Fantasy Football - Underrated or Overrated + THE MEGALASHOW RETURNS! - Podcast for 6/16

Me and Mike both went underrated. Jason went overrated. Only one I'm alone on is the one that I'm clearly very right on. Okay. Clearly. There's no point to Laporta. There's no point to Laporta? There's no point to Laporta. There's no point to Sam Laporta. Last year, before- That is so insulting. Before he got injured. Oh, you're talking about his tight end six, four, four, four? Yes. Thank you. Keep going. Tell me the great numbers. No, then he got hurt. No, no. I know. I know he got hurt, but I'm saying on a per-game basis. On a per-game basis. He was a B in consistency.

That's not bad. 75 for 923 and six. Boom. Everything sounds good. He scored like 9.6 fantasy points per game and a half PPR. 9.7. Oh, I apologize. I did say like, so I was right. I stand by it. Travis Kelsey was 9.1. Travis Kelsey. Right. Who was like the tight end three, right? I mean, I'm saying, did he matter? Did Travis Kelsey matter for fantasy last year? I think oftentimes he did, yeah. Well, I'm not saying on a week, like, if he had a good week, he mattered. I'm saying as a whole- Four out of nine times, Sam Laporta gave you 11 points or more.

At the tight end position. Four of nine is not bad. Sam Laporta's talent and ability. Look, he was the tight end one with 11.5 points per game. The tight end seven with nine points per game. He was better than that last year at 9.7. I think, look, underrated or overrated can be interpreted in lots of different ways. I think it's totally fine for you to say overrated for, like, your view of the tight end position in fantasy is never going to afford the selection of Sam Laporta. Never. But I do think that there are other situations where there's two conversations.

There's who am I willing to draft at tight end? And maybe that list is four guys really high and no one else. I think my tight end tiers are now, it's the elite guy. Well, the super elite, which would be McBride and Bowers. Then I'm going to put the elite. I'm going to put the elite young guys of Warren and Mr. Loveland. I got the injured guys next. I'm going with Kraft and Kittle. But then right after that, it's going to be Laporta for me. I don't know if Fannin worked into there. Or Fannin, yes. You know, Fannin, yes, he is.

But to finish the point, there's the tight ends you draft, but the tight ends you'd be happy to start after the draft. And I'm just saying, like, Laporta is a guy that I would feel good enough putting into my lineup every single week. Trey McBride had the best season of his career under Petsing last year, who's now taking over in Detroit. I think underrated because of the injury and the fact we basically lost the season where he was actually performing better than his sophomore year. Yeah, and my point is he performed very well. He was very fine. And the difference between him and most of the other guys or just streaming the position is really not impactful.

It's not going to win you a championship, that level of difference. Maybe it'll be easier, but who are you giving up to draft Sam Laporta? Justin Herbert, Brian Thomas Jr., J.K. Dobbins. I'm just saying you get chances at someone that makes a difference. Well, no matter who you draft, you were giving up the chance to draft Dobbins. No matter who you draft in the entire draft. I'm just saying that when I went through the things to remember and looked at how the difference between the tight end 2 and the tight end 12 last year, it just didn't make an impact in fantasy football.

If you didn't have the elites, it really didn't matter. And so I want to take more shots on guys that could break out. I'll tell you, drafting Brian Thomas Jr. did impact your team last year. He did. Well, that cost you an arm. Like a deep impact. Yeah. Like an asteroid. That's not a mid-round pick last year. Last year, I was just looking. Like he was a higher points per game than Warren, higher than Fannin, higher than Loveland. I will say this. New idea here for just a brief moment. New idea for the tight end position. What if the impact of not having to stress out of your brain every week on who you're going to play at that position,

your level of – you talk about the fact you know you're in too many leagues when you've got – when you get to waiver wire day and you're like, I don't want to do it, I think there is a value to be said. There's a net effect of not – like I know this from trying to stream the quarterback position. You can do it. You can do it with tight end. But it's not the funnest thing and you miss a lot. So maybe there's a little bit of value in being able to start a guy every week that plays 100% of snaps.

Maybe he's not giving you league-winning points. But 9.7 is going to put you right – you got a guy for the spot. And then you can focus on all of the other decisions you have for your team. Just throwing it out there. But I'm just saying you can get – I mean, Fannin was off of waiver wire, basically scored the same. You know, Dallas Goddard scored way more on a per-game basis. Are you super in on him? Underrated? I mean, probably. Okay. Have at him. What are you doing with tight end, I guess is my question. He's taking just straight zeros.

I was going to say straight zeros in the position. As soon as Warren gets drafted, he's like, well, I'm going zeros. Let's say you don't get your top four dudes, the only ones that matter in fantasy. Who are you playing at the position? And don't say, I'll find next year's Fannin and sign him and I'll be set. No, I will go super, super late. Whoever is – I mean, Dallas Goddard is super late double-digit rounds. Dalton Schultz. The difference between Dalton Schultz, who can't run, is slow as molasses, and Sam Laporta is probably not that big an impact on my actual fantasy team.

