Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Rookie Preview w/Matthew Freedman, News, Mailbag

That's not even taken into account that this is the guy that people are talking about as the number one overall pick, which just sounds insane to me, right? Like, this guy is not even Joe Flacco. Goff on the other hand. Nobody is Joe Flacco. Well, I guess that's true. For good and for bad, nobody is Joe Flacco. I mean, Goff, on the other hand, is coming from a Power 5 conference. He did show improvement.

throughout his college career. You know, his numbers aren't bad, but the thing is, like, and this is maybe more of a gut feeling and just like a bias that I have, I look at him, and he just strikes me as like the Pac-12 quarterback that's like Mark Sanchez or Matt Barkley and not Andrew Luck. Thank you so much for saying that. It's weird because we've had the debate here, obviously, in the studio about these different guys, and I'm more on the Wintz side, not super excitedly, but just...

compared to golf. But that's the same feeling that I have from him is that, you know, you're getting a guy, a California kid, the next, you know, liner-like impact in the NFL. And I watched a lot of Pac 12 football. And it wasn't that he couldn't make the throws. It was just that I never saw him do something that made me think he was going to be a special quarterback at the next level. And so for better or for worse, you know, all the numbers can come out and people can be all about him. But that feeling is persisting with me and thinking that golf's just not going to be special.

Yeah, I think he would be a very nice second round pick, you know? Yeah. Try number one. Try number one. Yeah, number two pick. I mean, it's insane that these two guys are being compared to the two quarterbacks we had last year. Right, right. And look at the halls given up just to get up into those positions to basically invest the next three or four years into seeing if they are, which is welcome to the NFL, I guess. I mean, the thing that's so crazy is that,

The Rams, I mean, you think they should know better. Like, they were the ones that got all of those picks from trading the rights to get RG3. I know. I mean, it's almost like this situation where they looked at what they got with all of those picks and they were like, you know what? We really didn't do all that much with those picks. Let's try trading away a lot of picks and see if that works. They had the L.A. sunglasses on. They're ready to make a splash. And I guess I guess we can be surprised, right?

I guess with Jeff Fisher who knows eight and eight yes yes I mean seven and nine that that's even feasible you know that will get the job done oh man so it's been a great conversation here with Matthew Friedman like we said writer for Fantasy Labs producer of the road of his podcast is there anything else that you you think the people should know about Matthew

Yeah, so just at Fantasy Labs, we are full on with the Major League Baseball season. We have a lot of outstanding advanced data that no one else has access to except for basically the MLB teams. So you can look at pitching velocity, batted ball distance, all that stuff. And then at Rodeviz, we have just launched a new podcast called Fantasyland, which is sort of like an NPR or Gimlet style show that looks at things.

touching on fantasy sports, but the things that you don't normally think about. So the first episode was on spreadsheets. The second episode was on all of the women in the industry who are really outstanding. And then our third episode is going to be on Roto World and its dominance within the fantasy industry. And I give my personal seal of approval. I had tweeted out about Fantasyland. The production is spectacular. And the content is...

engaging and the way the show is put together is spectacular. That's how we, actually how we got connected with Friedman. We had already known about him, but that's just personally got us connected. So check out Fantasyland, the podcast. And it was great talking to you, Matthew. Really appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. All right. Special thanks to Matthew Friedman for joining us on the show. I think that was some good context for fantasy owners heading into the draft.

You know, the lay of the land. If you're not in a dynasty league, obviously the impact is even smaller to you. You're not necessarily doing a rookie draft where you're paying attention to just those big names, the sleeper names. A lot of these guys are not going to be drafted in your standard redraft league, but the big names will be. And some of these guys, Coleman, you know, that Freeman mentioned is somebody that if he lands in the right spot, especially, he could make a year one impact. We saw...

the potential, even if we don't like the class, the potential for rookies at the wide receiver position to sweep the fantasy football landscape. I mean, you had, what was it, 13 different rookie wide receivers two years ago that made an impact? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, that was incredible. So the potential's there. The precedent is there, not the prediction. There's a difference between that. And I think that that's one of the big problems, though, is that going into that draft, we saw the talent was...

really different. And coming into this year's draft, you compare the players, the film, the tape, the metrics against those guys is just not the same. So we'll, well, we're looking forward to finding out where these guys go. It's going to be fun. I'm sure there will be some draft day trades we'll be talking about very soon as well. And we are efforting some special guests, some other guests to come on the show over the next couple weeks that I think you'll be very pleased with.

