Fantasy Football - Draft Worries + Breakout Hopes, Tricky Trades - Podcast for 4/8

If James was the quarterback, Malik neighbors. So Brian, Brian Thomas was lower points per game. I've got the numbers here. Than then Malik. Yeah, Malik. Malik missed a couple games. Malik was 109 for 1204 and 7. Thomas was 87 for 1202 and 10. Malik missed some time, higher volume. That volume could be there for Brian Thomas. Probably should be there for Brian Thomas this year with no more Christian Kirk. Yeah, I thought it was interesting. Look, I don't think you're making a mistake. I think they should be neck and neck. And it's the, I mean, yeah, they have the quarterback, but it was Mac Jones when, when Brian Thomas really got cooking. He was, oh my goodness. From the by week, he was on pace for Brian Thomas was 127 for 16, 80, and 15. The world where Brian Thomas comes out and has a slow first three games, like people, there will be rides in the streets for.

for Lawrence to be removed. Kyle Turner writes in on X. If you had to pick, heads up between T. Higgins and Rashi Rice in Dynasty, who would you take? I would take T. Higgins. I would take Rushi Rice. I would take Roshy Rice. I would take T. Higgins. Really? I would. We got you to answer T. You did. Yeah, what a day. You did. What a day. So why? I think that T. Higgins is just overall the better player. The, like, it's, he's not as. Target consolidation to me between the two guys. He's not as gadgety where it, like, it'll work for a while with Rice, but it's like Higgins to me is a guy that, that, and touchdowns. If, if I have to project who's going to have more touchdowns, I would go Higgins. Yeah, I mean, I pretty much.

agree with that. I think Xavier Worthies, the fact that he matured to be as valuable as he was, the fact that Hollywood Brown was re-signed when he wasn't there at the beginning of the year when Rashi had success, those two players being involved with Rashi Rice, his suspension situation. The update on Rice, because he was also injured, nearly a season ending injury back in week four. Coach Reed said that Rice is on track to be ready for training camp. We still do have to figure out the whole. suspension thing which has been just radio silence unless you guys saw no i have not heard anything on it so i i lean tea but don't forget that that that will happen like they're the suspension talk will eventually happen they're not as far apart in age as you might no two two years different in playing seasons but only one year apart in age that being said that that obviously means that

You know, it's an earlier contract. How many years apart do you say playing? Two? Two extra seasons for T. Three. Really? Yeah, because Rice just finished the second season. T's got five seasons already. But very similar in age. Mack writes in off of X. How do you guys rank Tony Pollard next year? Given the Titans drafting of Cam Ward, if they do. They will. So he was almost my answer for the quick question because I could easily see. them adding a running back the Titans in this draft and Tony Pollard would really he would like be off my board if they were a good year for them to take a running back not take a running back I agree it's a good year to just you've got it figured out already you've got Spears and Pollard just

Take that year off, stack up offensive linemen, protect your quarterback. Yes, that's what I would do as well. But, you know, sometimes teams do crazy things like they take the number one pick and they draft Trevor Lawrence and then they use another first round pick and draft Travis ETN when you have, when you had a good running back. The Titans, I'm looking at our lads right now and the projected starting wide receivers. Oh, let's hear it. Tennessee Titans, like Calvin Ridley. We know that one. but still in the projections to be a starter. Trailing Berks. Oh, this is his year, Mike. This is his year. And hold on. Van Jefferson. See, I would that be a place to target a receiver. If they took a running back and they're like, no, guys, we're good with Berks and Jefferson. That seems like a team just desperate enough to spend on one of the old guys still available. Like, is Keenan still out there? Keenan is still out? Oh, man.

and the Titans do not have a third round pick. They're not taking the running back. Okay, IG question from Rudy. He wants you to see the future. Hopefully you guys can do this. Zay Flowers is going to break out this year. Last two seasons is two NFL seasons. Very similar. 100 plus targets, just barely over. 70 plus receptions, just barely over. He did get to 1,000. Yeah, we're not calling last year a breakout? No. I mean... 74 for 1,059? Three fewer receptions than the year before. And one fewer touchdown, similar targets. I don't feel like it was a breakout. Really? I don't feel like Zave Flowers was making people win a bunch of fantasy match. He was the wide receiver 21, so he had a really, really solid season. I don't, I don't know if it was an official break. What do you guys need for a breakout? Top 15. A thousand yards is not, is not enough for me to feel like that's a breakout. No.

