Transcript of Week 1 Hype + Changing Opinions, Undrafted Gems - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/2

The fantasy footballer's studio is sponsored by Walmart.

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Mohr, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in.

So soon. It's so soon, everyone. I feel it. I can feel it. I can hear everyone shouting it in their brain.

Any minute now.

Soon.

Soon. Welcome in, one and all. Andy, Mike, and Jason, the fantasy footballers podcast back for September second, week one. Week one, baby. Week one of the NFL season begins now. Hopefully, you all enjoyed the long weekend, the holiday weekend, the draft day weekend. We completed our League of Record draft last night. And Al Borland, the current reigning champion, he did it up.

He did.

I feel like he had a very successful Ropa dope, too.

I didn't hear him talking about it at all. It's like, I know he's going to do something. He has to. But there was that little voice. I'm like, he really hasn't mentioned it. I got plans and doing all this.

His plans included having to call the local fire department and discuss with them what was going to happen. This is not a joke.

He spoke with the local fire chief. I guess he wanted to make sure that the pyrotechnics that were part of his draft opening celebration. Do you have that picture?

We're office safe.

Do you have that picture that you can put up on the screen now? Because if people are watching on YouTube, youtube. Com/thefantasyfootballers, I'll send them. We sent a picture over. We took one last night, and we'll have them put it up on the screen here. There it is.

Oh, there we go.

There's the picture of the-No pyrotechnics in the picture. I'll describe it to you.

You can't see the lights, Jeremy.

I don't even know what I'm allowed to say because I don't know what your wife knows about what you spent on draft day. But let's just say there's more equipment in the office than we used to have. Including lighting rigs and pyrotechnics.

And smoke machines. Was that a fog gun?

What was that gun? That thing was awesome. Yeah, it was a fog gun.

That was separate than the fog machine? Oh, yeah. So you acquired both of those? Correct. Okay. Acquired.

My wife knows I bought it all. She just doesn't know how much it costs.

Okay. Well, we had our League of Record draft, and it was a good time.

I know- It changes everything. Our league being done, our draft last night, completely makes football here. We're looking at week one matchups, and I play Mike week one, which is unfortunate.

For one of us.

Well, your team is- Should be good. It should be. Should be. You got a lot more draft capital- It should be good. Than the two of us coming in yesterday. That's going to be a tough slide. But I'm so excited. I'm so excited to see how months of all this work and talk and yada, yada, jibber, jabber.

It's like now we get to- That's a description of our show.

Now we get to see what happens.

Yeah, all the Bill Kroskeys of the world get out there and play some football. I drafted a great team from 2018. Nick Chubb's on the roster, J. K. Dobbin's on the roster, Kareem Hunt on the roster. That's how you get upside. I mean, I'm sure that the Falcon will share some League of Record rosters against my will. I went in there as naked as a man can get.

Your second pick was in the seventh round, which were a three-keeper, so really, it's like the 10th round.

And one of my keepers was Joe Mixon. Right. So no, I have nothing on this roster. I went all in last year, and Al beat me in the title game. So you'll see all the rosters. Don't worry, man. Mike's team is... Mike was the one that got watered.

Yeah, because Everything went real bad.

Yeah, so last year went bad. This year, the draft went good for Mike, so we'll see. He is one CMC injury away from being depressed.

That's why I don't want to play him in week one because he's got CMC right now. But if our first game against each other was week three, I don't know. Maybe he won't.

But this is week one. A couple of big announcements. Lots of you drafted this past week, and hopefully, I saw so many rosters, so many players using the UDK. To set up that sweet, sweet draft team. But a couple of things. One, the Megalable is still going on. There are draft times today and a final draft tomorrow. A lot of people sent me tweets and stuff this weekend. Can I still get into the Megalable? The answer is yes. We have, I guess, technically two more draughts because one is happening right now. We have a Tuesday evening draft, so tonight, and then Wednesday morning, and then all of the Megalable draft will be done. You can learn about that at megalable. Com. Now, if you wanted to be a part of the Megalo Bowl, one of the easiest things you can do is if you bought the UDK, we give you a dollar for dollar credit on the UDK towards an ultimate membership. So the draft kit is part of the draft season, and then we have an in-season app and in-season tools, including the ultimate dashboard and a bunch of in-season optimization tools for your lineup.

If you want to be a part of that, that is what the Footclient is. Here's what I recommend. If you bought the UDK or the UDK Plus and you're not a member of the Footclient and you want a dollar-for-dollar credit, go to the website, jointhefoot. Com. Go down on the page, make sure you're logged in with your account, and the credit will show up right there in the ultimate membership. That's all you got to do. Papa Josh, I'm looking at you. Did I miss anything there?

Because you're going to be handling- You want to do it on web, not in the app, so that you get that credit automatically.

That's right. The credit will automatically apply if you go to jointhefoot. Com and you're logged in with your UDK account, and you can sign up for the ultimate membership, which is a year-round subscription. You get the UDK every year, the DFS Pass, the dynasty Pass, the in-season tools, the ultimate dashboard. The extra episode. We did this last year. We finally set up one subscription for everything, for all the premium content done by the awesome team that we have, Kyle, Betsey, everybody involved.

