NFC West Breakdown + Cam Akers Injury, Football is Coming! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/22

Garoppolo comes out, plays amazing, and you're like after week one. They're like, oh, San Francisco is going back to the Super Bowl. Then, okay, I'll move on. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not willing to hold on to Lance. Even though I said I would draft him with my last pick, I'm not drafting him so that I get him in week five. I'll pay up off the waiver wire when that transition is made. I'm grabbing him in hopes that something happens prior to the season. Yeah, and I think the odds of Lance becoming an instant fantasy star.

if starting are very high. Whereas Justin Fields, when he takes over, there's really no guarantee that this guy is going to have enough opportunities, doesn't run enough to where you could say overnight he's necessarily the starter with the identity of that team. So I definitely wouldn't draft Fields to hold him in hope. But I would do that. I would consider that with Lance if it was ambiguous going into the season as to who's the better quarterback. To be fair, I think I saw a quote from,

great friend of the show, Kyle Uschick. Yes. Who he was saying... He could just call us and let us know who's starting. He could. But I mean, he went on... You hear that, Kyle? He went somewhere else and was talking about his team. I mean, he was pretty selfish of great friend of the show. I thought we were his primary way of getting information to the media. But essentially he was casting his, you know, he doesn't know for sure because the team's not telling people, but he thinks that as long as, as long as Garoppolo is there in...

and playing adequately, he's going to remain the guy. That's what Kyle thinks right now. That's why I'm where I'm at with Trey Lance. I've not for a moment thought he's a better pickup than Lawrence, but only because of that. And I think Chicago will stick with Andy Dalton for as long as possible. Jason, you are.

smirking and smiling and shaking your head. I was, and we already said this, but it just makes me laugh again to realize all this. All this, no, that was fantastic. All this conversation about whether you would pick up and stash Lance or whether it's worth doing that with Fields. And we know, we know Zach Wilson's a week one starter. Like he's, he is absolutely 100% already starting week one is like, eh.

Yeah, and that team, that team picked Zach Wilson over Justin Field, over Trey Lance, over Mac Jones. Yeah, I mean, it's, it was. He had 10 rushing touchdowns in college. Yeah. Where's a sick headband? Yeah, what post-puberty I'll think about. Right. A couple of years, six, seven years from now. Is he allowed to drive yet? No, but he can, he can ride shotgun. He's allowed in the front seat. He doesn't need a, doesn't need a booster. I didn't mean to dig this deep.

Sorry, Zach. That was by herself from Pristine Auctions. He's just very youthful. He is a youthful man. And we're jealous. That's what it is. Yeah, I'd love, I'd die for that skin. Right. Pristineauction.com, use the code ballers, get a $10 credit. We do have huge news to talk about. News and notes from around the league. Presented my sleeper. And this show is going to be long, just for the record. Great. The humongous, huge news that broke.

Cam Acres. Here we go. Rupured Achilles will be out for the entire 2021 season. Absolutely devastating news for Cam Acres. I love that kid. I think he is so talented. And unfortunately, you know, the questions abound now of not only what happens this year for the Rams, but what is the future for Cam Ackers? So many players invested in him for dynasty leagues looking towards the future. And unfortunately, a ruptured Achilles is a very...

very difficult injury to recover from. We'll get a glance at Marlon Matt coming back from a ruptured Achilles this year, but it has not been a historically easy thing to get over. Is there a single example of a running back who came back strong? The only one that I can think of that I thought looked okay on the field, and you would probably argue this as a...

against point. But when Aryan Foster came back for seven, eight games with Miami later in his career, he did seem to have something, you know, there. But he didn't even finish that season, did he? I know. No, they cut him. Yeah, I was going to say that's usually a strike. But that's your best example. I can't think of one. I mean, he is super young. It does. Yeah, I mean, just looking at, you know, a lot of people tweeting out all the. Does Kevin Durant count? All of the, no. But I mean, Marius Thomas, I believe, had a torn Achilles. Yeah.

And he was, but that's a different position. In running backs, Ryan Williams, second round pick of the Arizona Cardinals was hopeful. And he tore his, his rookie season, preseason, essentially never played. Jason, who was Deonté Foreman? Yeah, I loved Deontay Foreman. Look like he might have been about to break out for the Houston Texans, tears his Achilles. And I know he's back in the league, but.

Yeah, irrelevant. The question I think people need to have before we... McHour from Detroit. Before we talk about Darnell Anderson and the real, you know, fantasy important redraft player here, sticking with Cam Acres for the dynasty outlook, the long-term outlook, it is bleak. It is one of those where for him to not only just come back, but come back.

and be good enough in a role given to him to be fantasy relevant and important, that is a lot of things have to happen. Very long odds. Very long odds. And this is a guy that still has a lot of youth and hype. If I had Cam Acres, I would be devastated, but I would also be looking to move him. That's been a question people want to know. Do you go buy low on a young Cam Acres because people are trying to move it?

I would not be buying low. Unless low is like a next year's third round pick, sure. I mean, I view those as garbage anyways. But, you know, Trey Sermon, I've seen that trade out there. Would you, you know, go trade? Cam Acres for Trey Sermon. I would do that in a heartbeat. Oh, yeah, I would do the trade. Yeah, I wouldn't. So if you've got him, I would look to try to capitalize and get something of value. Now, let's talk about the Rams Outlook this season. So are you speaking of? Darnie!

