Fantasy Football - Draft Steals + MORE Free Agent Frenzy! - Podcast for 3/12

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Thursday, March, the 12th. Thursday, March. Thursday, March. Where are we marching to? Mike, it's almost the aides of March. I. You realize that? I am well aware. The aides are so close, Mike. Days away from the Ids. Welcome into the show. Mike Wright is here. I'm Andy Holloway. Jason, we'll just say this. Number one, Jason's perfectly fine to everybody. That's probably a good place. There was just a unfortunate series of timing of events. So he, like he's on spring break right now. His kids run spring break.

And so he wanted to go out with the family. Like, we're all, our kids are running out of time. Next year. Yeah, next week. Oh, or next year. Yes. Next year. They will have that too. But next week, yeah. I mean, all of our oldest are in junior year right now. So, like, we have two years of spring break left with the kids. There was a, there was an unfortunate, Jason's in some way too cool school. So his kids are on spring break this week. Ours are on spring break next week. So we're like, okay, you go ahead. You could take the week. It's fine. And then two weeks ago, he had an advanced medical procedure that we can't disclose, but he's completely fun. He is totally fun. And someday he'll disclose it. Something happened to him. You know, everyone will find out later. And he's okay. But he's 100% fine. He's great. He's still a part of the show. I saw a couple comments that were like, is Jason not on it anymore?

It's March people. Yeah. Well, he'll be back. It just, it worked out that way. It'll be a full, uh, set of three man shows for next week's shows. So you're not going to, uh, you're not going to miss out. One of us might get sick. Don't don't. Okay. You're right. I guess I'm, I'm, uh, setting us up for failure. We've been running into some weird stuff lately. That's, that's fair. Uh, it is March 12th. We have, uh, good quick question on today's show. We have some more free agent frenzy. We have your mailbag questions. And, um, you know the landscape of the NFL has changed a lot of new faces and new destinations we talked through a lot of them on last show we said some things that are completely untrue on the last show because apparently you can take things back it's like jason was going to be here this weekend he decided to retract the deal the deal is not done until it is done in the system so we'll talk through that as well the 2026 ultimate draft kit

The pre-order is available right now, lowest possible price at Ultimate DraftKit.com. It will be the best Ultimate Draft Kit you have ever used because we continue to add features. And the mobile app has gotten a complete reworking. It's been upgraded. We have new features in the Dynasty Pass like the scouting report tool or prospect scouting reports, that is. And so there's a lot going on there. You can check it out at Ultimate DraftKit.com. Our quick question of the day is a simple one. Which underperforming player in 2025 will be a steal in 26 drafts for fantasy? Going with the word steel and your answer, I mean, I agree that your guy should bounce back, but a steal. Well, I don't think Terry McLaren will be properly valued in fantasy drafts. Currently, best ball wide receiver 24 right now. Yeah. Which seems like Terry McLaurin should easily.

outproduced wide receiver 24. Honestly, I'm a little bit surprised it's that high, like 24 in basketball, though, with what he was able to do the year before. I mean, last year feels like a deleted year for Jaden Daniels career. Yeah, and for Terry McLaren. Yeah, I mean, he's a really, really good wide receiver. He is the alpha on this team. If he's drafted at 24, like you said, I think that's a really, that's basically the basement, barring another significant injury. And he missed seven games. was he played half a game there in the middle, you know, against Kansas City where he did end up three for 54 with a touchdown in about half of the snaps. So, I mean, he got hurt, re-injured, I should say, in that game. So he pretty much missed eight games. Yeah, and it was wild because he came back, got re-injured, like you said, against Kansas City. And then the next game out, he gets 14 targets. I mean, this is the dude for the team. Debo is not.

going to be a part of the equation here. I don't know where else they, maybe they draft somebody, maybe they get more value out of one of the news pieces that we, we're going to have to break down. But I'm going to, I'm going to tease that one. There were, and I've seen their name connected with some of the other higher paid wide receivers as well of, like, so like Romeo Dobbs, who went to the Patriots, we'll talk about that, but Washington. They need somebody. Reportedly was in. They were trying to get him added to the squad. Obviously, he didn't go there. So I think, I think Terry McClearn will end up a steal. I think the resurgence of the offense with Jaden Daniels returning. They only played three games together last year, weeks one, two, and 14. It was a lost season. Best ball, wide receiver 24, probably where he goes in redraft, and I think he'll be a steal. And I'm going to bring up Chuba, where...