So And that's on the ultimate tier. Yes.

So that's that. The week one rankings, the Start/Sit tool, the in-season app. All that stuff is up right now on the website, thefantasyfootballers. Com. Lots of free tools and resources over there as well. And you can follow the Show on X at the FF Ballers. Follow Jason at Jason FFL, Mike at FF Hitman. I'm at Andy Holloway over there, and you can watch the show, including Sunday Live this week. Oh, baby. Right before kickoff, Mike will be live with you on youtube. Com/ff The fantasy footballers tilting away, start, sit decisions. Even though it's week one, there will be decisions to be made, and we're excited. Man, football on Thursday. Let's get this show on the road.

Undrafted Gems, presented by Walmart.

All right, it is our last chance to share some undrafted gems with you.

I'm going to jump in here first because I'm trying to look through our draft, and as of right now, it looks like this man remains an undrafted gem, which is I think, foolish by you guys. My draft was done early just due to pick trading. Due to? Thank you. Is that a tooting joke? Thank you for calling that out. It's Romeo Dobbs. Green Bay packers, wide receiver. Last year, averaged 77% of the snaps using our strength of schedule tool that's in the ultimate draft kit. These first few weeks, man, at least of... Obviously, defense has changed, but the matchup with Detroit, I know the over-under is outrageous. Then you get Washington, should be another high-scoring game. And then Cleveland, you might be able to beat up on them. And then Dallas, which should be another high-scoring game. Meanwhile, Looking at the wide receiver room for the Green Bay Packers, Jaden Reid is still going to try and play, but he has a fracture in his foot. His foot has a break in it. I know he's going to try and play through it, tough guy and everything, but things can get worse real fast on those things.

And yes, Matthew Golden, it remains to be seen as the rookie. When will the rookie be ready to take over? Romeo Dobbs has been there. He's just been a consistent player. I won't say he's super special, but when he has been called upon by the Green Bay Packers to be their number one guy. He's come through with really decent fantasy football production. And there were whispers this offseason, a couple of tweets from Beat Reporters saying, Dobbs looks a little different in this offseason, in this training camp. So if he takes any type of level up, there's a chance that Romeo Dobbs is the overall number one wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. A chance. And he's, like Arlie, going undrafted. And I think that he is, if nothing else, a safe floor play for the first month for teams out there that you're looking at your roster going, Man, I just need a guy to put in my flex, a guy who's going to get me a few points. Romeo Dobbs can do that, and I think with the chance of something great happening.

Yeah, that makes sense. It's funny because some of these undrafted gims, like the guy I'm going to bring up, it's like, I think it's a really good play week one. It's just so hard when you look at the season to say, I'm going to take this guy over the other guys that I see the potential for and start them week one. I'm bringing up Hunter Henry. Hunter Henry has the best strength of schedule to start the season imaginable. He's number one easiest for tight ends over the first month. He's gotten off to a really hot start the last couple of years. He's the key of week one. Week one and week two. The last two years in those two weeks, four total games, he has been the tight end one or the tight end two, three of the four of those weeks. Then you match that with the new offense, Drake May is doing great. Last year, he led the team in targets, in first downs, in receiving yards. They gave him a three-year, $27 million extension.

I totally forgot about that.

Yeah, and then he's got a great schedule.

That's because Hunter Henry is the most forgettable player on the planet. Right. People ignore him all the time, every time.

He's 100% on waivers. Unless you're in a dynasty League, he is not drafted, but he's probably a really good week one start. If you went late round, tight end, maybe just Grab him and start him over whoever you drafted? I think he's going to get off to a hot start.

There are a bunch of players that are hot start players that will probably be good players to trade away. Dobbs It should be one of them because Golden's Ascension mixed with the return of Christian Watson. Another one is my guy, Adam Thielen. Adam Thielen is my undrafted gym because look at the team. Look at the team right now. Jordan Addison is going to miss three weeks. When Addison comes back, I'm not going to want Thielen. It's not going to be enough, right? With Hawkinson and Jefferson and Addison, I don't think they'll be enough for him. But the first three or four weeks, Adam Thielen back home in Minnesota, Monday night football. Jefferson coming off the ham string. I think Adam Thielen is an undrafted spot start, much like Romeo Dobbs is. But it is interesting. There's a number of players that are like, When some people get back, maybe they won't be as good. I mean, Xavier worthy, is he a player that you, depending on what you believe about Rashi Rice, worthy should have a great start to this season. So should Kelsey. But when Rashi Rice comes back in six weeks, do you make an adjustment?

We'll have to break down all the players in that category. Even, I hate to say this one.

Don't say it.

But Ameca Ibuca. There's a world where that start is so great. Now, you don't have to trade him because he's a youngster, and he may be a superstar forever. But look, a freshly paid Chris Godwin returns from injury and will be competing for targets. I'm not saying you trade Igubuka, but Evans, Godwin will both get targets on this team no matter what. There are a bunch of players in that category where it's like, okay, when they're back out there, maybe you cash in.

