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

Oh, Foot Clan, it is almost time. The NFL season right around the corner. We've got a great show for you today. We're talking about some waiver-wired gems, getting into the news, answering your questions. And a reminder, two more draft times remain for the Megalobole. Head over to megalobole.com and get in there. Make sure you like and subscribe and enjoy the episode. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in.

Two more sleeps. Okay, Grandpa. What? I like it. Yeah, we got football this week. Mike's not going to talk on the show today. That way his football time can be maximized. Yeah. Volume, tone. This is the first time ever. This is just realizing in my brain right now because we were talking about the schedule. There will be two its football times this week for the first time. Ever. Wow. Because. Because we're walking there. Yeah, I was. Wow. Because there's a game on Friday. Yeah. The NFL is trying something out. I guess. Well, they always do like, you know, sometimes the first week, Monday, they do a double header. I am laughing at the idea that they're trying something because, yes, they're having a Friday game in Brazil. I wonder how it's going to work. That's all I'm saying is. Oh, I bet you they know A plus B equals money. Yeah.

Well, they do weird stuff, like start two games on Monday at the same time. We have criticized that. They try things out. And generally speaking, like Monday night does not get its own. It's football time. But I don't know, man, for a Friday standalone game. You just said there's going to be two this week. Yeah, it's happening. I mean, it's done. Tuesday, September 3rd, two days away from meaningful, actual real NFL football that's going to account for your fantasy roster. And we're here to. help you through the entire season. It's amazing. So our week one rankings are live. And I was working on them more this morning. And just before the show, I'm literally looking at the order of these players and who I would start and all of this. And it dawns on me. I go, the answers are days away. Like we get to know.

Who is the better player this week? Like, it's not all, you know, you spend these months of just all this hypothetical, all this analysis, all this talky, talk, talk nonsense. And now it's like the points are coming. They're here days away. I'm so, I'm just jacked. I mean, this is not part of our normal plans today, but is there a singular player? And I'll give you a second to think about this. that you are the most excited to see play football in week one. I know mine. I will put Malik neighbors out there. Okay. The rookies are always in that category and then compounded with just the my guy and the anticipation for him on the field. Is he the next Jamar Chase? Mike? Yeah. And I have. Team captain. Caleb Williams. I currently have, you know.

very little personally fantasy invested in the Chicago Bears other than making my projections and everything. It's just it hasn't worked out for me. Although I did. We were in our League of Shadows. I did just double up my QB. I took Caleb with my second to last pick. Nice. Just in case. Yeah. Just in case. But watching him like the preseason is was very impressive for Caleb making like really difficult throws. What's going to happen, though, when it's an actual NFL defense and not a preseason defense, will that, will he still be able to do it? I would say the first player that just naturally came to mind that I'm very like, I think everyone in the world needs it to work. Let's say it together. Colby Parkinson. CJ Stroud. You can't, dude, you can't fail. I mean, you can, but please do not.

because there is so much writing on you leveling up and being that dude. The whole team, you know, front to back, like the Texans are supposed to be an awesome offense. Nico goes high. Diggs is, you know. You got to build that foundation on rock, Jason. Right. Can't be sand. I mean, it's just got to work. Please, CJ Stroud. Are you asking you're petitioning him to do what he does? Be great. Be the player that everyone thinks are going to be because we were here. We were here with Baker. going into year two when he was oh don't say that he was the dude he was you know oh man what he get odal beckham um added to the roster yeah landry was on that roster he was going to be the next greatest quarterback was that year was that year yeah i believe so too many kitchens in the kitchen yes um we have a lot going on we got news to talk about we got

A waiver wire segment where we're talking about the undrafted gyms that you can pick up. I just took one of them. Actually, I don't know if it's in this list, but I took one of these guys with the last pick of our draft, our League of Shadow's draft. Great pick. So we'll talk about some names, some players that you may want to hot swap off of the back of your bench and maybe put somebody else in there that has some upside. And then we'll jump into the mailbag. We got voicemails you guys have sent in. We've got tons of questions coming in to the show.

