Surprise Live Draft Episode! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 3/2

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, man! What are we doing here? What's going on, everybody? Do not adjust your television sets. I'm supposed to be sleeping right now. But you are not sleeping, Jason. You are here with me, with Mike. Was that an option? It was. It was. It was. Not anymore. It will be an option in another decade when the children are gone. Okay. Welcome in one and all. You may be wondering why you're listening to us today, and that is a fair question. We made the decision to give you a surprise episode today. We thought it would be fun to record an extra one this week. I think just as a way of saying thanks for a great season, and we bonus.

Yeah, a little bonus episode. The combine is going on. And so it's like, hey, this is exciting. This is football time. Let's let's bring a show to the people. And so here we are. And rather than like we can't contribute through like a 40 yard dash or like a three cone drill. So we contribute. Well, I mean, we could via our. We can do a 40 yard jog. I don't, I don't know that we could do a dash. Yeah, I mean, this is the best way we can contribute to the weekend is with an extra show. And. It's one we have not done before. We decided we would hop on and give you a surprise draft, which is to say that we are going to, Jason is going to be a participant in a 12-team fast basketball draft right here live on the show. Mike and I will commentate that draft, talk about some of these players. And feel free to help me. Help slash criticize. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And disagree or agree. We'll see how it goes. But it's fun right now, you know, best ball drafts are what's happening. And I'll give the disclaimer I did last week just so that people kind of understand when we talk about best ball drafts and best ball ADP, it's going to come up a lot over the next few months because you don't have a lot of. you know, redraft mock drafts were pre-NFL draft. So like best ball drafts are happening. These are actual draft. Money is on the line. People are actually playing. And so it is a lot of fun and it is informative to understand how players are being valued. But best ball is a different format than redraft. So you do have some, you're going to see differences between how players are drafted in best ball with how they're drafted and redraft.

But it's going to be a good time today. We're going to do it live. Jason will share a link. People will jump in. And then it's 30 seconds of pick. So it's going to be wild. It's going to be fast and furious. So we'll do that momentarily. And I'd love to get everybody's comments if you're watching on YouTube. Share your thoughts on the draft. We're going to put the draft board up. I just shared the link. So we'll see how long it takes to fill. So you shared with us that you have done four. best ball drafts already because you are a degenerate right uh do you have any sense of the spot that you're hoping to be at like do you want to be in the top three do you want to be at the back turn um i i hope i'm at the 12 because so far we were doing the math on this it seems impossible but um we i've done four drafts i've been at the 12 for all four so i know exactly who's there um at at those positions but

um yeah it's uh it's pretty crazy we are waiting for looks like three more people once to answer the drills you've only got 60 seconds for it to start so i that means i have very little time to tell people to head over to ultimate draft kit dot com obviously you can get in there get the dynasty pass i retweeted so it's going to fill immediately well there was only one person left i retweeted so it's going to fill immediately So we got about 60 seconds before the draft starts, which is the exact amount of time that the Vikings rostered Madison with the new contract. Oh, why are you going to do that to me? Oh, baby. Why are you got? That's such a low blow, my friend. That's our one bit of news we needed to share was Alexander Madison has been released. He signed a two-year contract last off season. It turns out even the guarantees in that contract were not.

They were not what they were reported. No, which is, I mean, that's a little bit of a cautionary tale that we can not necessarily understand the full picture of the contracts reported. But Madison, the experiment, it's over. It appears that your draft is filled, Jason. Yes. Is that right? Yes, it is. It's getting ready to start. 60 seconds left. Jason Brooks would want me to hit this book. I'm at the 12. Hit this button. That's not possible. Are you serious? I am at the 12. That seems impossible. I don't know. Someone's doing me dirty. Are you hard-coded? I'm hard-coded at the 12, I guess. Wow. All right. Well, I'm going to hit this drop because Brooks will be happy. Basketball breakdown. Well, this will be our first chance to see if Jason's holding any grudges over last year. Although I tend to think that you aren't because I did hear a report. Yeah. Gross. That Quentin Johnston ended up on one of your rosters. Is this a...

