Fantasy Football 2017 - Big Trades, Rising Stars, Rookie Recap + Pre. Wk 1

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We'll get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now. Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Hey, FootClank. Great show for you today. We got Rising Stars. We got some preseason recap, all the news. We got a mailbag. It's going to be awesome. Before we get into it, I want to tell you about the time suck.

podcast. Look, on this show, we make a priority to inform you and to entertain you. And that's what we love about the Time Suck podcast. We've talked to Dan Cummins over there. We basically said, hey, look, we've got listeners that enjoy being entertained and learning something new. You got them as well. So we're telling each other's listeners,

about each other's podcast. And the time suck podcast is an experiment in curiosity. Look, the point of the podcast is you actually learn something new every week. Education doesn't have to be boring. And listeners basically submit topics that Dan researches and brings the knowledge. And I'm telling you, in an entertaining way. And look, this isn't for the kitties, but you got to check it out. That's timesuckpodcast.com. Check it out at timesuckpodcast.com. To the fantasy footballers podcast.

Coming to you from the Playdraft Studios with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Ah, the football season has arrived. It's fresh. I watched so much football this weekend. It is stepped off the train. It is unpacked. It's clothes. And it is here for a while. It put the clothes into the...

The drawers? Into the actual furniture. Uh-huh. Like this is not just a temporary stay. Yeah, they're moved in. They're ready. Welcome in to the podcast. I heard the research suggests August 26th is the day the most fantasy football drafts will take place this year. August 26th is a Saturday, I believe. And so that makes a whole lot of sense.

Everybody will be drafting. However, you might have already drafted. You might be about to draft, and we've got everything you need on the show today. The fantasy football is back again five days a week. Our rising stars on the show today, we'll be talking about players we thought stood out from week one in the preseason. Maybe somebody that's been showing signs of life in camp. We're going to recap some of those preseason games, specifically get into the rookies. How did the rookies look?

In week one, their first opportunity to get on the field. We've set it time and again on this show. The preseason's not about the stat line. It's about what your eyes tell you. And it can go both ways. You can see a player and you can say, wow, they got nothing. Nothing left. And you can go the other direction and say, wow, that player throwing it out there. I saw that with Joe Mixing this weekend. So we're going to get into some mailbag, some other news, catch you up on injuries. It's going to be a busy show. It's going to be a good show.

I can promise you that. All right. Find us on Twitter at the FFFBallers. The website's the fantasy footballers.com. The fantasy community, 3,000 strong over at join the foot.com. And look, I know that these guys are prepped up and ready to give you their takes on these games. So many takes, man. So many takes. I'm in full restraint over here. I don't want to take vomit all over the place. Yeah, that's a weird phrase, bro.

You guys have any quick thoughts before we get started here? Just a reminder to check out ballerslive.com because we've got a live show coming up here in a couple of weeks. Shouldn't have given you the chance. The tickets are on sale at ballerslive.com. All right. In lieu of a quick question, we're going to get right into the rising stars. Raising Cains, rising stars of the week. All right. I'm going to kick this thing off. And by the way, on Friday.

I'm telling you, we finished the episode. The Ezekiel Elliott News broke on the episode. We were able to talk about it a little bit, but we couldn't dig in, right? I mean, we're in the middle of the show. We hit the breaking news button and drop the six game suspension news. And then Mike is literally pressing the publish button on the episode. And I'm in the other room and I'm screaming, Sammy Watkins just got treated. Yeah. And it's full slow motion for me going, no.

Because I had already clicked the mouse. I mean, the episode was already live. I know. And so we're going to talk about those trades today. My rising star benefits from this trade. Direct result. Direct result. It's Zachers. Now, Jason, this morning in our little, we do a company league over on Sleeperbot, which by the way, they just added like three-team trading, which I thought was crazy cool. Right up your alley. I've always wanted to do that.

but I've needed to use like a Google Doc to try to organize the trades. So that's pretty cool on the Sleeper Bot app. But Zach Ertz is my rising star. I think Jordan Matthews leaving the middle of the field to Nelson Aguilar. It means good things for Zach Ertz because I think the volume will be there for Zach Erds. Alshon Jeffrey is not going to be the peppered volume type of guy. Wince looked good so far this preseason.

He's a player that I think can make a move forward, and Zach Ertz is sure-handed. Look, don't count on him for the Red So. Don't count on Zacherts to give you 10 times. This is not Rob Granikowski, he's not Jordan Reed. This is more of a Travis Kelsey. Yes. And so I like Zacherts. He's moving up my board. He's been on the must draft list at the back end of any basketball, at the back end of any league that I haven't taken an early tight end.

But I really think Zackertz, without Jordan Matthews in the middle of the field, he kind of erases the concern I had when they brought in a couple of wide receivers. Yeah, I can say when I took Zackertz in the league, it was the first time, and it was directly because of this news, it was the first time I've taken him over.

players that I had, you know, Kyle Rudolph, I took Zachert's over Kyle Rudolph. Yeah, I mean, you could say that, but the opportunity now I think is huge for Ertz. He's shown flashes of brilliance. So I'll get into mind. My rising star is a guy that you might be a little worried about right now. You might be fading because it just came out that he's got a foot injury. And so you go, why is he a rising star? But that is rookie running back.

