Free Agency Winners & Losers + Jason’s Voice Mystery - Fantasy Football Podcast for 3/26

It's good to be back America. On today's show, we break down the big free agent winners, the big free agent losers, maybe medium, maybe small losers. We're going to talk about it on today's show. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a minute and enjoy. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Tuesday, March 26th. Greatest day in history.

Why is that? Welcome into the fantasy footballers podcast. He just is, Mike. Whoa. Something. Sounds like a pretty big deal. Something really good happened a long time ago. That's all I'm saying. On the 26th? Yeah. Uh, okay. How long ago? Yeah, I'm caught up now. How long ago, Andy? Like, are we talking? Four score. Four decades ago? Forty years ago? I think, yeah. Is it what one score? How long is a score? Two weeks? Seven points. No, no. No, that's a fortnight. Yeah, thank you. I thought a score was... I honestly, I have no idea how much... I thought a score was 40 years. I'll probably know. 20? Okay. Yeah. Two score. Two score. Yeah, I'm 40. What happened? What's it to you? It's fantastic. Welcome to the club. Drove in a Miata this morning. That's right. That's right. Top down. I mean, I...

And you know how tall I am. I don't fit in that. No, the top has to be down. Yeah, yeah. Welcome in, one and all, the fantasy footballers. Free agency winners and losers on today's show. You heard no bear on the intro. We finally have the gang back together and our first chance to talk through winners and losers of free agency together. And we'll get into the news, some mailbag. And I'm glad everybody's back. Again. Ultimate draftkid.com. You can get it right now. The Dynasty Pass being updated daily. And the full Ultimate Draft Kit releases on June 1st so you can pre-order price or it's at the pre-order price right now. I have to get to the quick question on today's episode of the show. I missed out on. Today's quick question. Quite a hullabaloo. Was submitted by millions of listeners. Millions. But.

In lieu of reading all of the comments, I will allow Grant to be a representative for all of them. Grant in Atlanta says, quote, is everything okay with Jason? On the show, March 21st, his voice sounds substantially different than any time I've ever heard him. Apparently, people really know my voice very well. Better than the people in this room. Calamity ensued when last week, apparently, I did not know it at the time in the moment. I knew there was something going on, but I had what's called strep throat. That'll get you. My voice was not its usual silky, buttery smoothness. Instead, I think I was up here more or something like that. I think my range was higher.

I don't know what it was. Which on one hand, some people thought sounded like Mike. So I don't know what's saying? Yeah, I don't know. That's me, Mike. What's everybody doing? I've been accused of many things in my years. Having a really high voice is not one of them. What's funny is whatever change happened on that episode to my voice, which most people around here couldn't really decipher. They're like, I don't hear anything wrong. It was like the comments, the DMs. Oh, people were. The total messages, it was like, it was like a village on fire and everyone looting. It was like just, it was pure man. Yeah, pandemonium in the streets. Over my voice. So, uh, I hope it's back. Are you okay? Yeah, I mean, I'm, uh, maybe I'm like 90% back to my normal voice. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we'll find out. Because we wouldn't be able to know because, because the people in this room.

Didn't know when it was happening. I mean, people thought AI was doing your voice for an episode. People thought it was Mike's voice. Soon, soon, people, it'll be AI. We're working on it. Yeah, yeah. So there you go. Jason just had strep throat. Yeah. Which, you tried to give to me. I'm over. I didn't get it this time. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. But he's, you're better. They gave you the medicines. I got the medicines and I got better quick. I feel like, I feel like ever since we. like pronounced the fact that we had never had two people sick at the same time or two people out on the same day ever since then it has been we've been tested we have had some real push comes to shove near uh one man shows when you poke the bear yeah it bites yeah all right uh let's talk some fantasy news news and notes from around the league the worst is going to be when the foot clan starts diagnosing us before we feel it

Because like if this show goes live and then the comments are like, oh my gosh, Andy's voice, what's wrong? I'll know I'm sick with something. All right, Andy better check that prostate. Whoa. Whoa. I have to do that anyway. You're at the age. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They've heard the age. And now they're hearing the inflections of your voice. Everyone's asking you to get checked out. Everyone. Yeah, that's the people want it. Live stream. I'm pretty disturbed right now, to be honest. Pretty scared. Yes, Al, you are, uh, you are overdue. He was asking if he's overdue. Yeah, you're very old. I thought it was like mid 40s or 50. Yeah, I think it's 45. Okay. There's also, they also, they also do, uh, old man health. Yeah, one second. Uh, they, they, I think they do like some, some blood, some precheck now for your, for numbers in your blood too. Now I know for a fact, Josh, because I did that and they're like, you're good. Papa Josh is fantastic. I'm fine. He's the oldest man here.

