Shocking Stats from 2022 + Difference Makers or Dust? - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/21

What's going on, Foot Clan? We're back again because, well, we're always back again. We've got shocking stats on today's show. We're talking about some players that are fantasy relevant today that might be dust in a year from now and a whole lot more on today's show, including some news. Make sure you like, subscribe, leave a comment, and enjoy today's show. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Another episode of the podcast, Jason. Well, that's good. We haven't gone anywhere. The Fantasy Footballers podcast. Back again. Andy Holloway, Jason Moore. Mike, not here today. Somewhere in Mexico celebrating the birthday of our very only first producer. Brooks.

Brooks is birthday today. Oh, happy birthday, Brooks. He's living life. Oh, yeah. Get the camera on you, Bruce. Oh, happy birthday, big guy. Thanks, guys. Happy birthday. Happy birthday he is now. How do you get, what do you get for a man that has literally everything due to his vast, expansive wealth? Well, what you do is you steal something valuable to him. And return it? And then you return it. Okay. You say, look, you had lost this. But now you may have it back. Yeah, one of them Fabrizier eggs or something. Yeah, some kind of, probably an heirloom. Some kind of heirloom. Is that what you collect when you're wealthy heirlooms? Yeah, it's not even your family. You're like, I want that family's most precious heirloom. Okay. And then you get it. It's a good word. Uh, shocking stats on today's show. Going to walk through some, uh, well, I said it. Shocking stats.

We're going to look at what happened in 2022. Jason, I'm going to get your opinions, your wizened opinions. Yes. Some of these, uh, some of these stats might be a little prescriptive or at least indicative of things we can look for next year. Some of these are just cool. Just like, wow. Let's move on. I'm shocked. I'm shocked. I'm shocked. A couple announcements at the top of the show before you get into the news and get into those shocking stats. The 2023 rookie profiles are hitting the website right now. So some of the articles I retweeted the C.J. Stroud article by our very own Kyle the Borgogan. I do not want to ever give Kyle on air credit. But Andy was talking up this article. He's like, man, Kyle's over there grinding. He said it was, I forget what you, you described it.

in the most eloquent terms. Did I? Yes. And I'm hoping that you have a memory of this. Yes, I do. I do. I called it exhaustive, not exhausting. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do here. It tells the story of C.J. Stroud, as only Kyle could tell it. And it's very interesting. You, Kyle, and you can throw the camera back over there, you came away with the, after you're done watching the tape and you reviewed the games and you talk about it in the article. I believe you said something to the extent of one of the most impressive quarterback prospects you had seen in the last five years. Yeah, against Georgia, he was unbelievable. They should have won that game. Okay. So this is what I'm talking about. I mean, that feels like a little bit of a hot take after you looked over everything. And you've got the Bryce Young one up there as well. Yeah, bets to the Bryce Young. And we'll have all the prospects up within the next couple weeks. So the Fantasy Footballers.com, if you want to read those.

The other couple of announcements, the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit presale, is available right now. You can pick it up, Ultimate DraftKid.com. If you get it by March 1st, you'll be entered to win a listener league spot. It's going to be the lowest price you can get it all summer long. Free digital copy of the book, $15 in gift cards, a bunch of perks, just for getting it early. And the Dynasty Pass is available inside the UDK right now with more rookie startup content. Dynasty trade targets and a lot more. So ultimate draft kit.com. And then the last one, and again, you're going to have to hit the trumpet for me there, Al. He had to unbox the trumpet. Oh, you said we are hiring. We made this announcement, I believe last Thursday. I want to reiterate it. The fantasy footballers.com slash careers. We are looking for what I would say is like a Patrick Mahomes level talent.

Yeah, we're looking for a diamond in the rough, a needle in a haystack, someone that has a lot of experience with social media, with branding, with the future of the platforms, the advertising, really a guru that can help take us to the next level who loves fantasy football. And I think one thing we... I heard it too. Yeah, I heard that out. Oh, what did I say? It just sounded like platforms. Pladforms? Yeah. Okay. And I, you know, it's different. But that's not a thing. No, but... But it just sounded like I said the word plaid. Okay. But yeah, we're looking for no. If you're Jay Cutler-esque in talent, no application. So you're an NFL quarterback. That's good. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. You're not going to Hall of Fame. But maybe you're working in like a more boring career. Yeah. Are you in the oil industry but high up in social media?

