Fantasy Football - Bold Predictions + Spicy Takes, BILL CROSKEY! - Podcast for 8/26

And now we turn to the world of sports. The football season is upon us, and that means it's time to get ready for your fantasy football drafts. The ultimate draft kit from the fantasy footballers is the cat's pajamas, and only tool you need. The best rankings in the business, sleepers, breakouts, values, it's even got a free companion app. Don't be a pigeon-libered fuzzler. The ultimate draft kit will keep you on the up and up, and keep all the horn swogglers at bay. Don't even think about entering a fantasy football draft draft draft kit without it. Don't be a square. Head to ultimate draft kit.com today. The fantasy footballer studio is sponsored by Walmart. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Oh, it's going to be a fun episode today.

Bold predictions. Are we getting picey? Jason Moore is here. Took the ass off of spicy. That's how we do it in our house. Mike, the fantasy hitman available. Is it super spicy then? It just means we can't handle it more babies. You know what I mean? This is Pisces. What's that level? It's pretty low. I mean, we are not spicy eaters in my household. So if it's got a little chili flake in it, that's spicy. You split the chili flake among you. Yeah, exactly. Welcome in one and all great episode. Two bold predictions from each of us for the upcoming fantasy football season. They are bold. They are not consensus opinions. We will stand alone on a lot of these. And they will be a lot of fun. We have undrafted gyms that we're going to talk about today bringing that back.

One more time before the season begins, I guess two more times before the season begins. Because the season begins next Thursday. And we'll see how Dallas and Philadelphia look on Thursday night football. We have news to talk about. It's cut day, right? There's a lot of players getting cut. Greg Goldsich. Shout out to Greg D. Thought you played really well this preseason. Got cut. Was he the leader in? touchdowns in the preseason? Well, Tom Palisero told me he was, so that's what I believe. Did he? Okay. He was on the take. We had a fun event last night. As you know, maybe you don't, but we've had a few fun little moments with...

Bill Crosky. Bill Crosky. Did you know he could sneeze with his eyes open? No, I didn't know that, Jason. Thank you. And I just had a little passing tweet last night. Just throwing it out there when you're bored. Sometimes you just tweet about Bill Crosky because that's a thing you do. And I think I said when he was born, he drove his mom home from the hospital. Yeah, it's a good one. And Bill Crosky himself, Jacoby Crosky Merritt. Found the tweet and confirmed it. Yeah, he did confirm it and it went wild in just over an hour. It was like 1.1 million views and then poof and then he deleted it and I don't know what kind of attention he was getting. I thought it was all positive. Should have been. And I just want to come out here right now and say Bill Kroski. Sir. Sir, this was not a joke at your expense. You are the king of the joke. Yes.

This is legend status in the fantasy football community. So I have. You're Bill Kroski. You're Bill. You can parallel park a trade. I mean, come on, Bill. To Bill Kroski. To Bill Kroski. For him, I mean, his Twitter account, right now he's at 10.8,000 followers. It had to be very strange. So this is your thinking of what happened with Mr. Kroski? Yeah, he retweets your comment and then just the world. He probably doesn't want to accidentally get in trouble for something he didn't realize he did. It's smart. It's actually a, it's a veteran move to be like, I should probably undo this thing going wild. Hmm. Yeah. To be old Krofti. Okay, it's wise. Yeah. But. So that was, you know.

That was the festivities last night. He could have just DM'd have been like, what's this all about? What is happening? Why is everybody telling me what I can do? But it was a good time. We have a reminder here at the top before we jump into our first segment. The Megalabole. Drafts are happening this weekend, people. If you want to play with us in the Megalobole, go sign up at megalobole.com. It's for all of our Footclan members. You go to megalobole.com, pick one of your draft day times. That's starting this weekend. Runs all the way up to the day before kickoff. Two drafts a day. Tons of leagues. There should be about 20,000 people in it. Whoever wins the league. As someone joined our listener league, we're starting up our listener league right now. Yep. And last year's winner got in there. This year's winner could be you, and you'll be in next year's listener league. And you will get an ultimate draft kit for life.

