Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - The Fantasy MVP Episode w/Expert Picks

but you're in the back of the 10th round. But this is right around guys like Willie Sneed, Kamar Aiken, Sammy Coates, guys that I think have huge upside in taking a flyer there, and they all have functional Achilles. I look for in a player. I think everyone would agree that if Steve Smith comes back healthy, he is more valuable than those three guys you named. So the question is, do you believe he can go back healthy? So the report, he's not off the pup. John Harbaugh came out.

and said he is expected to be ready by week one. Yes. That is the report. So he'll be off the pup, expected to be ready by week one. I'm sure he'll be eased into playing, you know, on coming back from the double rupture. Again, another low, I think it's a low-cost flyer if you believe he's going to be back. If the news starts trending in the right direction before, then you're in good shape. Yeah, it's like if Steve Smith is healthy.

then he will be a monster value. You got two, I mean, he mentioned two people, two old people that were performing at a high level last year. And I really like his pick of Adrian Peterson. He's my number one running back this year in standard and in half point PPR. But with Steve Smith, the way he went out at 37 with a double ruptured.

Achilles. I'm not buying Steve Smith this year. All right. Who's the next guy on our list? So the next guy, good friend. We have we have spent many moments. The late round QB himself with JJ Zacharisen, uh, uh, editor and chief of number fire and host of, uh, live stream. Sometimes the editor and chief of fan do that's right. That's right. So let's let's hear from JJ and his MVP. He's not necessarily the MVP of fantasy football, but he's a huge, huge value pick.

And that's Marvin Jones. Players over the last three years with better touchdowns per target rates than Marvin Jones include Rob Gruncowski, Tyler Eifert, Alan Robinson, Des Bryant, and Julius Thomas. That's it. Those are the only players who have been better red zone threats on a per target basis. Golden Tate's not a traditional red zone threat, as he scored six times last year with four of those coming on design plays from one or two yards out. Detroit's been one of the most pass-heavy teams.

with non-injury-prone Matthew Stafford under center, which should easily allow Jones to see well, well over 100 targets. So you have volume, you have opportunity to be a deep and intermediate threat without Calvin Johnson, and you have opportunity to be a huge red zone threat. He may not be the MVP of fantasy football, but Marvin Jones is certainly a huge, huge bargain at wide receiver 40. All right, well.

I buy in. I mean, two days ago, I moved Marvin Jones up in my rankings. I moved him from the mid-60s receptions to up near 80, right under 80. If Eric Ebrun has prolonged problems with his ankle, I like him even more. Marvin Jones is being that red zone threat with no Calvin Johnson. Going in the ninth round, give me Marvin Jones over a lot of different guys going ahead of him.

In camp, he received 50% of the targets the other day from Stafford in their scrimmage against another team. That's a huge volume. So you know that they're developing the trust right now. I think this is a great, you know, this is why we do shows like this, right? We want to take, we haven't talked a whole lot about Marvin Jones recently, and this is another, you know, golden nugget where you can say, hey.

Here's another guy that presents a great value who could be good when you get in the... Could be great. Could be great. And he's in that portion of the draft where it's like, ah, it's not a bunch of guys I just absolutely love around him. We brought it up earlier in the off season. Detroit, they had a very successful end of the season, but they are...

They are implementing a new system. The Jim Bob Cooter offense was not fully implemented as he took over midseason. Now it's a new offense. You don't have that built-in system that Golden Tate and Matthew Stafford were working on together. You do have the rapport between them. But Tate is not a prototypical number one. Everybody knows that. He's a yards after catch guy. He's got great hands. He finds a way to get open when you need a big play. But Marvin Jones has at least a...

some shoes to step into there of Calvin Johnson, and Matthew Stafford has the arm strength to get the ball to him downfield, and Jones can make big play. So I love the value of Marvin Jones almost more than I do the player. Right. Hey, that's fair. We talk about it. Sometimes an opportunity is greater than the player as a whole. All right. Let's go ahead. Let's go to Pat Mayo now.

