Game Time! Gut Feelings, Player Outlooks, Liar Liar - Fantasy Football Podcast for 3/14

Well, we have an absolutely outrageous, outlandish, and informative episode for you here today. And we're going to conclude this episode with trivia about me that you do not need to know. And I'm sure you will enjoy it. Make sure you like, subscribe, and enjoy. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers podcast for Tuesday, March 14th, Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. We welcome you into the show. Welcome. Oh, we both had the same joke. Mine wasn't a joke. Mine was honest. I would never welcome people to this show. Mine was purely a joke. You're not welcome to listen to this.

Uh, yeah, we're back. Welcome in. Uh, the Ducers are here as well. Fun episode of the show today. Uh, I'll be honest. I'm a little in the dark because the producers have put together a couple of fantasy football games for us to play today. And, uh, it should be fun. This episode is being pre-recorded. So, uh, we know. We know. There's a lot of free agency news and information and you are. salivating to hear what the fantasy footballers have to say about all of the rumors. Remember that big rumor that just happened? I couldn't believe. So when it came out, I was like, what? That's all I was. Yeah, no, I remember. I remember. But 100% of our free agent breakdown, the free agent frenzy, that's all coming on Thursday show. We're recording this episode a little bit earlier.

We've got some vacations playing with the family. Yes, we do try to see our families at some point during the 24-7-365 NFL news cycle. It's just spring break. That's the one time of the year where we actually try to see our children. And the league's like, oh, let's start the new league year during spring break. It was very unfortunate. I'm like, have you grown a whole foot? I know. Last year when I saw you, you were much shorter. Yeah, every spring break, we see our children. But just so you all know, we're covering the free agency, all the madness. Thursday, as long as it takes, we're talking free agency. Yeah, we don't want a Frank Gore situation, you know, where Tuesday we're talking about Frank Gore on the Eagles. Yeah. Because the tampering period is like, oh, he's going to sign there. And then no, he's not. You remember that? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Then he was a cult. I remember Josh McDaniels was the head coach of the, uh, he was the Colts as well. And then he was not.

So that will be on Thursday. Today we're going to talk about a number of things in the fantasy football realm, play a game of Who Am I? Producers made up some new adventure for us. A brand new game. And we'll do some liar liar as well. Lots to talk about one other headline. Jason made sure I brought it up on today's show. But you've asked for hats for a long time. Fantasy footballers caps, some snapbacks. Hats. We got them. Do we? Yeah. Oh, sweet. They're available. Shopballers.com. And I'm on my way. Yeah, you can head over there, check them out. Jason, please get yours through the website. Yes, no discount. Put it in, and then I will hand it to you. And the ultimate draft kit's available at ultimate draft kit. Get in there right now, check it out, learn more about the draft kit. Best way to dominate your fantasy football drafts. All right, quick question today. What are we doing, Brooksie?

All right. We're going to play a game of Who Am I? It's been a little while. Brooks. Yep. I was going to. I was nailed it. I mean, you're right. We're one for one. All right. On to the next segment. Yeah. So how is this going to work, Brooksie? So we have five clues. Do you want me to read it, Andy? Or do you want to? What do these guys want? You want to hear Brooks's voice? I want to hear Brooks's voice. You can read the clues. All right. I'm going to read you five clues, one at a time. And you guys got to decide after each clue if you want to lock in who you think it is. Are you trying to open your third eye over here, man? That's right. Into the astral plane. Give us the first clue, Brooks. Give us the first clue, Brooks. All right, guys. Clue one. This is going real well. I am 27.8 years old.

not not owl not Al Borland no he's so old I'm 27.8 years old I'm not locking in an answer just yeah yeah but that's helpful thank you it's a pretty ambiguous clue okay go on brooks all right clue two I have finished as a top 20 fantasy running back in three of six seasons 27.8 years old and what's that clue again a top 20 fantasy running back in three of six seasons Three of six, huh? Okay. Top 20 fantasy RB in three of six. Six total? I mean, I need. Yes, sir. Okay. Consecutive? Like six years in a row or we just cherry picking six years of a career? I'm going to say that it's six years in a row. Okay. Confident. That he played six in a row, but three of the league six years. Oh, yes. That is that is correct. I see what you're saying, Mike. I'm like, yeah, we like 2014, 17, 19. We're just skipping years.

