Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Free Agency Preview, News & Notes

When I really start thinking about it, it's going to be really tough for him to be a starting running back. All right. Chris Ivory and Alfred Morris are both early down bruisers. You saw some success with even an older Chris Johnson come into the right offense last year and get yardage, especially in first and second down. That's where I see these guys. I don't see somebody signing Ivory and giving him every touch.

But could he go someplace, even like Jacksonville, and share with T.J. Eldon? Absolutely. I mean, that seems like a possibility to me. Yeah, and Yeldon, maybe. Or even to Washington. A great place for me thinking about it could be Detroit. We know that Joyke Bell. And Andy's favorite running back of the modern era, Joach Bell. Yes, the greatest that ever lived. He got cut.

So they're in need. Didn't he retire early, just like Barry Sanders? Isn't that what happened? Joyg Bell? Yeah. He might be forced into that. We'll find out. He didn't go out on top? The next couple months. So he, Detroit's looking for that role. Abdullah, that's not his role. Theoretic, that's not his role. Maybe Zach Zener was an undrafted free agent could fill that role. But.

To me, Detroit's going to be looking for somebody who could be a powerback. Exactly. I feel like these guys are just, what happens when you're an older or at least older in usage running back that doesn't catch the ball much and you're not being resigned? It's basically a money move. I just, I wanted to see these two guys basically just switch teams and take pay cuts because their own team won't pay them. It's like they're each going to take less money.

to go play the same role for another team. I'm not too excited for either of these guys. Unless Chris Ivory's back for the Jets, where we've seen he can be successful, I think if these guys switch teams, it's going to take a lot to, from a fantasy perspective, for me to believe that they're going to go to another role on a new team, probably not for big money, they're not going to be catching the ball, and they're going to be huge fantasy options. I'm not excited. Huge. It's going to be huge.

All right, so before we move on to wider series, I do want you to give a final warning to fantasy football owners about getting too excited for free agent signings at the running back position. What is the warning there? The warning is that it is very rare for any. I mean, if you look, every year, there are 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 running backs who are signed in free agency that go to another team. And it is over the last 10 years.

you can count on one hand the amount of times where somebody has done all right. Now, last year, LaShawn McCoy was traded, went to a new team. He did all right, but he didn't. Pretty good. Yeah, no. He wasn't a free agent, though. Yeah, they're not going to, Michael Turner is the one that comes to money. Right. Michael Turner got signed. He exploded on another team. But even he wasn't a high profile type of situation in the sense that he was great on one team and then he went to another team and was great again. Yeah. People that were great on one team and switched to another team and were great.

What? I mean, how many examples do we have? I can't even think of one. I don't have the research in front of me, but it happens, but it's not as easy as like basketball and baseball. This isn't just, you go to a new team, you plug and you play, especially baseball, because you get the more of the one-on-one thing. So for you have to fit into the team, you have to fit into the scheme, you have to know what you're doing, and football is so heavily dependent.

on how you match up in a unit and not just as an individual. All right, wide receivers, let's talk about them. They can make an impact. It's not very sexy, though. But they can get paid, too, even if they are guys that maybe aren't, you know, you see this every year. James Jones, right? Was a free agent and he just cashed in. There are a lot of guys when you need somebody at that position, if you're not drafting, look, you got a few names that are going to get paid, Marvin Jones, Travis Benjamin.

Ruben Randall. Those are the big names. I heard the tears and the choke. Yeah, it was hard for me to say it. Choking it back when you had to throw out Ruben Randall. He's 24, so I'll give you that. Ruben Randall's 24 years old. That's always my defense of Ruben Randall. He's so young. Oh, Ruben Randall. So teams in need of wide receivers, Mike, who are some teams that you think are going to be in the market for the free agent wide receiver class? Well, of course.

Cleveland, if they lose Benjamin, which all the rumors were looking great for them to resign Travis Benjamin. And I think it's, I think it's very silly of them to not resign Travis Benjamin after he really showed what he could do, that offense you get Flash Gordon back this year. Things could really be looking up for that offense, but it seems like they're going to screw it up. Baltimore? Baltimore.

You know, you have the situation where Kamar Aiken had to be the whole team. Steve Smith's coming off on Achilles, similar to Aaron Foster. And may or may not play ever. May or may not be the age that he states on his driver's license. Right. In San Diego could really use some help opposite of Keenan Allen there for the Chargers. Oh, yeah. If Keenan goes down, you can see. We saw the team just completely fall apart. I do like Stevie Johnson, but it just didn't seem to.

to completely work out. Let me ask you this real quick on San Diego. If they don't bring in somebody else, does that take away your sleeper confidence in Phillip Rivers? Because one injury to Keenan Allen would maybe take his value away? It doesn't. It doesn't lower it at all. I'm not going to count on another severed kidney from Keen and Allen. Severed. I don't know who was severed. What was it? Dropped off. It was. It was lacerated. What is on the field? What is that?

Canaan, is that your kidney? I apologize. I apologize. Can I get that? Yeah, so a lacerated kidney. Just a wide receiver, I'm not going to bank on him getting hurt. So I'm perfectly fine still going with Rivers. One of the studies I plan to do this off season is I really want to look at the correlation between who finished as a great quarterback.

and how many relevant fantasy options they had to throw the ball to. Because I feel like there was a huge correlation last year between that. So to me, I think that is something. San Diego needs another wide receiver. Stevie Johnson didn't get it done. Even if Keenan Allen is there and healthy all year, I feel like they need another pass catching option. I'm going to throw out New England as another place. Now that they cut Brandon Lafell, they're in need of... He cut himself. Yes, yes, he did.

