Fantasy Football 2018 - Free Agency Preview + Fantasy Valentines

The Jets, the Colts, and Tampa Bay. Those are the top five teams in terms of most space with their salary cap. And we know salary cap, it can be massaged here and there. They can make things fit. The teams do this. Yeah, players will get cut. When you have the Philadelphia Eagles, I mean.

Currently, they're in the hole. Right. But you restructure a player. You sign them to a long-term deal. Actually freeze up cap space because you turn money into different type, you know, into signing bonuses, things like that. But, yeah, Philly has very little money. Miami, Pittsburgh, Kansas City. Those are the teams, you know, near the bottom of currently projected cap space. One of the reasons why Kansas City found it.

to be the right time to move on from Alex Smith as well. It's the cap space. Yeah, you get the opportunity to kind of get that bargain year with Pat Mahomes. So we're going to go position by position. I want to let people know the difference between an unrestricted free agent and a restricted free agent. We'll be touching on both in terms of the list that we give you. The majority of the ones we're talking about are unrestricted free agents. These are free agents that will have the ability to negotiate with any team.

and sign a contract with any team. An example of that is likely going to be Kirk Cousins. Yes. These players can be franchised by the teams if they're still eligible for a franchise tag, but we're going to talk about unrestricted free agents, and then restricted free agents are players that essentially the team that they were on has a level of rights over that player, right? And so what happens is, let's give an example.

Okay, what's a restricted free agent that we want to make an example? So, AJ McCarran, there you go. Restricted free agent backup quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. What do they, do they tender him an offer of a, and explain the offers here? Yeah, so essentially when you have a restricted free agent on your team, you have the power as that team to extend what they call, to tender them, to make them an offer.

for a one-year deal. And you can make an offer at three levels. You can make a first round Tinder, which this year is going to be just over $4 million. You can make a second round Tinder, which is a $2.9 million contract, or you can make an original round tender. And the reason we're associating with the draft round is because if another team comes along and wants to make an offer on that player, if you have tendered them, you get compensation at that level. So...

If the Bengals decide they want to tender AJ McCarron at a first round value and offer him $4.1 million, a team that comes along and wants to sign him can then make an offer. And if they get him, they have to pay a first round draft pick to the Bengals. Now, if a team comes along and makes an offer, the Bengals have a right to match that offer. And so that is the kind of limitations placed on a restricted free agent.

the team that owns their rights now can decide, hey, we want to let him go because we'd rather have the compensation. We'd rather have the draft pick. Or they can match the deal, and that player comes back and plays for that team. Does that summarize it? Yeah, yeah, and this happens. Last year, the Patriots smuggled Mike Gillisly from the Buffalo Bills because they thought they could get away with just giving him an original round tender. Mike Gillisley was a fifth round draft pick, and the Patriots said, that's worth it.

We'll give you our fifth and we'll sign him to go to an offer sheet. I believe C.J. Anderson also, they made the mistake of giving him too low of a tender and Miami gave him a deal right away to which the Denver Broncos then decided to match and bring C.J. Anderson back. So it's very interesting to watch. Those terms are synonymous, by the way. The Tinder versus offer sheet, those are the same. We're talking about the same thing.

So it's just very interesting to watch how teams negotiate with the salary cap and what value do they place on a player? Do they think they can sneak them through? Yeah, you're playing a game. You're basically playing a game and sometimes you get burnt and you've got to go pay the guy or you've got to let him go. Let's start at the quarterback position. I want to talk about...

the prominent free agent quarterbacks that will be available this year. We've talked a lot about Kirk Cousins. We saw the Alex Smith trade agreed to in principle and what that means with Kirk Cousins being an unrestricted free agent. Now, there were a couple of other unrestricted free agents of prominence that we aren't really going to talk a lot about. One was Jimmy G., who just was extended by the 49ers. The other one's Drew Brees. Now, Drew Brees is technically an unrestricted free agent.

But not really. He's not really because he's basically said he's not going to play anywhere else. He is, I believe verbatim said, I will be a saint. Yeah. So we're not going to really discuss hypotheticals for him because there aren't any that make any sense. But this is the year of the quarterback. It is. When I look at the free agency landscape as a whole, I'm really disappointed. Like I was looking at, you know, digging deep through the wide receivers. You're really? I am super disappointed. I think it's a weak draft, a weak free agent class this year.

However, at quarterback, it's a truly historic year. I mean, there's never been a time where a starting caliber, franchise caliber quarterback is just on the market. And right now, not only do you have Kirk Cousins, but you also have the three pack of Minnesota Vikings that are all, every single one of them could be a starting quarterback for.

you know, at least half of the leagues out there with Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenham, and Sam Bradford. So I wonder if they wish they could just like melt them down into like one super quarterback. There is the whispers in the bushes that they, the Vikings are trying to get Teddy Bridgewater's contracts to toll because of the missed, the entire missed year, which would essentially then take the last year of his deal and move it.

to next year. So he would still technically be under his rookie contract. I haven't heard an update on what's happening with that situation, though. Kirk Cousins is 29, Teddy Bridgewater is 25. Case Keenham and Sam Bradford are both 30 years old. And you're going to have a situation there where the Vikings have to decide what they want for the future. They were a great team this past year, the majority of which was under Case Keenum. Kirk Cousins is out there. He's been rumored.

as a possible future Minnesota Viking as well. I'm curious what they want to spend. Right now, from a cap perspective, they have a lot available. Right now. But if Minnesota, if Minnesota picks up Kirk Cousins, they're making the decision that a lot of their key pieces on defense, they're not going to be able to re-sign them when their contracts expire. So it's a, it's taking your shot. You're going for it right now if you pick up Kirk Cousins.