Is there is a thing? You think there's one big social media, big oil guy? I don't know if the, if big oil has. I don't know if we're really targeting the big oil company to, uh, to steal from. But, but yeah, I get what you're saying. Right. Or and or you run the charges, uh, social media like reach out. Yeah. So you can learn more of the whole job description, uh, spelled out in a slightly easier to understand way at the fantasy footballers.com slash careers. Is there anything else we need to cover here at the top, Brooksie? You got it all. We already did the mandatory birthday. Congratulations you made us do. Yeah. I mean, he pays our salary. So we have to listen to the boss. The only other update that I would say we just got back from the FSGA conference. We had a great time there in Las Vegas. And it was just important that the Fookland knows we want it.

We want everything. Everything. I mean, you know, we're talking bags tournament. We're talking football tournament. You know, a couple of industry awards, but those weren't the real important things. No, and there was a lot of trash talk appropriately. And we did that mostly because losing sucks and losers suck as well. Yeah. And so we're winners. Yeah. So we took it all. Thank you. Thank you. All right. That's it. That concludes. Thank you for bringing that up, Jason. Very important. We brought home lots of hardware. in those departments. All right. Who is the player? Here's a quick question for the day. Who is a player that is fantasy relevant today that in one year from now you think will be dust? So completely this show, February 20th of next year, this player is not going to be on any draft boards, but they will be this summer. So I don't believe they will be.

off the draft boards. A lot of times people turn to dust when we don't realize it. I think that they could easily be replaced and be a mistake. But the player that came to my mind is a player who I am in on right now for this season, right? Fantasy relevant today. Damian Pierce, I think, has a great season. He looked really good for a rookie as the rookie running back for the Houston Texans. Damian Pierce was a fourth round pick. beat everybody's expectations. For fantasy football, he, I think he worked his way to the fourth round there too as well. Somewhere higher than I think we thought he would go, and Damien Pierce returned on that value until he got injured in the season. And so going into next year, I do think he's a fine player and will be productive.

But this is a guy who was drafted in the fourth round. We bring up draft capital a lot on this show because historically it means a lot. And for a position like running backs, you can have guys, you know, that come out of nowhere and have a great career. I mean, Austin Echler has unbelievable staying power, Arian Foster. There are examples where it works. But there are far, far more examples where a player comes out and is good. But the team has not invested into them in any kind of major way. And so they aren't seen as a core building block for the team. And so the team wants that and ends up replacing that player. It's happened over and over and over recent examples. Philip Lindsay a couple years ago was awesome. He was a...

running back won his rookie year. He was the running back 19, his sophomore year. And then it was like, uh, yeah, we're going to replace you. Uh, you're gone. And he was irrelevant, bounced around a couple teams and was done. James Robinson, uh, had an on his way to being done. Unbelievable rookie season. But because he wasn't a, you know, he, they should have had him just be the dude. And then went out and drafted Travis E.T. N, E.T. and got injured. And so he had a little bit of extra time given to him. But then as soon as E.T.m was back, it's like, yeah.

You weren't our plan. You did a great job. Pat on the butt. See you later. And even other examples that aren't just undrafted, like Jordan Howard was a fourth round pick. It was very good. That's like the comp to me is a fourth round pick who comes in, was good for fancy, was good for their team. And he didn't make it to year four on his rookie deal because they just, he was good. And then they're like, we're going to replace you. The only thing I'll push back on a little of your contention around Damian Pierce is the fact that I think something has to happen this year. And it doesn't have to be much when you're a fourth round draft pick, but something has to happen in the negative sense to push him into the dust category. You know, to be fair to James Robinson, there was an Achilles tear in the midst of this situation. I think if what you said at the beginning of Damien Pierce is going to have a great year is true.

