Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early Breakouts & Busts

Then let's talk. Here's your million. But I'm not just going to be like, hey, guys, hey, lions, you, you, you, you, a multi-billion dollar entity, you want a million of my dollars? I wouldn't do it. I'm just saying. Well, fair enough. You know Calvin Johnson. With the Dennis Pitta news, though, that is also important to realize they're clearing cap space, which could help in the pursuit of a Jeremy Macklin or Eric Decker. I still think Jeremy Macklin will end up on the Ravens, which will.

Throw a wrench into several people's plans. Yeah, Macklin visited the bills over Tuesday and Wednesday. They did not leave with a contract, so he's going to Baltimore to meet with them. And it was reported it was because of money. They could not agree on a contract. Yeah, that was new news. I don't think he signs in Baltimore. Where do you think he ends up? I think they're going to wait for Decker in Baltimore, but we'll find out. I would take Eric Decker in Baltimore. Yeah, I just think he's a better fit. All right, the Chargers.

First round pick, Mike Williams. This is not good. Sidelined until training camp with a back injury. No more OTAs for Mike Williams. This was a situation where I think everything had to go right for Mike Williams to break into that starting lineup with Keenan Allen and Tyro Williams and Benjamin and all those whiteouts there. I moved him down a little bit. Mike Williams? I moved Tyro Williams up a little bit just because rookies need time.

Yeah, and it's a herniated disc. I mean, he's going to need time for that to heal. It's, you can't mess around with that type of a situation. It will just get worse and then you're going to be out for a long time. This is bad news, though, for Mike Williams as he's trying to.

transition into the offense. Yeah, we've seen a lot of rookie wide receivers hurt over the last few years in the early parts of camp. And it often derails what could have been a productive season and really does hamper them from getting involved early and being productive through that year. So I agree with you, Andy. I move Mike Williams down as well, especially with all the other options the Chargers have. All right, we're going to get into the breakouts and bus. Last bit of news, John Brown tweaked his hamstring.

Jason, how are you doing with this news? I'm not doing well, man, because, you know, similar to what I was just saying with rookie wide receivers, when a wide receiver early in the year has hamstring problems, those often linger. But now when you're dealing with a guy who last year was having problems in his legs, you know, we often bring up the disease that he found last year. The sickle cell trait. But what was happening because of that?

was leg issues, essentially. And if he's having hamstring issues again, very much worries me for a guy that I still expect. Like right now, I haven't lowered him yet. If he bounces back and he's a full going training camp, I'm just going to ignore it and close my eyes and run forward because I'm still predicting a huge breakout for John Brown. But if this comes back at all, even once in training camp, he's going to move down considerably for me. I feel the exact same way about Cory Coleman.

Because last preseason he started with a hamstring strain. Now he's got another hamstring problem. So repeated soft tissue issues, they're concerning. Repeat hamstring offender. Yes. I like it. When you talked about closing your eyes and running downfield, I was picturing you when you used to do wide receiver routes. Yeah, our flag football team. I just grab it and just grip my teeth and run. Yeah, it worked okay until the referee started making fun of you. All right, let's do it.

Breakouts. All right. Mike, that's your fault. It's been a long time since I played that drop. I didn't remember a second guitar riff. So it's my fault that you did not properly prepare for the show. That is correct. I accept full responsibility. All right. Setting that egregious mistake aside by you, Mike. Who's your breakout? Who is your breakout for the 2017 season? Early breakout.

Oh, I'm kicking it off. All right. Yeah, you may be third on this list, but it's your turn. I'm going. Stefan Diggs, Minnesota Vikings last year in 14 games, 84 for 903, low touchdowns. He only had three. But for a guy to hit over 900 yards in just 14 games, I think that the sky is the limit.

for Stefan Diggs. We have Matt Harmon, who's done his reception, all that stuff is available in the UDK, and he took a look at Stefan Diggs, and he said, this guy is improving across the board. Not only did he post a solid success versus coverage his rookie season, he improved, and that's what you want to see. And you're talking a great contested catch rate, a contested catch rate for Stefan Diggs.

That was better than Julio, Demarius Thomas, Larry Fitzgerald in the sample size that Matt Harmon did. He was never under five targets a game. Four games with double-digit targets. His pace, if he had played a full 16, he was easily over 1,100 yards. He's going in the seventh round of PPR.

And you got, there are going in the seventh round. He's going in the seventh round. You compare that to Tyreek who's going to climb into the back of the third. Exactly. And you, he can take over games. This isn't just going to be a trickle of having a nice PPR floor. We saw him in weeks one and two. He's the number one wide receiver. Throw me the ball. I believe in week two. And he's got the, the quarterback who posted the most accurate season of all time in Sam Bradford.

