Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - NFL Draft Review Pt 1: AFC Winners & Losers

Right. I had the right one and you want to share yours. Well, I just want to bring it up. Technically, his opinion is the right one. Oh, I see what you did there. So, yeah, AJ Green is entrenched. Brandon LaFelle did sign a new two-year agreement with the team. And to me, what makes sense when I'm looking at how the team, how players were used, how wide receivers were used, I felt like Tyler Boyd.

would end up being a big loser from the John Ross acquisition. Tyler Boyd was the slot receiver. And so, and to me, we talked about when Boyd was drafted last year, usage for Marvin Lewis to use a rookie wide receiver. He just doesn't want to do it. And Brandon LaFeld brings... You shouldn't have drafted one number nine. Well, just historically. And now you have...

top 10 draft capital one, so that probably changes things. But Brandon LaFelle also brings you other things on the field than just the past catching ability. We know he's a tremendous run blocker. And I felt like what makes sense would be to move John Ross to the slot. So I felt like Tyler Boyd was the loser. But Jason, you felt like he'll be on the outside, take a Brandon Lafell spot. Definitely. I am very confident to think that he's going to.

make Brandon LaFelle here the fantasy loser because what it looks like to me, I mean, if you just look at what the Bengals did, they said they want to get younger, faster, more talented at the offensive skill positions. They just drafted Tyler Boyd last year who had a very good rookie season for a rookie slot-wide receiver and they like him. And now they come in this year and they spend, you know, high draft capital, their first two picks on a speedy

outside wide receiver, and Joe Mixon. And so I think that they're saying, hey, we're going to build our future offense, and they're not going to get bogged down with Brandon LaFloid in there. Blan, LaFloid? Brandon. LeHlew? Brandon. LaFle. Is that what I said? Yeah, you said LaFloid. It says much. Look, we have examples of these deep threats being successful in the slot. You know, I think of T. Yilton, and I think of Will Fuller, you know, coming in. Oh, no, Beckham.

dominates out of the slot. So is Julio Jones. Sure. And I'm saying that that's a possibility. I leaned on the side that Jason's on. Right. So, but I do agree. It's possible for those guys. If you want them to take the top off, they can do it from the inside. They can do it from the outside. Well, we can all. They just got to run fast in one direction. We can all agree that the fantasy value of any Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver not named AJ Green is murky. It is not good. No, you have to rank your fantasy options there.

It's AJ Green above all, and then you've got to like Tyler Eifert at the tight-end position, his goal line capability. And then Joe Mixon, and then that's it. You like Joe Mixon? For fantasy? Yeah. This season? Yeah, I do. Okay. Okay. I wouldn't call it the most foregone conclusion of all. Sure, sure. So you, because I don't agree that Gio's role is in threatened, is threatened at all. Yeah, for me, and the reason why is just because coming into this trap, when I, just on film,

Joe Mixon was the number one running back to me. He was better than Christian McCaffrey to me. He was better than Leonard Fournette. And so if he can muscle up on third down and give a forearm shiver and protect Andy Dalton, then he can get on the field. Yeah. Before the draft, the way that I viewed Mixon was I think he might fall. I think he might be a fourth, fifth, sixth round pick. So he's not going to come out of the gates and be given the keys to the kingdom. This is a team that.

really wanted to take him in the second, got permission from their owner. And so I think after the draft, Mixon's stock to me has been raised, not lowered. If Gio Bernard starts on the pup and misses the first six weeks with his torn ACL and Mixon can prove himself. Yeah. Abandon all hope because Joe Mixon is going to be the dude. When a guy's the dude in Cincinnati, we saw Jeremy Hill two years ago just light the league on fire. So that'd be.

Well, that'd be fun for dynasty owners. Jeremy Hill. It was fun. Oh, are you ready to say goodbye? Well, we have, hold on. We have contract year, Jeremy Hill. He's got a new workout regiment. Not yet. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I can't deal with. No diary entry for Jeremy Hill. I can't have Chris and Michael getting cut and then abandoning Jeremy Hill on the same day. Yeah, you'll be brought you down. The news is good with Amir Abdullah. So, you know, why is that to tattoo on your arm not like Jeremy Hill?