He could not catch the ball. They're in need of a guy who can go downfield and catch the ball. You know, it's like Brady, I don't think Brady's arm fell off. I think he hit Brandon Lafell in the hands. They've been waiting for Aaron Dobson. They've been waiting for Brandon Lafell. They've been waiting for those guys. So you're right. If they bring somebody in that can be a bit of a burner, I just don't know what they're going to spend. But I think there will be value guys out there. I mean, could a guy like Percy Harvin end up in New England as this.

Jack of All Trade's weapon, because that was rumored last year before he signed with Buffalo, was the possibility of him going to New England. I could see that because, you know, his cost is going down by the year. He will not cost very much, Percy Iver, with all the rumors of retirement combined with his injury history. That's...

That's very interesting to me. And Buffalo could be another place that picks up another wide receiver. But we'll see. There are going to be those second tier guys. So Marvin Jones, the question I have for you is, let's say he lands in the most perfect scenario you could ever have. He's a solid RB2. That's his peak. He's a solid running back? No. A solid wide receiver two, that's his peak. Like best case scenario for Marvin Jones for me, I think he's wide receiver two is this guy.

Do you believe that about Golden Tate? Do you believe Golden Tate's a 1? I believe Golden Tate would be, like for instance, if Marvin Jones goes to the Lions, one of the possible destinations, I expect Golden Tate to have a better year and be able to finish more near a wide receiver 1 than I would think for Marvin Jones. One of the reasons Marvin Jones is going to get paid is because he's shown he can be a red zone monster at times.

And so that's the one thing that's interesting about him is I don't remember the exact number, but when he had that 10 touchdowns and that stretch where he had multiple three touchdown games. Yeah. That helps. But I think he had a stretch of games there where he just put up Doug Baldwin-S touchdown numbers. And so that's always a big deal for teams getting somebody that can make an impact in the red zone. He's got the size. He's over 6-2. I mean, that's what you want in a wider state. We're definitely going to get paid.

And so speaking of the Browns that Mike brought up, Travis Benjamin could slip away from them. What are they doing, man? He's 26, he's young. He's made an impact? And he, at the beginning of the year, when he kind of broke out for fantasy, it seemed very Fool's Gold, where he was doing it on three targets. And then throughout the year, he kind of proved that, no, he's not just the deep guy. I mean, he can run.

He can run pretty solid routes. His slant route is fantastic. And it's bamboozling to me that Cleveland has not locked him up. And I guess maybe we'll see a contract that he actually signs. You go, oh, I guess that's why they didn't sign him. But for the Brown-Colev Benjamin getaway, I think is a big mistake. Yeah, that's one of the things that's confusing to me about the teams who need a wide receiver.

They seem to be the teams losing a wide receiver. Like, you know, Cleveland's going to need a wide receiver because they lose Travis Benjamin. And Cincinnati is going to need a wide receiver because they're not going to sign a wide receiver. I think they'll sign one of them. And New York's going to need a wide receiver because Ruben Randall leaves. They're all just going to switch teams again. And I don't know what's going on here. But the reality is it's money. They're going to go get paid. There's not that many.

Big name wide receivers this year, and there's a lot of teams with wide receiver needs. So they should get money, which means those teams I just mentioned, they're going to need cheap options. They're going to need affordable guys or through the draft. So who from, you know, the bottom half of wide receiver free agents could go to those teams, play with an Andy Dalton or an Eli Manning and find success. Is that possible? Yeah, that's a good question. I think one of the guys you have to mention is somebody who has perennially...

Surprised me, and that's Richard Matthews. He's 26 years old, unlikely to resign with Miami. He's got a number of significant, he's had a number of significant fantasy impactful games, and he just needs to find the right place where he can be used regularly. Obviously, that's not probably Miami with Devante Parker, with Jarvis Landry, and we'll see if he moves on. And then there's a number of the older veteran type of guys, too.

Is there somebody that, I mean, is Ruben Randall, we joke about him all the time because Mike's in love with him and I have like a very fair and balanced viewpoint on him. But Ruben Randall is 24. And you showed me a stat earlier. He was one of the better catch rate guys. Better, lower drop rates of the free agents who are available. And he's big. Yeah, it's he, I always admit that he is a frustrating.

Wide receiver, he seems to disappear. He can't seem to put a full season together. But he's 24, man. You got to take the shot as long as the contract is not out of control. What are you guys' thoughts on Jermaine Curse from Seattle? Kind of made some noise this year. I can't imagine that Seattle is going to offer him any kind of substantial contract. And like we've talked about, there's not very, there's not high-end sexy guys.

coming into this free agency class. So I think Jermaine Kirst is one of these guys who will probably get overpaid. But do you think that he can come into a team and be a two like Detroit? They're very much missing. There too. Could Kirst come in and fill that role? No. See, I would say, I would say yes. But it depends on the fit because...

He is not somebody who has otherworldly tools in one area. So I think if you put him on a team with, you know, a breeze, Brady, Rogers, and that's why your no might be right with Stafford, I'm not sure. It's on the line there. But I think he is a reliable wide receiver. I think he is a guy who can make plays. But you saw, you know.

I will not be surprised that Russell Wilson makes another germane curse out of somebody. Exactly. And you spoke to what my brain was thinking was the quarterback. He was catching passes from Russell Wilson, who's been playing fantastic, and he's been doing that as the third wide receiving option on the team, meaning he's not facing any kind of good coverage. And on these broken plays where Russell Wilson runs around and he can hit him, if he goes to another situation, I think he could be as good as he was last year.