I don't think he'll be dust if he had a great year. But if he has a mediocre year, an up and down year, if he shares the backfield, you have a new coaching staff. If there are some bumps, like if you have high draft capital at running back and there's some bumps in the road, you get more opportunities. If you have low draft capital, low investment, not the same coaching staff, and you hit a few bumps, it doesn't take much to have you. We do. pushed out of relevance. Exactly right. And the injuries are probably the thing that, you know, in the future when if this were to come true, you might be able to say, oh, that's not fair. He got injured. But that's the point. Like, Breece Hall got injured. He is not being replaced. They spent a first round draft pick on him. Rashad Penny got time and time and time again to come back and be the starter. He never really did it. But that was because he was a first round draft pick. When all these guys who are third, fourth, fifth round draft picks get.

an injury and someone else comes in, you can just, you're allowed to be replaced. The player that I will bring up is also a running back. And I'm just not sure what the path forward for him is going to be. And that is Devon Singletary, the running back for the Buffalo Bills. He is a free agent. And so there are two scenarios that I think can transpire here. He could sign a deal to return to Buffalo. I don't think the money will be significant if that is the direction it goes. I think it could be shorter term. You have talent in James Cook behind him. If he goes somewhere else, the money might be a little bit bigger than what he got in Buffalo, but I don't know that Devin Singletary has the kind of profile, I think, to be the centerpiece of a backfield. And so generally, players like that, when they depart, it's not greener pastures.

It is an opportunity someplace else. I mean, I can think of why don't we go to Damien Williams departing from what, Kansas City and opportunities that he has had. There were teams that said, hey, you're going to be a part of our future. You're going to be part of this backfield, but you're not going to be the whole thing. And I just wonder, you know, what's a better scenario for Devin Singletary than being on one of the best offenses in football in Buffalo? I don't think that there's one out there for a team that's going to pay him. And if he stays there, I think he's going to be underutilized. So I think that this is one of those players that regardless of the offseason contract situation, there's a chance that we don't see a lot of him in future fantasy drafts. Sure. I think that makes sense. He's not that archetype that, you know, becomes the centerpiece of anyone's offense. Into the news we go. News and notes from around the league. The Washington commanders have hired.

Eric B. Enemy as their offensive coordinator. So looks like the Chiefs will be going back to Matt Nagy at their offensive coordinator position. Eric B. Enemy, lateral move in title, but a different opportunity. A lot of people have come out and said, why in the world would he do this? You're departing the world champions. You have a solid role, solid opportunity to be a part of a winner. He wants to be a head coach. He has applied and been given many, many interviews, and he has never been able to, despite winning Super Bowls, despite having the best offense, he doesn't land that job in part because it's hard to know. Like, okay, everyone, everyone who's a good OC there does well, or is just the OC does well, because you've got Andy Reed and you've got.

Patrick Mahomes, like, yeah, of course you're going to do well. And he doesn't call the plays. Andy Reid calls the plays. So this is a position where he's saying, hey, the Washington commanders, they do not have a prolific offense. They do not have a prolific quarterback. If I can go there and prove that I can take this offense forward and progress it and develop a quarterback, hopefully Sam, how? That was nice. Thank you. Then. Now it's saying, okay, this guy deserves his shot. I believe in him, not just in Patrick Mahomes. And I'm guessing they paid for it. We forget sometimes that these offensive coordinators, it's not just role and situation. It's like, this is a job. You know, it's like if one job is offering, I don't know the contract situation. Did he get assistant head coach as well in that title in Washington? I'll have to look it up. Take a look at that. I think he might have been given that as well.

Yeah, that would be a very Ron Rivera thing to do. Yeah, assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. So a bit of a title upgrade, opportunity to go there. Yeah, I mean, and that's great. I'm happy for Eric B. enemy. I hope he does well. I think he is better than he has been given credit for, and now he gets an opportunity to prove it. But he is not the offensive coordinator that is the most fun to talk about. That's easy as one, two, three, Mr. JBC himself. Jim Bob Cooter. Jim Bob Cooter! He's back, baby. Oh, yes. Offensive coordinator of the Colts. So he'll be holding the clipboard for Shane Steichen in Indianapolis. So congratulations, JBC. I just like his name. Yeah, I mean, that's really all it was, huh? That, I, if Jim Bob Cooter was named Larry Williams, I'd be like,

