Fantasy Football - Breakout Picks + Injury Anger, Mike Returns! - Podcast for 8/17

12:11Mike Wright:And then you lose production.

12:13Jason Moore:Oftentimes you lose production. Peak production for a couple of weeks. obviously if they are bringing him back off of an injury and his first time back is week one they are not going to take this young future centerpiece of their team and say here's 25 touches in your first week back from injury so much I mean and and Connor isn't even back to

12:36Mike Wright:11 on 11 which means there's a really good chance Tyler Algier is like the starting full-time running back for the Cardinals in week one. Oh, by the way, their other top four picks are also hurt. They lost their guard for the year, their second round pick. Carson Beck is hurt. They lost their DT.

12:55Jason Moore:In the fourth round, yeah. So they don't have a draft this year. That's cool, man. Brees Hall suffered a strained groin at practice. This one is, I mean, I don't know on the groins how often it's due to physical contact or not. But this was just on his own. He's running a route, catches a ball, no defender, and pulls it and goes down. Butterfly stretch. Thank you, Mike, is what I've been trying to tell everyone. You are the leader of the charge. Butterflystretch.com. Jason Moore's physical therapist. There should not be groin injuries, guys. Butterfly stretch.

13:39Mike Wright:How are there so many groin injuries? Makes no sense.

13:42Andy Holloway:Just flap them.

13:43Mike Wright:All right, let's hypothesize here. Christian McCaffrey has now missed one full week of practice. Originally, it was revealed it was due to, quote, tightness. Perhaps the tightness of the wallets of the 49ers?

13:59Jason Moore:Genuine question because, Mike, you have a much better memory than anybody alive. Okay. This was going on. it was either last year or the prior year. It was one of the last two years where he's going to be fine. That was the two years ago. That was two years ago. Okay, and it kept seeming like totally going to be fine, nothing to see here. And so then two years ago, there was something to see there, and it was very, very bad. I'm okay. It did time up. Nothing to see here.

14:29Andy Holloway:It timed up with Bijan and Gibbs getting money. Yeah, there's some – the bushes are whispering. I think the Bushes are just hopeful, man.

14:37Mike Wright:Yeah, I do too. Josh Downs exited with another injury. Hard fall on his back. Tried to walk it off, was in pain, and had to leave for a few snaps. Don't know the severity. Alec Pierce not expected to practice this week. Go draft Ashton Doolin. Yeah, there's like no whiteouts right now in Indianapolis.

14:55Jason Moore:The good news is, unlike when Mike Williams would have those terrible tumbles to the ground and injure himself, which is what Josh Downs did. Not a lot of weight on him. Fell on him by himself. That's true. Light is a feather.

15:10Mike Wright:I'm going to hit the button for this one, but Saints head coach Kellen Moore said the team is, quote, still in collection mode regarding Jordan Tyson's hamstring. Leave the red light on me. I mean, this is really not good. The range of outcomes here on this injury, for those that don't know, So Jordan Tyson, top 10 draft pick from ASU, multiple hamstring injuries while at ASU, had a hamstring injury in the draft process, was just getting some of the best publicity possible with some of these routes he was running in practice. He looked amazing. I mean, and this is why he was the number one scouted wide receiver for us.

15:53Mike Wright:We watched how twitchy he was at ASU. It was amazing. but this hamstring is now genuinely threatening potentially his entire season. I want people to understand. Surgery is a potential outcome of the hamstring injury to Jordan Tyson. It doesn't mean it is the outcome, but when you have to say you're still in collection mode, you don't get to, oh, we hope he's back soon.

16:18Jason Moore:Remember, pay attention to bad news, not good news. You're seeking doctor's opinions because you don't. You don't like the first few opinions. You do not usually. I'm just putting this out there. When you see, oh, guy has a hamstring problem, they don't usually go seek like, oh, no, what do I do? It's a hamstring issue. It's like rest it for a couple weeks. You get a great price on a car.

16:38Mike Wright:You don't go to five other dealerships.

16:40Jason Moore:No, this is really bad. And so as of this moment, I am expecting him to miss the beginning of the season. That's not based on like.

16:47Mike Wright:No, I think for sure he will.

16:49Jason Moore:But it's not based on absolute knowledge. That's what I'm saying is just my draft strategy. I am approaching it like I'm not going to have him at the beginning of the season if I'm going to make that selection.

17:00Andy Holloway:Do these guys ever, and this is a, you know, it's kind of funny, but it's a genuine question. When they have an injury like this and they go to the first doc and the doc's like, oh. Surgery. What? No, no, no. I'm saying like everything, you'll be okay. It's a strain. You know, we're just a couple weeks. Are they still like, we need to make sure? No. No. Never. No.

17:21Jason Moore:No. If they get good news on the first one, they don't go to a follow-up doc. Human nature.

17:25Mike Wright:Yeah. George Kittle, very confident he won't start the season on the pup list, has a chance to play week one.

17:31Jason Moore:What he means by that is he knows he's not going to miss the first four games, in which case he will not be starting on the pup. That's kind of how it was laid out. He's hopeful he's there for week one, but he is very confident they won't place him on the guarantee to miss a month worth of games. So that to me says if you're drafting George Kittle, which I don't blame you. Oh, it's easy.

