Ever wondered what it takes to claim the fantasy football throne? Frankie is here to spill his championship secrets, celebrating the rollercoaster ride that was the 2023 season. We're unpacking the strategies that separated the winners from the rest, tipping our hats to legends like Paul Rapp & Lance Harmon and sharing a heartfelt thank you as we hit a podcast milestone. Peek into our playbook for the fiery review of players who blazed trails or fizzled out, and get the lowdown on the rookies set to shake the draft board next year.
Quarterbacks, running backs, and 'Would You Rather' scenarios – oh my! We’re dissecting Justin Fields’ potential NFL trajectories and delving into the saga of Saquon Barkley and his quest for the right fit. Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs get the spotlight too, as we weigh their worth in fantasy drafts against the backdrop of a shifting NFL landscape. Don’t miss our draft value debates, where we assess the unexpected descents and ascensions within the ranks, giving you the edge for your next fantasy football conquest.
Cap off the season with us as we cast the spotlight on unsung heroes and breakout stars – the late-round draft picks who became fantasy goldmines. Studs like Christian McCaffrey left their mark, but it's the under-the-radar talents that offer lessons in strategic drafting and the art of staying agile. Join our conversation where the love of the game meets the sweet taste of victory, and tune in as we gear up for even more insights and banter in the seasons to come.
Thanks for Listening! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBPAVRUduAUqHORYenFfo9w
Ever wondered what it takes to claim the fantasy football throne? Frankie is here to spill his championship secrets, celebrating the rollercoaster ride that was the 2023 season. We're unpacking the strategies that separated the winners from the rest, tipping our hats to legends like Paul Rapp & Lance Harmon and sharing a heartfelt thank you as we hit a podcast milestone. Peek into our playbook for the fiery review of players who blazed trails or fizzled out, and get the lowdown on the rookies set to shake the draft board next year.
Quarterbacks, running backs, and 'Would You Rather' scenarios – oh my! We’re dissecting Justin Fields’ potential NFL trajectories and delving into the saga of Saquon Barkley and his quest for the right fit. Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs get the spotlight too, as we weigh their worth in fantasy drafts against the backdrop of a shifting NFL landscape. Don’t miss our draft value debates, where we assess the unexpected descents and ascensions within the ranks, giving you the edge for your next fantasy football conquest.
Cap off the season with us as we cast the spotlight on unsung heroes and breakout stars – the late-round draft picks who became fantasy goldmines. Studs like Christian McCaffrey left their mark, but it's the under-the-radar talents that offer lessons in strategic drafting and the art of staying agile. Join our conversation where the love of the game meets the sweet taste of victory, and tune in as we gear up for even more insights and banter in the seasons to come.
Thanks for Listening! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBPAVRUduAUqHORYenFfo9w
so firm ethnic.
Speaker 2:Hi, welcome to the show. This is the Frankly Fantasy Football Podcast. We are your hosts, Frankie and Johnny. Frankie, I can feel us winding down the 2023 season. How did everything end up for you, man? Did you represent Frankly Fantasy Football?
Speaker 1:You know it, john. You know it Starting off 2024 with the banger, you know I'm bringing home the championship in one league, baby. Shout out to the league of extraordinary gentlemen, john, it was the first time you and I were like, hey, let's put together what is going to be the foundation for a high roller type of league. Let's start testing the waters, let's test the new type of format. We did three receivers and one flex in the 12 man league. So much fun, guys, and I brought it home, brought it home, frankly, fantasy Champion. Shout out to Maya's milkmaids. Who is so ridiculous to say that? Who got runner up there? Naz and Tyler Ross were grinding it out as well. Teeps. Shout out to Stone for High Point man. But guys, sorry, had to put you to rest and, john, I ended up getting second in our big 14 man league. That was really, really fun.
Speaker 1:I just could not, first and foremost, need to shout out Paul Rapp. I'm gonna talk for him for a second. Dude, you have been excellent. He's been in a Super Bowl in four out of the last five years, between multiple of our leagues. John, he's just absolutely crushing it. Fuck you. Paul Said that to the side for a second, but he really showed out man. So I ended up getting second in that league. Had quite a few injuries, couldn't overcome them, but was just happy as hell to get into the game. So definitely represent brother, definitely represent.
Speaker 2:I love how you decide. Let's start another Frankly Fantasy League. Let's get some hard-hitting motherfuckers in there. These guys are solid, man. I mean your buddies that you brought into this league. Look good, shout out to all you guys. Yeah, great Competition was stiff, man, and it was tough, because a lot of those guys listened to the podcast so they knew exactly what our strategies were.
Speaker 2:We had to do it before we talked about it and filmed it. It was crazy, man, but I love for you. Just the balls on you, frankie. The balls. Start a league and then say, hey, guys, you wanna join my league? Come on, do a podcast all year and then just dominate that fuck. Dominate. Wait, a wait, a. Just slurp it on the table, frank, I love it, man. Great job. Way to represent. And, yes, paul Rapp, to take home one of those trophies, two out of the past three years. That's difficult to do, man. It's hard winning a fantasy championship, hey, I hope we helped all you guys win your championships. Hey, please shout us out on YouTube, send us comments on Instagram at Frankly Fantasy Football, send us information, let us know if you won your championship. Let us know how you, I would think, shook out for you this year. Guys, we wanna be here to help you and we wanna give you the best information possible to help Also. Huge thank you, huge shout out, love all of you guys. Huge milestone for us for the podcast. We're just getting started.
Speaker 2:This is our third season of doing this and it's hard, it's very hard. It's hard to do. We have full-time jobs. We're not working at gas stations here. We've got real, you know, careers that you know take a lot of time here, and for us to be able to keep doing this, I'll take my microphone and my light with me. I'm doing it in Germany, other countries and other cities while I'm traveling for work. It's hard to do. But, frankie, thank you brother. We reached a thousand subscribers. We are now able to monetize and I just wanna thank everyone. This is something Frankie and I do. Anyway, we call each other, we talk about fantasy, we get into all this stuff and to be able to do that and provide value, have this creative outlet with the podcast. Thank you so much. It means so much to Frankie and I. We love doing this, so please stick with us. Yep, we've got a great episode today.
Speaker 2:Today we're gonna be doing our year in review ice and fire. We're gonna see how everyone shook out. Where did they end up and what was their ADP? Where were they drafted this year? So we'll be able to look at some fluctuations on who kinda shook the bed for the year for you, who really helped you out, or the great values. We're gonna talk about all that today and then next week is our final episode of the season. We're gonna be looking at 2024. We're gonna be looking at what ADP's gonna be looking at Some guys to kinda keep an eye on. We'll look in review of our rookies how things shook out with the rookies and what we had to say about them in August and July. That'll be interesting, right, yeah, to stick with us guys. And then next year we're gonna blow it out guys. There's gonna be major improvements to the podcast. Please stick with us, please share us. We're gonna be right back going again right after the 4th of July with mock drafts and everything to get you going, get you geared up for 2024.
Speaker 2:Get you another fucking championship.
Speaker 1:God damn right.
Speaker 2:Let's go, baby, let's go, all right. Hey, frankie, let's do for the last time in 20, well, 2024 now I guess let's do a little ice and fire baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah, brings a little bit of a tear to my eyes, crazy, I know it guys. I know it guys. All right, let's take a look at your interview. Ice and fire.
Speaker 2:Let's look at a couple of the guys on ice. We're gonna break it down. We're gonna start with quarterbacks. Yeah, let's look at some guys here, frankie, I'm gonna name off some guys and I want you to just kind of talk about a little bit about them. I'll give kind of the general stats where they ended up, where they were drafted, and then once you throw a little color on that, to give us an idea of why that was or what we should expect maybe moving forward next year with these guys. Let's start with quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes he was drafted as the quarterback one and the expectations were high, obviously. I mean he's done it year over year for many, many years. Very different situation this year for Patrick Mahomes QB7 is what he ended up at. Talk about it a little bit.
Speaker 1:John, it was definitely a struggle for Patrick Mahomes this year. Yeah, you probably drafted him, maybe in the first second round. He definitely wasn't making him pass the second this year. And it was a struggle, john. I mean, we had 319 points of what you mentioned. To put in perspective We'll hit on this a little bit earlier, guys, but Josh Allen, who ended up being the number one quarterback, ended up having 419 points.
Speaker 1:So when you start looking at what Patrick Mahomes did and the amount of points he got and things like that, really, really hurt Because when he's pre-draft, qb1 ADPs 14 guys, what that means is he's going back half a first, early second of your draft really lost a lot of value for what he ended up providing in terms of output. And so, john, yeah, it was a really tough year and I'll be interested to know I know in our leagues actually nobody won a Super Bowl with that of Patrick Mahomes at the helm, which is pretty fascinating. So, yeah, really tough year for those who drafted Patrick Mahomes and I think that next year is only going to get better. John, I see them adding a receiver after the lackluster that we've seen from his receiving core.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. I mean, it was a different team this year and we'll see when we talk about running backs. They had a running game, they had a defense. It was just a very different team. The receiver's really strong. Terrible, just absolutely terrible.
