Fantasy Football 2018 - NFL Draft Breakdown: NFC Winners & Losers

chart that was going up over the course of the year and their confidence in Latavius Murray. They obviously spent the money. This was Zimmer's regime that spent the money on Murray. So I agree with you, Mike. That's another underrated player. All right. NFC South. Falcons. Surprise, surprise. Calvin Ridley lands in Atlanta. Bringing back the old memories of when they had a couple of big time wide receivers with Roddy White and...

not comparing Ridley to White directly, just saying you had a couple weapons. It's better for Julio when you have more weapons. It's so good for Matt Ryan. I mean, Matt Ryan is the winner. Matt Ryan is and has always been as good as his weapons. He does not make his weapons better.

but he utilizes who he has. If he's got Roddy White and Julio both at the top of their game. Yeah, Tony Gonzalez. Yeah, he's going to utilize him. But, you know, I really liked Calvin Ridley coming into the draft. I know some of the draft Twitter combined metrics didn't really like him. But based on what he did in college and where he won, this is a perfect spot for him. Now, I'm not seeing Calvin Ridley as anybody in a redraft league that I'm going to go after or expect anything big for.

But for Matt Ryan, I think it's going to open the offense up. And it's just such a good pick. Might not be the best, though, for Mohamed Sunu, who looked like he was really locked into that wide receiver two. Last year, Sunu was 67 for 703 and 5. I think he'll be. And that's about the line that I gave Calvin Ridley this year. I have Ridley at about 68 for 704.

I've got a small down tick in target percentage on that offense. Interesting for dynasty purposes, running back Edo Smith out of southern Mississippi, another mega, mega producer, and not just in the rushing game, huge production in the passing game, three years, over 40 receptions. And as they look forward, Kevin Coleman is a free agent next year with the money invested in Devont to Freeman. I see a...

close to 0% chance that they hold on to Coleman. So Edo Smith, wow, he maybe, he feels like a useless dynasty pick this year. Next year, if they keep that two-back system and I would imagine they will, it's going to be Freeman and Edo Smith. Yeah, good insight there. All right, let's move on. Panthers. All right, the Panthers. They drafted DJ Moore in the first round, one of my favorite wide outs.

And this is good news for Cam Newton. He needed another target. I've been, now you guys might disagree, but I've been in the camp where Funches, I think he exists well as, you know, best case 1B type of guy. I would agree. And DJ Moore is hyper talented. You have DJ Moore, Funches, Olson back, McCaffrey out of the backfield. It's affected my projections for Cam Newton this year. What do you guys think? A much better offensive coordinator as well for.

the Panthers and how they run. So I think that the entire Panthers team gets a tick up. Obviously, this is great news for Cam. And then the other huge winner, I mean, gargantuan winner is Christian McCaffrey. Yeah. And maybe you could even say, low key, low key Cameron Artis Payne is a winner as well.

a very important, very used piece in Jonathan Stewart, and they replaced him with nothing. Right. Which was, in their defense, equal value. Equal value, but a lot of carries to be distributed between. Jonathan Stewart touched the ball 206 times last year. Exactly. Yeah, I have artist Payne stepping right in.

That is a possible destination for another depth running back. One of these guys. Oh, don't do a CJ. Maybe not CJ, but even if Adrian Peterson says he's going to play this year. Right. And he had periods of production last year. That's a possible destination. There are players out there, DeMarco Murray and others, that will find a home over the next couple of months. So you have to look out for that. But right now, the door is open for Cameron Artis Payne.

And he will run through it, violently. I groaned for DJ Moore because he was my favorite wide receiver. This is not the ideal landing spot for fantasy production for DJ Moore. He's going to be fine. I don't know. DJ Moore. I assume you're projecting funches ahead of him. I haven't done it yet. That's an interesting question. I have funchis ahead of him. I think they're going to be close. Yeah. That's about where I have it too.

You know, Tori Smith, they picked him up offseason acquisition. DJ Moore hurts Tori Smith. But Tori Smith is hurt by Tori Smith over the last few years. Yeah, that's the biggest problem with Tori Smith is that it's... He said... You know how you set your goals on like a whiteboard before the season? He's always writing 40 receptions up there as the goal. And he hasn't hit it yet. But eventually...

He's really never had 40 receptions? No, he has, but not in a long time, not since Baltimore days. I mean, last year, 36 receptions, and I was surprised he had that many. 36 for 430 yards, two touchdowns in Philly, and he got the boot. He just likes to make high goals, you know? Aim high. Aim high, Tori. Aim high. Wait, you might miss the sun, but you'll get the stars. Right. You might get 20, but at least you aimed for 40. We inspire. Saints. Saints.