He did last night. Not just a TMZ rumor. It is not. This was a situation of in best ball. You talked about it earlier, right? Well, there are certain differences that matter in best ball and stacking is extremely important. So that's one of the things I'm going to be looking to try to do today is stack. I had Justin Herbert. I got him at a crazy value, like 20 spots past ADP. And so I did do the stack there with Quentin Johnston. Well, the draft is underway. And again, if you want to follow along with the draft board, we'll be throwing it up periodically here on YouTube. Otherwise, I'll walk you through as much as I can. But the first round is kicking off. Jason's in the 12th position again. So first pick was Christian McCaffrey, then Justin Jefferson, C.D. Lamb, Tiree, I'm on Ross, St. Brown, and Jamar Chase. C.D. Lamb has been, I mean, he is like the hotness right now over Tyreek Hill in pretty much every draft I've seen, which to me,

I mean, I get, I understand. That's a mistake to me. I would take, I would rather have Tyreek, but who would you guys take between those two? I've gone back and forth, back and forth all offseason. I think C.D. Lamb. I'm back on the Cidiam side. I would go, Tyreek. So, but that's five wide receivers in a row than Bijon and Brees, which I think those two guys are going to be, whether it's redraft or basketball. I think they're going to be next to each other because I, look, I think we. We know the talent of Breece Hall and what the output could be in an offense that's just mediocre in New York. But Bejohn has more of the kind of hidden excitement. Now, Jason, you grimaced because Bejohn, Breece, and then Kyrin Williams off the board. Kyran was who I was wanting. You were eyeballing Kyron. Yes, I was eyeballing. Kyron. I'm going to take A.J. Brown here. I'm on the clock. And I'm hoping that I can stack him with Jaylon Hurts.

if he comes back and then. So you took A.J. Brown at the 12 and then Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, I think people are, people are not high enough on Jonathan Taylor. He was fantastic last year in the games you played. He obviously was injured. And so he didn't have a great season. He didn't win people championships the way that, you know, you would have wanted him to do. And so. But on a per game basis, he was outstanding. I love the Colts offense. I think they'll be even better with Anthony Richardson, even though some of the touchdowns might be vultured. I think Jonathan Taylor has a great season. The interesting thing here is Kyron Williams and Puka are first round picks, and that is imagine saying that out loud last year. Your team, Brown and Taylor, so you got a whiteout, got a running back. Garrett Wilson.

We talked about how high he's going in basketball. That makes perfect sense because you're looking at the upside potential. And we know that Garrett Wilson has the potential to 120 catches, 1,500 yards in an offense. So DJ Moore, though, went next, which we don't know the quarterback for DJ Moore. Sure we do. It's Caleb Williams. Okay, you're locked in? Yeah, I'm locked in. I mean, I can't imagine being a GM. where your job is to try to win a Super Bowl. You know you're not winning a Super Bowl field. I think that they can build a really good team around Justin Fields, just not a Super Bowl champion. It's unique because Caleb Williams comes into probably the best case scenario for any number one pick. This is not a bottom dwelling team. They have a good defense. They went 7 and 10. They ended the year strong. They just happened to have the pick because they traded for it last year in Carolina.

handed it over. Yeah, imagine if Caleb Williams was going to Carolina, the team that owned the number one pick, it'd be like, oh man, they don't have any weapons. It's not working well. It is nice that you have, you're at the turn, Jason, because it does give you a lot of time to kind of commentate and share your thoughts on where these players are going. Marvin Harrison Jr. goes 18 overall. So after your pick of Taylor, it went Wilson, DJ Moore, Seiquant, Ayyuk. I've seen him. But Marvin Harrison at 18 ahead of HN, ahead of, you know, ETN. I've seen him in the first. And. Marve? Yeah. Who, brother. Right. It's, it's, it's pretty spicy. If you're a believer, I will say this. If you're drafting this time of year, generally speaking, rookies are a fantastic value before the NFL draft.

Marvin Harrison. The top guys, I don't think they're going to be as value. But once you get past those top three names and people aren't as familiar with the rookies, they don't want to draft him because they don't know if he's good or not. So that's an advantage. Like if you want to listen to our dynasty podcast comes out on Wednesdays, it's a different RSS different feed. So search for the fantasy footballers dynasty pod. And we're on YouTube as well. That will take you through. all the rookies that you need to know for the purposes of drafting pre-NFL draft. And we are all about the fun, right, Mike? I mean, there is an aspect that is very fun to draft a rookie that you believe. Yeah, well, it's the complete and total unknown of will it work out, especially at this point of you have no idea the location because we, as we have kind of mused about the chance of Marvin Harrison going to the New England Patriots.

at 3. I think it is it is not an unrealistic thing that could happen and that would be pretty devastating to people drafting him in the second round. Did we, did we comment on Brandon Ayyuk being drafted like in the middle of the second round? You know, what do we got? About six picks or so before Debo. I think that's fascinating that Brandon Ayuk has made that jump. He has been highlighted in our our truth series of just how consistent and good Brandon Ayuk actually was. So that's a fascinating pick to me to go that early on on IUC. Yeah, IUC got 17 right before Harrison. And then A. Chan, he's going to be very popular in basketball and in redraft at number 19 overall. First quarterback off the board, Josh Allen at 23. Now, Jay, the ADP currently for Jalen Hertz is.

