“What If” Players + Fantasy Fears - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/3

coming over from a or coming from a scared Christian Kirk manager. He has not been on in two wide sets. That's the same thing that happened last year. I'm not worried. I'm not worried about Christian Kirk. He does, he has kind of turned into one of those invisible players. I believe he was dealing with an injury over the, over these last couple months as well. What it comes down to for Christian Kirk is I believe. in the talent of Christian Kirk. I think that the Jaguars do as well. So you can't keep him off the field. You gave Gabe Davis the money. I understand. Christian Kirk is actually good and will help your team win football games. Yeah, I mean, he was last year played with Calvin Ridley. And in the healthy games, he got injured in week 13. Up to that point, he was the wide receiver 23. His 17-game pace was 130 targets.

for 1,100 yards. I mean, he's going to be super involved in this office. Yeah, I think the thing with Kirk is like what you said, this is a, to me, a low-in-two type of player with some upside on a week-to-week basis, but he's not a dominator, right? Like, he has career high in receptions in a year is 84. That's nice. But this is, we know what Christian Kirk is six years into the league. And sometimes he can feel blasé to select because you can be taking. You know, he's going to go in every draft ahead of where Brian Thomas is going. I enjoy drafting Brian Thomas way more. It's just the truth. You're getting 10 fantasy points in a half PPR. Like, just book it. You got Critch of Kirk in there? He's 10 fantasy points. And that's good in some scenarios. But yeah, his ceiling is definitely a little bit more kept. But this team does not have enough options to eliminate Christian Kirk, Christian Kirk outside of injury.

So Ingram and Kirk are going to soak up so many targets. I think the rise of Brian Thomas, like the noise of the rise of Thomas. The noise of his second half of training camp is helping to squeeze out your excitement for Christian Kirk. What is your biggest fantasy football fear heading into the 2024 season? That's the next question that we have. What is the biggest fear? Jason might have accidentally. mentioned his. Yeah, I think I did. Stroud failing. Yeah, it goes to Tank Dell as well. You know, I'm very bullish on his unstoppable. And so if he gets injured or gets John Dotson for some reason, that will be devastating. I think that it's the CMC 101 working out the way it's supposed to. He's been there.

and it's hard to repeat. We take it for granted with CMC. Everything should be fine. I think the 49ers in general are a question to me of like, does everything just come together perfectly? The signings this week are going to help tremendously, but at the same time, like... The vibes have been bad there for a while, and now everything's coming together right at the right time. It does feel like it's working out. And then Philly, like a lot is dependent on Jalen Hertz, just like C.J. Straub. If Hertz cannot... step up his game in this offense, which is a, he's going to have to make more decisions in this offense. There's a lot more option routes. There's a lot more movement. This is not as straightforward as what he was used to, and he's going to have to handle protections. He's going to have to handle things. And you're depending on him for AJ Brown and Devante Smith. So that's an interesting one too. Mine is selfish, but it is also related to the group of the elite wide receivers.

who didn't practice, who have not done training camp. Are they still elite wide receivers to start the year? How are their hammies? Brandon I.U., C.D. Lamb, Jamar Chase. And I'll just toss Justin Jefferson in there. Not that he's not practicing, but he's an elite wide receiver who we have some concerns about. That's four guys who are very early picks that three of them have not really practiced. They, they. for the most part, have skipped training camp. All right, let's turn to another voicemail question. For keeper leagues, do you prefer keeping players at their previous year draft value or making everyone use their first and second round picks as their keeper picks? Thanks. So keeper question, do you get to keep a player for last round's draft cost or no matter what it's your first or second round pick? We have hotly debated this.

a thousand times over the years maybe not hotly but just different opinions of what we think i think there's only one hot part because both of these formats are great i don't i don't really have a preference between either our league of record is basically no no pretty against last round so what i am very against is waiver wire pickups being used as a last round pick like that is i agree so if you're in the format where you keep a guy at the value of last year's cost got you I can't stand when you get to get a waiver wire pickup that wasn't drafted. Yeah, but then what's last year's cost for a waiver wire picket? No, you shouldn't be able to keep them. You didn't draft them. They weren't drafted. They're not a keepable asset. I hate that. Or keep them. Keep them at ADP. So you're the guy that had the foresight to go get Kyron or Puka, or I guess I should say Puka. You're right. I did. I drafted Puka last year. But you don't get a keep them because you're in a Keeper League and you're the one that you pick them up off the waiver wire and you don't get to keep them?