Brooks is a sneaky snow that's a stupid question Mike all right go on brooks all right clue three I have at least 34 receptions in five straight seasons how many 34 receptions in five straight five straight seasons three of six years okay we need a moment because because we may want to lock in I've got before the fourth clue now those of you at home play along we're not revealing quite yet maybe you already have a guess that was a tough one because i had a guess i was go ahead yeah 27 this is not my answer i was i was thinking nick chub he's he's been good that's where yeah i was about that he's about that age but uh the receiving work that there's no way nick chub no no it's not it's not nick chub all right next all right clue four i had eight total touchdowns last year after having 18 in 2021

Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. I think I, I think I, oh, I'll put my answer down. Yeah, I'm got, I don't like it. I've got mine locked in. I don't like it. I got mine locked in too. I regret it immediately. You lock it in, Jason? Sure. Are you embarrassed if you don't? Yeah. Are you getting peer pressured into, yeah, I'll be peer pressured into locking in my answer. All right. You ready for the big clue? Yeah. All right. I am a cancer survivor. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Changing my answer. Yeah. So I've got it right. Connor. James Connor. James Connor. James Connor. What was yours, Mike? What were you? What were you locking in pre cancer survivor? I mean, don't worry about it. Okay. Was it Eric Jones? It was, uh, it was letter four. Oh, okay. Okay. 18 touchdowns. Mine was James Connor for sure. Uh, uh,

Yeah, it wasn't. It was not. It certainly was Delvin Cook. I saw you write it down. It was Dalvin James Cook. Yes. Oh. So just to like bring something to the forefront here after our amazing game where we were super good at guessing. Yeah. Uh, James Connor top 20 three of six years, 34 receptions still scored eight times last year. We knew that was going to be. a regression, right? Like we talked about that. James Connor wasn't going to score 18 more times. It was very dominant towards the end of the season. Do you have any strong feelings about James Connor in the upcoming year? I do. I think he is an extremely good value right now where he's going. I don't see James Connor as a superstar. Obviously, no one is expecting the Arizona Cardinals to have some great offense this coming season. We don't know the health of Kyler Murray, yada, yada, yada, different coaching staff.

But as the roster stands, he's the dude. He's the only guy there. And obviously after the NFL draft, maybe things change. Maybe they draft a preeminent running back. But I doubt it considering the holes that the Arizona Cardinals have and the money that they've invested in James Connor. Should he go into the season just in the same situation as far as the running backs on the roster, he's being drafted right now in best ball in the like... RB 29. Yeah, I mean, he's left for dead. What round is that? I want to say he's in the like seventh, eighth round. I mean, you're talking almost past the RB dead. So he's, he is completely an afterthought. And this is a guy who is, you know, there's how many, how many running backs in the league are the bell cow for their team? Not many. Less than my fingers. That's for sure.

Which is 10? Which is 10. It's standing at 10. My point is, I think he is being undervalued. He's a good draft pick right now. And, you know, the situation for him, I think only gets better if Kyler ends up coming back from his injury quicker. The sentiment around the Cardinals is so negative. I mean, they're what, plus 2,500 to win the division? it's definitely going to be reflected in 80Ps. I think in general. I don't think you're going to have a lot of excitement around, like Hopkins is probably going to get traded, or maybe he already has by this time. Sure. And, you know, just Hollywood Brown, does his ADP rise appropriately if there's doubt around Kyler? Yeah, and for James Connor, it's very tough because we, you know, we talk about it on the show. Players who are on winning teams,

They produce more fantasy points. It kind of, it's one of those things that makes sense of if they're a winning team, they're scoring more points. If they're scoring more NFL points, they're scoring more fantasy points. But James Connor was incredible. After he came back from his injury, he was a stud and he was playing on a losing team. I mean, you had, let's see, the final five weeks of the season, I'll go final six, I should say, final six games that he actually played, all losses. and yet was a top 15 running back in all of them. From week 9 on, he was the running back 5. He's actually really good at football. He's a big, gigantic running back that can score touchdowns and catch the ball. But he will be 28 in the NFL season. And if he's going, if he stays in that range, that seventh, eighth round range, I can be interested in that because now we've moved past the dead zone, which in the running back dead zone, that's where you're.

really wanting to scoop up high-powered wide receivers because, and you're not reaching, you're not overreaching for a running back because you feel like you just got to get one on the team. And then in those, the rounds a little bit after that, though, that's kind of when you're like, do I take a chance on one of these rookies who I'm not sure what their upside is? So it will come down to a draft a value. He just has that profile of a running back who could immediately. vanish off of the face of fantasy football. Yeah, I definitely get it. But if you're not investing a lot, the risk, reward might be there. Yeah, that's what I'm kind of surprised he's going there. He seemed to me like a guy who might have been one of those late fourth or fifth round running backs because the people, you know, getting real nervous of, oh, I don't have a running back. I don't have a running back. I got to get one. So that would bump him up. But if he stays late, okay. Okay. Let's go ahead and move on.

