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

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It's all right. Welcome to the fantasy footballers. We start our show every week by pouring water on all of our equipment. Congratulations. All over the electronic devices. You might be familiar with our water bets. We are famous for doing what is called water bets. This is something you'll get used to as you listen to our show where we make bets with each other. And when we lose in the case of others or when, in my case...

We get to throw water on each other in spectacular ways, and apparently our electronics have lost a very serious water bet. Thank you to Andy Holloway, one of the hosts of the show here. Yeah, welcome to the show. We are the fantasy footballers. Is it recording? Oh, yeah. Our normal intro man there, Andy Holloway is cleaning up the water that is dumped everywhere.

uh joining us as well the the newest member of our team jason moore welcome welcome to the show howdy pleasure to be here and i am the fantasy hitman mike wright and today we are going to talk a little bit about the free agents in the wide receiver position yeah we're going to be getting into uh possible destinations possible landing spots and uh whether or not we think they're going to stay or whether they're going to go welcome hello welcome back andy

So we're just going to keep going, huh? It's live. We're doing it live? Yeah. It's just like radio, except you could go back and redo everything. But why do that when it was so funny? Yeah, that was a really bad start. I was going to tell you that this is the Fantasy Football's. All right, now I'm back. My apologies to Jason's iPad. Thank you.

As soon as I hit the record on the podcast, I proceeded to swing my arm left, crossed the desk, and spilled water everywhere, sending me out of the studio to clean it up. But you guys did a bang-up job introducing the show in spite of me destroying your electronics.

So, yeah, I was going to say something about this being the fantasy footballers podcast and that you could subscribe to us on iTunes and that we're going to bring you opinions, fantasy opinions, so dangerous that they're not even allowed on airplanes. Did you know that? That is actually factual. You cannot. You cannot put them in your overhead compartment. You have to check them.

And they have to be put on. TSA has banned our opinions. iTunes doesn't even play our podcast in, you know, above 10,000 feet. That's right. It's too, too dangerous. And honestly, what's more dangerous than February 10th fantasy football opinions? Predictions about where three ages ago is a dangerous proposition. Where some of the other podcasts have maybe taken a little break. Ladies. We're not taking a break. No way.

Because the football season is year-round. And we've already talked about this last week. The scouting combine is coming up. Free agency is coming up. We'll pretty much be drafting before you know it. So today we're going to look at some of the wide receivers that are free agents where they might land. And what we think that will mean to the offenses they're involved with right now. That is correct. And where they might be going. And this is an area that I guess I'll start by saying this. Free agency is really exciting.

For football fans and for fantasy football players. I agree. But the question is, does it deliver on its promise in fantasy world? Almost never does it deliver? I know. It's a shame. In reality, we always, we want to project based on a person's talent going someplace else. But more often than not, we end up with an Eric Decker.

and not a Vincent Jackson. Well, I think that's one of the most important things people are going to get out of this show. If you're listening to this, first of all, congratulations on winning your league. But second, I think that what you're going to get out is more about the process than the predictions, seeing why we're predicting certain things and avoiding fallacies that I think we all want to make. We all want to...

follow that talent of a guy, but we can take a step back and look at why it's going to fail or why a less talented guy is going to succeed. And that's going to be one of the big things that are gained from a show like this. I think one of the things we like to do is we apply from other sports of a free agency for football to take like basketball. When a guy moves...

James Hardin, for example, right? Hardin gets signed and he becomes a superstar in his new place because it's a one guy. Yeah, and it's much easier for that player, or like baseball. I mean, baseball is a team sport, but it's essentially one-on-one. So a guy, if he can hit here, maybe a park is more or less suited for a hitter, but he's still going to be able to make contact with the ball where football is completely team-oriented. And if you're a skill position player, you are so heavily reliant on...

Quarterback play. Especially wide receivers. I mean, a running back might be able to do it, but wide receivers, you are as good as your quarterback. And we saw that. There's only been a couple of wide receivers that have become free agents, gone to a new team, and then been a pro bowl. Emmanuel Sanders was won. He's actually a Pro Bowl alternate. So.

