Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - AFC South Breakdown, News, Mailbag

Their losses were Trent Richardson and Hakeem Nick. Addition by subtraction. It was tough because my mind didn't let me equate losses with those two guys. They added Philip Dorset, Andre Johnson, Frank Gore, they added a guard, and they added Josh Robinson in the sixth round, who I believe is the handcuffed to own for Frank Gore, just for the record. And I still like Dan Heron. That's fine. I don't blame me for that. Wait, I missed it, Andy. Who did you say? Because that was a question I had coming in. Josh Robinson.

Yeah, I've been talking about him for a while. I just think they really like him, and I think he's the guy that you'd want to own. I think Herent is just a guy. He's going to be the backup to whoever is. Yeah. But maybe he's the Turbin who gets the role instead of Michael, which would be the argument, right? Because Turbin comes in and he does a bunch of things okay versus a rookie that comes in and maybe he blows up, but he's not trustworthy. And while he's not spectacular in the running game, I mean, that's not necessarily the strong point of the Colts anyways.

but Dan Heron is great in the passing game. Yeah, and he very well could be the handcuff. I'm curious to see what preseason looks like. Talk to me about their tight-in position. We'll also get to Andrew Luck here, but if you were drafting one of the two tight-ins, you would be drafting who, Jason? Man, I was all about Kobe Fleener. Oh, oh. No, I was. I said this after the draft.

Yeah, backing that truck up. No, no, no. I said this a long time ago because as soon as they drafted Philip Dorset, I, yeah, Kobe, you were once my man in this off-season. I thought that you had big potential that they were going to get you the ball. But they went and drafted Philip Dorset, who is going to get on the field and you're going to be off of the field. So I am off the Kobe Fleener train.

That's because as you've come to know on this show, we don't stick with what we say if the information we get changes. Be water. Oh, and speaking of what I just... Not stone. Yeah, speaking of what I just said, if you are in a dynasty league or even like a half-keeperly like where you keep half the guys, go get Philip Dorset. Because I don't think T.Y. Hilton is going to be the star there.

in the long term. I really don't. I think he's gone next year. Yeah, exactly. I think Philip Dorset is going to be a possible Hall of Fame entry at the end of his career because he's going to play his career as a number one with Andrew Luck. Answer this question. I would draft Andrew Luck in the third round. Fourth round. What?

The fourth, huh? Fourth round. I would definitely draft him in the fourth. I would love, but I would be willing. You're going to shock some people, though, Mike, when you say that, so why don't you tell people why? Because sometimes when we go against the grain a little bit, which that is going against the grain. A lot of people have luck is the number one quarterback in the fourth round. You're telling me you're passing on them in the third round. So tell me why. It's all about the point degradation of the other positions. When you're talking about running backs and wide receivers, you have to play multiples.

of that position. So the pool of points declines rapidly for running, especially running backs. And while you look at quarterbacks, and Andrew Luck and Aaron Rogers are the superior fantasy plays. And Andrew Luck, I mean, maybe he was on a lot of championship teams last year. The only real difference with Andrew Luck last year is his touchdowns skyrocketed.

and I'm not doubting the talent of Andrew Luck, but there's a possibility that those regress down a little bit. But quarterbacks, the points do not degrade like they do for running backs, where a quarterback that I can draft in the ninth round is still only just a few points. Yeah, because you're not playing Andrew Luck while someone else is playing Gino Smith.

Gino Smith isn't going to be the 12th guy. You're playing Andrew Luck against, you know, a Tony Romo or someone like that. Exactly. So the point differential isn't as big as you think it is, whereas, you know, you look at the running backs. Where you could have, I'm playing Frank Gore against somebody's backup, like Gio Bernard. Like Frank Gore or Gio Bernard, those are differences in negotiations and things that you have to concede when you take a high draft pick, kind of like you saw with R.

our PPR, our live PPR draft, we had to concede a little bit at the wide receiver position. That makes sense. I looked it up for the fun of it. He was the fifth most common player on championship teams last year. But where was he drafted last year? Yeah. Yeah. And that's a piece of it, obviously. Yeah. And that's what we're talking about now because you're preparing for the draft. ODB was number one, by the way, as you might expect. Yeah, because he was free. Yeah. Free! Let's talk about the playoff-bound Jacksonville. No, I'm just kidding.

Waterbed! You know, I bet that a little bit last year. I really wanted to believe in Gus Bradley because I think he's actually a good coach. They don't have anything there. The Jacksonville Jaguars do have some fantasy relevance this year, which is something that we couldn't really talk about last year. We tried to make the case for Toby Gerhardt last year. But this year, they bring in TJ Yeldin in the second round. They draft a guard in the third round in a tackle as well. They bring in, and they bring in Stefan Wisnowski from Oakland.

which was, he was a top five center. Around there. He's not elite, but he's a good center, and they brought in Jeremy Parnell, the tackle from Dallas. And they bring in Julius Thomas, who, whether you love him or not for fantasy, he changes the offense because he's a red zone threat. He's a threat off the line. And then Alan Robinson is back. Hooray. There are things to like about this offense. There are. So Yeldon is slotted in as a three-down bat.

Out of the gate? That, I take a little bit of issue with that because I'm actually pumping the brakes too. I'm hearing that more and more that he's slotted in as a three down back. And it's like, where did that come from? Because I haven't read anything from the coaches. It's from the second down or the second round pick. That's where it's assumed. Yeah, exactly. But it's like, I mean, look at the money you gave Gerhardt. Look at, you know.