Well, they're a good offense already. But they did spend a third round pick on a whiteout. And he becomes immediately very interesting to me. Trey Kwan Smith out of UCF had a monstrous final year in college, almost 60 receptions over 1100 yards, about 20 yards of reception and 13 touchdowns. Doesn't it mean something a little more when a, you know,

offensive guru like Sean Peyton. Of course. You go, what did he know about that player? Of course. Like Alvin Kamar last year and what they've done, Michael Thomas. There's a little extra like, hmm, Trey Kwan Smith. Third round pick. 100%. I don't, I'm speaking more of a in a dynasty situation. I'm not sure for redraft this year that he will be anything with. He could hurt Brandon Coleman. Oh, Coleman's done.

Well, Brandon Coleman right now is the number two. Right. Well. So, I mean, I just bringing that up. He's the two. I mean, you can argue that Cameron Meredith will take that job away from him. And Ginn is still, I would say Ginn is the two. But Trey Kwan Smith is going to force his way up the depth chart. Okay. Any other winners, losers from this roster? I mean, a vote of confidence in Drew Brees, not another quarterback drafting. Yeah, that was an interesting thing to watch for the draft. I thought they would grab a backup.

But you got to, and the winners, not that they need anything, but Camara and Mark Ingram. We saw they wanted a three-headed monster to start last year with Adrian Peterson, but they changed from that. And it looks like it'll be just those two guys again. Yeah, Boston Scott, and the sixth round is not going to strike fear in any fantasy owners. Buccaneers. All right, the Buccaneers. They are the home of Ronald Jones. Look, I. Running back.

Top of the second round. I have a question for you on Ronald Jones, Jason, and it's simple. Ronald Jones, this year. This is this year a question. Ronald Jones or Carry on Johnson fantasy production for 2018. This year, fantasy production, I would take Ronald Jones. I think the opportunity is going to be there more assuredly for him than it would be for Carri-on Johnson. I really, really, really, really did not like Ronald Jones.

in college. I know I was a big fan. I'm more of the minority there. I didn't like his tape. But I mean, if you look at my dynasty rankings, when you, we said pre-draft, like the best spot to land in is Tampa Bay because they were improving their line. They want to run the ball. And they desperately needed someone to come in and get the ball 250 times. And they draft Ronald Jones. So look, for fantasy purposes, I love Ronald Jones now. I don't, I still don't.

know if his talent and weight will translate. We don't know how he'll be as a pass catcher. But opportunity trumps talent, especially at the running back position. And his opportunity is locked and loaded. They did bring back Charles Sims for a on a one year deal. And they still have Peyton Barber. And Peyton Barber is a big loser in this draft. Yes, he is. Huge loser. Second round investment. He's a Brian Ketron.

Before we close the shot, I do want to let you know a little insight to our dynasty draft and how it went. Now, this was immediately following the NFL draft, but our first round, I just figured I'd read it out. Yeah. What happened in our league? Because Ronald Jones is very relevant in this. Sequin Barclay went number one. Surprise. Darius Geis went number two. Ronald Jones went number three. I've seen it a lot. Rashad Penny went four. Great pick. Sony Michelle. Two.

Yourself. I took Sonny Michelle. Nick Chubb went six. All running backs to this point. Yeah, DJ Moore went seven. Calvin Ridley, eight. Royce Freeman, nine. Carry on Johnson. Ten. Not to Jason. And then Dach. And then Christian Kirk, sorry, not Dak. Christian Kirk went 11, Cortland Sutton, 12. And I had tweeted out right after the draft. I saw seven.

running backs I would take ahead of wide receivers in dynasty drafts because I would roll Royce Freeman up above DJ Moore and Calvin Ridley yeah I still feel that way right now I was at the 107 all lined up to take DJ Moore but the panther situation I just I don't see a world where his ceiling all of a sudden DJ Moore is producing at a wide receiver one level it's amazing when you look at Cam Newton's historical numbers and obviously last year great fantasy player 700 plus rushing yards

his rookie season he threw for over 4,000 yards, which was unprecedented. Shout out to Steve Smith. Yeah. But that does speak to the weapons, right? He hasn't really had. You can say what you want. I don't think Calvin Benjamin's the one either. I think they dealt with what. Greg Olson's been there one since Steve Smith left. Yeah. And he hasn't thrown from 4,000 yards since then. So do I think he's going to get there? No, but I think he's above, I think Cam Newton's going to be above 3,300 yards last year. I think you're going to be in the 3,500, 3,600 range.

We'll be very, very fun to watch these guys in preseason. Hopefully you enjoyed the podcast. As always, we appreciate your reviews of this podcast on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen. A reminder again, you can go to Footclan Giveaway.com, enter to win a free Levi-on Bell autographed jersey. We're also giving away an autographed Alvin Camara football.

to our listeners so you can check that out at footlandgivaway.com. And now that the draft is over and we know where the rookies are is a great time to get in best ball. Yes. Get in early right now while not everybody has the great understanding that you have. Join us at draft.com slash ballers. We'll see you next week. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com.

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