I think you'll give your stamp of approval. So before we get into the mailbag, I do want to remind you about the website, the fantasy footballers.com. A lot has been changing on the website. Go check it out. There is the draft kit up there. We've got a Q&A up there now where you can actually just ask questions and have other listeners, other fantasy football fans answer questions. It's all free on the website. We've got our rankings up there. We're constantly updating those. And so a lot has been changing. We can start publishing some articles.

It's getting, I mean, it's only April 25th, but when the draft hits, it's just like go time. It's ready. It's ready time. It's when you engage. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to go ahead and take a few minutes here, answer some listener questions. You can submit those on the website as well. Just go to the website, the fancy footballers.com, click the submit a question button. You can also go to Twitter at the FF Ballers. Connect to us there. And so we do our very best to be available as often as we can while also sleeping occasionally.

Mailbag. Buy your bag. All right, let's jump right in. Jake in Plano, Texas. We've been to Plano. We have. We visited our friends at Raising Cains. Raising Cains up there in Plano. So in a full point PPR league with two keepers in the round that they were drafted in with a two-year cap on keeping a player, who should he keep? You've got DeAndre Hopkins for a third round pick, Devante Freeman for a 10th round.

Thomas Rawls for a 16th, Jordan Nelson for a 16th, and the most obvious choice is David Johnson for a 16 round pick. Who joins DJ as his second keeper? Well, yeah, clearly DJ is going to be the first keeper. This is a tougher decision. Yeah, the way that it breaks down to me is you have question mark guys that are extremely...

valuable picks. That would be Freeman, Rawls, and Jordy. Basically, you're giving up super late picks for whoever you want there. So, or you could take the guy that I think is the most considered reliable with the Andre Hopkins at a third round, which is still decent value. For me... So your two are David Johnson and... Mine would be David Johnson and Jordy Nelson. All right. I will take David Johnson and I will take...

DeAndre Hopkins. I would go David Johnson and Horty Nelson. Yeah, I think if we're both in the wide receiver round, you're getting a 13 round of, you're getting a free player. Let me throw this out there though. David Johnson, while he is very high on our rankings and all the opportunity is before him, he still falls into the category of a question mark to some degree like Rawls does, like Freeman does. I think he's actually very comparable to Freeman in the question mark area.

You're putting two question marks together if you put Jordy and DJ. That just makes an exclamation point. I think there's less question because it is the PPR League. Let's say things fall apart somehow for David Johnson. He's still the past catching guy for Arizona. And because it's only, you know, there's a two-year cap.

on keeping the guys. I'm not going to worry about longevity of Jordy Nell, so I'm just going with those two guys, get the value in great players. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I'm right on the fence there, too. So Jeff in Oklahoma, I'm sure you get a gazillion questions. You are right. So thanks for considering mine. I'm in a 14-team Keeper League and need to keep three guys. Plenty can change with injuries, but right now he has to declare keepers after week two of the preseason. So he's got some time. All right.

My options are Beckham in the first, Rogers in the second, Robinson in the fourth, Yeldon in the fifth, and David Johnson, Jordy Nelson, and Kelvin Benjamin in the 15th. Everyone getting Jordy late. I really like Johnson. Which other two guys would you keep and why? Well, David Johnson is locked in, obviously, for a 15th. Very similar to the guy in the previous question. Yep, and very similar to the guy in the previous question. So is Jordy Nelson to me in the 15th. And then I would grab Alan Robinson. Would you take Robinson or Benjamin?