35.1. You are pick 36. Are you getting a little sweaty? I am getting a little sweaty. I am getting a little sweaty. It's worrisome because what I'd like to do is what I did in my last draft, start with AJ Brown, and then take Devontas Smith and Jalen Hertz and take the complete Eagle step. Oh, you're going super stack. Super stack. Here's the thing about best ball, really about any league. You're playing for first. You're only playing for things work out for my team. So when I draft Jalen Hertz, I'm saying if I win, it's because things worked out and he was awesome. Kellyn Moore resurgence of the offense. Yeah, exactly. So that's where, you know, if Hertz is a league winner, then both A.J. Brown and Devante Smith have good weeks. We are.

Almost to Jason's picking the third round, so I need to catch you up. Jason, you are on the clock. We'll get to your pick just momentarily. Obviously, you'll have to make it. But Debo goes in the second round as well. You mentioned it. Josh Allen, Devante Adams. Third round picks, Olave Pacheco, Metcalf, Tank Dell, Rashi Rice, Laporte off the board, first tied end at 30. Diggs, Rashad White, Pittman, Evans, Jalen Waddle, and Jason. Where did you go with your third and fourth pitch? Jalen Hertz, Devante Smith. I'm going to Eagle. Superstack, baby. Oh, man. And Hero RB with Jonathan Taylor. So like you said, you're playing to win. Right. But you might be playing. You might be last. Sure. Absolutely. I mean, dude, if you're if you're not first, you're literally last. If you ain't first, you're left. L-I-V-I-N, I'm living over here. So Jalenhurst, Devante Smith.

We did have extensive discussions the last two years really about what the Eagles offense looks like with and without Dallas Goddard's availability on the field. We have had some drama with AJ Brown. He literally called the local radio show to kind of squash that, wants to be in Philly. And then we have to decide what we believe about Callenmore and the offense. I mean, I think most of us thought this offense was going to be impervious to change last year. It wasn't. You would have thought that kind of the foundational pieces. Jalen Hertz and A.J. Brown could have stabilized that better. We found out they're not banning the tush push. Yeah, I was going to bring up two great pieces of information for Jalen Hertz, for the Eagles. The tush push is so important for fantasy football. The amount of rushing touchdowns he gets, it is, it's unfair, but it's awesome. And then it looks like.

Jason Kelsey, you know, it was reported right after the Super Bowl. I told you guys it wasn't done. I know, I know, I know. But I thought we got it straight from him. Like I'm, we did not. Here's what happened. He talked to players in the locker room afterwards. He was emotional after the, you know, the loss in the playoffs. And then it was reported that he was stepping away, that he is, that that was his last game. Okay. And it was like reported as. It was a done deal. But he has since then clarified that it's not, he still could step away. He still could retire, but it's not a done deal. It's been softened a little bit. He is deciding. So if he is there and the tush push is active, I really like the offense still. Well, beyond, so the first quarterback was Alan just mentioning that second round, then Hertz at 36. Jason at the turn picks up Hertz. And two more just went in the middle of the fourth round. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, back to back.

It's worth noting Jackson win ahead of Mahomes, watching where Mahomes ends up in redrafts. Best ball is going to be very interesting. As we get through this fourth round, we're going to take a really quick break and then come back with the fifth round, and Jason will continue building with Goddard. Dominating. And some other Eagles, probably. All right, we are back. We are entering the fifth round of this live best ball draft, a surprise episode of the show for you. Travis Kelsey did go in the fourth round, pick 42. Mike, that is about a round after Sam Leporta. What was your reaction to seeing him go there? I think it's worth it. It makes sense? Yeah, with the way he finished the year with the, I mean, he's on the Super Bowl high, of course, but even before that I said, I have no intentions of walking away. That was kind of.

