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

the tight-end position. So I think that Allen will have a big role, especially in the red zone where you can catch double-digit touchdowns. Chitzinski was there with Jordan Cameron's breakout year in 2013. He also coached Craig Olson, his best season to date prior to that in Carolina. And before that, even in Cleveland, he was there for Kelm Winslow's Pro Bowl season in 2007 when he had 82 catches for 1,100 yards. So things are really setting up for nicely for Alan. He just needs to stay healthy.

He's a little bit injury prone, so I always back him up if I can with Zach Miller in Chicago, who came on real strong down the stretch with Martel's Bell Bennett sidelines. So that's my fancy MVP. I love it. You love it? I love it. I think that Paulson has made a very strong argument to me with the numbers, especially referencing what Chatsinsky has done for the tight end position.

Dwayne Allen scored eight touchdowns in 2014 on very limited work. I don't see a world where Dwayne Allen becomes, you know, a huge yardage type of a guy. But if he's Tyler Eifert from last year in the 60s and he's getting you double-digit touchdowns, I see that as a probable thing that could happen for Dwayne Allen. He's certainly a value. We've talked on this before, but it is absolute lunacy that...

Dwayne Allen last year when Kobe Fleener was there was being drafted ahead of where Dwayne Allen is being drafted this year. Now that Dwayne Allen is the guy and is the only tight end target in town for a tight end heavy team, you know, his value in the draft is there. And where he's going, I really like, I would be happy to take him without question.

There's a reason why that's happening, though. That's not happening just... It's happening because Andrew Luck was injured half the year last year, and we have this recency bias that says... I mean, I've said it. The Colts are all being undervalued. That's the reason Andrew Luck is being drafted behind where he was drafted last year. It's because the Colts stunk last year. I'll buy into part of that. That's not the only reason. He hasn't played 16 games since 2012. He is injury-prone, and he did play...

13 and score one touchdown last year. So there's a reason why. I mean, he did not perform on the draft value last year. And yes, you can attribute 100% if you want to Andrew Luck being out. And that's fine. And you can. That's fine. I'm just saying there is a reason. If you stack up injury prone season on injury prone season, eventually somebody like Mike will stop drafting Aaron Foster, which is ridiculous. I was just going to say, Aaron Foster? I just.

Yeah, but his 80. He beat you to it, Mike. Yeah, he did. Preemptive strike. All right. Hey, first, before we give you our fantasy MVPs, I want to thank every single one of those experts that contributed their fantasy MVP pick. We're going to post all their Twitter information where you can find them.

We're going to put out an article with the fantasy MVP, all these names, so you can reference it on our website, the fantasy footballers.com. But a special thanks to every single one of the experts that contributed. We really appreciate you taking the time to send us over your picks. Now it's time to get into it. We're going to give you our fantasy MVPs for 2016. Who wants to start? Mike. I guess I do. I guess Mike wants to start. All right. This is a player who I have.

I have loved. My love for him has grown. And, like, he was, in fact, my fantasy MVP back when we did our election special. Is there a poster of him above your bed? Not yet. It's in the mail. Okay. It's in the mail. And I don't say that because it's, oh, I've had this take forever because we like to stay water and change our takes with new information. The funniest part about Mark Ingram, my fantasy MVP, is he's going even later than when I talked about him in March.

He's going at the top of the third round between weeks 1 and 13. He was the running back 4. He was a top 4 fantasy running back because in 12 games, he gave you almost 800 yards on the ground, 6 touchdowns, and it was the targets that changed everything for Mark Ingram's fantasy output. 60 targets turned into 50 catches, which, by the way, he had 464 yards after the catch.

in the limited war, in the 12 games, which put him seventh for running backs. Pretty good. That's pretty dominant. 484 yards after contact. That puts him 14th. The last three years, he's been a very, very solid runner. He's on one of the best offenses in the entire league. And I think in the third round, he's now a value pick to me. I love starting my drafts going wide receiver, wide receiver. If I think I can get Mark Ingram at the top of the third.

That's very fair. Let's do this a little differently. Give me one reason why he isn't your MVP. Like he could end up not being your MVP. Injury. Just injury? Just injury. So you're not worried about anything with workload? Nope. Okay. All right. That's great. When I went to Universal Studios with my wife this past summer for our anniversary, I went in that Walking Dead experience they just added where you enter.

And then, like, I guess I didn't really realize. Like, I thought this was going to be a tour of, like, a set. Andy thought he was going to the bathroom. Yeah, and so instead, I'm drawn into this experience of zombies leaping out at me. I don't know where to go. You are in the walking day. It's so dark that I don't know which door is the right door and I'm going to be killed. I liken that experience to me picking my fantasy MVP right here. Ringing endorsement. It was as scary for me to do it. But look.

At the end of the day, that should speak to the confidence, not against it, because even though it was very scary for me to do, as I was writing this down, you did it anyways. I did it anyways because I really believe it. I really believe it. My fantasy MVP for 2016 is Latavius Murray. I love it. It's Latavius Murray. Latavis Murray is going at the 11th pick of the third round, 311. He was a beautiful disaster last year. Yeah. Well, no, he was not.

But this is not about last year. That was a 3-11 reference. What? No. But he wasn't a beautiful disaster. I don't know. Maybe that does describe him. But look, I'm not making this argument about last year when he had 266 carries over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. I'm not making it about last year when he had 616 yards after the catch, which was fifth best in the league. I'm making it about this year.