That's part of being a great manager. But not for a last round draft pick. I am fine for waiver wires. Two rounds behind ADP because you did something great. How about that? That's fine. I'm totally fine with that. Yeah. Well, let's put that in pin the paper. That's the hotly debated part of this question. Either 80p value for the waiver or if you want to give one to two round bonus because you picked them up and kept them. Is that what you just said, Falcon? Do you do you play in a league with two rounds behind 80P? No, but that would.

that would be it makes sense the i don't personally though the the first or second round i don't love that look because there's going to be teams out there that like they just they don't have a player that's worth being kept for a first or a second round pick and now you're you're already behind the eight ball against these strong teams so that's i have my concerns there and it's i like at where you drafted them because that's in a keeper league you're rewarding players for the future for drafting by the way our league of record is a keeper league yeah there is not a cost no we do in our league what we do we give you three players one you lock in as yours guaranteed and then you pick three more from your roster that don't match that franchise players position and we do a lottery and two thirds of them come back to your team and one goes into the draft and we don't have a draft costs associated with it

You just have the restrictions. Yeah, I guess part of the fundamental reason why there's not a draft cost is because we try to encourage players to trade their picks all over the place. So if you are, you know, you could work that into the mix, right? Like you can still trade your picks and then if you don't have your second and your keeper you draft in the second, you don't get that chance to keep them. But that's, we just do three and no cost. Yep. All right, Kyle in Indianapolis. We'll get to your question in just a second. We'll take a quick break and come back with more mailback. All right, Kyle's question, I have James Connor in a redraft league, but not Trey Benson. Should I trade Chuba Hubbard for Benson to get the Arizona backup or keep Hubbard since he looks like a great depth piece and a late round pick at the moment? I would be very on the Hubbard side. Yeah, I think I'm keeping Chuba. The player that drafted Trey Benson, I mean, you're going to be.

Crossing your fingers, of course, but if three to four weeks go by and James Connor is the James Connor that has been the Arizona Cardinals running back for the past couple of years, Trey Benson is probably going to hit the waiver wire. A pure insurance running back takes a lot of will and commitment to hold onto that player. Yeah, it's hard when you are. rostering those guys to see a player on the waivers that pops and not just drop them. It's really difficult. I, you know, I've been the most, I think, anti-Chuba. Not that I'm super against Chuba. I think he's a good pick at value. But I would rather roster him than Trey Benson. One of these guys is the current starter. Every year you're shocked at how thankful you are to have any depth at running back to start on buys and injuries. And all of a sudden, if you have a starter,

or a high role player, you're so thrilled because you just need them so often. And the problem with Connor is like, okay, if Connor went out for the season, Trey Benson is a spin it all. If James Connor went out for a game, it's going to be a committee. It's not just going to be Trey Benson, the rookie taking over every snap. There's going to be other players involved. So that complicates it. All right. Tom writes in on Instagram, where will DJ Moore finish? Well, um, What a great question. That is going to need the time machine. I love DJ more. I think that he is, he's not going to be at number six again, like he was last year with Justin Field. But I don't think, I think he can, let's ask it this way. Do you guys think he can compete to get in the top 12? And then where do you think he'll finish? I would be surprised if he does. I think he'll finish.

closer to wide receiver 16, 17, 18, somewhere around there. You've got more target competition, which he didn't have last year, and a rookie that historically, they won't throw as many touchdowns. And that will be the one thing that hurts is fantasy production. Yeah, I'd put him at the, you know, looking back at his career, he had a season of 12.5, then 11.9, 11.2. I'd put him in that 11 points per game area. All right. I have a question for our. the deucers today because we are we just finished i think three drafts uh recently the three of us or two or three of them um first of all have you guys knocked out any drafts that like are you done with like how many have you finished out i've got two down two to go all right what about you uh papa two down two to go all right four down four down so we got eight drafts over there all right um i want to know because yeah you know

You're regular people. How do you feel about your draft so far? Oh, I'm thrilled so far. So very, so thrilled, but yet monotone. Papa Josh, Papa Josh, how do you feel? I feel really good. Ask me after Thursday, though. Is that your big draft? That's the League of Record. Oh, League of Record. But I don't have any picks. Goodness. Are you not showing up? Oh, I'm showing up. I'm talking to Andy. He's like, what's Thursday? I hired a celebrity to do a proxy for me. Oh, since I'm the champ. Oh. I'm getting a massage. And then what about you, Falcon? I feel really good about two teams, but my Megalobole team is not. Oh, no. Not good. So you're increasing the odds of the Foot Clan to make it into the listener league. Exactly. All right. And what about the ones that we just finished? How are you guys feeling? Pretty good so far. Listener League, League of Shadows. Oh, I feel awful about my listener league. We told the story of that. Yeah, you were driving. Don't.

