Fantasy Football 2018 - The 2017 Footies Winners! + NFL Playoff Picks

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com the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from the playdraft studios with your host andy holloway jason more and mike right welcome in yet another episode we're here i don't have an episode number brooks oh what is this like 520 or something like that you have no idea i think it's 511 oh okay you do know

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Five 11. Find us on Twitter at the FFBallers, Andy Mike and Jason, joining you once again. And this is a very, very special episode. We have the Footy Award winners. It only happens once a year. It really does. It happens in January every year. And we had the nominations on Tuesday. Thousands of you took to the streets and voted, or wait, took to the Internet.

Took to the internet and voted. Well, maybe they could have been in the street with their cell phones voting. We really should allow more like physical voting. Yeah. Get some things. Yeah, we have the write-ins coming. Yeah, they're. I mean, we, I think we established. They're not counted. On Tuesday that this was on par with the Oscars. Yes. And so especially the best picture is equivalent to the nickname of the year award.

And we have all the awards. They've been, all the votes have been counted. Our volunteer staff has counted them for days now. And we have the results. They will be on this show. If anyone is a blacksmith out there. A blacksmith? Yes, a blacksmith. Someone who forges metal. You write. And you want to make us an actual footy trophy? We certainly need them. We need a footy trophy. We need. We just need one to be symbolic to sit on the set. Let's see.

Are any trophies being made by blacksmiths these days? If it's a one-off. I thought they only made weapons. I thought they made horseshoes. Really? Well, you can use a horseshoe as a weapon. The horseshoe market is booming. I always saw the footy as pretty much a Christmas stocking. It's just hanging there. What? It's just a stocking? I'm still picturing a blacksmith pulling out one of those little cheap golden tee ball trophies from his

Forge. Like, how did he manage to get that? They're blacksmiths. They can do anything. Well, um... They do more than swords and horseshoots. I don't know that that's true, Mike. They make big abstract statues as well. Yeah, agree to disagree on this one. It's pretty much just weapons and horsesuits. They're also good with a sniper rifle if you ask Doc Brown. Oh, yeah. Who is a blacksmith?

That's true. Well, because he was a wink, wink. At some point, we should digress, right, Brooks? Back to the, I don't know. I don't know. Okay. So here's what we got going on. The NFL playoff challenge is back. Why don't want to you guys explain what that is and how our listeners can participate with us? Absolutely. So the NFL.com, they do a playoff challenge every single year and we started a group. Right now we're the number four group.

as in fourth largest. So just head over. If you just Google NFL playoff challenge, it'll take you right there. Go to the groups. Click on hours, join it. We also tweeted the link. It's in the show description. You can find it. And here's how you play. You pick a lineup and you are rewarded fantasy points as they play. But here's the kicker. As the players advance through the playoffs, they get a multiplier. So next, if you pick the players from the Saints and they win.

next week, their points will be worth double, so on and so forth. So if you pick teams that are in the Super Bowl, you're going to get a huge multiplier. If you choose Rob Gronkowski this week, you get no points this week, but you'll get two times next week. Exactly, because he automatically advances. And so it's very easy. It's fine. Or if you guys are knocked out, you get to go in and pick new players. Of course, your multiplier will reset. So the optimal way to play is pick who you think will be in the Super Bowl.

and load up on those players. Yeah. I mean, that's the gist. So you can check that out, join our group. I like my lineup. Yeah. It's unusual. I know. I know. Just like you. Yeah. Special. I would, a special lineup. The website is the fantasy footballers.com. The community is joined the foot.com. Guys, let's go ahead and finish off our brackets. Yesterday we went through the first round of the NFL playoffs. I figured it'd be nice to share. Everybody in the office filled out a bracket.

and kind of what we thought would happen. So keep it brief, Mike, but let us know what you got. I have Kansas City advancing all the way to the championship weekend. So knocking up New England. That is correct. Facing up against Pittsburgh. I have Pittsburgh representing the AFC and the Super Bowl. I have Atlanta and New Orleans going through to the NFC championship game. New Orleans taking the cake for the NFC. So it's the Saints.

Taking on Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. However, I went with Pittsburgh as the winner. That was my preseason call. So if those teams are in it, I feel like you got to stick with your call. All right. I went with New England Pittsburgh in the AFC title game. And New England going back to the Super Bowl.

