The 2024 “My Guys” Episode! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/16

Oh, it's here, baby. Welcome to the My Guys episode, but it's not just the My Guys episode today. It is the final day of the UDK for Life giveaway, the ultimate draft kit. And if you don't have the ultimate draft kit or you don't know what it is, it is the one tool you need to dominate your draft. We have our historically accurate tiered-based rankings. We have blurbs on every player. We have... 100 plus video player profiles breaking down, who are the sleepers, the values, the breakouts, the busts, you are going to love it. And if you get it today by 6.30 p.m. Eastern, you are automatically entered in to win a UDK for life forever. And if you write it with a quill, you can bequeath it to others. So check it out and get all the information you need at ultimate draft kit.com. And now let's get to them my guys.

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Friday, August 16th. Okay, it's my guy's day. Yeah, there it is. We didn't do this yesterday? We did not. Gotcha. The comments, the comments were, uh, there were some that were, they were expecting it. Yeah, I saw some correctly predict that today's episode was going to be the My Guys episode. Uh, you nailed it. Impressive. Ten years. Ten years of My Guy episodes. In fact, Kyle, Kyle grabbed a hot stat. We have had, uh, so, you know, today we'll reveal three names each for the My Guys episode, but there have been 90 before today's episode.

91, if you count, Dante Pettis, and what happened that year. But we have selected my guys from every NFL team over the nine years, except for one. Do you know the one? I do. I saw it. Sorry, Falcons. Does that change today? Nice, nice, Mike. Stay tuned. Jason said it at the top. If you were watching them on YouTube, the UDK for Life giveaway is today. So this afternoon we're going to be live everywhere. So you can find us on YouTube or we'll be live on X. And if you pick up the Ultimate Draft Kit before the end of that live stream, we're going to give away the UDK for Life. We're going to give away a sign Justin Jefferson, Jersey. We're going to answer your questions live. And so you can pick up the UDK at Ultimate DraftKit.com. Very excited about today. Big expectations.

culmination of a long off season as we get ready to go for the regular season. It's also the day we hold our breath for injuries. Oh, I know. For the rest of the preseason, I mean, there have been, we all put out different messages on social media asking people to guess are my guys. I gave a big hint. Technically nobody got it. But also technically you kind of did because there have been some pivots over the last week, some due to injury. And so it's going to be really, really exciting to hear these today. But first, let's jump into some news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. We did have a preseason game last night. The Patriots and the Eagles, I got to see a decent amount of this game, including every snap from Drake May, the rookie quarterback.

And Jacobi Brissette looked a little bit shaky. He had an end zone interception. And Drake May had some plays that for the first time on film as an NFL player looked like some of this stuff we wanted to see from college, in my opinion, including the rushing capability. He had a read option place to score a touchdown, made some good intermediate throws. Found Jalen Polk on the outside who looked, I use the word saucy. I like it. He could move. We all know what it means. Yeah. When you got the sauce. You know, it was nice to see that. Gerard Mayo said that he was making strides. And the reports right now is the competition is not over. Jake May was making strides. Correct. Because there was a typo.

on a report earlier that Drodmeo said that Mayo was making strife. It's just one letter. It's just one letter, man. You know all about that. If you just miss a couple of letters, it shouldn't matter that much. So he was reporting that he as a coach was making big progress. I hope he is. You know, first time head coach. You want to be making progress too. We don't give enough credit to the fact that most coaches can progress and hopefully become better. As coaches, as people. And then there's Dennis Allen. So has a coach ever Dionne Sanders, like referred to themselves in the third person? Outside of Sanders? A coach. Well, Dionne Sanders is a coach, Mike. An NFL coach. Okay. He's a coach right now. College smallage. That's in the back of my head. College small. That's right. But like imagine Bill Belichick up there. Like Belichick did a great job today. That would.