Look at you. Chuba Hubbard. Look at you. Because I have never... He no longer stands in the way of Rico. I have never had ill will to Chuba. I like Chuba. I think that, you know, what was it? Three years ago, he was a very interesting later round guy who really came through. Last year, it was, I felt that Rico was good enough to take Chuba off the field. It got real, real messy there. You know, halfway. Rico takes the job, then Rico, or then Chuba takes the job back. It was just kind of a mess. At where the depth chart stands right now, you know, Trevor E.T.N was a later round rookie that they took last year. And then Jonathan Brooks, second round pick from a few years ago, all accounts of his second ACL tear, like the recovery is going well. But it's still recovering from another ACL tear.

And right now in best ball, Chuba's the running back 29. Oh, that's a great one. I mean, too is a great pick. They have Trevor E.T.N. who I think will probably get more. I feel like Trevor E. She gets more work than Jonathan Brooks. Oh, yeah. I don't know how it's going to shake out other than I truly believe that Chuba will be the main guy. Not that I, I don't think Chuba's got, you know, the super sneaky top 10 in him. But RB 29 for a player. who will be very valuable on multiple weeks when you need those nasty running banks from time to time. And the Panthers, that's who they want to be. Nasty running backs? Some teams just truly, truly want to establish it. And that's what the Panthers want. And people forget he got paid. I think that the shakeup of last year, when you're that paid and then lose your job to Rico, who's not getting paid, it's understandably a

frustrating situation and confusing but i think that that confusion now is just leading to a discount of a player who i mean chuba's probably a running back too with with some spike weeks in there and he's not even being drafted there no i i think it's uh it's fair it was a weird year for chuba for sure dowdell caught fire he was he was everybody's favorite for about three or four weeks and dowdell was 51% of the carries um yeah of last year is jonathan brooks and Trevor E.N. That comedy is, are they good enough for 51% of the carries? I don't know. It might be down in the 40s. All right. Let's go ahead and move on. Jump into free agent frenzy. Free agent frenzy. I'm actually going to, I'm just going to follow up the Terry McLaurin news with the news that I teased, which is that the Washington came. So Mike, Mike. Yeah. I mean, it's been the year of Mike. Things worked out for K9 Romeo Dobbs in the free agent frenzy. But not everybody that Mike has loved ended up with a good.

Because if that's impossible, this one is. Well, look, the first thing that happened was the Cardinals added another running back. They signed Zonovan Knight, which pushes. So Zonovan Knight, Tyler Algier and James Connor are there all to ruin Trey Benson for you. They saw Benson's five and a half of Kerry last year, and they're like, we don't want any other. You know what? That's too good. That's too good for what we're trying to accomplish. I won't get us the number one pick. And then the news yesterday. Oh man. Pretty big news. Chig. I am the Senate. Chigakanco signs. Someone got primaried. A three year deal, right? Three years up to $30 million leaving Tennessee. Oh, that's right. That's right. He's got his own drop to battle the Senate there. The commander signed Chigacanquo. Zachard says he wants to come back and play. And now Ben's Senate lives and dies. I just wanted to see if he could be good.