You've got still Denard Robinson. It's not like there's nobody else there where he's going to come in and just be the complete bell cow, but people are assuming he is. And I think he's talented, and I think he's going to get opportunity. And I think the O'Line is going to be good enough to give him something. But you've got to be careful because I hear everywhere right now, T.J. Yeldon is locked in as a three-down back. It's like, no, he's not. He hasn't played a game. The coaches haven't said that. Where is this coming from? Yeah, and the coach.

comes from, Bradley's from Seattle, right? So he's got that, somewhat of the Pete Carroll tree, right? And hopefully I'm not talking out of my butt right now. But Seattle is famous now that they don't care who they pay. If you're the best player, you will play. So that's kind of what I think is the thinking of.

with the Toby Gerhardt contract and T.J. Eldon coming in. I think we're going to get the opportunity to actually see what Blake Bortals will be. He was thrown into the fire last year. Now he actually has some weapons with Robinson Healthy with Marquis Lee, Alan Hurons, Julius Thomas, T.J. Eldon. Donard Robinson will do damage in the passing game out of the backfield, at least a little bit. So I'm curious to see. Question for you. Justin Blackman is a wide receiver. That's a trick question. Four.

I mean, we're talking about a different team already. We're done with... Oh, I was on Justin Hunter. Yeah, Justin Blackman is a wide receiver. I heard Justin Hunter is a wide receiver eight. Days gone by. Days gone by. So who, you know, you, Mike, are madly in love with... Huge. The target monster. Yes. Right? And for good reason, he was an exceptional wide receiver. But one of the things that I didn't realize until really looking at this team...

recently is that Cecil Shorts led them in targets. He did. He had 110 targets and is now gone. And so Alan Robinson is looking great. And I need to also, because of this information, I need to realize I've been a little bit too low on Julius Thomas. I still don't see him as, I do not see Julius Thomas as finishing as the fourth.

you know, tight-in, like a lot of people. I see him going off the board as the fourth tight-in quite often, and I think that's ridiculous. He won't be on any of my teams because of that, but there are targets to go around here, and I think that Alan Robinson's rapport and his talent is going to really be truly a target monster. All right, we got to move it on. Got to move it on to Tennessee. Do we have to?

I think the Tennessee fans will take offense to that, Jason. I believe they will and know that we have been Cardinal fans through it all. They are, I will say this, the Tennessee Titans are a team in which, I don't know down from up, from a fantasy perspective. I really don't. They bring in, you know, a ton of...

players in terms of the offensive side of the ball. Doreal Green Beckham, they bring in David Cobb, they bring in Harry Douglas, they bring in Marcus Marietta, obviously, as the first pick in the draft. And so, I mean, the second pick, sorry. But what, who gets the targets? I mean, Justin Hunter's still there. Kendall Hunter's, or Kendall Wright is there. I just don't know what to make of them because we don't know what they're getting out of the quarterback position. We don't know who's their starting running back.

And, you know, for me, I still, if I had to put money on a wide receiver, I'd put money on Kendall Wright at the top of my list. Yeah, I have crapped all over Marriota. I think as, you know, I've really spoken down of him because I don't see him as a great... Are you saying it in past tense now? Because you're about to build him up, or are you just saying that? I'm just speaking the truth that I have said that, that I don't think he's going to be a great...

quarterback and a fantasy stud. However, last year, you know, they had Charlie Whitehurst play seven games. They had Zach Mettenberger play seven games. They had Jake Locker play seven games. As far as play, obviously that's more than 16. They played 21 games. But, you know, Whitehurst started five, Locker started five, Mentenberger started six. How do you, I mean, that's just hard from a, from a

tool perspective. You look at Delaney Walker, right? Delaney Walker was a great option for a while. Because of that. Yeah. And so it's like, I do think that Marriota will help this offense from a consistency standpoint. Because just like you, I don't know up from down. You don't know what to expect. And do you really want to gamble? Like when you're taking your chips and going, I think this is the place that improvement's going to happen. I'm probably not going to put my chips in Tennessee and with Ken Wisden Hunt. But we will know, I believe.

what's going to happen and assuming he doesn't get injured, there's going to be some consistency. And whoever starts getting those targets early, I'm going to look to them early in the year. One of Ken Wisenhunt's alleged claim to Fames is to be a quarterback guru of sorts. He was there when Big Ben ascended. He was at the helm when Kurt Warner's career resurged whether or not that's Wizz and Hunt. But, I mean,

We're talking about a trend. He went to San Diego and Rivers' career turned around when he went over there. So it's possible that Mariotta can be successful in the NFL with Ken Wizz and Hunt. You're talking about he is insanely athletic for a quarterback. And usually you have to pick. Do I want someone who's accurate or do I want one who's an athlete? And he's both. He's extremely accurate. He ate up. His final year, 68%.

completion, 42 touchdowns, four interceptions, ran in 15 touchdowns. I was just going to say, I mean, we don't, when we do this show, we don't know if we're going to agree or disagree sometimes, you know? I'm not saying this just to disagree with you, but I'm very high, Jason, on Marcus Marietta. I have him as my 15th overall right now, and it would not surprise me if he is a quarterback one for teams in fantasy this year. You're saying that because of the legs and the running?

Correct. I can tell you exactly what I have for him on projections. I have him at 3,100 yards, 19 passing touchdowns. I projected him very similar yards-wise as Gino-Smith actually did, but without the interceptions because he has an accurate, smart football player, and I have him running for about 550 yards and about four or five touchdowns on the ground. I just think when we've seen that kind of production, even from guys that aren't great...

quarterbacks in terms of the NFL, I just see the fantasy production as having a lot of upside. Like, I'd love, in two quarterback leagues, if you can get Mario, you know, if you can get him later, he's a great two quarterback league flyer because you're going to draft him in that, I don't know where he's going right now, but he's probably going around the 20th off the board. I just think he's a great flyer to take in those situations. It doesn't mean that Wisenhound's going to do anything special there or that team's going to have a great offense. But, um,