Hold Em’ or Fold Em’ - LIVE in New York City

He had just signed up for his AARP card before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes. They were third in yards, fourth in points. 2018 last year, James Connor, the leading Russia for the Pittsburgh Steelers, fourth in yards, sixth in points. It's almost like the running back doesn't really matter for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Connor...

played in 13 games. He had starter snaps in 11 due to injuries and in those times. In those 11 games, 11 plus. Ninth most touches at the running back position, 12 rushing touchdowns. A feat that levy on Bell, Mr. 80-billion dollars, he has never scored double-digit rushing touchdown. So weird. He was on a pace for 12. It seems like an 11-bell fold simultaneously. But you didn't want to say it. We're in New York, so I wouldn't. Look.

A player I would fold, his name rhymes with Schmevian Smell. Yes, got it. But back to James Connor. When he was playing on pace for 1,200 yards, last season, the last two seasons, Levy on Bell was 1279. Very comparable. James Connor was on pace for 68 receptions. That's not Levion Bell-esque. Levy on Bell, he caught more passes than that, but that's still pretty freaking good. And you can look back at Mike Tomlin's entire.

career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and only one time did he ever go to the RBBC he likes to have a featured running back and that was 2012 because everybody everybody on that team at the running back position got hurt before that from Willie Parker Richard Menon Hall Lev Bell DeAngelo Williams even Isaac Freaking Redman Isaac Redman got his middle name

Yes, it is. By birth. His parents were very... Passionate. Exciting. They were very excited for the Redmond name. Look, do you guys remember Isaac Redmond? Some of you do. But when he played... Liars! He got work horse touches. Now to James Connor. Last year, he was the fifth most elusive running back of the high volume running backs behind only Chubb, Henry, Kareem Barkley. He had nine runs of...

over 20 yards in 215 carries. How did Bell do in 2017 with 321 carries? Oh, he had three. Nine, three. I'm not a math. Woof. Be a buzz your girlfriend. Woof. Exactly.

James Connor was a running back one or two in 77% of his games. That's the sixth best percentage. That's a higher percentage than Alvin Camara. He was a running back one, almost 54% of the time, more than Zeke, more than mixing. James Connor was fantastic, and I do not think you are expecting too much by drafting last year's running back six at the running back nine price points. So yes.

I am holding my pocket king's James Connor at the end of the first. Now, I want to take just a second to apologize, Mike, for calling you boring and overrated. Right before I fold James Connor. Yeah, good luck with that. I'm folding him. Yeah, okay. Listening to you, talk about James Connor like that, it's a lot like Blade Runner. But here's the counterpoint that I have for James Connor.

And I like that you said, I believe you are expecting too much from James Connor to draft him where you're drafting him. You said it. He's an end of the first round pick, early second round pick. I think you've been mentally toyed with. That's what I believe. I think you've been deceived a little bit with James Connor because he, look, the impression a fantasy player makes, those first six weeks of the year, the first seven weeks of the year, yeah, they can last a lifetime, Mike. 14th round pick. James Connor was a free.

superstar for every fantasy owner. That's why they were, you're in love with him, right? He meant so much to your fantasy team. I love a free running back six. A free running back six. That's right. First seven games. He was unbelievable. He actually had the most goal line carries in the league, 13, on pace for 290 carries, 21 touchdowns. You didn't need Love Bell. Nobody even cared about Lev Bell. Second half of the season, it wasn't as exceptional. The pace,

The opportunities, the numbers, the goal line carries, those are very hard. They're not sticking. They're fluid. They're difficult to repeat all the time. First seven games, it was amazing. Second seven games, not so much. Those first seven games, you said it. He was one of the best running backs in football. The second half? Not so much. And we saw that. I think it was RB 18.

In fantasy points over the second half of the year, RB 23 in total points. I'm doing it points per game because I know you said he had a couple snaps shortened games. The thing is this happens. Linder Fernette in 2017 was the RB6 over the first eight games of the season. That's why he was drafted that way the next year. But over the second half of that season, he was the RB17. The next draft?

You slid him right up there because you had seen it. You had seen what he had done in what was a little bit smaller sample size. And he doesn't have, to me, James Connor, I know we like him. I feel like this is unfair to him because he did everything he can do on a football field. But this is fantasy. So you're saying, hey, do I want an RB6 or do I want an RB15? And I think he fits more in that category. He doesn't have tenure in the NFL. He makes $600 grand a year. Mike Tomlin wants to run one guy. Yes, he does. He's not financially obligated to run.

James Connor is my point. So I think what you're actually going to get, why I'm folding him is I think you're actually going to get a player that ends up in that running back 15 category and you could do better with that pick in the first round. So look, I folded James Connor. You held him. I don't know what Jason would do. I listened. I listened to both. Dallas Goddard. I listened to both arguments.

I have recently adjusted his ranking. Like right now, live on the show? No, like last week. I wasn't convinced. That sounds like you made up your decision before you heard the argument. It was actually the opposite decision, Mike, because I'm holding James Connor.

I'm fine with where he's being drafted. I think he's going to be an absolutely fine asset. Even without Antonio? Even without that offense? Because that's the one thing you really should have brought up. No, it was there, but... The only crack in my argument that I bypassed was Antonio Brown. And it legit, like, if you want to... It makes a huge difference. If you want to attack the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense and say Antonio Brown is gone...

