Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - The Fantasy Court + NFC North Breakdown

So catching passes is not going to be a problem for Montgomery. What was a problem for him last year was he was thrown into the running back flames with absolutely no protection. If you go back and there's a lot of highlights of Aaron Rogers getting very upset with Montgomery because he's running the wrong play. But now you have some experience at the position. You have an off season to be a running back, to be the number one running back in camp.

I love Montgomery moving forward. A lot of confidence from the coaching staff coming out about Time Montgomery. I have him right in, I believe I have him right in that running back two fringe. He's in that group, sorry, Jay, but it's my last thing. In that fourth to fifth round group of gross running backs where I like Mike Gillisley, Montgomery is the other guy who I really, really like. Would you take Gillisley or would you take Montgomery? I think I would take the upswing on Gillisley still. Up swing.

Yeah, earlier in the offseason, I thought that people were going to jump on Green Bay and push their running backs too high. It hasn't happened. It's not going to happen. The value of Green Bay is good. And here's just kind of a general tip for fantasy football. If you can find an outlier year for a team, something that just this team always operates one way. And then all of a sudden, it wasn't that way. It usually swings back towards that mean. And if you look at the Green Bay Packers, they spent the two years prior to last year.

With 435 carries, you know, basically each year, I think one was 435, one was 436. Last year they were only able to run the ball 375 times losing the running backs. So what you saw last year was much lower than what they are wanting to do, expecting to do, have done. And so if, you know, usually people value things too high on last year. It should swing back. I like taking...

you know, shots on the Green Bay running game. And pro football focus has them as the eighth offensive line. I know people are very curious about offensive line gratings. And so they have one as a top 10 right now. Did lose TJ Lang. All right. They were 20th in the league in rushing last year. So we would hope that they try to improve that.

All right, let's talk about the Detroit Lions. Before I do that, I want to remind people, we are doing a giveaway right now. We love giving away free stuff, autographed jerseys. Just the way to say thank you for listening to the podcast and supporting what we do here at the fantasy footballers year round. So right now we've got a huge one. At footclan giveaway.com, it's completely free to enter. At footclan giveaway.com, we're giving away an autograph, T.Y. Hilton, Jersey. Autographed Tyreek Hill jersey.

autographed Tevin Coleman. Yeah. Yeah, and Mike will come and perform that while he gives you the jersey. Is that? No. No, we're going to ship it to you. We're going to ship the jersey. If you are, if you live within two square blocks of my house, you're willing to. I'll do it. If you win. Okay. But I'll never tell you where I live, so good luck. Sorry. So we just wanted to remind you, we're giving those away the deadline to enter for the free autograph jersey. We're also doing a DFS pass in a, uh,

A J. Gris. Oh, that's probably the best prize at the end of July. So check that out at footclane giveaway.com. I also want to say thank you to everybody that all the applications we got for the writing opening we mentioned. Yes. That deadline is over. We had over 300 people apply to join the writing team here. But we just wanted to say thank you for everybody. Obviously, we can't bring on everybody. So we appreciate the time and effort you put into applying. And we'll definitely let you know.

I had one quick. Well, we're doing shoutouts. We have more opportunities. If you're over on the Sleeper Bot app, we have an official fantasy footballers community tab on there. Brand new. It just launched yesterday. Basically two hours ago. Well, at the time of recording. So yesterday, if you're hearing this on Thursday, just saying so, jump in there. Yeah. And then since you're going everywhere on the internet, you've got to go to ultimate draft kit.com. If you haven't got your draft kit, that's what we.

We make, we put all of our time, effort, resources into making that better and better. You got any websites you want them to go to? Got any, like Yahoo? You ever been to Yahoo? Oh, no. What's that? It's a search engine. All right, Detroit. Let's talk about the Lions. I'm really interested in you guys takes. You know, Jason talked about there are pieces of this offense that are certainly prolific. Matthew Stafford is one of my favorite values at the back half of drafts. This is a team that only ran the ball 36% of the time last year.

that's not a lot. That's 30th in the league. They could not run the ball. That's 18 carries a game split across whomever they gave it to. Last year it was Dwayne Washington and Theoretic sometimes and Mirab Dula for a couple days and Zach Zinner. But this is 18 carries a game. So you have to make your argument for this running game improving from the basis of the volume needs to improve.