Because he's on my chest. Should have been in memorandum. We know where he is. He's by my heart. Oh, yeah. And Mayor Abdullah owns the offseason, by the way. So he can enjoy all of the treats that the offseason news can provide. He's always the starting running back for years. All right, Cleveland Browns. Can I get a key off for the Cleveland Browns? Cleveland. You know, they get a key all. They had so many darn picks. But at least they used them well. David and Joku, they trade it up.

To grab David and Joku cut Gary Barnage. Are there really some, are there really fantasy winners and losers from this roster based on the draft? Are we all just keeling because we know the future is brighter than it was a week ago for Cleveland? Go ahead. I think Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson are winners because there were. Yeah, that's big. There were rumors that they might take a running back. I was freaked out, bro. I had the capital for it.

And I think because of their offensive line that's been revamped to be such a good offensive line on paper, had they taken a running back, that would have really messed things up. So they are big winners. Injoku is not a big winner going here for the first year. We completely disagree. Now, I'm saying year one. I'm saying I disagree with you. You're saying he makes a fantasy impact year one? Absolutely. I love David Injoku this here. Love it. Love him.

That's a strong take. That is a strong take because there are very few examples of good fantasy impacts. David and Joku's one. Well, hey, you know my love for David Njoku. I mean, I think the guy is unbelievable and I think the Giants are going to regret. Maybe they won't regret because I think Evan Ingram will be fine for them, but I still believe they took the wrong tight in. Who's catching the ball? I mean, Kenny Britt, Corey Coleman. I mean, David and Joku, if it's Cody Kessler, I love David and Jokin. If it's Deshaun Kaiser,

I love David and Joker. I think this is a great situation for him. From the moment Gary Barnage picked up his pink slip, I love the commitment that they made to him. I understand. Not every rookie tied in, and it's very rare for them to make a big impact. To me, it's a perfect situation. You have protection on the offensive line. You have a quarterback, whether it's Kaiser or Kessler, who needs a secure David and Joku size 6-4 blanket.

to throw the ball to. And to me, I love him. He's going to be one of my favorite guys this year at the tight end sleeper position. We're going to have to talk rookie picks here because I'm in prime David and Joku drafting position. Are you in the, which side does your pendulum swing? I like him. I like him. I think you can have an okay rookie season. I don't think he makes a. Maybe we do a rookie draft segment on the show next. Maybe we do. I thought you were going to make a.

an anti-David-in-joku water bet with me, and I was going to be so disappointed in you. I will not bet against David and Joku. He is my favorite fantasy tight-in prospect. Do you remember? I mean, just think about this, though. This team has not been good. Agreed? We can agree. They had the first overall pick. All may agree. Gary Barnage was, I mean, for all intensive purposes, the dude was a rookie when he had his breakout year. Yeah.

He had a huge impact on a roster that was devoid of past catching options. I think it was far more devoid of past catching options than it is now. Two years, because what did Gary Barnage do last year when Terrell Pryor was there, and there were just a couple other options. He didn't do as much. It was when he was the only show in town where he had a real breakout. Now you've got year two, Corey Coleman. It all just depends on what.

that rank really means. To say I like Injoku where he ends up when we get all the rookies into the rankings because, you know, I don't know where that's going to be. All right. We'll know soon enough. They got your favorite tied in. They got my favorite quarterback and Deshaun Kaiser. I think that the future looks spectacular for the Browns. I mean, and just a tip of the cap for handling the draft. They didn't freak out with the first pick. They took the right guy.

They were able to trade down. I mean, there's so many amazing things for the Browns. It's funny. I tweeted out that they got my number one quarterback because Kaiser is also mine, my number one tight in for fantasy and everyone's number one overall player. Plus they added like a first next year. They just did great. The most responses I got on that tweet was, what? Kaiser's your number one? I stopped listening to you when you said Kaiser's. Like, I'm not alone in that. And I think he's. I got one of those for doubting Cody Kessler.