Well, the producers have taken over, and they like games. And so we're going to play them. And today Brooks has something brand new that he, I mean, he didn't even ask us if he could put this in the show, which, you know, he's kind of getting big in his britches and doing what he wants. So, Brooksie, now that you're the one of our under 40 producers, what are we doing today? All right, guys, this game is called. gut feelings. And here's how it's going to go. I'm going to read a player name in their current average draft position from best ball drafts. Okay. After I tell you that name in ADP, you guys will have about 10 seconds to write down a single word to describe how you feel about that player. Okay. And then do we get a chance? Yeah. Yeah. And so we've got some special music drops to play while you're writing down those words. Yeah, like a professional.

podcast. Oh, yeah. And then do we get to expound on our feelings on this? Yes. And these words? You must. You have to. Okay. And is, is niche off the table for Jason or? Yeah, probably should be. Yeah, keep it clean, Jason. Probably should be. So, yeah, I'll read the name and the ADP and I'll say your 10 seconds starts now. And then we'll talk about it. Okay. And you reveal and talk about it. I think I understand the parameters of this game. You guys ready for the first player? Is this a game or is this a, like a therapy session. Yeah, this is more of an exercise to help us work through some things. Yeah. I mean, it's a little of everything. I think it's a sentiment check, right? We want to, you know, just see where we're at. Let's go. All right. Your first player is T. Higgins and his best ball ADP is the late second round as the wide receiver 12. Your 10 seconds starts now. One word? No. One word. One word. One word.

Oh, I want, no, no, I want more of that. That music is great. Give me. No, you'll get it in the second round. That is like, that is the vintage 70s game show music. I've got my word. I got my word. Jason, do you not have your word? You're still writing. He's learning how to spell it. Yep. He's rewriting it for. Did you have to look how to spell something? I would never. Who's going first, Brooks? Who do you want to share their word? For T. Higgins, and you said it's second round, right? Yeah, late second. Yeah, go ahead, Andy. Here's my word. Do you want to go ahead and read? Hold on. Let me see if I can hold it up to the camera. Maybe. My word is maybe. Maybe it's Carly Ray Jepson over here. My word. How about all three of you show what you wrote at the same time? Then you can talk about it. What do you got? What's your word? I've got bridesmaid. Oh, very good. Very good. Stud. Oh, stud. Mike went with stud. All right. I'll start. Maybe comes from factoring in.

the worth and the value at that late second round, where it's like, I know T. Higgins is a very good player. I know Jamar Chase is a better player. I think that he might be worth that pick. I mean, that's what maybe means to me is that T. Higgins might be worth that pick. I do think fluctuation is going to exist for T. Higgins at a greater amount than it does for Jemar Chase. And you know me. Maybe it's the best you've ever gotten for me drafting a wide receiver too. Jason's word is bridesmaid. Yeah. So there's a reason. He's a wonderful bridesmaid. I draft brides, bro. He will never be the bride while Jamar Chase is there. I believe he's the second best wide receiver two in the NFL. And for fantasy purposes, is that behind Waddle? No, that was behind Yvonne Smith. Ooh. So take a, take a third place, Waddle. I, you know.

His value, I think, is secure. You know what you're going to get. He's going to be a high, high end wide receiver 2 or a low, low end wide receiver 1. But what he's not going to be is an absolute league winner. He is a player that you, when you're constructing your roster, you're saying, I want to, I want a secure spot. I'm going to plug him in here as, you know, just I know who my wide receiver 2 is. I'm going to get some points. pretty consistently and go from there. But, you know, in best ball, this is best ball ADP you're talking about. I don't think he's going to have many 30-point weeks or win you weeks. He is a bridesmaid. There will be plenty of wide receiver ones drafted after T. Higgins in drafts at that draft position for their teams. For sure. Yeah. And so I only make that point because, you know, he's a very good, he's a great player.

