Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - David Johnson Interview, Draft Thoughts & Review

Yeah, some good insights there from David Johnson. Should do that more often. I agree. We'll have him on the show every other week. You got that locked down? Yeah. You know, we're local. We might be able to work that out. All right, let's talk rookies. Not just rookies, but some winners. Overall winners. And some losers. And some losers. It was interesting. Definitely interesting to see where some of these names went. You saw a run on the wide receivers right at the...

I don't know, I guess you call the back half of the first round. Maybe a difference of where we expected the order to be, but I think it was more about team fit for the wide receivers. And so that could be a good thing for fantasy owners. I know Mike, Mike with his dynasty league and where he was drafting was watching very attentive. For my rookie pick? Yeah, for your rookie pick. You were watching very attentively. I was. I'm sitting at 103 and, you know, I'm just, I'm torn between.

both Josh Docks and Corey Coleman. Both of these are wide receivers that I love, and I wanted to see the landing place. And I actually think they're both in really solid spots. But you have to factor in. I think Coleman is a... So we'll just start with Coleman. Yeah, let's start with the wide receivers in general. And I thought Coleman landed in a great spot. I mean, how about the Cleveland Browns, man? They drafted a team. Well, I'm saying they got to drop back

acquire huge picks. They got to drop back again, and then they pick up what they think is the best wide receiver in the draft. I mean, that is outstanding work by a front office. And so, you know, Cory Coleman, he becomes the automatic number one wide receiver on that team as of now if Josh Gordon is not reinstated. And I think he can be just a target monster for the Cleveland Browns. You basically have him and Barnage.

as you're really reliable type guys. So I like where he goes, especially for immediate impact on this year. I want to ask Jason this question, because you bring up a good point. Now, Coleman looks to be a target monster there, and there are a lot of dynasty leagues that are forming, a lot of rookie drafts that are going to be taking place now that the draft has happened. Could Coleman look like fools gold, which is a ridiculous thing to say for anybody?

in the fantasy world in Cleveland. But could you look that way because Gordon could come back a week or two into the season or even before the season? And you're projecting Coleman as that one and all of a sudden he's the two. Like being the two for Robert Griffin the third in Cleveland doesn't sound very exciting to me. And you mix in being a rookie on a team that wants to run the ball with the identity that Hugh Jackson's bringing. I'm just a little, I would be tentative.

even though we like what we saw on tape. Yeah, the tape on Corey Coleman is exciting. You've got a guy that is truly, could be the best wide receiver in the class, but I definitely think that there's some fools gold here because of the fit of the team. You're going to, I mean, it sounds nice, right? You're the number one guy. But that's no guarantee. I mean, I realize he was there.

predominant rookie drafted, but didn't they draft like 17 wide receivers this year? They had, I think, four wide receivers drafted this year. So they got four rookies coming in. They've got a guy there already. They've got Barnage. And then you bring up the most important point is who's throwing the ball. Now, for some reason, after camp, it looks like McCown is the starter.

then I'm actually really excited about what Coleman could do, but I'm not that excited about what Coleman can do with RG3 throwing him the ball. I think that you're going to have to rely so much on Coleman doing all of the work, and he could, but I would rather take a position, a situation where you've got a better offensive team and a better quarterback getting him the ball. I'm always going to be opportunity over.

over talent, and the opportunity wanes with RG3 being the quarterback. I think Coleman has the ability to get it done. I think either way, if it's Griffin or McCown, I'm solid with Coleman, probably being the, I would, as of right now, like we said, with the rankings, we're going to start breaking everything down really strongly, but as of right now, he would be my top redraft rookie.

All right, at 21, 22, and 23, you saw three more wide receivers come off the board. Will Fuller to Houston, Josh Doxton, to Washington, LaCon, Treadwell to the Vikings. It seemed when we were getting right around that point that Treadwell was destined for Minnesota. That being said, I don't know if any of us saw Doxon to Washington as a high probability landing spot. So let's talk about the impact that those three draft picks have on those fantasy teams.

the existing players, and then how you're projecting those guys right off the bat. I think Treadwell found the best landing spot. I mean, not necessarily the best possible because you've got Minnesota who threw the ball the least last year. They're not a... Didn't really have anyone to throw to besides Diggs, though. Yeah, that's always a hard balance to figure out, because you have North Turner there you would think wants to move the ball if you can. But obviously, Adrian Peterson is the center of that offense. One of the great things about Laquan Treadwell is he is an incredible...

blockers. So that's even going to bode well for Adrian Peterson, and not that he needed it. But I do love the fact that he is a perfect red zone target that they did not have through the air. That's going to be good for Teddy Bridgewater. And Laquan Treadwell goes to a team where there's not much competition. Mike Wallace leaves. So I see Laquan Treadwell as the, if I had to project, which I will have to, project touchdowns to rookie wide receivers, Lequon Treadwell...

clearly will be leading my list of highest probability for close to double-digit touchdowns. If he gets eight or nine touchdowns this next year, I think that's probably where I'm going to project him, which says you're not going to be less than a wide receiver three in fantasy if you've got eight or nine touchdowns. Mike, speak real quick to the impact it would have on Diggs. I mean, Diggs is... If there's only so many targets to go around, you said they had no one to throw to, I think Diggs was the result of...

some extra targets. Sure. And he had that four-game span where he basically got all of his targets. I actually think it helps digs out that you now have an actual one. You have a legitimate wide receiver one that team defense is. Jason's shaking his head. No way. They don't throw the ball enough to have a wide receiver two matter there. Well, it depends on... One in fantasy? Or did you just mean one in terms of prototypical receiver?