Speaker 2:But looking at next year, this is what's interesting. You can't just put Patrick Mahomes automatically at the top up there. No, you have to write a line here. And I think this year it was very eye-opening to people for quarterbacks because it was brutal. It was a bloodbath. We lost how many of the top 20 quarterbacks? We lost a ton of them this year.
Speaker 2:So people are going to be a little bit of PTSD. You see this every year. There's a pendulum swing. Something happens. Maybe running backs get decimated, so people freak out and start drafting running backs like crazy. I think you're going to see that next year to where people are going to go after quarterbacks earlier because they got burned.
Speaker 2:But I think you should temper that. I think you should chill on that. What I think you should do is look at if you streamed quarterbacks, you could have streamed a quarterback better than Patrick Mahomes all season, definitely. Yeah, I really believe that, whether you're talking about Jordan Love, cj Stroud, brock Purdy, sam Howell. You could throw in a couple of guys and piece together weeks that are better for you than Patrick Mahomes. So I think people should watch that for next year. You want to get your quarterback? Get your quarterback. But understand that just because you're drafting a guy in the second round, third round, doesn't mean they're going to perform there. Even somebody with the name of Patrick Mahomes, that seems like the safest bet. It may not be All right, let's keep going here. Let's look at Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence drafted as the QB8, finished as the QB14. Was a lot of this just injury related?
Speaker 1:He was banged up a lot this year, john he was banged up a lot this year, but I got to be honest with you, man, there was a lot of times to where even pre-injury, and where it started affecting him, he didn't look 100% like what he did last year. I mean shit, I took him as my champion and so I was intently watching him and Calvin Ridley and for some reason, man, they just couldn't get on the same page. And I think that this is not necessarily a bad thing. I just think that moving forward, this is an opportunity rather than something to where, oh, we need to pump the brakes on Trevor Lawrence. No, no, no, guys, this was the first year with Calvin Ridley. We just saw the tip of the iceberg and then you start layering on and again, we'll talk about it here in a second but they're running attack, which is phenomenal, and some of the other pieces that they had with Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram. It created a little bit of a pullback from that of Calvin Ridley. But also, what was interesting is they didn't need to rely so much as what I initially thought on that of Trevor Lawrence to get the job done, and it was actually ETN. So for me, man, this is very interesting.
Speaker 1:I actually still really like Trevor Lawrence and we'll talk about this more next episode but really liking him around that QB10, qb11 spot for next year, because again they're in a shit division.
Speaker 1:And on top of it, john, they're going to start getting better and better and more synergy with Doug Peterson, with Calvin Ridley and with those others that are now on the team. So, yeah, he underperformed from his ADP. He was QB14 right this year. That's where he ended up, so just a shade lower than that of QB1 in 254 points. And, John, it's a shitty thing. But at the end of the day, I mean if you had like a Kirk Cousins, if you ended up having a Joe Burrow, if you had one of those other guys, and maybe you were able to snag a Trevor Lawrence, something along those lines on the waivers like it was crazy, it sounds Dak was on our waivers at one point, john, and so if you were able to get that at that certain point, then it made sense for you. But yeah, I'm not super low by any means on Trevor Lawrence heading into next year.
Speaker 2:I agree with you. I think what we saw this year. I think that's really his floor, yeah, and the same with Calvin Ridley. I think it's their floor Now. I'm not going to be crazy next year. They're not going to be my champions, I'm not going to reach for that Trevor Lawrence, calvin Ridley stack, but I do think it's going to be better than it was this year. I think this is the floor and it's a good building block for them. But, yeah, I mean I think you should. I like putting him towards the end of a QB1 next year. I like that man.
Speaker 2:All right, let's look at Justin Fields, because this is very interesting, really interesting. Yeah, and we saw this last year with Justin Fields as well, where he strung together and really know more than four games in a row where he went ape shit, but then he really disappeared for a lot of games as well. Justin Fields was drafted as the QB7, ended up as the QB19, put things in perspective he was 100 points lower than Patrick Mahomes, who was 100 points lower than Josh Allen. So I mean, so let's put it in perspective he was 200 points less than Josh Allen, is that?
Speaker 1:right, just a little bit more. Actually, yeah, 205.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of points, man. I mean, with Josh Allen averaging what? 25 points a game. Yeah, eight games, eight games, it's a lot Extra. The Justin Fields All right, justin Fields. The Bears rumors with the Bears camp right now is that they are settled on a quarterback in the draft at that number one pick. It's Caleb Williams. Deal it, it's Caleb Williams. Yeah, that's what things are looking like. So what happened with Justin Fields this year, and where, without even knowing what team he's on, could you even consider him for next year, john?
Speaker 1:there is really three teams that I'm salivating over for Justin Fields. One is Atlanta. It makes there's so many reasons why Atlanta makes sense. It's not just where he grew up, he's from Georgia. Number one. Number two he was already committed to Georgia before he went to Ohio State, so he already has that Georgia base on top of it. And then John, the offense. It is a perfect style offense for Justin Fields. You have two incredible backs a potential back that is a generational talent, and then an incredible back I'm talking Bijan Robinson and Tyler Algear. Then you layer on Kyle Pitts, and what we saw with Justin Fields is that he made Cole Comet look like a knockoff Mark Andrews and that is a compliment to Cole Comet, and I'm not saying that in negative, I mean Mark Andrews. Before he got hurt, he was a number two, tight end, number three, tight end, top three is what I'm saying and he was making Cole Comet look that good. And then you also layer in Drake London and a few of these other cats that they're going to be able to draft potentially. John, from a receiver perspective, I really do find Atlanta to be interesting fit for Justin Fields.
Speaker 1:Now, what also I have heard is that the New York Giants have been attempting to make a trade for that first overall pick, for that of the Bears. So now Justin Fields might not even be in that conversation of the trade. So now the Giants want the number one overall. Maybe the Chicago Bears look to get Drake May or somebody like that at five. Or maybe it's Penix, who's the Michael Penix, who's the quarterback at Washington, who's absolutely balling the fuck out. And so now he could end up going to a different team.
Speaker 1:And this bleeds me into the next team, john the Patriots. The Patriots are actively looking for a quarterback. Bill Belichick has always had some sort of hands in wanting a running tie style quarterback, ever since Tom Brady's left. They tried out that of Cam Newton, they tried out that of Malik Cunningham, they tried out the multiple others, and it just didn't fit their scheme at that point, because the reality of the situation is they just weren't that good. And so now it's completely up in the air because New England, bill Belichick might not even be there. So, john, it's really wild.
Speaker 1:And then the last team here is the Steelers. The Steelers legitimately need a top tier quarterback. You plug in Justin Fields and do an offense with George Pickens, deontay Johnson, pat Fryer, muth, jaylin Warren, najee Harris. That is a completely different animal. Now word on the street is Steelers really want that of Russell Wilson, same thing with that of the Patriots. So there's a lot of other interesting items that could end up coming into fold, john, and so, really, justin Fields. It could end up being in a better position than what he is actually with the Bears.
Speaker 1:So it was a long-winded answer, but I just wanted to paint a picture as to nobody really knows what is going to happen with Justin Fields until after the draft, because the draft is going to really ensue. Like, okay, is he going to now get traded immediately? Maybe he goes somewhere to the Giants, maybe they're done with Daniel Jones, maybe they trade him off. There's so many different opportunities here. Man, it's going to be awesome, awesome to watch moving forward. And shit, don't sleep on the Raiders. What if Justin Fields had Deontay? What if Justin Fields had somebody like that, a defense like that? Right, just different man. So I'm getting into the weeds here, but it's exciting. It really is exciting for Justin Fields. And going back to fantasy, guys ending up QB 19, 214 points, 205 less than Justin, or than Justin Josh Valen. Thank you, jesus Josh Valen Really interesting. I see him improving on that quite a bit. John, next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be interesting man. I mean he's going to have fantasy value. He didn't play the whole season so you're going to miss points there, but he's going to have fantasy value. We've seen him support a number one stud receiver with DJ Moore Very much so, and it's going to change a team completely. Wherever he goes, we'll change the assets on that team. Atlanta God we were just. Didn't you get a width of Drake London breaking out this year? Just a width of it. It's so close and we'll talk about him because if he does get a quarterback next year, I'll be all over Drake London next year and then we have to have if he goes to Atlanta. We're going to have to have that Kyle Pitts conversation again Every year. We think he's going to be relevant and he's not, but he gets a good quarterback. Things change here to make people. Yeah, it's going to piss a lot of people off that have had him for the past three years.
Speaker 2:He's got nothing and then finally gets something. All right, cool, let's move on here. Let's look at some running backs now on Iceman, saquon Barkley. This one hurts my soul because that was really high on Saquon. It was just really unfortunate events that happened with the giants there. But Saquon Barkley was drafted as the running back, for he finished as the running back 17. That's not terrible. You're going to have some fluctuation. But what are you thinking about Saquon man? Is he going to be on our new faces and new places episode next year in July? John, he could be right.