Your argument is really strong because all those numbers I'm talking about in the past five years where they're top ten and everything. That's Home Alone One. That's Antonio Brown. You go back a little bit further. That's when Antonio Brown is not the number one guy and the numbers are not so favorable. I just believe that Juju is a good enough player.

that he can step up and keep the Pittsburgh Steelers running at a top-jet level. Very quick change. No, that's the thing. If DB-1s can cover ju-ju and you can shut down the run, they will attack the offense that way. You believe in ju-ju, you believe in James Connor. Did we say how many receptions that James Connor had last year? I don't recall. It was somewhere between 50 and 60. I don't know that number.

Did he really? 55? Oh, how can you fold of Andy? He's so helpful. All right, hey, we're jump. You ready for mailbag? You guys ready? Oh. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Yeah, let's prime them. Are you actually ready for the mailbag drop? Mailbag people were ready over there? Mailbag people are ready. Mailbag drop, let's do it. Mailbag. A dude to clear. Did you feel it? I was only standing.

Because my quads are so strong. Otherwise, the sonic impact would have taken me into the screen. Is that a reflection of Giants Jets' hope? How do you have that? Oh, Patriot. It's a reflect. All right. Let's get into the mailbag. Question number one. Good sir. Please lean into the microphone. State your name and your question.

Hello, my name is Dave Reed, and I first want to thank you guys for coming out. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Dave. Absolutely. Thank you for being here. So nice to meet you, Dave. I also want to say, Mike, the haircut, fantastic. Very happy you found a barber. Look, gambles were taken on the haircut, and I came out looking good. It paid off. So my question is, when you guys were all standing out all the players in the off season, what was a player issue you had that you looked at, you're like,

this can't be right like is it like too good too bad like who are some of those guys yeah yeah for me it was russle wilson because these guys are like yeah locked and loaded he's a quarterback one and i took a look at my initial projections and i think i had him in like quarterback 18 because look man i

He could end up as a top 12 quarterback. He could because that's what he has been his entire career. But the new offense has absolutely nerfed him. He was efficient levels that we just, it's hard to explain what he did. People are focused on Patrick Mahomes through 50 touchdowns because he was over an 8% touchdown rate. You know who was also at 8? Russell Wilson and his attempts are down. They want to be a running team.

I went through. I had to give them a little bit of a bump because it was just, it was way too low. But I strongly believe if we were doing, if I was going to have to hold or fold Russell Wilson, it's a strong fold. I'm not in on that at all. Yeah, for me, a very similar process. It was on AJ Green. Like as soon as I was done with the rankings, I went, oh, like, wait, AJ Green's like should be a top seven.

Wide receiver. Why is he down here in the low teens? And I have a really hard time right now with the toe injury, with just everything going on, his contract situation, his age, his quarterback. I have a really hard time being in on A.J. Green this year. And Tyler Boy is great. I think for me it was it was Amari Cooper's end of season stat line, which.

It just always looks so good. And you brought it up on the Chicago show. Do I need to bring up the Cooper line? No, because I'm not in on it. It's like the Mendoza line. The numbers are right. It's not good. No, it's not good. But he will end up in a great place and you will end up disappointed. So I was still shocked to see, man. The end of season numbers is being the one in Dallas, what he did last year. I think they look good. It's just a matter of can he be consistent. And I'll add Deshaun Watson. He was my number two quarterback. I was like, whoa. Didn't see that coming. That's fine by me.

Oh, it's fine by me as well. This is my rankings. Thank you, sir. Thank you. You guys. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. What's up, ballers? What's up? My question is, what advice do you have when drafting with other foot clan members? Specifically, for the tight-end position where the gap between the top five and the rest of the league is pretty vast. Jack Doyle. Just believe. Just believe. Your advice in Jack Doyle is right in the sense that what you need to do,

is find the tight end that's late that you believe in. Whether that is Jack Doyle, whether you think, you know, Mark Andrews could break out. Will Disley? Herden preposterous, what is happening right now. We're making you money, Will. You didn't even like that drop when I started it. Look, New York, your ability to maintain clapping on beat there was a little bit disappointing.

That hurts the inside. And for Chris Herndon, I love Chris Herndon, long term. You can't draft him. Yeah, dude's not going to play for two games. You can't take a late round shot on a player. Greg Olson? Yeah, Greg Olson is not being talked about at all, probably because he sucked last year when he actually... Delaney Walker? Oh, Delaney. The old faithfuls. The ultimate in vanilla ice cream, Delaney Walker. Yeah. You don't want it, and then you go, yeah, it's pretty good. Would you take Delaney or would you take Doyle?

I would take Delaney, for sure. Would you take Doyle or would you take Eiffert? I would take Doyle. Would you take Doyle? Or would you take Kelsey? I'm going Kelsey. Any more brain busters? No, that's good. And as far as drafting with other Foot Clan people, I would just say this. Look, we've got Footclanleagues.com, right? Where you are joining leagues with other people who, all, everybody in that league is going to win. Here's what you do. You do your best. Everyone's winning.