I'm talking in terms of just a receiver for the NFL. I'm not talking about him. He's a wide receiver one this year. But Treadwell is a wide, he is a top one. Now you got me confused in terms. In football terms, he's a one. I don't think Diggs was that. And you have him getting the coverage of a one. It's like Nelson Aguilar last year. Somehow he was the one in terms of snaps and things for Philadelphia, but he wasn't ready.

to be that guy. Now you have Treadwell coming in who can open things up more for Diggs to be Eric Decker, so to speak, where Eric Decker is not really a one, he's close, but if he has a guy on the opposite side of the field who can absorb some of the coverage, he could be great. As far as football, for fantasy, I'm not sure that Diggs will be able to produce long-term sustainable. He'll have burst games here and there, but...

But until the attempts we see them go up, it's really hard to buy into him. A good piggyback to that then is to talk about Will Fuller going to Houston because you have an existing target monster there with DeAndre Hopkins. However, you saw a trend over the back half of the season where the target numbers went down a little bit from that kind of just insane number. Unsustainable pace. Unsustainable number. And you look last year, I mean, Houston had quarterbacks that threw the ball more than Aaron Rogers.

That being said, you know, does it help Hopkins? Does it hurt him? Fuller's going to stretch the field. He's a burner. The name's escaping me. They drafted another wide receiver. Braxton Miller. Oh, yeah, they drafted Miller out of Ohio State. Does this help Hopkins? How do you look at Hopkins? Because I think he is, he's just going to be drafted so darn high this year. I just don't know what to make of it. I mean, if you take the top off of defense and Hopkins is your focus, he should be fine. And I don't think anybody here is going to doubt him as a one.

But is he a top five? Hopkins? Yeah. I don't know where he is in my rankings, but I don't have a problem with him being a top five. I don't think Will Fuller does anything negative. Negative to Hopkins. I agree with you that you just have a guy who can burn it where I just, and his hands, Will Fuller's hands have been considered questionable. Ted Ginesk. Yeah, that is not a good compliment.

It is a good fit for Brock Osweiler. Brock Osweiler can throw the deep ball. It's got a very strong arm, so I think that's good. Well, it's because he stands, his head's in the clouds. Yeah, he's already like three foot fur. He throws down. That's all you have to do. It's like gravity. Yeah, I think it's a good fit. You knew that they were going to go with speed. I am not very excited because I don't think Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell. They drafted him.

I don't think Will Fuller is that great at tracking the ball, at catching the ball. I think he can get open. He'll definitely pull the defense a little bit of ways. But I don't think this is going to take. I know DeAndre Hopkins tweeted out, like, no more double coverage. I don't think it's going to stop you from getting double covered just because you've got a guy that can stretch the field. Well, Braxton Miller's versatile. Lamar Miller will catch more out of the backfield than we saw last year from the running back position.

A good offense is always a nice direction for anybody. So I think Hopkins is still that target there. I think long term, it's very interesting for the Texans because if you paid attention to the draft, speed. They were going for speed. They had the need for speed. And maybe there's kind of just this philosophy change of O'Brien saying, you know what, I'm not going to grind it out with an Arian Foster type running back.

I'm pouring it on. We're just going to see how many points can we score and with the capabilities of our defense. And I think that's a wise choice to accept that the NFL is about passing and scoring through the air and not worrying about trying to grind it out, slow the game down. You know who I like better than Will Fuller, I think is a better wide receiver than Will Fuller and went to a better situation than Will Fuller.

I just can't stop listening to you say Will Fuller now. Is Tyler Boyd? To me, he is a real winner from this draft. There's two guys that were clear winners for me, Boyd and Sterling Shepard. They went to great spots that utilized their exact skill set. In the case of Tyler Boyd, I tweeted out, I think he's really good. And he's a guy that...

You've got, just like Will Fuller, you've got varying. Let's make sure people know who you're talking about. Tyler Boyd went to Cincinnati. Went to the Cincinnati Bengals. Sirling Shepard went in the second round to the New York Giants. Yes, those two guys. So talk about them and put them and docks in in order dynasty-wise. Dynasty? Dynasty?

Okay, so here's what you get in Tyler Boyd. You get a guy who catches, I mean, his mitts are fantastic. You put the ball around him in coverage with a guy on his back. He's usually coming down with the ball. He's got decent route running, pretty good speed. But what you have is a guy that after he gets the ball on his hands, he can make plays on his own, and he's going to grab it. You go to a team here where, you know, you've got A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert, but you lost Mohamed Sunu, and you lost.

Marvin Jones. And you gained Brandon LaFelle.

So that to me says you've got some red zone targets. You've got opportunities in the middle of the field. You've got opportunities all over. And he ran every kind of route. He was used as a running back. He was used all over the place. So I believe he will be one of those guys who immediately starts and is on the field. Benefits from the double coverage that is going to be put on AJ Green and even Eifford. And he's going to be a better red zone target than Sterling Shepard. But Sterling Shepard,

I think has the much better situation as far as perfect. He was, I mean, I remember if you listened for weeks ago, Sterling Shepard was my number one wide receiver. This is true. He was my favorite guy, and he went to a team that other than the Patriots, I couldn't imagine a better spot for a guy with his slot skill set. He is. He's Jarvis Landry. Yeah, he's a Jarvis Landry. I think, you know, I don't always like the Steve Smith comparison, but here he reminds me of a really hard-nosed