And the Ultimate Draft Kit, if you're drafting this week, this weekend, all the way up to kickoff for the NFL season, the Ultimate Draft Kit available right now, a portion of all Ultimate DraftKit sales. Go to our partner this year, the Koneg Childhood Cancer Foundation. You can learn more about that at Ultimate DraftCit.com, and we're excited to partner with them this year. We have emailed all the listener league winners. They are all inside. Are they all inside of the new league? All the submission winners are... So they've all responded? We don't have any... Correct. Because sometimes people out there, they might root for somebody not to reply. Oh, for sure. Well, there are still, I believe, a giveaway winner that is not in. So maybe one more slot is open. We'll find out. All right, let's get into it. Undrafted Gems, presented by Walmart. All right, last week we brought up three names. We still feel good about Mason, Taylor, Marvin Mims, and Cedric Tillman. I think we do, right? Nothing's changed there. Those were the three names.

last week. But it's a new week. So we need three new names, undrafted players that we think could make a big impact that you could stash on the end of your bench or pay attention to in week one. I'll toss it over to Mike because I love this name. I'll go with a quick one here. Hey, it's another rookie. But this is a rookie running back who is not much attention is being paid to him outside of. the dynasty circles. Dylan Samson, rookie running back of the Cleveland Browns. He was a fourth round pick, 5-8-200. He rushed for 22 touchdowns in the SEC and one SEC player of the year at Tennessee, 37 receptions his last two years. And this is a situation with the Browns of just there's a chance he's the starter. You know, he started over Jerome Ford in the final preseason game. That doesn't confirm anything.

It's just it's a note to pay attention to that this is, look, it's a possibility. The opening schedule for the Browns is extremely tough. However, starting running backs at this point of the draft are, they're very difficult to find. And Dylan Samson is there. And he has receiving in his profile. He's got a lot more juice than Jerome Ford. And yeah, it's Jerome Ford who is in front of him who, I'm, I think Jerome Ford is a good player, but he, they are there constantly trying to replace him. And he just keeps popping up as like, Hey, I'm still here. Yeah, he almost wasn't on this team. And then he starts for the team. But they keep trying to replace them. So while the Judkin situation is trying to get figured out, Dylan Samson might be in for a big workload. I'm going to go with a player that received a three-year extension and has been rewarded in the fantasy world with nothing, not being drafted, the wide receiver 60 off the board. It's Rashad Bateman of the Baltimore Ravens. We have a team.

that we have tremendous confidence in their offense. We love what Lamar brings to the table. He's a 40 plus touchdown potential player. He scored Rashad Bateman, scored nine times last year. He was the big beneficiary in the wide receiver room. And he's just not paid attention to it all. We're like done. We're like kind of worn out with Rashad Bateman. He represents a great weekly spot start as needed. If you score nine times. in a season and you have Lamar as your quarterback. Like Zay Flowers is not a touchdown guy. And so Rashad Bateman is big plays. What if he becomes a little bit more consistent? Obviously the team has plans for him. They sign him to this extension. He's kind of finding his way on this roster. You could see good things from Rashad Bateman. And he's just not paid attention to you. Bateman was a top 24 player in 35% of his games. That is the same percentage as Zay Flowers. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Six different games, I think. Like the career path of Bateman is, it's interesting. I mean, he was a first round pick. Which is why we, I think this is, I think his career path is why nobody wants him now. Yeah, like he was a first rounder. People were excited about the player, not necessarily excited about when he landed in Baltimore, because at that time it was like, can we, you know, we have just the one year of Lamar having an outlier touchdown season, but things have changed. And he got hurt in year one, in year two, he was the dude.

Like it started off. He was in, before the game where he got hurt, he was over at 20% target share in that time. And then he's just, he's had to make his way back and slowly just keeps hanging on the team, getting more money, getting another extension. So I think like there's a chance. You know, last year he was at a 16% target share with what's happening with Mark Andrews. And I know Isaiah likely they're like, we're all hyped to see can he break out? If he doesn't. Like Rashad Bateman at 20% target share is not crazy to me. And if he's there, then he's going to make noise. Yeah, I agree. The name I'm going to bring up from drafted Jims is a guy that I am starting to get a little bit hot and bothered by. Yeah, you mentioned him early this morning right away. We talked about Greg Dulcidge getting cut. It's a player you might not know. You might not have heard of. It's Theo Johnson tight in. Yeah, this is a good name. Tight end, second year tight end for the Giants.

