Fantasy Football Draft Podcast for 2015 - Free Agent Wide Receivers and Rookies

Obviously, we've got to see where other chips fall. Well, let's move on. Let's talk about Jeremy Macklin, the guy who bet on himself. He had the ACL injury. He decided to come back on a one-year deal with Philadelphia last year, and then he put up a really good season despite quarterback. Oh, really good. Well, yeah, a great season. 85 for over 1,300 yards, double-digit touchdowns, ends up as the 10th.

Best in standard scoring. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ninth best. Why is there not numbers on here? You know. NFL.com, get it together. That's true. I'm not on NFL. But, uh, yeah, Jeremy Macklin bet on himself and now he's going to get paid. Um, where does it go? Is it the franchise tag? Is he staying Philly on a franchise tag? I think that Philadelphia will, they probably have to.

franchise tag him uh because he is going to because he bet on himself and because he won that bet which is not not always the wisest bet to take says dust and keller uh because it all everything paid off he's going to want very large dollar bill signs straight cash homie um here's the here's the thing about jeremy macklin i'm going to give me my take on him um

I'm worried about the quarterback situation in Philadelphia from a stability standpoint. And if you look at Macklin last year, almost all of his double-digit games came before Foles went out when he was getting more total receptions. And so the question is, who's going to be under center? Does Philly make a move to get Marriota? Do they draft a guy? Do they trade for a guy? Does Sam Bradford come in there? I mean, I don't know if...

I think it's... I don't know what the option is, but... I think it's Foles. If they're going to try and get Marriotta, the moves... I mean, I've gone through scenarios in my head, even involving a trade of Lashon McCoy and some other things that are not the craziest ideas. As crazy as it sounds, I don't think it's really that outside of the realm of possibilities. But I... Unless Marietta something happens and he...

plummets, it's going to be Nick Foles. However, you're going to have turnover. You're going to have a situation where Jordan Matthews is improving. Zach Ertz is improving. Riley Cooper's out. Maybe there's a guy they draft. I just don't know how I feel about Macklin repeating that season.

Yeah, I think repeating it might be tough, but I think Macklin stays for sure because I think that the Philly fans need him, love him, and I believe that he'll be either franchised or he'll get a deal. They've got enough cap space and room to do that. So I think he stays, and I'm not too worried about the quarterback situation, because he is the best receiver there, and he is a really high-quality receiver. He's not a physical freak that's going to...

put up, you know, crazy numbers. He's, you know, I think you bet on him as a wide receiver too. But I think he puts that up because he proved this last year that he is a good player that will be consistent and get, you know, the first targets of whatever quarterback is going to be there. I think that Jeremy Macklin's a guy that I would love to have on my team as a wide receiver too. I would love to have him. If I could pay a price for him to be a two, I completely agree with that. You just, you want.

You want in on that Eagles offense with their tempo is just amazing of how frenetic and quick they go. Here's what I know they're not doing. I know they're not replacing Nick Foles with someone that Chip Kelly thinks is going to make the offense worse. Yeah. They're not in a position to rebuild. They're in a position to improve. And so if they bring in Marriota, nobody knows him better than Chip Kelly. And so I believe in it. And I think that no matter what,

Jeremy Macklin finishes the year, assuming he's in Philly, as their number one receiver. That's a great offense to be a part of, and I want my fantasy team to be a part of that. I have one quick, really important piece of information. Jeremy Macklin says he will not cut his hair until he signs a new deal. Whoa. Huge news. So do with that what you will. Yeah, I don't really disagree with any of those takes.

I think Jeremy Maclin is a really good player. I just think sometimes you see different quarterbacks are attached to different people. And so I just don't know what's going to happen there. I do agree with the offense is attractive, and Jeremy Maclin will be fine if he stays there. It's just, I don't know if we'll see the exact. Let's say he goes for fantasy purposes. Where do you think he lands? If he goes, he's going to one of those five bottom feeders who's got the money because he wants to get paid.

It always sounds bad when you say, oh, he wants to get paid. I don't blame these guys. I wouldn't want to get paid, too. So if Jeremy Macklin ends up at one of those five teams we were talking about, oh, man. Yeah, I agree with that. Who's a better receiver just skill-wise for your average quarterback? Would you rather have Randall Cobb or Jeremy Maclin? Randall Cobb. Flexibility. That's basically the big deal there. Obviously, age plays a factor. Flexibility and not having an ACL injury. Let's move. Multiple.

Multiple ECA. Yeah, let's move down the line here and talk about another guy that I honestly don't love talking about because he's so blase. But Tori Smith, free agent, did not accept a very lucrative offer that he could have accepted before the year began. And now he's staring down leaving or staying in Baltimore. I actually think he'll stay because I just don't think he's going to get offered the money elsewhere. But does it matter?

Does it matter when a guy catches 50 balls? No. I feel like it's too hard to... I don't know if that matters. The problem is Trestman is not a deep ball guy. And Tori Smith is a deep... Well, Trestman is a volume and get the running back involved in the passing game in a...

But then again, I mean, we talked about this last week, right? Trisman's coming in and not bringing his offense. So I guess that's so weird. He'll bring some of it. I don't know. I like Tori Smith this year. We're assuming he stays in Baltimore. You like Tori Smith. As a later round guy who is, he won't, people aren't going to really want to draft him. He's that guy that you're like, if he falls to you, yeah, okay, I guess I'm drafting Tori Smith where.

