Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - RB's 21-40, Chris Harris Interview, News, Mailbag

It's very well said. I believe he has a very strong second half of the year. I think he's talented, and if you look at basically what's happened in the last several years with the Rams is whoever starts there as the running back ends up just being completely overshadowed and someone comes on strong. That's true. They've got the best opportunity for it this year, but the difference, the difference that people are not paying attention to is that in theory I love when a guy is going to come in the second half of the year and win you a league, say Odo Beckham.

But O'Dell Beckham didn't cost you anything. He didn't cost you an early round pick. You grabbed him off waivers or you drafted him at the very end of a draft. Whereas here, you have to pick up and roster a guy for a long time hurting your team, losing games potentially so that in the second half of the year you can have them. And who knows? Maybe second half, who knows? Yeah. Isn't there, I mean.

for argument's sake, these are the type of fears that happen with these guys. Occasionally they pan out. Occasionally they don't. No one wants to be the guy that didn't draft Adrian Peterson. Right. Right. And so just talk to me real briefly about your philosophy when you draft these teams. I mean, Mike, you like Amir Abdullah. Yes. You like him a lot for his talent, his upside. Obviously, he's not coming off an injury, but he, you know, there are still warts on him, but he's new, right? He's the new, shiny...

Yeah, the situations are just so different because I think the guy in front of him, it's almost like an opposite situation. The guy in front of him is old and hurt, where Gurley is young and hurt. How dare you? If Gurley wasn't coming off in ACL, I'd be all aboard on this pick. I would take the risk for his talent. And if it comes to a keeper league, or especially a Dynasty League,

I love Todd Gurley. I think he's going to be a great pick. He's going to be AP. But if we're talking redraft, it's going to hurt your roster for a couple of weeks to happen. 2,000 yards for Todd Gurley this year. Wait, no, no, no. Hit that water bat button. Number 20, that's a joke, everyone. Number 28 and 29 on our list are two more guys we talked about earlier with Chris Harris. Isaiah Crowell at 28. Kevin Coleman at 29. Mike, I need to ask you a question, though. Yes. My beard game, it's lacking.

Well, I'm looking at you. You got the starter. You got the starter. It's not too bad. I think this is the four or the five on the setting, the trim setting. Hey, it's not too bad. And you know what? It's actually long enough for handsome fancy beard oil to get everything. You head over to handsome fancy.com. You use promo code ballers. Fellas, take it from me. You see my picture. I got the big beard. People ask, how do you keep that thing so nice? And the answer is I take care of my beard.

I wash it, and I use handsome fancy grooming products that are made from all organic natural materials. And they're fragranced with essential oils. Therapeutic-grade essential oils. These aren't perfume that you're putting on your face, which might irritate your skin. You're talking about something that's going to help detangle your beard. Fellas with the big beards, have you ever, you know, when the neck beard gets all tangly? That's, you know.

That doesn't happen when you condition it with a handsome, handsome oil or cream. The best value pick you can make for your beard. Go to handsome fancy.com. Put in the promo code, ballers, and get 15% off just like that. And tweet us your beards. Oh, yeah. Show me your beard. We'll retweet some handsome fancy beards. Yeah, yeah. All right, number 30 on our list is the counterpart, Mike's guy, Amir Abdullah.

31 Rashad Jennings and 32 David Johnson. Wow, that's really high for David Johnson. David Johnson is this high because he has not been adjusted by me yet. Okay, so you're to blame for this? Yes. All right, so we might not talk too much about him. You've heard about him earlier. So Amir Abdullah, he will have a very significant role. He will have the opportunity to show if he can do what he did in college in the NFL.

and he's on a good offense. Calvin Johnson is back, Golden Tate, an offense that might have to score a few more points this year due to losses on the defensive side of the ball. And a team that I think is playoff, playoff bound. Right, capable at the very least. Yeah, I mean, they were a great, great team last year and dealt with injuries. And I will concede, I'll be real quick. I will concede that, yeah, he's absolutely smaller. But when he weighed in at the Combine at 205, he was, he's actually a little bit heavier than Ray Rice.

And I know that how a guy carries a weight is not always the same from person to person, but I just, people need to understand that. And one of the best past protecting running backs in the league, Jacques Quiz Rogers. That guy is tiny. No, and the reports out of Lions Camp is that he can, he's been able to pass protect. He's, he's far better than theoretic in all of their third down drills. Obviously, Joach's not back in the field. So, Jason, let me ask you about Rashad Jennings, because I'm not sure if there's a person that could be more.

potential value and potential dud at the same time. Is that how you see him?

I do see him that way, except I believe that even when he is of value, he will eventually get injured. We kind of talked about this last year. Mike was saying this before the season last year. I was very much on Jennings, and it was proven right in the beginning of the year, but it was just like you said, he's going to get injured. You know, there are certain small guys that absolutely can't handle the load, and that's why small guys get that bad rap, and there are big guys who also can and can't. But once you've got that history, I think

that we see with Jennings. If you draft him, he can very easily start the year. Winning you some weeks. I think he's going to get the first crack. I think he's going to have a good yards per carry. I believe that he'll score touchdowns from a little bit further out. He's good at catching the ball. And in that Bob McAdoo says, all great things. But can you rely on him? Can you draft a guy and rely on him through the season? I don't think you can rely on Jennings. So if I drafted...

Jennings, if I end up with him in that eighth round range, and he has two to three great games, oh, he's, I'm selling him out. I'm not, I'm not going to depend on it. I'm going to take the value. That's a really important thing. A really, really important thing is to understand that you do not.

win fantasy championships at the draft. You just don't. Nobody who wins a championships unless it's a best ball league wins on drafting. They come and give me the trophy right after the draft. They say, let me see it back from you at the end of the year. Let me see your paper. The point is, is, you know, it's transactions through the year. So many people.

