Dark Horse Teams, Big-Time Questions, Geography Lessons

Pete Carroll always, always has the rose-colored glass. I like Pete Carroll, the dude. But when it comes to fantasy football, he is among the least trustworthy guys, especially when it comes to injuries. So this is really bad news to me. Well, for Chris Carson. Yeah, yeah, that's one in the context of Chris Carson. All right. So you think, but there's one thing to say that he's vague. It's another thing to say.

that he's telling you a lie about something that happened. You then are choosing to believe that he is lying about him being back in a couple weeks, being fine for camp? Yeah, look back at the last off season. You should create one of those paper ring things with two weeks. Okay. And you cut one off every day and then see if Carson's back at the end of it. Carson will not be back when Pete Carroll said he's going to be back. That is my official. Jason, do you agree with that? Because that's a pretty strong take for somebody that, you know, Carson's on a lot of dynasty teams, a lot of keeper leagues. We love him.

Yeah, I mean, the reality is this could very well be the truth. I don't think Pete Carroll would lie if this was the truth. But what Mike's saying is true that in the past, we've had Pete Carroll give really short timelines, really rosy analysis on players that were injured. You know, a lot of love went to Doug Baldwin last year. I was going to be perfectly fine. Because Pete Carroll said, you know, things were great and they were obviously much worse than he was letting on. So it's not good news. That's why I say, quote, worse than.

no work being done because we don't know the truth of what the work was and when he's going to be back. We right now have to say he's going to be back in a couple weeks, be ready for training camp. But it does give it. It gives an opportunity to Rashad Penny to show, you know, to take the ball first if Carson isn't there when OTA is open. And, you know. Yeah. So Brooks just put this in that Pete Carroll was.

Very vague on all details. Like when Carson actually had the surgery. This is bad news for Chris Carson, man. Okay. NFL Network reports Cowboys and Zeke are on the same page in regards to a contract extension that will make him the highest paid running back in NFL history. I want to clarify something that we said on the show with the interaction with Ezekiel Elliott and the forearm shiver and the thing that showed up.

It was not a security guard. It was an event staff member. It's worth a clarity point because, you know, a security guard, police officer, that could enter into a different territory, potentially, of offense. But it's going to get him all the money in the world, apparently. So, Matt Barita, dealing with a slightly torn pectoral muscle. The 49ers expect him to be ready for training camp. 49ers, Rahim Mostert. Colonel Mustard.

required a redo of the surgery of his surgery to repair his broken arm, if you remember last year. Whoa, that was... Not good. Not good with the arm. But he was resigned to a three-year contract because all the running backs. The Matt Breda news, they expect him ready for camp. Not good news on a backfield where you are, you know, trying to basically establish yourself as a rotational player with Jerich McKinnon, Tevin Coleman, Coleman, then...

the newly, both of them are brand new to the team, really, because McKinnon didn't get to play last year at the ACL. Matt Brito was the incumbent, and he's going to be on the shelf for a while, so not good news. All right, Tyler Croft suffered a broken foot. Greg Olson medically cleared. Greg Olson's in that value sleeper category for us on the show. It's hard to know what to do with Greg Olson because you have that three-year span of him just, he'd been great for fantasy football.

And, of course, he had the foot problem this past season. But even before he went down with the foot problem, he just was really not involved in the offense. And then Delaney Walker says he is at 85 percent. Is Delaney Walker somebody we should be talking about more? He'll end up in the, he'll end up like tight end eight to ten or so. Yeah, I mean, he's good. When he comes back, he's probably in the 90 target range. And that's, you know, there's not a lot of tight ends that command that. So both.

Delaney Walker and Greg Olson are kind of the old, forgotten coming back off of injuries that you don't want, but they might be okay. Yeah, they're not talked about a lot. They're not exciting. They're not top five. But they're, you know, when they're on the field and they are healthy, they're probably going to be relevant. That was today's news and notes. By the way, we always remind you. The offseason is the time to come to your commissioner. Rule changes, getting the league in order.

