Fantasy Football 2018 - More Free Agent Madness, Key Questions for 2018

Well, you had the crab tree in the Talib fights. I don't know. Maybe they just don't want to have to deal with that headache anymore. Or maybe they were so pleased with the last time they got a Green Bay wide receiver and James Jones. Oh, that can't be it. That they wanted to bring. Maybe we're just burying the lead here. Remember they almost brought Randall Cobb into? Let's talk about Amari Cooper. Maybe they're just.

signing players who were great in like 2014. Back when Gruden was a coach. Yeah, I mean, he's like, oh man, that Jordy, he's so young and fast. How about Doug Martin? And it's about a, it's just a little over a two year age difference. All right. So I do and have believed that Amari Cooper is worth a strong look in fantasy. I know that we've been down this road. Price just went up. The price did go.

But we knew it was going to be up because that was kind of what we're seeing on the show with him before, was that people are going to pay for young, talented wide receivers. That's why Devante Parker keeps getting drafted, and he'll get drafted again. Yeah, but nowhere near the level that Amari Cooper's. I'm saying Amari Cooper with Michael Crabtree there, he probably would have been a back of the second, early third round pick, but Amari Cooper hype is going to be very, very strong. Do you buy it?

I don't. I don't either. I mean, I said a couple weeks ago when the value was looking like Cooper was going to fall in drafts, I actually liked the value there. I just don't trust the Gruden led Raiders to be some kind of top 10 offense. Nor do I. If they end up in that middle of the pack to bottom third as far as offensive points scored. I don't know what to think about you and Amari Cooper, Jason.

Yeah, we're on and get off again. Do you like him? Do you like him? Do you like him? Do you hate him? This is one of those relationships where it's like you're not even sure who broke up with who. Right. Well, they both tell a different story, but we're going to get back together. We need an official like flower for Jason for an Amari Cooper. Well, like a pet. He, I love him. I love him. I love him. Yeah. Because he's all over the place. Well, the problem here is Jason. The problem is Jason is going to take credit for whatever he does. You darn out of him. That's the problem.

Well, I told you. Michael Crabtree is now a Baltimore Raven, a three-year $21 million deal. This is a big story because Ryan Grant, former Washington Red Sky Wide receiver, had signed or agreed to terms to a four-year $29 million contract with $14.5 million guaranteed. And then failed a physical, coincidentally, moments after Crabtree was released by the Raiders. Garbage. It does seem.

Like, you hate to accuse people of that. Well, the good thing is we don't have to accuse the Ravens of doing anything dubious here with the results from Ryan Grant's physical because everyone else has already done that for us. So we just point to the fact that everyone else, I'm not saying we do, but everyone else thinks they're definitely, they called the doctor and said, hey, uh,

We're going to need to fail that physical. He saw a picture of Michael Crabtree in his lungs on the x-ray and declined the physical. And now Ryan Grant's passed the physical with other teams and with other experts. And he'll go make way less money and have a way lower, a worse opportunity somewhere else. It's just, I feel awful for Ryan Grant. Did you see he updated his Twitter bio? Was it the, to include the 14.5 million guaranteed? He made a joke about like hitting ATM or something.

It's awful because Ryan Grant, he shouldn't have been signed to that level of a contract. Right. And I feel like the Baltimore Ravens felt the social pressures of everyone kind of laughing at them going, what are you doing with Ryan Grant? He's a fine player. Shouldn't have gotten that contract. But in that time, Ryan Grant thought he had a job. So he could have been out there to these other places talking to teams working on a contract and gotten a better situation.

But no, the Ozzy and the Ravens hosed him, and it's weak and it's gross. Meyer's remorse, but that being said, Crabtree is a Raven. Crabtree is a much better wide receiver than Ryan Grant. That's fine. And so for the Ravens, I think that this works out pretty well for them. I think John Brown and Michael Crabtree.

are certainly a better one-two combination than what you thought you were going to have just like four days ago in Baltimore. You know, I don't like Joe Flacco. We're going to have to see. I think they're going to go after a quarterback. I think Baltimore will go after a quarterback in this year's draft. I do. You know, but there could be some fantasy production here. Crabtree, if it is Flacco, Mike and I brought up the fact that Flacco generally has one.

receiver that gets hyper-targeted. And Crabtree is that style of player. Crabtree could catch 80 balls. Yes. On this roster. Yeah. I think Crabtree could pull a Steve Smith. Yeah. And be, which was very fantasy relevant with Joe Flacko. Danny Woodhead. Oh. It's this. This shouldn't be sad music. This should be triumphant. Celebrate the career that was Danny Woodhead. I mean.

the guy should not have been in the NFL. But here he is with a great career, was a stud for fantasy football for multi years. I salute you, Danny Woodhead. Yeah, I always loved Woodhead. He was one of my favorite fantasy players. Always undervalued in every dream. Because he was a free running back one in the sixth of the seventh round. Le Garrett Blunt, one year, $2 million deal with the Lions still trying to play on every team in the NFL. Le Garrett Blunt.