Put in work and prepare before the draft, and then they finish near the top, but they just can't ever get over that hump. So, you know, keep listening through the year. We'll give you start sit advice. We'll give you trade advice. We'll help carry you guys to the actual championship banner. And that's an important part. Physically. To the physical banner. No, no. We will physically carry you. Oh, man, I got to start getting a shit. Yeah, you got to work it out, man. Yeah. You got to put your cream soda away. I did put it away.

In my mouth. Yeah. Devante Freeman at 33, Doug Martin at 34, Ryan Matthews at 35 on our consensus rankings. Freeman and Martin both had lower than what you'd hope for yards per carry last year. We talked about yards per carry with Chris Harris. It's one of those things where your yard per carry from the one yard line is always one if you score a touchdown. And so it can be distorted, but neither of these guys are just traditional goal line backs. And so they did not.

excel last year. A lot of hype around who will come out, Freeman, Coleman. Our consensus rankings has Freeman behind Coleman. I have Freeman ahead of him. I just don't think we've seen enough of him. I think his experience is going to benefit him. I like Coleman, but I think, you know, I agree with Jason. They probably both muddy each other's water. What happened last year with Devante Freeman, and it will happen again this year, Freeman got the hard knocks bump. I agree.

I liked him. I liked him because of Hard Knock. And you start to invest emotionally in this guy, which tells you that that player might actually be better than they are. Now, there was, of course, Stephen Jackson. People were betting that he was going to break down, which he did. But just that will be my one little note for Hard Knocks. Be careful when you start buying into these players. Doug Martin has a lot of the same arguments for him that Chris Ivory has, which is basically volume. Volume.

and a starting position, and at least a guy who's gone out and impressed at times if he could regain his form, which isn't, you know, a frequent thing at the running back position, but they have basically shown confidence in him. Last year he's 134 for 494 and two touchdowns. So not impressive. He's going in the sixth. Yeah, and the thing is, is that's a little, that's starting to creep up earlier because, you know, two months ago he was going in the eighth.

and a month ago he was going in the seventh, and now he's going in the sixth, and it's one of those things where you've got to make sure you're fluid, and don't just get high on the guys who have that big potential, and then all of a sudden everybody's getting high on him, and now you've got to take him in the fifth, and you're losing out on the potential, right? Because there's also the potential Chris Sims takes over and is the back, and you miss out on. Hey, you're glossing over the rain man.

My boy, Bobby Rainey. I believe Bobby Rainey's the best guy there, but I don't think that Tampa Bay does. Yeah, well, I don't think he is. You said, hold on. All right, no, what I was going to say is, I'm going to give you some other guys going around him in the draft, not just running backs, and I want you to tell me if you take Doug Martin over them. Trey Mason, do you take Doug Martin over Trey Mason? No. Oh, yes, I take Doug Martin over Trey Mason. Yeah. Do you take Doug Martin over Alan Robinson? No. No way. They're about the same place right now in ADP. Do you take him over Steve Smith?

Yes. The wide receiver? Yeah. Over Earths? Yes. At this point, which we heard the positional coach was impressed by his blocking. I'm just going to throw that out. Zachertz is a watch preseason. He is one of my main targeted watch preseason and see what happens because he's going to go higher or low for me. All right. Last one, Doug Martin or Nelson Aguilar. That's great. That's a great one.

Uh, that's so team dependent. Yeah, that's what I was, that's my answer too. If I need a wide receiver. Let's say in a vacuum. Oh, in a vacuum. I got to go with Martin because of the running back, but me too. All right. Number 35, number 36, and number 37 on our consensus rankings are Ryan Matthews, Giovanni Bernard, and Bishop Sankey. Giovanni. Giovanni. So. Ryan Matthews. If you saw Jason's face right now. Um.

That's like a tattoo face. You're ready to go out and get him, his name printed on your arm. Yes, Ryan Matthews, to me, is one of the best values in the draft right now. You have two... If you're looking for a backup running back. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously, you've got Doug Martin, who is going to start the game one as the starter, and you don't have that in Ryan Matthews, so I get that. But at the same time, you have a pro bowl caliber currently, not two years ago, Doug Martin, but currently...

player playing on a high power offense who just signed a big contract to go to them. The only reason, like for instance, if DeMarco Murray didn't go there, where would we be drafting Ryan Matthews? First round. Absolutely. I would. And so now where are we drafting DeMarco Murray? Apparently the back of the eighth round.

No, DeMarco Murray. Oh, sorry, I was looking at Ryan Matthews. First round. But exactly, Ryan Matthews is going back at the eighth. And we don't know yet how that split's going to come about. I think I talked about that before. Chip Kelly is, you know, in college. So more potential steel. Yeah, potential steel. Just value. Just a value. I'm not saying he's going to be great this year. I'm saying for where you can get him, he has the chance to change in win leagues. Yeah, if Murray goes down.

He will be great. I'll put that in the bank. So Gio Bernard is a guy who, Mike, I remember you traded for him one of our leagues last year. For protection. He came out and he had like an 89-yard touchdown run and made you look good for a week. And then he really, he just... No, honestly, then he sat on my bench. Yeah. So why did he sit on your bench? Because I had Jeremy Hill. He just, Gio was bad. And hurt. Yeah, but he was...

Okay, even in the beginning of the year, he was similar to Andre Ellington where volume was producing fantasy points and his body just could not hold up to the volume. And he was actually breaking down, just watching him. He looks great when he catches the pass. But anytime you try and put him up the tackles, it just looked horrific. All right, let's move on 38, 39, and 40 to round out these. You're Gloss and Sanky? Yeah, I'm Gloss and Sanky. We don't got time. Okay.