17:53Andy Holloway:grab another tight end are you gonna say ton just yes i am see i we had this question i 100 i would i would draft if i'm taking kittle if i'm accepting the risk and they uh they talked about because they're the uh the australia game like they'll know he won't make the trip essentially so you'll

18:11Mike Wright:you'll have can i make a counter argument for that sure the counter argument isn't that ton just can't perform well kittle like in a very binary kittle out ton just in i think that works out. The problem that I have with that strategy is that there could be a middle period of time where it's limited snaps for Kittle, therefore limited snaps for Tonjes. And because of the players that I like at the back of the draft, and Isaiah Likely is an option, right? I'd rather have somebody that I might have two good players. Right. If you get

18:40Jason Moore:Dalton Kincaid late, Isaiah Likely late, Dallas Goddard late, all of a sudden come week four, Kittle's back and rocking and you still have someone with value. I don't mind that at all. I'm saying, like, you have a... Jawan Johnson? I know I can tempt you with Jawan Johnson. Yeah. Of course, you're taking him over Tonjes, aren't you? With Jordan Tyson's hamstring? The, yeah, probably. You're on, don't you?

19:03Andy Holloway:Yeah, I would. I do love Jawan Johnson. But my point is, like, if you know Kittle is out, like, Tonjes is a free square in your draft. Like, some other people might take Isaiah Likely in round 10 or something like that. But if you want to punt all the way to the end, Tonjes will be waiting for you. And if Kittle is out, this team with... Dot, dot, dot. Exactly. It's like, okay, well, if everything works out, it's great. It's brand new Mike Evans. It's brand new second round rookie stripling. And Tonjes produces when George Kittle is out. He's already familiar. I think Tonjes would be a very strong starter.

19:42Jason Moore:That's fine. And I would say draft strategy-wise, if you have an IR spot, You don't need to use your draft. Just draft Kittle. No one is going to go and draft Tonjes that didn't draft Kittle.

19:54Andy Holloway:In which case, it would be very vindictive if somebody did it.

19:57Jason Moore:Yeah, but I would just wait until the draft is over, throw Kittle on your IR when that happens before week one. Oh, to save a spot completely. Yeah, and then there you go. There's a Tonjes plan I like.

20:05Mike Wright:Tucker Craft said the team will probably keep him on a snap count until halfway through the season. He was out there practicing for the first time. Then there was like a quote about the Wolves. Yeah, slap him on the butt, send him to the wolves. After the snap count. Yeah, I don't like that.

20:18Andy Holloway:It's going to be like the gray.

20:20Jason Moore:Kraft can do it with limited snaps.

20:23Mike Wright:He can.

20:24Jason Moore:He absolutely can. He was dominant last year. I have personally been out in the sixth round on a player that I think gets off to a slow start. The fact that he is literally saying, I'll probably be limited the first half of the year. Not that he can't just take one pass. He doesn't have to be out there for every snap. But I will counter that by saying, look at Dalton Kincaid last year, the best yards per route run of all tight ends in the league. He just didn't play enough snaps to be very, very valuable, and I don't know if I'm willing to wait half a year for Kraft to be that. That's me personally.

21:03Mike Wright:Kyle Monungay left practice early with an apparent right knee injury, believed to be fine after testing, but it's not been a good offseason for Monungay's health. DJ Moore, it looked like a high ankle sprain was heading his way, but according to Joe Brady, he's good to go. So that's nice to hear. And then this one, I am –

21:20Andy Holloway:Did you – you saw the DJ Moore play? The wide – Oh, yes. The completely wide – Yes. And people were, oh, man.

21:28Jason Moore:You're talking about the one where he catches the ball wide open and he calls the defender to him?

21:33Andy Holloway:Yeah. I'm just saying, like, he's wide open, so he gets a – and people are like, yeah, I told you, DJ Moore. And it's like, you might be right about DJ Moore, but this is not the play that proves your thesis.

21:45Mike Wright:All right, guys, I don't know. You tell me whether you want the button on this one, but Emeka Abuka underwent more testing and a specialist confirmed it was a toe sprain. He's stable. What I don't like is that they asked head coach Todd Bowles about his availability for week one, and he could not confirm right now that Emeka Abuka will be back there for week one, although they are optimistic.

22:06Jason Moore:stick turf toe can linger turf toe can really impact players it's always it's silly and stupid because it's a sprain jason yeah they're not no i know i know it's not turf toe yet right but in you if it comes out if it happens on grass i don't think you can get well it's turf

22:25Andy Holloway:toe it has to be the big toe right yeah yeah so we don't know what we don't know which of the

22:30Mike Wright:little piggies it is not yet didn't we say we're going to remove the ring toe we said we could I don't think we have to In honor of Jaden Daniels though

22:39Andy Holloway:Nice You gotta get the pinky for that one Either way you're going down to 4 You gotta respect 5

22:46Mike Wright:Najee Harris I own the number 5

22:50Andy Holloway:He's got ragrats I don't remember the timing of this Was this on the show yet?