Speaker 1:He could be. His contract gives him the opportunity to, but for me, man, he wants to stay a giant. For whatever the reason he wants to stay a giant, I don't get it. But they have a terrible offensive line. They were atrocious from the quarterback, played in a rotation there, and so on and so forth. If he wants to say, that's fine, john, it's probably due to Brian Daybaugh, because he seems like a guy that people want to suit up and play for. But, man, could you imagine Saquon on, like the bills? Could you imagine Saquon on something else that just needs that extra oomph, like maybe even that of the ravens, vikings, vikings, fuck the Vikings would be great, I mean. So, man, he could end up staying. But, man, he's a guy, man looking forward that.
Speaker 1:You're still going to draft Saquon Barkley. You're still going to draft Saquon Barkley, maybe this year, john, and we'll have to do more analysis. We'll be ready for the next episode. But is it back half the first round or does he actually? Do we start to see him drop to the second now? But I don't think he's going to be a third round pick. It's going to be first or second round still for Saquon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, he was just barely out of the RB one conversation really, at 17. So yeah, it'll be interesting for next year for sure. Tony Pollard I mean boss, this major boss draft that as the running back eight he was the darling for keepers and keeper leagues ended up as the running back 19. Was that just? It seemed to me that there was just a shift in the offense that at some point, come like week five, it seemed like the offense started clicking and started becoming a passing offense.
Speaker 1:Was that the change in offensive coordinator that we really just didn't predict and they kind of evolved into such a passing attack, John no, I'm actually going to say no on this, because Tony Pollard, where he flourished last year, was in the passing attack and that is when the dink and dunk he would take it for 40, 50 yards of pop. We're seeing his explosiveness with. It was a different shift from that of Zeke John. We did not see any explosiveness from him this year. We didn't see even when Dak tried to force feed him the ball, he didn't do much with it. And I keep going back to this one play man, the two weeks ago where he was running left side. He's on the five yard line and it was a touchdown. Any other running back in the NFL would have scored and he made a terrible judgment call and cut back in and he didn't score.
Speaker 1:And, john, that to me sums up Tony Pollard's year. He was four yards away from the touchdown multiple times and he was not capable of putting it in. You give that to CMC. Yeah, I get it. Cmc is in a different class of his own, okay, well, you give that, maybe that same play to a healthy Josh Jacobs he's scoring. A healthy Saquon Barkley they're scoring. And what I'm getting at is that's the difference. I actually think. Maybe, john, just maybe we saw the ceiling of Tony Pollard last year, knowing that he didn't have to take the full workload. This year he did, and we were hesitant on that. Remember, early in the year we were like you know, he's even saying Tony Pollard, I'm not a three down bat, listen, like I don't, or you know, I don't want to take the full workload, that kind of thing. And when he was forced to do so he did not do well with it. And so me, man, this is a huge red flag moving into next year, from a fantasy perspective. I am nowhere touching Tony Pollard. He's off my board. Moving forward.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that's bold. You know we talk about fantasy. Fantasy is where talent meets opportunity. Yeah, and it's just very possible that with all of the opportunity he was given this year and he's just not that talented and I don't mean that as knocking on his talent.
Speaker 2:I'm saying as talented as a Saquon Barkley, exactly MC, as a Nick Chubb, as a high top echelon Exactly Derek Henneman yeah, he doesn't have that. So yeah, maybe it did hurt him having the full workload like that, and he did. He said it himself. You know, like maybe we should believe someone when they tell you who they are right?
Speaker 1:Well, here's a question to John, and we'll get into this in a second. Would you rather have next year like let's just do? Would you rather fuck it? You want to do tone. Would you draft Tony Pollard or would you draft a Rashad?
Speaker 2:White. That's Rashad White. It's not Rashad White.
Speaker 1:Tony Pollard or even a James Cook. At this point, let's assume the bills, don't add another player, that's, that's funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm with you on that, though I understand exactly what you're saying. You could not have had more opportunity. You could not have had more scoring opportunities with. The world of offense was playing what, what? What else needs to happen in order to feel confident? Drafting Tony Pollard is your anchor on your team, your anchor. That's what you'll have to do or go back into the first round or the early second round, guaranteed, I'm not touching them at that. I'm not touching them, not right now, not right now. Yeah, all right, let's keep going here. Josh Jacobs we just brought him up let's talk about it Drafted as the running back seven, and that was really only because his contract situation was if he in the beginning, yeah, would have gone, as he probably would have been drafted as a running back three.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say three or four for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ended up as the running back 23. This was not an injury reason. This was not, you know, laid out to me, man. What happened with Josh Jacobs here.
Speaker 1:Man, it just, it just didn't work. That's the God on his truth. It didn't work. The McDaniels offense for Josh Jacobs didn't work and then, on top of it, man, the bringing the Antonio Pierce and unfortunately, at that point in time, josh Jacobs got banged up towards the end. So, yeah, man, I am concerned with Josh Jacobs if he is a raider again next year because of Zemir White he looked that good.
Speaker 1:Josh Jacobs is Josh Jacobs. He's still stack ranked, in my opinion, much over that of Zemir White. But when you put the X's and O's and contracts in place, josh Jacobs only signed to one year. He's unrestricted free agent. At this point in time, there are many other teams, john, that will want a caliber of Josh Jacobs and they're gonna have to pay a little bit for him. Maybe I'll sign a two or three year deal elsewhere and the raiders might just write out some your white and see what the hell they have.
Speaker 1:But at this point in time, man, yeah, it's concerning if he is a raider next year. If he goes somewhere else, I'm on board If he goes to the Vikings, as you mentioned. If he goes shit, you know, depending on what the pay was doing with Zeke and with Remandre, I can see something along those lines. Right, but that would be kind of sticky. It'd be more like a two headed monster once more. But, john, I mean I'm concerned. Josh Jacobs moving forward man. Me personally, I don't want to say he's completely off my board like Tony Pollard, but it's a guy I'm going to be very, very closely paying attention to over this off season.
Speaker 2:I think it's almost a lock that he's not on the team next year. That team has so many needs. Why would they fill? Why would they limit themselves with their cap limits to Josh Jacobs when they've got fine running backs behind him? They've got so many more important pieces they need on that team. They need a fucking quarterback. Yeah, big time. This is not a long term solution. With a benched Jimmy Gorgeous and Aiden O'Connell, this is not going to get this team to the playoffs. It's just not. Yeah, okay, let's go, keep moving forward here.
Speaker 2:Najee Harris Interesting year for Najee Came on strong here. At the end, though, with the change of offensive coordinator, which I think is just going to muddy the waters even more for the draft next year because we didn't get a big enough sample size and what that new offensive coordinator wants to do. Drafted as the running back nine came in as the running back 26. This was a guy that we both said do not anchor your team on in the mock drafts and the pre drafts and the off season, and we were right about Najee for sure. Yeah, he didn't destroy you, but he definitely didn't help you win.
Speaker 1:No, and John, I could. You could make an argument that if you drafted him as your RB nine which would be second round guys ADP of 24 said his back literally the last pick of the second round in 12 man league. You could make the argument that he did fuck you, that he did screw you, because you're just not getting the product, the production that you needed from a guy that you potentially drafted as your RB one. Let's say you went, justin Jefferson, you went all the way back down and then you went Najee Harris. That's a tough year for you, knowing Justin Jefferson got hurt, right, so something along those lines. And then let's just layer in somebody that was on fire, john, his teammate, his teammate, jaylin Warren. I know we're going out of turn here, but Jaylin Warren man ended up balling out to the tune of where the hell was he? Jaylin Warren finished as running back 25, john, which is ahead of that of Najee Harris, and on top of that he ended up having 162 points in there compared to Najee's 158. And Jaylin Warren was pre drafted 48th running back and ended up 25th. This is what Johnny and I were talking about guys listening and watching to us, that Najee Harris was not a guy that we felt comfortable anchoring your team, not just because of the way he ended the season last year. It was because of the slow emergence of Jaylin Warren, and we saw that heading into this year. And so, guys, it panned out exactly that it ended up being running back 26 and 25.
Speaker 1:And guys, moving forward, john, I'm going to make a very sweeping statement. Najee Harris is off my board as well next year. Already gone. Don't want a part of him. Because now this is. We make references to this, references to this all the time. Melvin Gordon, austin, eckler scenario. That is exactly what I could see this being. If Najee is still a stealer, jaylin Warren is certainly going to still be a stealer. It's going to be even more so a split moving forward with how dynamic Jaylin Warren actually was. So really really weird year for Najee man, really awesome year for Jaylin Warren. Again, najee is going to be off my board, moving forward.
Speaker 2:Okay, austin Eckler, this one was super weird. This whole team, I think, just fucked everybody. Wow, austin Eckler drafted as the running back to what I mean, without debate. No question, cmc, it was Austin Eckler, that was it. Everyone agreed he came in as the running back 29. I mean, he's a running back three man. I mean that kind of freaks me out, doesn't it? When somebody like Austin Eckler can be a running back three, almost certainly going to be on another team next, definitely, yeah, yeah. So it's just one of those things, is not?
