Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Live PPR Mock Draft, Brian Tesch Interview, Mailbag

Yeah, this is interesting, because I might hop on Mike's side on this. I don't think Theo Riddick does hardly a darn thing. Okay, so let's figure this out. Okay, so you're talking about a guy who didn't... I just want to see what he did last year. He did not see the field. What are you laughing at? He didn't see the field until Reggie Bush was heard. And even then, they still barely gave him playing time. How many receptions do you think he had? 40-something. 34. Yeah. 34 receptions.

Yeah, because that... Look at the game log, though. You're talking about the team that threw to the running back, the second most in the NFL. And he eventually got that job because Reggie Bush was hurt. All right, we'll think about this. It might be a snap count thing. We'll see. All right. I just think he's going to see the field. You guys are...

He's going to see it, but he's going to be on the side looking at Abdullah. Great view, though. All right. So that one wasn't news. I would. That was just Abdullah hype you threw in there. And Spiller and Spiller. Yes. You glossed over why I put it in. Okay. Okay. So let's move on to the Panthers. Jason just talked about the fact Kelvin Benjamin was not going to be on many of his teams. ESPN Panthers reporter David Newton.

expects David Funches to have a big role in this offense. Does he have a chance to be anything, or is he just a Kelvin Benjamin? You know who thinks he has a chance? That's Devin Funchest. We've got to read this quote. This is Devin Funches talking. Oh, in the third verse. We never got, quote, we never got to see the full Devin Funches at Michigan because I did play one season at wide receiver and I was battling through injury.

Already in the third person, Devin Funches. A little early to be doing third person. And arguably at 236 pounds, I think we saw the full Devin Funches. I mean, just putting that out there. He's a big boy. Yeah. So you see, I mean, he's not getting drafted until late. I think he is relevant. I'd be all over that then. Yeah, I think he is relevant. And here's why. We've talked before about some of the core ingredients to successful fantasy players. One of the biggest...

three is opportunity. And what I love about this is the opportunity is going to be there for him where we don't necessarily know the role for others. They're not just using him as a stretch to field guide. There was reports of them using him in the Z and the X. And so the talent is maybe a question mark, right? He's got some physical gifts, but his talent as a wide receiver, that's to be determined, which is why he's not being drafted high. But we know that the opportunity is going to be there. So...

I like the fact that late, you can get a guy with opportunity and some physical gifts. Hey, maybe the talent's not there and he doesn't break out. I'm not projecting Devin Funchus to do great things, but he's definitely worth a late round pick. All right. The NFL suspended free agent running back Amad Bradshaw one game for violating the league substance abuse policy.

Bradshaw averaged 4.7 yards of carry last year in his time with Indianapolis. So he's also medically cleared from his injury. So Ahmad Bradshaw will likely land someplace. Any theories? Any thoughts? Well, to me, it's not going to be until... The first injury in camp? Yeah, maybe camp. I think it will be after his suspension is served. Can you serve the suspension if you're not on a team? Um...

I don't know. It's a legit question. I don't know. I would think, no. I would think you have to be on a roster to serve a suspension. Yeah. But he did have, he had really good numbers last year. He was key in the passing game for luck. And he's only, how old do you think he is? 27. But Bradshaw's one of those guys that you think he's 42, but he's younger. So I'm going to go with 26. Yeah, March 19, 1986. So do the math for me.

That's what I was giving it to you for. He's 29. 29 years. All right. Yeah, we were both guessing trying to be early. But yeah, he's a little up there. Yeah, but he also didn't see the field a lot during the Brandon Jacobs days. So, all right, let's go ahead and talk about fantasydraftwizard.com. We bring it up every show. We're actually doing today's live PPR mock draft using fantasydraftwizard.com because it's super quick. You can pick your spot. Today we are drafting where?

Second. The two spot in the PPR mock draft 12 team mock draft. Today we're going to be drafting. You can kind of select who you draft against. You can go against ADP. So if you don't know what that means, this average draft position. And you can choose a few different websites to draft against for their average draft position. You can also draft against the experts and the consensus ranking. So what Fantasy Pros does is they...

They have the preseason rankings of over 100 experts, and then you draft against the consensus rankings. So that's what we're going to do today is we're going to draft against the expert rankings on FantasyDraftWood. You got that? FantasyDraftWizard.com. So go ahead and visit that site if you want to run through one of your own. Let's go ahead and get, what are we doing now? We're going to the interview first. So.

I interviewed Brian Tesh a couple weeks ago, and it went so well that I actually went way over my budgeted time, and I thought this was just too good of information, too good of stuff to pass on. And if you missed the first half, it was really in-depth on Seattle because that's Brian's team, and he covers them for Fantasy Pros as a correspondent. So there was tons of great information. So we're going to cut into the interview live where...

I believe we start off with Lynch and then we work into the rest of the NFL. You talking to me? Speaking of paying Lynch, his contract, we know he got some more money, but the way it's structured, it seems like for the people who are talking about it, that it's kind of a one-year contract where they can ditch him. So do you think this is the swan song of Marshaun Lynch, who's already talked about retirement? And for the dynasty guys, who are you putting your shares in?

Are you going Turbin or Michael or one of the rooks? With that, I really think that I can't say that he's going to be done because I think he really enjoys playing football, but he's got a back issue that is going to, it might get ugly. He hasn't missed a game, I believe, since he came to Seattle. But he's been dealing with some stuff that I could see him playing another two, three years and playing kind of being

almost with a Curtis Martin-esque end of career arc where he puts together some useful seasons, but then, and he's done by 33, which for running backs is 98. And the, if you're, if you're in dynasty, I, the reason they drafted Christine Mikel was, I mean, they thought Lynch was going to follow a normal age curve and just be done.