We'll give that to Peyton Manning. I think my mom was a Pro Bowl alternative. That's true. That's true. And then Vincent Jackson, when he left San Diego and he went to Tampa was a pro bowler. But other than that, we see a lot more Eric Decker's. We see a lot more high-profile guys that want to get paid. Greg Jennings. Greg Jennings. Guys that want to get paid. And so you're staring down a list of a lot of guys this year that are in the same boat, especially guys like Randall Cobb, who...

I don't know if he's going to be back, and that means a lot of things for his fantasy value. So I guess what we're saying is pump the brakes on the hype train and use your brain and realize that if a guy like Emmanuel Sanders is going to a team with a good quarterback, you have a lot better chance than Tennessee Jacksonville. Offensive scheme, are they run heavy and whatnot? Yep.

I guess let's get into some of the big free agents here and just talk through what we think is going to happen with them and the implications for next year. I think at the top of that list has to be Des Bryant. Is his full name, Desmond? It is now. I don't know. If it is, he should really be Desmond Bryant. That's official. That's official. Desmond Bryant. You heard it here. It is Desmond. That's a great name. Desmond Demand Bryant. Oh.

Dude, that's ferocious. Yeah. Des for short. But so last year he put up a stat line of 88 catches 1,320 yards and 16. 16 touchdowns. That is just a beastosaurus. Yeah, he's probably the most physical receiver in the NFL now. And he's a monster to take down in the open field, which is great for after the catch numbers.

And his ceiling is, he's still on the ascent. Yeah. I mean, that matters. When you're talking touchdowns, when they get to the two-yard line, the Cowboys, why they were so dangerous because they had to Marco Murray. But they also have that little out route. They run Des, and he bodies them out like basketball. You know.

boxes them out and it's nearly unstoppable you're not going to pick it off you can throw that three times in a row and you're going to get one yeah and it's not like a fade where it's a i'm not a big fan of the fade i always feel like it's a low percentage throw but but that box out moved by bryant has got to be a 70 to 80 percent completion rate so

All indications, I think we'd agree, is that Des is going to be back in Dallas. Yeah, he is not a free agent. He'll either be signed long term or they're going to franchise him. Yeah, he's a cowboy. The real question with Des Bryant and his value is DeMarco Murray, but that's maybe for a different show. Well, yeah, possibly. I mean, the question I guess would be he went 88 for 1320 and 16 touchdowns, like Mike said. Does he repeat that? I don't think there's any reason to believe he won't.

in that offense. Not a lot of instability there from a personnel standpoint. I know DeMarco, but he put up those numbers pretty similar. Brian, I believe, has had double-digit touchdowns three years in a row now. Yeah, you can't chase the touchdowns. I mean, those are going to be different. You know he's going to be getting touchdowns.

The yards, I think he could still improve on. In fact, I expect him to improve on his yards next year. So taking the touchdowns out, just knowing he's a huge touchdown threat, I actually like drafting Des higher than I did last year. Top three, for sure. Top three? Yeah. I mean, that's where I put him. Yeah, I don't disagree at all. I think he's in the discussion with, I mean, probably. Demarius Thomas.

That's a good question. Calvin or Des? We'll say redraft. In a redraft league. I lean Des. I would take Des, for sure. Less question marks. A little less injury. I mean, just on the upside of career versus maybe the downside, maybe the plateau. I don't know. It's hard. It's, you know, it's actually unfair to Calvin to say that because it's not like Calvin went out and underwhelmed. He just went out and got hurt. Yes.

but based on the offense and how well they played last year versus Caldwell and Detroit and them having some up and downs. Yeah, I like Des just a little bit more. Any other thoughts on Dallas or Des? I had Dez as my number one receiver last year. It took him. How'd that go for you when we made that bet? Not well. I mean, I lost. What did he end up? Three?

Yeah, it must have been... Let's pull that up real quick. He had to have been top four at the very worst. Yeah, I mean, Antonio Brown was number one. Oh, my goodness, Antonio Brown. Monster. Number four. Yeah, okay. So, who is the head of Demarius? Demarius. Tonyo Brown. Jordy? Jordy. Jordy Nelson. Yeah. No wonder you won our league. You had Jordy and Antonio Brown. And does.

but yeah he's in he's going he'll be in my top three all right let's move on to somebody who has a no better track record than demarius thomas um but maybe this is just me but for some reason i feel like people are less attracted to him now than they were um should they be he was 11 for he actually performed better last year than he had ever performed