Speaker 2:a whole lot of analysis to get into because it's going to be pointless and moot because he'll be on a new team. Man, it looks like we're going to have a big new faces and new places episode. I can't wait. It's going to be so fun, man, it's going to be great, it's going to be so fun. Damian Pierce we were high on but, you know, hesitant he's. Just, he was a beast but he had a rough year.
Speaker 2:Drafted as the running back 18, ended up as the running back 50. A lot of injuries there. Lost a lot of time to single Terry Devon. Single Terry, yeah, yeah, we'll get into that a little bit with single Terry. A little bit Miles Sanders Damn, I was wrong. What, what a bust. I was wrong on this one Post. Wow, that was weird man Drafted as the running back 20. So you drafted this guy as your RB two, possibly your RB one If you went hog wild with receivers and yeah, you could have gone on a zero RB strategy and this would have killed. You. Ended up as the running back 55. Pretty much pointless. Didn't really get a ton of PT, didn't play a lot. I could see Carolina going after a Saquon and Austin Eckler. Totally, I'm doing something along those lines. What happened there?
Speaker 1:Dude I. It's an anomaly, it's truly. I mean, you sign him to a three year large deal I think it was like three year, 20 plus mil, something like that to literally not utilize him at all and then bench him. And now Carolina was a dumpster fire the entire year. Frank Wright gets fired. All offensive line was absolutely terrible. Bryce Young God bless him, man, just getting killed every every which way. So they I mean teams are stacking the box, you know, basically saying go ahead and try to throw on us, bryce Young. So for me, man, it was a, it was a culmination of all of that. But, man, did he look Awful once he got the rock, and to the point where Chuba Hubbard easily took that role, like it wasn't even like, oh, this is a Timeshare, no, no, no, it was Chuba Hubbard's team the last four weeks of the fantasy season. So yeah, man, I am, this is another one, this is another one. Unless he goes to a different team, he's off my board. I'm not going through that again with Miles Sanders.
Speaker 2:While you're at it, talk about Chuba Hubbard. We'll just save some time here with the fire segment. But Chuba Hubbard, running back 57, drafted as the running back 57, which means he probably wasn't drafted yeah, and then finished the running back 28. I mean this guy was a solid RB 2 flex play for you throughout the year. Really impressive man, really impressive. Is this somebody that you're looking at for next year?
Speaker 1:Definitely in my eyes. Yeah, fuck, yeah, you can get him dirt cheap. Yes, this is, this is one of those gold picks guys that you keep in your back pocket. He's gonna be forgotten about come draft time. He's gonna be one of those guys that are gonna be Six, sixth around. Maybe we're shot white of this past year, maybe a James Cook kind of draft Round ADP capitals what I'm referring to not play on the field draft capital. And so, john, yes, this is exactly a flyer that you want to take something on and be your RB for something like that, or an RB 3 even. And then you try to get another rookie or another second, your guy like a Devon H Chan or somebody like that, or fuck man, even a Monty, a mutt, david Montgomery, somebody along those lines. But, yes, this is absolutely somebody I'm looking to target and just hold on to and see what happens.
Speaker 2:You know it's not. These are guys that are important for your teams because, yes, sexy picks, you don't draft Chuba Hubbard and go fuck. Yeah, it's not something you get excited about, but it is something that can save your team. Definitely, really, this man. All right, let's get to some receivers here that Did not help us out this season. This list, it's crazy, it's Insane. This list, okay, let's go through it. Man, jamar Chase Jamar Chase draft that is the wide receiver to not even thought about it was I mean, he's really a lot of times he was the number two overall pick. Yeah, number three overall pick, ended up as the wide receiver nine. Obviously, there's some reasons for that. Yeah, how'd you get into Jamar Chase Little?
Speaker 1:burrow, that's the only thing. No lack there of burrow, and I mean what we saw when burrow got healthy coming around week three and four, up until he was out for season. I mean, john, it was, it was the same old Jamar Chase, the same old burrow moving forward. Guys, be super bullish on Jamar Chase. He's the guy. He's the guy and all in the other reason why to be super bullish on this? I don't see the Bengals keeping T Higgins, john. So I don't think they're gonna be able to afford him because they're gonna have to Pay Jamar Chase and they already forked out a shit ton for burrow. So for me, man, I definitely think we're gonna see some changes to this offense from from the Bengals perspective. No changes in how I feel about Jamar Chase. Lock him in as a superstar Draft first round pick next year for sure, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Stefan Diggs. Listen, man, and we talked about this and it happened. Same thing that we. We went through with Nashi Harris and Jalen Warren with a change of offensive coordinator. The offensive coordinator means a ton in fantasy football. Just because you've got a guy named Stefan Diggs doesn't mean that you're gonna force him the ball, and we saw that happen. That team completely changed when they fired the OC. Stefan Diggs was drafted as the wide receiver for, had a good year for a while and then just disappeared. Come what was that week? 10 ish, something like that. Yeah, ended up as a wide receiver. 12 talks to me about Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, john, this is definitely concerning this is definitely concerning Stefan Diggs here. Here's why it's concerning guys, and I'll be quick about this. Number one is, if the Buffalo Bills do not make the playoffs or Win that first week in the playoffs, he's gonna freak out. I see it coming, it's. It's just the blood is boiling up. It's just the blood is boiling over at this point, and the only reason why he's staying quiet is because they're winning right. Number two is is Truly John, the offensive makeup here.
Speaker 1:What we have seen is that they are using Stefan Diggs more as a decoy With this new offensive coordinator, and they were feeding the ball to she, to Shakur, cleo Shakur, and so that's super interesting. And then Dalton Kincaid came up, and then, when Dawson Knox got healthy Right, this are taking a little bit away from Dalton Kincaid. And then you saw of Gabe Davis that's taking the, the absolute roof off the place. Just you know doing calisthenics out there, but he's still right, getting the job done right. And so then you bring it back to Stefan Diggs, who is easily, no question about it, a top 10 receiver, top seven receiver in the NFL.
Speaker 1:But what this says to me in fantasy, john, is he's no longer a Receive, a first-round draft pick for me. There's too many other guys that I would rather. If I'm gonna shoot for a ceiling play, if I'm back after that first round, I'm not going. Stefan Diggs, right, I'm gonna go. You know, cd lamb more than likely isn't gonna be there anymore, but I'm gonna try to find that CD lamb of this year, right, I'm willing to take that risk there, knowing that, right, stefan Diggs is gonna have Seven games of 20 plus more points and he's gonna have seven plus games of seven or less points. That's not what I'm looking for in my first round pick, and so it's gonna be really interesting to see what happens next year, man, and it's gonna be based on what happens in the playoffs for the bills.
Speaker 2:I'm really curious to see how this playoff run takes place. Yeah, because if he's, if he disappears throughout this playoff run, then yes, I'm gonna be very concerned, yeah, very hesitant taking him next year. It could also be a new offensive coordinator. They had to mix things up. They had to do some different things. It could be him getting a little cute trying to manufacture some wins too Could be, because why, why else would you target Gabe Davis and Khalil Shakir other than Stefan Diggs?
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I think what they were doing a lot was opening up the underneath for James Cook, getting guys that's on base with the ball and Stefan Diggs drill out of that attention. So maybe that changes, maybe that shifts, and if it does, I'll be fine with Stefan Diggs as a top five receiver, but if it doesn't, it's gonna be really difficult. We're gonna have some really difficult conversations in that first second round next year. All right, let's piggy right back off of this and and have the same conversation, basically with Devonte Adams. Man, yeah, vonte Adams drafted as the wide receiver eight. We talked about him not getting enough respect, you know, as he deserves last year, but man, it was quarterback play is what killed him ended up as the wide receiver. 13 Talk about Devonte.
Speaker 1:I'm not worried. I know it's crazy. I know it's crazy. I'm not worried about Devonte, if anything. John, I'm encouraged by what I saw and I know that sounds absurd, but when you have Jimmy G throwing you the ball and Jimmy G looks like he has never thrown a ball, that's a problem. Then you bring in a no-connel who's a rookie. Who, dude? He gave it his fucking all and there were glimmer glimmers of like okay, this dude can definitely play ball. And then there were games to where he didn't have a completion. After literally the first quarter of One game against the Chiefs, he's a backup quarterback man.
Speaker 2:That's. That's what I mean. There are guys that are starters in the league totally, or guys that are backups in the league. He's a backup role, is a good role. It's a great job for anyone to have. Chances are the black the year we've seen. You're probably gonna see some playing time, but he's a backup quarter.
Speaker 1:Let's go. Couldn't agree more with you. My point is that Devonte Adams still finished receiver 13. He's still right, which is very close, guys to his 80 or to his ADP of 16, which is a receiver 8 there when you were drafting him, and then you start looking at the point differential. Okay, well, jamar Chase right, we talked about him being receiver 9, not really that nervous. He had 215 points. Devonte Adams had 204.
