Draft Advice + Fantasy Wisdom - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/24

Unless one has an affinity for looking ridiculously foolish, it is wise not to stumble aimlessly into a fantasy football draft. The ultimate draft kit from the fantasy footballers contains all the information you need to avoid the jeers of your enemies and to snuff out any glint of hope in their souls. Imagine the gasps those trouser-wearing turnips will emit as you make yet another triumphant draft selection. Imagine their tears forming a formidable puddle as you assemble an unstoppable force. The Ultimate Draft Kit comes bursting at the seams with fantasy goodness. When you enter the draft room, you'll feel as if you were a monstrous beast let loose in a chicken coop. Head over to Ultimate DraftKit.com today. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. It's in football time. It's someone tell me. It is. It is football time. Sorry. Sorry, guys. I was digging up a fun quote from an article. You'll hear about it a little bit. We'll hear about it on this show. Yes. That's kind of a weird tease. You're just looking up articles? I needed to make sure. uh you'll look it's we'll wait for we'll yeah i i understand there's a player that clearly we're going to talk about yes there's an important bit of news that has caught mike's attention it has and we'll talk about it shortly so um welcome in one and all excited to have you with us we have news to talk about yes

We got some mailbag, some best ball breakdown, lots of fantasy goodness on today's show. Ultimate draft kit available right now. You're heading into the weekend. You've probably got a draft. You're thinking to yourself, self, I'd like to do well at this draft. I don't know how I'm going to do that for sure. And then you're like, maybe the ultimate draft kit could help me. Maybe. Yeah, no, it can. I was going to get there, Jamie. You were right into, yes, it can. Just look, the people know. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Ultimate draft kit.com for your drafts. And megalobol.com if you want to be a part of the largest fantasy football season long tournament style league, which is up over 10,000 so far. Last year it was 20. It's over 9,000. I'm going to say 22,000 because it was like 21,900 and a few. Okay. So we're going to set the bar at 22,000. It's up over 10 right now. And you go in, you go to megalobole.com, you pick a draft spot.

And then you're good. And you're going to draft and then you're going to try to win the league. Also be aware when you pick a draft slot. You can scroll down. There are more dates. It doesn't look like there are more, but just scroll. Okay. And quick question. This one comes in from Chefster Maker. First time having a second flex spot on a roster. Any difference in draft strategy? We made this change in conjunction with dropping kickers, I believe. In our league of record? Yes, we did. And so we do. We have two running back, two wide receiver, two flex in our league of record. So we are in the same type of format that you are moving to. What do we think about the strategy there? I mean, are you approaching things differently in that format? We already know that if you're in like a three wide receiver league, the kinds of changes that that makes to your thought process. Jason, what do you think about the extra flex position?

I love the extra flex position. It adds, you know, more depth to the starting roster, obviously more strategy for the later round picks. And it's a great question to say, well, what do I do when I go deeper? And what I've found really is, depending on whether you're in a standard league, a half PPR, or a full PPR, that second flex position, it changes positions. Yes. You know, if you're in a full PPR, I'm usually going to be starting that second flex. It's going to be a wide receiver. I'd say more than usually. I'd say the majority of the time, if it's a full PPR, it will be a wide receiver in there. Even in a half point, the majority of the time, it's probably still going to be a wide receiver. It's because once you're down to a certain tier, a certain rank of wide receiver or running back, those receptions, they do matter a lot.

Most like it's going to be a wide receiver. So that is my blanket statement for you. Who's a chefster maker off Instagram? You're going to want to be heavier on wide receivers. I would say it affects the way I look at depth because you have an entire additional starting opportunity here. And sometimes the mindset in a traditional league format is to go into your draft. and kind of fire a few darts at the end and try to find that explosive flex player. In this format, you are going to have to start an additional player. So maybe you're not, I'm not saying you aren't shooting for those players, but you also have to have guys that you know you can start. You can't overload your roster with players that are going to take a few weeks to materialize either. Sure. And the flex with benefits guys that I talked about when I gave the tip in our top 10 show, those are.

players that I might be a little bit more aggressive going after and specifically not having the true starter because I want the team to have a situation that should something break in my favor fantasy football wise. You now have an extra starter. You had a person who can contribute, but you're, I mean, you're one play away from this player becoming a difference maker for your team. Any complaints about an extra flex spot in our league of record? No. Yes. No. What? I have a complaint that we don't have an extra flex spot. You want to go triple flex? Yeah, I want to go triple flex. That's grownups only. I'm a grown up. I want to flex on these fools. I look, the more you add. I'm adding that to the vote this year in our league. It's not going to. I know our league and it's not going to pass. I know it won't pass, but I'm voting. And you just came up with that just now? That's right.

