Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Explain Yo'self! + Fantasy News, #FootClan Mailbag

is that he had a very, he's not just a good quarterback. He didn't have a down. Whoa, he's a good quarterback now. He's a good fantasy quarterback. All right. He's a good fantasy quarterback. Last year, we had all of the horrible ramifications from a terrible start in fantasy. And in reality, I mean, for the Lions. Matthew Stafford had a bad beginning of the year, namely with interceptions. He ended the year.

with, what was it, 32 touchdowns, 4,200 yards, a 67% completion rating and a 97 passer rating. And this was not Calvin Johnson dominating every target last year. This was Matthew Stafford, making adjustments. The second half of the season, once Jim Bob Cooter, the offensive coordinator, changeover happened, his second half season pace was 38 touchdowns, 4,400 yards, and four picks. It's just numbers.

It's just numbers. And Stafford, you mix those numbers as opposed to, okay, let's say you look at Blake Bortles. And Bortle's had a good season. Well, the track record for Blake Bortles and fantasy is shorter and smaller than Matthew Stafford. And I'm not elevating Matthew Stafford onto a pedestal above all others. I believe what did you say? He's nine for me right now? Yes. So Matthew Stafford's nine. I'm very comfortable with that. Let me see. Let me see here. Yeah, nine. Okay. So I have him one behind Eli Manning.

and right ahead of Big Ben and Blake Bortals. So I'm very comfortable with that. And the other thing about it is I like Ebron and Marvin Jones as Red Zone weapons to fill in for Calvin Johnson. Nobody is Calvin Johnson. But this team's best... Calvin Johnson is Calvin Johnson. Okay, you're right. Thanks, Mike. Nobody else. Thank you, Mike. Great analysis. Good analysis. This team...

is on Matt Stafford's back. This is not Calvin Johnson's team anymore. He has two past catching running backs in Amir Abdullah and Theoretic. And so everything is on his shoulders to me. He's 28 years old. The average age of the offense is like 25. He is the leader of the team. And to me, I think you have a vulnerable enough division defensively. And that's all to say. I think he can be a top 12 quarterback.

So that's what I think. I think it's an optimism. I think he has weapons. I think that he has youth on his side. And I think best of all, he's a great value at quarterback late. That's basically my argument from Mount Stafford. Well, he's definitely a value late. He's being drafted in the mid-20s at quarterback, which means there are plenty of guys that I would probably take him over that are going ahead of him because of how late he is. So the question is, have you swayed us at all?

And Mike, what say you? Well, I just recently moved him up to 17, so I don't know if I can move him any higher than that. I will admit that I have... Ah, sure you can't. I have grown on Matt Stafford. The problem is, I'm still torn now on... Was it Jim Bob Cooter, or was it the last part of the season that he played, Philly, Green Bay, the Ramswood packed it in, the Saints, San Francisco, and Chicago?

I mean, that's a perfect storm for your, you can't point to exactly what the, what the reason for success was. But I, I'm moving more in the line to want to take a jump in on Matt Stafford this year. And while you were giving your spiel, Andy, I looked at my rankings, looked at my numbers, and I actually did change the numbers. Live. Live while it was happening, I, I forgot how his interception. He moved down.

Yeah, I changed his interception total. And so he did move from my 23rd ranked quarterback to my 22nd ranked quarterback. So not really. I would say that that, I'm not sure that that qualifies as a win or not. I think that qualifies exactly as moving them up. That's a win. All right. Hey. I really hope that someone ends up getting moved down. So you have convinced me to move him down. Even better than convincing you about Matthew Stafford is.

questioning you on Austin Saffarian Jenkins. Oh, yeah. Mike hates Austin Sperian Jenkins. Yeah, Mike really does hate ASJ. He doesn't like anybody with what? You said you don't like any players with kind of like three names? Is that the... No, no. I'm all about the three names, but Saffarian Jenkins. You're not a fan. I'm clearly splitting the difference. I don't like 30-yard games. Jason has a 10. Has them at 10. Okay, then you don't like tight-ins in general. Jason has them at 10.