That's too much. Maybe in about 10 years, the next wave. It will be Dion Sanders when he's an NFL coach. He will be on Sanders. Good news. Sean McVeigh said Matthew Stafford is expected to return to practice next week. I mean, that is phenomenal news. There are too many very expensive, highly important. fantasy options for the Rams to not have Stafford. And that's, that's one of the biggest risks with drafting them. Like you look at Pooka Nakua or Cooper Cup and you think the risk is, oh, I'm not sure which one is number one. You know, the risk is not each other. The risk is stafford's health because if Stafford goes down at least the first half of the year before Jimmy Garoppelow is the backup, then that is just devastating. Occiwawa, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

All right. That was today's news and notes, not a lot. Presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. It's time. I didn't really want to delay. I didn't really want to, you know, we didn't need to add in any peripheral small news. We needed to get right into it because you've waited long enough. But tease, it's been long enough. It's time. Man, speaking of 10 years of my guys. We're still using the same clip from 10 years ago. It's time to move forward. Thank you. I mean, everybody that has chosen to listen today avoided seeing that graphic. But it's a throwback. It's the singular worst lip and mouth animation that has ever been constructed in the history of mankind. No. You see the way I was dancing?

I mean, that's pretty much what I look like on a dance floor anyways. Oh, my goodness. It is time to jump in. And I feel like I want to get this one out of the way. I don't think I saw a single human being. Guess my my guys without including him. So let's just do it. Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley. What? I'm shocked. This is unbelievable. Calvin Ridley is my singular favorite pick in every single fantasy football draft. He is the Mike Evans pick of this year where I had such incredibly strong conviction from day one on Mike Evans last year, who ended up being drafted in the seventh round as the wide receiver 33 in drafts last season and ended the year as the wide receiver 5. Calvin Ridley is being drafted.

in the seventh round this season as the wide receiver 37 and there isn't a draft I will go without taking him he is um you know I don't know what it is he is that proper age and Mike Evans was this too it's kind of the James Connor thing you reach reach a certain age and it doesn't seem like anything anybody says any circumstances will change how somebody views them um he signed the largest free agent contract of any wide receiver to a new team since 2016. So NFL general managers, at least one, really found Calvin Ridley to be a desirable asset to go and spend that amount of money. And there is so much doubt in the fantasy community about his ability to perform. Calvin Ridley would have been a my guy well before.

DeAndre Hopkins got injured. Oh, he was already written in Sharpie on your board. Yeah, this was chiseled, actually. I took a tablet out. You ruined our whiteboard. With the Sharpie? With the chisel. It was really unnecessary. You could have just written it. I didn't chisel the whiteboard. All right, listen. Calvin Ridley is just such an extreme value. And the parallels between the Evans story are just so ridiculous. Even when you look at. the problems that people had with Mike Evans last year was it was Baker Mayfield and I was able to come in here and tell you like I have confidence that Baker Mayfield for all of his flaws and problems is a great deep ball thrower that takes shots down the field and is going to make the difference that's what you have with Will Levis he lets it rip I mean we've posted every single play from Will Levis in 2023 he had the highest average depth of target in the national football league

And these are going to be, I mean, this combo is going to be a match made in heaven. I have so much confidence in that. And now you have injuries to DeAndre Hopkins. The path is clear. If you want to get into the hype train, we had a beat reporter out of Tennessee. This was the quote, with every passing day of watching Calvin Ridley at Titans camp, the more confident I am, and I love this, that the Jaguars are morons. His usage last season was a fireable offense. They painted him into a little stupid box. And this is a player that you need to force feed the ball at every layer of the field, which they will do the offense. Jason, you've talked a lot about Kellan Moore and the innovation and what you have confidence in with Devonty Smith and A.J. Brown and Philadelphia being more innovative. Brian Callahan is bringing over a Cincinnati offense where they will be in the shotgun where their pass rates with Joe Burrow were top half. And then the last two years,

Fourth and second. This is not the Derek Henry experience in Tennessee anymore. This is going to be, what do we have in Will Levis? And the type of games that they're going to win are going to be letting Will Levis throw the football to a true number one in this offense. And Brian Callahan's come out and said, you're looking at a similar role to the one that Jamar Chase played in our offense. He has already proven he knows how to use a versatile number one receiver with a unique skill set. His average drop position is criminal. And Will Levis is a perfect combination for the downfield throwing. Will Levis does two things. He takes sacks without seeing pressure and he throws the ball deep. He's a man. And he also has the, like people are not affording him the chance to greatly improve with an offseason and a head coach that has been good with a quarterback before. And Ridley was, guys, Ridley was the wide receiver 17 last year.

