THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
With Andy explicitly sick, Mike and Jason begin as the two healthy hosts until someone points out the omitted introduction. Jay Griz is then called the Cardboard Bear Extraordinaire, a co-host who is always reliable, always filling in, never sick, and never absent from the studio.
The hosts say Jay still reports to work without the lower half of his body and cannot have bowel problems because he has no bowels, extending the claim that he has never taken a sick day.
The hosts identify buying the UDK as the easiest chance-based route into the Listener League, then claim an office study found 99 of 100 Ultimate FootClan members gorgeous; Papa Josh is the sole no vote because the Falcon belongs to the group.
A host tries to clarify George Pickens for new listeners, but the show insists he is simply George and explains that the inside joke exists because professional fantasy analyst Jason Moore cannot remember Pickens's last name.
With preferred researcher and League of Record co-champion Kyle absent, the hosts turn to Matt, ask whether he even knows how to research, say he cannot spell the word, reject a ChatGPT claim of 71 targets, and then accept Matt's Brandon Marshall answer as plausible.
Jeremy follows the target search by supplying the historical rank and Chris Chambers total, then later confirms that 'squelch' was used correctly by providing its definition.
Mike and Jason record without Andy, explicitly explaining that Andy is sick and mocking his weak body while presenting themselves as two healthy best friends. Minutes later, someone points out that they forgot an introduction: Jay Griz, the Cardboard Bear Extraordinaire, is called a co-host, always reliable, and always filling in. The hosts say Jay has never had a sick day, never leaves the studio, still reports to work without the lower half of his body, and cannot have bowel problems because cardboard Jay has no bowels. This is unusually direct support for Jay's combination of reliability and neglect. The episode also names an alternate Listener League route: buying the UDK enters listeners in a giveaway, followed by an office beauty survey in which Papa Josh is the lone dissenter because the Falcon is an Ultimate FootClan member. A separate show-meta exchange explains the 'George' inside joke: George Pickens is simply George because professional analyst Jason cannot remember his last name, and new listeners are expected to learn inside jokes over time. Later, with League of Record co-champion Kyle absent, Matt becomes the substitute crack researcher; the hosts say he cannot spell research and reject an absurd ChatGPT answer before Matt finds the plausible record. Jeremy then supplies the refined target ranking and later defines 'squelch,' giving two small examples of Deucer's Alley fact support.
difference in so i'm curious what you're calling for here because last year you were mr i'm taking christian macafer every single mock draft i'm taking him over way over his adp because right if he's healthy if he plays the season he's the number one running back he was healthy he played the season he was the number one running back so correct on all accounts now the thing is is that should still be true i i realize that the kittle injury is actually probably harmful to Christian McCaffrey, but it's not harmful in the sense that now he's going to be, you know, the running back 10. Christian McCaffrey is usually either the running back one or two or he was injured. Like that's, that's his entire career after, you know, his like sophomore season. So what are you actually calling for? Because I, we've had some off the air Christian McCaffrey conversations and you seem very not bullish on him this year the way you were last year. You seem very worried. I would say, I mean,
What did I just take him? Where are we? What pick is this? Pick seven. I took him as the seventh player for a fantasy football draft. I'm not bullish to the point of him, like, where I felt just very convicted that if he's healthy, he'll just, he'll be the number one guy. But you took Gibbs over him, and you would have taken Jonathan Taylor over him. Jonathan, I would not have. Okay. But you think Gibbs, is it, Gibbs over McCaffrey? Is it because of what you think they do if they both play 17, or is it risk aversion because that's what I'm asking? It's like, do you think Gibbs is a better scoring asset if they are both healthy? No. Okay. So then it is you are afraid that I am afraid of the, I do buy into the when a player touches the ball and gets hit that many times. And that's just the regular season. Look at Seguan.