I am at 16. Mike has them all the way at 22. Yeah. Back behind many, many players. Eat it, Jenkins. Like Dwayne Allen or Jordan Cameron or Will Ty, Zach Miller. Not a mini. ASJ isn't ahead of a lot for Mike. So. All right. So I will explain yourself. I will explain myself on Austin Saffarian Jenkins. The best thing that I like about Austin Sfarion Jenkins is his opportunity.

What we saw happen last year with him was a ton of injury. How long, how long was the running joke at this show that he was still not. He was healthy but not. That he was healthy but not practicing. But I mean, it was a joke because he wasn't healthy. And you saw that when he got back on the field. Remember how he came out of the gates last year when he was at least healthy for that first week and he went off a complete monster mode?

Last year in just a few games that he was healthy, I believe he had four touchdowns in seven games. So that would be just from last year on a pace of about a little over nine touchdowns on the season, which would be good. But you've got Vincent Jackson a year older. Kenny Bell and Lewis Murphy, look, here's a thing.

One of these guys, right, Vincent Jackson, Kenny Bell, Lewis Murphy, Austin Sperian Jenkins, someone is probably going to take a step forward. And I'm going to go with the guy who was picked very highly for a tight end in the NFL draft because he was highly touted, a great prospect, who's also coming into only his third year, right? We say all the time, rookie year for tight ends, just ignore them. They don't do things in their rookie year. And generally, they don't do much in their sophomore year, but in his sophomore year,

on a per game basis last year, I thought he was okay. So now he's coming into a third year, another year with James Winston, in an opportunity that is there. He's a great red zone target. So he represents a huge upside to me. When I look at the guys that I'm fine with at tight end, who are in the 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20 range, you know, I'm looking for someone that I hope can just...

become a monster. And most of the guys there are going to be okay, and I'll live with them. But Austin Safarian Jenkins has the chance here to actually put up a great year and become a key red zone cog for James Winston. That's what I like about Austin Saffarian Jenkins. I don't really have any problem when I look at your ranks, and I see, you know, you still have Eric Ibrun two spots ahead of him at eight. You have Eifford at nine right now with the injury news.

You know, right now you have ASJ ahead of Delaney Walker, which I think people would. Love it. Would be a little bit. You love that? I love that. Surprise that. But here's what I will say that the most compelling. And I'm not going to move him. That's my official response. I'm not going to move him. But the most compelling part about that argument is what I saw in the field, which is that, you know, Mike Evans is not catching every touchdown. Doug Martin is not running every touchdown. And ASJ is a legitimate end zone threat.

Is he Kyle Rudolph or is he something more? That is the question that I have is, you know, Rudolph became, in my mind, famous for those type of games where you'd two for 21 in a touchdown. And if you got the touchdown, you were happy. And if you didn't get the touchdown, you released him back to the waiver wire. And so that's the question with ASG. I like the opportunity and the athleticism. Can he stay healthy and will he fulfill his potential? But I do not disagree with...

your choice of putting him there. I can see why. Okay, so Mike, are you moving him up from 22? I'll take a look, but as of now, I'm not moving him up. I will say, I mean, certainly not. You are correct, though, that the depth behind Jackson and Evans is questionable. I mean, you do have other guys there, but, I mean, Kenny Bell is coming off a hamstring injury. People have pretty high hopes.

for him, including myself, Lewis Murphy coming off an ACL tear. I mean, Humphreys and Diya. There's not, they aren't the most inspiring guys. I don't think they necessarily have to be when you look at a team like the Jets where basically the production was Decker and Marshall, and I think that can happen for the Buccaneers. And I will agree with this. I think Safarian Jenkins will either be a monster or he's going to be that 30 yards.