As we get ready for the season to kick off, I can feel the energy in the room. It is palpable. We are ready for football. We are ready to see these teams and see our fantasy team succeed. But I just wanted to say in general, thank you for this past off season. It's been awesome. Thank you for those that came out to the live show, for those of you that have joined the Foot Clan over the last month, that have become a part of our community. This show is going into the 10th season. of doing this. And I know I can speak for all three of us to say that we have the same excitement, energy and joy. Also, I can't stop buying more and more things to help support the draft. The draft. Yeah, good for you. I am the champion. Good for you. And there is a rule in fantasy football that you should be delusionally rude.

to your league mates when you're the champ. So I have got being the champ is. It is so good. It's so good. It's the highest high, my friend. It is. And it's also, it's expensive. Oh, and it, you know what? That's it. It's like. It's right. Fantasychamps.com. You know what keeps happening is I think of one thing I want to bring to the draft. And then I put it in my Amazon cart. And then I realized I need that $25, you know, limit to get the shipping. So I'm like, oh, what other thing can I buy? And then I just keep buying them. But yeah, I got some stuff instead. Oh, very exciting. It's going to be very fun. But no, the point there was not that I'm the champ, although that's always the point. It's that we're very thankful to have you along for the ride. We do have two megalable draft times remaining. The 5 p.m. tonight draft. Mm-hmm.

for the Megalobul, which is the largest fantasy football league. It's the one with all the Foot Clan members. It's going to be super fun this year. And I actually was talking to a ton of Foot Clan people this weekend. And one of the comments was like, I always loved playing in the Megalobole, but when you guys pulled trading out, I quit. Yeah. And I said, trading's back, baby. Yeah, trading is back. The playoffs are a little bit easier to make. We expanded. We really mirrored. the Megalobole to our League of Record format. So the scoring, everything is how we like to play. And the people that are in these leagues are awesome. They are our people. They are you. You listening are who's playing in it. I have not done my draft yet. So if you want to try to guess which draft slot I'm in, we've got one left tomorrow. And you can still join. 9 a.m. 9 a.m. September 4th. So there is time. Megalobole.com. Sorry, Jay.

What are the prizes? And that's Pacific time. Yeah. The prizes, the prizes are. It's very specific. The prizes are the winner of the Meglabel plays automatically. They are in our listener league in 2025. And you become an ultimate foot clan member for life forever. So that is awesome. Jason also mentioned at the top. The week one rankings are up on the site. The start sit tool. All of the in-season things are happening right now at the fantasy footballers.com. And tons of free resources for you. Amazing articles from a really talented writing staff coming out every single day. And it's go time. I mean, just if you're like me, just soak it up all day every day no matter where you're at.

And your family will totally support that. You can follow the show over on X at the FF Ballers. Let's jump in. I think this is the button. Here it is. To the waiver wire presented by NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. I got to graduate my button pushing to in-season mode. That was still off-season. Yeah, it takes some time. Hurry up. All right, we're looking at week one stashes, some players, some undrafted gyms, the what if players, right? Like if something goes exceptionally well in week one or the hierarchy, maybe at the wide receiver room or running back room, changes and things that we're not expecting. What are some of these names in your mind for week one? Yeah, it's really common for me to finish a draft and then look at the waiver wire afterwards. I would rather have this guy than that guy. You got a little more time. That's normal.

One of the first names I'll bring up is the one you drafted last in our league we just did, Andy. It's Samajai Pryne. He's going to be very interesting. He is, he is extremely valuable. This is a role. I mean, you know I'm all about Isaiah Pacheco. And it seems part part of the news this week is that Clyde Edwards Aller was put on the, what is it, the NFI? Yeah, the NFI. And so he's going to miss the first month of football, if not more. So now we know why they went and got P-Rine. So I'm not as scared about P-Rine for Pacheco. However, this is an important offense. We saw Jerich-McKinnon have value. This is a player who caught 50 balls last year for a bad offense, and now he goes over to the Chiefs. So he's just sitting there on the waiver wire as the backup to Pacheco who will be involved. He's going to be active this Thursday already. So P-Rine is, I think, a must, you know, hot swap type of player.