It's also a good time to ask if you're using the right platform. Check out the Sleeper app, the Sleeper platform. I've seen some polls recently on social media asking people where they're playing, and more and more people are playing on Sleeper because this is a platform that always changes and improves. So that's what I love about it. Hey, before we jump into the mailbag, we have a message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration known as NHTSA. Look, you may have said this. I'm not going very far.

I'm in a rush. It's too uncomfortable. Don't kid yourself. There's no such thing as a good excuse for not buckling up. If you've used these excuses, you're putting yourself at risk of injury or death. In 2017, more than 10,000 people were unbuckled when they were killed in crashes. No matter what kind of vehicle you drive, wearing your seat belt is the best defense in a crash. Even if you're in the back seat, buckle up. That goes for when you ride in taxis, when you're using a ride-sharing service.

Cops are on the lookout, and they're writing tickets. Why take the risk? In 2017 alone, seatbelt saved nearly 15,000 lives. People, come on. Buckle up. Do the smart thing. Buckle up every trip, day or night, click it or ticket. Yeah, I mean, I always say that it's just not worth. I would not be able to forgive myself if I took a chance one time as a dad. Right. I mean, that's... It's just dumb. It's lazy. All right. Let's get into the mailbag.

Mailbag. Bag or bag. Mike was about to take a sip of his water. We were about a half second from disaster. I thought that was going to, like finding Nemo doing the mailbag drop. I thought that's what we were going to get. You sounded a little bit like a dolphin there. But you came through. I appreciate it. If you have a question for the fantasy footballers podcast, go to the website, click to submit a question button.

Jason, did you know you can also dial the voicemail hotline? I knew that, but please don't ask me what the line is. 302-464 TFFB, if you want to leave a voicemail question for the show. We are here for the fantasy football community. Do you know why the last four digits are TFFB, Jason? The Fantasy Footballers. Excellent. That was pretty good. That was pretty good. We've done how many? 800 shows. Probably mentioned that 600 times.

So I'm glad. In Jason's defense, I would not know what it was. You didn't. I'm not off the time of my head. You guys just tune out at that point. Yeah. You've done your mailbag drop. Honestly, most of the time when you're talking, Jason and I have checked out. When he says, what do you think, Jason? I go, oh, shoot. Yeah. What did he say? It's like, it was like, it's a throwback to when you're in you, when you're in school. Just me and you're in school. Just me and you. And you get called on by the teacher. What, what, Jason? What do you think? And you go.

Come on, Brain. It's in there somewhere. You heard it. You heard what we were talking about. Important question, Brooks, since it's just you and I here today, and it is the mailback. I got a question for you. Sandra Bullock in the 90s. Were you on board? Oh, yeah. Okay. So that's three to one. Just making clear. All right. Let's go ahead and kick it off with the voicemail. Hey, ballers. This is Alec from Minnesota. I'm the commissioner of a 12-team league entering its fifth year.

but at least four people want to join the league, and I feel bad turning them away each and every year. How do you recommend going about this? Should I start a new league with 16 teams, or should I have some sort of system for people to enter the league? Thanks, guys. Love the show. Well, that's a tough question. It's a league decision, too. This is not something you can just as the commissioner come down and say,

people we've got a waiting list and these are our friends we wanted to get them in forever so we're making the league a lot bigger because going from 12 to 14 doesn't sound like it's that big of a deal it's a very large deal when it comes to the waiver wire and the availability of players and just how deep your roster is actually going to be four people so that you know you talked about going to a 16 team league 16 teams are in

is intense. Yeah. It's fun. That can work. And if the whole league is behind it, then sure. I know in our league of record, we've always had a waiting list, right? We've, we've had it for years. And most years, nobody leaves the league. And so you don't get in. But one thing that we found happened naturally in our league is co-owners. These people that were on the waiting list, they want to be involved. They want to be in the community of the, you know.