22:55Jason Moore:No not on the show This weekend it came out that Jaden Daniels legal team Told LSU that they can't Is that his mom? it sounds like it's his biggest fan for sure uh they told lsu that they can't use his name image likeness that type of stuff because they let another quarterback wear number five

23:14Andy Holloway:how to get everyone to turn on you immediately yeah i think over stupid bull crap yeah there's

23:21Jason Moore:what are you doing i want to see i genuinely want to see what are you doing with all the bad pub this would be the silliest thing. Does his ADP move? Does it move down just like a couple spots? No, I don't think it'll go there. I don't want to draft it. It won't go there, but you definitely have people who don't like it.

23:37Mike Wright:What are these teams supposed to do? I blame Shadour. Yes. Do you know how numbers work? There's only so many numbers, right? A jersey fits all the double-digit numbers. Just because you threw a touchdown pass, I know he won a Heisman. I know.

23:56Jason Moore:But, like, he wasn't even their best Heisman.

23:58Andy Holloway:I think Burroughs is out.

24:02Jason Moore:But Burroughs won a national title. He went undefeated. His numbers were better. This is for LSU.

24:07Mike Wright:And they had already promised this recruit, which you should want your team to do well. They promised to recruit this number, and the recruit didn't want to give it up. I'm not saying that you don't retire anybody's number ever. It's just it's a slippery slope of, like, how everybody's going to feel like they had a good career.

24:22Andy Holloway:And if you're Jane Daniels, how are you not, like, calling them up and be like, Dude, make the number five proud.

24:28Jason Moore:This is Michael Irving. Michael Irving was like 88.

24:31Andy Holloway:Are you saying Irving? No, Michael Irving. Have you not heard Michael Irving? Michael Irving. Oh, he's got me, Bucky Irving. Yeah, you just did it. Irving.

24:39Jason Moore:You poisoned me. You're going to get everyone to turn the show off. It was with an I, but it was also with a G. Yeah, get the G. It's not Julius. It wasn't Julius. No, I wasn't doing a Magic Johnson thing. This was I with a G. My bad. It is I with an N. I know. Okay. I'm saying. Gotcha. I'm just, I wasn't, I wasn't all the way to E and G. Anyways, he comes out and he's like, he was 88. His number should be retired. He's the best. Instead he creates this.

25:06Andy Holloway:Oh, it's the, it's so smart.

25:08Jason Moore:Incredible legacy for 88 with the Cowboys and then Des Bryant and then CeeDee Lamb. This is like, welcome to the club of greats.

25:15Andy Holloway:Well, and he talks about, he's like, you know what they do? They talk about it. When, when Des Bryant has a great, like, Oh shades of the great Michael Irving. Stop it. No. I will walk off of the set.

25:29Jason Moore:Honor. Did you hear his Charlie Kolar crap

25:32Mike Wright:he was doing? It's Kolar.

25:34Jason Moore:Kolar and Irving.

25:35Mike Wright:Is this how you felt when we were doing the... What was the stupid nickname? Darnell Anderson? Yeah, now I'm with you. Years later, I'm with you. That's a slippery slope.

25:45Jason Moore:That was the best nickname ever.

25:46Mike Wright:My goodness. There you go. Najee Harris visiting with the Giants. I don't think we need to talk much about it until he signs there, and maybe not at all.

25:54Jason Moore:Do you think that's just because Tyrone Tracy whiffed so hard on the block? I would tell Tracy to not come back to work. The Sim dart right into the blue tent? All right.

26:02Mike Wright:We'll take a break. We'll get into breakouts.

26:09Andy Holloway:No matter what triumphs are in store this season, legendary game days start with a Miller Lite. Miller Lite is a true American pilsner, and the original light beer brewed since 1975. Made with simple ingredients including malted barley for rich, balanced toffee notes and its iconic golden color, it delivers the dependable taste beer lovers have trusted for 50 years. And with just 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs per 12-ounce serving, Miller time is always a good time. Game days are upon us. Fantasy football season is upon us. When I'm hooting and hollering, I build up a mighty thirst and nothing satisfies that thirst.

26:50Andy Holloway:like a Miller Lite on a Sunday. It goes down smooth. It's refreshing. It never lets me down. Make game day legendary. Go to MillerLite.com slash footballers to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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28:16Let's do it.

28:23Jason Moore:Breakouts.

28:28Joe Montana.

28:31Jason Moore:Montana.

28:32Mike Wright:All right. We have all of our consensus breakout picks inside of the ultimate draft kit. This is a great show opportunity for us to talk about individual breakout picks that we are convicted about, that we have faith in, that we believe could help your team at a discount in fantasy drafts. Since we just talked about them multiple times, might as well, I guess I'll start it off. My breakout pick is Isaiah Likely. Okay. Isaiah Likely.

29:04Andy Holloway:I can see why you wouldn't draft Jake Tonjes.

29:07Mike Wright:Yeah, there you go. I mean, you're going to get a 10th, 11th, 12th round value on Isaiah Likely. He's one of the highest paid tight ends per year on average. And I think we're suffering from unmet, unfulfilled promises with Isaiah Likely in days gone by. The truth of the matter is, is he's one of the most gifted athletic tight ends. They went out and spent the money to bring him into New York. And while I have my concerns about this offense and Matt Nagy and the, you know, the offense clicking and dart behind center, I think likely is one of the most obvious, clear, like discounts and values in fantasy football.

