Fantasy Football - AFC West Breakdown + Mock Draft Promises - Podcast for 7/14

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Oh, it's good to be back with you. July 14th, the Fantasy Footballers, Jason Moore is here. Yes, I am. Mike Wright, present accounted for. Chill out. I'm Andy Holloway, and this is the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. We got the Deucers Alley back there loaded up with...

All three of them. Deucers. Papa Josh is back there. Shining like the sun. Should realign that light. We got Al Borland and the Falcon as well. Apparently we're all in shades of like blue-gray over here today. Are you? Let me take another look at that. Okay. You kind of blend in with the background. Just floating heads. We have another divisional breakdown show finishing up the AFC today. And this is a wild one. I think this is going to be very, very fun. We're talking AFC West. Still hard for me to look at that division and see that record for the Chiefs.

It just feels... Oh, impossible? Impossible. So we get to talk about, among other topics, like a lot of fantasy football relevant players in this division. Tons of them. Tons of them with like unsettled projections, really. I mean, just situations where you're like, you know, guys like Rashi Rice and Amarion Hampton. There's gold in their hills, though. Yeah, there is. Oh, man. Yeah. And we get to talk about all that. And a lot of these teams like had crazy records when it came to one score games that we'll talk about. And yeah, there's... We're going to have some good debates. I know that for a fact.

The Ultimate Draft Kit is available right now. You can download the mobile app. You can get the draft analyzer. You can go to ultimatedraftkit.com. It is the number one way to get yourself prepped up. We've been refining and perfecting it for years on years on years. And the newest feature, a mock draft tool. Yes, a proprietary fantasy footballer's mock draft tool where you can load in ADP from different platforms so that you can customize your mock drafts is coming probably this week. It is probably up right now when you're listening to it. For real? Yeah. Okay. So, go update your app.

Go update your app. I don't think that... We have an approved version of the app that we can release? Just go update your app. I have no idea. You don't know. Today's the day. It'll be there soon. It's been a while since Jason has done this to our company. That's true. Yeah. We've got the... Monday, July 13th. The show is always in the... The mock draft tool is available. But that's a back date. You could have just said today. Oh, is this... This coming out on Tuesday. It came out yesterday. Jason, stop it. That's right. I guarantee it's up today.

Oh, no. The best part is our show gets broadcast in the lobby where the devs all work and they get to hear this. Yeah. And the beads of sweat forming and dripping off their faces. I can hear the door. I think they all just walked out. Yeah. Get your phone. Update your... Coming out next year. Update your ultimate draft kit and play around with the new mock draft tool. It is so cool. And it's going to get so much better. People have asked about supporting keepers and stuff like that. And that's not there at the jump. At the jump, but we're going to be...

This is all we're working on for the next little while. Yeah. The mock draft tool is so fundamental to the way you prepare. And we've always wanted one to create our own. And people have asked for that forever. And it's not a small undertaking. And our team has done an incredible job. And we're really excited about it. And you're going to love it. And yeah, that's all at ultimatedraftkit.com. Let's jump right into some news. Not a lot, but some interesting things to talk about. News and notes from around the league. Papa Josh, by the way, who is among... You know, he's one of our producers.

But he also is the community manager for the entire Foot Clan. What is... And he's shaking his head because... Do you know what's coming in here, Josh? Oh, I know what's coming. Yeah, because he said, RIP my inbox asking where the mock draft tool is. He knows that he is going to be... Get him. He knows that support at fantasyfootballers.com is going to get just loaded up. Well, if there's an issue, that's when they will contact support at fantasyfootballers.com. That's just if there's an issue. So he just knows how loaded up that's going to be. What will be? Support at fantasyfootballers.com.

Okay. All right. Cool. Shouldn't have shook your head, Josh. We will pile on you. He does take phone calls at 4... No, I'm just kidding. Man, that would be so brutal. Oh, man. So brutal. Give out the real one? The Athletics' James Boyd is reporting that Daniel Jones is cleared to do everything ahead of training camp. We're talking standing, sitting, running, jumping. Reading. Writing. Arithmetic. All of it. Colts running back coach DeAndre Smith said the team, quote, definitely needs to find ways to take some of that workload off of Jonathan Taylor. Was he saying this to Chris Ballard? Because it's like, dude, we got to find ways.