You just play Schultz every week? I'll get Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey is – Travis Kelsey is a legit – Travis Kelsey is so late in the draft. He's undrafted. I would have – He's tight end 19. Is your league drafting 19 tight ends? Just grab Travis Kelsey. This is why I'm not drafting Sam Laporta. It's where it's left out to interpretation. Because when I talk about Lydon McConkie and Sam Laporta, I'm also talking about the players' potential and their upside. I'm not just talking about their draft costs. Is Sam Laporta underrated for fantasy? I think there's a possibility. I think so.

He finished number one. I think so. Is Kyle Pitts underrated for fantasy? No. He finished number two? No. That's not number one, Jason. I'm just saying. I don't know. Same logic of argument, but if you – I'm just – I'm wanting to keep us intellectually honest. You have to pay a lot more for Pitts. And I don't believe the same thing about Kyle Pitts five years into his year as I do Laporta or the offense. So, yeah, there's nuance to it. We'll take a break. We'll come back with some more awesome debates. So, we have yet to unanimously agree on anything.

That is true. Somehow, we always end up two to one. I don't know how that math works out. Well, if we don't agree, it will – That was the joke. All right. That was the – I'm aware. Thank you for explaining. That joke was – Thank you. Underrated. I agree. All right. Next one. Slow drafts versus fast drafts, I guess. Slow drafts, for those that don't know, you basically – not everybody's present. It's not a live – It's like a draft over email. Yeah. It just takes – you know, you got a certain allotment of time to make your pick.

Maybe, you know, a lot of slow drafts are – Usually about like eight hours or so. Yeah. Sometimes it'll – people will open it up to like a day and then just people jump in when they can. Underrated, overrated? I mean, is it possible to have like such of a little opinion on this topic? Yeah. Does it feel like I want to put a giant thumbs up or thumbs down? I mean, I don't know. No, man. You got to be passionate. Sure. Three, two, one. Hey. Underrated. Okay. We all have underrated. But the reason I have – Not at the expense of live drafts.

No. Goodness, no. But just because it's a way to handle things. Yeah. If you need to. The reason I have underrated is because I don't think anyone out there is banging the table for slow drafts, nor should they. It's like, how could it be overrated? Who's out there being like, oh my gosh, they're the best? Here's the thing. They're underrated because it's a lot better if the busy dude that can't get off of work makes all of his picks than it is for him to auto-pick and ruin your league. Or be inactive or whatever. So if you have to roll that way, that's fine.

A live draft is one billion percent better. Billion. But I mean live. Especially this year's live draft. If you can be in person, always do that. Just – that is so important. I mean, I think most people out there, their main league, their main league, I think they try to get together. I know we do in our league of record. And it is – it makes it all matter so much more. It is a billion times better. If you're just doing an online chat room thing and – Sometimes it's all you can do. Sometimes it's all you can do if you want to do a slow draft, do a slow draft.

Whatever. So we all agreed. Yeah. We all agreed. With zero passion. Breece Hall. More passion. Breece Hall. This one is brutal for me. Breece Hall. Underrated or overrated. Freshly paid. Freshly minted. Gets to wear the green again. Underrated, overrated. Lucky, lucky. Breece Hall. All right. Three, two, one. Hey. We all went underrated. Three underrated votes. Look at that. Look at us. I also hold this up for his head coach who – Wait. He's under – you think he's underrated? No. No, no, no, no, no, no. For his comments about a three-headed monster. Yeah. I don't care about that because he said –

You just gave Breece Hall the bag. That's the most perfect thing to say. What are you doing? He said it last year, though. And he was doing it. He was. Braylon Allen got hurt. Yes, he was. Braylon Allen got hurt. Yes, he was. They were on the way to doing it. I think that the addition of Geno Smith to this offense and what it means for Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, the primary first read targets or checkdowns, is just so important. I mean, Breece Hall has always scored his fantasy points through the air. I don't believe an ounce of the three-headed monster comment.

I'm with you on that. I also believe teams – it's amazing how we get to talk about the Jets because I feel like a lot of the arguments this offseason for the Jets have been on the basis of the addition of Geno Smith, whereas the arguments for all the teams that have had Geno Smith lately have been on the basis of the absence and removal of Geno Smith from the team. But that's the Jets right now at quarterback. I don't buy anything that their head coach is saying about that. That is a way to make the other two guys feel good.

I think it is impossible to be overrated in New York. I think that's just part of the equation. The baggage that Breece Hall carries week to week is going to be viewed and seen in his draft spot that I just think is not going to rise. I was just looking at this. I got him the highest of the three of us by a lot. He's being drafted right now. I got him at 13. You guys are at 19 and 22. He's being drafted right now at the 3-4 turn just behind Bucky Irving, who I would much rather have Breece Hall than Bucky Irving just for the fears of what might fall apart for Bucky's career.