29:50Mike Wright:We've seen great moments from him. We've seen him dominate in-zone threat. And every single bit of news about this team and what they're saying is he's been the number one target without neighbors on the field. And I think the capability is there. I think Likely is the most obvious late-round pick that's going to, I believe, be an every-week easy start. you know when John Harbaugh was talking about his confidence on Isaiah Likely they asked him specifically about high volume in this offense and he said look the numbers that you're talking about the stats that you're talking about that wasn't part of the thing in Baltimore because of the supporting cast he said it's going to be a big year and I know he said positive things about Likely before but the truth of the matter was he had to share a lot of opportunities with Mark Andrews and the rest of this offense to me likely is going to be a breakout sans injury in year one in New York.

30:51Mike Wright:It's been the theme of spring and summer. I'm excited about it. And we've seen a lot of tight ends be the late bloomer type of situations where you had guys like Greg Olson not really blossom until he switched teams going to Carolina. You saw Darren Waller, his first fantasy season was at 27 years old kelsey at 27 years old you didn't get in a joke who delivering big performances until his seventh season so right place right time to me it's a home run i i was the reason he's on this show is because he just narrowly missed being a my guy for me so

31:28Andy Holloway:that's the level of conviction i have around isaiah likely the the drum beat for him i think it's it's been there it hasn't been loud in your face like uh some of the other players that that are just really getting jake ferguson's going ahead of him mike no the adp is is fine i'm saying i'm i'm i like it i think of a late round tight end that could really make a jump a team that you know unless malik neighbors is ready to go 100 week one you don't know who the top target earner on the team is going to be could easily be Isaiah likely and that boy I can say they're underneath there really has been buzz about him it's just not loud you know including the we we Jason and I interviewed dart Isaiah likely was kind of the only player he talked about when we asked him about targets and then there's been little blurbs here and there that I'm surprised haven't elevated his ADP.

32:23Andy Holloway:So he's sitting at a point where I think he is a very low risk, high upside guy. I don't know if I'm convinced it will happen, but in the market, in range of outcomes, there is definitely one where Isaiah likely ends up as the guy who jumps into the top five.

32:42Jason Moore:What about the fact that Matt Nagy, while we hate him most places, he does involve tight ends more than we usually like? Sure. He loves getting Jonu Smith

32:53Mike Wright:the ball you know yeah I mean I I just think that it's it's gonna be a pretty like Mike Mike put it best this is a chance for high upside late in your draft yeah where it you know it's not that um you know we love Colston Loveland I love Ty Warren the craft thing is tough I love him but but if he's limited snaps that's tough but like there's a world where like the gap between Isaiah Likely's performance and some of those guys may not be as big as you think but you do have to sacrifice a lot to pull the trigger on Loveland early so so it's just something to think about but there's I mean there's other late round tight end names we've brought up multiple times like Goddard is another one that I think will be involved but I think likely is a really interesting play in this new offense despite the and I think that there's going to be some growing pains for dart in this offense but likely is going to be um you know we saw it we saw it last year with Theo Johnson that he built a rapport with this tight end right away and it's interesting because Hayden Weeks pointed out like when he played all the plays that likely came in on were passing downs he never put his hand in the dirt once Theo Johnson was in there blocking for the blocking down so I think he'll be a targeted receiver in this offense and you do

34:02Andy Holloway:it it's just like a little bonus for him of like if dart continues to get exploded on the field waiting in the wings, guys. Jameis Winston.

34:16Mike Wright:I mean, the odds of seeing Jameis this year feel very high. Pretty good.

34:21Andy Holloway:And if Jameis comes in, I will not have any concerns for any of my pass catchers.

34:27Mike Wright:Yeah, we want them routes for the tight ends. I think you'll see a ton of them from likely. So that's my breakout pick. Jason, Mike, who wants to go next?

34:37Andy Holloway:I'll jump in here. it is a player that I think the three of like this guy took the nation by storm last year and I think as a show all three of us we were pretty hesitant because it's a 7th round rookie running back everyone's so excited Bill Krosky he became like the bit of the show it was a good time

35:01Mike Wright:this one's so interesting to me Mike because we are post hype season of last year yes and you keep coming I feel like the way it's gone is this offseason you haven't been like trying to chase JCM you just keep coming back to a place where you bring his name up I spent

35:18Andy Holloway:most of the offseason of like hey they added Rashad White could he end up being the guy and you know just the way I'm reading the situation right now it sounds like the team really just they want it to be Bill Krosky merit and the ADP is shocking to me on sleeper Bill Krosky is going as the running back 37 which is in fact lower than he was last year around this time like that that is absurd the people are so mad at Bill he was which what Eckler was around last year And Eckler was a huge part of why I wasn't sure that Bill could take over as the seventh runner. But then, of course, Eckler goes down to the Achilles in week two.

36:03Andy Holloway:But Bill, for what he was able to put on the field, he was very efficient. Over the first five games, you were seeing an average of 6.6 yards per carry. And then, honestly, the whole team falls apart. You have Jayden Daniels' injuries. The other guys are getting injured all over the place. like Terry missing time. It just really didn't work out for Washington. And Bill struggled mightily. But towards the end of the season, you know, the final three games, we had an 18 for 96 with a touchdown. It's against the Giants. That's not great. As in, like, people are beating up on the Giants. But he's taking what's there.