Otherwise, I think you're looking at, okay, what can Amir Abdullah really do? If he gets the ball eight times, nine times, ten times a game. Is that going to happen with the additions, offensive line? Nope. Are they going to be committed to the run? Jason's been shaking his head this whole time saying, look, the volume's just not there. Yeah, the volume is just not there. And it's not just there because, oh, well, Amir Abdullah was injured last year. No, this is not.

Their team. I was talking about the trends, right? Green Bay, you look usually. They run the ball more. Look at this team. And over the last three years, not just last year, the last three years, they are basically dead. They are, if you look at the accumulation of the last three years together. They are dead last in rushing attempts, 32. And they're dead last in rushing yards, 32. And so maybe they bump up to the highest they've been in the last three years, which was 28.

You know, it's like they're not a team that's going to produce on the ground. Now, that's not to say they can't have fantasy relevance. We all know PPR Theo Riddick has been great. But now it's like with Amir Abdullah and Theoretic, I'm scared of both of them. I don't, I keep wanting to be, because look, Amir Abdullah is talented. I mean, he is a. He's amazing. He is a star running back type of player. So if he breaks out and just carries the team, kudos for drafting him. But I cannot.

get myself to be convinced that I go volume over talent. I go opportunity over talent. I can't believe that the opportunity is really there. From what I understand, Amir Abdullah, his high school locker, when you open it up, there's a little picture of C.J. Anderson in there. And so he has to break out of that mold because he, I mean, Mike, he hasn't been healthy. First season, yes. He was healthy as rookie year. Yeah, that's fair. So does the volume go up, Mike? Yes, it goes up. I'm looking back here because I was thinking of, well,

when the Detroit Lions weren't committing to the run game. Why is that? And it's because they had Joyke Bell with this contract. That's who they put their faith in. But Joyc Bell in 2014, which you're talking about, he had 223, 223 carries. If Amir Abdullah gets more than 200 carries, he's going to be a running back too, because he's going to have 30 plus receptions to go along with that. And I know that,

Amir's in this weird, nebulous zone of what is the actual role of Amir Abdullah? Because when you're just looking, not the goal line. Because you think, well, if Zach enters the short yard is back and the goal line back and theoretic is the past. Exactly. Where is Amir Abdullah? I just have faith down on my rankings. The Detroit Lions spent a second round pick to get him. Hey, the Cardinals wanted Abdullah over David Johnson. Exactly. He's incredibly talented.

I believe in Amir Abdullah, the player, I believe that the Lions will figure out how to use him. I'll say this. If Amir Abdullah can produce early, that will be the best pathway to high volume in this offense. The problem is, you know, when you come off of an injury-played gear, you are undersized to a degree at the running back position. You wonder if they're going to force that issue if he doesn't earn that time on the field. Yeah, and I think their offensive line has gotten worse. I mean,

Well, it got worse with the injury to Decker. Yes. Yeah, they lost. You had the injury to the left tackle. The Taylor Decker. Larry Warford left. Yes, you got T.J. Lange, but you've got a lot of changeover on an offensive line. You left out Greg Robinson. They brought him in. Superstar from the Los Angeles Rams. It was a first round draft pick. Yeah. Didn't cost him a first to get him. All right. So I want to turn my attention to.