Yeah. He was being drafted at 37 and this was in an offense. People are big mad. They're big mad and they, you know, there were all those close plays. Mike keeps mentioning around the end zone. Like this was a player who last year was number two in the National Football League in red zone targets. What are we doing? What are we doing? Please draft him everywhere. It won't cost you much. Think about it. You will be going more likely if you draft Calvin Ridley. This is a wide receiver three. Yeah, yeah. In your draft board that I think has true, I think he has top 12 potential. I really do. With you think Levis can support. I mean, I guess I guess Baker supported, you know, Mike Evans last year. Yeah, and the pedigrant. Evans has a much longer history of success. But Calvin Ridley, like, you got to remember like this was an elite, an elite option in Atlanta.

And then we've got one year back in Jacksonville where you had the elite games. But inconsistency, which has been a hallmark of Trevor Lawrence, I would expect some inconsistency in Tennessee. I'm not going to say that every game is going to – this is not wide receiver five finish. This is the best value in your draft. So getting it out of the way, the one you already knew was coming. Everyone's rolling their eyes into the back of their head. But I – Calvin Ridley to me is – he's like the – He's been locked for a long time. Your confidence in him has allowed me to really change. I remember you can go back and find early offseason where I said I'm out, out on Calvin Ridley. Coming over to a team where you're not even 100% positive that he's the one with Hopkins there. He could, you know, Hopkins could be the one and he could be the two for Will Levis on a bad offense, changing teams at an older age. I was just out, out, out.

As time has gone on, the drum beat, obviously, around the reporters about Calvin Ridley just being incredible there. He's the clear one. Now Hopkins is injured. And what is truly amazing is that there's not, like a lot of times we'll have this my guy show. And, you know, not due to our own horns, but we see the ADP go up from some of these guys. People start drafting them earlier. You can't do it. This guy. Well, no, I'm just saying that that has happened many times. There's, there is. It's not... I read many books. I'm not saying it in a battle... I'm simply stating facts, but there's nothing that can happen. I barely hear you out of your own butt right now. You smell that? We all do. It smells like popcorn. There's no way that Calvin Ridley's ADP can go up. No, I don't think it's possible. We don't have the power. No, no, not at all. Because I've tried for three months. No, I mean, he is...

He is going to stay exactly where he is. And where he is, I think, is a value. You're grabbing him as someone that has potential, has upside, is a quality receiver. And you're drafting him around guys that are much more unknown commodities. All right. My guy number one in the books, Calvin Ridley, you saw it coming if you've been listening to this show. Who is going next here? I guess I'll hop in because I've got a guy that I don't think too many people are going to be surprised about either. So I will rip the Band-Aid off. with this guy. Devon A. Chan. I love him. I love my little bitty Devon A. Chan. Look, he is awesome. And I think there comes a time in every fantasy manager's existence where they have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask an important question. All right. I'm looking. Am I a coward? Oh, no. Am I a coward? Nobody. Wow. Okay. Nobody.

calls me chicken. Well, that's the thing about Devon A-chan. This is a risky pick. And when this is the My Guys episode, I had this thought a couple months ago with making Devon A-chan one of my my guys. I am not necessarily telling you the way that Andy told you that you should draft Calvin Ridley. I'm not saying you should draft Devon H.M. What I'm saying is... I am drafting Devon A. Chan. I ain't no coward. This is a my guy. This is a risky pick. He got injured a couple times in his rookie year. He's undersized. He's in a crowded backfield. He is also probably the most electric and explosive player we have seen since CJ 2K. He certainly has speed like that. I went and watched, and I'll post on Twitter after this episode is done, every single snap and target from Devon A. Chan.

last year and there are just play after play after play where when he gets a little crease you watch these defenders and it looks like they're playing flag football because they're reaching for his waist as he is just out of their grip he's unbelievably fast and you can't stop it after watching the film there's only one other player in the entire NFL that is like him And that's his teammate Tyree Kill. He has that. I got some fast guys in, yeah, it is really not fair. In Miami. You look at his role, I think that's the worry, right? Is he going to get enough workload to be valuable at that, you know, two, three turn or maybe in the middle of the second round where you're going to have to take him? Right now he's listed as a co-starter with Moster. On first downs last year, the dolphins had two running backs on the field 48% of the time. Now, that's not just number one in the NFL. That is like,

