Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Explain Yourself! Ranking Debates & Hot Takes

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to the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from the fantasy jocks.com studios with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome to the show. We're back again. Thursday, May 18th, Fantasy footballers in the building. You crushed that date. You sounded a little hesitant. You weren't sure that it was accurate.

You persevered and you dominated it. You have to make a decision and you go with it. You don't want to be wishy-washy on the date. I like the music in that intro. Did you put that music back there, Mike? Many moons ago. Many moons ago. Welcome to the podcast. I am very excited for today's episode. We have an episode, I'm sure we will repeat at least once more. I was going to say. I already put that on the board. We're doing this episode again. We only did it once last year.

But it's just, it's so fun that it really should be. We should return to this. Yeah, well, I mean, clearly we will because today, Andy Holloway has been jacked up around the office running around. I can't wait for today's show. I think he has a list of statistics to come at us, Mike. Like he is. They aren't just statistics, Jason. He's, he's doing a hand motion like he's Montgomery Burns over here. Secret stats. This is getting built up way too much. I don't know if I have what it takes. Secret.

Today's episode is Explain Yourself. We are defending one and a, well, we're defending ourselves against the other two for our early season rankings, players that we have ranked a completely different way than the other two guys. And so if you've been on the website, the Fantasy Footballers.com, you look at the rankings, you see where we have our initial early rankings. All the rookies are in there. Everybody's in there. Even Ligarrett Blunt, whom we'll talk about very shortly.

They're all in there, but some of us, we just feel a different way about a certain player. And today is the Explain yourself. Explain yourself. Episode. Quick question, though, guys, jumping right into it here. This one comes in from Tim Seaman. He said, who will have a better fantasy football season this year, guys? Eddie Lacey, Paul Perkins, or Amir Abdullah? I think it's a good question because all three of those guys, they've got upside and they have some downside.

Yeah, they certainly do. For me, I'm still buying into Amir Abdullah because I'm buying into a second round talent. When we have seen him on the football field, he is an electric playmaker. He was already...

reinforced as the starter for Detroit. They did not make any moves. Meanwhile, Seattle has a thousand running. They're taking that New England Patriots approach where they just keep adding a new running back every single week. Paul Perkins has to deal with Wayne Galman, who the Giants drafted. And Paul Perkins is, he's kind of a tweener. Meanwhile, they have Chondrone the Big Salad. They got Shane Vareen. They have pass catchers. I think Bobby Rainey's still there. So there's a lot of competition there. Up in Detroit, it's Amir.

Theoretic and then Zach Zenter is the big back. And they don't do a lot of running in Detroit. It's a lot of running through the air. And Abdullah excels at that too. Yeah. The problem with that is that he doesn't excel as well as Theoretic does in the same backfield. And so if Theoretic were gone, obviously we'd say Amir Abdullah is great.

My answer to this question is Amir Abdullah. Yeah. I do have him rated the highest because... You just don't want him to get a big head. I think his... I think he has the talent. If he can stay healthy, which has been a big question mark so far in the two years. But they obviously... I feel like the lion still trust Amir Abdullah to a point in the sense that they didn't go out and draft another running back to replace him. When he's been on the field, he's been good. So...

He has the opportunity and talent combination. I will say this, though, in defense of Eddie Lacey. I feel like Eddie Lacey could have been on today's show with a spain yourself. You know, like Mike, you got him, I think, RB 46. Yeah, I bodyed him. I just can't. I mean, you've got the starting running back. You can't body Eddie Lacey. He out-bodies you. Yes, he does. You know, they're a team that's always been a team that runs the ball. Eddie Lacey has been productive and was good last season.

when he was on the field. So I think it's between those two guys. And just to be fair to Amir Abdullah, he did appear in all 16 games his rookie season. So it was, I'm not going to call him injury riddled just because of one season. A lot of players lose a season. So it just is unfortunate that it was his second year. Yeah, half of his career, Mike. Yeah. Look, I can't argue that. I can write, I can write the story for Amir Abdullah here.

And I can write the story for Eddie Lacey here because Eddie Lacey's season would have to look a lot like Legerick Blunt's good offense down on the goal line. He's the guy to go to in those situations. We saw Marshaun Lynch, double digit, double digit, double digit. Very different team. Sure. That's the story for Lacey. I would say Abdullah is the answer. I don't know why. I can't write a story for Paul Perkins. We all agree. That's the whole point is I can't write the story where Paul Perkins has any significant.

piece of that offense when you have so many past catching weapons. It doesn't mean he won't be solid, but there are players like that that you're just kind of like, boy, I really want Paul Perkins as my three. Like that's how I feel about Paul Perkins right now. And I would just say this. Amir Abdullah, a good friend of the show. If you're listening right now, if you're watching, please do good this year. I think we still have a stack of Abdullah Express posters. Not well. We would like to have. Do good. Do good. Sure. Charitable.