He is extremely durable. He played every game last year. He's going to do it again this year. Every report out of camp says that Latavius Murray is cruising through as that RB1. And there is, I guess, the fear of DeAndre Washington, the fact that Latavius Murray didn't give you the flash last year that you hoped for, it's driven his draft value down. If Latavius Murray was a second round pick right now, he's not my fantasy MVP. He's basically a fourth round pick. He's almost going in the fourth round. And now you go and you give him pro football focuses.

second best offensive line, a team that wants to run the ball, a guy who dominated when he was put in a position to run against less than eight in the box with Derek Carr and Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and that, you know, when he was running against dime formation, he was the best in the league. I just like what Latavius Murray gives you as a literally a workhorseback. And so you talk about how you like your draft setting up with Mark Ingram in the third round as your first. Look, give me Latavius as my RB2.

I think he's a guaranteed RB1 this year. I really do. I think at the end of the year, when the numbers pan out, he's going to be in that top 12. And so to me, at the value level, he's my fantasy MVP. Murray has me all mixed up. Okay. All right. I'm just happy to see you. He's the color of my energy. All right. I'm just happy to see you.

I know. I know. Welcome. Welcome. Yeah, I know. You like Latavius Murray, Jason. All right. So my fantasy MVP, I'm going to go ahead and start and say that both of your guys present better draft A values than my guy. Because my guy's going to have to pretty much cost you your first round pick. That sounds like an admission of ours are better. No, incorrect. I'm actually going. What are you thinking? Yeah, I know. I heard that. I will go ahead. Thank you, Jason. And guarantee that my guy finishes ahead of your guy.

and he's at the exact same position. So I'm going to take mine as the fantasy MVP. My guy is Lamar Miller. And the reason I wanted to make him my fantasy MVP, well, there's on your roster. There are many. Actually, that is part of the reason, not because he's on my roster, but because I have made the personal decision. I had Mark Ingram on my team, Mike's fantasy MVP, and I had Lamar Miller. I had to choose who am I going to keep?

I kept Lamar Miller because I believe it. And so, yeah, it's not because he's on my team that I'm doing this, but it is because I believe and I'm doing, you know, you put your money where your mouth is. And so let me give you a couple of reasons why I am confident in, I'm not confident in a lot of the starters. I'm not confident in Todd Gurley on, especially after watching that first hard knocks. Goodness gracious. By the way, I thought he looked great.

Oh, no, no, no. Todd Gurley looked great. I agree. Todd Gurley is amazing. I just think the Rams are a mess. If you're a Rams fan, please don't watch the show up to the show from yesterday. Jason may have been slightly hyperbolic, although some Rams fans have said quite accurate. Yeah, so, all right, let me get back to Lamar Miller.

Lamar Miller last year in PPR was the number five running back. And the knock on Lamar Miller has always been, not on him, but that he doesn't get the ball. He doesn't have the opportunity. And so there are questions, right? Does he really want that? There were reports that he turned down more money elsewhere to go to Houston. Why would he do that? I watched an interview last night about Lamar Miller when he was asked that question. And he said it's because of how Houston uses the running back.

Sometimes guys get paid and you go, oh, now I worry. His whole motivation of going there was because he wanted to do something special on the field and help his team win. He has right now 12 games in his career where he has more than 15 carries. Because sometimes you go, okay, look at Andre Ellington a couple years ago. Great, efficient runner. And he's going to get more volume. So when he gets more volume, he's just going to be fantastic. But that didn't work out. Sometimes guys can't handle volume.

And that might be your fear with Lamar Miller as he gets the volume and he's not going to do it. You know that's my fear. Well, let me dissuade that fear. Lamar Miller, you are right, has 45 games where he has under 15 carries. In fact, in those games, he's averaged 8.9 carries. That's been the knock. But he also has 12 games where he has over 15 carries. In those games, he averages 18 plus carries a game. And in those games, he has been 4.

phenomenal. He's averaged 15 fantasy points a game in those games, which last year would have made him the number three running back at that workload. That being said, his workload should be much higher than that. Do you run out of breath talking about Lamar Miller? He's running out of saliva, too. His workload should be higher than that. We're talking if he gets the same level of carries that Alfred Blue got.

His carries will be higher, but he's going to get in between Alpha Blue and Arian Foster. And then just keep in mind a couple of these things. Last year and in his career, he's been playing twice a year against the New England Patriots, against the Buffalo Bills, against the Jets and their great run defense. Now, now he's got two games a year where he's playing against the Indianapolis Colts run defense, the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, the Tennessee Titans run defense. Keel! You darn right!

Thank you, y'all. And so, look, I believe that Lamar Miller is safe this year. But I also think his ceiling is through the roof. And so I'm a little afraid of some of these first round running backs. I don't like a lot of the first round running backs. I am confident with Lamar Miller. He is my fantasy. He got way more time than we got, Mike. Yeah, I was going to say. And his volume was progressively increasing. I feel like the loud volume and the length of speaking has coerced me.

No, I love it. Just the Kia. I love Jason's points here. Lamar Miller is a guy who I am rising on even more. The Texans ran 150 more plays than the Dolphins last year. I have no question that he'll get more. I just want to know if he'll be efficient with it. He's never had over 200 carries. I like that he's durable. I don't think he's ever missed a game due to injury. There's a lot of, look, he's a great pick. The value part of it, we'll see. If he's the number one, he's a value still.

where you're drafting him. Well, and that's, if he's the number one, two guy. I concede he's not the best value because you've got to take a first round pick. But for me, I'm risk averse.