It's just a good reminder of when you leave the draft, very often, and look, I can look in the mirror and I can say, I'm guilty of this. You look at your roster and you're like, Oh, look at that thing all year long, baby. That's just- Set it and forget it. Yeah, that's not how it works.

Oh, no, we're You're going to have devastating injuries this weekend.

You're going to have those, and you're going to have guys who just... It doesn't work out for one reason or another. It's just a good reminder of, don't look at the schedule in totality. Be like, Okay, got this, got this. No, you got to break this thing down because if you start one and two, one and three, you get overwhelmed of, you're like, How can I ever possibly come back from this? And it's, break the season down. Break the season down into chunks. Your next two games, who are players that can fill in for those two weeks and give me some points? And that's how you sneak your way into the playoffs after a bad start and you eventually get a championship.

Absolutely. No. By the way, Hunter Henry, career earnings, $73,860,000.

The one who does not forget about Henry is his bank account.

No. When people are like, Wait, you played in the NFL? He's like, Yeah.

A little bit.

A little bit. All right. That was Undrafted Gims presented by Walmart. Who knew that you can get what you need in as fast as an hour? Get free delivery on your first Express Delivery order with the code Express. Valid for first Express Delivery order, $50 minimum, subject to availability. Restrictions apply. We got news.

News and notes from Around the League, presented by Progressive Insurance.

The Stealers.

Go to Jason's cam.

Go to Jason's camera and put it on the... Do give him the spotlight. The Steelers have signed Running Back Jalen Warren to a two-year extension that includes $12 million in guaranteed money. Mike, you immediately tweeted, I cannot wait to hear Jason FFL's breakdown of this contract. We did get the official depth chart this morning. Warren, Gainewell, Caleb Johnson. Jason, I don't know if you have any thoughts on this. You and I cannot be more diametrically opposed on this player, But that's okay.

No, I don't think we are as opposed as you think we are on Jalen Warren. We might be more opposed.

Oh, I meant on Caleb.

Yeah, we are there. I still think Warren is actually a great pick. He's going too late in drafts right now. He's the presumed starter. Where we are opposed is I think Caleb Johnson is an excellent elite running back who will eventually take over the lion's share of this backfield. He's starting slow as a rookie.

Are you saying in totality or you just mean the carries?

No, I mean in totality, including some of the passing.

That's where our differential is. That's where it's spicy. Because I didn't like the college tape the way you did. I thought Caleb was a very pedestrian, average guy. Then It's a depth chart and an offensive coordinator that I don't trust.

When have the Steelers ever drafted a pedestrian running back with high draft capital?

Yeah, and given them so much work. 300 plus carries every year and always a running back one. I don't know.

Was he always a running back one? Certainly not.

He was a running back one his rookie year. Talking about Nodjee.

Always is a different word, though.

Yeah, then he was very much a running back two.

Two. Okay. All right. Two. Always a running back two.

One, two, tomato and tomato.

Anyways, Jalen Warren, two-year extension, deserves it. Congratulations. He will start the year, at least, as their starter with some security. We knew that these two guys were both lame duck runningbacks last year, and Warren ends up... They had Tindered him, right? Yes, they did. And so now they extended him. A tender and extender.

Nice. If you... Right? That's the phrase. People say that all the time. If you missed the tweet from Rappaport, when the extension first came in, it was very funny because it was like, Hey, Jalen Warren, who has played in whatever this amount of games, and he only has six touch downs. They just gave him this money.

It was like, Ian, what are you doing? It was the opposite of- It was like zero career starts.

This was the opposite of a Pelicero tweet. Exactly. Which Rappaport then amended the tweet. He took that part out. He was like, What are you doing, man?

All right, Quinchawn Judkins. We got news from Mary K. K. Kabbit out of Brown's Beatreporter talking about Quinchawn Judkins could return to the team as early as this week. Now, he will face a league.

Is it a return if you've never been there?

Good point.

He will join the team.

He still needs a contract as of this recording. He still needs to be disciplined by the NFL. Some people think that Deevy will be in the three range. I've seen some more debate on that. It could be up to six.

I cannot fathom how that could be possible because it's an automatic-I don't think you're right about that. Okay, I'll look into it.

I think there is a minimum. But the NFL, they Because I've seen some people on Twitter like, Well, how can they even suspend? And the case went away. The NFL has their own investigation that they go and they check. And honestly, if you make news and you make the shield look bad, they come and they get you.

They punish you for it. We've had it before where Rothsberger, right? Right. The charges were dropped. He was still suspended.

You had the Zeke suspension years ago.

Florio had said that even with no formal charges, the standardized NFL personal conduct policy for domestic violence is six games.

Okay. Is it six?