Good. Good. On the spot, how I make my decisions. It removes, some people complain about the fact that there's too much luck in fantasy football. If you add more positions to start, you are going to reduce that. Because it's going to take, you're going to have to play deeper players. If Jason gets his will, we're going to be playing down to the fourth, fifth string. Yeah. 36 flex spots. Sounds good to me. It's weird. I've never heard this from you. You're turning over a new lead. You're flexi and you know it. I really do enjoy deeper starting rosters. You know, I find like in our listener league, which is starting soon. And I don't know if we've mentioned this on the main show. But genuinely, every year it gets crazier and crazier. We had more submissions this year for our listener league than ever before. Thank you all.

for submitting and all the people that did so much amazing things and sent things in and, you know, only... Yeah, we got stuff here at the studio that'll make its way to the Foot Clan. The Foot Clan Wall over. Yeah, we got like a stained glass of the... Yeah. Of the shield. I mean, just some really cool stuff. So thank you all. We really do appreciate it. I know most all of you didn't get in because that's the nature of mathematics. Only a few and a lot of entries. But in that league that's a 14 teamer so that we can get more people in the league. And it's still a double flex. So you're starting just deeper players. And I find that that's more fun. It's more fun to have to go with a nasty boy that makes your lineup.

Yeah, it is pretty fun to be in a 14 team league. I would say that. The listener league has been fun. And we have mailed everybody that's in. We have, as of this moment. That's the part you left out. We have, as of this moment, there's still one spot that needs to respond. Oh, we're still waiting on one response. So maybe an alternate. Just for the record, that's maybe the worst thing that's ever happened. is you have all these people competing and then somebody wins, and then they don't respond to their email. Mm-hmm. It's never happened before. Stay on top of your emails, people. Nine years. Never happened. Yeah, it has. We've had to replace before. I can't remember. Yeah, we've had to replace before. But I'm just saying it. It's not what you want because you don't want to get a heartfelt, like, all this time and effort put into something. But yes, thank you. Mike and I echo that. Very amazing.

humans out there. So let's get into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Is this the piece of news that you were looking forward to? Yeah. Well, I'm not breaking this. This is all yours. Okay. So we'll start here. We are in the news section. We're recording this show Wednesday afternoon. So if something else had happened before. Thursday morning, we'll cover it later. But the big piece of news that came out was the San Francisco quarterback depth chart has been announced, which I don't remember it really being a thing. It's usually, here's our starter. Everyone else is on the team. And you just, you kind of know who is where, but they made an official announcement that.

Samuel Darnold will be the quarterback to. Trey Lance, that puts him at number three if you're keeping track. Trey Lance was in the building on Wednesday. Three out of how many, though? I believe three. Oh, okay. So, but you could say third best. He's the third best. He is the third best. I believe he's the third best quarterback. Oh, he was the third pick in the draft, so you should be the third best. Yes. He was in the building when the news broke. He was then allowed to sit out the session, and the 49ers will address the situation after practice. Is he getting cut? No, no. A trade would be possible. Who trades? Genuine question. Right. Who trades for a third street quarterback? Well, honest, I think. Somebody would do it. I do. It would not be a high pit. Seventh rounder. It comes down to what the NFL.

or what the 49ers are willing to cut their losses with. Because I bet there's at least a handful of teams that would send a third rounder for Tray Lance. Yes. If Tray Lance were to go, just think about the quarterbacks that are drafted in the third round. Like, he's. No way. Yes. No way. Yes. You sure about that? Yeah. That makes no sense. I mean, this is a guy. When I think about the quarterback drafted in the third round, they don't have three years of failure to their name. Yeah. They don't get beat out by the seventh round draft pick in one season and then a failure of Sam Darnold in the next. I think that there are plenty of offensive guys out there that can convince themselves that they can fix Tray Lanes. Oh, I agree with that. Just not the third round part. No, I think.