Leonard Fornett. Now, we don't know anything about the foot injury. We don't know anything to the extreme. Like, there is no news out there other than he has a foot injury. And we're going to take it easy. Yeah, we're going to take it easy on him. I mean, so I don't believe this is anything yet. If news comes out next week that, you know, he's got a list for any injury. Obviously, that changes things. But I think this is giving him rest.

The reason he has a rising star to me, while I watched all these games, took notes on everybody, there were a few players that stood out above the rest, and one of them was Leonard Fournett, much more so, even than Mixon, who looked great. But Leonard Fornett, to me, you saw Chris Ivory come out, get those first few carries, which is so stupid, Jacksonville. Stop it. And then... You got to make the rook earn the job, Jason. You got to make them earn the job when you take it. Fourth overall. So dumb.

But when Leonard Fournette came out and reminded me exactly of what we saw from David Johnson, where as a Cardinals fan, I was so frustrated whenever they'd take him out and they'd put in someone else because it's like, dude, David Johnson would have got that corner. He would have picked up the first and you stopped the whole drive by putting in Chris Johnson. And I saw that when Yeldon came in and I saw that when Ivory was there. There was a different...

level of motor and they want to run. I mean, they showed it in the preseason. They handoff, handoff, handoff, handoff. If they can pick up a first down with three handoffs in a row, they're going to do it. And here's a thing. I think they're going to be able to pick up the first downs now. Watching Fournette, I was like, oh, they're going to be able to run the ball three times in a row and then run it again the next play because they're still on the field. That's why Leonard and Fournette is my rising star. He did look very, very strong. He's pretty strong.

So mine, look, Foot Clan, something happened on Sunday. And it included my mentions being set ablaze. Because there was some smooth routes. There was some smooth catches. I mean, I was here last week. And to borrow a line from one of the listeners on Twitter saying, I may need to just get a room at the Gala Day Inn. Oh, my gosh. So silly. Oh, my gosh. Kenny G.

dropping two touchdowns, three receptions for 53 yards. Three acrobatics. These were big boy receptions. I mean, he made a full adjustment on the ball. He used his size. These are no Jordan Matthews receptions. These were big boy receptions. Sure. That's fair. But he looked great. He's still down on the depth chart. But he has, I mean, last week I talked about him as someone who maybe, maybe you take a flyer on him now.

in an actual redraft league. Wouldn't it be great if you could pre-draft players at their current value for your future drafts? Wouldn't it be nice to say, hey, I'm claiming Ghaladay in the 15th. Like the opposite of a keeper. Before he does anything. An early keeper league. But he's, he's now officially to me, he's in that department of one of your last picks. Grab Kenny Goladay because there is, there is a spot for him on this roster. Anquam Bolden.

Was the Red Zone threat last year? Eight touchdowns, I believe. He's gone. No guarantee that Ebron does anything. One injury in that receiving core in Ghaladay could go to the stratosphere. Yes. And that's not hyperbole. Because we love Stafford. Stafford's just right in 4,200 yards. I mean, it's just done. Last five years, locked and loaded. So if somebody's hurt, if Jones doesn't perform, and Ghaladay flashes.

I don't mind it. I just hate the fact that his ADP is going to get hurt by a couple of preseason TDs. I don't think it will skyrocket, though. But it's, he could creep into the smooth round. But he's he's humongous. He's very athletic for his size. And I mean, all signs point to Kenny Galladay being a good player in this league. Yeah, he should be able to. I do, I do think we need to keep in mind. Those receptions were not from Stafford. Sure. So he was still, you know, grain of salt.

It probably would have been better passes if they were from staff. That's true. They might not have needed to adjust so heavily. Zachard's Leonard Fournett, Kenny Gallaudet, those were this week's Raising Cain's Rising Stars of the Week because they're delicious. Remember game day tastes better with Raising Cain's tailgates full of fresh 24-hour marinated hand-battered chicken fingers and fresh brewed sweet tea. Visit raising canes.com to find your nearest location. Let's talk news. News and notes from around the league.

All right. I don't know where the news begins and the recap ends or vice versa, whatever you might say. We've got a lot to talk about. We're going to start with the headliner that everybody wanted us to discuss right away. The big boy, big time, NBA style slam dunk trade. It was an NBA trade. Three team. We were just talking. Three team trade. Sammy Watkins traded to the Rams. The Rams pick up Watkins, Buffalo.

Picks up a corner. And this is right after Sammy Watkins and Tyrod Taylor looked great. If you saw Tyrod Taylor's Twitter account, he had just said something like, we're just getting started with a picture of him and tagging Watkins. Man, that's brutal. Quickly deleted it. And then in a simultaneous move, the bills acquired Jordan Matthews from the Eagles, traded away Darby, who is a stud. Surprising moves from the front office. However, a whole new front office. Is that the right?