Zek was suspended six games for a DV allegation in 2017. That's where I'm not saying it will be. I'm just saying three to six seems like the range. I think it's fair to say that. That doesn't mean he's irrelevant in either circumstance. He went in our draft a little bit higher yesterday because of this news, and there's opportunity for this team to put him into a starting lineup. They're playing for the future. Judkins was drafted to be their starter. He was. Samson... I mean, Ford, certainly irrelevant. And Samson, probably not a threat to Judkins talent-wise. So whether it's three games in, six games in, Judkins will have an opportunity to perform, and they spent such high draft capital. This is not going to be a situation that's held against him. If they come to a contract agreement, it's just going to be get to the suspension, get out on the field.

And you also have the... A lot has to play out on this because he could sign his contract, go immediately on the commissioners list. You're not allowed to practice because we're still trying to figure this out in your suspension. If it's six, then the guy has to acclimate to the team. So even if you're like, I'm going to take the chance on Judkins, it might be eight, nine weeks before he's actually giving you any meaningful touches in a game.

Sorry, Jason. Could he end up in a situation where he's playing and they're waiting on disciplinary stuff?

Yeah, for sure.

So that could also be an outcome. It could happen.

That's not how I would see it.

No. We'll find As soon as he signs a contract, whether he goes on the commission list, that will be telling. Because if he doesn't, he could basically be with the team week one on the active roster and then still get a suspension later. But it's so funny to talk about a guy who literally doesn't have a contract yet.

Aj Brown will play on Thursday night football. He is practicing and ready to go, so that's fun.

A lot of guys are magically healthy now.

We're going to break down the Thursday night football matchup on tomorrow's episode, guys. Our first breakdown of the year.

It's so soon.

Najee Harris has been cleared for contact. When asked if he'd be available for week one, he said he's, quote, ramping up to it. Oh, we're ramping it up. Now, it's in Brazil. That would be the week one game in Brazil.

I hope they fixed that field. Yeah, that was a nightmare.

I would skip it with that field. Quentin Johnston cleared concussion protocol. I told people, Don't forget about him, especially in best ball league and stuff like that that you're drafting. Somehow, the concussion and people just stopped drafting Quentin Johnston.

Well, no one really gave him permission because no one wanted to draft him in the first place.

Okay, that makes sense. Matthew Stafford is expected to start against the Texans in week one. We're going to all be holding our breath every week for a little while.

Every week is going to be expected.

Stefan Diggs is expected to play for the Patriots. How much he plays, how well he plays?

I think it'll start a little slow for him, but if he's ready to go week one, that's fantastic news for long term.

We got our first practice from Juan Jennings in a very long time, 49ers wide receiver. By the way, Kendrick Bourne visited, as we expected. I don't think they have a contract yet. Do you know this resident 49er Falcon over there? No, nothing. Because he's going to go visit with the commander.

I think Juan, being back on the field, probably slowed that down.

Darnell Mooney practicing day to day, ahead of the first week. And then Jalen Coker, this was big time news and sucky news, if you believe in Jalen Coker. They traded Thielen away. Coker had the slot roll all to himself. And then we found out this weekend, significant quad strain, placed on IR, 4-6 weeks. Jalen Coker, goodbye. They signed Hunter Infro.

Yeah, it means Xavier Laguette is, I think, a much better late-round pick. Circling back to Jowan Jennings.

Who did not get drafted in our league.

For real? He went undrafted? I did not realize that.

Undrafted, Jim.

Now I feel slightly like I shouldn't have told you.

Why don't you talk?

Yeah, waivers will go through tomorrow, Jay. You got some time. All right. Did you see the Hunter Rindfro interview, by the way, where- I did not. His daughter, I believe, hung up on 10 calls from the agent and the team when they were trying to bring him on to... Because once Coker went out, they called Rindfro to sign him to the active roster. And they couldn't get a hold of him? She was watching Bluey. So every time the phone call came in, she kept hanging up on the phone call to keep watching Bluey.

Don't interrupt my Bluey. I'm trying to get my feels right now.

They got a hold of him. So there you go. But Jalen Coker is out for a while, which, yeah, it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate for Bryce Young because Coker is another weapon. No Coker, no Thielen.

We'll see what Renfro has left.

All right. Anything else? Break? Any news? Information.

We'll keep looking.

That was today's news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at progressive. Com. Progressive Calgary Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. All right, we've got A Mailbag to get into. Week 1, it's here. This is one of the ad breaks we meant to do. Here we go. Okay, You guys ready to take on week one? Are you ready for this? My body is ready. All right, let's jump in.

Mailbag.

Yeah.

All right, we got some voicemail questions to get to and a whole bunch of questions from all over social media. If you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantastyfootballers. Com. Click that, submit a question button, or dial our voicemail hotline 302464-TFF-B. And make sure you pick up the in-season app, because all of the Start/Sit tools and rankings are in there as well to search for the fantasy footballers on the App Store. All right, we're going to jump in to a voicemail question. Hey, Quick question. I'm trying to decide on who to start in a flex spot in a half PPR.

So it's Devante Smith this Thursday or DJ Moore on Monday night. Thanks. Start, sit, question. Devante Smith, Thursday or DJ Moore. That's wild. Yeah, I mean-One of those guys has to sit.