but still productive and a good signing for them. Yes. Better than the proposed Frank Gore that we heard rumors that they were closing in on a deal. You know, Ligaritt Blunt proved that he had left in the tank and did it in the playoffs last year. Better or worse than Murray that was down there working out? Probably better than Murray because they have established past catchers in the offense out of the running back position. If you had told me you had nothing in the backfield, I'd rather sign to Marker Murray than Ligaritt Blunt.

because of the flexibility you get with Murray. But I think they probably made the right move with Blunt. Yeah. So here's the lay of the land for the Detroit Lions running back. So you have Legerat Blunt, kind of that bruiser goal line first down back. You've still got Amir Abdul under contract, Dio Riddick under contract. And then they re-signed Zach Zinner. So it's a full court. And with all of that said, the people in Detroit are still expecting the lions to spend a high.

pick on a running back, which is very interesting. I would expect it to. I think they're going to be willing to move forward with a brand new back and let Amir Abdullah hop on the train and right away. Legeriblunt is the type of veteran that you sign.

when you are still thinking there's a good chance that I'll have a better running back on the roster. I like that you called him a first downback, not even a first and second down back. He's got the gas for the first down. Yeah, exactly. He's getting up there in age. Well, Mike, you called it here on the show. Jeremy Hill has signed a very, well, non-guaranteed one year, $1.25 million contract. With the Patriots. I don't have the full guarantee.

money in front of me, but it's actually, it's very, very small. And Andy has so dubbed this, the Hilly versus Gilly situation, because only one of those guys will be on this roster come actual NFL season. Jeremy Hill or Mike Gillisley. Yes. So I don't know who it will be. But, because Rex Burk had signed a three-year deal. As far as a New England page was running back, a very lucrative deal. And,

We saw what happened with Gillisley last year. Rex Burke had completely taken over the role of the goal line ball carrier. But Jeremy Hill, Mike Gillisley, Jason, who do you think? Yeah, they say Hillier, Gilly. Who's on? Helly or team hilly? I'm on team hilly. I'm on team hilly. I am as well. I'm on team hilly. We need buttons made up. Jeremy Hill. No, we don't. He has shown, you know, his rookie year that he's got the talent. He's still very young. And, you know, he's worked with Rex Burkhead in a backfield before.

They're reunited. The rules are reversed now. The fact that Jeremy Hill would take this deal with so little guaranteed money early. This is early into free agency. He could have shopped around. He could have gone to other teams. I'm sure. I'm positive that he would have been able to get more guaranteed than he did now from someone. Just, I mean, a little bit. I don't think so. I thought he was on the precipice of the CFL. I mean, he had, no, he's done nothing.

And gone worse and worse and worse. I thought he was on the brink of being out of the NFL. He's 25 years old. He's had two double-digit touchdown seasons. And he was injured last year where he got the surgery that he elected to do so that he could go into free agency healthy. And, you know, maybe you're right, Andy. Maybe he couldn't. But my point is because he signed this deal, I think he is really believing that he's going to have.

a spot in the roster is a prove-it type of deal. You know, bet on yourself, and if you succeed, possibly you can earn a bigger contract next year and you're on the Patriots, you have a pretty good chance to make the Super Bowl. Yeah, about 50-50. Yeah, historically. Exactly. All right, before we jump into the rest of the news and then some mailbag questions on today's show, I do want to remind you, the ultimate draft kit for 2018 is available now at ultimate draft kit.com for pre-order.

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That's the 2018 stat projections. That's the consistency charts from last year, which were a huge hit. All of the tier breakdowns. So when you go into your draft, you can see which players at which tiers. We include risk ratings. We include 100 plus video profiles, sleepers, breakouts, bus values. Matt Harmon's back once again with the reception content upgraded for 2018. So this is a... Got to have the UDK. Everything you need. And look, if you've had it last year, you get what it's about.

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So fresh. All right. Fresh trade for you. The Patriots have swapped fifth and six round picks with the Raiders to acquire Cordero Patterson. They had a need. Stop helping the Patriots. People should really just not. Stop. It's like trading with me. I mean, you just shouldn't do it. Yeah. The Patriots have taken two of their back-end picks that are, you know, usually throwaway picks or you get lucky on someone or you find a special teams guy. And they've...

They've gotten two really good players. And Cordarelle Patterson is a great get for them in the return game. They lost Danny Amandola. Andy on Lewis. Who was a return specialist for them. I think this is a great get. Now, for fantasy, he's irrelevant. He's nothing. He's already had the tweets. People want to know. He's just where he's finally going to break out. And that's why, like, I have Cordarell Patterson. We've got a deep bench in the dynasty. I've got him all in the roster. He's one of those.

I could cut him at any moment times. I'm packaging him in every deal I can right now with the news. Oh, he's a patriot. Maybe someone will think they're getting something because no, he's going to be a return guy only. All right. A.J. McCarran, two-year deal with the bills for only 10 mil. He signed a backup deal. Yeah. That's, it's unfortunate. Congratulations on winning the settlement against the NFL. It's really unfortunate.