You don't get to. I know. You don't get to see that. It's so frustrating. It's so incredibly frustrating to be, you got to rewind the tape of I was a big stand for Ben Sinit. And I'm like, you know, in the tight end landscape of that draft, I thought he was way better than people were talking about. He ends up being the second tight end drafted that year in the second round. And it was like this. full redemption of my, my scouting of, of his tape and his peripherals and his production and everything. It was, holy crap, you know, people were not on him. I loved him. And then it was, okay, we know he'll probably take a year because Zach Ertz is there. And Cliff Kingsbury just loves Zachertz. And then now Earth was gonna be gone and it was the Ben Senate time in there. This would be like if the Cardinal signed Chigacanquo right before.

Yeah, right before the Tray McBride breakout. No, you got Troutman, bro. You got Troutman. Yeah. All right, the big news that they're the ones that spend a second round pick on Ben Sennett. Right. It's really the joke's on them. Yeah. One thing you noticed, though, this entire off season is that teams have had to run out and they're signing these Charlie Kohler, these run blocking tight ends. The meta. I mean, Ben Sennett could still be on the field. What, Tonges McBasket just got an extension? Well, he had to. Yeah, well, of course. I mean, with George Gittle, not going to be ready. But yeah, if you do the dirty work, you get paid. Same with these, the fullbacks that have gotten traded and paid. The fullback landscape is going to be fascinating to see if it works out. Because like I said, the meta of the defense, it just, it changes over time. It always does. It catches up to the offense.

The offense can no longer do what they want to do, so they have to figure out a different way forward. And this, I mean, the Rams feel like they're the one spearheading this. Seattle did it a lot, too, of just, you're like, oh, you're a little bit smaller now because you wanted some speed to catch up with all the wide receivers. Well, now deal with our big guys. And you're like, all our defense isn't big enough. Reggie Gilliam, Alec Engold, Patrick Ricard, all moving teams this offseason at fullback. All right, the big news that we didn't get to talk about because we reported the trade that is now no longer. Max Crosby, the Raiders, they woke up to the news that the Ravens had backed out of this deal. I was reminding Mike and you're going to have to be an old head in fantasy football to remember it. But the Ravens have done this before. Yeah. Brian Grant was an emerging wide receiver from the Washington Redskins at the time. Brian or Ryan Grant? Brian Grant.

No, it's Ryan. Okay. Or is it Brian? Now you've got me double thinking. Well, you're the one who said Brian. No, it's Ryan. Okay. And he had signed, or in the open negotiation period, he was going to sign a four-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens to play wide receiver. The Ravens end up getting news that Michael Crabtree is going to be released by the 49ers. Yeah. And they back out of their deal. And all of a sudden, someone's not healthy. Yeah. Ryan Grant had not missed a game. in Washington, and then gets failed on a physical and they end up picking up Michael Crabtree. It didn't end well for the career of Ryan Grant after that point. He ends up with a year in Indianapolis and flaming out. That one felt really bad because he didn't get his money. Yeah, I mean, people are going to speculate. I don't know. I mean, obviously Max Crosby was hurt in the year. He had surgery. And then the Raiders go out and spend all the money that they were going to save from Max Crosby. And now Max Crosby is going.

To be back, the Raven signed Trey Hendrickson. See, that's where it gets extra suspicious. I know you're paying for Trey Hendrickson. You trade for Max Crosby because you have a need. And so if you, no matter what should Max Crosby have truly, they found something in the medicals that they were very concerned about giving up two first round picks for. So maybe they found that. Right between the meniscus and the Patella tendon was a way out. Right. That's what they found. It feels bad. But Max Crosby put out a post essentially declaring that he's just, he'll be a Raider now. Yep. Where. Well, all the other teams that were in on him went and spent free agent money. Like there were trade rumors for Dallas. And then Dallas goes out and gets Rashon Gary and they make other moves and they spend their money. And, you know, the Raiders, they were going to do this deal because they got a haul.

