Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Sleepers, Fantasy News, Mailbag

That leaves a wide open hole for Kamar Aiken. And the reality is, we don't have to guess with him of whether he can do it. You think, well, you know, what do you hope for when you draft a guy late? You hope for a guy that can be plugged in as a starter. After the by week last year, when things broke his way, the whole second half of the season, he was the 16th best wide receiver. He was the wide receiver 16. That is phenomenal for a guy that is being drafted right now in the

13th round. He has a rapport already with Joe Flacco. He's got the opportunity, the skill, and I want guys in a Mark Tressman offense, especially past catching guys, past catching running backs and wide receivers. Give me Kamar Aiken in the 13th round, and I've got a guy that I will be able to start in my lineups on a regular basis this coming year, and he's borderline free. I had him late last year, and he was very comfortable as a...

A two-three option last year where you felt you were going to have this baseline of production from Aiken just in total reception numbers. If you're in a PPR three-wide receiver league, I mean, Kamar Aiken is gold at the end of your draft. He's going to separate you. Yeah, 13th round is ridiculous. Yeah, it's absurd. That makes me so very happy. That his name is being brought up. Yeah, and it's the world, I think, is coming around on Mr. Kamar Aiken, so I...

I love that. The name that I want to bring up is a running back for the New York Jets. You think, Matt Forteigh can't be a sleeper? Because he cannot, you know who can be a sleeper? Bilal Powell, America, get it together. Bilal Powell is being drafted, and you know what? I went specifically for PPR. He's being drafted in the 11th round of PPR. And here's what Bilal Powell did last year. He had nine games where he was actually fully healthy. In those nine games?

He averaged 54.5% of the snaps. So more than half of the time, Ball Powell was on the field, and he was doing work. He was averaging seven targets a game, almost 10 ppr points a game. A running back, a running back you can draft right now in the 11th round was averaging 10 points a game. That is absolutely...

ridiculous. Those are running back two numbers that people gladly spend a fifth or sixth round pick on. You can get him in the 11th. I have my hesitations here, and I'd like you to overcome them for me. Because last year, no, I agree. Here's the thing that I like about him. They paid him. They trust him. Two questions for you. One, they didn't have somebody like Matt Forte last year who was a, not just a decent...

pass catching back and elite pass catching running back. So speak to the Forte competition and speak to the importance of it being Fitzpatrick for Powell to have success or do you not believe that the quarterback position matters in that situation? I don't think the quarterback position matters too much and what I would say to the forte is a, here's the reminder. The contract that Matt Forte got is almost identical to the contract that Bilal Powell got. So it's financially speaking. The Jets have said Powell

You're basically as important as Matt Forte. Now, will Powell get that 54.5% of snaps? Maybe not. Maybe it goes down because, like you said, Chris Ivory is not a pass catcher, and that was Powell's role. But Powell is very familiar with the system. When it comes down to like a two-minute drill where you're just soaking up these points, you're getting three dump-offs in a matter of a couple plays, I think that's Ballal Powell's job.

And I just, I don't see a situation where Forte completely usurps and passes Powell for passing down plays. One more question there. Then Matt Forte right now is going in the third round, which I think we all, we all think is too high. Yes. Powell's going in the 11th. But let's pretend for a minute that Forte is available to you in the fifth round. Mike Wright, would you take Matt Forte in the fifth round or Bilal Powell in the 11th round? Which would you prefer?

And I'll ask the same question to Jason. I'd like to get his thoughts. In the fifth round, I could be interested actually in both. If you're talking, I can get him in the fifth and then Powell in the 11th. I might just lock up the New York Jets backfield and call it a day. But if it's just the one-to-one, I would still take Powell in that situation.

For me, I like Forte in the Fifth. You know, we are a little bit lower on him than the masses. It's just not going to happen. And I would be willing to take him in the fifth. But the reality is it depends on who's on the board. You know, there are some guys. I would probably take Forte over most of the guys going in the fifth. But I do like a lot of guys currently going in the fifth. You know, you're Ryan Matthews, Jonathan Stewart's. But I would probably take four. Are you on board with the Powell argument? Or are you...

I'm reserving a little bit of my... Here's how I feel about Powell as a sleeper. Excitement. I feel like the guys that are going in the draft around that 11 plus at running back are not as good an option as Powell. Usually there are guys that are a complete handcuffed that can't score unless the guy in front of them gets injured.

or they're, you know, a rookie you're hoping for or something like that. I think Powell is a guy that can go out there if you're in a PPR league like Mike was talking about, and he can get you points. He can be in a flex and a pinch. I mean, the other guys, you know, would you rather have him or James Starks or Jared McKinnon? No, I'd rather have Powell over any of those options. Right, in a redraft, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I look at Powell, I'd rather have Charles Sims.

than Bilal Pal. Charles Sims is going to go in the eighth. Right, and that's the difference. But I mean, I look at them in this type of guy. Exactly. I look at them in the same, even maybe what Sean Drone's going to be. Yeah. Maybe he's more of a little salad. I don't know. We'll see which guy goes first. Let me circle back here, Jason. I want to talk about one of the guys on your list. Here's something that happens in fantasy football. Certain players let you down and certain players let you down and leave a stench upon