And we're searching. Because DJ Giddens, Seth McGowan, like, I understand they definitely... Don't they have somebody else? Oh, no. Ulysses Bentley IV. Wait, Ulysses S. Bentley IV? Yes. I mean, you know, they do. That's a real person? That is a real person. Um, this was an interesting quote. Oh, my gosh. That name is spectacular. I read the whole context. And, you know, they admit it's hard to take Jonathan Taylor off the field. They think he'll be better if they can manage his workload. This is real in the sense that they definitely want to give him less work than they have been

giving him. Ulysses Bentley IV becomes something. But also, it will become push comes to shove impossible. It is as irrelevant as the 49ers wanting to take workload off of Christian McCaffrey. Exactly. So... You're just not able to do it. It is, you know, obviously, when you see a report like that, it might scare you. And you have to make a decision with Jonathan Taylor. And I think there are... We talked about this division. There are scary things about Jonathan Taylor. Mm-hmm. One is the fact that he's been dominant and then not. And then dominant again. Like, you do have variables with how often this team is leading games, whether the offense

is moving. He's much better in wins. And this is a... That's a tough division. If they don't win as many games as expected, then it could be a down year for Jonathan Taylor. But I... When this news came out, I went to the ultimate draft kit, went to my team-by-team rankings. I wanted to take a look and see... Because I believe it. I believe that they do want to look at that workload. And I looked at what I had Jonathan Taylor down for, which was already less than he had last year. And I couldn't move it at all. I'm like, there's no...

I just looked at the depth chart. I'm like, not gonna happen. Yeah. When it's... It's DJ Giddens competing with Seth McGowan to be the backup. And they still don't know who it is. They're like, someone. Yeah. Someone show me something. I'm not putting a bunch into this. But Jonathan Taylor already has red flags. I think I mentioned last week... Who are the biggest free agent running backs? Like, Najee. Like, if Najee arrived in Indianapolis, would you care? Yeah. What, off the Achilles? Yeah. I mean, they love that. Daniel Jones. You know. A little bit easier for a quarterback. I don't know who else...

I mean, you could maybe make a move for Kamara. Not a free agent. I'm trying to think. Kareem Hunt. Joe Mixon. Nick Chubb. Kareem Hunt. I don't really care that much. Kareem Hunt just because he... He just scores touchdowns. Yeah. So, if you take away some goal line work, that's a problem. But there's no one... I don't think there's anyone hanging out who can destroy the depth chart. All right. Well, we want to kick this off right away with the AFC West breakdown. There's a lot to talk about. I want to make sure we don't miss anything. So, we'll take a quick early break and come back with the last AFC Divisional Breakdown.

All right. Let's get into it. Let's get divisional. All right. Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, and Raiders. It is a fun division for fantasy and... Man. Questions to be answered. The Chiefs, before last year's 6-11 season, by the way, had gone 35-3 against the AFC West in the Mahomes era. That is insane. That record is insane. You basically had an L if you faced the Chiefs during his entire tenure before last year. Yeah. The NFL taking Ls. Yeah, that's true. I mean, last year, the Broncos 14-3. Chargers 11-6. Chiefs were 6-11. 6-11. And the Raiders were 3-14.

It was fun. Come on, guys. It was a nice reprieve. Yes. From like, okay, a breath of fresh air. Go ahead. Get something different. That's great. Be good again. I don't care. Sure. We got to enjoy last year. What's crazy is when I think back to last year, the Chiefs season really went sour. Where eventually it felt like they knew they were not going to make the playoffs. They kind of shut people down. Mahomes got injured. And they just kind of forgot the second half of the year. But really, like, I didn't remember until recently when I was preparing for this.

It was like, Mahomes only missed the last two games. He played the whole season. Yeah. We'll talk extensively about what happened and what you think is going to happen. But we get to start respectfully with the division winner. The 14-3 Denver Broncos. 11-2 in one score games. Oh, boy. If you want to talk about the Chiefs again really quickly. Last year, the Chiefs were 12-0. Or two years ago, they were 12-0 in one score games. They went 1-9 last year. So it just shows you that is the most volatile of stats. Now, if you had to ask me what makes you great at one score games,

I would say a defense the likes of the Denver Broncos and a head coach the likes of Sean Payton. Yes. However, a lot of what happened in Denver last year was, you know, there was a lot of makeup put on the face of the offense. Let's put it that way. Like, they were not good looking. Because when you look at the metrics, they were in the middle, 15th in points per game. Fake. And you think that number's fake? Yeah, I think that number's fake. I mean, that's just like a number. No, I know, but I'm saying like. I mean, it's like it's a statistical truth.

I realize that. But, like, they put up 44 points against the Dallas Cowboys. So it's like, oh, well, yeah, okay. So you're saying like on average, whatever. Yeah, I'm saying the average points per game. Their consistency rank would be bad. Yeah, it would be like D plus, C minus. Now, the big part that stands out to me, a couple of things on this offense, and I really, really want to talk about it. Because there is a temptation for me to make Bo Nix my guy this year. He's one of the players that when I went into my projections, I really, really look at what's

going on. I love Sean Payton. They're the only team who. I don't know. Hold on. I don't think the camera was on me, but my eyes went wide. We got to get that. Because when he said that, like, clip that he loves. Andy loves Sean Payton. You heard it here. I have made a horrible mistake. Oh, man. Fantastic. You have bad mouthed this man for the last four years. I hate Sean Payton, the man. And I love Sean Payton, the fantasy producing head coach who I trust to make the right play call. Sure, but that's not how I'm going to publish it later.

