Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Rankings Rundown, Listener Questions, News

I also wanted to bring up another name that we haven't talked a lot about this offseason out of Redskins camp. ESPN's Britt McHenry reports the Redskins are doing a lot more to incorporate Pierre Garcin. He's now filling the Z roll in the offense instead of the Y from last year, which in Gruden's offense in Washington, that is actually the predominant role. The Z roll is the highest volume role. And obviously we knew Garcin is a high volume type of receiver that can do a lot of damage.

What are your thoughts on Pierre Garcin? Is he being kind of an afterthought for people because of a down year? Yeah, for sure. And because of the quarterback situation? I think less than the – I mean, the quarterback situation plays in. I think that –

That that, though, is more an indication of what happened last year. What's interesting about Pierre Gerson is for the last several years, pretty much his whole career after he's been a rookie, even back when he was on the Colts, he's had the exact same efficiency rating. So on his targets, he does the same thing. And so his entire difference between his good years and his bad years is one thing and its targets. And so if this is actually a way to get him more involved and get more targets, then I think that there could be a value to where he's being drafted right now because he's fallen by the complete wayside.

Last year was a carousel, right, for the Washington quarterback situation. You had your boy, Kirk, Captain Cousers played, McCoy played. But I've always liked the rapport if you can like, you know, RG3 behind center. Him and Garcon have been able to connect in that intermediate route type of thing, plays, break down, use your legs. So keep your eye on Garcon. I don't know exactly where he'll be. I didn't look at your rankings to see where he was.

I think he's like the 50s on your? Yeah. Wow. That's low. Last year was really disappointing. I'm a big Pierre Garsohn guy. I like watching him play. He's a very exciting player. I have very little faith in what's going on in Washington. And Joe Morgan, that's why I was thinking of. Yeah, I knew it wasn't tuned because he's... They like to him. They liked him. But yeah, yeah, that's right. It's 47, by the way. It's Piergarsan on your list. Yeah. Keep him in mind.

See what camp looks like. See what RG3 looks like. I want to remind you guys that if you play on Fandul, you can use our promo code, Ballers. Ballers. You know there's a show on HBO coming out called Ballers? Oh, with the Rock. Yeah. Yeah, I just, it's been... It actually looks pretty good. I just read, like, that HBO used the Dolphins' name and Insignia without permission. Uh-oh. Wow. That's not good. But they're also the one that...

puts on hard knocks so you'd think the relationship with the NFL is pretty good so they might already have that's what i'm thinking and i doubt it no but no comment from the dolphins thus far according to mike florio the storymaker also check out fantasy draft wizard dot com lots of listeners have been doing free mock drafts there you can hop on do a mock draft in about 10 minutes go ahead and tweet us the mock draft we're happy to tell you what we think of the team

Maybe guys we like, don't like. I share my mocks with you guys. Yeah, you do. And I really liked my last mock. Apparently, I want the eighth spot. I think you got, what was the guy that you got in like the six or seven? You got Joe Randall in like the sixth? Yeah. Yeah, that's ridiculous. Yeah, it's not happening. More reports about Joe Randall coming out this week, too. More underwear stolen? No, actually starter, like this guy was saying for the last two months. All right, let's get into the...

Yeah, well, you know. That's my job at Mike. You should have hit him with it. Thank you. Let's dig into your rankings a little, Mike. You're ready for this? I'm going to go ahead and take a look at the quarterbacks and read your top 10 out right now. You have Aaron Rogers at number one, Andrew Luck at number two. Boy, that's really out there. Matt Ryan. That's bold. Matt Ryan at number three. Russell Wilson at four. Peyton Manning at five. Eli Manning.

At six. Oh, yeah. Ryan Tannahill at seven. Big Ben at eight, Drew Brees, all the way down at nine, and Carson Palmer at 10. Believe it. Yeah, well, they're your ranking, so. Yeah. First thing that jumps out to me that I wanted to talk about with you guys is the Eli Manning question. I know we started out this offseason pretty high on him. You have him still at number six. So...