I mean that's look fundamentally he just wasn't that if it was a thousand yards big of a player for them if it was a thousand yards and nine touchdowns okay but I mean it really was a mildly disappointing season for for him you I mean you were playing him a lot Mike did you feel like he was I mean I had him on my team an important part I feel like if it's a breakout then that, for fantasy football, not for the NFL. I mean, he's officially their number one guy and he's already, you know, broken out to that category. But if we're just talking to fantasy football, to be a breakout, it's got to be a guy you see as like an every week starter versus. He scored in three of 17 weeks. Yeah, versus trying to, you know, he's pretty much a flex guy. He was a decision every week. Like we had him on our dynasty team and it was always a decision of whether we were going to start him or not. He had.

The 16th most yards at the wide receiver position. Look at his game log though, Mike. Oh, I know. I know it was infrequent. I mean, even like if you go the last eight games of the season. Yeah, those were bad. 59 for 860 and 2. He had a really solid like little middle of the season where he was kind of on fire. I just know from having him on my team. I didn't feel like I was starting a wide receiver one or two. Did Jackson Smith and Jigbo break out? Yes. Yes. So less than 100 yards more. and two more touchdowns for JSN. What was this? What was his receiving? He was the wide receiver 10 last year. He caught 100 passes. He caught 100 passes. That's a lot more. Was a top 10 wide receiver and fantasy. But I'm saying yards and touchdowns is not that far up. It's holistic. And the way that it happened. 30 more yards and more touchdowns is, yeah, that's a break-in. You look at the second half of the seasons for both of those players, you know, because they're both young. They're coming in and you want them to be getting better. Andy just read you the last.

you know, eight game was 59 receptions for 800 yards. The last nine games for Jackson Smith and Jigba would have been 107 receptions for 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns. Like that's a, that's a break. I mean, did he break out as a rookie? Did he flower? Yeah, flowers. No, no. Yeah, I mean, his numbers were not very different from his rookie season. Now the question is, is this could be the breakout. No, no. Yeah. He's not built to do what we would want him to do, I think. And I don't think that team is built that way. They don't. He's not a ball hog. He's not a, yeah, a target monster game plan, build it to conquer the defense. He's very good. I'm not taking anything. Zay Flowers is as he's as good as Safe Flowers can be. I think Zay Flowers has the ability to be a really dominant, even fantasy player. I don't know that they utilize.

their wide receivers in that capacity. I mean, he only had 116 targets, which is good. How many touchdowns did Lamar throw last year? Oh, like 40? So many. 40, and he had five? Five of the 40? Yeah, Mark Andrews is taking them all. Yeah, and Mark, I mean, who knows how long that'll be? 41 passing. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think we're really saying very different things. We just maybe define it differently. Sure. Yeah, yeah, it was just slightly. I'm surprised to not call that a breakout. Did we persuade you that it wasn't? No. Okay, cool. Would you, wait, but he didn't break out his rookie season? No. Okay, but when he scores fewer points per game, that then is the break. Ooh. Hey, that's a fair point. Boom, chakalaka. That is a fair point. Yeah, I don't know where that boom shakalaka is. Jeremy, hit it. That's a strong. Jeremy. There it is, yeah. Fewer points per game. All right, you win, Jason. We'll take a break. We'll be back with some more questions.

We said so many more words, and the only thing you needed to say was that. Right. About the points for game. We were talking about all that other stuff. Now, go, I mean, I bet in standard is not even close. He scored more last year. Last year? Yeah, the year two. He had one fewer touchdown, so. But he had 200 more yards. Wait. He's still fighting. He's still alive. Well, this is, this is interesting to me of, of. Because it feels like in our slack here too, people are like, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. It's not good. It's like I was, I felt like I'm totally out on flowers. But maybe I need to go trade for him because he's still valuable. And people are not actually seeing how valuable he was. You need to do. I think you should. You just need to do more for me. I'm sorry. Just so you know, on a per game basis, it's four for 62. That's what he's averaged.

And he scored in three of 17 games. Yeah, the touchdown. That's not a wide receiver one. Also in standard, he scored fewer points. Did he really? Yeah, a point one to eight. Oh, good. Boom, Shakalaka. Jeremy hit it. Boom, Shakalaka. Okay. Where are we here? Let's go to Ryan and Texas. What is your opinion on a Chase Brown for Roma Dune's A dynasty trade? Oh, my goodness. First of all, just reading that, love it. Feel like it's a. perfect dynasty trade in terms of like both both parties in the trade have to make a huge judgment yeah a decision towards the future now look if it were me I'd much rather have Roma Dunezay I actually love Roma Dunezay I think he's going to be a star in this in this league he's three years younger he plays the longevity position for dynasty so I'm very content with the Dunesay side