But there are pieces around him, too. So let's say you don't fully believe that Stefan Diggs can be the guy. He has other players on the team that can take the defense away. I think that Stefan Diggs is really set up for a third year breakout. It makes sense that you would like him. Because he's injured all the time. You might as well call him the strain train because three times last year he missed separate games. Week four, groin strain, week 15, hipstream, week 11, knee strain.

When we talked about him early in the offseason, there were times you'd watch him. I mean, we watched him rookie year. Jason and I, we were like, that guy's special. He's a special player. You can just tell what you are. He was the type of guy that turned our heads. He'd be on in the background or on a different TV, and we'd catch something from the side, you know, from our peripheral vision. We'd go, whoa, what was that? For me, it's always been the case of...

I'm worried about the injuries. I don't know if he can physically stay healthy enough to constitute a breakout season as opposed to breakout games and then disappointing games. And that's a very fair point. That's the one thing that keeps Stefan Diggs from breaking out this season. There's just there's a lot of, you know, we're in buzz time, but there's a lot of positive buzz talking about this Minnesota offense. We already know that the defense is spectacular.

I just, I think that the play from Sam Bradford, who was pretty good last year with absolutely no time to get congruency with the team, gave him a whole off season. I think things that can drastically improve. I love the draft position. Yeah. The injury risk that you bring up is what makes him such a good breakout candidate because that's really the only thing standing in his way of having a very good fantasy season.

Not Laquan Treadwell? No, no. How many? He might literally stand in the way. How many targets does Lequan Treadwell get this year? Ooh. I think it's going to be a better year. He had one catch last year. His year is going to look a lot like my breakout candidates year went last year. I'm not bailing on Trembuds yet. Speaking of players that are perfectly healthy.

I'm going to move on to my breakout candidate. This is so funny. I'm teasing it. I'm teasing it. I'm not saying the name because I want to take a second. I want to thank Omaha Stakes for sponsoring today's podcast. Look, if you were looking for the perfect Father's Day gift, which, you know, I'm looking for the perfect Father's Day gift. I hope my kids are looking for this. That's the important part. Avoid that last minute hustle. Get hooked up with this deal. A ton of the Foot Clan have already done that.

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Brashad Perryman is my breakout candidate for this season. Interesting. Do you click that injury thing on it? I did. I sorted by most likely to be injured. No, Brashad Perriman. Look, it has not been a pleasant beginning to this career for Bershad Perriman. High draft pedigree, beautiful combine, athletic freak, 42440, 62212. Seemingly the perfect match for Joe Flacco, right?

This offseason, the now released, now injured Dennis Pitta, he came out. He said, look, nobody has had a better camp than Brashad Perryman. And I know. I know it's just hype. But they say he keeps making plays. He's working hard. A lot went wrong from in the beginning of this career. But let me tell you, their depth chart right now at wide receiver, it's Mike Wallace. There are guys named Chris Matthews, the former host of Hardball. Okay, no, it's a different Chris Matthews. I was really hoping it was Hardball.

Look, there are 335 missing targets from last season. I think we know what Mike Wallace is. I told these guys before the show, Mike Wallace is not made to be a headlining wide receiver. Now, do I think Perryman's made to be that this year? Probably not, but I think these guys are going to be dueling ones. But the thing is, Mike Wallace isn't being drafted in the 12th round, but Rashad Perryman is.

And with 335 targets available on that offense, I think he's going to have every opportunity to be what they drafted him to be, which is a top-of-the-line type of wide receiver who can make big plays. And if you looked at last year, you saw improvements. Over the second half of the season, Rashad Perryman's fantasy efficiency and production, it more than doubled the first half of the season on about the same amount of targets. That tells me that him and Joe Flacker were finding a rapport. He was finding his way through NFL defenses for the first time. And that was one of the knocks on him.

Coming out. Great athlete. Going to take a little time to figure out NFL defenses. I think you started to see it. And in the 12th round, music to my ears. Yeah, I was going to say when you were referencing the hype, you know, of course it's just hype coming from Dennis Pitta. But if you remember... He only speaks the truth. If you remember last year, there was no hype. You know, around Perriman, everything was negative. The coaches were...

Unhappy with the, you know, unhappy with the recovery from his injuries. But then even when he was around, you know, he's just, he's got a lot of work to do. So if the hype is changed, at least it's, you know, it's not just from, you know, the dolphins where everything is always great. Everything is awesome. That's their theme song. That's what they pledge. Go sports team. All right. Two wide receiver breakouts. Jason, you went with the wide receiver as well.