Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - The Rookie Show, Fantasy Outlook, Draft Day Foods

Last year for Dallas, and obviously he showed that he's got the chops. But it was the perfect rookie candidate went to the absolute ideal situation. And that doesn't exist this year. I think that the best fantasy situation would be if somehow a three-down guy went to Oakland and took over. But we're going to talk about that stuff on Thursday. My favorites, higher level.

guy of this draft that I'm most interested in is I really like Christian McCaffrey. I think that he is an all-around guy. He was absolutely dominant at the college level, and what I love on top of him, I mean, he had a year with 2,000 yards rushing, so it's not like he can't get it done on the ground. But in the receiving game, absolutely incredible, a year with 45 receptions, 37 receptions. I know it's kind of...

It's become a little bit in vogue to like Christian McCaffrey, but I don't see why that's a bad thing to do. I think that this group who likes him, I'm on board with that. He's the most interesting name for the first round for me. Well, he's certainly the most well-rounded, without a doubt. There's nobody who can, you know, run up the middle.

run to the side, can run out of shotgun, can run out of, you know, the eye formation. Blue up the combine. Can catch the ball as well. Can play on special teams. I mean, he could be a wide receiver. He could, there's no better, more well-rounded player in this year's draft. And really.

You know, when you're just talking about well-rounded, he's even more well-rounded than Zeke, but he is not as special or as built for the workload. And that's my worry, I will say, with Christian McCaffrey. In half-point and full-point PPR leagues, you're going to get a bonus from him because any team drafting him is going to use him in the passing game. He is his hands. I mean, when he catches the ball, it's like a wide receiver, just effortless.

thoughtless, just the ball sticks to him and he moves. The problem that I have is that just because we draft Knicks watch the game tape and argue that he can run it up the middle and he can get 20 carries a game, we can scream all day that that can happen and be frustrated that coach isn't doing it. But it doesn't change the fact that coaches might not.

want to give that workload to a guy, you know, that's not 220 pounds. And he could easily end up in a situation where he is, you know, he's not going to walk in and take three downs someplace. You know, he could go to a Denver and end up sharing time with C.J. Anderson and with Booker.

He's 20 years old. He's two years younger than Leonard Fournett. Fornett and Dalvin Cook are the other two big names in the first round. I love Leonard Fournett as a game-changing type of running back that, look, what did Adrian Peterson show people? And I'm not saying Leonard Fornett is Adrian Peterson, but what he showed people were these big monster, weak-winning fantasy football plays. And the speed and size combination of Leonard Fournette tells me you're going to get some of those in year one, regardless of landing spot, regardless of volume.

Now, I think a team that's drafting him is going to take him in the top 10, 15 picks at worst. So that's going to necessitate by draft position a high volume and workload for Leonard Fournette. I think he's got the body and the size to sustain an NFL workload. It's why he's at the top of my board. I respect the fantasy realities of a guy like Dalvin Cook and Christian McCaffrey to be instantaneously involved in the passing game.

It's very possible these guys are all competing for the fantasy crown, so to speak, as rookies. But for Nets, the big guy for me, literally, figuratively. Gigantic. I just love everything about him. We don't see a usage in the passing game in college. It doesn't mean it cannot happen, but the likelihood of that happening is lower. Yeah, what we have seen from him past skills-wise is that he can.

do the job. He's not the same as a Christian McCaffrey. I'm not saying he's... Wouldn't you say Gurley can do the job, but he's not... He doesn't excel at it. Is that the same type of thing? I feel like we had data on him just watching him in college. He was used. That's why it was... Gurley was so bizarre his rookie year that...

Jeff Fisher was not dialing up plays to throw to his best player. Well, I was just kind of, I thought I was adding to your point. No, I actually do. I think that you are, that you make a very good analogy. I would say they both are in the same realm of.

When it comes to being capable of catching the ball, they're both capable. That's not their strength. Not necessarily featured. Right. Gurley had a 37 reception year, his sophomore year. Okay. Which is all right. And so, you know, it's exactly what McCaffrey had last year. For Leonard For Nortonet, I would be surprised. And we don't know where he's drafted yet. But even now, I can say I will be surprised if he doesn't get 250 carries.

I mean, you're getting a guy to build an offense around. And the thing that I like about him the most, more than metrics, more than, you know, the fact that his weight adjusted speed score is unbelievable is that from high school, probably even from grade school, this guy was talked about as one of those generational type of players. And he did it. His kindergarten scouting was great.

He came in as the top recruit into college. And all he did in college was crush college players and show that he was one of the most dominant college running backs. When you've got a guy that's just done that his whole life has never slowed down and now the NFL circles love this guy. And if he's drafted high, I don't see a reason why.