The more exciting part of this offense to me, the passing game, Matthew Stafford, love his consistency over the past five years. Marvin Jones, through, this is famous, I guess doing well through week seven doesn't bode well for anybody. But through week seven, Marvin Jones was the number 10 wide receiver in PPR leagues. And then he passed away. Here's what it says to me. From a fantasy perspective. This next year, when you have breakout players who haven't done it yet,

through week seven next year in 2017 when they're when they're yeah sell just like they oh they're showing hot sell you know it is tough at that point those are wait till week eight see what happens week eight is the advice but Marvin jones i still think this guy is talented you had a very hot beginning

All the reports so far in the offseason workouts, it's been positive. Golden Tate, I think, is integral to this offense, but I don't think he's the same yards after the catch, threat, deep threat, score threat that he could have been, or that he was years past. I think he's lost a step. Matt Harmon's reception would tell you he lost a step. So are you banking on, let me put it this way to you, Mike, because I know you like a rookie they brought in. A do. Whose nickname has been crafted.

perfectly by Brooks. So good. So Kenny Galladay. Kenny G. Well, if there's one thing he has, it's smooth routes. It's Kenny G. Now. Oh, the rookie sensation. Kenny Gala day. Smooth routes. Do you have more confidence in Kenny Gala day? With Kenny G. Breaking out or Marvin Jones bouncing back. Which is the, which one do you prefer? I'm just going to leave these tunes for you. If I had to decide between two players.

I would go with the veteran, even though the music is so smooth. I love the potential of Candy Gallaudet. Yeah, I completely agree. I was very happy. I thought for sure with the music going on, we were going to be swayed into going with Kenny G. But I got to stay with what I believe. Yeah, Marvin Jones. Song be darned. It was one of those things where Marvin Jones was second on the team in targets inside the 10-yard line.

with seven. Now, the leader for that for the Lions is gone. Nine targets inside the 10 went to Anquan Bolden, and he's gone. So the question is, where do those, you know, 67 receptions and eight touchdowns, six of which were inside that 10, where did those targets go? Did they go to Eric Ebron, who only had three targets, which is pretty much how they've always used them? Inside the 10. Inside the 10. He had four the year before. But Marvin Jones is a guy that...

The first half of the year, it's no coincidence that the first half of the year they were targeting him. Most of his targets came before week seven. Where do you think those targets inside the 10 go now that assuming Anquan Bolden doesn't resign? Yeah, I think it's a good thing without Bolden there. It's a good stability perspective for Jones. Jones inside the 10, you know, you haven't brought anybody else in. Ebron, I think, goes up. But Jones, I think.

You have a stable amount of targets inside that zone. He's a guy who back in Cincinnati, remember he had these three touchdown games, he's a target in the red zone. He's in 10th round right now. He's being drafted right by Quincy Anunwa. Do you want Anunwa or do you want Marvin Jones? Do you want Cory Coleman or do you want Marvin Jones? That's the range he's being drafted in. Cameron Meredith? Corey Davis?

Or Marvin Jones. They'll take camera, Meredith. It's tough. But it's gone too far. But look, let me read you. Okay, so Meredith, you have a quarterback there that, you know, Mike Glennon, Cory Coleman, who knows. Quincy and Nuwa, who knows? Marvin Jones has Matthew Stafford. Yeah. What do you mean who knows? No, I'm talking about the quarterback. Oh, sure. You know the quarterback situation for Marvin Jones. Those other ones are all up in the air or inferior than Matthew Stafford. So I think it's an interesting flyer in the 10th round, is all I'm saying.

I agree. I agree. Even if he gave me only seven weeks of that type of prolific play, I think I'd take that in the 10th round. Yeah, and Marvin Jones is a good value. Golden Tate is, I think, always a good value. If you look last year and you go, well, he had so many finishes outside the top 36 wide receivers, the vast majority came in those first few weeks where they just were trying to force the ball to Marvin Jones. Eric Ebron, you've been talking this offseason about how his new role.

How they're using him is different this year. So that bodes well. No, that was a cinnamon roll. Now he was talking about. I love Ebron even more now. If there's one thing I like more than Eric Ebron, it's cinnamon rolls. Not a skinny man. But if his role changes and he, you know, and there's those nine missing targets inside that 10, those targets are, I mean, on those nine, those turned into six touchdowns for Anquam Bolden.