It's a nice problem to have. It's really difficult. This is stupid, but it's just the truth. It's very difficult for me opening NFL game. If I've got a player I can put in that game. I actually think DJ More- It's a Monday night game.

Yeah, that helps. You get the island game.

I think DJ More is the better play, but it would be so tough for me to watch the opening game and have a player in it on my bench.

I played Devante Smith. Really? Yes, I would.

I just feel like with- I played Devante Smith against that. No Micah Parsons.

If the Eagles- The secondary is going to get picked apart.

If the Eagles get off to a strong start, all of a sudden, you have the second half where... I mean, we saw it a lot last year. It's like all Barkley.

What's the game line right now? Is it like four and a half, five and a half?

I'm rusty. I'm not used to pulling these things up.

Yeah. Somebody tell me, Kyle, eight and a half now. So I guess that lends itself to Jason's argument there. But I think the lack of a pass rush will give Devon Fuisman time to run wild.

I was told that Now, his team is so much better now that Micah Parsons is off the roster.

Let me tell you this. Jerry Jones is setting himself up for a moment, okay? Because if you beat Philadelphia, the champs, on the road on Thursday night to open the season, if you do that, oh, my gosh. It's middle-finger. But they did not do that.

He will walk- That's what I say.

Down the street in the pimp coat.

When I walk in the gas station and I buy all my lotto tickets, I'm like, If I win, I will be king. But guess who's not going to win?

This is the NFL. It happens all the dang time. There's a reason I have an almost upset every week. And it never makes... No, I'm not doing it. I thought about it. I thought about it, and I'm not doing it. No, I don't believe in it. But we get surprised every week. We'll be surprised this week. I promise. Sure. All right, but maybe not on Thursday. So I'll go Devante Smith officially. Jason, you'll go DJ more? I will. And Mike, you split the difference.

I would I'd play Smith.

All right, Logan in Charlotte, North Carolina, should we finally allow doubtful status to be IR eligible? Chris Godwin situation being the example. This would be a way to solve a lot of the annoyance of certain moments on platforms where a player has not been declared officially out, but you know they're not going to play. There are a lot of situations that you know that. The team has come out and said it, but maybe they didn't formally make the move. They're asking about doubtful VO.

You can turn that on on sleeper. Yes, you can't.

I don't mind it. I don't mind having that be- It's not like if the guy's active, you'd have to cut somebody else to play him.

Exactly.

I think it's fine to allow that. There are so many situations where even a player is announced, he is going to IR or he is out this week, but then the team doesn't make the transaction for another day or so, and you're just waiting. So I don't mind that. I think I would allow this. If it came up for vote in our league, I would Can I share my favorite moment from the draft that you just reminded me of?

Sure. My favorite moment of last night, we have a time before the draft where people can bring up different rules and moments that are Sorry, rules and things for the league, and you can bring them up to vote. Every year, we've had a few things. It's how we got rid of kickers one year, and that's how we added league median scoring. I just got to give a shout out to the moment of the draft for me, which was Jason Moore. He silenced We had, whatever, 20 people there. He said, Hush now. He said, I've got a couple of things to bring up.

Important.

Important. He's been thinking about this. He knows.

I had a Slack notification reminder that went off yesterday. To bring it up. I didn't know that. From six months earlier, two big things I wanted to bring up to vote.

League changes that are impactful.

Well, here's why. I'll say what I argued yesterday is that safeties in fantasy football for your DST should not be two points. I mean, in the actual game, you get two points, then you get the ball. It's like an interception. It's a big moment. An interception is two points.

A pick six, you get two points for the interception, and then your DST is scored, so you also get the six points.

Exactly. I felt like two points for a safety is absurd, and so I wanted to move it to three points.

Yeah. Then in the middle of you sharing your...

You looked up, you knew that the vote was going to pass.

Oh, I said, This is right.

You pulled it up because you're the commish, and you were going to go already and change that in the system. Then you saw that in our league, safety is worth four points. They're already worth four points. I almost nerved it.

You went through your suggestion real quick.

I did pass another one, though. We now get a point for a stop on fourth down.

That's a cool one to bring up. When When your defense stops the opposing team going for it on fourth down, we're awarding a point this year.

It's a turnover.

It is a turnover.

Yeah, I'm like 80% of the way fully on board there. I guess I don't really have context for how many times it happens in a game.

Not much.

Probably not a lot, right? Maybe one or two times max.

It really depends on-I guess it's tough-are you playing the lions?

Well, it's the-one of the teams that goes. It's the fourth and short. It's goal line stands, and then it's also desperation, End of half type stuff. Now, would it count as a fourth down stop? If you're on fourth down with five seconds left in the half and you throw a Hilmery, that'd be a fourth down stop, probably, right? So there's some nuance there, I think, that might not be a count of four.

Because you didn't pick up the first down, you're saying?

We will beta test it for the people, and we'll let you know if defenses are getting five extra points a week. That was my worry. But of course, Kyle says he'll just look up the data.

Okay, Kyle. All right. Nerd.

Let's jump into another Another voicemail question. Hey, Ballers.