This dude is an athletic monster. We're not talking like, I mean, everybody's athletic, but there has to be someone who is the most athletic. That is nearer where Theo Johnson is. Same is true in this office. Go on. His RAS score is 9.99 out of 10. That's basically his overall athletic profile. He is a beast. And if you look at what he did last year as a rookie, rookie tight-ins, okay, yeah, you got Sam Leporta who came through and you got Brock Powers, but it is very normal and common. With every other non, you know, other than those two names I mentioned, basically every other great titan in history hasn't really come on his rookie season. But he actually did stuff. He was starting to make waves, like wasn't really involved in first month of the season, got better and better and better. In fact, his last eight games, he was on pace for like 650 yards as a rookie.

which would have been a top 10 number last year already. And then he had a season ending injury in week 13. But before that, he had the eight most total routes and routes per game at the tight-in position, 27 and a half. So he is on the field. He is being used. We just saw Greg Dulcich tear up preseason in this system. And then they cut him. Why? Because they got Theo Johnson. They got the guy they want on the field who's going to be a monster. And then you look at the depth chart and you're like, Okay, Malik neighbors. 82% market share, but that leaves 18% for the rest of the team. And so I, you know, I think that his opportunity to be the number two target in this offense is legit. And he has the athletic profile, which is what you look for in tight ends to actually have a breakout season. So this is, again, it's an undrafted gym. You're not even taking them with your last pick, but I'm telling you if you see something in week one, if he's on the field making a player two.

Or if you're in deeper leagues where, you know, Titan premium, deeper leagues where you are going to draft multiple tight ends, he's certainly one I'm targeting. There has been some concern about Theo Johnson with undisclosed injury stuff at the end of camp. I take the Greg Dulcich cut situation as kind of like a way to rest easier on that because he had missed a little bit of time. But heading into the season with how Greg Dulcich played in the preseason and them cutting him, I feel. much more comfortable and maybe that makes them even sneakier. All right, that was undrafted gyms presented by Walmart. Who knew you could get what you needed in as fast as an hour? Get free delivery on your first express delivery order with the code express. Valid for first express delivery order. $50 minimum subject to availability restrictions apply. News and notes from around the league presented by progressive insurance.

All right. Boy, do we, oh, let's see, archives, archives. Let's go into. Let's hang. Oh, here we go. He's back. Ma'amari Cooper, not just back, you know, in general, back to a team he's played for. The Raiders are signing Amari Cooper on a one-year deal worth $3.5 million. He didn't. really looked like he had a lot left last year in Buffalo. No, he did not. Never got into a groove there and was a league winner two years before. Well, he was a league winner last year when you got to trade him for Jamar Chase. Oh, just kidding. You didn't win. You lost the championship. Anyways, continue. Oh, I won. You won the trade. Yeah. So, Kobe Myers has requested a trade.

The debt chart there in Las Vegas with the trade request from Jacoby Myers mixed with Amari Cooper's signing is interesting. You know, Deontay Thornton Jr. is a huge upside candidate this year, the number one on that team. You have Trey Tucker who's been playing 100% of snaps. Jack Bash is there. Did you guys make... substantial movements with this? With the trade request? With the combo of the Cooper signing and the trade request? I did not. The approach that I personally took, I put Amari Cooper there where I expect him to be. I didn't actually adjust the other wide receivers because I do think there's a chance Jacoby Myers should go or could get traded. So right now I just like the stats don't all add up the way I usually prefer them to do for a team because I think there could be more movements coming. Yeah, the team at least for their part said that they're not trading him.

and not consider it's a money thing just so you know it's not it's not performance it's a money thing uh he wants to be paid more money it's just like joan jennings situation yeah and he's also very murky he's looking around the league at all these guys getting their last second deals he's like wait a minute this is working uh i need to get in on this candy picket's traded yet again the fourth time i think uh canny picket is now a member of the raiders so the Browns and their four quarterbacks. They're down to three. Aiden O'Connell got hurt, so they traded for Kenny Pickett. And now the, you know, Joe Flacco and Dylan Gabriel and Sodor Sanders. I feel like Joe Flacco's job is a little safer now. Oh, yeah. I like this for everybody. Okay, I wasn't sure if you guys felt like that. No, this is great. I think it does keep Joe Flacco's job safer. He's got a pretty good schedule. Although, that being said, the team is expected to lose a lot of games. You've got the rookies behind him. But, um,