Yeah, I'm just genuinely curious how the team uses him and how fast he gets integrated into the offense. Everything you said is right. The one thing about P. Ryan, that's interesting to me is that you have respected coaches that seem to want him and trust him, where Zach Taylor, to our own demise, continued to trust him in Cincinnati. He was picked up by Peyton last year. Obviously, they went out and they found McLaughlin. That was an unexpected. a player in the running back room, and then they drafted Estimate, so there was kind of no room for him. But then Andy Reid picks him up, you know, where if there's anybody that can utilize less talented players for greater fantasy output, we often talked about Damien Williams and whether he was a legitimately good running back or not. He was almost a Super Bowl MVP on that team. So a fun player to watch for sure. I mean, last year, this is the show where you could have brought up names like Puka Nakua and Kairn Williams.

Sam Leporta, who was only 54% rostered after drafts last year. So I think that's a good one. I'd also bring up another running back in Marshawn Lloyd. Yes, that was the next most important name to me. Running back for the Green Bay Packers, rookie running back. We talk about it every year. Somehow, some way, at least two rookie running backs seem to break into the top 24. And we're sitting here going, you know, a couple weeks ago, well, how's that even going to happen this year? Then all of a sudden, Marshaun Lloyd's not put on the IR. AJ Dylan is. He's also back at practice, which the timeline for his injury, you know, when he was going on IR, it seemed like he was not going to be ready for the season. I'm not positive he will be. He might not be. Even if he is not active week one, you should still pick up Marshawn Lloyd. He's an explosive running back in a committee with no AJ Dylan in front of him for a good offense. So he must be rostered. And Jacobs has missed a little bit of time here and there.

It's the what if, right? Like, is that the kind of offense where suddenly Marshawn Lloyd, if he was by himself, too? He would be an interesting player to add to the roster. The only problem there is I don't think Lloyd plays in the first couple weeks. So if you, that would be a longer stash. You might want some quicker return, Mike. Do you have some names? I mean, the quarterbacks to pay attention to, like Will Levis from Tennessee, he could turn into a late round guy who's really giving you points. I get it. Caleb Williams was probably drafted in your league, but now that casual leagues are going, I'm seeing him drop lower and lower where he was ADP at top. He was like QB11, which that's right on the fringe of may or may not get drafted, but I think that he is a really good pickup and see with your other quarterback one. And then at the running back position, I'll say it again, Tayson Hill.

Did you say at the running back position? Or at the tight end. Because it should be. Yeah, it's whatever, man. He's everything. Taysam Hill is tight and eligible for a lot of platforms. And we don't know what the Saints are going to do. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, Mike, I'm with you on this. I hate it. I have this feeling right now that we're going to come out and see so much Taysam Hill at running back in this game. I think so. They play against Carolina. in the opening week their favorite they're at home if you're talking about you're going to say it's their favorite no like their favorite team to play it's everyone's favorite team to play against um so yeah i mean you you you talk about like i was looking at the rankings i was like oh that's great for alvin camera it's like they're going to be up maybe it's more of a grind game maybe it's more of like a jamal williams and i'm like no oh it's tastes it's tasem week one and the other tight end uh

I just, in our family league, completely agree. I had grabbed, it was really late and everyone had their starting tight end. So I took Hawkinson as I'm going to stash him and then I was going to find someone else to play. Unfortunately, someone took Taysom Hill before I was able to go and I had to scramble and what am I going to do? Greg D. Greg Dulcich of the Denver Broncos is, and he's an electric athlete. We love seeing that. And who's who's established for the Denver Broncos passing attack right now? Cortland Sutton. That's it. I mean, like the running backs are going to get their targets, but no one else on this team is going to go out and that you would project, oh, this is a 20% target type of player. He had a great target share as a rookie, just has been hurt. So he is a very late tight end that I think you should. If you have that one spot, I think Stash and Greg Dulcich isn't the worst idea. Other players that I think might surprise you in week one.