They don't want to go settle and then lose Max Crosby. They've got to look at it like, hey, they just acquired Max Crosby in free agency again after they went out and made their team better. It seems like he'll be back. Trey Hendrickson's going to be a member of the Ravens. So, you know, he is a significant deal. Four years, 112 million. And he will replace Crosby and they will not lose any first round picks. And Burrow still loses. Burrow loses always. Colts signed Daniel Jones to a two-year deal worth $88 million up to $100 million in potential value. Okay. Quarterback six in fantasy from weeks one through eight. No more Michael Pittman. Big money paid to Alec Pierce, Tyler Warren emerging and will continue to emerge. Josh Downs. Would you have rather... I mean, the two-year deal is interesting. Would not make it a long-term commitment. If you're...

If you're running an NFL team, would you have rather done this, gone in on Daniel Jones coming off the Achilles' tear for that money, or gone Malik Willis? I would rather have Daniel Jones. Okay. Yeah. Is it? I mean, he was really, really good. He was. What was a 7-1 team when they traded for sauce? He was. But you have to have at least some concern for the injury. That's a big-time injury. Yeah, Achilles. And number two, Daniel Jones has done this. Are we figuring the Achilles thing out? Like, have we scientifically now gotten to the point where we can look at this differently? I mean, Jason Tatum just came back mid-season. I, it's still TBD, though. I think someone invented a new little surgery or something. I think we need to just, when you go into the NFL, you go and they just, they graft something onto your Achilles and make it stronger. They're saying they should do it beforehand? Yeah, we're getting. Preemptive strike? We're way too strong now.

Like our Achilles are not evolving. What if you're getting bigger and thicker and stronger. They're the same one, the same tendon. This may sound really complicated science-wise. So if you can't keep up, I understand. We're obviously experts. Of course. What if you pre-tear everything? No, I don't think that's the- No, all at the same time. And then you reinforce it all. Okay. Do you know what I mean? Like they say if you break a bone, it heals. Yeah, but that's- Al. A bone. I'm right about all of this, right? Of course. Very different. You break all your bones. They all heal stronger. You're like Wolverine. That's what I'm saying. Can you pass down your Achilles? To your child? Yeah. You know, like we have like organ donor on my license, you know, should something terrible happen to me. But this is more of a bequeathing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like as I pass for for my oldest son, you get. How does that word?

They take my Achilles and they... Why does he want yours? Because it makes his stronger. Oh, he has double. Oh, yes. Now you're making scientific sense. Yes. So you got a... What's better than two Achilles? Four. So your uncle, your grandpa... Yeah. They all can't walk. But they're just rolled around. I mean, pretty soon you're going to have a lineage of like a kid with 16 Achilles. Yeah. No, I, this is... What do you think, Jay? Yeah, honestly, we'll have a shoe problem then because you're not going to fit into a shoe. Actually, Jay Gris makes me think about maybe you start using animal Achilles. Ooh, like a bear Achilles, that's got to be real strong. Yeah, but not necessarily for people. Hmm. All right, so Daniel. Okay, there we go. You keep doing that, Jay, we're taking your Achilles. Daniel Jones's deal. Jokes on us. He doesn't have legs.

That's true. That's true. He doesn't have an... He wouldn't fit in the chair. There were a... So the Daniel Jones move with Alec Pierce gives me great confidence in Alec Pierce. The Jacoby Brissette being the quarterback dealing with for Tray McBride and even Michael Wilson. Like those are a little bit stabilizing for situations that were awesome last year. Like Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce, like that was a... This was part of the equation for the Colts. It was like, this is Daniel Jones's dude. Let's get rid of Michael Pittman. Let's spend the money on the youngster. I think it's good for Pearson Warren. I agree. I would feel much like for your example of if Malik Willis had been the starter for Indianapolis, I'd feel way more in the dark about what kind of potential I'm going to get from those guys. Yeah, it's understandable. All right, more news, but let's take a break first. Mike, the Patriots, we haven't talked about this? No, not on the main show. All the shows are blending together. Yeah. For those that want an extra show every week,