Speaker 1:So what I'm saying is is give that man a quarterback and John, he's a top-4 receiver. Yeah, and I don't think. I don't think you argue that I think it's a top-4 receiver and you said it and forget it. So for me, man, I think it was actually super encouraging at Devonte and actually I'm I'm still really nervous about digs. So even though they're similar in the way what happened from an 80 or from where you drafted them, to kind of how they turned out, totally differences on the field, because once playing with Josh Allen and the others playing with shit, and they're very closely similar to what happened. So I'm encouraged to see what happens next year with Devonte. Could he be a jet? Could we see him be a jet?
Speaker 2:That would be very interesting. Just to give you perspective here, devonte Adams scores one more touchdown and he's the wide receiver. 8. Right, we're just drafted. Yeah, I mean that it seems like, oh man, he was drafted at 80, finished 13. We're talking like a catch for exactly touchdown Difference in that. So, yeah, it's something to keep in mind. All right, you talk about a Jets. He threw out a little rumor there of Devonte Adams to the Jets.
Speaker 2:Let's go right into Garrett Wilson. Man, garrett Wilson was the steel of our keeper league. Oh, your brother drew, drew. I was upset because I was like man, I was like, damn it, I didn't have a keeper. Like good, he got Garrett Wilson and that was at the night. He got to keep that. We thought that was the steel of the of the year until four plays into that fucking Jets game Just went down.
Speaker 2:Garrett Wilson drafted as the wide receiver 10 Monster upside. We all talked about him being a top five receiver and no matter where you get him, it's a value. He ended up as the wide receiver. 30 man, not much to say here, it's just it's a difference of having a quarterback. That's literally. Yeah, that's it. So we'll see what happens for him next year. But I anticipate him, you know, going as a top 10 receiver, definitely draft. Yeah, yeah, no question. Okay, justin Jefferson, we know what happens. Yeah, seven games there Ended up wide receiver 37, drafted as a wide receiver. 1t Higgins rough year, dude. Well, rough year. It's gonna be a free agent too. Most likely. Wide receiver 14 is where he was drafted. I thought that was high. I was worried about we talked about this he did knock drafts and everything. Those wide receiver twos that were going in the second round t Higgins, devons.
Speaker 2:Smith you know, yeah, you know, I mean guys like that. It was just like that seems too high. Guys like it really does it. Sure as hell was man. We'll probably see him on a new team. I'll do that and new faces and new places. Christian Watson I was high on him this year. Wow, I'll really let me down. He really let me down. No, a lot of injuries were involved there too, but even when he was on the field it took him a long time to really flash here. Wide receiver 24 is where he was drafted. Ended up at wide receiver 62 barely relevant for you. Okay, let's get into some tight ends here. Frank, yeah, tight end landscape is going to change next year, definitely, no question about it. Yeah, let's talk about the consensus tight end one over the past probably five years in face the football Travis Kelsey. So how'd he end up? Man, was the the Taylor Swift thing a positive thing for him? Is he still holding down that number one monster spot at?
Speaker 1:We are seeing the changing of the guard, john.
Speaker 1:For those wondering, travis Kelsey was a first-round pick. Usually anywhere between picks five and eight is where he went. This past year, john, he ended up tight end three with 174 points. Guys, what that means is you wasted your first round pick. That's what that means. Putting it as blunt as humanly possible and then looking forward to next year. Stay away from Travis Kelsey in the first two rounds. Stay away, maybe. Second, if you feel frisky, go ahead. Fun, fair enough if the chiefs end up getting a Another receiver to help out. Rishi rice and Patrick Holmes definitely could open up some things for Travis Kelsey In that. For if you're targeting him the second round, do not, do not draft him in the first round, or you didn't think about it next year.
Speaker 1:John, what we have seen from some of the other tight ends, I mean and I'm just gonna like start shouting them out a little bit, but there's, there's a few that really, john, like blew me away, man, I mean we're talking Sam LaPorta. Sam LaPorta finished as tight end number one. Tight end number one, yeah, I mean, john, the NFL history was made with Sam LaPorta with most catches by it by a rookie tight end John. He destroyed it. He was drafted as the tight end 16 155 ADP guys and finished 187 points. Think about that. Travis Kelsey was a hundred and seventy four points for the year was tight end three. Sam LaPorta was number one with 187. What that tells me is, guys, there's not a lot of differences between what Travis Kelsey is gonna be able to do moving forward and some of these other up-and-coming cats. I mean shit. You think about David and Joku John. He was drafted as the tight end 10 and ended up being the tight end five. You would.
Speaker 1:Jake Ferguson, drafted as a tight end 23, right, ended up being tight end eight. And Trey McBride, tight end 29, being drafted, finished tight end nine, right. Taste him. Hill, for God's sake. He's a quarterback, his receiver, he's a pop-returner, he's shine your shoes. So you know, fucking, wash your car if you want him to. He ended up being a Tied end 10 this year. And what that the point differential guys.
Speaker 1:Again, travis Kelsey was 174, john, sam LaPorta 187. David and Joku David and Joku 161. And then the drop-off starts to happen with some of these other guys. Right, you have. You have Jake Ferguson, who's 132 points. Trey McBride 131, taste him. L1 17? So, yeah, there's a difference there, but but the value and where you're picking these guys up and sometimes you're not even drafting them, they're just added, they're streamed just shows you, john, to your point, bring a full circle. There's absolutely changing in the guard from Kelsey, and I think we're seeing that. And to answer your question about Taylor Swift man who wouldn't be, who wouldn't be thinking about other shit, when you're up there seeing your girlfriend rock in that tight-ass little, you know skimpy outfit, she's up there cheering with your mom and she's hugging Patrick, mom's wife, and you're going to Brazil with her. Yeah, fuck, yeah, my mind's gonna be elsewhere, you know. And so I think that we might actually see Travis Kelsey. Maybe another year or two left before he retires. I really believe that yeah, I do too.
Speaker 2:I do too. Or injury at 33, or injury. I mean, that's, that's really what we're talking about here. Just to give you some perspective here Travis Kelsey finished with 174 points. Tony Pollard finished with a hundred and seventy seven points. That's gross points than Tony Pollard. So what that shows you we just talked about I will not take Tony Pollard in the first round, nor will I take him at all, but let alone the first round. Travis Kelsey was a first-round pick. So separating yourself with a tight end does not make up for the points that you're missing out, that you should get out of our first round Player. Yeah, that's why we do this, guys.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's talk about a few others real quick. Kyle Pitts we talked about him a tad draft as the tight end six and it is the tight end 13. Stop it with the Kyle Pitts bullshit. Just quit it. I don't care if he's the most freakish athlete to ever play the position it hasn't. It hasn't panned out, it hasn't translated into actual points and actual football. So, and unless he gets a sick-ass quarterback next year, I'm not even considering Kyle Pitts. I'm taking one of these other options.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, frank, let's get to some fire here. Man, let's go through these fire guys, because this is the fun part. Josh Allen, quarterback one, drafted his quarterback to great job, great job, I mean, you just can't go wrong. Jalen Hertz Kind of an up-and-down year, but when it came to fantasy it really wasn't, because that push, push on the one-yard line, jalen Hertz still finished the game with, you know, a couple of touchdowns every time. Drafted as the QB three. Finished QB to Dak. Here we go. This, this is, these are the kind of guys you want to target in your, in your draft. These you get the quarterbacks late in the draft that end up being a top five guy. Well, the other guys spin in their second round pick on Patrick Mahomes. It's a serious, serious advantage in fantasy football. Dak Prescott drafted as the QB 10 92, 80p. So you're talking ninth round, tenth round, ended up as the QB three. All right, talk to me a little bit about the deck.
Speaker 1:Dax gonna get him a little extension. That's what I think is gonna happen. John, I think what we are seeing from Dak is he's taking the next step and it's exciting and it truly is coming from the OC, the new OC this year, and on top of it, cd lamb, cd lamb, cd lamb is that guy, he's him. I think you can put CD lamb actually as a top four receiver this year and if you ask him the same question, he's going to say screw you, frank, he's number one and it's not close. And I love that. And John, for me, man, I think it's CD lamb. You saw Jake Ferguson.
Speaker 1:The other thing that's brilliant what the Cowboys did is they didn't pay guys. They didn't need to, and what I mean by this is they still haven't paid Tony Pollard, they didn't need to. We might see a little bit more doocy do's Vaughn action baby coming out for next year. You know who else we're going to see a nice sample size of is Jake Ferguson, even more so, they didn't have to pay Dalton Schultz. What Houston did the next man up and he was a boss. And then you know somebody that they did pay that ended up panning out pretty well, they didn't have to give him anything handsome. It was just a good contract and Brandon cooks Brandon cooks start off the year real shaky.