All right. Well, what is he done with his career? Let me look and investigate. Now I just want to be thrilled because of Jim Bob Cooter. Formerly of Lions fame. That is right. Where he was, he ran the offense that was 20th, 21st, 13th, and 24th in total yards. Well, he'll just be helping psyching. So he's in the B enemy role there. Packers and Aaron Jones agreed on a restructured deal for 2023, 11 million salary for the 2023 season. Aaron Jones will be back. Yep. Do you have any reaction to that? It's just good news to have. I would say this restructure makes me, you know, I believe it's two years left on his deal, but this feels to me like it's going to be one last hurrah. If I'm a dynasty manager, you get a new deal. Sometimes that can bump a player's value up. He's the type of player along with this next type.

this next player that we will be talking about in a minute where I'm looking at a Dynasty League to move on from this age running back. Well, we knew the next player is Alvin Camara, him and three accomplices were indicted on conspiracy to commit battery. There's a court date for March 2nd. This is the Vegas incident in the 2022 Pro Bowl weekend. He could end up facing league discipline heading into the new year. And like Jason said, we're going to talk about Camara and Aaron Jones in our shocking stats segment. Isaiah Hodgins is back won your contract. Well deserved. And this can't be true. This is true. I'm finding this out right now. Yeah, I got the alert yesterday and my goodness, the dude is crazy. The Cardinals, they still have Robbie Anderson on their roster? No, they do not have Robbie Anderson on their roster because Robbie Anderson does not exist. Great.

Robbie Anderson has legally changed his name to chosen Anderson. Chosen as in he is the chosen one. Chosen Anderson. What? Uh, okay. He first changed his name from Robbie to Robbie. He was like, look, I don't like this Y at the end of my name. I'm going to formally change my name from Robbie with a Y to Robbie with an IE. And that wasn't good enough. When a player shifts from production, like stat production on the field to... Name changes? Quantity of name changes, there's a problem. Yeah. Historically speaking, very bad for fantasy football. Yeah. We've looked at the numbers. Yeah. All right. No other news? Chosen Anderson, the last one there, Brooksie? That's the last big news we got. Oh, boy. All right. Quick break back with those shocking stats. Chosen Anderson, huh? Chosen Anderson.

Have you thought about like a midlife crisis name chains of any sort there? I'm going to start thinking about it. I didn't realize we could just pick. I thought we had to pick a name. B. Dot shimmy more. You know, I feel like I want a verb. Yeah? Yeah. Give it some. The chef? That's not a verb, but that would be a great name. That's my pickleball nickname. Because you spend a lot of time in the kitchen? There's a kitchen at least. No, in real life. Oh, yes. Yes. I love the kitchen. Favorite room in the house. Shimmy. Well, that's not true. Bathroom, toilet. But second favorite. Chimmy G. Kitchen comes first. Bathroom comes second. I like that. Shimmy G. That's good. All right. Moving on. How'd you do that? I'm not even mad. That's amazing. All right. Our team dug up some shocking stats from 2022. Let's kick it off here with one title. The beginning of the end. We mentioned during the truth episodes that over the last two years.

It's kind of sad. Alvin Camara, six total rushing touchdowns. Mm-hmm. Well, guess what, Aaron Jones? Six total rushing touchdowns in the last two years. Wow. If you would like to know which players have more rushing touchdowns than these guys, I will give you the answer. Cam Acres. Clyde Edwards, Alair. This is my favorite? Sam Darnels. More rushing touchdowns than Aaron Jones or Alvin Camara. Chuba Hubbard, Boston, Scott. So it has been a rough couple of years for these guys. You know, people want to know what they do in Dynasty Leagues, Keeper Leagues. They're back to back in our startup rankings right now in the Dynasty Pass. They're both north of 27 years old. We just talked about the restructure for Aaron Jones. Alvin Camara, who's the quarterback going to be? Aaron Jones, who's the quarterback going to be? Yeah, we've seen decline, I think.

specifically in Camara's case of just efficiency numbers. You talked about in Dynasty moving on from these players, but is that a realistic goal? Are there other teams that are going to be caught more up in the name of 2017, 2018, 2019 versions of these players? Yeah, I do think they're absolutely movable assets. Most leagues in Dynasty... formats, you've got a handful of teams that are really desperate for running backs. And even though we value youth and we care about that, Alvin Camara and Aaron Jones, they carry weight. They've been top running backs over the last couple of years. Their names are good. But these are two running backs who's kind of...