How many are Bakers doesn't? Wait, of what? Prostate exams. What? Mike is in true form now. Back on the show. He's never done it. Yeah, Papa Josh, three score and 13 prostate checks. I'm sorry, everybody. We're just happy to be back together. Yeah, it's the Adam Thielen hour. All right. The NFL will officially not ban the tush push. We have known this for a while. I think we've mentioned it once or twice, but it's nice to have conclusive evidence. The touchdowns will come from the one yard line regardless of Sequin. I don't know. I love that we get like the science experiment of the Jason Kelsey impact. Yes. Yeah, we'll know whether it was Kelsey or not this year. I promise you, even with Sequin there.

Week one, week two, they're at the one yard line. They're going to do the tush push, and we're going to get to find out. They should. Russell Wilson has, quote, poll position from Mike Tomlin says to be the starter for the Steelers, but then said when it's time to compete, Justin Fields will be given an opportunity to show his capabilities. The draft pick that the Steelers gave up goes from a six to a four if Fields plays more than 51% of the snaps. They won't care about that change if Fields leads them to victory. I believe the. draft kings over under wind totals came out? Yes. Yes, for teams. And the Steelers were aware. Seven and a half, which would. Wait, I thought that you said that they were hired than that. No, they were seven and a half, which is if they were to, I mean, that, that line is testing the Mike Tomlin never had a losing season. Yeah, I mean, if you were at eight, you have a losing season. Yeah. So we'll see. It could get, I think it could get messy, you know, it's just, I don't think Russell Wilson would handle being benched.

Well, he got benched last year. His situation last year was contractual, not play, even though they came out and said, oh, it's play. I just mean, if you get a new opportunity here, you've been told you're the starter, the team goes out, then picks up Justin Fields. I'm sure that did not make Russell happy. I only know this because he tweeted out happy he was about it. About Justin Fields? Yeah, about Justin Fields coming in. So I don't know. Brian Dable says there's no guarantee. Daniel Jones will be ready for week one. Okay. It's good for the Giants. Yeah, and they did pick up Drew Locke. So there's been, you know, rumors of them interested in the quarterback market and the, you know, this upcoming draft. I don't know that they've got the draft capital to make a move. So you might end up week one with Drew Locke. There was a bit of news regarding.

the Gus bus, which I know that this is what we're going with. Just because Gus Edwards, that goes on forever, doesn't it? There was a quote from the Chargers General Manager that they called Gus Edwards the bell cow cow cow of the backfield. His full quote was he's the bell cow line guy, the finisher, the right mentality for what we're looking for. I told you we wanted to be a bigger, bigger team, play a physical style. on both sides of the ball. He helps us do that. Yeah. I mean, as of right now, the death chart is the Gus Bus, Isaiah Spiller, Elijah Dotson, and... Jared Patterson? Is Jared Patterson on the charges? Apparently. All I know is if the backfield stays the same as it is now, Gus Edwards would certainly be the...

very, very primary ball carrier. And if I wanted a rookie running back in this draft, I would make sure everyone knows we've got our bell cow already in tow. He's going to be everything. He's exactly what we want. Well, it's funny. The finisher and the goal line guy kind of contradict how we interpret the phrase bell cow. Like bell cow feels like you get all the totes. Like you get all the carries. But the other two are like what he probably will really be, which is. fourth downs, third and short, et cetera. If I had Gus Edwards and Dynasty, I would try to trade him. Okay. Because you probably thought you'd never get to do that again. So if that... What would you trade him for? Like, would you trade him for a second rounder? Yeah, for sure. Unless you really believe that he's going to be the guy. It just, it's at that you're at the time of year where he is currently winning. So, man, I don't know that I would trade him away.