That makes, that, that would be shocking. Wait, day two capital. No one's given up day two capital for a quarterback who's failed three years in a row. Just give it up, Mike. He's failed two seasons in a row, three off seasons in a row. What in the world is happening? I'm not, the point, I'm seriously, I'm not trying to support Trey Lance right now. I'm just saying what the quarterback market is for a player with, with his skill, with his physical skill set, and then you have. up to three more years left on his rookie deal. I think that a team could be interested. But will the 49ers be willing to let him go for a third? I don't know. They would slam the yes button as quick as humanly possible. Maybe. That team has quarterbacks go down all the time. Like they missed the Super Bowl because all their quarterbacks were hurt. Trey Lance is.

maybe the worst trade in the history of the organization. Oh, history of the NFL. Yeah, that's one of, it's the worst. It's got to be the worst team. Is it Herschel Walker? Yeah, that was the entire draft class for Herschel Walker. At least, at least that trade had temporary value on both sides. Well, there was, yeah, it happened for Walker. And then it also happened for Ricky Williams. Yeah, Ricky Williams. Yes. But then Herschel Walker did play football. Yes. And Ricky Williams played good football. Right. Tray Lance did not. What is... Five starts. It's incredible that the 49ers are as good as they are, having made that move. This is an overt omission or admission of a mistake. There is no more sugar coating. The Traylands development, he hasn't developed. He has not become the quarterback that they want. The most fun part about this, that for our show and for Mike's...

lasting love of Trey Lance is that before the NFL draft, prior to that draft happening and the San Francisco 49ers taking him number three, you freaking hated Trey Lathet, hated. You said he was the most inaccurate, inexperienced, worthless prospect. And if they take him over, was that you? There's Mac Jones. Justin Fields. You were going to just die. Yeah. And then they did it. You stayed alive and you said, well, since I'm alive, I am going to support Trey Lance because I must have been wrong. Me, Mike, right, I'm wrong. Kyle Shanahan knows what he's talking about. I believe in him. Right. You were right. You were right, my man. It was the ultimate. Stick to your guns. You coward? The ultimate draft a player that you don't believe in because someone else does. Does this mean? It's Kyle Shanahan. It was the third overall pick.

is Kyle Shanahan. Kyle Shanahan. I fell for this with Sean McVeigh and Al Robinson last year. Are there no genius coaches? I mean, we were talking about Brandon Staley as a genius coach. Now Brandon Staley's viewed as he got hot pants on. A hot mess of a coach. Basically a great roster with hot pants on because he's ready to leave town. I mean, they have turned on him. I still think he's a good coach. But you are. Andy Reid is a genius coach. But even Andy Reid got ran out of town. That's true. That's true. Trey Lance is not going to be a great dynasty player for you. I'm speaking to everyone out there. Yeah. Again, we do so many shows. We talk so much football. I don't know if I'd mention this. But we were at some point talking about Trey Lances. What do you do? If you're in a single quarterback league in Dynasty, what do you do with Trey Lance? And I was.

a bit hyperboically saying, I think you just drop it. Like, because if you, if I drop Trey Lance right now, or let's go, let's go two days ago, two days ago when he wasn't the third string quarterback, I dropped Trey Lance. Half the league sees that and goes and does a big fab drop. trying to get Trey Lance because just in case. And then they hold Trey Lance for eternity waiting for something to happen while I'm like, well, I'm living fancy free with my extra roster spot. You know, well, two days ago, you should have just asked for like a third rounder. Anyone want to give me a third rounder? They won't do that in fantasy. You think someone's doing this in real life for a third rounder? And to be clear, there are a ton of top 10 quarterback picks that don't get.

Of course. That don't get traded for or given an opportunity ever again. I was just looking. Jake, Jake Locker was the eighth overall pick in the draft. Well, he retired. Blaine, uh, well, he, he was not given another. They didn't trade for him, right? No, Jake, but Jake Locker had the, uh, Blaine Gabbert had the concussion. Did he get to start again? No. Um, did he, Blake Bortles never got to start again after he was running out of town. Right. Mariotta got it last year. Uh, Trubisky. Got a split second in Pittsburgh. Josh Rosen never got another chance. Well, he got like 700 more chances to be a backup. Rosen is the closest comp to me because all those other guys had time. Like, Lance has started five games or so. And he will finish his career. And he will probably finish the five starts. Yeah, I mean, it's like that that one's hard too because it's like saying, well, you just got to let him start games if he stinks. Yeah. Right? I mean, isn't that what you're saying?

