Fantasy Football Podcast for 2015 - Free Agent Running Backs and Draft News Part 2.

No, and what's funny... It's so funny, the double standard. It exists. What's funny about this is if you talk to me 10 years ago, I'm the guy who's, like, when players, they signed a big contract, then two years they want a new one, I'm the guy who's, oh, shut up, you got your money, you know, you signed the contract, played out. I'm completely on, I'm on board with players. Generally, I would say 98% of the time where you get your money, you take it when you can.

What you are trading for the cash payout of your body, your mind, you need to get whatever you can possibly get. Yeah, I agree. And pretty much the only situation now that I really don't like is that guy that's two years out from his contract being up wanting to hold out and get that extension. That's a little much to me.

Let's go and get into some of these running backs. Do you guys want to talk a little bit about, we already talked about AP, we already talked about DeMarco a little bit. What's the latest you're hearing about Marshawn Lynch, Jason?

Marshawn Lynch has been offered all of the money that is in Washington. In the world. All the monies in the world. All of the monies are there. So he's clearly either going back to Washington or retiring. Those are the only, I mean, obviously, he's possibly going to walk away. Don't get any of the Redskins fans excited. Okay. He's possibly going to walk away because of his back, because of some of those injuries.

But I think he comes back. I mean, Marshaun likes to not do the offseason as much. And I think that he's just going to take his time and be a little different and then sign a giant contract and come back and run a bunch of touchdowns in. Did you see he just trademarked the phrase? What is it? I'm just here. Oh, so I don't get fined. He's a business man. He is a really smart businessman with all the wearing the beast mode gear.

Then that's flaring up that he's going to get fined, which just makes people more aware of the Beast Mode gear. Skittles? His deal with Skittles, that commercial was amazing. I read somewhere that the Beast Mode sales are through the roof for his gear, which that doesn't surprise me. I think he's awesome. I think the gear is awesome. What's killing me about Marshawn Lynch is me personally. I have a decision to make the day after the draft.

Do I lock in and keep Marshawn Lynch for my fantasy keeper team? Or do I move on to Jeremy Hill and keep him instead? Yeah. I need a decision, Marshaun. I think you'll find out. I need to know. Let me ask you guys this, and be bold. If Marshaun Lynch returns to Seattle, he finishes as the number... Where did I have him? I think four. Running back? I think I had him at four, yeah. Jason. Five. Top five still. I put him at five.

Obviously, if he's getting paid $11, $12 million, they're going to keep focusing on him. So no reason to believe otherwise unless his body breaks down or you get something like that. Next question for you two gentlemen is Shady McCoy coming back to Philadelphia because it does not sound like he wants to take a pay cut. Yeah, it's really a unique circumstance up in Philadelphia where Chip Kelly, he's already demonstrated he has a track record of he'll get rid of you if he.

thinks your salary is too bloated. Are you saying that because of Deshaun Jackson? Exactly. You have a guy who had a career year, and Chip Kelly said, yeah, that's okay. We'll just let you go, and then you can sign it with the division rival. We really don't care. It's the offense. It's not the player, kind of. Well, he believes in his offense. I think he wants good players because all this noise of they're going to do everything they can to get Mariotta into the fold up in Philadelphia.

So the problem with Shady McCoys, he's owed a ton of money. They had production from Sproles. They like Chris Polk. They like him to score touchdowns, despite all of us fantasy players being enraged when Chris Polk comes in on the two-yard line. So it would not... What's the word? Surprise? That'll work. It will not surprise me if Shady is moved.

And I think it would be more of a trade situation to improve firepower to move up in the draft. Because I don't think – some people are saying Marriota might slip. I don't think he's fallen past six. Anything to add to that? Yeah, I think that the reason that Deshaun Jackson was gone was an attitude thing as much as the money. And I think LaShawn McCoy, he's come out and he said he's open to a restructure. He doesn't want a straight cut, but he's open to restructuring. So I think they'll be able to bring him back.

Really good. Fantasy owners are very upset with his production because almost solely because of how incredible it was the year before. And so he's a great back. He's good. He's a perfect fit for their system. They like him. They want him back. They can afford him and he's willing to restructure. I think it's a done deal that he's an eagle. I have a question about restructuring, which is a legitimate question because I don't know the answer. Why would you not?

restructure a contract because all they're doing is moving money that you may get later and saying okay you can have that money right now i don't think that's the only thing that's involved in a restructure though i think some of it'll come across you're saying because they include a signing bonus and they yeah they turn money back they turn money into signing bonus and then they i guess they turn some back end into things like uh uh performance based bonuses and and the number of years on the deal

Does that ever change? I mean, you see... Years in NFL contracts don't really mean anything, though. It's all about that signing bonus and guaranteed money. I think it ends up just being a leverage play for a lot of players as to when they will most likely hit free agency again or be able to get another contract. Right, but I'm saying. So it benefits the player. It can, as long as you agree to the right restructure. If you agree to the restructure that the team wants, it might not. So I think that's the negotiation. All right, that's fair.

All right, so let's talk about some of these. We're moving on to some of these middle tier, maybe lower tier, running back free agents. But guys that, I think in the fantasy world, we should be looking at, can these guys be sleepers? Talking about Shane Vereen, Stephen Ridley, Roy Hulu, a couple guys like McFadden, Moreno, even Anton Smith, who flashed about, I don't know, six big plays last year.