We have the footcast available for supporters of the podcast. Go to join the foot.com for that. It must have been where we spoke about it earlier, or maybe the dynasty show. Who knows? Romeo Dobbs four-year deal with the New England Patriots worth $68 million. Romeo Dobbs is going to, by all accounts, step into the vacated role and opportunity of Stefan Diggs. They move to Romeo Dobbs. They've already started producing the oversized helmets in New England. They got the invoice for the guardian cap. How do you feel about this? Personally, fantastic because Romeo Dobbs is on my dynasty team. He's not yet 26 years old. In terms of what is the true fantasy value for this, Romeo Dobbs is, it's a tougher evaluation because he was.

Fourth round pick. Let me double check that. Yeah, he was, so he was a fourth rounder, which, you know, the NFL is saying, yeah, you're a pro. It's going to take you some time, which it did. You know, in the, year four, he hit 724 yards. That's his career high. So, yeah, career high in yards, yards per route, targets per route run. Targets per route run at 22%. Not too bad. It... I don't think that Romeo Dobbs going to Drake May with this money catapults him into being, oh, he's a top 15 guy. I want to play a game, Mike. I want to play. We both say, because it's March, and this is when we should know for certain. Okay. I want you to say out loud what he's going to finish a wide receiver, and I'm going to do the exact same thing. Okay, hold on. So it's like wide receiver and then the number. Hold on. Let me do some really, really.

Good thorough research here. Okay. Obviously, you can do that in a matter of seconds now. Okay, I got it. I got it. So we're both going to say it. Wide receiver. All right. One, two, three, go? Yeah. Okay. All right. Wait, no, I can't count and set it up. Oh, I got it. Okay. I just, I will count. I won't say go. I will just say the number. Got it. You do the counting? One, two, three, 26. So I went 20, you went 26? Not bad. Yeah. This is perfectly acceptable of. Yeah. Relevant? He takes this, yes, relevant. He matters. Relevant, probably not a game changer for fantasy football. Stefan Diggs, though a reminder was the wide receiver 16 and it was. He finished the 16th? Yeah. It was, he. Wait, let's do it again. Count it down. One, two, three, 20. Okay. All right. All right. That's not too bad. Now, I will be curious to see if New England makes another splash in the draft. There's some strong, I mean, I mean, last I looked.

at least according to our Felix model on the projections. It was like, you know, you get beyond the big names for wide receiver. And, you know, we talk about a lot in the Dynasty show, maybe not as much yet on the main show. But Jordan Tyson, Mackay Lemon, Carnell Tate are kind of the top three. You go beyond that and what we're talking, Denzel Boston. We're talking Casey Concepcion, right? And then you go beyond that, you got like, what, Malachi Fields, Jeremy Bernard. Am I missing some other names? Omar Cooper Jr. So all this to say, those are all guys that have potentially first and second round grades. Right. Or, you know, based on the production profile and the stuff that our model are looking at. My point is this is the strength of the draft is wide receiver. And there could definitely be some of these names where they arrive. Like Dobbs's signing does not make me throw cold water on any big wide receiver drafted there.

So if Malachi Fields or Concepcion ends up in New England, I'm not going, well, this guy can't perform because Dobbs signed there. Right. So it will be interesting to see if they add another weapon for Drake May or they want. Mac will still be there. Which, hey, I think Mac is relevant, too. PSA. Mac Collins, if you are not aware, look, Mac Collins is not a sponsor of their show. If you don't know about Mac Collins. We've actually really never had one player be a sponsor of the show, but go on. If any player wants to sponsor. I would love to say this show was brought to you today by T. Higgins. T. Higgins. Cincinnati Bengals. T. Higgins. The wide receiver. Yeah. That's amazing. But Matt Collins. I'm talking to you, Austin Eccler. Sponsorster this show. Oh, yeah. We'll get down with Eccles. Matt Collins's Instagram page is incredible.