I think I might hold on to Gus Edwards. And I'm not predicting that we're going to go into the season that Gus Edwards will be the only name at the running back position for the Chargers. They'll probably add someone else. But it's just at this point, like running back depth is so needy. Because even if they had a rookie, Gus Edwards, with the money that he got, will be involved. And Gus Edwards, what do you think right now? Stop ahead. over under on rushing touchdowns for Gus? Six? Yeah, I was thinking seven. Yeah, you heard it here first. Either keep them or trade them. Well, I'll just, people giving their opinion. I would trade for him. I would, I would hold, I would hold Gus at this point. If I could get a second rounder for Gus, I would certainly cash in. I think this is a deep enough wide receiver class where if I can convert Gus Edwards right now.

into a rookie wide receiver. I would do that without. I think Gus will be okay for a year. Yeah. But what my bigger point is like the whole identity of this entire team is going to be hard-nosed, run the football. And I don't think you go into the season with Gus Edwards and nobody. Like I just don't think that's a part of fulfilling that philosophy. This is a player that's missed time due to injury before. Yeah, there's a strong chance that you would not be able to trade Gus Edwards after the NFL draft. Yeah. So, look, what did he have? 13 last year. Is that where he was? I think he was at 13 touchdown. So something to watch as we head into the draft and the NFL draft rumors. We heard stuff right before the show recording time about J.J. McCarthy, maybe going number two to Washington. That's like been the rumor is that that's the guests that a lot of GMs have number two.

which puts the Cardinals at four in a position where people will be chomping at the bit to take, if that happened. Yeah, if JJ goes in the top three. Yeah, I guess even if he doesn't, if the NFL views J.J. McCarthy in the way they seem to, which is right in the same tier as Daniels May, then Cardinals are probably trading out of four. I don't want them to, but that will, and that will really disrupt your. your natural thoughts on where the big three superstar wide receivers are going to go. Because it's easy right now to say, okay, we think that Cardinals will have Harrison, and then everyone seems to put Adunze with the Bears at 9, and the neighbors go somewhere in between, giants, whatever. But it would really disrupt things if there was a big trade. So 30 days till the draft, man, it's going to be fun. Any other news back there in Ducer's Alley? Anything you got for us?

No, sir. All right. Let's jump in. We're going to win. Free agency winners are losers. We finally get the opportunity to talk through our favorite signings and our least favorite outcomes from free agency. We've had a lot happen this year, right? Mm-hmm. And we've each picked a biggest winner and a biggest loser. At this point, you know, there is no sneaking this player into redraft leagues and onto your roster. To me, the biggest winner of three agencies was Drake London wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons. Yeah. And Drake London, you know, there are players like Terry McLaurin historically and DJ Moore historically where the Drake London story was beginning to model those career arts, which is.

super talented, upper echelon, wide receiver ability, stifled by, you know, just a rotating door of quarterbacks for the rest of their career. However, we did get a glimmer of hope last year, right, with DJ Moore changing teams, changing quarterbacks, becoming a go-to receiver at a higher, with a higher chance of helping your fantasy team on a weekly basis. We know. If you have eyeballs, you know Drake London is a very, very good wide receiver. I have eyeballs. Yeah, and you have eyeballs. Congratulations. I think he's a very, very good wide receiver. That's good because if you didn't, I might not have eyeballs. You wouldn't know that. You wouldn't know. Target shares have been 29% and 23% in the first two years. Last year was 74% of the team's wide receiver red zone targets. That's number one in the NFL. That's great.

So he must have been awesome, right? Percentages on a Falcons team, they don't count. No, they certainly didn't under Arthur Smith, and he's only had six total touchdowns in two years. He's had putrid quarterback play. He's had changes at the quarterback position, low passing volume, nobody to really help him on the other side of the field, and just a team that didn't even line up in three wide very often. They were a two wide team. They ran 11 personnel. He was a very, very good player in three wide receiver sets. And the nice thing about this upcoming year is you're going to have a rebuilt offense, top to bottom. You're going to have a new offensive coordinator and Zach Robinson. You have, I'm sorry, they didn't line up in 11 a lot. That's what I meant to. So thank you. You noticed that. Yeah, I was staring you down. Yeah, they need to line up in 11 more. They didn't do that very often. They lined up in 12 with more tight ends.

