Fantasy Football 2017 - The “My Guys” Episode + Early Targets

This episode is sponsored by prize picks. Football is back and prize picks is giving users a new promo every day during stacked September. Sign up now for guaranteed picks every Sunday, along with profit boosts and daily discounts. You just pick two to six players and then you pick more or less on their projected stats.

I love playing on prize picks. It's great. And the max discount promos are back this season with a new name, Guarantee Picks. For week one's opener, Sam Darnold needs just one yard against New England to cash his pick. So check that out on the Price Picks app now. Download the app today. Use the code footballers to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. Price Picks.

Run your game. If you're a smart business, the right hire can be a make or break. Indeed, sponsored jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. Listeners of this show,

We'll get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now. Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Hey, Foot Clan. Guess what? Today's show is brought to you by Fantasychamps.com. Fantasy champs is...

Our official provider of fantasy football trophies, fantasy football rings, championship belts, all that good stuff. You got cases to display them. You got to check them out. People ask us all the time. Where do you go to get your trophies? And we tell them, fantasychamps.com. Use the promo code ballers to save 10%. To the fantasy footballers podcast. Coming to you from the Playdraft Studios with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Sometimes, sometimes late at night, I stare at the ceiling and wonder how in the world I work with these two knuckleheads. I'm so excited for today's show. Oh, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike, the fantasy hitman Wright, back again, the fantasy footballers podcast. You two get to do this for a living, huh? Oh, man, oh man. I got two crazy gentlemen dancing.

As the show opens up, because this is the My Guys episode. Pumped up, man. I'm revved up. This is, this is plant your flag day. It's like other people's flag day, except this is about us, us three, my guys. I just let you keep going. Yeah, please. Please keep going. There's nothing like watching a train wreck, people. Oh, welcome into the show.

It is the My Guys episode. You see, I got this flag. It's got a player's face on it. I'm trying to put it in the ground. It's mine. I'm trying to plant it like a flower. Tree. Watch it grow. Not half-mast here. It's all the way up. Brooks, how are you doing today? Oh, no. We're getting ready to leave the country internationally. Another country is going to let this guy in. I can't wait to bun. I'm worried about the border. Yeah.

I don't know if I'll get back, though. Yeah, you may be stuck up there. We're going to Canada for the fantasy sports show this weekend. Get your tickets. Yeah, if you're up in the northeast, it's going to be in Toronto over the weekend. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll be watching that big Mayweather fight up in Toronto. That's right. It's kind of a fight. We'll see. You know, I didn't mention McGregor. Yeah, Mayweather fight. I hope. I hope it's a fight.

But yeah, we got my guys today. Each of us have selected three players that we are gung-ho about heading into the season, guys that we really like, guys that we think maybe are undervalued or should be valued the way we value them. So we're going to get into that. Let me tell you about our Sleeperbot channel. If you're on the Sleeperbot app, check it out. We've got a Fantasy Footballer's channel on there. All of our new episodes, all of the articles, they get posted automatically over there.

And if you need a place to hook a league up, they've got a new league system. That's pretty cool. They come out with updates all the time. So check it out. All right, quick question of the day, guys. I'm almost out of breath. Name a team defense that you are targeting in draft. In fact, if you want to add a little extra, maybe tell people what you're looking for from a defense inside of your draft. I mean, I know we make fun of kickers, but how do you think of defenses? I'll let Jason go first because he stole mine.

Which one? Because I had two ideas down for... Steelers. Because I'm all about that week. One matchup. Yeah. So to speak to what you just said, Andy, of like, what do you look for? You look for basically one of two things. I'm looking for a super elite...

Defense, let's say I'm, you know, I drafted first and I've got that last turn and everybody's picking their defense at the end. Then, you know, I'll grab the Denver Broncos because they're a great defense and hopefully. Yeah, and hopefully they repeat. But if I don't get one of those, then I am immediately looking at that week one schedule or possibly the first, you know, week one, two, three, you know, the schedule to open the year.

There's two teams that I am targeting once you're past those super elite defenses. One is absolutely, as Mike said, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers, I mean, they're scheduled the first large chunk of the season. And this is a little bit more abnormal, I think, to have such a run of juicy matchups. But they start with Cleveland. That's always going to be a good time for a defense. Then Minnesota, which is not a scary one. Then you go Chicago.

Baltimore, Jacksonville. Oh. I mean, that is a good run to open the year. I think their defense is improved as well. I would also throw out the New England Patriots because I think their defense is actually very good. They have a couple good matchups early. And of course, just like the Bills and the Dolphins, they do get to play the Jets twice, which is... It's a treat. It's a treat. I'll jump in here.