No, that a guy that isn't good has to start some games? I think he's more saying that we don't know what we don't know. Right. I wish Josh Rosen had started none. Yeah, people can make a, you know, a bad decision of thinking they could fix him. I'm saying last year it was he had the two starts. One was in a monsoon and then he got hurt. And then you don't start him over Brock Purdy who came in and played extremely well. They're just not saying this in the building. I'm not saying that Trey Lans could be successful in a different offense. He's clearly not built for the 49ers offense. I think that's the headline. I mean, Jimmy Gropolo, very successful, very accurate quarterback. Right. Sam Darnold can handle that. Obviously, Brock Purdy can handle that. I wonder. Trey Lans is just not built for the accuracy was a problem coming into the NFL. We know that I believe this is common knowledge that they said that they were between Mack Jones and Trey Lance during that.

Would have been such a better pick. Mack Jones would be, I think he'd be a star right now if he ended up going to Kyle Shanahan. 100%. 100%. Miles Sanders, there's some other quick injury news. Miles Sanders, absolutely ready for week one. That's great. More Panthers news, not so great. DJ Chark hamstring injury. Didn't practice. So I'm going to stop talking about players. Chris Evans could serve as the team's preferred passing down back. This is an athletic report. It seems to be trending that way. The Trevion Williams, I think, was kind of the, he was the de facto number two. The team has had praised him for his pass blocking and things like that. But he got hurt and now he's missed most of training camp and Chris Evans. Do you care about Chris Evans in drafts? Probably not in redraft, but unless we get like a for sure.

Chris Evans is locked in as the number two guy, but I don't think the team will even say that. I don't even think they know. You know what I mean? Like they might have who's up next, but I don't think that they will have someone that they think is locked in for the season. This is why drafting insurance running backs is, it can be a fool's errand of, well, Chris Evans is the number two right now. Sweet, I'm going to stash Chris Evans, and then if Joe Mix and misses time, all of a sudden it's just, Like Chris Evans isn't even the guy to have. It ends up being Chase. And that's because of being the number two right now to Mixen represents being a pass catcher. Whereas if Mixing goes down, they're looking for something else to fill that role. Right. Jerome Ford should be ready for week one for the Browns. They're hopeful that he'll be ready. He's another guy that he's going to fill in the gaps of what Nick Chubb can't handle or when he needs a break. T.J. Hawkinson. Yeah. Missed practice due to lower back stiffness.

which as far as I know is not a kind of a follow-up side effect to an ear infection. No, this is unrelated. He had the ear. He had the ear infection that was causing equilibrium problems, kept him out of a lot of the time with the team, got back, and now he's dealing with lower back stiffness. So he's just missed quite a bit of time. I don't think it's a huge deal. I mean, obviously we saw when he came over and had had no time with this team last year. They were just. You're out there. Here's Playbook. We're going to throw it to you a ton. And I expect him, you know, to still be out there. But it's, you know, it's good opportunity to get targets going elsewhere to like Jordan Addison, who's back. Like Jordan Addison or like Jordan Addison. Mr. Addison. Boston. Okay. All right. I just had to try on a good matrix. You're sure that T.J. Hawkinson's earache and backache aren't like kind of contract aches?

I do not believe they are. Because there were some rumors about that, and this is his last year. He's on a contract season. We're already there for Hawkinson? I'm sure he'll get a big contract. He's not a running back. Cole Commet got a big contract. A lot of these tight ends leave, though. Dalton Schultz didn't get a big contract. Trey Burton didn't get a big contract. Yeah, I don't know. He's going to make a lot of money, though. He'll get a massive contract. From the Vikings, though? I'm saying... Oh, you're just saying, will the Vikings pay? I do think they will because when teams invest the draft capital in a trade, they usually want to retain that player. But we'll see. TBD. Corey Davis, stepping away from football at the age of 28. He left $10.5 million on the table for 2023, although he might have been cut and chose this as a different option. Quiz, how much money is Corey Davis made in his career? Because I have that answer for you.