Most experts have him out of that top 10, maybe right at the quarterback 2 line, number 12. So you have him higher than guys like Breeze. You have him hired in Tannehill. Tell me why you still are on the Eli Manning train. Obviously, there were a lot of indications that he's more comfortable in the offense, a lot of indications that he's got better weapons than he had last year. And that's exactly it. The new offensive system, we all saw last year.

The Giants started off, and they were a mess. That offense was not clicking at all. You could see as the year went on, Eli was getting more comfortable with the situation. ODB became a rookie sensation, and Ruben Randall had by far his best year, that Ruben Randall, the guy who we've all been waiting for to finally pay off, who I still believe in Randall, and I've got him decently high, probably way higher than anybody else.

He kind of got lost with ODB exploding. Yes. His good finish. And if you look at Randall's last two games, they were both, I think, 150 plus yards, a couple touchdowns. He was awesome. Larry Dinell is still there. They've added Shane Vareen in the passing game. Healthy Rashad Jennings as of now. And he's great in the passing game. The actual running game has not worked out so well for the Giants that are going to have to throw.

And I just, I really think the second year in the system, Eli's not going to have to think about it. Everyone sort of comes in healthy. I guess ODB is not as healthy. But I just, I really think he's going to sling it all over the place and have a fantastic here. Last week, you reminded me during our injury review. We were going through the news. They lost their tackle. Does that concern you, Jason, at all with Eli's performance? Is that something that you don't? No, that is something that does concern me. The way that they play and the way that Eli...

performs under pressure or therefore doesn't perform under pressure is a little bit scary because, you know, a month or two ago, I think all three of us were pretty high on the Giants' offense and Eli and what he could do. And I definitely think losing their left tackle and a great one at that is going to... He'll be back throughout the year because it wasn't a season-ending injury. And the new offense is built upon short...

and intermediate passes. It's not the old-school giants where Eli Manning has to get six seconds in the pocket and unload. We're talking quick passes where he finds the guy, makes the read, and makes the throw. So tell me this, because contrast that with where you have Drew Brees right now, which is at the number nine spot, probably the lowest that I've seen anywhere, a guy who's done it, tried and true. Are you really going to be willing to take the plunge on Eli Manning ahead of Drew Brees in a draft?

I will simply because of value. I will readily admit that if I'm in a draft and I'm in something like the sixth round and Drew Breeze is there, it might be difficult for me to not take him. But that's that instinctual name recognition and not reading into the team. Everything the team has done, they're showing that they want to change who they are. They want to change the reputation of the team. They want to be a running team. They want Mark Ingram to pound the ball.

Now, I guess you still have C.J. Spiller, who's the new Darren Sproles, allegedly, with all the talk out of camp. I just think that the volume that Drew Brees has experienced in the past few years won't be nearly the same. He's still great, and he'll still be a very accurate quarterback, and I'd like him on my team. But I think that they're really going to shift to being a running team. And so you think he's on the tail end of that.

Elite fantasy production. Yeah. Yeah, that would be a tough decision for me because he's still in that two to five range for a lot of experts, but it's the same thing with Peyton Manning, where a guy who, everything towards the end of the year, I mean, I know he was injured, but they looked like they're going to run, Kubiak, they're all talking run, run, run, and you just, the volume kind of freaks you out where Manning's volume has gone down drastically every year he's been in Denver. Yeah, I was going to ask you, would it?

have changed if Graham and Stills hadn't left. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So it's not just the offense as the weapons. Right. Right, yeah. Jason, you and I were talking about this guy. You have him 18. He's somebody we haven't talked about enough, if you ask me. He's in my sleeper candidate list. Colin Kaepernick. You have him at 18, like I said. Is he a guy you consider moving up at all? There are a lot of reasons that I like him this year.