Exactly. And McCaffrey is, McCaffrey will be 30, right? I believe so. Because he is 29.7 right now. So that should put him on pace to be 30 before the year starts. Massive workload over the last. And it's hard to know the efficiency for sure because in 2024 he was at four yards per carry, but he played four games. He carried the ball 50 times. But he was at 3.9 this past year. I mean, he had 102 receptions. That's, that will be honestly. Like, that will be everything. And that was, he hadn't been over 100 receptions since his year three in 2019 back in Carolina. Will he continue to get that level of targets? Because if he has 100 plus catches, then he's easily a top three running back. And Christian McCaffrey is, he's one of the guys to me. He was just, he is different where.
he's past the age cliff like the age cliff for running backs where things really start to go south is about 27 years old and yet here he was at 29 being the number one fantasy running back i just i have a little bit more concerns where i'm not at the point though you know like last year it was at least seemingly you know perception maybe you can correct me if i'm wrong of how i remember it you either were in on mcalfrey or you're just like i'm not drafting him in the first round pretty much you mcalfrey went to a mcathry mcalfrey truth or he didn't just fall to a spot where people are like catheter he went to him oh man i'm a catheter that's painful um yeah last year it was people were in or out on him so it's like this is i'm in i'm just not
as in as I was last year. So do not hear what I'm not saying. I'm not afraid of Christian McCaffrey. I'm going for a repeat in our Dynasty League. I'm super pumped that Christian McCaffrey's on that squad. I'm not trying to dump him. I'm not trying to collect a check before it all falls apart. He is. I'm just going to like Christian McCaffrey to me in Dynasty. And if you're a rebuilding team, you should definitely trade Christian McCaffrey and do what you can. If you're a contending team, I'm I will hold the bag. I will let it turn it until it's dust. I will let it turn into a flaming bag of poop in my hands because with him, I feel like it's not over till it's over. Yeah, that's what we've done with Derek Henry when like five years ago we were supposed to sell him. It's like, no, he's different. Yeah. We're just going to keep getting fantasy points until he is done. Here's the spot to take CMC because I do think he represents kind of the end of a tier.
The next running backs up, James Cook, Devon A-chan, what do you believe about Gentie or Hampton? It feels like a step down. So I'm going to look at the wide receiver position here. Okay. I'm currently taking the fourth wide receiver off the board because we had the big three-pack go, two, three, and four. Well, why take the fourth wide receiver off the board? when I can still take the third wide receiver off the board. I'm talking about the guy who finished his wide receiver three last year, wide receiver three and wide receiver three and before that. Okay. He is the perennial wide receiver three. I'm taking on in Ross, St. Brown. I think that he is. So when you're, are you just making a, I'm making a funny joke here about why not take the wide receiver three? As in you don't. Yes, I'm just calling him the wide receiver three. Okay. Because that's what he's finished for three years and a row. The statement kind of sounded like, oh man, I'm glad I didn't get those other.
one of those other guys because Amin Ra is actually the number three. I don't know which one of those guys will fall behind him, but mathematically it has to happen. By the end of the season. But we know he won't pass. Oh, no way. No way. So you've got to take the other two. You've got to take those three ahead. 66% chance. But yes. 66% of the time. It works every time. Amman Rae St. Brown is and still like I feel like forever won't be the sexiest pick. You don't see him as somehow able to finish as the wide receiver won overall, even though he's been pretty close every single year. But if you want a consistent guaranteed target monster on a very good offense and just there's no questions, right? Like to me, I don't worry about anything. I just know he's going to be targeted around the goal line. He's going to be targeted between the 20s. He's going to play through injury. There's really no.
downside to Amon Ra. He's still in the middle of his prime. And he does six celebrations where the balance is on his head. Has a good podcast? Is it good? I don't know. He does a podcast. I was trying to give the man some props. I don't know. I don't listen. But it's fake. That was phony baloney praise. People say he's got a good podcast. Who? I just did. See? Oh, man. Facts. I've never thought of that as a source says. Never thought of that as a defense. The people are saying that it's good. Right. And it can be yourself. Yeah. Because now I'm telling the truth. I am my own source. I have a source. I feel like the snake ate itself of your circular logic there, my friend. Ahman raw. I don't. So was that. So you, that was not. That was not. Can I guess who the other one? Sure.