Arizona, Cleveland, Denver, Minnesota, the Jets, maybe Buffalo, maybe Jacksonville, maybe Cincinnati. Those are the teams that we're looking at saying these are where these quarterbacks are going to go. Those teams are where you're going to see Case Keenham and Sam Bradford land. And then you have some of the more backup level guys that are also free agents that you should pay attention to. Josh McCown.

Jake Cutler still technically. I think Cutler's done. He's probably done, but he's 34. Blaine Gabbard, Matt Moore, Ryan Fitzpatrick. That's pretty much it. The only other case, we brought him up earlier, A.J. McCarran, he's kind of a sought-after, nearly traded to the Browns, backup quarterback for the Bengals, somebody that I think teams look at much like they did, what, Matt Schaub many, many years ago, where he was brought over from Atlanta to become the starting quarterback for the Texans.

People look at McCarron and say, hey, he could be a starter in this league. He could be something like... Do you look at him that way? Case Keenham. Do I look at him? I do not. I'd want to bring him in and have him compete. I wouldn't want to bring him in and hand him a job. Who did the Seahawks sign the same year that Russell Wilson broke out as a fourth round pick? Oh, Green Bay. Matt Flynn. So that's how I would view...

this situation. Mike Lennon of the Bears. Yeah, I would want to bring McCarran in and I would want him to compete with a draft pick. I wouldn't want to hand him the reins to my franchise in a long-term deal structure. He could be very good. If I were the Bengals, I'd be trying to tender him and see what you have with one more year of Andy Dalton, whether this team can make any moves and strides forward or not. Now, the deal with AJ McCarran, he's technically a restrictive free agent, but he is currently in arbitration. He's fighting.

to say that he accrued a season because he was active for the final three weeks of 2014. So he is saying, I played. He wants to go get a contract. And the team is saying you did not. So I believe that's supposed to be ruled on by a couple days. So a couple days from now, the 15th. So that will be interesting if all of a sudden, AJ McCarron is now unrestricted. Let's say you had to name the quarterbacks that you thought had the highest fantasy potential.

Let's say you name the top three from that group. Bradford, Keenham, Bridgewater, Cousins. Tyra Taylor, let's throw him in there because he's expected to be released from Buffalo. And then let's throw him a Karen in there as well. Where would you put those guys? I know we don't know where they're going. I'm going to say that Keenham is probably top of the list. You and Case Keenum. I think Case Keenum is a very good quarterback. Why isn't he? He would be. Truly, he should be my fantasy Valentine. He should.

Stop it. I think he's a very good quarterback and he's going to be able to. He's going to be able to choose a situation that is good for his career. I mean, he doesn't have to go and play for Jeff Fisher. He gets Cousins scraps. That's what he gets. I think he's the starting quarterback for Minnesota next year. I do. Yeah, that means that Kurt Cousins has rebuked Minnesota's offer. You would like Case Keenum then from a fantasy perspective more than Kurt Cousins? Isn't that what you just said?

I guess Kirk Cousins to me is just like I bypass him in the sense that like he is clearly the number one. There's no doubt. I thought you were trying to make it just a ridiculous argument. No, no, no, no. I mean, Kirk Cousins will be the most fantasy relevant move. Does he go to Denver? Does he go to Minnesota? He's going to make a lot of money. He's going to get a franchise handed to him. Yeah, it's just after Kirk. Who matters? One team's going to get Kirk. And then let's say you're the New York Jets. You've got cap space.

There's a couple free agents available. You know, who would you go after? I think Teddy Bridgewater is actually a great pairing. They're a super young team. You know, he's played in cold weather before. So I think Bridgewater would make sense for the Jets. Yeah, you got to go Cousins, Keenham. I mean, I'm very interested, interested to see if someone to give Sam Bradford another shot because he's, when he's on the field, he's been.

tremendous. Let's take this February 13th afternoon and just forget about the injuries for him for a day. You know, let's throw the injuries out. He would be two. Yeah, I agree. He would be two behind Kurt Cousins, but it's hard to roll them out. I mean, there's a lot of love in this room. So those are the quarterback names that are going to be watching this offseason. And before we move on to the running back position. Speaking of love, pristine auction.com.

I love it. I live it. I'm there every single day on the interwebs because it is the best sports memorabilia site of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, and here are some of the deals that have been happening at pristineauction.com, a signed Adam Thielen Vikings jersey, $77, not to be outdone, a Stefan Diggs, a color rush jersey, no less, $71. Even their jerseys compete.

Well, I mean, they're hand in hand. Super Camario. Signed Saints logo football, $81. This is the place to go. Pristineauction.com. Their signatures are always vetted, always authentic. I'm never concerned about that. We just got an email this morning with somebody who literally said their dreams.

came true with what they found on pristine auction yeah so check it out there's so many different items it's a daily auction they have hundreds of new hundreds of new things every single day the prices are unbelievable make a completely free account pristine auction pristin e auction dot com we also want to take a second and thank uh world of warships today look if you're looking for a way to engage in a little more friendly competition look you're already on your phone

So try captaining some of the greatest warships of World War II in World of Warships, the free-to-play historical online combat game from war gaming. You command a massive naval fleet. It is a perfect balance of that action and strategy, which sports fans love. I know I like that type of thing. Every match is unique. It's filled with endless hours of strategy, tactical gameplay, and pulse pounding naval combat action.