So Corey Davis was, he was a top 10 pick. Yep. In the NFL draft. Number five overall. Okay, so number five overall. So you, just right there, you make a really good amount of money on your first contract. The Jets, if I recall, when he got the deal from them, we were like, what? But it was the Jets tax because at the time they were a bad team. So total, I'm going to go 30 mil? Oh, I'm going north of that. I'm going. You're going 50? I'm going 55. 52 million dollars. I hope it's not prices right rules. Yeah, no, it always is. You lost. So I lost. Any other news, gentlemen? And like Mike said, we're recording this late afternoon on Wednesday. We're getting ready to get out of town for the live show on Saturday. So any news we miss here, we'll cover it on the show tomorrow or that we record tomorrow. All right, that was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance.

Quick break and back with the mailbag. All righty, Mike. Are you primed and ready? I mean, I know the hair's looking ready. It's quaffed. Only Mike can do that. Is that a word? I think so. I tried it out. Jason tried to spell that word for us. Q, UA, F, F, F, F, D. Oh, I would have gone FFED. I think that's different. A large, wild, untamed amount of hair. Oh, well, it is certainly tamed. Also, Q-U-A-F-T. Oh, you got it right? Yeah, I'm the greatest speller alive. You're a hero. All right, Mike, here we go. Mailbag. Your people better be ready for the mailbag on Saturday's live show, by the way. Oh, yeah. Seriously, there's going to be a thousand people. Yeah. You all are going to be doing the mailbag drop live, singing it out. So prepare your vocal cords.

All right, Instagram question from Tim Brody. By the way, if you have a question for the show, go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com or dial a voicemail hotline here, 302464 TFFB. Do you believe in Jerry Judy? This question comes in from Tim Brody, 12, 12, 12, 12. Unequivocally, yes. It's a loaded question. I 100% believe in Jerry Jude. Okay. I don't know if he believes in me. I think I believe in Jerry Judy. but I'm not 100% sure. That's just me not believing in Cortland Sutton. And so it's just pushing me to want to believe in Jerry Judy. He was, at the end of last year, was the best wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, had himself a fine few games stretch over there for fantasy. Cortland Sutton is the one making some headlines in training camp. I haven't seen a ton on Jerry Judy.

The opportunity is great. Sean Payton, can he fix Russell Wilson in the offense? I would say my belief in Jerry Judy is sub 50%. I definitely believe in Jerry Judy. I've seen him. Like I know, I know he exists. This isn't like do you believe in Bigfoot? Or dinosaurs. Oh, well, you've got to make these questions more specific because I definitely believe in him. Thank you for once again contributing to the podcast. I think he is a fine wide receiver too. I believe he'll finish probably around that number. He was the wide receiver 21 last season. The offense can't be worse. And I know sometimes we say that we, oh, it couldn't be worse than what Big Ben was.

at the end of his career. But even then, it was like, no, it could be. A rookie Kenny Pickett could be worse. And we could see that. The worst case scenario is that Russell Wilson sucks. Like he sucked last year and he's just lost it. He's toast. He's gone. He's done. And in that situation where he still sucks, the offense goes from Nathaniel Hackett to Sean Peyton. And I think it gets better with the same sucky Russell Wilson. Does that make sense? It does. You said suck a lot. Yeah. Well, I mean, they did. So what's your percentage belief in Jerry Judy, not the human who you are convinced exists? I am fully convinced. Okay. But his chances for fantasy football. I think it's, I think it's 65% that he's a wide receiver two or better. Okay. Yeah, I think he's going to be great. And to be clear, Corlin Sutton does not have to, as you would say, suck for Jerry Judy to be great. That is not, those things don't have to happen.

Sure. Together, like Jerry Judy can be great and Coral and Sutton can bounce back if you believe in him. I watched enough Jerry Judy. That's what I thought you were saying, by the way. Thought you were saying you watched him. You saw him. Yeah, I did. And then you, but as a- We're saying the same thing. I'm fully convinced that he exists. That he is real. But have you been to a game with him? I haven't seen him in person. Yeah, it could be 99%. He was good. last year. As good as you could be in what that offense provided. He is a big play guy. We saw Cortland Sutton struggle immensely. I don't buy the hype on Coralyn Sutton. I think there's a chance he's better because you can't be worse. But I don't buy, I don't have any reason to believe that Jerry Judy, who was great on the field, doesn't benefit from all those things that you're saying. But somehow Coralyn Sutton is going to stifle him when Sutton wasn't good on the field. So I think Jerry Judy is going to be a great pick. Now, right now he's going