drive and draft? Was that the advice? Don't, don't hospital on draft. Don't drive and draft. Those are harder ways to succeed. Falcon, didn't you drive and draft your Megalibold team after he gave you that advice? Yes, I did it. And I also had a hot tub and drafted too. Oh, hot tub and draft. Yeah, that's fine. A hot tub and draft. Honestly, you're giving me a new idea for Thursday. Oh, yes. Please bring in a hot tub. How cool would that be? Um, He's committed to staying in it the entire draft, and by the time it's just wrecked dead. IG question from Brooks Fangs. Talk about the path for Drake Lennon to be a wide receiver one. The path is very clear. Yeah, that's Kirk Cousins is very good. The offense surprises. They've got an easy path, a great.

Like, if you look at strength of schedule tools, obviously the defenses they play, they're going to change from last year. But as of now, and including, you know, just win totals and expectations going forward, especially in the playoff stretch. Like, they remind me of what happened last year, how the schedule lined up for the Cowboys, where you could look and you could say, like, man, they're playing good defenses against the run, bad defenses against the pass. So if Kirk Cousins is healthy and Drake London is his main target, he could easily, easily be a wide receiver one this year. You have been, you were very close on one of your bold predictions to being very bullish on Atlanta. Yes. You have talked about that a lot. There is a little bit of me that looks at Atlanta like we did see when Matthew Stafford and the Rams and we were all spending the offseason just.

We weren't willing to hand the baton to them yet. But like, let's just, if you just concede that Cousins is fine, if you say that out loud and carry it to its ins, Drake London should be great. Kyle Pitts should be good. Bejohn should be great. Mooney should be involved. Like, if you just said, he's fine. Who's a better? I don't think we've been willing to really say that. Yeah, who is a better? wide receiver let me let me ask it this way you're a general manager okay and you are on the clock and you get to draft either chris olive or drake london who would you take for your franchise that is uh i am so upset that you said that out loud because that is that is the those two have been the most difficult thought process for me i i

And I lean a lobby. I'm going Drake. There you go. I think I lean Drake. And so it's one of those. You do get the benefit of no Derek car if you lean that way. But that's what I'm saying is the quarterback. If Kirk is healthy, he's clearly a better quarterback. So if you're saying that these guys are the same tier, the same talent, or even that London is better. Yeah. He might be a better quarterback. Fair. Yeah. You know, do you remember when I was a defender of the car? of Derek Carr? Yeah. Yeah. We all make mistakes. I just feel like watching that offense last year was so painful. There were times, Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, that combination together, all that he did for Darren Waller, awesome, very fun. Last year, it was just awful to watch. It was the hardest to watch team. If you take the Jets out that didn't have a quarterback, they were the hardest to watch team because the actual...

offensive system was like they didn't have one. That's what it felt like. It was like, what are you doing? What is this offense? He does. Bad vibes. I've been really trying to get my head around what Chris Oliva is capable of doing in this offense because we all love the talent of Chris Oliva, but we have to acknowledge the tendencies of quarterbacks and offensive systems and the schedule and the fact that you think Dennis Allen will be on the street soon. And, um, Like Carr has been able to throw the ball deep successfully in his career, but last year they were not on the same page for the first half. Could not get into the end zone. You know, so there are a lot of people out there that think OLAV that think OLAV will be one of the bigger busts in fantasy. That is a prevailing opinion. It could easily happen. Thankfully, you know, Clint Kubiak is in town. You got Coobes bringing in his system. So hopefully the offense is just dramatically different looking than it was last year.

Is this a real question, Kyle, from Instagram about why don't you work on Labor Day? I believe President Grover Cleveland had something to say about that when he signed that into law in 1894. Yeah. You know? And by the way, just for the record, a bunch of us did work on Labor Day. We have been rushing to get everything for week one. So a bunch of our team did work. And I get it. Not everyone. is afforded the holiday off. But there is something very ironic about here's, let's celebrate the labor of America by working. Like what? What? Yeah. We did have a really cool Labor Day release on YouTube that I should mention. We had the biggest loser Brian Ketron and then Brooks put together a 2023 highlights video.