rushing style, body type, their pass catchers who are, you know, they have always made their hay in efficiency metrics, not in usually getting the ball 350 times and being a bruiser, you know, Aaron Jones is like 208 pounds. So we've shared the truth that touchdowns are not a sticky stat. There are players, no matter your body size, that can go from 20 touchdowns to six touchdowns the next year. And that just happens. And so you can say, okay, you know, they've not had a bunch of rushing touchdowns. I'm not going to bet against that. I'm going to expect those to come back. But when you combine the fact that they are getting older, their teams are getting worse, their efficiency is going down, and their body style is not one that you would expect a ton of rushing touchdowns, I'm betting against.

bright futures ahead for either one of these guys. And because they have big names, yeah, I mean, I think you can get something for them. Well, I think it's, it's fair to share the kind of, it's a massive change in Cameras production historically. Like, in the breeze years, it was a touchdown every, or every 15 carries, every 14 carries. Back in 2020, it was 11.7 carries. Over the last two years, it's every 77. 0.2 carries. A gross. That's shocking. That's seven times worse. And then for Aaron Jones, I mean, it went from one rushing touchdown every 22 carries in 2020, one every 15 carries in 2019, to now one every 64 carries in 2021 and 2022. And it seems as though Aaron Rogers will not be his quarterback this year. Yeah, I mean, and that's concerning.

That's certainly not a done deal, but it does feel like it's leading that way. The quarterback situation for both teams is really, really dicey, and you've got a very deep class of rookie running backs coming in. I don't think the Packers would go after one. They just restructured Aaron Jones and they have A.J. Dillon there, but the Saints will probably use a pick on a running back. I think they need to, you're going to have Camara. potentially suspended this year as well, missing a game to six games based on, you know, what we shared in the news. So you've got a situation here where Camara could easily start a downward trend quickly. I am curious what you would accept for a player like Alvin Camara in a dynasty league because I can pull up some names and we can look at where you're drawing that line. But.

I just don't know what would make that tempting to someone else. Like you're not getting a player like, I'd assume, like a Romandre Stevenson. You would accept Ramandre for care. I would. I would rather have Romandre than either of those guys. And I think there are leagues where you can get that done. Not all leagues because some, you know, in Dynasty, when you give advice, it's funny because it's very different. Certain players really focus on age and others really don't. Some players really focus on draft picks and others very much don't. Brooks hasn't had a draft pick since he entered this league. He just wants vets. He'll trade them all. He'll burn him. He doesn't. Brooks, over the last three years, how many rookie picks have you actually made? Maybe a pick or two. Yeah, I think maybe one. Maybe zero. Rounders, yeah, later picks. Would you accept?

Let me give you another name here. I brought up Ramandre. What if you go down a tier? What have you got to like a Miles Sanders, the free agent? With the free agency looming, I would not prefer to have Miles Sanders even though he is younger. Rashad White. Rashad White, I would probably rather have him going forward. Damien Pierce. Damien Pierce was an interesting name. That was the first one that came to mind. I think most people that drafted Damian Pearson had the success from where they got him aren't going to give him up for these guys. But sometimes when you are, when you're making this trade with a veteran running back, you're probably not getting a running back. You're trading them to a team that is desperate for that need.

That's what you need to focus on. So I think when you're trading. Cross positional. Yeah, you're going cross positionally. You're going and getting a quarterback in a single quarterback league. You're trading them for. Deontay Johnson? A younger, sure, like you would take Deontay Johnson. I would look at saying like, oh, someone like Christian Kirk is 26 years old on a good offense going forward. If I need wide receiver help, that's a way to, you know, get. Maybe a 25-year-old Hollywood Brown with the thought that DeAndre Hopkins is leaving. I would love that one. All right, here's your second shocking stat of the day. The Lions inside the five. We're going to talk about the Detroit Lions. 32 of the Lions' 52 touchdowns came inside the five. That's 62%. We know about Jamal Williams already. That was a league leading 14 rushing touchdowns inside the five. In fact, he had 30 Russian tips inside the five, which is the most since 1994.