The fact that he got paid a ton of money and now gets to be a pass catcher. Obviously, last year there was a big disappointment with Gentry. Gentry was a bust because he was a first-round draft pick. He was a top-12 running back on a terrible team, and it came because of the dump-offs. It was his receiving work that happened to make it good. So if you're telling me I'm getting a guy who's being drafted as a mid-level RB2 who has burst and juice and— Fourth and explosive run rate, ninth and first downs, which is insane to me, ahead of Gibbs and Achan.

I think he's under—we all voted under him. Yeah. Maybe for different reasons. And I was happy to be able to do this because I always love Breece Hall, and I have just hated him the last two years. His situation has looked bad. His draft cost has been too expensive. But I think we're finally to where it's like he's going to be able to catch the ball, and he doesn't cost what he did a couple of years ago. Did you guys see the Braylon Allen weight report? I heard he's bigger, stronger, faster than ever. All I heard was— Is he 250?

He said he was 250. So he's— Brandon Jacobs? The Hulk. Is that what that is? He was already gigantic. Like, he was an absolute monster of a man. And now you're going to play at 250? Brandon Jacobs played at 264. That's who it reminds me of. But he was 6'4". What's Braylon Allen's height? Braylon Allen? What's Braylon Allen's height? Braylon Allen is— He's 6'1". Dude. I'm like—regardless, I am very pumped. Please go in at 250, Braylon. I want to see what happens. I, like, can the—he's 22? Oh, my gosh. So he has a baby. Yeah. But he's a man baby.

Weighing 250. Mike is really enraptured by Braylon Allen's weight. It's—he will be humongous. It's all muscle. Put pads on him? Last one. League median. So for those that don't know— I know we'll be unanimous here. League median is the opportunity in your league settings to play not just against your one-on-one matchup opponent, but against the average score, the league median itself within the league. So you get two wins or two losses every week. It's something that Mike had played in one of his leagues for a long time. We had not adopted it, mostly because there'll be arguments we can bring up now.

But underrated, overrated, the opportunity to have a little bit of control on your week, I think. And 3-2-1. Yeah. Media—we're all underrated. We all love median scoring. It is freaking fantastic. The only downside to the scoring is that your records look a little weird. Like, that's it. It's like, oh, you're 23-3. You know— I think that people would argue, those like myself, who are the more resistant, that it also takes a little bit of the— like we've always said, fantasy is a game where the gravity of the win or the loss, even if it happens, in a way that you don't like it, which, by the way, league median exists mostly because when you score the second most points in the league that week—

Oh, man. —and you lose against the one team that scored more, that feels bad. And then the schlub who scored the second fewest points gets a win. And you're like, this is—there is no justice in the world. It brings a little bit of balance and control and like your own destiny within your hands because if you go out and do all the right things, you're not just at the happenstance of your opponent that was drawn that week. We're not actually playing—here's the secret. We're not actually playing defense against the other players. Right. You don't actually play them. It's all fake.

It's a fantasy. It's a random matchup. It's a fantasy. And I don't— To me, it rewards or balances the league much better, and it gives you something to root on. See, that's the big—that's the big deal to me. Thursday night, I'm playing Mike. His top three players scored 10 zillion points. I might put my feet up and just go to bed and watch reruns on Netflix the rest of the week. Now I can give a crap about Sunday because I can still battle against the league medium. We've said this before, but, you know, the reason league medium came about is not the reason that I now love league medium.

It's not to balance the league or have it be a little bit more fair or hurt less when you have a— It does do those things. But the thing that it unexpectedly did once instituted is it gave you so much more to watch, to root for. More fun. That's what I thought you were going to say. It's more fun. Yeah, no, that's it. It's more fun. I now care about other people's matchups in my league way more because I'm like, oh, I'm playing against multiple—it's just more fun. We're going to Monday night and we're like, oh, man, if this player for this team, you know, lays an egg, the league medium is not moving, or, you know, we're all paying attention to how each other can get an extra win.

You can move in the standings more on a week-to-week basis, right? Like if things go your way and bounce your way. I don't know—I'm going to ask Al, though, because Al's back there in Deuce Rezally. But are you on the underrated side like you— For sure. You are. 100%. So you have liked it being added to both of our leagues. I love it. Okay. And I'll say the— Any negatives that you've—because, I mean, I think a lot of people don't know about it or don't do it. Any negatives? Literally none. None. Yeah. It's all positives. That's a one-button click on Sleeper.

So this is not just an isolated strategy. This is a great time of year. The way that we instituted it in our league was a one-year trial. We were like, we didn't want to just say, hey, we're doing this. And sometimes you got the curmudgeons in your league that are like, no, that's not how we do it. Yeah, that's what it changes, is changing the way you used to do it. But sometimes you can get those things across the finish line, across the goal line, if you go with the process of a one-year trial to where it's like, hey, we've got to—