Very kind, be a community. Well, if he's kind to your fantasy football team, then he is donating many fantasy points. And we know Mike loves him because he gets hurt a lot. So on today's show, we have, like I said, the Explain Yourself section. We're going to talk some news. You can find us on Twitter at the FFBallers and the websites, the fantasy footballers.com. Check out the ultimate draft kit. I believe there are four.

Brooks, can you check, is it 14 days left until that thing is released? That's correct. Is that why I'm working 16 hour days? Is that the reason why I'm doing that? Two weeks. Two weeks away from the Ultimate Draft Kit. And you can check that out, Ultimate DraftKit.com. From time to time, we like to read reviews from the listeners of the show in only the way that Jason can. And so let's hit it. Oh, maybe not.

Review Osaurus Rags. This one comes in by Go Falcons 99. Aw. From Canada. Bajorno. He says, thank you. Absolutely love this podcast. I've only played fantasy football seriously for two years now. It is now practically my life. After finishing seventh my first year, I found this podcast. This past season, I jumped from seventh to first.

It is now a routine to listen to the podcast on my lunch. Love the football knowledge and the fun that comes along with it. Well, go, Falcons 99 from Canada. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, his message was, thank you. You're right. You're welcome. And look, it captures what this show is all about. We want to deliver solid fantasy football knowledge that helps you in your league, helps equip you to make good decisions. And we like to have some fun.

That's what fantasy football is. Just a sincere thank you. The reviews, people think, well, what's, if you enjoy the show, a quick way you can help us out with very little impact of your life. Just click some buttons and then leave us a five-star review. It helps us out. Absolutely. Let's get into the news. News and notes from around the league. Oh, yesterday Mr. Ligarrett Blunt signed a one-year deal with a team that needed a running back, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Garrett Blunt, this should be the farewell to Ryan Matthews. Yes, it should be. Yeah, he'll almost certainly be cut. All the beatwriters around Philadelphia have been saying he's going to be cut for the last few months. And you're like, well, how? They don't have other running backs. That's why LaGarrett Blunt had been tied to them in rumors. But this is a great signing because I'm sick of all these.

running backs, you know, Adrian Peterson goes to a team and wrecks it. Jamal Charles might go to a team and hurt C.J. Anderson. Here, I mean, there were all the shady owners worried about Buffalo grabbing Ligarrett Blunt. And I was starting to think that Ligarrett Blunt might go back to the Patriots and just, you know, make another one, another running back to the core there. Here, he actually becomes someone with value. I don't think anybody was really banking on Ryan Matthews.

currently and he doesn't hurt anybody of relevance. Do you have anything to say about Ryan Matthews, Mike, at this point where you have an obvious, other than the fact that you believe he's absolutely fabulous and amazing player, are you willing to just concede the fact that everybody else in the world disagrees with you? No. No, he can't because I agree with him. Look, what I will say is I think it's to disagree that he has a very good player, I would not agree with that at all.

Is he better than Ligarip Blunt? Yes. So why is he being cut and Ligarablunt being signed? Money. Money and injury. Ryan Matthews is officially, not that we needed last year, but Ryan Matthews is injury prone. There are some guys who just can't seem to stay healthy. And I just want to throw this out here.

I love the signing by Philadelphia. I think that Laguerre Blunt could be a low win running back too for this team. I think he can score a bunch of touchdowns just like Ryan Matthews did last year. Matthews had eight last year. Yes. And I also want to throw out, we have a guy in our keeper league. He is essentially the taco of our league, taco from the league, where he just makes these weird moves.

But they always work out. And he kept Ligarra Blunt despite it when he was a free agent. Looking like an absolute idiotic move. The clear wrong move. And now Ligarablunt is the starting running back for the Eagles. I didn't even think about that until just. So he's going to be great. He's going to be a top 10 running back now. I mean, this is how it always works out for that guy. Mike, I didn't even think about those implications until now. All right. So Ligarra Blunt, I've sated him out for about.

six touchdowns in that offense. He has the upside to be double digits, depending on how that offense comes into form under Carson Winston's in year number two. But Legerra Blunt signs with the Eagles. Very interesting signing. Good signing. Glad he didn't mess someplace else up, like Jason said. Just a couple quick notes. The NFL is looking to add a second IR to return spot for the upcoming season. This gives the opportunity for somebody to be tucked away.