I'll even go that far, but wide receiver 17 last year, wide receiver 22 the year before. So that's my maybe. Mike, you say stud, but does stud mean you think he can reach a new level fantasy finish-wise than he did last year? So last year he finished with 74 receptions, just over 1,000 yards, and seven touchdowns. And he's a player that you can't just look at the final year finished because if you look at it, you're like, Okay, he hit those numbers. He played in 16 games, but you have to have followed along the story and remember exactly what happened to T. Higgins. Week one, he got knocked out after 26% of the snaps. Week 5, he played 16% of the snaps. Week 14, he played 1% of the snaps. That's where we all, that was the really unfortunate one where we, you knew he was injured, but then they said he's going to play, and then he did not play. So that was, I mean, that's a, it is a part of the story that,

you had those really unfortunate fantasy burns. But when you look at the game log and you account for those, like essentially are games he did not play, he was an absolute monster. I mean, just... You're accounting for all the games Chase missed? Not necessarily. I'm just, I'm looking at his game lines right now, but that's part of the upside for T. Higgins is he is somebody that can come through and give you... 150 yards and a score even when Jamar Chase is on the field. And there's wide receiver ones technically. They're the one for their team. But not every wide receiver won in the NFL can hit 150 and 1 or 150 and 2 and win a whole week. Yeah. When I said he was consistent, you know what you're going to get from him. That speaks to what you're bringing up. There were only five times last year where he was outside the top 36 wide receivers, which.

five times might sound like a big number. That's a very good number for a wide receiver. Wide receivers are very inconsistent. Five times he was outside of the top 36. All three of those games that you mentioned where he basically didn't play, you know, 26% of snaps or fewer where he was knocked out. Those three are in those five. So you have to. Two bad games. Exactly. Two bad games where he played the full allotment of snaps. And so I do think he's a, he's glue. He is a very nice pick to help your roster be strong and stay together. But he is not the diamond that's going to take you over the top. He's not Jamar Chase. And it's when you're, we know that very frequently two wide receivers will finish in the top 12. That happens. And while I, I mean, I'm not going to argue against Devante Smith, T. Higgins, who's a better wide receiver? That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is Joe Burroughs.

passing production versus Jalen Hertz passing production. One of those players can hit the like the 5,000 yard threshold and 35 plus touchdowns. Jaylon Hertz is fantastic, but that's not what he's going to do for the Philadelphia Eagles, where that is what Joe Burrow can and probably will do. Yeah, for the record, I, you know, I do think Devon Smith is a better wide receiver. I would never draft Devon Smith over T. Higgins in these offenses. T. Higgins would be Who would you rather have in this year's draft getting Waddle in there? T. Higgins or Waddle as the fantasy most relevant wide receiver two? That is a... I like Waddle. That's a fair question. I think they're pretty close. Feels like Waddle's upside is higher. Yeah, I mean, he did finish higher last year. He's got more explosive plays. What if I told you...

T. Higgins is in a contract here, Jason. Oh, greedy humans! There were, yeah, I think you got higher end with Waddle. I think we saw that last year. Higgins didn't have a lot of top 15 games. He's consistent. That would have been another word that I think describes him well. But, yeah, to each their own and how they're constructing their roster. I wish I wish I wish I wish I wish that I wish that I could get him for less. You know what I wish? I wish that I wish that I wish. for more of that sweet music. Yeah. Give us another name, Brooksie. All right, guys. The second player is George Kittle with the best ball ADP in the fourth round as the tight end for. Your 10 seconds starts now. Wait, this. I can't think with the music on it. That's different music. Oh, man. I didn't write anything. We got five different. Give it to us one more time. We were listening to the song. Yeah, all right. Give me that horn.