CD? Nope. Oh, wow. All right. James Cook. Okay. All right. James Cook, who somehow throughout the process of his career, I've never had the pleasure of having James Cook on my roster. I have had the pain of like, okay, next week's matchup. Who am I? Oh, my God. I have to play against James Cook this week. And it is. terrifying every single time he he can't hit or i'm sorry he hasn't hit the high end of the the the running back finishes the super high end because 21 receptions 44 32 33 at this point this is just this is what the offense is because i don't know that it's who he is it's who josh allen it's who he is in this offense yes yes the player i mean you
Put him on a Shanahan team. I bet James Cook is catching 80 plus passes on that often. But he is, he was the rushing leader. He didn't even play the final game of the year. He has been historically a very healthy running back. I mean, snaps be darned. Like this dude was on the field, 56% of the snaps for Buffalo. It does not matter. It was crazy. When he's on the field, he's getting the ball. The issue with him is he was so. touchdown dependent and his touchdown rate was outlier high, but he wasn't getting volume. He was not, this was a player who literally the year prior had 207 carries. Right. That is such a low number for to be a reliable RBB. The running back eight. Yeah, that just doesn't happen. That only happens if somehow you get 16 rushing touchdowns. Oh, he did. And that's why he kind of fell in drafts because it's like you can see the riding on the wall.
This is a platoon situation where you need those touchdowns. It's not a prolific pass catcher in this offense. And then they're like, ah, how about we just give him the ball over 300 times and make him the leading rusher in the NFL? And the team has, they're going through some changes. They got rid of their head coach. They said McDermott hit the bricks. But they took their OC and made him the head coach. And so that, so things were the same. Like with Joe Brady at. in charge. He's still the mastermind of the offense. He, the offense is Josh Allen and James Cook until otherwise noted. I mean, we'll just go through the hypothetical because that's where we're living right now. George Pickens has traded to Buffalo. What is your opinion of James Cook? Up, neutral, or down? It would be pretty neutral because I am bullish on James Cook already. I think that this is a player that they're going to try to give 300.
you know, rushing attempts to this season as well. He has established himself as the leader, not a committee back. They paid him a lot of money. He's going into year five. He's in the perfect age. So I think he's going to be great. You could say arrow up because the offense should be even better with George on it. But I, you know, he could end up taking drives away. You know, when George Pickens has a... 60-yard touchdown bomb. Well, then that kind of nukes a little bit of James Cook's points. So I think it'll be pretty neutral if that were to happen. James Cook, to me, if you're trying to zoom out in longer term, I don't know yet if James Cook can be one of those guys that hits 28, 29, and he's still dominating for fantasy football. Agreed. But this, like, the juice is still there.
right now at a at a very very high level he's a dalvin james cook because i mean they're they're literally genetic they are brothers but i mean cook was more beat up i mean cook tore what towards acel his rookie year he had to wear the device all the time even though somehow the device powered him up uh but the point being james cook he still has it he is one of you know it's like So we got Beijon, Gibbs, Taylor, and James Cook. Is there anyone I'm not remembering where it's like every single time, if they're on your opponent's roster, every time they touch the ball, you go tackle, tackle, tackle. Because you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll put H-Chan in that list. Don't let him touch the ball. Because they can rip off 50-yard touchdown. I thought those happen all.
Every week. Those are terrifying. And you're 100% right. If you played fantasy, you know exactly what the feeling is. You're watching against this guy and you just. Or you're, you're up 35 points. Tackling him quick. Going into Monday night and James Cook is on the other side. You don't, you're not sleeping well. You're not counting your W because you know what can happen. Yeah. Before you go into yours, Jason, we go one more break. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at prize picks. Shoot your shot on prize picks and get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. That's right. Prize picks is now giving you $50 in lineups when you sign up and play your first $5. Prize picks is simple to play. Just pick more or less on two to six player stat projections. If you get your picks right, you could cash in. And we're talking all your favorite sports, basketball, baseball, hockey, UFC, soccer, college basketball, tennis, golf, e-sports, and more.