When people think about the fantasy MVP, they're thinking about the highest score at whatever position. So let's say someone I love, like Mike Evans, he can beat the number one receiver this year. He's going to see all of his team's targets. He should positively regress from the three touchdowns he scored last season. And if James takes another step, he's going to be fine. But people are taking Mike Evans in the first 15 picks. I mean, he's going to be the fantasy MVP. Maybe he's your second round pick. Turns out to be your first round pick. That's not the ultimate value that you want.

Now, obviously, I don't know what's going to happen on the waiver wire all season long. There's going to be a great pickup, and that person will probably be the fantasy MVP. But in drafts, right now, Antonio Gates is going way too late. He's going in the 11th, 12th, 13th round, and what he affords you is the luxury to wait on tight end. So, well, guys are taking gronk and Jordan Reed, and even Delaney Walker, Lederius, Green, and Kobe Fleener in all the middle rounds. What you can do is continue to build your core of...

receivers and running backs pad that depth and make sure that you can have some impact guys at those positions because Antonio Gates he's going to be fine and he's going to be a top five tight end so make sure to get him on your team oh yeah yeah I mean I buy into that I tried to move over the part where Pat Mayo said he positively regressed which we had given we had given Jason such a hard time about the fact that you can't say positive regression I stand by it you sure can you sure can

He's got his positive regression crew now with Pat Mayo involved. Look, I said this. I brought this up on the Chris Harris show this morning when we were talking about Antonio Gates. If you look, I think I compared him to Tim Duncan, right? People wanted to stop believing in the Spurs and Tim Duncan. You're too old. You're too old. Just look at the numbers and look at the impact and look at the rapport between him and Rivers. The last 27 games played by Rob Grankowski.

Gronkowski has 21 touchdowns. The last 27 games played by Antonio Gates, he has 17. Now, that's not Gronk, but Gronk's going in the first or second, and Gates is going in the middle of the 11th round. So I buy in completely. He's going to solidify teams. He's going to give you big weeks. I mean, what's not to like about Antonio Gates in the 11th round? Yeah, I've been pushing old man Gates all off season. Love him. No, you have. You had him highest ranked earlier. On a per game basis, he was averaging five receptions.

a game that puts him third for the tight end position you know he can get it done uh we talked a little bit about the stevie johnson uh the loss for san diego where i think that i think that bumps up in tony gates not a huge amount but i think that that certainly gives him a little bit more targets maybe some more time in the slot where he has been dominant especially for scoring touchdowns i i just i see no reason why if you're especially if you're going to wait at least a little bit on on your tight end

Wait for Antonio Gates in the middle of the 11th round is absolutely ludicrous to me. Anything to add, Jason? Positive regression. Positive regression. No, we love Gates. He's a fantasy footballer favorite this year. Absolutely. So let's go ahead and go to another fantasy sports network colleague. I'm going to prep everyone for this. What is it? It's a hot take. Put on your flame retardant in outfits. Buckle up. Because our good friend Nando is about to bring the fire. All right. Nando Defino from the Fantasy Sports Network, bringing the fire.

Hello, everybody. It's your old friend Nando Defino from the Fantasy Sports Network. Yay! I got a fantasy MVP. His name is Robert Griffin III. And now this is like the fifth time I've recorded this. And I'm almost talking myself into Terrell Pryorier as my fantasy MVP. So I actually, I would like to lobby for Coe Fantasy MVP's. I think we'll let you with Browns. I think Robert Griffin, the 3rd's going to have Corey Coleman, who I like. I don't want to overhype him, but I like him. He's going to have Gary Barnage, who's nice and steady. He's going to have Duke Johnson catching 60 passes.