My personal fear was if Travis Kelsey wins the Super Bowl, does he ride off into the sunset? Because life is pretty good for the Kelsey's right now without sacrificing their bodies each and every week to football. So to see him get back on track, remembering in totality, the year for Travis Kelsey was great. It was not first round elite tight-end production that everyone wanted when they drafted him. But it was still fantastic. And to get that, if you get last year's season or anything close to that in the fourth, you're very, very, very happy. All right, Jason, I'd love to know your mindset as picks four and five, or sorry, five and six for your roster approach. Real quick, James Cook, neighbors at 46. Then Amari Cooper and Roma Dunzee, so two rookies out of three picks there in the fourth. Addison McBride, Reed, Kirk, Flowers, JSN,

Who are you eyeballing with about five picks before your selection? I'm eyeballing Mark Andrews the most. He is obviously a guy I've always loved and I think he's... He actually submitted a little note to me. He said, you've been looking at him for years and he wants you to... Take it easy, pal. Take it easy. So I won't take it easy. I'll take it super hard and I will trap Mark Andrews if he is there. So take it hard, everybody. Uh, yeah. So that's one. We're doing it live. What, you know, if you can get, if, you know, basically I either draft two quarterbacks or three quarterbacks, two tight ends or three tight ends, depending on whether I took one early. So I know I'm going to finish this draft with two quarterbacks. I spent, you know, my third round pick on Jalen Hertz. So I'm not going to, I'm going to, I'm going to find another decent middle tier quarterback and hope.

Oh, Mark Andrews the pick before. Yeah, Mark Andrews ends up going at pick 59, one selection before Jason, who is on the clock with a mere 20 seconds remaining. So you are now, I wanted, you're now up against it. As you make that selection. I wanted Josh Jacobs, Kenneth Walker, Mark Andrews five picks ago. Well, you have seven seconds left to make a selection. All right. I'm going to, I'm still going to take a Raven. It's just not going to be Mark Andrews. I'm going to take Derek Henry. A helpful rate. What happened to HeroRB? I think that the running backs do dry up a little bit, and I really think he's going to have a great season in his new home. In Baltimore? Yes. And then I do need a wide receiver. I don't like the wide receivers here at all. Three, two. I'm going to end up with Calvin Redley again. Okay. So, I mean, that's two free agents.

I know we have hopeful destinations, but you ended up with Derek Henry and Calvin Ridley at, Calvin Ridley at 61. I think we're all curious about what trust level a team will have in bringing him in and handing him. Is it going to be a wide receiver two position? Is it going to be a wide receiver one type of contract? He is now the bell of the ball with Higgins and Pittman going back to their homes. That's actually what has made me rise a little bit on Calvin Ridley. I'm not super in on him by any means, but. I do expect him to get a very lucrative contract that says, hey, you're going to be our guy at whatever destination. Now, that might be bad. It might be Carolina, you know, being like, hey, come and save us. And then Bryce Young just isn't the dude. And then I would regret my pick. So there is definitely risk here in taking two free agents. I saw Andrews went at 59. Kincaid at 63. I think that's worth noting.

where those two running backs, or sorry, those two tight ends went. It's also worth noting McBride went eight, nine picks ahead of Mark Andrews. Yeah, McBride is, in every draft I've done, he is usually right next to Kelsey in either order. It tells me, though, that people look at Andrews as having the ceiling lowered, you know? Yeah, that's fair. I think that's a fair assessment. Like if you believe McBride is in the Kelsey range and that Andrews is going back behind them, There's either injury fear or there's... That's where I was going to... I'm going to check his game logs because it's... I don't think it's fair, but in my head, Mark Andrews is an injury risk. And so going back through his career... Likely was very productive as well. So we have 16 games as a rookie, 15, 14, all 17, 15, and 10. So, I mean, honestly, 15, you would hope for...

every single game. But I think that's just the fact that most years he misses at least one or two, and then this one was, of course, the brutal broken ankle. I don't think it's fair, but it is in my head that I think of Mark Andrews as an injury risk. Maybe he probably isn't. And we didn't see 4,000 yards like people hoped for from Lamar as well. So maybe a little bit of the passing game ceiling that exists. We didn't get a chance to kind of go over the format, so I'm going to do it really quickly here because we got a long wait for Jason's next pick, and then I'll recap the round. But just so you know, it's 20 rounds in a best ball draft. Best ball means that the best player on your roster out of those 20 spots is going to be the one that counts in the one quarterback, two running back, three wide receiver, one tight-in, one flex, starter positions every week, right?

