Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - David Johnson Talks Fantasy + Backfields to Avoid

wasn't floating, I guess is what most of the trainer's explain. And it wasn't doing that. And then when I got up to walk around or walk off the field, it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. So I felt a little bit more relieved walking off the field. And then when I got in the locker, even more relieved once my adrenaline slowed down. And I felt like it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. And that's the biggest thing is I was just glad that

It wasn't a serious injury. It was just, I mean, even after they diagnosed it and everything, it was only a grade 2 MCO. So it wasn't bad. And the only reason it was great, too, is because how swells up it got. If it wasn't so swollen up, it probably would only have been a grade 1. So, I mean, I'm definitely blessed, and God was looking out for me on that place. Yeah, we're certainly thankful that it wasn't more serious, but I know it took some rehab. How are you feeling about it now? I'm feeling great. Got cleared.

a while ago before OTA started, before football started, and I was already training. I mean, only like six weeks after the injury, I was already doing squads and running and cutting and everything. So I think he's feeling good. I've been feeling excited for this next season coming up, and I'm ready to go. Awesome. Here's a question for you. It kind of ties into it, and we'll get into some fantasy football questions as well. But, you know, fantasy folks,

They talk about versatility. They talk about handling a big workload and being able to catch the ball. And these are things you did amazingly last year. Is this something that, you know, with the injury at the end of the year, do coaches concern themselves with this workload? Do you concern yourself with the workload? Is that something you're going to be thinking about at all? Or do you feel very confident that you can handle whatever the coaches give you, even if that means, you know, 300 plus carries? I feel very comfortable. I feel like I'm still young.

still in my first contract. I feel like I still am able to carry on a big workload. And I'm excited. I want to carry on a big workload where I need to be on the field even more during the bunch as I came for a team. And I think VA has mentioned that I was going to get 30 touches a game, and I'm excited for it. And especially since last year, you know, it didn't go. It didn't finish the way I wanted to personally. And obviously as a team, I wanted to do more.

for the team. So I definitely, one of my biggest goals this year is to have that 1,000 receiving yards because I felt like I could have had it or I was so close to having it towards the end of the last game. So I feel like that's one of the biggest things I really want to do personal. Why is getting that 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving? Yeah, that would be, we'll take it. We'll take it as well. So as Cardinal fans and as fantasy fans. So tell us a little bit about what you've seen, a couple names.

come to mind for us. You know, John Brown dealt with some medical issues last year. Some of those have been diagnosed, figured out. I know he's dealing with some, I believe, a hamstring right now. And then Chad Williams comes in out of the NFL draft. What have you seen from both of those players so far in OTAs? What are your expectations for them? Oh, they're looking great, especially John Brown since, you know, I'm so close with him. We have the same agency.

and I talked to him all the time. And when I found out that it was that tickle cell, and I talked to him about how, you know, he fixed it and stuff. And then when I watched to come back to the training camp or to a mini camp and OTAs, he looked, he was in great, just like the old smoke where he can run the whole length of the field and come back and come back and come back and come back and come back and have a great bounce back season and do good. And then Chad is our rookie.

He's doing a tremendous job because he has such a great leader and Larry and all the other guys. And he's a bigger receiver than people would think of. And he has a great hand. And his rod running is looking pretty good. So I feel like he's going to come up on the team and do a great job for us as well. Awesome. A couple of years ago, we had Nick Mangold come on, the center for at the time.

the Jets, he came on and he dropped Bilal Powell's name because Powell was doing some great things around camp. I think he wasn't on the radar for fantasy owners. Is there a player right now that maybe listeners don't know about, the general public don't know about that you've seen that you'd like to share with us, somebody that's been impressing you around training camp? You know what?

That's a good question. I'm going to have to say, like I said, I think that rookie Chad, Chad is doing really well. You know, a lot of people don't know what in stake form, you know, being a rookie. But I thought he's going to be a good attribute to our team. And like I said, he's been taking it up pretty well, and he's been doing a good job. Geron Brown doing well? Geron Brown is doing great. He hasn't done too much just because, you know, his knee. But he's definitely looking great.

He's looking great, and I feel like he's going to obviously come back and do what he did before his injury. You know, he was right before his injury, he was looking great, doing so much for the team, receiving wise and everything. And then, unfortunately, that injury happened, but I feel like he's going to come back and be just like he was right before that injury, making those tough catches, doing those great routes, and helping out the offense as well.

Yeah, he's always been somebody that passed the eye test for me when I saw him on the field, able to go up and get the ball. All right, a couple last questions for you. First, last year we had you. The people need to know, David. We had you, and we had Todd Gurley on the show. And Todd Gurley famously told you to sit down, and you proceeded to sit down all over the record book. Okay. So do you have any words for Todd in 2017, or have you already spoken through your actions?

No, I have no words. You know, I'm just going to continue to do what I can and get better and learn. And, you know, he's a tremendous player, and I know he's going to do the same thing and have a bounceback season as well. So, I mean, the biggest words I have for him is, you know, keep grinding. And, you know, we'll both be one of those leaders from our class. Absolutely. So we really appreciate you coming on the show.

