Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Early WR Rankings, Fantasy News & Mailbag

In 10 years, in the history of the NFL in 10 years. And the problem to me was James, was Winston, was still learning. Evans had a very large amount of uncatchable passes. So I think that he made, he maximized what he was given, still had over 1,200 yards. So he increased his yardage by a couple hundred. And here is a monster-telling stat.

In 2014, Mike Evans scored on 10.3 of his targets of receivers who had 50 plus targets. That was fifth highest. Last year, Evan scored on 2.1% of his touches. That's the sixth lowest of receivers over 50 targets. So...

So good. That's such good news. Do six five receivers? Are those better for the end zone or worse? We talk about regression from Alan Robinson. You have to talk about return to the average for Mike Evans. Three touchdowns. A guy who was six five caught.

Three touchdowns. Coming into last year in the draft, we were super high on Alan Robinson, and we were a little down on where the norm was for Mike Evans. Everyone was going, this guy had this incredible rookie year. Over 1,000 yards, he's 6, 5, and he got 12 touchdowns, and we were like, whoa, whoa, hold your horses. He caught 12.

touchdowns in his rookie year. That's probably not going to happen. And I think we ranked him about where he finished up. We didn't hate him, but we were like he's not worthy of where he's being drafted. And now the pendulum has swung. He got three touchdowns last year and he was still...

A great fantasy option. Now you come forward with another year of rapport built with James Winston. Winston moving forward. The offensive coordinator taking over the head coach role and Dirk Cutter. So many things moving toward him being a long-term. What season? Fantasy Star. What season is Mike Evans entering? Number three. Number three, the magic season is 22 years old. For wide receivers, super young.

Sounds like we need to go on to pristine auction and find some Mike Evans merchandise. I can dig it. Magic Mike. I can dig it. That's what I call him. So I'm all in on Mike Evans this year. I thought I was, you know, a couple shows ago, we had a show where we were picking, you know, your, your.

vice president, the guy who's going to, for the first time, take that leap to be the guy. And my guy was Mike Evans because I really believe in him. And I was shocked to see when we finished our rankings, you both had him a couple spots higher than I did. Because you picked Mike Evans. I couldn't pick him. And look, I don't think what's nice about the touchdown argument is that you're not projecting ascension in a thousand different categories. Last year, I had 74 receptions, I think. I projected him for 81.

I don't think he's much more than an 80. He's like Robinson is. Look, his yards per catch were 16.3. Robinson's were in the 17s. I projected him for just, you know, 1,300 yards, 80 touchdowns. 80 receptions and, but 10 touchdowns, double digits. That's like Doug Baldwin. Exactly. So Mike Evans, number seven, let that marinade, think about him.

Just put him into consideration because I know there, again, somehow this comes back to Alan Robinson because of how high he finished. You started thinking about would somebody keep Alan Robinson or would they keep Mike Evans? What they keep Des Bryant? Would they keep Alan Robinson? So number eight is a guy who finished number three last year. Okay? I think he's probably here. He might move up. I would move this guy ahead of Evans if I knew Fitzpatrick was back. And that's Brandon Marshall. Brandon Marshall.

I don't know what it is. I can't look at his stat line without somehow still being surprised every time I see it. I know what it is. That's fair. But 109 catches, 1,500 yards in 14 touchdowns. And he is not somebody who I think it's as anomalous for him to get that kind of a touchdown total. Not that I'm projecting 14. But I think double digits is a pretty safe bet if the pieces are bad. He's pretty safe. So if you take out the...

Two years ago when he was on the Bears and he was just getting beat up and he kept trying to play injured and it wasn't working out. So you take that out, besides his rookie year, he averages 1,280 yards and nine touchdowns. Wow. That's...

That's ridiculous. That's binanas. And I guess I already do have them ahead of Mike Evans. I haven't at 5 in PPR and 6 in half. I think I'm the one bringing Brandon Marshall down in the overall rankings. He would be higher than 8 for us for sure. Yeah, because I haven't at 6. So where do you have them, Mike? I'm not on the correct page. Yeah, I can tell you. You both have them at 6. I have 13 outside of a wide receiver 1 right now. All right. So you're the one that needs to talk to defend yourself. Yeah.

I can defend myself pretty easily, and the reason that he is ranked where he is at 13, outside of wide receiver 1, is pretty much because they have no quarterback right now. And I said before the show today, if Ryan Fitzpatrick resigns, then I will definitely be moving him up. Because there's no reason to think that, I mean, sure, you could say he's going to miss a couple touchdowns this coming year than he did this last year. I think he had...

14 touchdowns. That was his career high. I don't expect him to get 14 touchdowns. He could get 10, and I think that that's a really accurate, serviceable number, which will bring him down from that number three wide receiver spot. But that's with Ryan Fitzpatrick. If Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't there, Brandon Marshall has shown he can do it with a variety of wide receivers, a variety of teams. Brandon Marshall is not going to be bad. I've still got him very high, but it is going to take a hit on that offense to have, I mean,

What do you want? I'm going to do your favor right now so that you can move on with Brandon Marshall. I don't mind doing this, guys. It's really not a problem for me. 100% chance that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the quarterback of the New York Jets 100%. You guarantee it. I can't wait. I'm going to get on the phone and do whatever I can to get Colin Kaepernick traded to the Jets so that I can in one fell swoop.