That hasn't happened since full backs were a thing. That's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're on the field together, and Devon A. Chan lines up all over. He lines up in the slot a ton. He is a great pass catcher. We'll get to that in a minute. But I want to focus on the fact that last year, in nine full games played, he was averaging 15 opportunities a game alongside Moster. 15 opportunities a game. 85% of running back ones over the last six years have had 16 and a half opportunities a game or more. So you're telling me, going from his rookie season to his sophomore season, he needs to get like one and a half more opportunities a game. Of course that's going to happen. You listen to how Mr. McDonald's, aka Mike McDaniel, aka the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, talks about Devon A.J. And, you know, he talks about how he's changed his body, he's changed his diet. He is integral and everyone else on the team, the other players.

are relying on Devon A. Chan on most plays. I think he's going to be out there a ton. We know he's an explosive runner, but he's an unreal pass catcher. In college, if you don't remember or you didn't know, he caught 60 receptions in his final two years. Now, for context, because NFL, that sounds good, not elite, Bijon, Bijon caught 60 receptions his entire college career. And I think we know what an incredible pass catcher he is. He was targeted on 24% of his routes last year, which is a great number for a wide receiver. And more importantly, Mike McDaniel utilizes him as a first read target in the offense. He was targeted on 67% of his targets as the first read. He was what the play design was for. That was number one in the NFL as a rookie. When you look at historical breakouts, the largest jump.

Four running backs is year one to year two. That's where the massive explosion happens. It's also when they're in their age 22, 23 season. All these things are aligning for Devon. Can I ask you a question? I'll allow it. What if you are a coward? Listen, if you're a coward. Like if you know that about yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a fair question. Don't draft him. Okay. You can't handle it. But I'm just going to tell you right now if you are a coward. There will be one or two potentially, maybe with trades or playoffs, three times a year where your cowardice is going to be pissing your pants because you're going to be facing him on the other side and you're going to go, oh, daggummit, that guy could put up 40 points on me. Is there a good running back for cowards to draft? Or is that in another show? Christian McCaffrey. I'd be okay, grab a hip. No, I mean, you know, you.

If you want to play the coward way, you're just going to look at volume. This is not volume. This has to be explosive, but he is explosive. He led all running backs and yards per touch 7.7 last year. I'll post the film. You could take a look yourself. I don't want to be out on this guy. And I think that if he is healthy, right? If he plays the full season, next year you're going to be talking about a guy who's a top three pick. That's his upside. Okay. Well, uh, Had no idea you even liked him. Yeah. That's a shock. We'll take a break. We'll come back with Mike's first. My guy. All right. Back from the break. And it's time for Mike to reveal numero uno. My number one, my guy, I have stated on this podcast that he is absolutely the best quarterback to draft all things considered this fantasy football season. Kyler Murray.

The Homer Hader calls, get that bull crap out of here. Kyler is the best quarterback target in your drafts. Right now on Sleeper, he is going as the quarterback eight. And here's the deal with Kyler. He just turned 27. I have no age concerns about Kyler Murray running. He is averaging over 20 fantasy points per game and 38 rushing yards. Now, the 38 rushing yards, I get it. People out there might say, well, that sounds kind of low. Well, guess what? Only five quarterbacks since the year 2000 have hit those marks. 38 yards a game on the ground. That's right behind Jalen Hertz. That's right in line with Cam Newton. That's right in line with Josh Allen. That's how much Kyler Murray actually runs. We forget. It's just under 700 yards a year. We forget how great Kyler has been for fantasy football because we all have brains like a goldfish. And if you haven't done it really recently,

