The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GBF: Fantasy Football Preview
Episode Date: August 23, 2024Mike Wright of The Fantasy Footballers returns to get you ready for your fantasy draft! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
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or they could be late for the bus.
You never know.
Ambition is on the inside.
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Keep chasing it.
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the the
the
the
the
the
the Thank you. I mean a little more enthusiasm perhaps. You know, I was wondering also if it was just me or not. Yeah
Okay, so it wasn't just me good. It's early. I'm doing things. I'm looking at a line, you know, we're trying to figure out
Friday afternoon. What are you talking about?
It's week zero Billy college football is here guy. It's week zero, Billy. College football is here, man.
It's no longer called week zero.
It's week one, as Greg Cody explained to us on the Dan Leventhal Show at Wood's New Gods.
It is a week one that lasts two weekends.
It's week one, part one, because we have like six or seven teams, I think eight teams that
play twice in week one.
The rare doubleheader for some of these teams, I find out it kicks off by the way.
Florida state, Georgia tech, 12 Eastern in Dublin, because of course, I think Dublin,
of course you think Florida state and Georgia tech.
You think of Atlanta, Georgia.
Yep.
So their problems was with the number zero, not with the fact that the word week, meaning
two weeks, like that's, that's what they feel like they had to with the number zero, not with the fact that the word week, meaning two weeks, like that's what they feel like
they had to change, the word zero.
Yeah, I don't know.
Listen, you have college football this weekend,
the games mean something, it's Florida State
and Georgia Tech, you have a Hawaii midnight game.
I don't think Delaware State caught their plane.
Did Delaware State make it to Hawaii?
I was reading stories last night.
I'm concerned about this because my strategy every Saturday
is lose as much money as possible
and then bet it all on a white at midnight.
It makes you feel alive.
I mean, it does.
Not necessarily the most responsible betting advice.
Maybe don't do that.
I'm not advising that you do it.
I'm just, I didn't say, hey, this is what you should do.
I didn't, I didn't say that.
Football season is a marathon, Stu.
God, it's not a sprint.
That pays it out.
On top of, by the way, week one in college football,
or week one, part one, whatever you wanna call it,
also it is fantasy season.
And we have Mike Wright, our friend
from Fantasy Footballers back this week,
and he's going to be helping you, the listener,
set up your fantasy team, and us too.
And also, we love Nitro, you love Nitro.
Nitro is not back, because we thought that you guys
would actually want some fantasy advice,
not explain to Nitro why it is that you need a running back
on your fantasy football team.
We love Nitro, God bless them.
But you know, we thought this would be more beneficial
to you, the fantasy consumers,
than just picking Nitro's team.
Yeah, so Mike Wright.
More broad strokes here.
Yeah, Mike Wright, fantasy footballers is gonna join us. We do love him, we do love Nitro's team. Yeah, so Mike Wright. More broad strokes here. Yeah, Mike Wright, Fantasy Footballers,
is going to join us.
We do love him.
We do love Nitro.
We realized probably midway through the second go around
with Nitro and Mike Wright that this was
a tune out for the audience.
Yeah, I mean, no, no, unfair.
I don't know if I would classify it as such
because there are discussions too, should we
do it again at some point?
But headed into the season, we thought, you know what?
Let's have the focus be on Mike Wright and not Nitro.
I know, but Billy, you will agree, it's not our best idea.
The fact that we were having Mike Wright help Nitro
and only Nitro who pick his fantasy team
probably doesn't serve our audience very well.
Well, here's the problem.
When discussing fantasy, I've learned the best way to do it. And the most fun way to do it is calls or, you know, you have
like user viewer submissions, whatever, right? What really happened with Nitro is Mike EA was
getting mad and he's like, this is a waste of my time. I'm not getting anything from Mike. Right.
I have access to Mike, right. And all we're doing is learning about nitro. The guys asking all these
stupid, why shouldn't I draft two kickers?
Was one of the ones that.
Why do I need, should I have two kickers?
Was a question.
So I'm concerned I have this tight end.
Did I take a kicker in the third round?
Why not take him in the seventh round early?
Right.
For the record, for the record, I love Nitro.
I just didn't love that segment.
That's it.
No, it was also, you know, when he, when night,
when, you know, Mike would ask him like,
well, who's on your team?
He's like, my quarterback is Jay Allen.
It's like, okay.
Yeah.
It's the same.
It's the same.
The guy from, the guy from was this,
was everybody on his team.
All their first names was their first initial.
And it's always like the guy from San Diego.
It's like, well, that's not a team anymore.
There is no San Diego.
Anyways.
We made it to the conference finals, I think,
in his fantasy league.
That's how good Mike Wright is.
That's how good Mike Wright is.
That's how good Mike Wright is.
Well done, yes.
Not just that, but like, that honestly
is the secret to fantasy, is that I've been
at so many leagues where the person who knows the least,
not that I'm saying that I know a lot,
but the person that knows the least often succeeds
because they have absolutely no emotional attachment
whatsoever and they don't overthink absolutely anything.
They just figure out the scoring system and like,
yeah, this person, I'm just gonna plug them in.