They're going to be in a position now this year to open things up. And the addition of Kirk Cousins is the key component to the entire equation. You're not going to be able to hide Drake London in drafts this year. Period. No, that's already done. Have you seen where he's going on underdog now? 14. He's in the second round. He's, I mean, this is, this is, this is, he's being drafted to be a great fantasy wide receiver this season. It drafted ahead of Diggs, Debo, and Chris Olave. He was wide receiver 26 a month ago. And we did like him a month ago. Not because of cousins, because we didn't know that was happening, but because of the change at the head coaching spot and the offensive coordinator. Yeah, 26 was his floor with that change. Without the change to cousins, he could have hidden. He might have been able to hide as a sneaky value. Now you're just going to have to take him because you love the opportunity in the player and the youth. We all have them top 12 in our dynasty startup rankings.

But to me, huge win for his career, his future pocketbook. Yeah. So, biggest winner to me. I got a question because we all, I know where the rankings are right now, but let's just talk through it. Dynasty-wise, Drake London versus Garrett Wilson, which Garrett Wilson, he could find himself on, like, on that Drake London path here. Yes, we. We're supposed to have Aaron Rogers as Garrett Wilson's quarterback for this year. But then what? Number one, Jay, you've kind of talked about, you have concerns about it just Aaron Rogers. Does he really even have it remaining to make sure that Garrett Wilson can be great for fantasy football? Because Garrett Wilson, like Drake London, is a great wide receiver. This is, in my opinion, you cannot argue against Wilson's talent.

What's the future look like where after Rogers this year, maybe it's okay. Maybe it's Rogers next year. Maybe you're right back into quarterback purgatory because if Rogers is actually good, then you don't have draft capital to get a new quarterback. And so it's like just the Drake Lundner versus Garrett Wilson. Right now we all have Garrett Wilson ahead. But before you answer, I want to give you their career numbers. Because I think it's interesting. Yeah. Two years, same, you know, they came in the same draft class. Through two years, Garrett Wilson has 315 targets, 178 catches for 2,145 yards. Mm-hmm. Through two years, Drake Lennon has 227 targets, so almost 100 fewer targets. 141 catchers for 17171 yards. Like, what, 400 fewer yards? But obviously, Kirk Cousins is not a spring chicken either. But what is your view on those two? Yeah, I think it's a fair and honest debate. If you look last year you're talking about, or over the last just handful of years, it's been, well, Justin Jefferson.

has been great with Kirk Cousins and Devante Adams has been great with Aaron Rogers. So you've got a little bit more youth on Kirk Cousins side over Aaron Rogers. And I mean, there's no target competition to me for Drake London. Now that you go out and sign Mike Williams, some of those touchdowns could come away. I think it's an honest debate. They brought in Mooney. They have pits. I mean, you don't have a big tight-in target in New York. Yeah, I mean, both wide receivers are great. I think the, what you've seen. on the field makes you lean towards just keeping Garrett Wilson ahead because he's done more. He's done more with crappy quarterbacks. Yes. I mean, they both had crappy quarterbacks, but he put up bigger numbers. Right. And so I think I've got him, I mean, I do have him ahead in my rankings, but it's a fair debate. If someone thinks it's nowhere near close and you can capitalize on a trade and get a big plus, you know, trading Garrett Wilson for Drake Ludden plus other stuff,

I would be fine with that. Six touchdowns for Drake London in two years. How many does Garrett Wilson have in two years? Not many. Six? Seven. So they're actually pretty mirrored. I mean, this last year, Garrett Wilson finished at 32. At the wide receiver position with bad quarterback play, Drake London, you know, this past year, where was he? He was 39. So these are two super talented players. Nowhere near the top 24 this past year. Could be worth. noting in a dynasty setting that a full year younger is Drake London. They're very close. I think we all have them pretty close in dynasty. We do. To me, it's been like Garrett Wilson since last off season, kind of just got put into, you know, a borderline top five dynasty asset because of how young he is and how good it looks like he's going to be. And it just now it was like that was locked in. It's Drake London's turn to be in that spot this year.

But both should have brand new quarterbacks. Quick break and back with Jason's fantasy free agency winner. All right. I went with Drake London. Jason, who do you have as your biggest winner of free agency? I am taking a running back that I really did not think would find a great market this offseason. Instead, he found a great market. DeAndre Swift goes out, gets a three-year, $15 million guaranteed. as the first running back signed once free agency opened up. And I think he has, not only did he secure the bag, I'm happy for him, get paid running backs, but he enters into a really good situation. The fact that, you know, day one, they're clamoring for D'Andre Swift, they're giving him a lot of money, that is a commitment to him where I'm not worried about Roshan Johnson. You know, it's not going to be a Christian McCaffrey.