And now, prize picks has early payouts if your player gets off to a hot start. You might have the option to cash out those winnings before the game even finishes and all withdrawals are fast and secure. Download the prize picks app today and use code footballers to get 50 bucks in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code footballers to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Price picks, it's good to be right. All right, Jay. First round of our earliest mock draft. Three players left. In the history of 2006, we have three picks. You have two of them. I only have one left. And I think mine's pretty spicy. Oh, interesting. Well, then it probably won't be my pick because I think mine is at this point a layup. I believe that there will be people who think it's the beginning of the end for CD Lamb.
I will not be one of those people in the slightest. Good, because I will not stand for any C.D. Lamb slam. I mean, he is. Or slaughter if you want to do a lamb joke. Oh, nice. Swish. Thank you. Yeah, C.D. Lamb was hurt this year. Obviously, George Pickens was awesome. And things did not go well for the Dallas Cowboys. But he is the number one target. He is in his prime. He is one of the top six wide receivers in the NFL just by talent. If you trade him to another team, he's that team's one immediately. If you trade him to another team, he is that team's one immediately. He's a dominant player who has been the wide receiver one overall in fantasy in the past already with DAC. So I have no fears about CD Lamb. And I feel like there is you go from CD Lamb to huge question marks.
up next. Justin Jefferson, he just had a whole season where he sucked. And we don't know the quarterback situation. Maybe they get Kyler and then Justin Jefferson's gonna fly up. Malik neighbors? Oh man, so good. How's his recovery? Is he healthy? Is he healthy week one? I don't know. Drake London, George Piggins, like you enter a tier where I think there's a lot more questions than on CD. So I'm gonna take CD off the board here. And if you wanna go wide receiver, you've gotta do more calculus. Okay. CD is, I believe, the appropriate pick. I would, despite Amman Ross St. Brown, always being the wide receiver three, I would take CD over him as of right now. So now I'm in a pickle because my list is, I believe at this point, I would just gamble and I would take Malik Neighbors right here. Because I think Malik Neighbors can be the overall number one wide receiver. So I'll just.
Throw that out, but I want, I'm going to put my spicy pick in here. Okay. Let's have some fun. It's Chase Brown. I knew you're going to do something stupid. It is Chase Brown. And what I hope I'm doing here for people is Chase Brown will not be drafted in the first round of fantasy football drafts. No, he will not. His production by the end of the year will yet again be that of someone who should have been taken in the first round. So hopefully, look, I'm not trying to blow up ADP or anything right here. I'm just letting people know that my confidence in Chase Brown, especially with the, it's rumors and speculation right now of an extension. Because if an extension comes through, especially before the, we do, I would say, we're early. NFL draft could still ruin things for Chase Brown. I fully admit that. But I think that, I think the extension is coming for him. And that will.
That will squelch. Is that a real word? I don't know. Yeah, that's a real word. And it was a perfect... Would I use it right? You nailed that. Chase Brown is going to dominate for fantasy football yet again. Just like Jamar Chase, the beginning of the year was awful for Chase Brown. And yet, once Joe Burrow was back and the offense was who they actually are, Chase Brown just... Chase Brown carried people to titles. Yeah, it was awesome. Chase Brown will be a good value in fantasy drafts because he won't go here. He will, he doesn't have a big enough name, big enough NFL draft capital and early enough start to his fantasy success in his NFL career. A slow start to last season when people drafted him and got just completely burned out. I mean, he was a my guy for you last year. Right. And you felt like you took the biggest L. Oh, it sucked. It felt so stupid and bad.
You know, five weeks in, all of a sudden he became exactly who you thought he would be. I mean, Chase Brown, you have, so through six weeks, he did not finish inside the top 20. Week one, he was running back 21. Week six, he was running back 20. So I'm saying, that's how bad the start was for Chase Brown, running back 34, 49, 37, 28. He started the year like that, six weeks. And yet he still finished as the running back eight over the course of the season because the second half was so good. And I don't think, I'm not saying Chase Brown could be like a top three running back. But he can be a top six, maybe even a top five type of a guy that you don't have to pay up for yet again. And I will be very excited to take him in drafts. Yeah, I hope he drops much further than this.
