Busts & Values + Monty News, Butt Thorns - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/27

I mean last year had a great camp. Hold on. Hold on. You just said that the key to a great season is a bad camp. Is that what I just heard? For Juju. I will say the way I read into that report this morning from the athletic saying, you know, it's hard to find. His reps are limited. I think they're trying to keep their number one wide receiver from being hurt. Do you think they resign him, though? Because the money that Juju will want, being the age that Juju is, it doesn't seem compatible with the Steelers.

like historical philosophy on signing players. I've listened to some beat reporters. Just some beats? Some beat. I've listened to some beat reporters talk about how they think that there is a decent chance that they end up franchise tagging juju. Okay. Yeah. I would say it comes down to does juju have a good year?

Does he have a good year? And I fully believe that Juju Smith-Schutzer can. And just a reminder to last year on top of the quarterback problems, Juju did have, he hurt his foot. And it's always funny to say, well, a guy had a toe injury. But if you've ever had a toe injury and then tried to run. When did he get the toe injury, Mike? Week one. That is correct. So he was hurt.

right away. Then he had the knee sprain and the concussion towards the end of the year. It was just, that's what I'm saying. It was a trash year for everyone in Pittsburgh. And you're just, you're crumpling it up. I'm forgetting that it ever happened. And I'm moving forward. All right. I have two final questions on this for you, Andy. Last year in the Sleeper Bowl League with Juju, did we draft Juju in the first round? To troll Juju, yes.

The answer, I'm sorry, I missed because of all the extra words. Did we draft him in the first round? Yes. And did we win the championship? Yes. We did. Oh, man. I don't know where the point is. So you heard of here first. Bad Camp, first round pick. That's what I've got from Jason. There's a reason we didn't just do bust on this show. We don't want to bring it all down to a screeching halt. We want to bring you something a little bit more upbeat. Valuable? A little bit more upbeat.

Values. Our early values show, I'll make it quick. Back in June, Mike, you said Deshawn Jackson. Is he still a value to you? 100%. Jason, you said Robert Woods. Is he still a value to you? 100%. He was almost going to be my value for this show. Okay. He's always a value. You want to know who's going to be a value next year? Robert Woods. I said Ronald Jones. Back in June, I completely believe Ronald Jones is a value, maybe even more so.

Now, today we're bringing you one more value pick each. I'll just get mine out of the way here. Yep. He's being drafted as the running back 56. Oh, darn. So close. Late 13th round. And it's Naim Hines of the Indianapolis Colts. You can go back. You can play Mike's audio clips on the breakout show, which I think was what Monday?

When he talked about the value of Philip Rivers as your quarterback, if you are a running back that can catch the football, if you're even capable, you're going to get. It doesn't matter if you're capable. The ball is coming your way as a running back. Because when it's almost like a, ah, yeah. And then it's out of his hands towards the running back. The most checkdown completions in the NFL since 2017. Number one, Philip Rivers, 124 checkdown completions since 2017. That is what he likes to do.

He likes to take what the defense gives you most often. The defense is going to give you some opportunities underneath. And we have all the debates and the merits of, is it going to be Marlon Mack for the first part of the years? It's going to be Jonathan Taylor. These guys are going to split some carries. Look, regardless of who gets the first and second down work, there's going to be a ton of Naim Hines. I truly believe it. He graded out as one of the better, most efficient pass blockers at the running back position. Kind of important.

When you're a third downback, kind of important when you have Philip Rivers and his two feet in the cement. And he's great. He's a speed demon. He's 99th percentile, 438. Give him the ball in some space. Wow, was he really? I don't remember him that being that fast, man. And he fits that Philip Rivers mold. We just talked about Awesome Meckler. And all the camp reports on Naim Hines is that he is not just a little bit.

Part of the mix. He's essential. He's essential to this team. Marlon Mack, pass catching wise. He's never done it. Jonathan Taylor, at a minimum, inexperienced in the NFL in that type of a role. I think you're going to have just a dynamic weapon in the backfield of Naim Hines throughout the season. High volume situation. Sigmund Bloom came out and he tweeted a quote that came from the athletic. Those watching Colts Camp says it's been two straight weeks at Colts Camp. Heinz has been everywhere.

He said he's never seen Heinz more active in this offense. Maybe talk of him having 75 catches isn't that insane. That's the Austin Echler recipe. And Echler was like a six round pick last year where we kind of said, okay, this could be a big year. Mike was super in on him. Credit to Mike. Saw it from the outset. And Heinz is not going to have a lot of first and second down work. Echler had that to open the year. You don't expect that kind of a year. But RB 56, a free player.

At the back of your draft? Yeah. If you're in a full PPR league, he's a really safe late guy that you can just watch the screen and get to go. Point! Yeah. So I really like him. I think he's a great value in draft. He's somebody I'm going to be trying to pick up. Here's a player I have been getting often in drafts. I find, you know, when it comes to the Robert Woods types, this is someone who's just undervalued. And Mike just brought him up on the fantasy time machine. We should talk about some more, though. But...

The point is, you brought him up as a Calvin Ridley possible breakout. I'm saying that without that breakout happening, Michael Gallup is still a value. He is a value for where he is being drafted. Right now, he's the wide receiver 31. And last year, he was the wide receiver 22 and 14 games. So I have a game to play. Gentlemen, who had more fantasy points per game, Michael Gallup, or second year breakout, Calvin Ridley?