which just spoiler alert my favorite highlight is when I sniped you in our mock draft and you literally raise your fist with fury and said you're driving me insane yeah yep you were so that's part of the highlight video but you can check that out and you know that's a fun it's a fun one don't worry you were going to have five days a week for the entire rest of the season and an extra episode as part of the foot clan we're going to take off christmas too guys yeah get prepared i'm trying to get more labor days on the schedule talk to grover not enough kids got to give me a Ouija board not enough kids named grover anymore no well i wonder how many there's got to be some oh in my head grover cleveland in my head i had flipped it i was like his name was cleveland but no no his first name was grover yeah like when he he was

Isn't that the Sesame Street character? That's what I was wondering. I was rocking my brain like is, where's, what's that name? Grover is, yes, yeah, that is Sesame Street. And, you know, I don't know, like he was Mr. President to all the little, the little blue guy, the blue Elmo. Yeah. Okay. No, he's not, he's much large than Elmo. Is he? I don't know these things. Man, he's just a photograph. I think that once your name is used for like a Muppet or a very well-known puppet, I mean Josh looks like Grover. Just looks like a Grover. Oh, he looks like a Grover. He could pull it off if we, if his name was Grover. Not a shower. All right. All right. Jason's jaw just dropped. YouTube question. Shane Falco or Johnny Utah or Johnny Utah. Now we're picking fake quarterbacks. These are fake quarterbacks. Make it quick. Shane Falco. Come on. This is John, John, Utah is way cooler. I mean, if you need, if you need an actual football player, you got to go Falco, but Johnny Utah.

The replacements, right, with Shane Falcons? Yeah, and Johnny Utah is point break. Instagram question from Gabe Holden, Chase Brown or Brian Robinson for 2024. Ooh. You can, I'm on Brian Robinson's. I'm on the Brian Robinson side as well. I, man, I'm going to go Chase Brown. I don't mind Brian Robinson. It's just, it's very difficult for me to see the path to actual real upside. He'll be a very competent fantasy player, but if Chase Brown. can take over, then his upside is why. Yeah, I get picking the better offense, right? You think the Bengals have a chance to be a really good offense. Which is going to be difficult. Their depth chart just came out, and Zach Moss is the starter. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I'm still on the Zach Moss side. So when I look at those two, both players are in committees. And I believe that Brian Robinson is the back I want out of Washington. And I believe Zach Moss is the back that I want for the Bengals.

Cole in Tucson has a pretty good question, some names we haven't brought up a lot. When Greg Roman was the OC for the Ravens, all I heard about was how he scheme tight ends in the passing game, more than wide outs. You have Will Disley and Hayden Hurst, both sitting on waivers in most leagues. Hawaii. Yeah, it's a, it is a fair question. I think, Andy, you just brought up Hayden Hurst. I just drafted him with the second of the last pick of my best ball draft. looking at another tight end. But Disley was paid off season money to come in there as well. It's also worth noting personnel, right? Like Mark Andrews might have been why he schemed tight ends so heavily because he had one of the best ones out there. And now it's Will Disley and Hayden Hearst. It's fair, though. They don't have the wide receiver room with experience and ability that...

It actually kind of imitates what Baltimore dealt with for so many years. That's fair. Like, they don't have them. Which one would you take? Between the two? Yeah. I would take Haydenhurst. I would. Because I think Disney's just going to block the pants off of people. I mean, we'll say, wait a minute. I mean, what are we doing here? Yeah. How are you? We got a big Montana question. The show was going to want a big Montana to come through for the charge. Will Disley, big Montana? I don't think we need to change that jersey on there, by the way. That was close enough to Chargers color. The sound of football was doing a, you know, a quick look back because it was Mark Andrews, Vernon Davis. Like, of course we're going to use these guys. It was a couple years of Buffalo. I couldn't put my finger on it. Guys, it was Mr. Necessa. Charles Clay? Yes. Yeah. Okay. I think that this. Yeah, this is a great.

Point. This should be brought up. You know, Greg Dulcich, the reason why I think he's interesting is who are the established pass catchers for the Broncos? Who are the established pass catchers for the Chargers? Ladmokonky. Unestablished. Yeah. So I don't know. One of those guys could come through. All right. We're going to wrap it up for today. We'll be back with another episode tomorrow. And a reminder, there are two remaining times for Megalibold drafts. 5 p.m. Pacific tonight, if you're listening on Tuesday, and 9 a.m. Pacific Wednesday morning. The final two draft times, you can get in there still, megalobole.com. That is going to do it for today. It's just going to be one day away tomorrow, Jason. Yeah. Oh, two more sleeps. Goodbye. You for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on Jointhefoot.com.

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