I think that Jerry Judy, Dave and the Joku, I was more scared of Kenny Pickett coming in than I was of them trying to throw these two rookies in the mix. Tajay Spears, IR, high ankle sprain, he'll miss the first four weeks. Tony Pollard, don't forget him in your draft. Correct. I moved him up. He's actually at a spot now. Pollard is where I expect to be drafting him. He's ahead of where his ADP will land and drafts this weekend. We did have another report. We're going back and forth. Daniel Popper believing Najee Harris will begin on the NFI list. I'll say this. If there's two different reports, one saying, oh, I believe he'll be ready week one and one saying I believe he'll be on the non-football injury list, I'm going to put my dollar on the one that is not, you know, not playing because he has not participated in any kind of full contact yet, but I have no inside information. The Texans announced.

Joe Nixon will begin the season on the reserve NFI list, which is a four-week minimum. DeMarch, DeMico Ryan's came out and had kind of a little bit of a, you know, a message that made me concerned about the season-long availability of Mixon. He said they have a very deep running back room, lots of players that can provide a ton of depth and guys who can quote, get us through the season. Yeah, so this list can be, it's minimum four game, maximum 18. So, you know, you just I, now my team was depleted picks wise in our league of record. We have three keepers. I was the lucky one with Joe Mixing as a keeper. Really thrilled with that decision right now. I let him go yesterday for a sixth round pick pretty much right with the news. To be fair, that is not just a six round pick. We keep.

three keepers that are not draft costs. So basically it's a ninth round pick. And I in a Super Flex league yesterday drafted him in the 11th round before this news. How do you feel about that? Pretty bad. Okay. Pretty bad. I don't, you know, I think I could have got him probably in the 14th. The vibes of the off season are terrible. We have no true insight. Like what is wrong? Like if they're just like, oh, he's got a problem with his foot. And the fact that there are whispers and rumors, which, look, there are just rumors. But it's like he may not play this year. He's had, I believe. And someone out there can correct me, Kyle, Betts, if you're listening. I believe in the past, he's had a less frank situation. And that could be related to something going on. I believe I saw that. Again, I could be wrong. To his right foot and at least, this is Google AI, but 2020.

I, that, yes. So I think there's been a foot injury before, and it's a really complicated rehab right now, and we just don't know what's going on. So, you know, in my situation, I'd rather just have the pick and move on. Jalen Wright, not expected for week one, Phil Mafa on IR for the Cowboys, and some cuts. Deontay Johnson was also a cut from the Browns. Dude, what? He, I knew he was, he was looking that way because he kept playing in these preseason games. You know, he was out there every single game. He gone for good, I think. Does he find another team? Like, no, no. There are teams desperate for what he can do. But if I'm a general manager, I got to go, no way. You indulge certain levels of crazy proportional to talent. Once the talent is not worth the crazy, you're gone. The Browns released him. We got tagged on a joke here. So this is a shout out to Joshua Cho.

It says last season I told you Deontay Johnson is an elite separator. He has now separated from the Steelers, the Panthers, the Texas, the Ravens, and the Browns. I forgot. That is a good joke. Yeah, I forgot that he was on a couple of those teams. You're done. What else? Audra Gastime is gone. He has been cut. We said Cam Agers. Malachi Corley. That one's kind of sad to me. First touchdown, fumbled it into the end zone. Third round last year. Yeah. I mean, my estimate was last year as well. Oh, did the Seahawks cut Damien Martinez? They did. Okay. Well, that's great. Make a little dynasty league adjustment. I was going to say that sounds like you just picked him up. Going back to the Phil Mafa being placed on IR with the soldier injured. With the shoulder injury. Jaden Blue, their other rookie, this is the Dallas Cowboys rookie tandem is also injured.

So I do think, I mean, I know it's gross, but the Giovante Miles Sanders, it's cleared up a little bit for Giovante to get a workload heading into the season. And double digit rounds, I think I'm going to sadly pull the trigger. Also, sleeper film off was on the IR. If we could go ahead and make that adjustment. Oh, is that related to anything you're doing right now? Yeah. Trying to make moves here. All right. This was announced yesterday. Yeah, yeah, that's too late. What? What about me? Oh, wait, did you want to mention to Adam Thielen and the Vikings are now talking? They're continuing to talk. I'm going back to nap. Yeah, just last piece of news. Okay. Okay, thanks. We.