And so, you know, we're going through 20 rounds. It's a longer draft. You have a lot of time to take shots late. But right now your wide receivers are A.J. Brown, Devante Smith and Calvin Ridley. You're running backs, Jonathan Taylor and Derek Henry. And then your quarterback is Jalen Tush Push Hertz. And best ball, if you're unfamiliar, the best lineup is started every week. You don't have to start decisions. You don't make waiver ads. When you leave the draft, you're done for the year. And then when the games play next year, it's going to take whoever scored the most points at each position into your starting lineup. So you're really, you know, like I've got queued up right now, Christian Watson. He's a player that I like much more in best ball than I do in your home redraft league because his athleticism means he can have a 75-yard touchdown any given week. But he also has a habit of disappearing a lot so far in his short career.

The boom bust guys are great because I'm going to get the good games entered into my lineup. If you've got a consistent guy scoring, you know, nine fantasy points every single week. And at the end of the year, he ends up with a good overall rank. It is not really valuable. Team five really liked your Christian Watson advice. Oh, they just took them. Oh, okay. Good pick. Good pick. Six round ended up Ridley Jones, Kincaid, Anthony Richardson, Tajay Spears, Montgomery, Godwin, Camara. All right. Come on, Brian Thomas, Jr. C.J. Stroud, Remandre, Brian Robinson, Jr. Oh, my gosh. Tony Pollard. Jason, Brian Thomas Jr. Just went next. All the wide receiver. Actually, the answer to that question was yes. Wait, what? Because unbeknownst to you.

Kyle the Wargogun is in this draft. That was Kyle. And he literally took the pitch. You staking jerk. You, oh my gosh. Kyle, you are fired. As you reveal your thought process, Kyle, I feel so betrayed. Stream sniped. He was sniping you. So Watson went at 77, then Najee, then Brian Thomas Jr. And you're about to be on the clock. Burrow, Herbert. Ingram, Nixon. I am so upset. Kyle was saying he was cute. Whatever. All right. Sure. I'm going to take a tight end here because I think David Noghu has massive upside. We saw at the end of last year what he could do. This is the place where I heard that as an endorsement for Watson. Is that what you heard, Mike? It's an endorsement for his breakout was so strong that I think.

schematically, the offense has to say, like, we are working. Centerpiece level? He is a centerpiece of this offense going forward. And to have him this late, when I'm probably going to, I'm more than likely going to end up with three tight ends here. So I'm going to start one a little bit early. And then, look, I wanted Brian Thomas Jr. because you know he's going to go super high in the draft. And that is very helpful. He's pretty much the consensus. Should be a first round pick. The consensus wide receiver four on most big boards. He obviously was sniped by Kyle. So I'm going to take a different rookie, the rookie that I'm in love with. This is riskier. It's a little bit ahead of ADP because we don't know. He might not even be a first round pick. But Troy Franklin, I absolutely love the talent. It's Franklin. Oh, really? You thought about that one. Hey, this is a show for trying things on. Yeah, no, it's a surprise show. Come in to my town.

I don't know that one. Oh, you are. That was the show Franklin? You, sir, live a blessed life. It's like not having watched Cayu, right? It's not Cayu. It's a mild show. They're chill. It's what our children actually need. It's so gentle. It's PBS style. It's just, yeah, it's chill. Troy Franklin. And it's Franklin. Troy Franklin at 85, then Dak and Kyler and then Justin Fields at 90. So we actually saw Burrow, Herbert, Dak, Kyler, and Fields go between 80 and 90. James Connor at 91. This is such nonsense. I feel like I can't talk now that Kyle's in here. Did you know that he was in here? No, I did not know that. Oh, he's so not. He's super not in here. I feel like I literally can't, I can't. You can't. You just, just talk freely. He won't do it again. No, no.

That was just coincidence. But he will do it again. Because the thing is, is I want to reach on a guy. I want to reach like 20 spots ahead. Well, you're going to have to with Kyle here. Well, no, but he picks before me and it's it makes sense. Right now the ADP for Ty Chandler is very, very low. He already went. Did he? Yeah. Oh, pick nine. He just went in 95. Fantastic. I don't have to worry about. firing Kyle. Also, if you name somebody at all, he will go immediately. It's really impressive. Brock Bowers at 94, Mike, taking a shot on rookie impact at tight end. Echler at 96, guys. Oh, man. If he is healthy. I have passed him in so many drafts. I just don't know what to do. Does it feel like you're betraying a friend? It absolutely does. I've had him forever. We've loved the man. We've had him on the show. He's a good friend of the show.