Breakout Picks + Austin Ekeler Joins the Show! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/24

Look, here's the thing, man. There's players and those coaches, right? That's what I'm saying. Players got to go talk to coaches. So I have, you know, I have a little bit of say, but at the end of the day, you know, they're going to put, you know, some, you know, missile that they think can pile drive their way in there. Look, and I might say I'm not going to get goal line up, you know, but as far as my body type, we have to realize that weigh 105 pounds.

You know, so there's some practicality things, right? It's all good, man. It's all good. I got to score from the three point line. It's more points in. So it's all good. It is always interesting with the like stereotypical goal line back though, right? Because you have had more undersized backs come in and be really effective statistically on the goal line. But then it does seem like the tradition in coaching is to find the big boy for.

Yeah, and it's it's all best on leverage and what kind of body you are. Like, I know like Boston Scott for like the Eagles. Like that dude, he's amazing at goal line. He's five six, but he's five six like 205, right? Like his body time. He's just like.

He's like a freaking tree stump out there. It's hard to take that man down. So it just depends on, hey, can you do it? Can you do it or can you not? It's kind of what it is. And Coach Lynn, you know, he was, you know, old school running back coach. And so he wanted his big body down there. Well, that's what I was going to ask you. You spent so many years with Coach Lynn. Now you've got a new offense and new offensive system. How are you acclimating to that? And are you excited about the new year with Staley and Lombardy?

Yeah, very excited. You know, as you mentioned at the beginning, a lot of hype around the chargers. There is for a good reason, too, because we have a lot of, you know, excited things coming as far as like a new old line, you know, Joe Lombardi on the offense, bringing a new offense from, you know.

New Orleans to hear. You know, I'm excited about that because it can get me really involved, which I have been in the past, too, but, you know, it's going to be more of that. And just obviously goes staley. And then, you know, Jay Herb's coming off his Rookie of the Year. So there's just a lot of, you know, new aspects that are here, but also a lot of existing, you know, things that we know can have the potential to be really good. So all of that in one area, one organization, as long as we stay healthy, we put that on the field. We're going to turn that hype into something that actually is something to be excited about.

That's awesome. Yeah, yes, last year you had to watch, unfortunately, the breakout of your quarterback, Justin Herbert. You had to watch some of that from the sidelines. Talk to me about what you like about Justin and what, you know, what types of things is he improving on heading into year two and what are the expectations? Right. I feel like everyone last year obviously saw his talent as far of arm, you know, his legs, but, you know.

What one thing he was not able to get was that year of experience, right? Like just having experience in the league and especially confidence coming in knowing you're going to be the starter is this night and day different. Right. Now he's able to, you know, start building chemistry. He's able to start attacking the game like, hey, I'm starting this game. So I have to make sure I prepare like I know everything, right? You know, coming in as backup trying to get, you know.

acclimated in, you know, with tie rod in front of him, he's like a little bit more, maybe more relaxed, you know? Not saying he was, but it's just like, it's easier to feel fall into that, right? And not being like, hey, the whole organization and chargers are all depending on you. Right now, that's what that's the pressure he has on him. And I know he's ready for that. He's all around the stadium, right? Everyone's got his eyes on him. And so I love that because he's a competitor too. He's like, hey, I want this to be, I want this to be perfect. I want us to go as a team and move forward.

And so as far as Jay Herb and his mindset, he's he's not one of those guys. He's a big raw, raw guy. He's down to earth. He's going to talk to you. You know, he's been building his confidence just as far as leadership and just actually being able to understand how to run an actual offense. You know, he's still young for sure. Like he's still not, you know, I had to fill up for three years.

being around that guy was insane, just he would know what the defense was trying to do based on who the defensive coordinator was, not even looking at the looks. Like, oh, they're going to give us this look and this third down. You're just like, that guy was crazy. So it's night and day. It's definitely different. But, you know, I see him making progress, which is, you know, what we can ask for. And how's the hair? The hair's getting long, man. Okay. There we go. We were worried.

All right. So you play fantasy. You know the game. You got the middle rounds, the mid-late rounds. Mike Williams sitting there seems like a value late rounds. Josh Palmer looks to be, you know, maybe a valuable weapon. Who do you think is the better value in fantasy? Ooh.

Because as far as like our guys, man, like Mike Williams is definitely going to be like, you know, fade ball in the end zone, you know, go deep over top. You know, he's not going to take the top off edge, but he's going to jump up and grab that thing. Josh Palmer, you know, that guy, he's been really actually, you know, just impressing me in camp as far as how smooth he is, his hands. How quick this man can run. I think he's going to be someone who is going to become a fan favorite pretty quick with the charges when they see him out there with the.

with Jay Herb. But yeah, I'm liking Palmer right now as far as receivers late in the rounds for sure.