We have a lot going on. That was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Taking a break. Back with the bold predictions. All right. I'm really excited about this. It's a fun episode every year. It is time. Ridiculously bold predictions. Oh, we just had a simultaneous sip from the mugs, Mike. A simul sip? A simul sip. Um, that's why you watch on YouTube moments like that. All right, two bold predictions from each of us. Uh, do, do somebody want to go first? Do you want me to go first? You tell me. I'll hop in. All right. I'll hop in. My bold prediction. So bold. Number one for the 2025 season. The Atlanta Falcons win the division. Oh boy. On the back of full stop of full stop. That's all right. We're already too hot. Yeah.

on the back of number one running back. What? Bajon Robinson top five wide receiver Drake London. Top 10 tight in Kyle Pitts. You didn't have to do that. Top 15 quarterback Michael Pennix bawling out. This is really... Number one, number five, number 10, number 15. Yeah, exactly. Basically all four players are going to be very good and the Falcons are going to be good. And that is... pretty bold considering this is a team that has not been over 500 since 2017. That's not great. They are not projected as a favorite in any of the weeks until week eight. Oh, boy. I'm looking at that. Yeah. Underdog. Underdog. Underdog. However, I mean, I know it sounds pretty bold. I think they could start the season four and oh. This all comes down to Michael Pennings.

Michael Pennix is a year two quarterback. I mean, this isn't a surprise, right? Like NFL teams go as their quarterback goes. And when Patrick Mahomes took over in year two, it was like, oh, we didn't know he was that. Michael Pinnox has a chance to go and be really, really special. That? If you look at- Michael Pennix could be Mahomes? I mean, he has a chance, but no. If you look at what he did in his three games, I don't think people realize how good the Falcons offense was. Well, I know he scored 32 points per game. The Falcons did in his three starts. That was more than the 24.6 points they scored per game when Kirk Cousins was not injured the first nine weeks. Obviously, the middle of the season was really bad with Kirk. That's why they made the transition. But this was a team that was six in total yards per game for a first year play caller last year and a dying, injured veteran quarterback moving into a rookie quarterback.

If Michael Pennix has it, if Michael Pennix comes, this is a winnable division. This is a team with enough offensive firepower to be really, really special. And the way Michael Pennix plays is actually very conducive to a high upside outcome. It's kind of, it's on both sides. That's why this is a bold prediction, because he plays in a way where he gets the ball out quick, but also throws it very deep, kind of boom, bust. And he has the opportunity here to really. explode. You know, in his three starts, 67 offensive plays per game. That was fifth in the NFL, 32 points per game. That was sixth in the NFL during those times. And his, you know, the way he plays, I think they're going to let him rip the ball. I think they're going to go out there, put the ball in his hands and say, this is your team. With this division, I know it sounds bad when you don't have, you're not favored to win going into week eight.

But these aren't terribly hard matchups. You know, start at home against Tampa Bay. You're going to win the division. You've got to start there. You've got to get that win in week one, which is a two and a half point spread. Not a big deal. But their actual schedule coming up, according to Warren Sharp, is the fourth easiest schedule on the season. We try to look at teams who have the avenue to take a giant massive leap forward because every year there are several teams that go from, you know, scoring 12. to 17 more touchdowns the next season. And it's usually on the back of a quarterback. And here we are going not from a veteran to a rookie, but from a veteran to a second year quarterback. And I love that situation when you've got an easy schedule, a lot of elite weapons. And I do think Kyle Pitts is going to be better than we think. Drake London is that dude. And Bijan will allow him to.

thrive in the passing game. You know, they're going to have to stack the box. They're going to have to worry about Bajon and the dump off. So I'm calling for Atlanta Falcons to be in the playoffs this year and help in fantasy way more than you think. Okay. I like it. It's bold, but there are huge fantasy upside players on that roster. Is there a more bold prediction than this one? Matthew Stafford stays healthy for 17 games. Oh, Paisy. And Puka becomes the first player in NFL history with 12 or more 100-yard games in a single season. So it's a little different. This is not a stat that's very common, but it is very exciting when a player gets there. Calvin Johnson did it 11 times in 2012. Michael Irvin has done it 11 times. Cooper Cup in 2021. He did it 11 times with Matthew Stafford. With Matthew Stafford. And then we've seen.