Come in on my white horse. Okay. So Brandon Marshall. What is that phone call? Hey, guys, if you thought about... Mr. Kelly, come on. Come on. Brandon Marshall, little known fact here, guys. Brandon Marshall is three days older than me. Ooh. So what you're saying is he's an old man. So what you're telling me is that I'm also older than Brandon Marshall. You can add him to the list, Mike.

The list is long. My life is over. All right. I guess I should run those back, huh? What do we got? Why don't you guys do that? So we got our top eight, Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and just a friendly reminder. This is half point PPR that is our preferred scoring format. So that is what this list is from. Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, number three, O'Dell Beckham, Jr. Number four, Des Bryant, number five, AJ Green, number six.

DeAndre Hopkins, number seven, Mike Evans, and number eight, Brandon Marshall. And just my final thing for Marshall, I put him in that category with A.J. Green, where they're great, and for some reason their greatness will be forgotten. Surprising names not in our top eight. Alan Robinson and Doug Baldwin. Well, we'll get to at least one of those names on the next show. So let's answer some questions from the mailbag.

Mailbag. Mail bag. Yeah. I'll drop this on you. I project Lockett for double-digit touchdowns. And I think it's easy. It's easy. Ridiculous. I get him seven. You're giving him like what? Like four special teams touchdowns? Three? No. Because he got several this year. I think he can repeat that. Seven touchdowns. Tyler Lockett. How many did he have last year? I think seven? I'm talking about just receiving. Receiving? Just receiving. Five? Six. Six? Okay.

Second half of the year paced was around 10. I don't think easy is the right word for it, but I think he's very possible. 100% Andy Holloway guarantee. Somebody has to catch touchdowns for that team. And it's going to be Doug Baldwin. How many does Russell Wilson throw for? 30. I would say low 30s. No, I agree. You are making my case for Doug Baldwin. We'll get into this in a couple weeks. Mailbag. Maybe you should write in a mailbag question from Dougie.

All right, mailbag, we've got a few questions here today. If you want to ask a question on this show, you just go to the website, the fantasy footballer.com, click the submit a question button, or you can dial our voicemail hotline 302-464 TFFB. First question from John S, huh? Yep. John's, I believe it's how you pronounce that. Johns, tons of them. My league allows two keepers. Two anyone keepers. So is that any position?

Well, I think it's because it's two anyone keepers and two developmental keepers. All right. And it is half point per reception. What is that? My Devo keepers. So the development keepers, I'll take over here. My development keepers are Kelvin Benjamin and DeAndre Hopkins. For his anyone keepers, he has to pick between Andrew Luck, Julio Jones, or Lamar Miller. Would you try and trade away Julio for draft peaks and keep Luck and Miller? Or?

Just send Luck or Miller back to the draft. I would not try to trade. I would keep Louis and Lamar Miller, and I would happily send Andrew Luck back to the draft. If you start with Calvin Benjamin, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, and Lamar Miller, you are in a great position set up for this next year. My question is, so he can trade Julio and keep the other two. Can you not trade Luck and keep Julio and Miller?

Sure you can. You probably just can't get as much, and he's thinking... I think that's fine, though. Yeah. Look to trade luck. So would you look to trade him, or would you rather send him back into the draft and hoping that you're going to pick him? No, I would get value. The first one. You would trade him away? Yeah, because I don't have any special attachment to luck. Why would I? That's fair. And you don't get anything by having a chance at drafting him. You get something if you get something back for him.

All right, Cameron in Texas, I'm in a 12-team three-keeper league with special scoring. I have so many good players to choose from, and so I find myself flip-flopping every day. That's a good problem, but a problem nonetheless. I have Jamal Charles, Lamar Miller, Doug Martin, A.J. Green, Jordan Nelson, Tyler Eifert. He says he's potentially looking to trade A.J. Green for the second pick in the first.

So I can hopefully grab Jordy and then pick Eifford at my sixth spot. Well, clearly based on this show, you would know that we like A.J. Green more than Jordy Nelson. We do. Because Jordy's name did not come up on the first day. So I would not do that last night. Especially adding keeper into it. Not that you're going to go crazy with the future of only three keepers. However, AJ Green, Jordy Nelson, Jordan Nelson's 31.

or going to be 31 this year, then give me AJ Green. Yeah, so he says there's special scoring. Let's deal with that first because he says in the other parts. He gets bonuses for 300 yards, 400 and 500 for QBs, six points per passing touchdown. Bonuses for 100 yards or 200 yards for the, you know, positional players. Does that factor into you guys at all in any consideration? It depends on the bonus scoring. The quarterback one does. That's the one that I consider a little bit because there are certain guys that are just locked in for 300 plus yards.

that push that envelope, you know, Big Ben and luck to me, they push those. And obviously the league leaders in, you know, a breeze and those type of guys versus Russell Wilson, right, who doesn't really hit those thresholds very often. I would say we have a bonus in our league of record. We have the two point bonus for the 40 plus yard touchdown. I mean, those types of things, and they don't really factor in. If it's only a point or two.

I won't get too carried away with it, letting it impact my decision. Yeah, me too. I pretty much... It just makes it more fun. Let me add one thing to this. One of the things I don't like about that trade is the fact that you would then lock yourself into picking Eifford at the sixth pick in the draft. That just doesn't seem like a good place to put yourself in, not knowing what the other keepers are. You'd be kind of thinking, okay, I don't want to lose him, so I'm just going to draft him here. I just feel like you might have better options. Obviously, we're a little lower on Eifert. We don't dislike him, but we think...