Can you ask Mike Williams on our behalf to fall softer, please? He high points these balls and then you see him come down and you're like, how do you fall so violently all the time? We just need a sideline teammate that has one of those pads that you just slide it under. Just slide it under them, you know, like when the trampoline dunkers go there, they're not landing on that hardwood. He's so high when he falls. Oh, my God. I know that. He pays the price for it too, man. His shoulders. I'm just like, Mike, that's how he plays. That's how he plays.

He's going to climb the ladder, and he's coming down hard. And you see those freight challenges? It's like those. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. All right, Austin. Speaking, this is very fantasy football related. Your teammate, Keenan Allen, elite, one of the favorites among the fantasy football community. But we got to jump into the time machine. Last year, week 15 against the Raiders. Oh, no. It was, we didn't know if Keenan was going to play or not.

And everyone was making this decision in their champion or in their semi-championship week. He turns to the camera and says, don't sit me. And then our man Keenan goes out there, one for 17, unfortunately not able to finish the game. I hope that you, for the fantasy football community, at least gave him a little bit of guff.

for telling us not to sit him and then- Oh, man. See, I didn't hear about that. Oh. I didn't hear about that. Oh, that's brutal. Yes.

That's brutal. What Mike's saying is he's going to text you next time that Keenan Allen stares at the camera and make sure that he's going to be playing. He said, don't sit me. And I said, you got it, Keenan Allen. Let's go. We are listening. Just don't lie. Just don't lie to our faces. I already said this before. There's players in this coach. Players always want to play. I think that's the headline. 100%. So talk to us about what you're doing.

doing with this uh the new segment eckler's edge on yahoo sports sounds exciting no it's a new way for me to kind of just you know immerse myself into the fantasy football you know even more than i am now uh like i said before like i love to

to connect to the community. And this is a way for me to give back in a way as far as like, hey, you're learning and listening to someone who's actually going to be out there playing. It might even be on your team, you know, talking about what I'm seeing in fantasy, what I'm seeing in the matchup, you know, talking about, you know, other people, other players, diagnosing some coaches talk that's out there. I'm really looking forward to that segment. It'd be coming up to want to get too many.

Too many details away. Definitely come check it out. But it's just a way, it's a different way for me to interact. I love interacting with fans. And now that I understand the value of fantasy fans, I wanted to get into this space as well. And so it's just a way for me to have a platform working with Yahoo to work with my fantasy league, obviously, through them. And then also, you know, give some insight from my perspective, current player as far as fantasy. And it's like, even in our locker room, I don't see a lot of people talking about fantasy football, right? Like, we don't talk about it.

The thing is I think it's because people don't really realize how big of a following and how big of like a platform fantasy football actually is. And I think, you know, we don't do ourselves, you know, justice by actually not getting into it. I feel like it's just another way for us. Like I love connecting with fantasy football people. I'm on the street. People don't say, hey, you're a charter player. They're like, hey, you're in my fantasy team. You know, like I love that. Like it's great because it puts my face in front of them. And so it's just I'm trying to use that platform. That's what it's about with Yahoo.

Well, that's awesome, and we know Liz over there. Yeah, she's great. She's amazing. So the Foot Clan should definitely check that out. Echler's Edge over on Yahoo Sports. I hope more players do what you're doing and embrace the world of fantasy football because the reason we have this show, it's the community, it's the people. It's getting to, you know, tune into each and every game and caring about, you know, more than just your home team. So we certainly appreciate you coming on to the show once again and want to wish you the...

absolute best heading into the new season. Go get that goal line work. Let's go. Appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. I want to get looking for the next time. Take care. See you, buddy. See you. All right. That's going to do it for today's show. Hopefully you enjoyed that conversation with Austin Echler. I know I did. He's a fun guy. Yeah. He gets it. Yeah. He gets on Twitch. These young kids. That's what I mean. Like Echler.

He understands. He is playing the game the right way. He is setting things up for off the field. Yeah, I had no idea. Fantasy football was so big. All right. So we want to thank our sponsors as we close things out. Trigger Grills, of course. Maybe your team wasn't looking so great. You forgot to tune into us last year. But at least your taste buds are going to be winning. Every week when you fire up your Trigger Wood Fired Grill on game day. Unlike reaching for a quarterback in the second round, don't do that. There's no.

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