A name that maybe you haven't thought of, but I'm throwing out the Miami Dolphins. They have a pretty favorable start to the season. They play the Bucks, the Chargers, and the Jets. And what's also nice about them, it's favorable. It's considered favorable for defense for fantasy scoring. It's also favorable for running backs and quarterbacks. So I feel like the offensive players for Miami will do well, which creates a...

positive situation for your defense. If you know what the other offense has to do, you can key up on just sacking the quarterback, get some turnovers. Some turnovers. Yeah, I don't know. That weird. Toynos. You got a toy nose over. Sweetly. Andy, who are you taking? Tell me it's the bills and we'll just do the trifecta. You know who I'm not? I'll tell you who the worst team you can draft in your fantasy draft for defense is the Kansas City Chiefs. Because they're a great defense. I said that seems odd.

It is on. But here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to draft a great defense, a defense you love, that you don't want to play week one. And they play in New England, week one. The drafting the chiefs is not optimal. Yeah, you like them for the rest of the year, but what are you going to do? You got to play them against New England? Not me. So then why draft them? Yeah. Otherwise, you got to have two defenses. Yeah, you got to have two defenses. So that's not really an answer that stay away from the chiefs. I love that answer. I like.

the Bengals. Flacco could miss week one. I like the Rams if luck were to miss. I like the Panthers against the 49ers. Those are all nice starts to the year that I think could turn out well. And then I think either side of that Jacksonville Houston matchup might end up looking pretty good from a defensive side as well in week one. So any other thoughts, guys? I would just say thank you to ESPN for changing it to where.

If a defense scores, it does not count against my defense. Right. Because, for instance, the Jets, who have the most horrific offense imaginable right now, they do have a defense that could score. I mean, their defense might outscore their offense this year. And if it doesn't count against me on those special teams, that's good. Yeah, that's a fair point. So follow us over on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Stay with us all year. We're on YouTube. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers.

And we're on the Fancy Sports Network over on Facebook. We're everywhere that you could possibly be. We are right there behind you. Including Canada. Including Canada. So, guys, I'm not going to get into any news today. We'll cover that later on this week. You guys want to do, you ready? Are you ready? Let me check. Yes. All right. Maybe your favorite drop. We'll see. That's abrasive. Mike, coming in with the very complimentary guitar.

It should be abrasive because we're serious about these fellows. All right. It is our annual My Guys episode. I'm excited to hear who you guys have picked. I'm excited to hear your arguments about them. Why you believe they're somebody that the fantasy football owner needs to put on their team. Let's kick it off with Jason. He's so excited. He's so into things. Let's just let you start. All right. I will start. And I'm going to start with.

A tight end. And no, it's not Kobe Fleener. Oh, it's. And no, it's not Kyle Rudolph. And no, it's not Eric Ebron. No, I'm cheating on all those guys. Oh, oh. With this other fella. And really, I feel like I'm cheating on Andy because you've always been high on him. But this year, my guy number one is Zachary Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles. Listen, Zachertz is a really...

good tight-in. He is a very good football player, a great receiving tight-end. And if you look at the last few years, we talked about this a couple episodes ago, you can write a narrative because he's had these back half of the last two seasons. In 2015, if you just take from week nine on, so the second half of the season, he was the tight-end four.

And last year, if you take the last, you know, the back half from week nine on, he was the tight end number one. And that's pretty good. But of course, the first half of the season, he has not been quite as good. Now, in 2015, we can understand that. He was still new, a young tight end. But what happened last year?

Why last year was it a back half thing and not a front half? Easy. As I was looking into it, you say easy because I know your answer. Your answer. You found another answer? I found another answer. My answer had to do with Bradford getting shipped out of town. Right. Bradford's gone. You got Carson Went stepping up. You know, systems change. You don't have that rapport yet. I am saying that's not the reason. I am saying there is no reason.

I am saying the Zackertz was great the whole year long, but he was injured, and he missed a couple games after that week one. Week one, he came out, he was fine. Then he missed a couple games, then he comes back, and he was fine. So check this out with the Zackert's hate out there. Check it out. Now, you always hear the, well, if you take the back half and you extrapolate that out and make these Mondo super megastats, yeah, he would have had 110 reception pace.

for 1138 yards, eight touchdowns. That would have been first just about any year. But let's not do that. Let's just take all of last year, including the first half, but obviously he missed a couple games. And we forget that. We look at the season totals and think, okay, he was the tight end six. Well, he was the tight in six and 14 games. This is his stat line, including week one and week five and all the weeks where he wasn't exploding for the year. He would have been 89 total receptions at that pace, which...

would have led the league ahead of Dennis Pitta for 9333 yards and five touchdowns, putting him in half-point PPR as the number two tight end overall. He's good. Now you have Jordan Matthews leaving town. I really believe that Zach Ertz is, you know, a top five tight end this season, and he is being drafted as, you know, I don't know, a back end, bum. Yeah, I mean, Ertz is not.

going to cost you a lot. Right now he's in the ninth round. I think that is great value. That's where I want to take a shot at a tight end that can be a weekly starter all year. It's not, you know, I'm giving up, you know, I'm deciding, okay, I'm not going to pick Jamal Williams, the hopeful running back for Green Bay. Instead, I'm going to take a tight end that's going to score a lot of points this year, especially if you're in any kind of PPR. All right. I look, that's my guy. You have turned around and you're preaching to the choir.