Fantasy burns. Their roster spot. And Ryan Tannahill left a stench upon every roster that Mike had him on. So he's in this list for you. And you put Ryan Tannahill as a sleeper this year, and I want to know why. I did. I put Ryan Tannahill in here. It felt a little gross to do because of what you're saying. But there's a lot of times, you know, you hear the phrase a post-hype sleeper. And what that is is that's a guy who gets hyped up.

who doesn't perform to that hype. But then the next year, there was a reason for the hype originally. It didn't work out. And the next year, he provides a value. That's what Ryan Tannahill is. And let me just give you a couple examples of why he does have the skills and the capability to be a fantasy player. First of all, in 2014, he was the quarterback eight in fantasy. So he was a QB1 already. And this is a guy, I mean, look up where Ryan Tanahill is being drafted, because I'm pretty sure it's,

very late. But he has already thrown two seasons of over 4,000 yards last year, which was super disappointing. He threw 4,200 yards and only 12 picks. The problem was he just had lower touchdowns.

Well, Adam Gaze is coming in, who was a guy who got the most out of Jake Cutler. He was the guy that was the offensive coordinator for the 50 touchdown, Peyton Manning season. He gets touchdowns through the air. He gets touchdowns. I believe in it. And you also have to keep in mind, like Tanna Hill was a late convert to the quarterback position. He's only had four years.

And if you look back at these quarterbacks that we know are so great, I mean, they're the best, right? Breeze, Rathlisberger, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, these stalwarts.

None of those guys, not one of those guys I just mentioned, got 4,000 yards before they were 27 years old. Brady was 28. And in the case of Brady and Rothlisberger and Drew Brees, it took six seasons for them to actually get to 4,000 yards. My point is not that Ryan Tanna Hill is going to be one of these Hall of Fame level quarterbacks. But the point is we jump off of people too quick at the quarterback position and we leave them for dead. I think with gays coming in, with Devante Parker there,

with Jarvis Landry they drafted Tunsell on the offensive line they drafted Laurenti Karu they're wanting him to succeed the weapons are there the scheme is there where he's being drafted he presents a big value the 13th round well and that that's the thing right like if he doesn't succeed in this situation

Yeah, he won't be on my sleepers next year. Yeah, as he said, he won't be on the sleeper. I want to talk about, and so that's an interesting perspective on Tanna Hill. I want to bring up a guy that I'm really, really growing on and make the case to you guys. This is the only sleeper I have on our list that was my special pick on today's show. And that's Tavon Austin. Tavon Austin right now is a 10th round pick, okay? So he qualifies in that sleeper category.

And I'm really rising on him, and I know that, you know, you look back last year at St. Louis, and they probably were in contention for some of the worst quarterback play you could have seen. What? No. Nick Folds, Superstar. As opposed to the hesitations that you would have with a rookie quarterback coming into the fold like you would if, let's say, Paxton Lynch starts in Denver, and you start questioning the production of those receivers.

You're not facing that situation in St. Louis because the bar is set so low that, you know, Jason could probably get over it. Now, that's a low bar. Thank you. As long as you can step over it. But let's talk about Tavon Austin. Let's just talk about the numbers to start with. He set career highs in all of the major categories last year. We're talking about reception totals, yards as a receiver.

Definitely career highs in rushing attempts. He went 52 attempts on the ground, 52 through the air. And so when you are the kind of broad overview perspective at the wide receiver position, you're not seeing Austin, right? You don't see that because you don't see the rushing totals when you're just glancing at these lists. But what Austin excites in me is this idea where he's breaking, he's 25 years old.

He's a 25-year-old player, and he brings to the table something that you don't generally see outside of a little bit of Randall Cobb over the last few years. Percy Harvin was the last one to do it in a meaningful way. But he has this baseline that he's providing you with these rushing attempts. He had, I believe, almost half his games last year. He had four or more rushing attempts. This wasn't just like, okay, he gets one, he gets two. They're using him in that capacity to where he is rushing the ball every single game. He was actually somebody who, per target,

was third in the league in averaging the most fantasy points per target. He's dangerous after the catch. He's somebody who they use in a lot of different ways. And yes, you can, you know, of all the coach speak that I'd love to avoid in the entire universe, Jeff Fisher. Jeff Fisher's the one. John Fox is also in my life. Oh, yes, yes. But, you know, I'd like to avoid Jeff Fisher. But I think what you saw last year is the maturing of a player who is.

plain and simply a weapon in an offense. He was, I think, somebody who ended the year, surprising everybody as the 23rd wide receiver. I think when I looked at his actual game logs, I would have been happy starting Tavon Austin in half his games last year. And for somebody going in the 10th round with that kind of youth and upside, I don't know, I started to get a little bit excited about it. I think what Gurley brings to the offense,

affords opportunity for Tavon Austin. And so if I had somebody late in the draft, you know, you talk about Kamar Aiken, he's not Kamar Aiken. He doesn't give you this like kind of PPR baseline, but he gives you an upside and he gives you this dual threat that I'm kind of excited about. So I think Tavon Austin belongs on people's sleepers list as long as he's being drafted where he's being drafted. Yeah, and the rushing matters because with him, I mean...

They use him as a decoy sometimes and as a weapon sometimes. He had four rushing touchdowns. Right. For fantasy, four touchdowns is huge. How many touchdowns did Mike Wallace have all year? I have no idea. Is it zero? Well, Mike Wallace, I'm sorry, Mike Evans. Oh, oh. Mike Evans had two, I believe. Yeah.