Anderson. Oh, Darrell Henderson. Please earn a new nickname. Right. Yeah. You have one chance this year, Daryl, to get a new nickname. Daryl. Daryl. So if you're new to the... I dare you be named after. No, that was a play on the zombie show. Walking card, right? Oh, no, that's Carl. Never mind. His nickname's Carl. Is that the kind of nickname? Carl Anderson. Dang it.

Yes. If you're new, for some reason, I don't remember how it came about. But Darrell Henderson years ago became darnell Anderson. And it's my favorite nickname that we've never given someone. Mike's the least favorite because for the same exact reason, because it's not a nickname. It's a different name. The man has a name. Yes. Anyways.

His outlook this season, I think I'm the most bullish right now, statistically speaking on him. I think he's going to have a very strong season. Top 20 back for sure is the way that I look at it. He leaves. Okay, go ahead. I don't think he has a lot of optimism for top 10. So he, to me, is that 10 to 20 really solid, very important fantasy option that I think will get enough work in a great offense. He is not built.

for a massive workload. He's not a guy that I think is going to touch the ball 20 times a game. He was 205 pounds coming out of college. He weighs more now. But I do think the team is committed to him and their current roster. I agree with the current roster part, but clearly the Rams don't view him as a workhorse back, period. I mean, you don't take, you don't have Daryl Henderson on the roster.

Who was a third round pick at the time? And then go draft Cam Acres if you view Daryl Henderson as a workhorse back. So I think you're right. I think I have him at 24. I think he will compete week to week for fantasy relevance. The team has come out and said, I don't know that the veteran route. So the Adrian Peterson's or the, you know, Todd Gurley was completely ruled out. Duke Johnson is one. Lev Bell's one. But this is not something they're looking at right now.

Yeah, right now. We're like 24 hours or 48 hours past the injury. The way that I read that just since we're saying the right now thing, I think that they are open to players who are cut, who are not currently free agents later in this offseason. I think they don't like the current market right now, and that makes sense. There's also, if you're looking at a deeper dynasty pickup, Xavier Jones is worth a pickup. Last offseason, he flashed, played special teams last year.

scored 25 touchdowns in his senior season from SMU. Yeah, he actually has a college profile where people are, and Xavier Jones was an undrafted free agent from last year. I agree. If you're taking a shot on one of the Rams backups, because there are draft Twitter is going crazy for Jake Funk. And as much as it would, that would be good for the show. As much as that would be really fun to have, we want the funk out there on the football field doing things. That would be fun. That would be really important to me.

He was a seventh round pick, and his college profile isn't as strong. Yeah, I think Xavier Jones is the pickup, and I think that the team showed last year even with Camakers on the roster, with Darrow Henderson, with Malcolm Brown, that the likelihood of one Todd Gurley-esque.

Days of Old Workhorse is not high. However, they did bring in, if you remember, they brought in CJ Anderson at the end of his career. That's where I was going to bring up. A few years ago and produced in this offense. This is a good offense. They will put their running backs into a position to succeed. Darrell Henderson had many relevant fantasy weeks last year in the games where he had enough work. So, yeah, I mean, take a look at our rankings on the website. We have them as an RB2. And right now, the RB2 is.

simply confidence-based for this moment and time where we are right now. I am on the side of, I think they're going to add somebody. And I don't know the level of competition they're going to add for Henderson. Are they going to trade for somebody? Are they going to just pick up a backup who gets cut so that you bolster the roster a little bit? But if Henderson is the guy, and Henderson, if he hits this year for fantasy football,

Rams running back for Sean McVeigh is fantastic. You had C.J. Anderson who was what we didn't know at the time, but the dude was on fumes for his career, and he was awesome for fantasy football. It was hard last year because if you remember, we started the season. We had hopes for the Rams backfield, and then those got stifled by, oh, crap, Malcolm Brown comes in and scores touchdowns. And on top of that, just a bunch of injuries. Like Henderson has had an injury problem, his entire professional career.

The team's belief in Henderson might not even be talent related. It might be just what they see. They're like, this guy just gets hurt all the time, and we don't, we're not going to count on that. Yeah, he's not built for it. And like Andy said, they used Malcolm Brown last year. During that stretch when Cam went down and then was slowly brought back the beginning parts of the season, it's worth noting that, you know, five out of the six weeks, that stretch.

Darrell Henderson was a top 24 back. Yes. Three of the six weeks, he was a top 12 back. He can produce in this offense. I think he will be good. And their options, if they're not after current free agents, it's either grab a guy who's cut, which there's always a good player or two that's cut, but obviously they're cut. So they're not great or trade for someone. But keep in mind,

The Rams have very little ammunition since they have traded all their future picks away. They could add like a Mark Ingram if he doesn't make the roster in Houston or something like that. So Darrell Henderson season. That was today's news and notes brought to you by Sleeper. Switcher League to the fastest growing fantasy platform today. Unfortunately, this first big injury really shows that we're almost there for the season because when they get into training camp, you know, this is the worst part of NFL and fantasy fandom is that inevitably.

It's a physical sport and people go down and we'll be there with fantasy perspective. Yeah. Before we switch gears to the Seattle Seahawks, I want to thank today's sponsor Helix Sleep. People, we spend our entire live sleeping every single day. I love sleeping. I love sleeping. But how good is your sleep? How comfortable. And here's the thing. Maybe you have a mattress that's okay and you're like, I sleep okay. Do you sleep?

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