This is Dr. Fumbles. I just got done with my draft, and I want to look at my projections, and it's got me projected for last place. I got all the good players, Mario and Hampton, Trevian Henderson, Golden, Abuka, Josh Allen. Is there anything I can do to change it from me being last place? That was four rookies.

That was four rookies. I saw a team- Yeah, that would be why you're projected for last, I would imagine, because whatever system you're in, You can't...

Properly projecting a rookie is difficult. Trevian Henderson is, right now, the backup. Ramondre is probably the starter for a few weeks, if not the whole season. So how do you properly say, No, the Rb2 is just so much better and he's going to way outscore his projections. Don't even worry about that. Also, Dr. Fumbles.

Dr. Fumbles is a fabulous name. That is a fantastic name. It's also how you may have been ranked last as well. I will say this. Somebody sent me a note this week, and they He said, One of my teammates drafted all rookies and was bragging to everybody, and we all made fun of them. And he showed the roster. I was like, He's starting Jenty in Hampton. Then he's got Agbuka, Ted McKmillon, Matthew Golden. Then he's got Tyler Warren at tight in. I'm going, this team- That's a pretty good team. Now, I also think he put Cam Warden. And I was like, That's where I go a different direction. But it was like, you can draft all rookies right now and probably be in really good shape.

If you're going to do it, this is the year to do it.

Also-rj Harvey in the flex?

I don't know where you got the draft grade. If you're using the draft analyzer, be a little bit more worried. If it's on the platform, I feel like if a platform itself gives you a good post-draft grade, you did a bad job.

Yeah, the post-draft grade doesn't matter.

Not at all.

It helps you if it gives you analysis. That's why we built an analyzer that doesn't just give you a grade. It's more about how you can improve your team. But if it's just a grade, I mean, we all want to be great at high.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We all want the zero-I want that dopamine hit there. The zero and zero record victory lap.

Don't worry about it.

Matt, in Canada, writing in.

Which part of Canada are we talking about?

He says, Bonjour.

Oh, a lot. Bonjour. Okay.

Why is the fantasy community so eerily quiet on Justin Herbert? He's a year removed from being a monster hype pick. Seems healthy, stud young running quality receiving options. What am I missing? He did go on our draft yesterday. Do you feel like the fantasy community is eerily quiet or appropriately quiet?

I think it's eerily quiet. When I look at the opportunity for a really successful fantasy season, the addition of Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnson being back, Lad in year two, a more capable running back in the receiving game, there are clear and obvious ways how it for Herbert. He's one of those guys that in most single-quarterback leads, I see he is not drafted. I always wonder if that's a big mistake, if you should even just scoop him up as a second quarterback, keep him in case he ends up with a breakout season. Because He has the capabilities. He is a quality... I think we all just worry. It's all just we worry about Harbaugh and too much running and all of that. But he's a great quarterback with great weapons.

He's a pure pastor. I think a lot of people would say Joe Burrow. Some people think Joe Burrow is the best pure quarterback. Herbert is in the conversation as best throwers of the football in the NFL. Yes. So it's all the periphery, right? If you took Justin Herbert and you swapped him and Joe Burrow's situations, Justin Herbert would be a top draft pick.

Yes, I agree. But we've just been... It's been since 2021. That's when Justin Herbert He was the last great for fancy football.

Welcome to the pocket passer problem.

In 2023, he only played 13 games. He was at 17. 9 points per week. I was trying to go look up where that went. Points per week?

Nice. It's right.

Yeah, that's right. But I've never heard it before. Points for game. I think that's the issue, is it's been so long since he has really given you anything of value. When a team takes a running in the first round, they're saying what they want to be.

Yeah. Okay. Great question from Twitter here. How do you recover from a terrible, in all caps, draft?

Andy, why don't you answer?

Well, I do it every year, so- You draft terrible every year? Well, I mean- You mean pieces of crap for breakfast? Did I draft terribly? Let me go look. To answer that question, did I draft terribly, or did I have a terrible draft class?

You had a terrible draft.

Okay. I didn't mess up a pick in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, sixth rounds.

No, you did not.

No, you did Every year I do this. Every year I sell pics, and I come back- You can't miss it if you don't shoot Wayne Gritsky. I come back. Look, you can make fun of it all you want, but I didn't have pics to make. So my draft class sucks. And every single year I'd come back and do it. Last year, I had a similarly horrible draft class. I played Al in the title game. What you have to do is recognize the fact that, like Mike said at the top, the season can be broken down into chunks. What did I do last night? I tried to buy the first few weeks of the season. You're buying some time. J. K. Dobbins is going to start. Nick Chubb is going to start. Debo Samuel is probably going to have his best weeks to start the year. I'm going to figure it out after that. I wasn't looking to... And then I stacked a bunch of rookies at the back, which is like, okay, so I got the old men at the front, rookies at the back. And guess what? I got FAB to spend. I got picks from next year to trade.