I don't think there's a middle ground for Jenkins. I think it's all or nothing. So I just, but as of now, I'm not buying into. But so we got a question here for Andy, a guy that Andy is buying into. He is buying the shares like it's, like it's sour candies. I don't know. Do you like sour candies? They're fine. Okay, I'll switch. He's buying. I like sweet candy. He's buying them more like their shares of Werther's originals. Oh, good. Good.

Thank you. Where there's a... Caramel candies. The briefs of candy. Where there's original. Well, yes. And that is Duke Johnson. Both, Jason and I, we like Duke Johnson. We've got him in the early 30s. RB3 range. Yeah. Andy. Full throttle. All in on Duke Johnson. Is number 19 in your rankings all in? It's in pretty... Or is that compared to you? Number 19 is a middle...

RB2. I mean, that's a guy that you're not drafting to flex. You're drafting to start him week in, week out. So, sell me. Sell me. Duke Johnson. All right. Let's travel back in time, gentlemen. Let's go how far? Let's go back to last offseason. Let's go back to a 21-year-old Duke Johnson, because that's what he was back then. He's only 22 right now. But let's go back to when he was 21. This is a guy who the previous coaching staff saw as a three-down running back.

And that's what he was going to be to start the year until the hamstring injury that sidelined him. Oh, that's weird. And changed the scenario, which I get it. You don't like him because you think he's going to be Andre Ellington. You think he's going to be the injured running back. We're looking, I'm presuming some health on this 22-year-old. And I think that Hugh Jackson is far and away a different scenario for the running back court in Cleveland. Would we agree with that? Yes. Oh, yeah. He's a running back coach.

Because last year, Duke Johnson was essentially the offense was a train-on-the-job type of situation. The previous offensive coordinator was basically a first-year offensive coordinator. Duke Johnson only got nine carries two times. So we don't really know the between-the-tackles numbers for him because, yeah, he averaged 3.6. It's not great, but he barely got any opportunities being a three-down back.

But take that away. He had 61 receptions as a rookie, and he made his mark in the passing game. Now he has Hugh Jackson, somebody who's had great effect on running backs. Duke has the confidence of Jackson. Jackson said he believed, quote, the talent was extreme when he's talking about Duke Johnson. And last year, guys, here's the problem I have with your rankings. And this is what we'll convince you both to change it. He was the 24th running back last year.

You both have him in the 30s. He finished as the 24th highest-scoring fantasy running back last year. In what format? He's such a PPR guy. Was that PPR or was that standard? Well, I'll bet that for you. But you're talking about a guy who, if that, okay, in that range, you both have him regressing. I don't see regression for Duke Johnson at 22 year two. Chance for three downs if Isaiah Crowell doesn't pan out. Didn't spend a high draft pick in Cleveland on more running backs. I'm not drinking Kool-Aid on him.

He's number 19, and I wouldn't take him super high. And maybe he'll be – I think he's going to be one of those guys that in some drafts, super value. In other drafts, somebody's drinking the Kool-Aid and he's going in the third round. But those are – that's the argument. Did you pull up any – He was 34th in standard. Okay. Yeah. In standardly. Yes. So, okay, yeah, you're taking Duke Johnson, you're throwing him into a full standard and you're trying to –

No, no, no. Why didn't you give me a half or full? That's ridiculous. I'll give you full. I'm calling horrible shenanigans on that. In full point PPR where he is much more valuable, he was 23rd. Okay. All right. So in half, he was right in that 28 range. I haven't been 19. You haven't met 31 or something like that. That's my argument for Duke Johnson. Opportunity plus talent, improved coaching staff. I don't see regression. I think 19's right. I'm not projecting.

15, 14, 13, getting into the top, Danny Woodhead range. 19, I feel great. The reason, and I will say this, I don't hate Duke Johnson. In T.D. only leagues. 75th. Well, yeah, he only scored twice last year. He'd be terrible in those leagues. I don't hate Duke Johnson at all. But he had 61 receptions, like you said, that's more than Giovanni Bernard has ever had in his entire career. Great point.