It's just a, it's Mac Hollins. Is he doing the to-do stuff? Yeah, like, he shows you how to fix your house. Is it called Mac hacks? That sounds right. Is that fax? Yeah. Yeah, 60 second tutorials for everyday tasks like flushing your water heater or fixing a garage. He's not in a relationship. It's, he's, I'm in an online relationship with Mac Collins. If you got time for that. It's awesome. It's a, it's a great follow. And you learn a lot. Yeah. But so Matt Collins will be there. Booty will be there and Kyle Williams will still be there. Yeah. No, they got a good crew. It's not that they won't add, or they might add, but the point for Dobbs is he will have to elevate in terms of a target share. You know, Green Bay is, he did lean Green Bay in target share, but the way that they play is, if your fantasy wide receivers on the Green Bay Packers, you've never been happy.

You're always frustrated because just when you think Romeo Dobbs is happening. You're a piece of a huge pie. He disappears. Just when you think Christian Watson is happening, something else happens. And I think the Patriots will probably be something like that. But if Dobbs can hit a, let's say, 22 to 23% target share, he will be relevant. Stefan Diggs was at 21% last year when he finished as the wider receiver 16. Gino Smith was shamefully traded in the New York Jets. Dude. You know, there are a handful of teams this offseason suffering. The Cardinals fans are suffering. The Jets fans are suffering. The Falcons fans are suffering. Don't do. Why? Why? There's no reason. Just play fields. There's no reason to do this to your fans. It's what are you doing? It really is mean. It's mean-spirited.

I mean, the Raiders got a better pick. They're going to pay most of the money, though. They are going to pay most of the money. Well, they were going to pay him regardless because he was going to get cut. They're like, if we're going to pay him, let's go, who would fall for this? They're like, who's going to go out there and maybe trade as a pick for, will it be the guy? NFL, everyone, we're going to cut Gino Smith and the Jets. Whoa, whoa, whoa. He cannot hit the free market. We got to lock this up now. Gino, get him on the horn. Oh my gosh. There's just teams that are doing stuff like it's on purpose to hurt you. Yeah. It's so stupid. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. Let's talk about the Jacksonville Jaguar is in an interesting signing and actually interesting signing. They signed. Go ahead. Crodd. Crod. Chris Rodriguez Jr. signs a deal two years worth $10 million. 6.2 guaranteed. It's not.

It's not big money, but it's not bad. It's, he's 25 years old. He is going to a team where he played under Liam Cohen at Kentucky. I'm glad that he's back. Because of Cros. Yeah. He's a fun nickname. It's, I mean, honestly, for Chris Rodriguez, 6.2 million. That's not bad. That's very, very nice for him in terms of NFL money at the running. This is nothing. This is like Najee Harris. This is the depth move for Jacksonville. I still. I think that Bachel Tutin will still be the guy. They needed another body. You lost Travis. Yeah, you have to sign somebody. It doesn't freak me out, but it's also, it, it's a potential depth, like, rotational guy for Liam Cohen that he's familiar with. And it will, so that'll be a fun. And he is good. He was pretty good last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fourth in rush success rate. Second and yards after contact. He was always held down in Washington. Yes. Cory Crosky Merritt.

I will still be on the Tootin side of the backfield argument, but that will be a fun one to watch over the offseason. We talked about Chig Akonkos signing with the commanders. The people hate it. Did you just ask the people? I did. Live studio audience? Yeah. They hate it. They hate it. Is Chig going to be relevant for fantasy? Do you think? I mean, if he actually plays the Earth's role, he will. That was something that Jaden Daniels relied upon. The commanders right now are vacating 59% of their targets from last year. Debo is 23% Eertz was 17%. That's interesting. If you were going to be excited about Ben Senate, then you've got to be a little excited about Chica Conco. He's always been an athletic freak. And it's weird because players like this every once in a while, they can just take over three or four games. Like he did it at the end of 2024, right?