Well, come on. Fair enough. We're all full of opinions. The Ravens. The Ravens, like we said earlier, they didn't draft a wide receiver. Doubting Cody Kessler. They also didn't draft a running back. Yeah. They also didn't draft an offensive weapon of any kind. No quarterbacks, no wide receivers, no running backs, no tight ends. If you're a winner.

You're Brasad Perryman, you're Mike Wallace? Huge win. Your Dennis Pitta? Huge win for Perryman. Mike Wallace will be, I think, a tremendous value. He'll be in that probably six to seven range, but that he'll be a value there for his potential. And that might make that whole lack of investment into, even though they didn't have a choice necessarily, that actually might make Joe Flacco a loser. Because losing Steve, losing Steve Smith.

and losing Kamar Aiken and getting nothing in return at the past catching position doesn't really strengthen Joe Flacco, but who's drafted him anyway? I still don't think Wallace will be in the sixth round. I think you're going to get him eighth, ninth round, and he'll be an incredible value, yeah. I'll water bet you that. And then the other winner is Kenny Dixon. I mean, you don't go eighth round? Oh, hold on. No. I said eighth ninth round. That's what I said. You said, I'll water bet you that. What do you mean go eighth round?

I mean that his ADP will not be ahead of the eighth round. Oh, easily. Yeah. Oh, put it on the board. Water bet. Just for context, I don't, I don't dream that he's going to go ahead of guys like Dante Moncrief, Emmanuel Sanders, Golden Tate, Deshaun Jackson. That's seventh rounders right now. So I feel like I already won the bet. Well, all right. Put it on the board, Brooks. But they're committed now to Kenneth Dixon.

And Terrence West. I mean, Terrence West is the is the unspoken. He's like Voldemort on that team. Nobody likes Terrence West in the fantasy community. I want him. I do too, but I mean, you don't get expelled. Yes, I do. I'm just saying once you have him, you don't. Because last year he was painful. Once you knew you could start him, he was painful to own. Before you knew you could start him, he was a delight to own theoretically, but nobody ever played him. That was the problem last year is you had this situation where you.

Oh, he really is legit. And then by the time that happened, you didn't know what to do. Yeah, I mean, West finished as an RB2 last year, right? He was the 23rd overall in half-point formats. At the end of the year, when Dixon was more involved, you also had Terrence West just as involved in those games. 13 carries 13, 10, 10. So the fact that he starts the year with four games to try to, you know, prove himself there, I think Terrence West.

is just very much not liked no one enjoys having terence west on their team but i do agree that that provides a value in fact i look at most of the ravens and i say most of the ravens are values because i think they're not going to be wanted not going to be drafted high and they're going to at least

come back with production at the level that you draft them this year. I will say his offensive snaps per game certainly backs up what Andy's talking about. He doesn't get the snaps that you want, but of where you'll be able to get him in the draft, I think he'll end up being a good target. All right, let's wrap up the AFC North. The Steelers, they spent a second round pick on Juju Smith Schuster out of USC. They drafted a running back in round three, James Connor.

Who are the winners and losers for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, I mean, if we're going to talk about the Steelers, we've got to bring up the Martaivas Bryant tweet. If you didn't happen to catch it, I had retweeted it. Essentially, Martavis Bryant not eloquently said Sammy Coates, you're going to get benched for this new guy. Insulted the people who were commenting on the juju.

draft pick saying, well, he's going to replace Martavis Bryant. And he said, no, he's going to replace Sammy Coats. He just tweeted that out. As opposed to, no, I'm going to fight for my roster spot. He called out. Or just welcome to the team. I mean, like, there's so many, there are so many right answers to this question. This is his replacement, not mine. I'm back. This is why I, I'm sorry to say. But I know you're excited, Mike.