Okay. I don't know how to friend. Oh, Mike still can't get it down to one word. What's your word, Jason? What's your word? My word. Oh, wow. Is fake. Fake. He's a faker. What? That's, that's some. What? Yeah. Here's what I think about George Kittle. I think we know. He is an amazing talent. And he could be Travis Kelsey. He could be the best tied in in the league. but he will never be the best tight end unless opportunity requires him to be. Right now, Travis Kelsey, I mean, look at the opportunity, right? Like, they got rid of Terry Kill. They have a hodgepodge of wide receiver three NFL level options and then he takes over. Kittle in any game, if the game plan was, we are going to have Kittle beat you. Kittle's going to beat you. But for fantasy purposes,

It's fake. You look back at the last three years and you go, man, he's amazing. So many big games. And almost, almost is not 100%, but we're talking 90% of those games are when another wide receiver was missing in action. And he basically is thrust into the position of being a high end target. So I think his value as a high end tight end, he can do it. but only in the situation where he is forced to do it. My word is sometimes with three exclamation points. Oh, you're, you're shouting that. I'm saying, and underlined. I'm saying, I guess I did underline it. Yeah, I'm saying sometimes because he is worthy of three exclamation points sometimes. It's really a shame because he could be a weekly stud. Like there's, there's, you know, outside of him.

missing games with injury. There's no physical inability there. It's just game planning. And this sometimes happens, right? With coaches that, you know, know how to diagnose the defense, know how to prioritize. I mean, they didn't. Christian McCaffrey changes a lot of the story. If Christian McCaffrey's not there and you got the same end of season with Kittle, you know, you're looking at it like this guy is going to be more regularly the centerpiece of the game plan. But Debo should be the centerpiece. And so should McCaffrey. And so should Ayuk. And maybe Trey Lance is running game if he's the starter. So sometimes. Kittle, if you're listening, I just want to make sure you know. This is fantasy fake. Not real life. Like you are the dude. He is amazing. But for fantasy purposes, he's a fake high end tight end. And my word is overproduced. He finished with 11 touchdowns. And.

To that point of his career, which his high in touchdowns, which was 2021, six. Six touchdowns. And going through, you know, his game log, trying to remember exactly what happened. So the beginning of the year, you know, he missed a couple games through weeks, weeks three through 12, he scored four total touchdowns. That's not a lot for someone who should be a dominant fantasy tight end in the league. And then Brock Purdy takes over. Fellas, do you remember how George Kittle was the one who was the loudest of like, well, it should be Brock Purdy's job? He's the starter moving forward. Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that in the final four weeks of the season, he scored seven touchdowns with Brock Purdy? Now, help me remember those final four weeks. How many of those did Debo Samuel play?

Oh, that is a question I don't know the answer to. I do. It was one. Oh, that was a trap. Yeah, it was a trap. But my point is it was, Debo's gone. So it's like, Kittle, you're up. You're awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think the word fake was pretty mean. I am a mean, but I understand the, I understand what you mean because that's, that's representative of his fantasy reality for teams, not the player. You know he's a great player. And, um, so basketball are you? willing to take him where he's in the fourth round i have not yet drafted him where he's going but one of the nice things is for fantasy you can you know at the at the very least for dFS it's pretty predictable right like if if you know that debo's gone or iuk's gone kiddle has the talent and if he's given the opportunity he'll produce i thought somebody might go with the easy brittle word um because of the injury history that's i mean yeah

Yeah, I would never. Let's take a quick break and come back with more music. All right, we are going to come back here with another player name. And I, look, so far I wish there were 15 seconds of music, not 10 seconds. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah. But what's the name, Brooksie? All right, guys, Justin Herbert, best ball ADP, also the fourth round as the quarterback seven. Oh, this one's easy. Your 10 seconds starts now. Oh, yeah. I want to thank the Academy. Do you need another 10 seconds? No, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. I'm formulating over here. Oh, boy. I'm formulating over here. Oh, yeah, baby. Forgot Mike's 40 now. Takes them a little longer. Okay. I have changed my word thanks to that music. My word is tantalizing. Okay. My word is.

Single, but I'm saying that as in. Is he like ready to mingle? He is ready to mingle, baby. He's back on the market. Oh my gosh. Mike, what's your word? Pocket. Okay. I see where you're going. Yeah. And I'm using that as a dirty word for fantasy football. Because it caps him in your mind. He is a pocket passer. And that's how you end up going from the quarterback to he's he is a franchise quarterback. He is a great player. And how you describe Joe Burrow? Yeah, it is. But I think that Joe Burrow, the system that Joe Burrow is in the players that he is surrounded by, it's a far better situation than what Justin Herbert has himself in currently as of the time of this recording. Okay. But that's how you go from quarterback 2 of 5,000 yards 38 touchdowns down to quarterback 11.