Speaker 1:Once he got this figured out and realized I know my role, I know what I need to do. I need to be second fiddle to CD lamb and I need to just run good routes he became relevant and fantasy football very relevant. I'm talking a starter in your flex position. So for me, man, I think what we saw from Dak was actually really exciting for everybody in the NFL because it truly was the next step. We need, the NFL needs more guys from a quarterback position taking that next step, because what we've seen so far, man, this was the worst year for quarterback play, I think in a very long time, a very long time now. There were a lot of injuries across the board, but when we start to see some of these guys coming up, for me, man, even though he's a cowboy and I hate the Cowboys I'm excited as hell because Dak is relevant and fantasy and is making the Cowboys actually relevant in the NFL.
Speaker 2:Well, also good for the Cowboys to give him a chance. Totally so many just NFL players, quarterbacks especially, I feel like their entire careers get wasted. They get drafted high because they're excellent. They go to a shit team because that's who has the high draft picks and a lot of these guys just get buried or you know, they don't do the right things. Of getting a new offensive coordinator that can work with your offense, work with your quarterback. It feels like the Cowboys I don't give them a lot of credit for this kind of stuff because they usually don't do it that well with Jerry Jones, but give them credit, man. I mean they made some changes, they did some things, took the plate calling. Did Mike McCarthy take the plate calling back or did they take it out of his hands?
Speaker 1:I think they did it. They did both ways, I think they took it out, and then he too ended up taking it back in his hands. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the things that they did. It just helped deck out. Well, you might as well go to CD while you're there. I mean, CD is the top of the receiver list here. Cd lamb drafted as the wide receiver six and talk about where he finished, right.
Speaker 1:Number one, cd lamb, number one guys, and, yes, number one. This is half PPR for those that are, you know, because it might fluctuate, you know Tyreek might have, you know, caught a few more, whatever it may be, but in half PPR. Cd lamb was first with 315 points. Tyreek Hill was number two with 313. John CD lamb is going to be a smash play next year and I see him just taking that next step. It was a massive step this year. I'm talking we could even see it even bigger next year, man, like a Christian McCaffrey level type of season, and I really believe that CD lamb guys, no question, first round pick next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's going to be receivers that you're looking at. It's going to be Tyreek, JJ Chase and CD lamb. Those four tear of their own. I don't think anybody's got an edge, even I think that's a very even tier right there. Yeah, love it, man. All right, let's see when are we. A couple more quarterbacks on fire. Brock Purdy.
Speaker 1:Brock.
Speaker 2:Listen, I've been waiting for the Brock Purdy meltdown all season long. It didn't happen. I'm wrong. I'm absolutely wrong. I'd still stand by giving Kyle Shanahan all the credit. Fair, 100%. I give Shanahan all the credit. But yeah, no, he was a stud all year. He did it. He's got the weapons. He uses them. He's done a great job. Drafted as the QB 18. That was kind of on a whim. Ended up as the QB four man 345 points. He was only 10 points behind Dak. I mean fantastic season man. Let's talk about a couple of other of these guys here. Jordan Love, qb 22. We were high on hand, baby yeah. Drafted as QB 22 and ended as the QB six. Why don't you talk about Jordan Love, a?
Speaker 1:little bit. 335 points, guys. That's 10 less than Purdy and that is 19 less than Dak, 19 less than Dak. Jordan Love, guys. If you're not seeing his trajectory screeching up, I'm talking rocket ship up. You're not fucking watching football next year, guys. He is a perfect guy to where people aren't going to believe his season this year, and so he's going to fall a little bit, mark, my words, he's going to fall a little bit. He could be the 10th, 11th, 12th quarterback off the board next year. Right, because you got to think there's going to be Brewer, there's going to be Herbert, there's going to be Kirk Cousins, there's going to be these other guys. I'm telling you, jordan Love will finish top 10 again next year. He'll have a healthy Christian Watson. Jaden Reed is going to be a monster, which, by the way, john, talking about Jaden Reed here, guys, on fire. Jaden Reed, a rookie, was drafted the 71st receiver, 71, finished 26th with 170 fantasy points, guys, that is literally borderline receiver two that you got for 71st receiver value. So what I'm saying is is bringing a full circle.
Speaker 1:Now for Jordan Love. This guy is on a rocket ship with Green Bay and, dude, I'm not going to say this in terms of putting the car before the horse. What I'm saying is could we be seeing another freaking quarterback for the Packers that end up staying there, that stays there and actually runs the gamut again? We went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Could Jordan Love actually be that guy? And John, things are pointing in a very positive direction. That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are, they are. That's a team with a green up arrow. Yeah for sure. Question about it? Yeah, baker Mayfield, man, definitely an argument for comeback player of the year, and no question about it. Man, I mean the guy. Maybe it's only because there was such shitty quarterback play. If everyone's healthy, we probably don't talk about Baker at all. But let's give him his props, man. He was drafted as a quarterback 34. We didn't even know he was going to start until like right before. Literally yeah, yeah, and it is a QB 10. Baker Mayfield was a QB 1 this year, man. Well done, baker. Yeah, I mean it's interesting to look at for next year. I think at a double quarterback league he can give you a nice safe floor. I don't think he's got much of a ceiling.
Speaker 1:No yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, let's look at CJ Stroud. Now we're talking about keepers. I marked on here the quarterbacks Brock Purdy. Cj Stroud could be a potential keeper for you if you end up doing that. Cj Stroud was drafted as a quarterback, 27, ended up as the QB 12. And he's missed some games too. He definitely would have been higher than that. Yeah, he was, yeah, about 15 points or so less than, or 20, 25 points less than, baker Mayfield. But yeah, talk about CJ Stroud. Great year, great year.
Speaker 1:I mean arguably, I think if I had to put offensive rookie of the year, I'm giving it to Puka, I'm giving it to Puka. I think what he did was nothing short of if. Had CJ Stroud continued to play right, if he wouldn't have gotten hurt, it would have been a damn close race shit. Cj Stroud was getting MVP talks at one point. Yeah. So for me, man, I think that this is another arrow straight up in a terrible, terrible division to where the Houston Texans can build something special. And here's the key, john. He has young talent all around him, nico Collins, which, by the way, talking about Nico Collins, here for a second man, nico Collins ended up getting drafted at receiver 61.
Speaker 1:I remember we were sitting here talking with Nats and Nats shout out baby, you're like I'm gonna take Nico Collins. Every single time towards the end, I'm just gonna take him. And he did. He got him in a league and you know where he ended up, john, receiver 16. Receiver 16, guys, it's a that is damn near a receiver, one that you got in the last round of your draft. So, john, what?
Speaker 2:are we getting Frank? We talked about it in our monographs in the preseason. We said Nico Collins is the auto draft last pass for your kicker in defense. We did it in every fucking draft. Wide receiver 16, man wide receiver 16.
Speaker 1:You talk about the guy opposite of him, john tank Dell. Let's go down that path to receiver 67. Receiver 67 is where he was being drafted a rookie. Nobody, nobody, thought this dude was going to do what he did. Came out receiver 35. Receiver 35 on the year, with being hurt for more than five games. That's crazy, that's stupid nuts. So for me, man CJ Strouds, aero and Houston Texanero is pointing straight up and on fire man heading into next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it, baby, Real quick. Sam Howell just not that you're going after Sam Howell next year by any means, but just shot him out, you know. I mean, he threw the ball a lot, dude, drafted as a QB 28 and ended up as the QB 16. So just hovering around that QB one, all right, let's get some running backs here, man, because this gets interesting right here. Really crazy. Cmc. Christian McCaffrey the consensus, easy. I don't even think you can say consensus. He's the. He's the number one fantasy pick in everywhere. Man, he needs to be, and I think you're going to lay it out for us as to why this is. He was the running back one, drafted as the running back one. Why is CMC so goddamn special, frankie?
Speaker 1:So, john, let's put in perspective the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1:The number one quarterback was Josh Allen with 419. The number two was Jalen Hertz with 377. Okay, receiver one ended up being that of CD lamb, ended up having 315 points and Tyreek Hill ended up having 313 points. Right, what I'm getting at is CMC had 300 in 67 fantasy points. Guys, what, the 300 in 67 fantasy points? That is the third overall fantasy player of all. Third overall on top of it.
Speaker 1:Look at this, to listen to this teardrop. He was number one running back with 367. The number two running back was 256 points and half PPR, raheem Moster. So number one was CMC with 367. Number two was Raheem Moster with 256 guys, that is over 100 points from the number one running back to the number two running back. What that means is that's literally a whole another season just about of another player getting 10 points a game Right, and adding that to the number two running back, and now you have CMC. That is how different, that is how excellent and incredible and automatically, without a question of a doubt, is the number one overall pick next year, john, and it's not even fucking close he's a running back and a half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, literally he's a running back and a half.
Speaker 2:He's what it is. You're drafting one and a half players. That's how you fucking anchor your team right there. Draft one and a half, running backs Totally.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable, I mean unbelievable year.
Speaker 2:It was insane. You talked about Moster. I mean he was a huge shocker this year, drafted as the running back 45 and ended up as the two man. You know damn well, we saw a lot of Moster teams in this year. Definitely, definitely, yeah, oh yeah. Next year is going to be really interesting because you got Devon Echan also on this list.