That's how I felt last year. If that he felt to me this year in Baltimore, I would be excited to take him as a three or maybe even a four. I definitely think his potential is higher this year. I think one of the things that played a huge factor in him underperforming last year was in the beginning of the year, Steve Smith was just excellent. An old man Smith just faded and Tori Smith grew. And so I think that this year, Tori Smith is better. But I have a super hard time trusting.

a wide receiver like Tori Smith? I think you guys are stupid. You guys are dumb. I think Tori Smith is Tori Smith. I think he's four times last year. He had more than four catches. Four times. Yeah, he's not a... He had 11 touchdowns because he's a deep threat. He's a deep threat. I just don't... I'm tired of the offseason Tori Smith talk. I'm... This is my own opinion. You got yours, I got mine. And my opinion is Tori Smith is going to catch 50 balls every year for the remainder of his career until he fades off into a...

Where did he finish last year in Standard? Probably around 20, 25. Here's why that doesn't matter. I actually, I don't disagree with you, Andy. I actually completely agree. I agree with Mike's take that he's in a better position this coming year than he was last year. But I also agree that he's not a good fantasy player. That even better than last year, he's got huge games and he's got...

garbage games. And you just can't, you know, it's like there's top five quarterbacks that finish great because they put up these 50 point weeks, but then other weeks they put up five. You don't win fantasy championships with those type of players. I feel like Tori Smith is the equivalent of the Patriots running back situation. You can't trust him before a week to play him and put him in your lineup because you don't have any idea what he's going to do. Okay, so here's Tori Smith in his, admittedly, his start.

Steve Smith was getting everything last year. Here's week six on. Week six, 17 points, 7, 14 points. Week 8, he was injured. Week 9, 12 points. Week 10, 13 and a half points by week. Week 12, 9.8, so almost double digits again. Week 13, 13, or 18.5. Then he was hurt again. So that's a, what, eight week stretch of...

Double digits? Touchdowns. It was just touchdowns. It's not all. It's mostly tough. There is a lot of touchdowns. 65 receptions to 49 receptions. 1,200 yards to 750 yards. Touchdowns went from 4 to 11. Yeah. I don't think it's repeating. And I don't necessarily disagree that he won't get double digits. I guess for me he's the guy that like, oh, crap, it's a biweek. I guess I have to start Tori Smith now. Yeah. I really like him as a three this year where in.

And his touchdowns, not all of them were those 50-yard bombs. He was starting to get the 10-yard slant ends. Well, I will say this. Red zone lows. Every player, regardless of what you think of him, is a value in the right position. I think we all agree with that. That's the fantasy football philosophy, right? Nobody's on your blacklist. If you can get Tori Smith and that's true, I'm blacklist. Yeah, there are definite blacklists. And honestly, here's my only blacklist. My blacklist, Tori Smith,

falls into that kind of a category. My blacklist is trust. Because at a good enough of value, you can get anybody. But if you are going to play a guy that has just as big a chance of putting up a one as putting up a 20, I mean, I guess it depends on your team. But I don't like those guys. So like the Patriots backfield. I don't want them on my roster. I don't want them taking up a spot on my roster because then I'll be forced to make that decision every week. I'd rather just blacklist them. And even if I can get them, you know, get a good running back in the...

12th round it's i mean that's i guess i guess at some point you know then then there is a value to put him on there but it's detrimental to have certain players on your team actually hurts your and it just depends on the type of fantasy player you are you know it toy smith's a fifth six round draft if you can get them in the eighth ninth round then that's you that's where i've i seem i still seem falling i don't seem going in the fifth or six round this year

Okay. Well, I mean, and that's where, you know, and then, but then to speak to Jason's point, it's a matter of do you want all upside guys at the back end of your draft? Do you want the guy that's going to be, you know, okay? Because Tori Smith will be okay. You just might not be able to guess which week. Trust me, I've been beaten by Tori Smith. Tori Smith beats me because somebody plays them and it's the third week.

Because every third week he'll do two touchdowns or something on a Monday night football game, and he annoys you. But, yeah, yeah. So I think we've exhausted the Tori Smith discussion pretty good. But that's actually, I think that's a good thing because there's guys who are easy to talk about, and there's difficult guys. Like Tori Smith is a difficult guy to really gauge what he's worth. You think he's a six-round guy?

I would take Tori Smith, depending on how my draft goes, of course, because I don't take a bunch of wide receivers, but let's say I needed a third wide receiver in the seventh round. I would gladly take Tori Smith. Yeah, and I think that that's probably where you'd feel best about Tori Smith. Wide receiver three on your bench. His ADP will be in the eighth round, and that's what I'm saying. Really? You think he would be. Yeah, I think he'll still go into eight. Last year he's a fourth-fifth.

Was he really? Yeah, I think he's around 55. Well, he'll drop because people have a bad taste in their mouth, even though when you look back on his game log, he's a wide receiver two last year, number wise. Yeah. So. He just, he started, like I had said, he started so poorly where we were all, even I was just completely hands off tory Smith and then he really turned it on. Any chance he leaves?

He won't, I don't think he gets the offer to make him leave. Based on what he was offered before the season, I know he's not getting that after the season. Yeah. From Baltimore or another team. So I think he stays probably. And they like him. I think Harbaugh likes him. Baltimore needs him. So let's talk about a wide receiver that I know Mike loved last year and I hate every year. Michael Crabtree. Oh, man. Can't get out of his own way, kind of. That's how I look at Crabtree.

You know, you've got to blame Kaepernick, I guess, for the season. And injuries. Crabtree's a guy at least that does underwhelms so much, he could perform better someplace else. I don't know if he can. He has always been an injury guy, and I don't think he gets an injury rap. I don't think people look at him like a huge injury guy, but he has let injuries derail him time and time again, and he thinks he's tough playing. It's hard to say let when you tear your Achilles, but I get what you're saying.