But a small window of amazing running back play would also be very valuable in Dynasty, and you might get that with Chase Brown. Where do you sit? We all are on the side. We debated Chase Brown a couple weeks ago, and we're all on the side that we think Chase Brown will be the dude this year. It will be very, very good for fantasy. Nervous about the draft and Chase Brown. But it is not a guarantee. It is not a guarantee. Mild concerns for the draft. Right, exactly. As of this moment, it's not a guarantee that Chase Brown really truly has that job.

all alone because, you know, Zach Moss got injured and that's when he came into that giant massive workload while he was a little bit inefficient. So there is a guarantee that Roma Dunez will be given every chance and opportunity and target and snap to prove that he can elevate into a star player. I think that there is a, it's a non-zero chance that he outperforms DJ Moore for fantasy this season. Rome? Rome. Man, you like Rome. I really do. I think that there's a decent chance that he puts up. You know, he can put up 12, 14 touchdowns. Like that's in his, that's in his skill set to me. We used to spend all of our years saying DJ Moore stuck at five and six. Now, he's an amazing player. But I've, I've watched enough Bears football to see who Caleb Williams is glancing at inside the 20. And I feel like if Ben Johnson can unlock.

that offense a little bit with no Keenan Allen. I don't know. He's, he's, he may, he may enter the category. Wow. I may enter the old, that's wild. That's wild. That's funny because right now I've got two players that are like early guys. I'm just like, I'm very bullish compared to consensus. And that would be DJ Moore for me. Oh man. Been here before, haven't we? We have. All right. But it's answer the question. If I'm trading like where the market is right now with Chase Brown versus Rome with Dunezay, if I have Chase Brown, I'm asking for more for Rome. That's fair. I do think that Rome is a good trade for target because people who drafted him, I don't think everyone is as bullish as Andy. Yeah, wide receiver 47 as a rookie doesn't help. Yeah, I mean, when you look at Ladd McConkey and what he did and neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr., it really hurts the kind of.

perception of Roma Dunezay, but the way that... He just wasn't that bad. No, that's what I'm saying. The way that I have talked up, you know, Marvin Harrison Jr. was an outright bust for fantasy. I have argued in no way, shape, or form. Did he have an NFL rookie bust season? What was his yards? Marve was in the 800s. Yeah. So 734 to 885? Yeah. And Marv was the one? Marv had eight touchdowns, though. Yeah, correct. How many catches did he have? I just can't remember. Marve was 62. Those are. Yeah, the numbers are not that different. The numbers are pretty close. Obviously, the touchdowns were the big differentiator, but both of these players, and to speak only to Rome, Rome had a good rookie season. It was disappointing compared to where he was drafted versus other wide receivers, what the expectations were for Caleb Williams, where he was drafted in fantasy drafts. Rome had a disappointing season, but he did not.

have a bad rookie NFL season. So I think a lot of people out there think he's a bust and that it's been decided and it definitely has not been. 101 targets went to Keenan Allen last year. That'll be departing. So for DJ Moore, Bulls. Yeah, for either one of us. For Romaduzzi Bulls. For Colquemette Bulls. Yeah. I'm going to stop saying Bulls. It doesn't sound. No. Borg Bowers. Bac Bowers. Bac powers. Buck Buckbuck Bowers. You got to get the R in there. That's amongst our finest work. Yeah. Yeah, you can't. Rock. Yeah, I mean, look, I like this trade because you do. Sounds like the Cadbury Bunny over there. I feel like both sides of this trade could be super wrong about it, which is fun. Yeah. For dynasty. You're taking a gamble, but if I'm going to take a gamble on two questionable risky pieces, I would rather have the three-year younger.

First round top 10 drafted wide receiver position for Dynasty. Let's talk about more controversial things. Question from the website. Are we optimistic about a Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson breakout? A sneaky stack. Thanks. You guys rock. No? Optimistic, I think is pushing it too far. I actually think Justin Fields will be over drafted. You think Justin Fields will be overdrafted? Correct. I do. Hmm. His production. Where would that be? Where should he be drafted and where do you expect him to be drafted? I just think some people are going to transpose 2022 onto him. And I don't know if we're going to get that level of efficiency. What round would you draft him in? Where do you think he's going to be ranked? Are you talking to like ADP or are you talking about quarterback? No, I'm just saying like, do you think he's going to be drafted as a top or I think he's going to be viewed as a top 12? Yeah.