Speaker 2:Rookie that came out of nowhere, really drafted at running back 42 and ended up as a running back 21. I mean, he was a solid running back to when he was in and playing, which really was only so many games that you got out of him. They were good games when he was awesome, they were excellent games, yeah, okay, right here, man. Well, let's get to the ETN first, travis ETN Over, definitely over expectations. He was drafted at running back 10. I was hesitant. I hadn't seen enough. He really wasn't on my board until I saw more Ended up as the running back three. But he had some monster games early in the season that just gave him, I think, such a head start. I don't think you had wide receiver three play out of him since maybe a running back three, yeah, yeah, running back three, yeah, performance. So I think he got. He took advantage of scoring twice in the first couple games and gave him some extra points.
Speaker 2:Let's look at this guy though. You want to talk about keeper of all keepers right now, man, if we're talking about keeper league, kyron Williams running back for the Los Angeles Rams Rookie sensation undrafted. Nobody knew who the fuck this guy was. Ends up the running back four man. Talk about a second.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, dude, I mean Kyron Williams was unbelievable, guys. I mean literally ends up the running back for 244 points. To put in perspective, guys, had he not missed those few games, with the injuries, he would be running back two and it wouldn't be close. Right, it really wouldn't be close. He would probably have 20 more points than that of most are. So just to see, john, this guy is a hundred percent a first round draft next year, maybe a second round draft pick. I'm taking him over Tony Pollard all freaking day.
Speaker 1:And I want to correct on one thing, john, he's a second year guy and the reason why I'm correcting you on this is because last year he was drafted in the fifth round. This year the Rams drafted Puka Nukua in the fifth round. You know what that tells me, man, is that GM deserves, I mean, a raise, a nice dinner, you know, whatever the hell it is, he deserves it, man, unbelievable. And John, when we look at and I don't want to switch gears too much but Puka Nukua, man, finished receiver six, finished receiver six, undrafted, there was no ADP for this guy, no ADP, he was just there, you know what I mean. And to finish receiver six with 241 points, and then you have your running back who finishes receiver four with 244 points. I mean just the Rams doing an incredible job of evaluating talent. And then, on top of it, john, being able to overcome those first round picks that they had to give up for Jared Goff or, excuse me, when they all floated Jared Goff to get Matthew Stafford. They were able to overcome that by finding these guys. So and by the way, here's what's interesting We've named off CMC, we've named off Mostert, etn, kyren Williams, top four running backs.
Speaker 1:You didn't hear Austin Eckler, you didn't hear Derek Henry, you didn't hear Nick Chubb. God bless your fucking soul, man. Hopefully we can hear you next year. But you didn't hear, right? Saquon Barkley, josh Jacobs, right, guys? What we're getting at is these guys are gold in the back and middle rounds of your draft and now that this has opened up, you know pretty much Pandora's box at this point in time for your draft strategy.
Speaker 1:Guys, I can't wait, john, and I know we're going to pause on that for today, but we'll talk about that next episode. I can't wait to dive into strategies with you because it's going to be so much fun next episode because of how well these guys did that were not even ranked, that were running back 45 for Mostert, and let's just lump in Breeze Hall at number five. John, breeze Hall, number 14 was where he was drafted finished number five with 230 points on a shit team on a shit team. Give that boy a quarterback, different story, man. So really exciting for the top five running backs there. I'm just going to list them one more time CMC 367 points. Mostert 256 points. Kyren Williams 244 points and Breeze Hall with 230 fantasy points around off the top five running backs.
Speaker 2:That's absolutely incredible. All of them are keeper potential there, all keeper. By the way, the genius that you're looking for, the Rams GM, is Les Snead. Les Snead, brilliant, brilliant. Yes, he is a brilliant, brilliant ginger according to his profile pic here. So, okay, nice, all right, let's get a couple more running backs here. Man, we touched on it a bit.
Speaker 2:Rashad White we did a, would you rather, early in the season. It was Rashad White versus Kenneth Walker. We both loved Rashad White's floor and that's why we wanted him. His stability that's exactly what he showed this year was just stability and floor and safety Everything you want in a running back. A running back two, where he was drafted at running back 28, ended up at running back six. Man, rashad White yeah, he'll be a target of mine next year for sure, definitely.
Speaker 2:Speaking of another target of mine for next year, who's really come on in the stretch here? James Cook, for the Buffalo Bills, drafted at running back 30. We weren't sure what to expect out of him. We ended up as the running back 10, man, we talked about that a little bit with the changes with the offense, with the Buffalo Bills. But up arrow again for next year for James Cook as well, if his ADP is in the right place, this is a guy I think that could be overpaid for next year, but you gotta watch that. Isaiah Pacheco. All right, let's talk about this guy. Awesome, awesome. This guy is so good for you. This year, isaiah Pacheco drafted as the running back 29,. Ended up as the running back 11, just a solid RB, one man. Talk a little bit about it, john.
Speaker 1:Isaiah Pacheco. It's so funny right? There's so many memes going around right now that just said he's so angry when he runs. It looks like he's eating the ground People were just like what guys? And it looks like he's trying to stomp out the flowers on the field. That's how hard he runs, isaiah Pacheco, running back 11 phenomenal, but what?
Speaker 1:was interesting, john. I've not forgotten this. We did a would you rather before the draft. One of the would you rather's were James Cook or Isaiah Pacheco. You and I both went James Cook. After looking at this, I'm cracking up, because it's exactly what we said. They're probably going to be close, and here they're 10 and 11. Guys, I think that the trajectory for him is straight up in the air. Had they not had Isaiah Pacheco, they struggled. They would have struggled even more so than what the Chiefs have done. Jericho McKinnon gave them a little bit of a spark from the passing end. Nothing through the running perspective. Ceh just going to call what it is. He's a bust. He's a bust, right, he's a first round draft, jack. And yeah, guy, it's just a guy.
Speaker 2:A major difference. When the total ran the ball versus when CEH ran, the ball wasn't close and didn't know what to do. My home's had to put too much on his shoulders and he struggled.
Speaker 1:Exactly man. So I think, looking next year, Isaiah Pacheco again. He, John, I'm going to lump him in with James Cook. He's a guy to me. Be careful on overpaying for him If you can get him for a good price. I'm in love with Isaiah Pacheco next year. I am truly all about this guy. And he doesn't have that much tread on his tires, right, Because he's only still a second year guy. I'll be third year next year, so I love what I'm seeing from him, man.
Speaker 2:Definitely, definitely. Okay, let's look at a couple of other guys here. Monty, your boy, this guy helped you out this year. Man, david Montgomery yeah, man, drafted as the running back 31, ended up as a running back 13 man. Great, goddamn season out of Monty John. It's what we talked about.
Speaker 1:We said that there was the possibility of some thunder and lightning right Early on in the year when they drafted Jameer Gibbs. That is what you and I said. It's not going to be the Monty show or just purely the Jameer Gibbs show. It's truly going to be thunder and lightning. That's what they did. It was beautiful both over a thousand total yards combined. It was something of brilliance for the Lions and they were able to anchor themselves on this, which opened up Jared Gull for the passing game.
Speaker 1:And so, john, moving forward, I love these guys. I am willing to pay Monty for that fourth round running back this year right, which is much better than what you would have got him or what I got him, you know, being in the eighth or seventh or ninth last year. So for me, I definitely think he warrants a fourth or a fifth this year. And Jameer Gibbs, john, the reason why he's not on here is because he actually panned out exactly where his ADP ended up being right His average draft position guys. So he was right around the third round pick. That's where you had to get him if you wanted him and that's what he panned out being. So for me, man, I think that you can draft the Jameer Gibbs John and we'll talk about this more. You know, in that third round, knowing you're not going to gain any value, you're not going to lose any value, shit, he might even be creeping to that back half of the second next year, but Monty, monty could be another gold hit in that fifth round if he drops that far.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, a couple other guys to mention. Obviously, it's because of the Nick Chubb injury. Jerome Ford ended up as the wide receiver 14, very solid year out of him. Hn, we talked about running back 21. Jalen Warren we talked about running back 25. Drafted is 48. Chuba Hubbard we talked about, drafted at 57 and ended up as the running back 28. I mean, these were all guys that weren't on really that many people's radars at all in the preseason and offseason. Devin Singletary as well man, running back 30 is where he ended up, drafted at running back 53. So just surprising year out of those guys.
Speaker 2:All right, let's get to some receivers here, frankie, so we can get this wrapped up. Man we talked about CDLam and Tyreek being one and two interchangeable there, with around 313 to 15 points, drafted as wide receiver six, ended up as one. Amon Ross, st Brown, man, great year out of him, drafted at wide receiver nine. He was right in the back of that first round. Early second round is where he was drafted, ended up wide receiver three. So that was beautiful. That helped you out, all right. Here's a couple of guys we want to talk about. Mike Evans, man Gold, we gave him his props but drafted at wide receiver 30, ended at wide receiver four. The ease of the kind of guys that win you your leagues, man. They got the old guys that nobody wants a piece of but they just perform, man, was I wrong.