That's how I'm going to figure it out. But I think this question is more related to tilt. It's more related to, hey, I felt like the draft as it was going, I made bad pics. I didn't feel like I made the right pics. It started to snowball. And that happens. And then you're like, oh, crap, I'm screwed. No, you're not. No, you're not. Because every ranking that we have, shocker, it's going to be... Not many of them are going to be right. That's our best projection.

Yeah, you just got to take your time. Don't zoom out. Zoom in one week at a time and just be really aggressive on the waiver wire.

If you stick through the season, like so many managers, a month in, especially two months in, they start to check out a lot more. So matchups, injuries happen. If they're not active on the waiver wire, I find that when you're getting to weeks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, some of your matchups get easier if your opponents have checked out a little bit. So just don't be the one that checks out, and it will get easier as you go along.

Absolutely. But yeah, nick Chubb, baby. All right.

Man, it would be a story for the NFL this season. If nick Chubb could look anything like he used to look, it would be so awesome. The odds feel low, but everyone would celebrate. Like, literally everyone. We all love nick Chubb.

What are the implications of Mixin if he doesn't play? If he doesn't play, Chubb or pierce are going to be the bell cow on a team that's projected to win the division. So you take your shot. I mean, that's all you can do. With all of the ambiguous backfield situations, that's what you do.

You're just Judkins. You need nick Chubb to have something, because with that offensive line, you got to... Oh, gosh. You have to be able to break some tackles.

Yep, absolutely.

Or Nico Collins is going to be the number one overall fantasy wide receiver.

That is also a possibility. Jaden Higgins could awake.

Yeah, he could. Maybe.

Or C. J. Stroud could be on his back most of the season. We'll find out.

If you want to talk undrafted gems real quick. Jaden Higgins is very exciting. It's a second-round pick. Chr. Kirk is a vet. Absolutely. Chr. Kirk is a vet who has gotten it done. Who's a starter. Many times, and He's a starter, probably out there on two wide receiver sets. My diatribe of nick Chubb being back, it would be an awesome story. I don't know that I believe it can happen. So they're going to have to throw. And Christian Kirk, he'll be up in the pecking order before Jaden Higgens is allowed a chance for his breakout.

Stefan Diggs, at the beginning of last year, was a very valuable fan. He's playing the exact same role.

Instagram Final question. Ladino. Well, we'll get to it right after this break. You'll have to do the math. I'll put it that way. All right, back at it into the mailbag. Ladino writes in, Hey, Ballers, how many Leagues are you in this year?

Oh, gosh.

I love the show. We have been asked this question every year. I've always been more proud to say, Hey, we keep it tight.

We really got away from it.

It really did.

I think I'm in nine. I think I'm in nine, and that would be the conservative answer.

I am in eight, and I don't want to be in that many.

One's the best ball.

I'm in 10. A lot of them are dynasties.

One's a chopped league. So I'm hoping to get chopped real early. But we keep it down to a handful of high-priority league because we want to have the same level of dedication, commitment, passion with specific teams and players. So we're relating to you.

It's the care. People ask, How do I know if I'm in too many league? Number one is when Tuesday shows up, you go, If you make that sound because you know how many waivers you have to go take care of, you're in too many league. Or on Sunday, if you literally don't know who to root for because everyone I root for is rooting against myself at the exact same time, then you're probably in too many league as well.

Yeah. No, I love that as the simplest answer. If you unwavered it, you're like, Oh, my gosh.

Which, if you're in too many leads, The ultimate dashboard, our tool for our in-season is-Very helpful. It really, really helps that situation.

Well, one of the questions that we got, I put a Twitter post about, do you enjoy your ultimate Footclam membership, and what are some tools that you enjoy, and things like that. And it got a lot of great answers, good feedback, but way too many people saying, Can you expand the team cap? So I think there are more like...

Oh, man.

More people out there that-You degenerates. Maybe they get to WaverWire with 25 teams, and they go, Oh, yeah.

Maybe.

We'll find out. All right, easy question here. Maybe. Maybe you already have it in your head. It comes from YMV on X. Who are you most excited or worried to see the first two weeks, Mike? Is that... Could it be one name?

It's Kenneth Walker.

For both?

Yes. It's Kenneth Walker. Who you did not snag yesterday, and you thought you were going to be there. I thought I was slotted for him, and then the first round did not go the way that I mocked or the way that I thought it was going to go. A bit of a bummer, but you know. That's how it goes. These things happen. Because for Ken Walker, everything is, is he really healthy? Is the rest plan worked for him? And what does the actual timeshare look like? Because it could legit be 50/50. And even if it is 50/50, I still think that Ken Walker is going to be a great pick. But that's the question. How great? How great could it be if Ken Walker stays healthy with the new blocking scheme and everything?

A couple of fun facts from Mike's draft last night. One, doesn't have Ken Walker. Two, does have Zack Charbonne. I do. And three, had so many picks and drafted well, which is a real problem for our league. We're back, baby. Yeah. He drafted very well. The draft fell to him properly, and he maneuvered, and it's really unfortunate because-Hey, one man's good draft means other people drafted poorly, too. Yeah, I think you probably had all my pics. All right, Let's go ahead and turn the page here. Msj writes in, Is Jaden Reid worth dropping for a receiver on the waiver wire, for example, Isaac Tessla?