And he's going to have Terrell Pryor. And I think the two were tied together. The performance of Torel Pryor made it. And let's fight it. I haven't brought up Josh Gordon yet, who's going to be back in week five, most likely. But Tarell Pryor, I think, is going to catch a ton of passes, is going to be an important weapon in this offense. He can catch 800 yards, maybe six or seven touchdowns. We've seen quarterbacks turn into wide receivers before with a lot of success. I don't know why everyone's counting out Torel Pryor. He was hurt. I don't think it was really an athletic issue. So that's my guy. RG3.

and Terrell Pryor. My guys. Thank you for listening. I love you all. Bye. They are all yours, Nando. They're your guys. You can pump up the...

The Browns. What do you guys think? I was on Terrell Prior. You certainly were. I've been on him since way long ago. I got flack from Andy over here even a couple weeks ago. You're a brother in arms now. Are you backing down? No, I'm not backing down. I still like Terrell Pryor. But if he's going to say that the fantasy MVP is RG3, man, that's tough. That's tough. There is a world in which that happens if RG3's knee is healthy and he is a

running quarterback and he leads the league in rushing yards. If he leads the league in rushing yards, he's out by week four. He can't do that. That's the, that's kind of the paradox of the way that he needs to play in order to perform for fantasy is a way that will not continue to hold up. And so there is a problem there. I can get behind Terrell prior because when Robert Griffin the third goes out in week four, Josh McCown's going to bomb him some great passes.

But I don't like the combo with RG3. I hope. I hope I'm wrong here just because I think it would be exciting for the league to have RG3 relevant again. Just don't think it's going to happen. Why I can buy into this for Robert Griffin is the success that we have seen on what I would say, you know, back Griffin's rookie year, I wouldn't really consider that a great offense, what he was put into and he was producing.

I think he was the reason that the offense was so great, and he's free. If you want to take late round quarterback to the limit with Robert Griffin the third, and he pans out for you, the rest of your team will be so loaded with depth that your team could be an absolute jargonaut. I mean, you could even sustain multiple injuries and still survive if you wait until Robert Griffin, who will probably sustain multiple injuries himself. What year is it?

Uh, 2006? What year? What year is it? Robert Griffin got you excited about his play in 2012. Yeah. Robert Griffin, I'm going to be the voice of reason here. I don't think there's any chance of Robert Griffin the third is your fantasy MVP. Not only is, does he have to do something he hasn't been able to do? He's been cut from the Redskins that they don't believe he can do. He's got to do it at a destination that just seems.

plagued with inefficient offense, with the problems of Josh Gordon, with a rookie wide receiver, with a change in the whole coaching staff again.

No way. I mean, give me 31 other quarterbacks. I mean, everyone you can say if they pan out, you have lots of depth. I'm just not going to buy into the RG3. I'm happy to say Terrell Pryor's going to give you value because he's running with the twos now. He's always been an athletic. Sorry, I'm sorry, he's running as the number two with the ones. He's always been an athletic freak. He has great speed and the transition to wide receiver. Look, if he's there on the depth chart, fine. I'm not going to buy into Robert Griffith and third. You can't make me. He's our consensus 27 quarterback.

Yeah, and that's too high. Well, I'll say 27's higher than the 31 or 32. Consensus. Yeah, you guys are pulling them up. You have them at 29. All right. Thank goodness. All right. Hey, we're going to give you our fantasy MVP in just a minute. We're going to finish this out with 4-4 is John Paulson. Maybe. Hi, it's John Paulson for 4.4.com. I'm here to announce my fantasy MVP. I'm not sure he's going to be an MVP, but I'm always on the lookout for it.

tight-end value at 2013. It was Jordan Cameron, who emerged from the later rounds to post top five, top six numbers, 2014, Travis Kelsey, 2015. Tyler Eifert was going in the ninth or tenth round. This year, I think it's Dwayne Allen's turn with Kobe Fleener out of the way. Alan has a tight-end position to himself there in Indianapolis. It's a tight-end friendly offense under Rob Shinsky. They've accounted for 21% of the targets, 20% of the yards, and 31% of the touchdowns over the last three years.