He's another guy who, like Tannahill, his numbers have mostly across the board improved as a quarterback every season he's played, believe it or not. Especially important numbers like total yards and touchdowns from Kaepernick. Reports are his mechanics are visibly improved. He adds Tori Smith. He adds Reggie Bush. He's on a team whose defense has been depleted, so there might be more of a shootout type of situation with him. And so the question I have is, and Jason,

Are you on the same page with me? Do you like Kaepernick? Yeah, I'm on the same page as you. I don't know if I'd have them top 12. My rankings will be done soon, but I would have them higher than 18. And so, Mike, you have Bradford seven spots ahead of Kaepernick. And so my question is why? Chip Kelly is the answer. Chip Kelly took Nick Foles, who I think we're going to learn this year, is not a good quarterback. And he took Mark Sanchez, who historically was an awful.

quarterback when he was on the Jets, and he turned them into fantasy superstars. Now, they weren't necessarily the greatest real-life quarterbacks, but with the system that Kelly uses with the spread, and they do run a lot, which that's part of what sets things up for those deep balls, and I think they're going to be perfectly fine without Macklin with Jordan Matthews and now Aguilar coming in, and I agree. Even in a standard four point per touchdown? Yes.

You'd still take Bradford ahead of Capernet. Yes, and don't forget about the two-point conversion. I don't think that can be ignored. You know, I completely agree because you know who else that's great for? Cam Newton. Yeah, and we talked about that. It's very possible, but I don't know if that coaching staff is willing to go where I'm confident that Chip Kelly is willing to go for it. I like Kaepernet. I'm going to, my rankings are being worked on at the moment.

And so I think Kaepernick's going to be a little bit higher for me. I like the potential there. I think nobody's talking about him. Yeah, that's true. He still has Anquam Bolden. He's still has, he's got Tori Smith, who I, you know, nobody loves Tori Smith, but he ends the year as the top 24 in that range fantasy producer. There's 12 guys that I'd rather have over him, so he's not that huge. But if you're in a 2QB system, he's the perfect type of guy where, for where you're getting him, I think he's going to outproduce his value for sure.

And do not sleep on Vernon Davis this year. I completely agree. Oh, no. No. Listen. No. No, no, no. Because the offense is changing. Yeah. And the offensive coordinator that they had the last two years is exactly the same time span that Vernon Davis sucked. And now he's gone and he's left town and gone over to the bills. And so now you get back to the time. Vernon Davis isn't that old. And I completely agree. Don't sleep on him. I'm not sitting here saying he's going to be a top five tight end. But I just think.

I mean, he might go from not being used at all to being used a little bit. Yeah, if he has a good week one, I'll probably pick him up for sure. Let's turn over to your running backs. It looks like you've made a few changes since the last time we looked at these. Eddie Lacey at number one, Adrian Peterson, all the way up at number two, Jeremy Hill, number three. Levion Bell, down to four. Which format are we reading here? Standard. Standard, okay. Standard, sorry. Marshaun Lynch at five.

DeMarco Murray at 6. That's a bump up. Ari and Foster at 7. That is not a bump up for me, actually. That's a bump, I think one spot down. Murray? Yeah. He was at 5 before? Yeah, I've been high on Murray. Charles at 8. Yep. And a big surprise to me, Justin Forset at 9. Woo! Love Forset. And Matt Forte at 10. I don't know how many people have Foreset ahead of Forte. I know you're not leaping to be contrarian for no reason here.

Let's start with Lacey at number one. I think he was number one for all three of us. Last time we chatted, this is all under the idea that Lev Bell is suspended for three games. Yes, yes, absolutely. Which is still currently the situation. Does he come up in your rankings if that goes down to two or one game? Does he jump over Jeremy Hill? Probably. He's got to. Probably. Probably. So Lacey's number one. Is there any chance Peterson climbs all the way up to that number one spot? That is...

A possibility for me. I love Adrian Peterson. The guy is as proven as you can possibly get with a running back. And the Norv Turner system, which he didn't really get to run in because he was not available to play last year. But we saw production from guys like Matt Ozziata who should not be producing on a fantasy level at all. But he is because he's getting so many catches. And Jerich McKinnon.