Saquan Barkley level, you know, you get everything. And Swift is a little bit undersized. So there'll be some working in. But when you've got a rookie quarterback, there is a lot of reliance on the running back position. We talk about how wide receivers in fantasy football, it's not usually a good bet when you've got a rookie quarterback. But it actually is a pretty safe bet for the running back for a rookie quarterback because of... They want to protect. They want to make sure that, you know, they've got the running game to help support the young quarterback. Since 2011, lead running backs playing alongside rookie quarterbacks with 10 starts, they've averaged 250 opportunities. They've been a running back, too, on average. So this is a really good floor for him. And I think that the news there for Chicago, there's so much splash.

elsewhere on the roster that I do think DeAndre Swift will go a little bit under the radar. He's not going to fly up boards, but the offense could be good. Caleb Williams coming in as the number one pick in the draft and the splash of Keenan Allen, the big year last year from DJ Moore. To me, DeAndre Swift finds himself in what could be a good offense where he's going to get a lot of work. He's paid to get a lot of work. I think for fantasy-wise, I mean, You know, last year he finishes the running back 23 in 16 games. But before Philly fell apart, you know, before their buy week and they completely collapsed, he was averaging 14.3 fantasy points per game on over 20 opportunities. 97 all-purpose yards every single game. So you've got. What is obviously, yes, the landscape for him, the situation for him better than expected. He was a winner. Do you see him in that same range, the 20s?

Yeah, I think he will be drafted as a lower end RB2, maybe even outside of the top 24. I think he'll be right around the 24. And that should be his floor. He's only 25 years old. So I really like this spot for Swift. How wild. Go ahead, Mike. To me, anyways, DeAndre Swift, the Chicago Bears, you know, running backs, I guess they sort of got paid this all season. But it's harder to get running back's really good guaranteed money. DeAndre Swift in his career has averaged 41% of snaps. Yeah. And they just gave him a huge bag of money. Like last year, that was the highest ever. At 55% of the snaps, yes. Like how, it still blows my mind. How did he get this deal? They like what they saw. And he did, he kind of.

took this you know did a had a stranglehold is the word i was looking for on the backfield gainwell started the year as everybody's darling fantasy maybe this guy's going to break out it wasn't and i was just curious because like last year like you would say dandre's just a better running back than chuba hubbard yes for sure devon singletary no i i think you in that tier very different style of player but your point is that Those guys were both really good with rookie quarterbacks last year. Yeah, I mean, Chuba finished the year at 26, didn't take over until partway through the year, with Bryce Young on the worst offense I've ever seen, and finished at 26. And then Singletary also didn't take over until partway through the year, finished at 31. He was a league winner. But he was very, very good. Sounds like an argument for Roshan Johnson. I'm just going to tell you that. Sure, whoever the lead guy is, because those guys didn't start that way this last year. Shoot.

But the point is the running back for a rookie quarterback is a much safer bet than wide receivers for a rookie quarterback. Also implied loser, Khalil Herbert? Who? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, who, who, yeah. Mike, I see you have kind of two winners. I have two, yeah, because I wasn't here to talk about it, but shout out to the largest winner of the free agency period. Jerry Judy's agents? Yeah, what's his name? Chris. Cabot? I don't know. Chris Cabot. Getting it done. But what? That guy's driving a new car. Yeah, you weren't here, but I had the same exact reaction. It was just like, that agent's good. I mean, how does Jerry Judy? You're trying to get out in front of it. I understand that, but this is not working. Like, don't give these guys the money. Let them earn the money.

But anyways, the real one to me, and yes, it's near and dear to my heart because I had a very strong reaction to it. But I'm also, I'm in dynasty mode right now. So we're, you know, talking about can Gus Edwards hold on to some dynasty value as running backs are getting old? But Derek Henry going to the Baltimore Ravens, he's going to score so many touchdowns. And yeah, he's 30, but he got 9 million guaranteed. Last year with Tennessee being, you know, one of the worst teams in the league, he was the running back eight, over 1,100 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns. And he's had double-digit rushing touchdowns for six straight years. And now he goes to a team that Gus Edwards, we just quoted his numbers on it, of how Gus Edwards scored all of those touchdowns. That's the real problem for me is I want to come back and I want to be like, but this is old Derek Kennedy.