36:41Andy Holloway:The Week 17 against Dallas, 11 for 105. He has the juice. He ended on a high note. And we knew he had the juice. His highlights are, he's one of the few running backs that at any point could rip off the 40-yard touchdown. He has that ability.

36:59Mike Wright:He's going lower than last year.

37:02Andy Holloway:It's insane. Interesting. Washington should be at least middle to an upper echelon offense. I still believe in Jaden Daniels despite his thinking he owns the number five. And this is an ambiguous situation. You know what he doesn't own? oh you are yeah we're watching you think you're gonna get 55 but it's like chicago jacksonville minnesota and washington these are the the the more potent potential offenses that is their their running backs are going outside of the top 24 these are the players that can change the balance yeah we want i want to hit my fourth rounder and all this stuff i want to find the late round running back that can come in here and really stabilize my team if not take it to the next level they've they've been expressing we need him to get better with the ball out of his hands and talk of like we don't want to have pigeonholed running backs we don't want to when bill's out there the defense oh they're gonna run it and when white is out there oh they're gonna throw they this is something that washington does not want to happen which sounds like if bill takes the job that's potentially a three down running back and like so that's that's very very exciting for going as the running back 37 crowd is gone.

38:22Andy Holloway:So he doesn't have, you know, that type of, uh, of competition at the goal line. It seems like he should get that no matter what. So I'm very interested in his ADP and I'm very interested in what Bill could turn.

38:35Mike Wright:The crowd point is really interesting because he was very effective down there and got a lot of opportunities. Super effective.

38:44Jason Moore:To be fair, that is what I said. I didn't need to be repeated.

38:48Andy Holloway:I didn't realize.

38:49Jason Moore:You don't need to beep that. Yeah. I didn't realize how bad what he said was. I just knew he misspoke. And I had to call him out on it. And then I realized, that's very bad. Leave this in, but you got to beep him. That's very, very bad. I take 20 % blame.

39:07Andy Holloway:Vowels are very important. I take 20 % blame.

39:09Mike Wright:You're telling me I said it like that? Yeah, you did. You did.

39:11Andy Holloway:You did.

39:12Mike Wright:You guys are nodding like you're right. We all heard it. You're nodding like you're telling the truth. Mm-hmm.

39:18Jason Moore:I don't believe you. Yeah. No, that's it. There's no way to know. There's no way. We'll never be able to tell if you had actually said it that way first or not.

39:29Mike Wright:All I know is that whatever way Jason said it was worse.

39:32Jason Moore:Yes. I will agree with that because I hit it a little harder. I mean, you tripped into your own trap. I tripped into your trap. Yeah, well, is this show still on the air?

39:44Mike Wright:Do we have to mark this episode differently?

39:46Jason Moore:We have the technology to push through.

39:49Mike Wright:Oh, my goodness.

39:51Jason Moore:Never before.

39:52Mike Wright:I'm 12 years of shows.

39:55Jason Moore:I'm sorry, everybody. Back to Bill. I just have a question. Okay. If this is the only – I know you didn't bring this up, and this was basically you made all the arguments for why Bill's a good breakout pick. He can do it. This office is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

40:10Andy Holloway:Yeah.

40:11Jason Moore:I actually think the only reason that you like him is because your argument for why Bucky Irving was a breakout was just simply because you were betting against Rashad White. You're like, he's not good. It really was the crux of the entire argument. Is that what's happening here? It's just like you just have to compete with Rashad White, who's not that good.

40:30Andy Holloway:I mean, look, if you want three and a half yards, Rashad White's your dude. If you want four and a half yards, he's not. I'm not even listening to the show anymore.

40:40Mike Wright:what um all right Jason you it's time to talk about your breakout uh this is one that I think I think you might stand alone in this in this studio on because I want it known that I do I want it known that

40:59Jason Moore:I do stand alone on this and I'm looking at you Mike I stand alone you are to the lowest you have my running back 26 I'm very out yeah you're out So, um, what an honest guy. I am going, this is calling balls and strikes guys. I'm going against the grain. It feels contrarian, which is a little weird, but my breakout wise, well, a little bit, a little bit in both directions. I'll explain. My breakout is Travion Henderson, uh, an absolute dynamo of a running back, an explosive, you know, anytime he touches the ball, he can house it. He can get a touchdown. He had a very weird rookie year, right? The first two months of the season, he was not used.

41:45Jason Moore:He was basically like he didn't get nine touches a game. He was kind of a gadgety guy, the rookie being brought along slowly, despite the fact that he was almost a first-round pick. He was like super high second-round pick. The draft capital was there. The explosiveness, we still saw it in those plays, but it took Ramondre going down to an injury before he really got to explode. However, once he was a part of the offense, it was a clear working strategy. He was dominant. He was very, very good. In fact, during that time from week nine on, he was the running back nine, averaging 16.7 fantasy points per game.

42:22Jason Moore:When it happened, he was a monster. Yeah, his rookie season.

42:26Mike Wright:Not to be confused with Ramonster.