Yeah, I think he'll be a quarterback. So then I think he's somebody that's going to go in the seventh or eighth round. Right now on Sleeper, he is in the seventh round. Okay. So in that case, I probably will be passing on that. Okay. I just, my point being is that we all were blown away by the big prolific plays in 2022, the big long runs, but your points per game for him, how much freedom they give him, what else does he have on that team that's struggling with an offensive line? I don't know. I don't know if we get that points per game. He's the kind of player that you could draft, think you have something, stick him in there for too long, and it's just kind of okay. I think you'll still be able to get him later in the draft, though. It's like, if you're saying eighth round for a mobile quarterback, because around there, you're going to be. Yeah, give me other names. So I'm just looking at underdog right now. Where I feel like actually an underdog, I feel like he's going to go, he would go higher than in a redraft. He is QB14. Okay. On underdog right now. Going right in front of him, you have.

The triplets of pocket passes, you have Justin Herbert, Stroud, Brock Purdy, and Jared Goff. No, dude, people are out on Strouds. Wait, Stroud's lowered and all those. Oh, Stroud's like probably quarterback 17, maybe 18. People are OUT. See, I feel like Stroud has at least 50-50 odds of passing Justin Fields in production. Where I would push back on, like, what happened last year for Justin Fields. So to, whenever it was, you had the fun Justin Fields experiment was. He's the guy for Chicago. And they're just like, go win. And then he goes to Pittsburgh. He has like, he has no room for error. You got Russell Wilson waiting there who's, who was supposed to be the starter. And I think you have Pittsburgh saying, no, you're, you are so managed of what we want you to do. But then the jets with the money that they have given him, they're saying, no, you're, we're going to try this. We want the full Justin Fields experience.

So I think it's the play style is closer to the Chicago years than last year. I agree, but that's where I think people will miss that there's a year in between. There's a full Chicago year in between. There's the prolific Chicago year. Then there's 13 games of not that good. The quarterback 18, 17 points a game. Then there's the Pittsburgh managed year where it's like if this is a, even if he goes back to the Chicago days and he's 17, 18 points a game, I don't know. His season last year, before he got pulled in week six, he was basically 17.7 points per game. Which is what he was in Chicago? That's exactly what he was in Chicago. So then he had backup work that lowered his thing on the year. Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. He'll be very interesting. But the question was about Justin Fields, Garrett Wilson combination breakout. Mike, you have Garrett Wilson in certain places. Are you?

Intrigued, excited, nervous? I'll go with nervous optimism on there of like the teammate thing matters to me. The fact that they used to be teammates together in college. Yeah, back in Ohio State. And it's like the monster year for DJ Moore was because Justin Fields said, I am only throwing this ball to DJ Moore. And it would not surprise me if we had Justin Fields. staring down Garrett waiting for him to get open on the bulk of plays, which then that would be. What do we have? We had Chase in Burrow in college. We had Hollywood Kyler get a chance to play together. Little bit. Who were college teammates. Yeah. You know, the bulk case is DJ Moore's season with Justin Fields in 2023 in that in between year where it's like, yeah, Fields wasn't a top 10 quarterback,

DJ Moore was a number six overall fantasy player. Yeah. As of right now, I imagine I'm going to be interested in getting Justin Fields on some of my redraft teams. Okay. Nate, with our final question of the day from X, very important. Do the pickleball rivalries heat up in the off season for the fantasy footballers? They just switch time of day, you know? Yeah, but I mean, is there more heat to it? No, there's less heat. Yeah. There's less heat. It's not the summer. The summer is very hot in Arizona. Nice. I did. I don't know that we have. We don't really have pickleball rivalries. We just have a bunch of pickleball games. The rival is whoever we're playing against that moment and then we rotate. So every, every day we're playing in every possible combination. So it doesn't, there's no, like, divisions. Okay.

Okay. So I see it. Going back to the- Choosing to be quiet. The Garrett-Wilson side, I was curious how George Pickens played. I wanted to remember because obviously he was not good. He was the clear-cut number one for Justin Field. Very similar situation that I think they'll find for the Jets. And yeah, he was 7.7 points per game in those first six games. We have a brand-new play caller with the Jets this year. as well, a new offensive coordinator. Because I can't help but think offensive coordinator when I think of Justin Fields and George Pickens last year and Arthur Smith. Fair. So you do have a new head coach, new offensive coordinator, and a kind of, I don't know, it'll be very interesting in New York. They're taking their shot. It, it's just like, Garrett Wilson's good, so it can work. You're not betting on a talentless wide receiver.

plop down all of your possessions on one side of Garrett Wilson wide receiver 10 I would plop it down would you plop it down on the would you plop it where'd you plop it I'd give it I'd give it tell us where you plop it I'd give a good solid plop to not in the top 10 okay because the top 10 is just that's that's wild plop plop what she was hours He was last year. Goodbye, everybody. We are done talking football for today, but we'll talk more on Thursday. You can also get an extra episode at Jointhefoot.com. Blop, pop, plop. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.