We have a Facebook group. They want to be in the group. They want to talk about the league. And they know other people in the league, which is why they're on this particular waiting list. And so, you know, one of the owners was like, hey, I'll take this guy, you know, as my co-owner. And really nobody. They get to come to the draft. They get to participate. Nobody has taken over a team in our league without already being a co-owner of another team in quite some time.

And I'll just reiterate what Mike said, you know, it is a big deal because it will change your league. Don't believe that it won't change the dynamics of your league. Right. If everybody's on board, cool. But your league will change. I mean, it will be different. There's dynamics with that big of a league. And if you have a really well-run league, I understand kind of waffling on messing with it. And you can. I mean, we had another situation where there's a lot of people that wanted in a league and I started a new dynasty league. You know, it's like if you've got the resources of the time.

Yeah, but we call that league Dynasty Jr. Dino Jr. You call it Dino Jr. Actually, I also call it Dino Jr. Yeah, it's a good name. It's catchy. Yeah. It's like the little brother of the real league. Yeah, you guys are both co-owners in that league as well. Right. Yeah, that's as close as we're touching. Dino Jr. All right, this question comes in from B. Kellner, which players would you move up in your rankings for best ball drafts? So guys who are going to get you those just the burst week,

Trey Kwan Smith. Really? Sure. I mean, not that he's way up in the rankings, but that's the category of player I'm looking at. Somebody that is on the field frequently, but a lot of people aren't projecting consistency from. You know, Tyrell Williams last year would have been a good example. Maybe Tyrell this year is a good example. But, you know, you look at the inconsistent player and you move them up a little bit if they give you burst games, right? Yeah, and at running back, I like looking.

later in drafts at the past catching running back that's always left for dead. Year after year after year, Theo Riddick comes to mind. Austin Echler. Austin Echler. I mean, even James White, he's not going to be super late in drafts, but you can have consistent production. You don't have to always have boom-bust guys. But to Andy's point on that, a guy like Amari Cooper, who.

At the end of the year, he's going to have scored a ton of fantasy points. It's going to be a top 12 wide receiver, but oftentimes he's done it in a way that hurts you on a getting wins this week because he just doesn't show up for a game. That doesn't hurt you as much because he's on your bench that week. Side track question. Yeah. I just thought of it when you mentioned Austin Eckler. I just wanted to get your take real quick because he haven't talked about it. Is Austin Echler still your handcuff for Melvin Gordon?

Or is it Justin Jackson? I don't think I've ever really thought of Echler as the handcuff. But he was the handcuff in terms of if Melvin Gordon went down, Austin Echler was going to be the running back who was going to see a very significant increase in his volume. That's what they had done. And they gave him the chance to do that at times and he didn't really do it. Right. But he was still going to be the guy. And then he was injured in Justin Jackson.

rose to the occasion. It was, I mean, essentially one game of Justin Jackson being the started, but he was great. Yeah, he showed well. So I was just curious if you guys had put it any, any thought into Justin Jackson. I would still rather own Echler myself than Jackson in the scenario that Gordon, like you take Gordon away today. I'd rather have, I'd rather have Echler. That answers that question. I don't know if you guys agree. I agree that I would rather have Echler in general. I think what Justin Jackson has done is made it to where no one is.

a true handcuff. I don't think that, I think it would be a one-two punch with those guys. And that's, yeah, I agree with you, but I, Echler would catch more passes. So that's probably why I lean that way. All right, let's go to fantasy football advanced sends in this question. How crazy is it to consider starting a draft where you have the last pick with the Mahomes Kelsey stack? So if you have the last pick in the draft, how crazy is it to consider going Mahomes Kelsey?

at the turn. Especially in a 10 team league where you can still get good running back. So they're asking, oh, like a Holmes, Kelsey, end of round stack. Does it make sense? No, Kelsey and a running back makes sense. In a 1-2? Like you're the turn on the 1-2? Please don't do that. I mean, look, it's fun. It sounds cool, but here's what's going to happen. Your third pick.