42:28Jason Moore:Correct. Correct. Not to be confused with Ramonster. Yeah. You can hit it. Yeah, thank you. people don't really like that one um but here's the thing he don't like none of this show i know i've heard i know i've heard andy say i don't like how he looked between the tackles or or whatever but the truth is he was a very good running back he was extremely efficient of 55 quality 55 qualifying running backs with 80 or more rushing attempts he was number one in yards before contact six and yards per carry 12th and explosive rush rate at 5.6 that was identical to B. John Robinson. He had four touchdown runs of 50 or more yards last year, most of the NFL.

43:11Jason Moore:So this is a guy you want the ball in his hands. And they gave him work inside the 10. He, you know, Ramondre had 16 10 zone rush attempts. Travion had 21. How good was his rookie year? He had 1100 total yards and 10 rushing touchdown or 10 total touchdowns. He did that on only 215 touches he's a good running back he's a good player he's explosive the argument against him is is remandre stevenson like that is the whole argument against him is that he's and it should

43:42Andy Holloway:be an easy argument to overcome but i fear that it has become and totally and that's why he's not

43:46Jason Moore:being drafted in the first or second round he was a rookie running back who averaged over five yards per carry had a 50 plus percent rush success and 10 touchdowns since the year 2000 which is amazingly over a quarter of a century ago. I don't believe you. Oh, I know. I felt bad when I realized that. The only guys who have done that in their rookie season is Clinton Portis, Zeke, Kamara, Jonathan Taylor, and Achan, and then now Travion Henderson. You say that Henderson is being drafted super high, like he's broken out, but he's actually, his ADP is so far beyond what those other guys year two were those other guys were all first round picks or uh hn was a second round pick the following year we're talking the 411 almost a fifth round pick here for travion henderson i realize he's in a timeshare but but but jason did you know to yourself the timeshare is a big deal except the fact that like those other guys that i just mentioned Camara he was with Mark Ingram who had 12 rushing touchdowns and was the running back six his rookie year HN was with Mostert who had he was the running back two with like 20 touchdowns yeah

45:01Mike Wright:it's uh the point that I am saying sorry let me let give you your exclamation point go ahead is

45:07Jason Moore:that this is the type of player that you have to take a shot on to truly be a breakout candidate it. That's true. You have to call your shot that the backfield just won't stay the same. And that's what we have seen over and over. Nick Chubb was an explosive guy, but he was like Carlos Hyde. That was a big problem. Then they traded him away. Camara with Ingram, James Cook with Devin Singletary. Sounds silly afterwards, but in that year, Gibbs and Monty. It was like when there is the more explosive special player with high draft capital, they're going to end up getting the work and honestly we saw it last year this is the this is the thing that I I think what happened in the playoffs when they played these unfathomably great defenses I mean their run of playoff to get to the Super Bowl they played Super D Super D Super D and Ramondre was the guy on the field like I get that but when Ramondre came back from injury during Travo's rookie season from weeks 12 on, they gave Henderson 13.3 rushing attempts per game and they gave Ramondre 7.8.

46:18Jason Moore:The switch happened. You get to the playoffs, you go, oh, we gotta do the trusted, they played defense, they didn't score a lot of points, it was a great strategy. I think as a full season goes on, your most explosive player is going to get the ball more than than remandre and if that does happen and that has to happen to pay off at 411 but if travion henderson ends up at the end of the year with the 60 40 opportunity count over remandre he's he's going to be a a great pick a top back so i'm calling him a breakout player now because next year if he broke out you you just go oh i mean that was a great pick there's only one of two directions it goes I don't think there's a world where he is exactly what you're drafting

47:03Mike Wright:him as right now okay personally yeah I I think um I think it's it's a tough situation to see what happened in his rookie year because you had his three first his first three productive games were when Ramondre missed and then Ramondre was limited in practices and stuff coming back and they obviously were kind of they showed what they wanted to do when they got to the playoffs in my opinion so it to me there's there is a world where he's the exact same thing and i worry about his pass protection there's nothing about him to me that says three down back just me personally from what i saw on the field i think he's a compliment back i think he's an explosive guy but the reports in the in the offseason have been really negative about his pass protection and they have and the and ramondre is the the thing that nobody wants to say out loud is that he's a really good running back we were willing to say it when trevo didn't exist when he got a contract extension and we were excited about him then now he just represents a thorn in the side of this other sexier guy that we like but the team said in in my opinion they said in the playoffs that Ramondre is their number

48:08Jason Moore:one running back I think I think Ramondre is a very good running back I'm not afraid to say that this isn't like Rashad White where I'm going all he's got to do is beat Ramondre and that's so easy my point is more David Montgomery was a good running back Mark Ingram was a good running back These other guys in these really good offenses timeshares are good running backs. The more explosive, the better running back can be great for fantasy. And I'm surprised Andy. They have to be the better running back though.

48:37Andy Holloway:Yeah, they do have to be. That's the rub. I don't know that he has to be better. He has to duplicate being that explosive and efficient and hitting that many big plays.

48:48Jason Moore:Yeah, and the thing is, is how do you look at the Patriots offense? like I know Andy you've been very very bullish on Drake May being legit being a a top quarterback in the league from what he did last year he was an MVP candidate got to the Super Bowl you are a believer that it's real if this offense ends up as one of those like top five or six offenses in the league I don't think it takes a complete bell cow total volume going to Henderson to be really successful. However, there is the world where, I mean, Ramondre has missed 10 games in the last three years. He's not been a pillar of health.