The best of luck this year, and congrats again on being a new dad and having your first Father's Day with your son around. Don't work him out too hard, okay? And, hey, look. We saw you on Twitter. I saw you had a ping pong table, so the offer still stands. You want to come in here and get beat down? Any time. You just let us know, all right? That's a challenge. You guys are going to have to practice a little bit more. Oh, good.

Oh, man, it's on now. I got two tables. There's no way you're winning, David. There's no way you would beat us. Of that, I am sure. All right. This is so great. I think you're underestiming. I think we're going to hear a ring at the door in a minute. Hey, thank you so much. Thanks for having it. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you, David Johnson, for joining us on the show. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, I think it was also telling. To me, my favorite part of talking to him was.

Just seeing how much he cares about getting better and what he did wrong as opposed to what he did right. It just shows the type of man that he is, which I think is a very hardworking, diligent, good man. And that leads me to believe that he's going to do what it takes to get better, you know, holistically at the position.

If he's not your number one draft pick, I think you might be doing it wrong. And I don't want to really disparage Lev Bell or Ezekieli out of that top three and say, you know, they're not good men, but both have had a little bit of baggage in that department where David Johnson has not. And I can tell you from getting to sit down with him, we've all talked to him. We're best friends now. We are the best friends he has in this world. It seems like we need a ping pong battle. Until we play ping pong, in which case he will not like.

us whatsoever because i will smash him who strong words that is on the record okay hey he said that he's going to beat us so well then in all this one way to find out all this talk of you know him being talking about his character he doesn't show up and play he's a coward oh don't do that oh come on oh that is just too accurate all right

You want to see, we're going to jump into some questions. Before we jump into the mailbag, we want to thank today's sponsor, Omaha Steaks, upgrade your summer cookouts with a big box of meat. We can't do these reads before lunch, man. You got to check out this special right now for a limited time. You can get an exclusive savings of 80% on the very special combo, the summer sensation. The summer's here. Suns out, guns out, grills out. Yeah.

You got, listen to what, listen what's in this box. Two half ounce filaminions, two top sirloins, four boneless pork chops, four chicken fried steaks, 12 ounce package of all beef meatballs, four Omaha steaks, burgers, for gourmet jumbo, Franks, a 16 ounce package of Omaha steakhouse fries for caramel, caramel, caramel. Yeah, that was impressive. Sounds delicious. Apple toilets, seasoning packets, plus four mower.

Omaha Steaks burgers. I'm struggling. You're drooling during it is the problem. Because it's so delicious. When you fire these things up on the grill, you can see it on our social media. This exclusive package is only 4999. Go to Omaha Steaks.com type fantasy in the search bar. Add the summer sensation to your cart.

Again, visit Omaha Steaks.com. Enter code fantasy in the search bar to get this great package for 4999. Have the best summer ever with Omaha Steaks. All right. Let's go ahead and answer some fantasy football questions. Mailbag. Mailbag. Yale.

All right, if you have a question for the show, you can go to our website, the fantasy footballers.com. If you mouse over the more button, you will see a submit a question button. You click that, send us your question, and we'll try to get it into the show. You can also dial our voicemail hotline 302-464 TFFB and leave us a voicemail question. We like to play those on the show as well. We're going to get right into it right now. I'm going to start with this question from Lee in Los Angeles.

Hi guys, love your podcast. My question is, how do you view Michael Thomas? Michael Thomas. Was he good last year because defenses were focusing on Brandon Cooks, or is he really that good? Is he a wide receiver one? And now I will quickly, I just changed him in our rankings. This morning I moved him down a couple of spots. Okay, is he still a one for you?

I believe he is still a one for me. I will confirm that because he was in the nine range. So I'm guessing he dropped to about the 11 spot. But what is your opinion of the question where he's saying, hey, Brandon Cooks is out the door. The defense is not focusing on Brandon Cooks and we know to be very talented. Well, here's what you can do. So in our ultimate draft kit, we've partnered with Matt Harmon from NFL.com who charts out wide receivers. And how successful were they independent?

of the quarterback, which in the New Orleans case, I mean, you don't necessarily have to do that because Drew Brees is so amazing. But Michael Thomas grades out fantastic. He is above average in nearly every single route possible. Every route on the chart he excels at. He has great hands. He was in the mid-70s, I believe, of catch percentage.

He's just, I think that he is a tremendous wide receiver. The ball will be spread around. That's the concern for Michael Thomas. You have to draft him very high. But I think that he comes through. I think that he will repeat as a low end wide receiver one with upside. Yeah. And some people are saying, well, you're drafting him for his ceiling and that may be what Jason is.

About to negative Nancy on me over here. But Jason hasn't the highest of all three of us. Oh, I was going to say you might think that from the tone of my voice. I did. Gotcha. Oh. Michael Thomas is great. I mean, he was the 88th percentile above against zone against press, you know, man coverage. He was the best rated wide receiver, rookie wide receiver since O'Dell Beckham. And when you look at the recent history of these great wide receivers who come out, have a historic.

You know, year one, we've talked about this recently. There's only been four guys in the last decade who have actually come out and have a wide receiver one in their rookie year. You've got Odell Beckham. You have Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, and Michael Thomas. Now, after the first season for each of those other three.