I wouldn't. Yeah. That's not what I heard. Falcon fly high. So let me, if I can possibly return to my point. Yeah, go on. The temptation with Bo Nix is that I love the team. I think they're going to be a successful team. I think they're going to threaten for the division. And they're the only team returning 100% of their carries and targets from 2025. So they're bringing back this offense. And then you just add to the offense, right? You bring back everybody. And then you add Jalen Waddle, who is an elite, like, yards after catch guy. And this was an offense that struggled tremendously with getting the ball down the field.

They had the lowest yards per attempt in the history of the National Football League for a 14-plus win team. So this is what I'm saying where there was a lot of makeup thrown on the offense. I don't think Sean Payton is satisfied. I do think that there is tremendous risk for Bo Nix. Like, if he falls on his face with all these weapons, right? There's not going to be an excuse when you have one of the best offensive lines in the league. Like, he was sacked half as much. Maybe the best. Yeah. I mean, he was sacked half as much as Justin Herbert.

Half. Like, pressures. Half. Like, you've been given—like, Sean Payton is not a patient man. It's one of the reasons I hate him. Did you hear that, Jay? I did not. But he is not going to have—you've got the best defense. You've got all these elite weapons. You've got a great offensive line. And if you cannot complete passes in this offense and get it done, I'm telling you, if he falls on his face and starts throwing picks all year long, you're going to have a question about Bo Nix. The good thing for him is everything is set up for him. And so, for me, he left a lot on the table last year.

And you're like, are you ready to come in here with all of those advantages and deliver? Because if you do, if you go in and throw four or five more touchdowns than you did last year and reduce your turnovers a little bit, you're going to be an elite fantasy option. I would agree with you that the rope seems like it's a done deal as, like, a future franchise star. But it really could go the other way. Now, obviously, that depends on him. If he comes out and proves that he's good, great. The first six weeks of the Broncos' season, they start on the road in Kansas City.

Then the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then the Rams. Then the Niners. Then the Chargers. Then the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. Okay, so that's reason enough not to make him a my guy. That is six unbelievably hard games. They were only favored in one, which is wild for a team that just won 14 games. They returned everybody plus a couple extra pieces. They really didn't lose much. And to be favored in one of their first six games, it's tough sledding. And their defense is crazy. It's unbelievable. So I think they're, I guess my opinion of the Broncos offensively. When I went back and I watched Bo Nix film, and I watched specifically, you know, you talk about the average depth of target being bad because, you know, he wasn't able to push the ball down the field.

It should be the opposite if you can sit in the pocket as long as he did. For sure. But he did not have the weapons. As much as I love my man Troy Franklin, they needed Waddle. And when I was watching Bo Nix, what I left with was, dadgummit, they need a wide receiver like Waddle. So I do think Waddle could really unlock this offense, but it will be tough sledding for a, you know, if you want to draft players here, you're going to have some tight games that I think this team will rightfully rely on their defense to start the year.

So Mike, the question to you is whether you believe Bo Nix will step up into what he should be for fantasy because despite all of our, the eye tests and the issues he had last year and disastrous performances on Thursday night football at home where he completed a hundred, had 150 yards and a touchdown against the hapless Raiders. He was still the quarterback six in counting stats at the end of the year. Well, he did throw the ball more than anyone in the league, which is so, so surprising. 12 attempts. Well, the, you know, it's, you got to remember what happened with, which also, you know, Bo Nix is also coming off of injury.

You know, we do have that. Yeah. You have the, Davis Webb, the OC is now calling plays like that's an official thing. When JK Dobbins got hurt, it was a huge problem for this offense. Yeah. They went like the, the past attempts that's because of, of JK Dobbins. Cause they, you know, he gets hurt. You're hoping that RJ Harvey, a second round pick can step up and be the guy he could not. RJ Harvey was fine for fantasy. Cause he was scoring a bunch of touchdowns and he can get it done in the receiving game. But as of right now, where he is in his career, he's nowhere close to Dobbins and they knew that.

And they completely like, they went to a very pass heavy, uh, offense. I'm with you, Jason of this team needed someone. And I think the addition of Jalen Waddle is, is huge. I think that Waddle still has it last year on a per route basis. Still, still elite. Um, you know, yards per route run at 2.42. Cortland Sutton, who was out there running, I mean, more routes than almost anyone in the, in the league was at 1.85 yards per route run. As your top option, that's not, that's not good enough. That's not good enough. So you go out and you get Waddle.

I am very interested by the Denver Broncos. Cause I think everyone is either priced appropriately or at a value. I've talked all off season. JK Dobbins is one of my favorite picks. I don't, I don't get the discrepancy between Dobbins and RJ Harvey and ADP when you can get the starter in the middle of the seventh round around there. And Waddle in the back of the fourth, not a top 20 wide receiver at the moment. He can easily finish top 15. The way that I see him, uh, the way that he can match up with Bo Nix. So, and then the potential for Bo Nix himself to bounce back him going at QB 15 seems egregiously low for what he is able to do.