49:29Jason Moore:When he went down last year, you say you don't have evidence of him being able to be a bell cow. Well, in those four games, he was. I didn't say that. You said, you didn't say bell cow, you said three down back.

49:40Mike Wright:I didn't say anything about him having, I said, I don't see him as a three down back in the NFL, which is why his, I didn't say, I didn't have evidence of it. I said I don't see that being his prototypical what you're going to see on a regular basis. Anybody can be forced into that if the lead back gets hurt. I mean, you basically said. I didn't say we didn't have evidence. You didn't say the word evidence. You said we haven't had anything to make us believe it.

50:04Jason Moore:Let's go to the tape. I can't quote you correctly. You said we haven't seen anything to make us believe it was three down back. But in those four games, he was on pace for 344 opportunities. I'm allowed to have an opinion that's different than you.

50:17Mike Wright:I can tell you that I don't think that he's a three-down back in the NFL, and his draft pick says that.

50:24Jason Moore:You're also allowed to, like, what you say, stand by what you say, and not change it 10 minutes later. I didn't change it. I didn't say he wasn't.

50:32Mike Wright:The nice thing is we have tape.

50:33Jason Moore:We have evidence. There's no evidence.

50:36Mike Wright:I said I don't see him as a three-down back, and the team doesn't. That's why they don't play him on third down very often sometimes because Ramondre can pass protect. you don't like it that i have a different opinion and that's okay nothing to do with i i what i'm saying is that ramon who's the number one running back on the team ramon right

50:52Jason Moore:okay what is he's already one what does number one running back mean carries it means the guy

50:57Mike Wright:that they look to win when yeah i mean i think carries i think at the end of the year henderson has more carries do you believe is a big part of the equation they're a successful team that went to the super bowl with this recipe ramon ray stevenson is a rabel type guy he does the dirty work they love him they throw him the football he was great in the passing game i

51:15Jason Moore:like remandre but i we've got to have a bet here and the bet that i think you will easily is that the bet that i think you will easily take and easily i'm sorry i shared a different opinion that is not what i'm saying my god i'm sorry you are you are we will check the tape yeah we will um the the uh the bet that i think you will definitely take is when they are both healthy like if they're both playing in the game total carries on the season like carries per game i think henderson has more than romandre which would make him i mean i'm i'm fine with that i don't

51:52Mike Wright:really like the the situation right now but i'll give you that water he's not withstanding of

52:01Jason Moore:course that's what i said when they're both playing and in games played i think henderson

52:05Mike Wright:leads you're allowed it's your pick you can have him as a breakout i do i'm sorry for filling in the other side jason mike is also on my side just quietly on the side that he doesn't he's playing both sides he's playing he's hoping on one and believing we'll take a break and talk mailbag

52:26Andy Holloway:look no one wants to be just another guy not in fantasy and definitely not in your career The good news? There's ways to stand out from the competition. Southern New Hampshire University has over 200 degree programs you can do online. You'll learn from instructors with actual experience in the field, not just drawing on whiteboards. And you'll gain practical career-ready skills along the way. Ready for your breakout season? Visit snhu.edu slash footballers.

53:00Mike Wright:All right, Foot Clan, whether you are on the go or at home, T-Mobile, well, they're built to keep you connected wherever you're scouting your fantasy team. And that on-the-go part, that is important. With America's Best Network, you'll be connected to the latest news and player projections so when you're on the clock, you can draft a winning team. I can think of so many situations where that element of being connected while you're on the go is fundamental to fantasy football success. I'm in the midst of multiple leagues right now where I am responding to trade offers. We are massaging the trade offer.

53:30Mike Wright:We want to make sure that I'm the one that gets the player, not another player manager in our league. So trade offers, when you're on the go, all the news that's breaking so you don't make a mistake. And my favorite thing, maybe I'll mention it. Look, you're sitting and you have a quiet moment somewhere out and about. You want to jump in the UDK. We got the player profiles. You can watch all of those in there with T-Mobile. You can jump in on the player projections and our stat projections and all the 130 ,000 words of content. Again, T-Mobile making that easy to do. Every bit of news. Things are changing all the time.

54:03Mike Wright:New player contracts, all that good stuff. So from off-season to game day, every play is better with T-Mobile. What you got to do is visit T-Mobile.com slash network. Fastest is based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data of national speed score results for the second half of 2025. The best mobile network in the U.S. is based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data, second half of 2025.

54:35Andy Holloway:Mailbag. Mailbag.

54:37Mike Wright:Ooh, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it. Yeah, you were voiceless. I'm glad you didn't come in on Friday. That would have been a mucus fest. Did you hear Matt's mailbag?

54:48Jason Moore:No. You didn't hear what happened? No, it was really exactly as you expect. Do we have a clip?