You know, we want to look at film and find all the flaws and guys, and there are certain things he can't do. Personally, when I watch it and some people disagree, I genuinely think he struggles and is not special out of shotgun. That's just what I see on film. That's what I think the numbers back up. I'm not saying he forgets how to run, but that's not his specialty. But he is going to be drafted, made the centerpiece of an offense, given the ball, and I think he's going to crush it.

So I'm with you, Andy. He is my number one running back for sure in this class. And I love McCaffrey as well. So that leaves Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook has a few off the field potential concerns, baggage that comes along with him. He's also 510, 210 undersized, but a weapon in all facets. I mean, he was obviously a very dominant player. You put him in a wide open type of offense. You put him in a position where I keep saying Philadelphia. I know we're going to talk about fits. I think that's a great fit for Dalvin Cook.

But I do think that there's the potential for Dalvin Cook to drop in this draft. Certainly. Because if the match isn't there for Dalvin Cook with the teams on the board, I think he's the kind of guy that could slide in this draft for sure. And if you were not paying attention, which if you're listening to a fantasy football podcast in April, you probably were. Dalvin Cook quickly fell down people's draft boards for dynasty drafts when he sucked.

off the combine. I mean, his numbers were startling. When you watch them on tape, it just did not match with what he was able to produce at the combine for athletic measurables. You know what's funny is... Why don't they run the 40 with pads? Why isn't that like a statistic? They really should. Why isn't that like another metric? They shouldn't even run it without pads. Like, they should just change it over to get in your...

you know, your football, grab the football. Get in your football? Like Cinderella? Climb into the... I took the football to the ball. You know, get in your uniform and run. I mean, that's... I mean, that's how you play, right? If you're a running back, you should have the ball in your hands. Sure. And run. But, yeah, anyways, you know, Dalvin Cook, to me, and I'm not going to be popular for saying this. Oh. You know, I don't...

see when i when i watch his highlights the dude is electric uh he has so many breakaway plays and clearly is fast i mean and and that he didn't have a problem with at the combine um the i think he ran what a four four nine but he did not look to me like a guy that i could trust uh in the NFL for a lead back he had fumbling issues not going to get the short yardage he bounces it outside too much i agree with all that he was really bad

at pass protection when I was watching. The games that I watched every snap of, you know, I would see him whiff on guys or just get beat or it looked like he didn't know how to do it. And, you know, he's only 210 pounds, which, you know, that's fine. It's not into the world. But I'm saying to invest a first round draft pick and a guy that has these off-field baggage, fumbles, pass protection.

I don't, you know, I would be surprised here from fantasy, from two-thirds of the fantasy footballers at least. Sure. And I've, I still, I still really like him. I don't think, I agree. I don't think he's the first one draft, but I still like him. All right. Some more names at the running back position to throw out there. Before I do that, I want to thank Pristine Auction for supporting the show, supporting the podcast. Look, you hear us talk about them right now. Supporting your living rooms? Oh, no.

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Who boy. You got to talk about it. And yes, you have to address the off field issues. They are there. And so just to get it out of the way real quickly, there are a lot of people who play fantasy football who, you saw this with Adrian Peterson's incident. If you want to play and you say these guys, no, they don't go on my team. That is completely fine. I personally, I do not have a problem with that.

but we have to give you the analysis of what this guy is going to do in the NFL. Yeah, and the reality is he would be my number one running back if it wasn't for the incident. And that's not because of just a moralistic thing. It's because that incident still affects his NFL trajectory. And you can't ignore that. The fact that he's going to cost less draft capital for a team. A team is not going to be as invested in them. A team might make him.

prove himself over a longer period of time before they say, hey, you're the center of our offense or our franchise. When it comes to him as a talent, as a player, man alive, it had been a while since I had watched Joe Mixed. He was one of the first guys. And I was watching Samajai P. Ryan, a teammate who, Mike, I know you like. Yeah, we'll talk about him. And he was all right to me. And then I flipped over and watched the same game to Mixen and was like, oh my goodness, dude. This guy.

His vision is perfect. His cuts are electric. His speed is unbelievable. His size is great. He catches the ball almost as well as McCaffrey. He's, I mean, I don't have anything on the field. I don't like about mixing. And there's a potential that he's not drafted. True. Or isn't drafted until the 6th, 7th, 8th round. He could go anywhere from the second. When a team can justify the risk associated with Joe Mixson. And like you see, there are teams without question that have taken them off the board.

I mean, and there was other reports. They were erroneous, supposedly erroneous. We don't know. Other reports of incidents involving Joe Mixon. And here's the thing. You don't want to draft a player who even can be, you know, accused of something, even if it's false. You put yourself in a position where you are not above reproach as an athlete.