No, I love Tessla. I love the upside, But that is still a... That feels like a longer term type of a play. You're going to be stashing him and trying to see what happens. Jaden Reid, I'm terrified. The people who said Reid is off my board, that doesn't bother me because it will be every single week. Wednesday is going to show up. Jaden Reid is not practicing. Thursday. Jaden Reid is resting today. And then you're like, Oh, gosh, please give He'll get a limited practice on Friday, and he'll do that and then try and go play. It'll be a week-to-week heart attack for you to know if you can actually rely on Jaden Reid. It's like you're going to have to make all these contingent plans just in case. But then if Reid plays, you're going to play him.

Yeah, he's tough. He fell very, very far in our draft last night. I remember being on the clock and being like, Do I want to draft him with this foot issue? And I did not.

See?

Well, because I think you just... My brain goes to this ceiling season is gone now. That's how it feels. Because we've already dealt with Jaden Reid being like, weirdly hurt every week, and it was his foot at times. So this issue I guess he just misplayed the recovery. Because if you were needing surgery on this, you would have done it a long time ago and been ready for the season.

Yeah, perhaps. And just tried a- His ADP was already very low. So the fantasy community was over. They're understanding what he is as a player, but we're over. He explodes week one and three, and then he just vanishes.

Are you trapped with him in dynasty?

I don't think you're trapped, because I think he'll still have a good career, but this year might just be one that you get to throw away.

Super. All right, this question is great. Jason, think about it. Who is a guy that you may have been on the fence about or weren't in love with, but now that you drafted him to your League of Record team, you are now behind him 100 %.

You know yours? I know my answer, yeah.

All right. Who's yours?

It's Andy's fantasy MVP, Dike Metcalf.

Oh, man. That is so funny.

He's going to be so great, guys. You're a bunch of idiots for not drafting him.

When you picked him- It's going to be so good. I felt a little bit of joy inside. When you took him, I was like, he is listening, maybe.

The target, guys.

He's all about it. Kyle Pitz.

That's right. You took Kyle Pitz. For me, it's Dak. I'm fully invested. I got the Dak.

But you didn't doubt him before, man.

I didn't really draft guys I didn't like. I I would say- That's fair. Let me look at this roster. Pitman comes to mind.

That was different. You took them ahead of downs.

I did, yeah. By rounds. I kept trying to trade back because I knew I didn't need to…

You drafted all guys. No one wants to pin in? Oh, I got one for you. Okay. I definitely have one for you. You drafted almost exclusively your guys. Right.

Except?

Kean Coleman.

Oh, okay. That's a good one.

I feel like you two Kean. He's always going to be great.

Dude, he's going to be sensational. Year 2 leap. I mean, Alpha. True dog.

Yeah, you've always said it from what I remember. Yeah, that's the only name on there that I... I mean, everybody else on your entire team, I feel like they were...

Skatebo, Tillman.

They were true Jason Picks. Yeah, Cedric Tillman. Now, are you a pick short?

No, I grabbed Marshawn Lloyd with the last pick, so I threw him on the IR. Oh, okay.

He's going to clog that IR. We have roster cloggers who just sit on your bench, There's nothing to do with this. Marshawn Lloyd is going to destroy you that you can't put your hurt players on the IR.

We have two IRs, so.

Oh, thank goodness. You have one all year.

Yeah, one Lloyd slot and one open slot. All right, let's close here. Matt wants to know because people want to know every year, Mike, but for the fantasy hitman himself, what is the dip recipe? I need to kick the weekend off with the Mike fantasy hitman special dip.

I should have tweeted it out. So one serving size of the dip, which is probably good for a couple of people, so you might want to double it. But the portions are a half pound of... I go with the sweet Italian sausage. Some people like going with the spicy. All you do, you brown that up real easy, and then you get a crock pot, and you throw in a block of Philly cream cheese. Don't skimp on the cream cheese. Don't go generic brand. Get the good stuff. And then one can of Rotel. You can Drain it if you want. I don't drain it. I just go one can in, put the meat and the cream cheese in there. It's very easy to make, and it is very delicious.

All right, that is going to do it for the Tuesday episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. It's a great time to click that follow button on Spotify, on Apple, wherever you're listening, that subscribe button on YouTube. The season about to kick off, and we'd love to be here with you all the way to the end. So please hang out with us. Hang out with that champ over there, Inducers Ali, Al Borland, who Where's the trophy? Gets a few final- It's still in the war room out there. A few final moments. Go ahead and throw that picture back up, Al. Let's see it. I'm sure you've got it. Just look at the champ. Boy. It was well done. Savor it, because it won't be there for long. All right, that'll do it for today's show. Get into the Megalable. A couple of draft slots left. Megalable. Com. We'd love to have you there with us. Over 20,000 in the Megalable right now. We'll catch you tomorrow.

Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot. Com, and follow us on Twitter @theffballers.