54:52Mike Wright:No, we don't. It's bad. The situation that happened, Mike, just to give you the quick TLDR, is that I gave Jason the power to choose who does the mailbag. He chose Matt. When Matt was given the chance to do the mailbag, he was dead silent. He didn't say anything. He was trying to set these guys up to help him, and then he just was quiet to try to sell them down the river. So then I said, I'm not hitting the drop again. you're doing the music and the drop and he did an effort at that he did try to do that well i'll have to check it out all right if you have a question for the show we're here to help go to the website the fantasyfootballers.com click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline 302464 tffb youtube question from josh who is usually the first to lock in all three of their my guys is there an answer i don't think there is one i feel like i i think

55:48Jason Moore:you're usually i think you are the one that locks someone in the earliest like you you usually have an offseason like this year alec pierce from the get-go was going to be until recently when he hasn't been able to get healthy but i think most years mike evans for you one year was super early like all offseason you were locked jameson williams was like an all you always have one guy that you're like very early and never sway on i don't i don't know that i feel like you might have had yours down before anybody this year yeah or mike did i would say most years there isn't really an answer to this that's universal it's just it's not great to lock i mean we give that advice to

56:28Mike Wright:our listeners like you want to stay water so like that was actually one of the things i think we probably brought up in the you know maybe not in 10 things to remember but basically like i want to wait a while because you can feel great about a situation than personnel the draft all that stuff

56:42Andy Holloway:happens i want to remember don't trade george pickens my guys to jason yeah because he was yours for a long time yeah because that dude was on the board forever eric in iowa city iowa when

56:53Mike Wright:considering strength of schedule why do you put so much emphasis on weeks one through six rather

56:57Andy Holloway:than the entire season well number one uh you want hot starts in fantasy football the it's silly but this is the human part of the game, the emotion of waiting so long to see a player. And if someone has two awesome weeks, then it, hey, this is probably going to be a successful season. If they have two terrible weeks, they're a bust and you need to, there's panic in the streets. Also with the changeover of just defense, this is all we have to go on right now. I can't project the entire season of how a defense is going to go. The team that stinks against tight ends, they will reveal themselves to us over the course of the season.

57:39Andy Holloway:It may not be the same people.

57:41Jason Moore:Yeah, I would also suggest look at the end of the year roster and then look at your draft. And more than likely, it will be surprising like, oh, wow, I only drafted these three guys. You have a lot of changes. The season is long. Trades, swaps on the waiver. Getting off to a hot start will allow you to make trades high to grab people who get off to a slow start and do better there. So certainly getting off to a good beginning to the season is very valuable in fantasy.

58:13Mike Wright:Debra in Jonesboro, Tennessee. When is it a bad idea to reach for a player in your draft? Top five or would you go six rounds?

58:26Andy Holloway:I feel like after – I think five. Right, around after that, everyone has their warts. so you know if there's a player in the who's ADP say is in the seventh but I'm in the fifth and is like I got a I got a bad feeling in my gut that someone's going to take him I'll just take that player then but right around the five six round is where it starts to break open the top of drafts

58:54Jason Moore:and ADP are pretty good like yeah statistically historically especially in the last five years people get things right more than they don't obviously when you get to the later rounds it's a scatter shot so when you when you reach too far in those early rounds you're usually going to be making a mistake and the thing is is in those early rounds adp is more established towards not just that you're making a mistake and grabbing a worse player over a better even if you reach and that guy is correct you're not getting the value you could get by getting him the next round or you know obviously if he falls all the way to his ADP you're just not getting the most value you can.

59:35Mike Wright:Jeff in Madison Wisconsin I haven't heard much talk about the dreaded RB dead zone where would you say the dead zone falls this year Mike?

59:45Andy Holloway:So we we did just briefly start talking about it.

59:48Jason Moore:I had a whole thing that released on Saturday about the running back dead zone on just the tips. You can go listen to it from this last weekend, but it's back. You know, the thing that we have seen, and we're going to be talking about this on Wednesday as well, is that running backs this year, because of the health of the last couple of years have been pushed up more than it was a couple of years ago.

1:00:14Andy Holloway:It's always there. It just kind of shifts where it is inside the draft. We'll talk about it in detail here in a couple of days. All right. I was going to say, I think it probably starts. And look, I love Scadaboo, but I think right around there is where you start. You have guys where you're either concerned about the team or you're concerned about the timeshare.

1:00:38Mike Wright:All right, we have sleepers on tomorrow's episode. Wednesday, we'll cover the 10 tips and tricks. We'll have busts and values and a mayhem mock draft with Mike back in the building. Yeah. He was just afraid of the mayhem.

1:00:50Andy Holloway:Oh, I was very afraid.

1:00:53Mike Wright:He was very afraid. All right, don't forget the UDK for Life giveaway. Pick it up.

1:00:56Andy Holloway:Take my Theraflu away from me.

1:00:59Mike Wright:Yeah, the drafts are here. UltimateDraftKit.com. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodbye.

1:01:08Jason Moore: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 at The FF Ballers.

1:01:25Jason Moore:This is a new era of wealth. A UBS financial advisor can help you with personalized advice and long-term planning to move forward with confidence. Find out what's possible at UBS.com slash new era. UBS Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA, SIPC. CBS Sunday, September 13th.

1:01:42Mike Wright:The new season of 60 Minutes begins. Okay, let's go. Every second, a story unfolds. This is one of the great mysteries of human nature. Every minute, a new question. You were buying access to the president. Every week, a deeper understanding. When we take the field, the expectations are to win. It's time. We're preparing to go out on this race. For the new season. It was gunfighting. All the way in, all the way out. 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday, September 13th, and streaming on Paramount+.