We tend to forget about it. And a year and a half, close to two years of Kyla Murray's career was deleted from that ACL tear. But he is back. And he came back in a big way. The Arizona Cardinals to start last year were one and eight. They were putrid. They were one of the worst offenses in the league. And then Kyler comes back. And they're a top 10 offense, like immediately. And this is a team that was lacking. Top 10, huh? Yes, top 10 in yards, top 10 in points per game. Top 10 in plays. No Marvin Harrison. And this is with, look, Trey McBride was there. That was it. You know, it was rookie Michael Wilson who was, he was not ready to be a number one wide receiver. Like, it's not his fault. But Kyler was able to take this team, this offense, and carry them because he is that good.

at football and he's that good for fantasy football. We have some other bonuses that we love. Arizona is a fantasy friendly offense. They went for two after scoring a touchdown 34% of the time. That's the highs in the NFL. That's, yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. That's a bonus man. A free two points possibly at the end of a touchdown. Like that's sensational. He ain't getting nothing for an extra point. That is correct. You know what I mean? Yeah. Leave that garbage to the kickers. They went for it on fourth down 27% of the time. Third highest in the NFL. Keep those drives alive. Those extra opportunities. Bonus. They really, yeah, they really do add up. And last year, once Kyler got in, look, QB9 in points per game from week 10 on, again, with that bad team, and that includes four games of over 20 points. And that was like, look, last year, Kyler had a 3.7% touchdown rate. That's,

That's about a full percent lower than the league average. I don't blame him. He's not, he wasn't surrounded by talent. He's had multiple years. His sophomore year, 4.7, a touchdown percent, a 5 percent the following year. Like, it was for what Kyler is used to putting up on the field, it was not as efficient. He has, like, he doesn't have the dangers of the pocket-only passers. C.J. Stroud could 100 percent. be the revelation and be a top three guy. But the path for things to go wrong for pocket passers is so gigantic where Kyler Murray, because he runs so much, you have a floor and then you have a built-in upside of if Marvin Harrison is as great as we all think he's going to be. That's a number one wide receiver, a number one tight end. And on top of that, opportunity cost is almost everything in the fantasy football drafts, that ADP. Kyler's going in the seventh. Kyler is going as the QB8.

And he is, to me, safe and has massive boom potential. Yeah, but what if? Hear me out. Okay, all right. What if a couple rounds earlier, I can grab Anthony Richardson and he could turn into Kyler Murray. He absolutely could. Anthony Richardson could turn into Cam Newton. It could. It could be a boat. Kyler Murray is a boat. Kyler Murray just might be Kyler Murray. And we want to, look, we want hot stocks. His odds are high, actually. They are actually. Probabilistically. It's 100% hit rate that he is still, Kyla Murray. We want a hot start in the first four weeks of the season. Their first three games right now, 48 projected points. That's the over, under for those first three games. That is absolutely delightful. And in week forward, when it's not 48, it's the Washington commanders who are, by all accounts, they should be one of the worst defenses that we've seen in a very, very long time.

Kyler is absolutely, absolutely my target in all fantasy football drafts. They have no pass rush. Right. They have no defense. The defense is still going to be a work in progress. They have one player in the top 100 right now at Buda Baker. Like the offensive, like the defensive, you know, capability to slow people down, like they're going to need to lean on the offense to get through. It is so wild to me that Kyler came back with. That Arizona Cardinals offense, which again, I can't stress how bad they were through nine weeks. And then the quarterback comes in and puts up four 20-point games. That's outrageous. All right. Number two on my my guy lists. I'm going to tease it with a beat reporter quote. Oh, please be better than what Jason brought. He said it does not take long to see and hear the difference.

From a sedan to a Porsche when the cars are passing. And this player is not a sedan. Malik Neighbors. You're saying he's not like an affordable family car? He is not an affordable family car. We are talking about the Porsche himself. Malik Neighbors, wide receiver of the New York Giants. It was June 1st when the UDK was released and we did an Explain Yourself segment. And I said a quote like, that there was a point in time where I thought Malik neighbors would end up a my guy. He's ending up on my guy. And my confidence in his skill set and ability is tremendous. But I want this conversation and argument to be persuasive on the basis of convincing you that this can work in New York. Okay? Yeah, that's the issue. Because I don't need to go and tell you about the collegiate numbers and the collegiate stats and the separation. He was drafted where he was drafted for a reason.