Speaker 1:I said he was off my board beginning of the year and I was a Chris Godwin guy. Fuck man. I was wrong there.
Speaker 2:Hey, it takes a very strong man to admit what he does. We were right about a lot, but we were definitely right about a lot. Yes, speaking of, we're right about this one man, dj Moore, drafted as wide receiver 21, came in at wide receiver seven. Just a really nice season out of him, established himself as an actual Alpha receiver, which was great to see. Let me we're going to skip around here because we're going long. We talked about Nico.
Speaker 2:Michael Pittman really came on strong Michael Pittman Jr for the Colts. This is going to be weird, though, because you know you are going to see Anthony Richardson next year. So we're going to have to really kind of dig into Michael Pittman and dig into Anthony Richardson for the limited amount of time we saw him, but I do remember him targeting Michael Pittman. So we're going to have to look at that to really get a gauge on Pittman for next year, because that will change, but he looked great. He had a great season drafted as a wide receiver. 35 ended at 17. Let's talk about a few other guys here that we're going to be looking at for next year. Frank, once you run down, I mean we're going to do a review of our rookie review, but just quickly run down this list of rookies that are on here that paid off for you that helped you.
Speaker 1:I mean, guys, just crazy. We hit on Tank Dell, right. We hit on Jaden Reed Absolutely, Tank Dell, receiver 35, while getting hurt for four or five games, guys Crazy. And then Jaden Reed finished receiver 26 on the year 26. Okay, then you add in Jordan Addison, pre-draft receiver number 36, finished at receiver 23, 177 points. To put it in perspective, we mentioned Nico Collins, right 194 points. Michael Pittman Jr 194 points. Jordan Addison was was 177, 17 points. No, that's not wrong. I can't do math, but it's something along those lines. He was like right, less than 20 points more than those guys. So, john, yeah, absolutely, jordan Addison performed at a phenomenal rate. And just wait till we see if they resign. Kirk Cousins, it's going to be the Jordan Addison JJ show next year and it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 1:And then, john, we also got that of Rishi Rice. Man, we talked about him at length. You know this is a guy that I remember. I told you after the rookie review, I go, I'm going to regret not putting on Rishi Rice. I called you and I said that and we were just like not enough, it'll be good. And I was like, man, I really think I fucked up. Well, I fucked up. Because I'll tell you what he was receiver 56 finished at receiver 25 with 173 points. And then you add in Zay flowers, guys. We started off receiver 41 ended up receiver 2770 points. So what I'm getting at, guys, is that we had Jordan Addison, rishi Rice, jaden Reed, zay flowers, tank Dell five rookie receivers all finished in the top 35 for receivers, which is unprecedented, which is amazing. And on top of it, all have massive green arrows shooting straight up for next year. Guys, this is going to be a lot of fun to see this receiving class.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And one thing that stuck out to me just looking at this, just because we've got them all listed together Jordan Addison, rashid Rice, jayden Reed, zay Flowers all about 170 to 177 points. Who else had 177 points? We just talked about Tony Pallard. Tony Pallard who was taken in the first round. Yes, it's just interesting, matt. It tells me two things. It tells me two things. Number one, these rookie receivers in your draft, because they're going in late rounds and they're finishing consistently as a top two wide receiver two or wide receiver three flex option. I mean, these are league winning guys. When you can get that and you look at it, they scored the same amount of points as a guy you drafted in round one. Think about that. So pay attention to these rookies guys.
Speaker 2:Look at, the rookie review is like our first episode of every year. It's our favorite. It's one of our favorite episodes. So fun but fantastic. All right, real quick. Frankie, talk about a couple of the tight ends. You touched on them. Let's hear about a few of the studs, because these are the guys who we're going to be targeting in the top five of tight ends next year.
Speaker 1:Guys again hit on it, but we just want to recap. Sam Laporta, man, tight end number one, finishing the year 187 points was being targeted. Tight end 16 guys. Sam Laporta is definitely a guy that you need to be targeting on every way, shape or form, in your drafts next year. So anything with David and Joku ended up tight end five. Jake Ferguson, trey McBride, taysam Hill all did a phenomenal job, way outpacing their ADPs. I mean crazy. I mean Jake Ferguson's was 23. Trey McBride was tight end 29. Taysam Hill tight end 22. Excellent job by these tight ends man.
Speaker 2:You know I'm looking at all of these guys over Mark Andrews, travis, kelsey, george Little. You know I'm going to be looking at these guys next year rather than taking the high draft pick for a name. That's, you know, just not performing anymore like they used to.
Speaker 1:Definitely, john. And one other interesting thing too, before we wrap up, we have a few kickers as well. So, guys, I know some leagues don't do kickers, we do kickers, but you know, brandon Aubrey, kicker for the Dallas Cowboys, finished number 165 points. Justin Tucker, number two. Jake Elliott, number three, right, did really well. But here's what was fascinating with the defenses John Dallas Cowboys finished number one defense 217 points. The Ravens 217 points. The Browns got number three for 206. Miami Dolphins 202 points in the Buffalo Bills 191.
Speaker 1:The reason why I'm saying these numbers is because we have I've had multiple people reach out to me and say is it worth us keeping a defense Now kicker tomato tomorrow defense apps. So fucking Lutley, because you have these when it, when a player, when a team, when a defense is scoring 217 points and we're talking about Tony Pollard scoring 177, you're damn right. And the reason why they're important is because it changes people's draft strategies. That's why they're important. A kicker, I can go either way, I prefer a kicker Some don't find.
Speaker 1:But defenses do not. Do not eliminate defenses, because you have crazy people who last year drafted the Washington Red Skin or, excuse me, the Washington Commander's defense in literally the eighth overall round. Okay, you're not job, but you know you have others who were drafted Dallas Cowboys in the six we. It actually happened in one of my leagues and I'm sitting there and I laughed at them and then it panned out for him and actually one of the guys who were in the playoffs, and so for me, man, looking at what some of these defenses can do is honestly pretty mind boggling when you see that they're outpacing some of the best running backs, some of the top tier receivers, even right, and things of that nature. So just wanted to call out don't eliminate defenses, because they definitely have a place in fantasy football.
Speaker 2:All right, ladies and gentlemen, that is the show for today. Thank you so much for listening, guys. It's you know I we keep dragging this episode on because we can feel that we're at the end and I just don't want to be there, you know it's so sad we got one episode left, man for the year, episode 99 coming next week. Wow, yeah, what? Which means we're going to start season four with episode 100. Guys, triple dig, triple digits the century mark.
Speaker 2:Holy shit. I want to thank you all for going on this journey with us. It's so much fun, it's so great. Frankie, I love you, brother. There's no one else. I'd rather do this with man, and you know you're not bad to look at either, and thank God you have to look at you for like two hours, you know, every week.
Speaker 1:But every week longer than that Cause, then I call you a FaceTime, you know and hey, you didn't get us canceled this year.
Speaker 2:Great job, you tried.
Speaker 1:I tried a few times.
Speaker 2:You said the red skins like 37 times. Even once in this episode you said you were queer. Last episode, something earlier in this episode, I kind of went what'd you say, frank? What'd you say?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, hey there's. This wasn't tight for the reason and you know we're goofing motherfuckers and we know our shit, but we like to have a good time.
Speaker 2:Thank God it's you too, but thank God there's a fantasy football people. They probably don't care at all about that shit, but thank you for not getting us canceled. We got one more episode, so let's try not to get us 99. We're finally at 1000 subscribers. We're finally getting to somewhere, Frank, where we can move on with this thing into another direction. Don't get us canceled with one more.
Speaker 1:Do my best.
Speaker 2:Thank you all so much for listening, guys. Thank you for subscribing again. We had a huge milestone and it's just going to propel us into next year. Thank you so much, guys. Please don't forget. If you haven't in the front of your mind, you know somebody that's into football and into fantasy football say hey guys, subscribe to this come July. When they're back on, oh yeah, you'll hear what's going on. They're going to help you out. Please share it. Help us out, guys. But thank you so much for subscribing. Hit us up in the comments, let us know how things went for you. Let us know if you got any other questions for next week. Last episode we'd love to shout you out. We'd love to help you for maybe some prep or our opinions on some guys for next year. Give it to us, man Frank, what else you got, baby?
Speaker 1:Guys, again next week. We're ending the note on a high note. We're going to do the review for the rookie review. We're going to look back at what maybe some of our draft strategies should be or should have been, and maybe look forward just a tad just to give you a glimpse to hold on to. And then we're shouting out the final winners. We're going to recap those who have won a frankly fantasy football championship those who dialed in, those who listened, those who commented and sent. Because of you guys, we won our championship. So we're going to shout you guys all out, keep them coming. We have a nice stockpile of people who can't wait to give you guys your flowers and love you all have a great week.
Speaker 2:Everyone, we love you. May the fantasy gods smile upon you. Bye.