Why is Beckham completely out of consideration? No, I guess he's just, he's in the first, and it's not, I don't mind paying fair market for a guy like Odo Beckham. David Johnson, Jordy Nelson, O'Dow Beckham Jr. That's who I would select. And I would go David Johnson, Alan Robinson, and Jordy Nelson. Yeah, I would, I agree with Jason again, and it's gross. It's funny because in both circumstances, I took the higher guaranteed wide receiver, Hopkins and ODB, and you both took the kind of mid-level.

Or value. Yeah, I think that Jordy Nelson is going to be a high-level player. I see him as that. If you're drafting in the back of the first round, it doesn't talk you into O'Dow Beckham Jr. versus the front. It makes a difference. It certainly makes a difference. If you know there's three great guys in there and you're pick number three, then sure you don't want to give that up. But, I mean, it's more tempting. It's still a trade. Robinson plus your ninth pick for Odie.

Exactly. Dylan in Bloomington, Indiana. Great podcasts, fantastic advice, good humor, lots of fun. There were four exclamation points in that sentence. All right. Thank you. In those sentences. That's eight question marks. I am in a 12-team two-quarterback three-keeper league. Quarterbacks are obviously at a premium with top-tier QBs draft in the first three rounds. So streaming is not a good option. And we understand that for sure in a two-quarterback league.

Plus, keepers acquired off trade or waivers are kept at ADP value based off of one quarterback league rankings. So I'm keeping three quarterbacks basically for free planning to load up on wide receivers and running backs in the first or early rounds. My first two quarterback keepers will be Mariota and Bortles. The BB gun. Would you prefer Bridgewater or RG3 as a third keeper? Yeah, this is my kind of question. Bridgewater or RG3. And I'm going to tell you right now,

Other. I pass. Yes. The third guy. They don't, but I do. I completely understand. Two quarterback leagues are very, very different than all the advice we give on one quarterback leagues. I'll take Bridgewater. You need to have them. I would take Bridgewater over RG3. Give me the better team with a potential rookie wide receiver coming in, a maturing quarterback. RJ3 has just got nobody there. I cannot fathom that there is not a running back or wide receiver that I would want more on my team. Look, you still need those guys. I realize it's a two.

quarterback league, but these two quarterbacks don't do hardly anything for you. You have to have someone else. Answer the question, Jason. I did. I said Bridgewater over RG3. Bridgewater or Matt Oziata? Well, come on. I would take Bridgewater in that case. I'm also going to go. I'm going to take Bridgewater, I guess. Oh, Mike in Connecticut. First of all, thank you guys for referring me to pristine auction. Oh, booy. Nice. I found a nice.

Heinz Ward signed Gotham jersey from the movie The Dark Night Rises. I had seen those. I had seen those. That is sweet. Yeah, that's really cool. You mix the pop culture with the... What are the footballs? Is that another Hawaiian language? Yeah, I picked up a few things while I was over there. I have, let's see, a few draft questions. Or as he said it, just a few of draft questions. I think Mike snuck multiple questions in here.

All right, let me ask one of them. Should I trust Tony Roma as my starter going into this season? Yes, yes. All right. Do you trust the slim down Eddie Lacey? Yes, yes. The pictures. They're not doctor. They're not photoshopped. Not to my knowledge. You don't think he's photoshopped all of these different ones to look like he's trim? That's an elaborate ruse for... Now, I like the nickname you get to Eddie Lacey. Let's break it out. Eddie Money. Eddie Money is doing work because he's in a contract year. He's got to get paid. He wants two tickets to Paradise. And Mike Ingram got him.

Mark Ingram taught, you know, you saw the picture with Ingram, Trent Richardson, who's now in the NFL. Who is, who is slimming down himself? Eddie Lacey and their big brother. Derek Henry. Derek Henry. Who could like put Mark Ingram in his hands and just squish him up. Derek Henry. He's a monster. He's a monster. He's a monster. I think he goes to Cleveland and I think he dominates. That's my prediction. I mean, Friedman, we talked about it a little bit, but with Hugh Jackson.