And then I have the Rams actually. Oh, you changed? No, I didn't. Oh, I'm sorry. Rams knocked off Minnesota and they face new. I have them facing New Orleans. Unfortunately, I think it's won and done for Philly. And I have New Orleans going against New England, which was my preseason pick. And I have New Orleans winning the Super Bowl. I am the only one that does not have New Orleans in the Super Bowl here, even though I would love to see that happen. But I have Minnesota.

beating the New Orleans Saints on the NFC championship game advancing to the first ever home field Super Bowl. It would be pretty sweet. And winning the Super Bowl over the New England chalk patriots. My AFC bracket. Yeah. Exactly. My AFC bracket is.

the chalkiest i mean i've got jacksonville winning is this because last year you had the giants winning the super bowl it might be it might be because i really reaction to you were out of the bracket challenge so fast no you want to know the truth game number one the honest right

Well, last year, if you weren't around, what happened was I was really worried about a round one matchup for the Giants, but I liked how they matched up against everyone else. I thought if they could beat the Packers, they're going to win the Super Bowl. They didn't beat the Packers. So they were out. My bracket was busted. The honest truth is this. I wanted to pick the Rams to go much further in this year's bracket. And they are the one that I chose not to do because of the New York Giants. So you want credit for it now, based on saying that if they do well.

You want to say, you know me well. Yeah, I know you well. The hedgeman is back. Yeah, he's back. Hey, Judge, I want to know your Super Bowl pick. What do you got? I've got the Patriots beating the Saints. Oh, okay. All right. So three people like the Saints here. I love the Saints. Four. I just didn't pick them. I would really prefer the Saints beat the Patriots. But they're the Patriots. I learned last year, don't pick against Patriots. Preference doesn't affect the Patriots. They just do what they do. All right. Let's get into the news.

News and notes from around the league. Carson Palmer has announced his retirement from the NFL after 15 seasons. So the final domino to fall would be Larry Fitzgerald. Now that new coach is going to be needed, a new quarterback is going to be needed. Will Larry Fitzgerald return? We'll have to keep an eye out for that. I think he'll play.

Yeah, from, I was going to say from what I've heard from some of the more respected beatwriters, I was listening to Kent Summers. Ken Summers said that? Kent Summers believes that Larry Fitzgerald will be back. I bet he's, 100 plus receptions for a third straight year, a thousand plus yards for a third straight year. Still got it. He's, he's just reserving judgment to see who they bring in as the coach and the quarterback. I'm sure. Absolutely. But if you're not aware, the Arizona cardobacks now have.

literally cardinal backs you did say cardinal backs the Arizona cardinal back well the cardinals are lacking quarterbacks because they have just like the Minnesota Vikings they have zero quarterbacks under contract heading into next year just like we like it yep just go wildcat straight to DJ all right shady will be a game time decision in this week's playoff matchup

That might affect your NFL playoff challenge lineups. You have to imagine. Yeah, he's going to play. He's going to play. How effective can he be with that ankle? According to Ladanian Tomlinson, who dealt with the same injury. He said it's going to affect him significantly. Rex Burkhead returned to practice. Josh Rosen declared for the draft. So did, what, Sam Donald? Sam Donald. Sam Donald.

Cardinalbacks. Goodness. Darnelbats. Darnelbacks. The human torch was denied a bank loan. I need to warm up over here. Maybe you were stumbling over your words, Mike, because your peripheral vision saw the next bit of news. Oh, yeah. That Marvin Lewis. Oh, still tilting. Has signed a two-year extension through 2019 to continue his wonderful run. And the dominance of mediocrity. Marvin Lewis.

Oh, he owns mediocre. Marvin Lewis is not a bad coach. No, no, he's not. He's not a bad coach. But here's the deal. You can't have that type of a run in today's NFL. Keep bringing back the same pieces and expect things to change. I mean, zero playoff wins. You're capped out. This team is absolutely capped out. Marvin Jones did an excellent, Marvin Lewis did an excellent job resurrecting a trash franchise. And he has been rewarded.

Way too much for that. 17 years? Yeah, the last five years or so are still pats on the back for getting them out of the trash heap. Well, and the irony here is that from what I understand, their owner had to convince Lewis to stay and make concessions to Lewis because Lewis was going to leave. Really? Yeah.

So the Bengals are keeping Bill Laser at... They really don't like to search for coaches. It's the owner's least favorite thing. Zip recruiter. Right? Do a bunch of work. Offensive coordinator, Bill Laser, will stay. He took over midway through the season. I will say this, from a fantasy football perspective. And I told this to Mike yesterday when we were having lunch. With Lewis and Bill Laser staying there, there is some stability to...

You know, we talk about the offseason coaching changes, all these things that can impact an offense and what kind of offense you run. I feel like with them staying, I'd rather have the known commodity of A.J. Green and Joe Mixon, who I'm strongly considering as a keeper candidate for my team over a guy like Shady McCoy just because of the potential upside of Mixon next year as the featureback in that offense, depending on what they do with the offensive line.