I'm curious what you guys think about the pair of New England Patriots running backs. I don't think either will be back. That's my opinion. But Jason, you got some thoughts on Shane Boreen. I know that. Shane Boreen is, I had a big man crush on him two years ago. And man, the opening of that season was proven so right. And then he got injured and was out. And I didn't know where to go. But his ability.

Yeah, two years ago, and you snaked him from me. Yes, I did. Hit the hit, man. And, uh...

I love his ability as a pass catcher, and I really desperately want him to go to Baltimore. Seems like Forset's going to be out, in my opinion. There's teams that are aggressively wanting Forset. Atlanta's been talking about Forset as being, you know, someone that they're really after. And if someone is really after him, I don't think Baltimore is. So if Shane Marine goes to that role in the Mark Tressman checkdown ability with that offensive line, I think Farine could be a beast there.

So that's, you know, I think where he lands is going to make. Give me stats for Beast. Beast would be 80 catches and several caught touchdowns. I would say five touchdowns in the air. That's 30 more catches than he's ever had in his career. Well, he's missed a lot of games. I think that if he played, you know, 16 games on a team that was getting him the rock in the air, I think he could catch a hundred. I guess we saw, we saw Rice.

produced in the passing game there for years. Yeah, but new coordinator. I'm going to give you another name. Danny Woodhead, okay? Danny Woodhead and Shane Vereen remind me a lot of each other in the way that New England's treating the situation. Scat back, useful for them. I don't think there's any reason. Vreen wants like $4,000 or $5 million a year. That's where his negotiating beginning is. So I don't think he's back in New England.

He had his career year last year with 96 carries for 391 yards and then the 52 catches with 447 yards. I just don't get excited about Shane personally. I agree with Jason where if he goes into the right situation where he's actually going to get more snaps, more targets that he can produce. I think his ceiling would be a...

Low-level RB2. Okay. I agree with you now. Yeah. That would be where I would draft him and how I felt about him. But at the same time, he does have an explosion factor where he could break out. He's only 25 years old. Right. He has the potential to exceed what my expectations are. Unlike a guy where, you draft him, you think he's a low-level RB2, and that's the highest he can get.

I like his potential to be more consistent. Even if he put up the same numbers, right? And he's wherever he lines up in the fantasy draft order. At least I feel like if he went somewhere else, he's got the opportunity to be a consistent week-to-week guy where New England those running backs are such a rotation. There's such a game-by-game game plan situation. Baltimore, I agree, is a pretty good landing spot for him. What about the other...

The torn ACL over there. He's only 26 years old. Stephen Ridley. Tor is ACL in October. They say he's ahead of schedule on his rehab because every person who tears their ACL is ahead of schedule on rehab. We need to readjust this schedule. Yeah. But he won't be back in New England, right? No, no. He's gone. You guys know that I'm a big Stephen Ridley guy. I think he is a tremendous power back. He does have a problem holding on... You know...

Maybe his problem is he cannot hold on to a deflated ball. That's his issue. Poor Stephen Ridley. Everyone else benefits from it, and Ridley's in the doghouse? There's something going on. Maybe that's why Balchek is so mad every time, and he sits him out. He's like, we deflated the ball for you. What are you doing? But Ridley, I believe in his talent, if he can hold on the ball, or go somewhere where they're not just going to.

murder his confidence every single time he has a fumble. Stephen Ridley to Indianapolis makes a ton of sense to me. I agree with that. He's a powerback. He runs the type of... He reminds me, honestly, a lot of the ferocity that Bradshaw brought to that offense, where he doesn't go down on first or second hit, like Trent Richardson. Trent Richardson goes down ahead of time. He's a powerback with...

No power. Yeah. Who also waits to be hit. He doesn't, you know, seek a hit. He waits at the line of scrimmage. Man, the tables have turned on him. Yeah, that's... I remember you drafted him. He scored 12 touchdowns and tricked us all into thinking he was half decent, but he just was Lendale White.

Don't chase touchdowns, people. The problem I see with Stephen Ridley is the market. This is such a good year for running backs. There's so many free agents. There are so many running back rookies coming in that are... You're saying it's diluted. Yeah, I'm saying, why would you go after Stephen Ridley, who you don't know if he's going to be healthy? And I think when you do sign Stephen Ridley, you're going to sign him cheap, and you're not signing him to bring him into a big role. You're signing him to hold on to him for a year or have a...

maybe, you know, come back guy. So I, from a fantasy. San Francisco. Yeah, that could work. Maybe. Depends on how they feel. Pulling one out of a hat. He would be behind Carlos High there. So I think from a fantasy perspective, I'm not very high on Stephen Ridley. Well, ACL concern too. You're talking a one-year deal for Stephen Riddle. No matter where he's going, I think it's a one-year deal for like one or two million dollars. I was going to say, I bet it's a one-year $3 million deal. Maybe a team option on there, but.

It's going to be really short term no matter where he goes. All right, let's talk about another guy who's only 26 years old. He hails from the Capitol. Roy Hulu, Jr., I believe. That's true. Roy Hulu, Jr., played behind in that scatback role for Alfred Morris. He was a two-minute offense guy. He was a third downback. Really has come on in terms of, he kind of reminds me at Ingram a little bit, and not as a player, but in a