I think Michael Wilson and Greg Dorch in Arizona, opposite of Marvin Harrison, might be a surprise in week one against Buffalo. Diamie Brown's going to get an opportunity in Washington. Jalen Tolbert, what's his role going to be as a wide receiver in Dallas in week one, as he's had a good camp. And so those are some other names worth bringing up. I'm so excited. Yeah, I would throw out a couple of rookies as well, Adonai Mitchell. And Malik Washington, those are guys that I think they're kind of third on their depth chart. But they've got an opportunity. It's the surprise. You know, when I look back at like the breakouts every week one, a lot of times it's the rookies. I mean, last year it's Puka, right? It was like, you just didn't know. You didn't know he was going to be involved, that involved. Malik Washington is an excellent stash right now. I like I liked the player. And, yeah, reports are now.

positive for Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, but they're both coming off an injury. Yeah, it's like, oh, they're both finally back to practice. Yeah, if Waddle goes out there and it was a really bad calf injury that we didn't know about and he tweaks it in week one, Malik Washington is going to be very heavily sought after on that Tuesday waiver wire. All right. Thanks again to NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. Watch every game every Sunday when you bundle NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. Sign up today at YouTube.com slash fantasy footballers. A reminder local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Device and content restrictions apply. News and notes from Around the League. Presented by USAA Insurance.

All right, Mike, I'm going to give you the power of telling me whether I hit this button or not. But Jamar Chase, he was present at practice on Monday. He did not participate in Zach Taylor, who has learned a thing or two. He came out and said on whether Chase will play on Sunday against New England. Are you asking about firing the full panic alarm? Yes. I am not at. No, I'm not at sound the sirens, but I am at the point of... Let me get the quote in there. He said, well, just take it day by day. Go ahead. If you haven't drafted yet, I can totally understand letting him, like, the other big wide receivers that we've been talking about, who, like, AJ Brown. Yeah, he's the name. Would you take AJ Brown over Jamar now? If it was today, I would. Yeah, if I'm drafting now, I think both are great players. Like, I love both players.

taking one that I'm not sure plays this week over what are you talking about over there I am I'm chuckling to myself because I think I know you're not I you're giving oh you think I just know that Jason is in a in a unique position on Thursday in our league of record draft you think I'm being selfish over for if for it would be beneficial to him and Jumar chase fell a couple of spots I don't think he's going to make it to you yeah yeah but I'm too far for that point being I honestly, my true belief is Jamar Chase, week one suits up and plays football. I guess that's the question. I think he does. I think he's two years. I think he doesn't. I think he does. He has two years left. There's also still, look, we're at, we're at the 11th hour. There is a chance that a contract comes through. We were getting some rumors that they were close. I don't, I don't know what in the world is going on there. Like C.D. Lamb, there it is. There it is, Cincinnati. You go, hey, look.

Mr. Jamar Chase, here's what Citi got. Would you like that as well? Because look, we're not going to give you Jefferson number, but we'll give you CEDY's number. Let's get that done. Sometimes it does seem that simple. And then this morning we got news that Trent Williams will be back for the 49ers. That is gigantic. That is literally. Yeah, he's here. The gigantic news. He was, uh, it was not looking good for him to start the season playing for the 49ers. And that dude will hold out. Yeah. He's already proven a year, right? I'm saying if you don't give Trent Williams his money, he is not showing up to work. He has set a precedent. But the 49ers got their deals done to the point that Mike was making. They got him done. I yuk and Trent Williams back on the roster. That's great news for McCaffrey who returned to practice today. So McCaffrey is on schedule. And again, he plays on Monday night football against the jet. Oh, my gosh.

Monday night football 49ers Jets. Yeah. I want that game. I want that game. Yes. Oh my gosh. All right. Mark Andrews, not on the injury report. So that's great. Hollywood Brown ruled out, but they do, they are talking like Hollywood's back in week two. We'll see. I would be surprised. I don't know where the optimism is coming from. I mean, obviously they, they know, but this injury in the timeline. To me, it made sense. Obviously, they didn't put him on the IR, so you expect that he's not going to miss four weeks. But I don't know, man. I am less optimistic just based on the actual injury and the normal timeline for that that he plays in week two. I think, yeah, I thought that it came from Andy Reid, but I can't find the quote right now. So we'll see.