get them near the two, three turn. Also, Jeremy has let me know, squelch usually means to forcibly suppress unwanted expression. That's basically exactly what you meant. What am I, what am I a word of the day vocab calendar? I mean, we're helping people out here. Please, ladies and gentlemen, find a way to use the word squelch in your life today. That is a fun word to say. All right, so I got the, I got the pressure of the last pick. This is really big. The issue is there's too many people that deserve to be in the first round that obviously are not going to be there because there's only one more and you put Chase Brown in there. That's right. So I want an apology to one of these guys from you, but here are the players in consideration. Devon A. Chan and Josh Jacobs at running back are awesome. I will apologize to Devon A. Chan. Sure. Then I will not be putting him in.
so that you may apologize to him okay um so now it's between and honestly when i look at which is that here please hear what i'm not saying okay i'm not apologizing to josh jacobs for not putting him in the first round okay then i will select josh jacobs um i actually am going to take josh jacobs okay Josh Jacobs super banged up towards the end of the year. It was a bad finish, and it kind of got in the way of you realizing how... He was great. How dominant he was, how... I mean, you look before his injury. He got injured in week 11. From that point on, it was really rough. He's trying to play through it. Some games, he played through it while injured and was awesome. Other games, it was like, oh, I think he fumbled early.
And so then was basically benched the rest of the game, kind of due to the injury, kind of to save himself. But you ended up starting him and he got nothing. So it was just this trepidatious end to the season that from weeks one through 10, Josh Jacobs was the running back five. He was a couple points ahead of Bijan. He was a couple points ahead of James Cook. His pace would have been 20 rushing touchdowns through that stretch. While getting over 50 receptions, basically 500 receiving yards, 1,200 yards on the ground, he was a dominant force. And they're not going away from him right now. I think the offense, they dealt with so many injuries. Obviously, the quarterback himself and Jacobs himself, going into next season, Josh Jacobs is a running back one, and he should be there. Now, it's tough because Malik neighbors should be here. But the injury, I think Hampton.
Hampton, honestly, is the next running back on my list. When we go through the UDK rankings and stat these guys out and look at the team projections, look at the schedule, dive as deep as we do, I will not be surprised at all if Hampton is way ahead of Josh Jacobs in my rankings, ahead of Devon H.N. Or, you know, other running backs. I mean, maybe even. Definitely Chase Brown. Yeah. Why is it definitely? I'm just kidding because Chase Brown is a good enough fantasy asset to be taken here. It is one of those things where he's not viewed that way, in which case you want the value. Yeah. Like the greatest part of Chase Brown is that if you're smart enough to get him where he's being drafted, you're getting a great value. If you reach where- Yeah, because I took him as what, like the fifth?
Running back? Yeah. Like that's egregiously high for ADP. Yeah, he won't go anywhere near there. So just let this be, you know, a little signal to let him drop to you and be more excited about it. But he definitely will not be in the first round of ADP. All right. I'm going to list some names. After you give an apology. Well, that's what I'm going to list some names. And do we need to apologize? All right. Devon H.N. Yes. Yes. We apologize. Sorry, my man. There's just there's too much. There's too much I don't know about the Miami Dolphins right now to put you in the first round. Ashton Genty. No, he earned his second round pick this with his rookie season. Sequin Barkley. Mm-mm. No apologies. No apologies. None. Derek Henry. Like an honorary apology. Okay. So just like a like a head nod. Yeah, like we get it. We get it. We get it. I'm not going to say I'm sorry, but you know then I'm sorry. Derek, you know.
You know, you know how we feel, but you get it. Yeah, you're awesome. Can I do a first round pick of Derek Henry in the month of November? For sure. Yes, yes. The snow is falling in Vermont. Unfortunately, there's the warm months. All right. That's going to do it for today's show. Hope you all had a good time listing. You know, it's the, the, the February fun mock draft the first round. That's going to do it for us. Reminder, Ultimate draft kit.com. I mean, get in early, the lowest possible price. Dynasty pass is up right now. There's going to be another drop after the combine, and then after the NFL draft, get you ready for those rookie drafts. We'll see you next time. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.