right? The question is, will we, nine? Will we get consistent? Can I get an eight? Will we get consistent Jameson Williams this year for the Detroit Lions? Going in the middle rounds. He's 58th pick off the board. I mean, he's the wide receiver 25 on the Lions after finishing as the wide receiver nine. No one wants, I love this pick. I've, I've,

completely turned around like early offseason. I don't like the style of player. But when you can have a real high variance player that's that, I mean, this is the fifth round back of the fifth. This is like your wide receiver three. Let me make some notes here. Where's that's how you win a league? Wide receiver 25 at the back of the fifth on sleeper. Okay. Back of fifth. All right. Jameson Williams. You like that in the back of the fifth. Just making some notes for later.

Okay. Go on. Well, we go from wide receiver 25 to currently the running back 25. We switch over to K. Borg, Kyle Borgannoni, host of the Dynasty Pod, the DFS and betting show. He is on there as well. And he is the king of unnecessary statistics. Let's see what he has to say. Foot Clan. For 2026 fantasy MVP, I'm going with Judarian Price, rookie running back for the Seattle Seahawks.

I looked at every single first round running back taken over the last decade. And the only ones who went later than Price's 69th overall draft price, nice, were Sony Michelle and Rashad Penny in redraft. He is being discarded and disrespected in drafts based on simply being behind Jeremiah Love in college and a lack of true past catching opportunities. But much like Ken Bone Walker coming out of college, the issue is not can he be a difference maker in the receiving game?

but his opportunities. Head coach Mike McDonald raved this offseason about the fact that no one on his championship winning defense has been able to cover him yet in practice, and beats have consistently talked about his receiving abilities and wheel routes out of camp. I felt like I was on an island on the Dynasty podcast, but I came away super impressed from his film, the contact balance, his initial burst, and his vision in the open field, especially as a kick returner. The George Halani Hive

though a small but mighty bunch can kindly shut the hell up. Zach Sharbonate is on IR and he will be slow played when he returns. Are we really going to overthink a talented first round rookie running back on a top tier offense going in the late sixth round on ESPN? Give me that value and a player who can be a fantasy MVP in 2026. Oh man. Kyle. Kyle's he does not.

stand for those halani bros you are a feisty man those halani bros shove it sorry to the audience i guess why is horse boy on the screen there's a red alarm and a horse that's on me that's on me that's on me i don't we have a process here in the show where if something goes wrong the horse boy comes up on the screen

It's like the technical difficulties. It's the blue screen of death for our studio. Stand by. Give me a horse boy. Okay, and now let's come back to Judarian Price. I also want to apologize to our listening audience. I set a precedent an effective one a few weeks ago. And apparently it just opened the floodgates for Kyle's loose lips. Now, I will say I love everything. He said it is always nice to get when you're alone on a player to get another validating opinion. I love Price. I love the opportunity.

I still am not 100% sure how they are going to handle Price. Look, they should. Rational coaching says Jadarian Price should come in immediately as a first-run pick and be a Belkow running back. To, in my opinion, to spend that draft capital and not use that player like that immediately is just it's malpractice and you should be removed from all decision-making ability.

I don't know what exactly they're going to do. And look, right now the competition is Holani. It seems like that should be an easy, no problem. Charbonnet will be back at some point. And I think that you will have an interesting, there could be an interesting change. Like at that point has price been so good that they hold off and their love for Charbonnet. They have to, you know, they have to just eat it.

and let Judarian Price keep out there cooking. I think there's a lot of things that could go wrong for Judarian Price, but the ADP price point is at a point where, like, he's in the dead zone, but he's the type of dead zone running back that is still worth a bet with your, with your draft pick. I will say this. His current average draft position, I am very, very in on Judarian Price there. That is not where he is got.