Not that you would, like, do you put Hollywood Brown on these, like if you're not drafting him? I feel like he should be on a roster. I really do. You think he should be on a roster? Yeah, I mean, people are sitting here throwing all season long just Skymore and Justin Watson. These guys are landing on rosters. Like Hollywood is much better than them. If you have an IR spot, that's fine. If you don't have an IR spot, I am not personally wasting a bench spot on a guy that can't like, like let's say he was active next week. in week two since we know he's not going to play this week. Would you start him week two? First game back from this entry? No. No, you're not drafting him as a player that you're going to start. I agree. I would put him on the back of the bench. I think that is a wise decision. Clyde Edwards-Alair, we mentioned that he's placed on the NFI list. He's going to miss at least four weeks. Ricky Pearson. Yeah, man. Oh, my.

Good. I guess we went through all this all week and long, but Ricky Pearceau was shot in an altercation in San Francisco. In the chest. Yeah, through the right side of his chest, he is, he has already been released from the hospital, which is outstanding news that he was that fortunate from the incident. He has been placed on the NFI list, so he will not be playing. At a minimum four weeks. I think it'll be longer. Yeah, the bullet went through clean, no organs, which is great. It came out the back, which is just wonderful. I mean, if you're getting shot, it's awful. Best case scenario for terrible. I mean, he was an inch away from death. That's just, wow, just insane. Yeah, that news was absolutely wild. Jalen Warren practice expected to play in week one. Dallas Goddard also expected to.

get back in practice. He actually resumed on Sunday, so Goddard should be back out there. That was today's news and notes presented, as always, by USAA Insurance. You can learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We will take a quick break and come back with your questions. I bet we will. Oh, still off-season mode. All right. Let's jump in. Mailbag. Oh, sweet. All right. If you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, the fancy footballers.com. Click the submit a question button. You can find it in the menu. You can also dial our voicemail hotline 302-464 TFFB. Lots of questions coming in, Jason. And all we've got to do is get them all perfectly right. It's all we do. All right. Let's jump in. We'll go to a voicemail.

get from Pittsburgh. My question is, when you're drafting in multiple leagues, do you try to diversify your teams or do you want to keep them as similar as possible? Thanks. It's a mix for me personally. The question is, when you're in multiple drafts, are you trying to target the same players or do you want to diversify just in case the players that you're targeting? They are the bust picks of the year, so you want to balance things out, or do you want to put all the eggs in one basket? I'm not a coward, man. Well, I mean, when you say you're drafting in a lot of leagues, obviously it's very different if you are, you know, if you're filling out 150 entries into the best ball mania, that you want to diversify. That's just smart strategy to make sure your portfolio isn't just completely going to get wrecked. But otherwise, this isn't really a strategy thing. This is a personality. It's what do you enjoy? And for me, basically, I've got two league types.

the like three leagues that really, really matter. And I'm just going to try to draft the best players, which I end up getting the same guys because it's who I believe in this year. I'm going to win everywhere or lose everywhere. And then there's the like our family league where we're playing with our boys. I really don't care about like being awesome in there. So I grab the players that is fun that I want to have that I don't have anywhere else. Yeah. Strategically speaking, if you have conviction about players, that's what the off season is all about. Like you, I don't.

approach it with cold feet about oh man this is going to be the third league i have cooper cup in or calvin ridley and i'm always thankful to get those guys at the spots that i'm getting them at and um you know your your roster is never mirrored top to bottom like if you've got the same players maybe you have two or three or four of the same players so i would not go away from them for you know if you were drafting number two in five drafts maybe I'd split Tyreek and C.D. up a little bit. Stuff like that. But later on in the draft, I'm not doing that. Yeah. And on Sunday, when you don't know if cheering for a player, like if a player scores, is this good or is this bad? I don't know because I have everyone and I'm playing against everyone. You can avoid that. YouTube question from Joseph writes in, do you think Christian Kirk's involvement in Jacksonville is concerning?