But he's not. He's got, he's got some, some mileage left in the tank, most likely. So they, they hit a little bit early on, on Mikel, but it's the wonderful, interesting possible revisionist history that the Green Bay Packers would have taken Christine Mikel at 63, and the Seahawks had taken Eddie Lacey at 64, or would Christine Michael be the...

third ranked running back in fantasy right now he he does he has that kind of upside like he is like top one percent athleticism kind of guy like he's if you watch a seahawk preseason game and you have the the luck to see uh robert turban take a carry and then christine michael take a carry right after it you just wonder like whoa my television set's messed up this is they're going at two completely until they're playing a different game it is he's uh i

He's a strong hold because, I mean, you probably paid a lot to get him because he was pretty hyped these last two years. And this year, he's, I mean, he's faded into the background a little bit. But I kind of, I jerked with the guy on Twitter about it. He's kind of a lock desk monster. He's just, he resurfaces and everyone's like, whoa, what is this thing? And then he just goes down to the depths. Yeah, we all get buzzed pictures. Exactly. Like, we don't, we don't know. Just he's, like, there are urban legends about Christine Michael out there, just ruining people's camping trips.

But he is. He's worth a hold. And I think the next team that gets him is they're going to get a great bargain. But I actually, I mean, Robert Turbin, great story and everything. But I mean, he's kind of a garden variety back. You can find a bunch of backs like Robert Turbin out there. But yeah, if I'm in the dynasty, if I played for the dynasty guys out there, Christine Michael, you got to hold. You just got a hold in hope. Okay. So enough of Seattle. We've heard enough.

of your home... You don't want to know? You don't want to go out. So let's move to a... Kristen Schulte or whatever the guys name it? Most athletic center in the NFL? Come on, man. Move to a broader look at the NFL. So who is your top running back this year? And I will partner that with, do you have any issue taking Levion Bell with a top pick, even if the suspension stays at three games?

Well, the first, I actually think that I don't think he's going to finish as the number one back, but I think that Eddie Lacey is the most likely to end up exceeding his draft position that are ending up is within the top four, within the top third of RB-1s. So if I have a number one pick, which I, in one of the leagues in the Scott Fish Bowl 360, got invited to play, pretty stupid. Oh, congratulations.

Eddie Lacey number one. I think you should do it. He's so safe. Like he's on the field every three downs. He's in a top three offense. There's no challengers that every other running back has like you can really pick nits at everybody else. But Eddie Lacey, they're just the fewest nits to pick. So I would take Eddie Lacey as the number one running back off the board in 2014. And who's your favorite wide receiver right now? Probably does.

Oh, that's interesting. I would, I like Antonio Brown. I really do. But, I mean, the floor with Des is almost higher than Browns because, I mean, he's a big guy. He's a red zone dominator. The cowboys are going to pass a bunch of this year. There's nobody else. I mean, Jason Whitten is older than my dad. Holden now, Jason Witton. I'd like him a lot this year.

I like him, but I mean, he's kind of fading. I mean, he can still be in the top 12 tight ends, but not a fan of Terrence Williams, either really that much, not a fan of Cole Beasley, kind of like Devon Street, but I like him as a sleeper. I don't like him coming up and being the second wide receiver for the Cowboys. But there's going to be so much market share with Des, and he has that, he's just a freaky, deaky athlete that I would take him wide receiver one. I have no problem.

taking Antonio Brown as the first, if he falls to me, great. I'm perfectly happy with that, but I would take Des, as my first wide receiver off the board. All right, you ran an article series on Fantasy Pros back in February, and you were talking about the top 100 sleepers, which, first of all, you're a ridiculous person for writing this article. Yes, it was, it was just you, there was a lot of,

A lot of crazy uptempo music. A lot of coffee. It was a great read. And clearly things have changed a lot now because the draft has happened. Free agency has happened. So do you have any favorite sleepers that you're still thinking about for 2015? For those guys, the thing was, the reason I wrote it was because everybody, like...

Come draft season, it's all just like, oh, Monte Ball, he's a sleeper, and then he's gone at Pick 11. It's just like, oh, wow, yeah. I'm sorry I didn't know about Monte Ball, oh, rats. Because the criteria I used where they had to be owned in 2% or less of Yahoo leagues. And a lot of these guys, I mean, they were just interesting. I wouldn't say a lot of them were good, but they're really interesting.

I kind of, I have a, I have a bad feeling I might have, I might have tanked the, any shares of Josh Hill I would get, because he's, he's like the 13th tight end off the board now. He was the biggest gainer that, of once Jimmy Graham was gone, I mean, that's a huge target vacuum that needed to be filled. And I like Josh Hill a lot, but I also, I mean, you got to, you got to pump the brace. You can't think he's going to be Jimmy Graham right off the bat.

And, I mean, they've got Ben Watson still, who if they're going to go run heavy, they're going to go a lot of two tight end, and he's going to siphon some carries. For the guys that were still left, the ones that I like the best are the dark horse cowboy running backs, the Lake Seastrunk and Ryan Williams. Seastrunk actually just got signed by the Cowboys, and Ryan Williams. Ryan Williams has the most guaranteed money coming to him of any cowboy running back.