Michael Gallup? Yeah. That is correct. Okay. Another second year. Hold on with this game. Is this, is this really a game or is this just you're highlighting Michael Gallup had more points than all of these players that you're going to bring up? We're going to find out. That's the game. Who had more fantasy points? Jason always wins in his games. On a per game basis last year, Michael Gallup, or second year breakout wide receiver, Cortland Sutton.

Oh, well, let's go with Michael Gallup. Yeah. That is correct. Okay. All right. Let's get a little harder now. How about Michael Gallup versus DJ Chark? Who had more fantasy points per game last year? Michael Gallup. That is correct. And the final one. DJ Moore, Superstar Wide Receiver 2 breakout. Who also missed games? Who had more fancy points per game? DJ Moore and Michael Gallup. It's Michael Gallup.

I answered before you. I don't feel good about myself when I play this game. It's also dirty because DJ Moore technically played in his final game where he got knocked out on the first play. But my point is this. It's also dirty because I brought this up before. Michael Gallup had a three touchdown, week 17. They didn't matter for fantasy owners. Take week 17 out. Take week 17 out. He had two touchdowns on the year. Through week 16, he was the wide receiver 30. And that was while missing two games.

He's being drafted after that. My point is he's of value. And the reason he's of value is C.D. Lamb. C.D. Lamb is coming in and everybody's worried that Gallup's not going to be able to repeat. The truth is C.D. Lamb could make this offense better and be a good thing for Michael Gallup. Randall Cobb left, and he had 83 targets as a starter. Now C.D. Lamb comes into that role. Here are some rookies who had around 83 targets.

Tyree Kills rookie year, 83 targets. DJ Moore's rookie year, 82 targets. AJ Brown last year, superstar, 84 targets. Juju Smith-Schuster's great rookie year, 79 targets, Alan Robinson, 81, or Des Bryant, the man he's kind of wearing the number of, had 73 targets. CD Lamb's going to come in and have about the same targets that left from Randall Cobb. Michael Gallup last year was the wide receiver 22.

in 14 games, and he's being drafted where I take him almost every time I'm on the clock where he's fallen to. I'm never reaching for Gallup. I'm not trying to say that he's a guaranteed top 15 wide receiver. But this is about where can you get value? And the last point I want to make before Andy's grimacing faces get in here is this. When I was thinking about what type of player I want to value in fantasy football, Julian Edelman.

is a value. Yes, he is. He's being drafted way, way later than he will finish. But the thing is, is he's not going to finish as good as he did last year. And he doesn't have this, he doesn't have this ability or some, some thing that could happen on the field that will take him to the next level. Whereas Michael Gallup.

What I'm talking about as just a gentle value. He's going to return more than you draft him on. A gentle value? Yeah, like he's, it's just a. Not a breakout, you see? It's a value. The breakout is harsh. A gentle value. A gentle value. Not an aggressive value. A slight value. You're going to get a quality wide receiver. Above 31. Above 31. But that is his floor.

And he has ways to break out. He's coming into his third year. The touchdowns are the most significant one. Yeah. Touchdowns go up. Two touchdowns in 16 weeks. Amari Cooper gets injured again. I mean, there's, there are so many ways where he could be much better than a gentle value. Okay, Andy. As a gentle value, though, are you willing to put Michael Gallup into your lineup instantaneously? Is he your wide receiver two with no discomfort?

I will start him week one as my wide receiver 2 with zero discomfort. All right. And the nice thing is... Because it's gentle. Right. I mean... Yes, exactly. Usually when things are gentle, there's no comfort. There's a lot of comfort. Yeah. Now, you said weeks 1 through 16, he was the wide receiver 30 last year. He's being drafted at 31. While missing two games, yes. Okay. All right. I'm going to bring up a quarterback here. I think he is a tremendous value quarterback at the end of drafts. Let's say you...

are playing the late round quarterback game, and other guys are just like, ah, I was going to target Camp Newton. I was going to target these other players. And then he seems like your plan has gone to pieces. It's just left in shambles. Fear not, my friends, because Jared Goff, the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, he is still there. He is a value. He is being drafted as the 19th quarterback off the board. His first two years with McVeigh,

He averaged, these are his averages, over a 63% completion passer, over 4,200 yards, 30 touchdowns. And he averaged those touchdowns with a 5.8 touchdown per se. Jericho King Jared Gurf announcing a 5.8 touchdown percent, which is a completely, it's repeatable for the Sean McVease system and Jared Gough. Last year.

He still had the yards. 4,600 yards, you know, what of the, like they're throwing the ball an absolute ton, but you saw the touchdown rate drop from that average of 5.8% down to 3.5%. He only threw 22 touchdowns, and that was the difference between Jared Goff being just outside of the QB1 range and the difference between him being a weekly starter that you were very happy about.

if you give him simply the league average of throwing a touchdown on every 4.5% of your attempts. That puts him at 28 touchdowns. That would have been the QB6 on the year. That's how close Jared Goff was. He just, him playing average with the volume, the yards, and the touchdown column, just average. He would have jumped up to the QB6.

Had he been able to sustain his 5.8%, he would have jumped all the way up to the QB3. Now, I don't think he really could have done that. The reason for the huge volume increase was because the efficiencies did go down. My point is simply, you make Jared Goff average again, and he's easily in the top 10.

Look at the weapons that are being drafted for Jared Goff. He has two wide receivers being drafted in the top 20. He has a tight end being drafted in the top 10. Cam Acres is just outside the top 24 at the running back position. Probably by next week or so, Cam Acres is going to slip inside there. Why would you not want the quarterback who has had the production? I thought he said Cam Acres is going to slip and slide there. Who doesn't love a good slip and slide?