And it's like, oh, why would you get rid of this person?
It's like, because they're not doing well.
And it's like, but they were the MVP of the season
two years ago, like it's just a rough start. And they're like, nah, it's like, but they were the MVP of the season two years ago. Like, it's just a rough start.
And they're like, nah, it doesn't matter.
They end up being absolutely right more times than not.
Always.
Every time, because you're so right.
There's so many players I hold grudges against
for bad seasons, like two seasons ago.
And then they end up having a great season,
but I'm still mad about 2009 or whatever.
Before we get to Mike Wright coming up here
in just a minute, one guy that I am high on at fantasy and he is worth a late round flyer.
He was named the starter this week.
I named him the starter this week before they named him the starter.
That is Bo Nix in Denver.
I am intrigued, Mikey A, by Bo Nix in Denver.
Can I ask you guys a question? Is Bo Nix good?
Bo Nix good?
I don't know.
Bo Nix good? I don't know. I don't know. It's good.
I don't know. I have a follow up.
Can I ask you guys a question?
Well, is Sean Payton?
I don't know.
I don't know. 25 at 25 and 21 without your breeze.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I listen, I know it's a football show.
We're supposed to be experts.
We're supposed to have answers.
I don't know.
I don't know a football show. We're supposed to be experts. We're supposed to have answers. I don't know I don't know
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Mike Wright, the fantasy footballers podcast is exceptional. I hate when fantasy football season comes around those podcasts, those football podcasts,
Billy always jump ahead of hours.
You know what I'm saying?
Because everyone's into fantasy.
And so Mike Wright has the biggest and best fantasy football podcast, fantasy
podcast anywhere. He was kind enough to join us last year and help Nitro out with his first
fantasy football draft. And he's back again this year to help you out the listeners.
Oh, boys. Yeah. I mean, look, you, you can, I get it. I get it. No one wants to be second
place to a bunch of schlubs like us. I get that but we can all be in agreement that football is back. It is the best time of year
we and like
We let's get this preseason out the way and let's play some real football and win some real fantasy games
I
Feel like Stu gots you should apologize to Mike because you made it seem like this is just like a gimmick thing like oh this
Time of year his little podcast just jumps ahead because everyone wants
fantasy football advice when like the reality is your podcast is at the top of
the charts year-round which is kind of crazy because football season is you
know however many months five six months long and then the rest of the time
you're still up there so much so Stu gots and I have an admission to make and
I don't think that I should be admitting this.
And Mike, I hope that you don't hold this against us
in any way, shape, or form.
But Mike last year joined our show on a number of occasions,
as you mentioned, to help with Nitro,
and we have competed against Mike and his podcast
in the Sports Podcast Awards the past two or three years, and we were in the sports podcast awards
the past two or three years.
And we were in the same category.
Mike's in a couple different categories,
but in the football category, we were both there.
And we won back to back years.
And then last year we did not.
And I did a dirty little trick,
if I'm gonna be honest with you.
And you're supposed to submit little clips
that show the different range of your podcast.
And one of the clips that I put in there
was a clip with you, Mike, and Nitro.
And I said, look at how great we've covered fantasy,
where I was using you to compete against yourself
for an award, and sure enough,
your podcast actually did better than our podcast,
so the trick didn't work.
Oh, no, that is that's that is fantastic. I
Hey, don't hate the player hate the game. I gotta respect the
Sneakiness I like it
But I still need to apologize Billy. I need to yeah. Well, you know, all right. Sorry Mike
How many dress have you done already how many drafts
Real drafts. I've only done a handful. They're sneaking up starting next week is when I'll really be drafting way too much.
Alright, so how many drafts do you have in your future here?
Oh gosh, I don't know. They just pop up like weeds. I mean, before it's all said and done, I'll have done probably 10 plus.
And then if there's people, I mean,
there's real degenerates out there.
What shout out to all of you who are playing.
They're playing basketball.
They're doing drafts as soon as the Super Bowl is done.
Like, to be like, oh, I'm going to take care of next year
right now.
It's a wild world, man.
Well, I was going to ask.
I'm sorry, Billy.
I was going to ask you, Mike.
Do you ever wake up, like, you just wake up one morning and you say, you know what?
Not today. Just not today.
That happens a lot for the waiver wire where you're like, oh, good Lord.
I need I need to go put waivers in over here.
How soon Mike is too soon for a fantasy draft because I'm in two leagues,
which is not that much, honestly, and I'm the commissioner of one.
So I'm kind of responsible for setting the date
on this fantasy draft, and I don't like doing it too early.
I don't like doing it after, you know,
just one preseason game,
because you never know what can happen,
you know, at training camp.
You never know what can happen in these games.
Obviously, the big starters are not gonna be playing
in week three of the preseason,
so there's not really a risk there,
but I always kind of like to wait until the last minute.
So sometimes it's also just to get,
like, who do I get in my last round of the draft?
Like, who's someone that's probably
going to sneak onto a roster that may steal
some points here or there?
Do you want me to answer the how late is too draft?
How late is to draft or the player question?
He did.
He has two questions there.
Yeah, you know.
How late is too late to draft?
Or I guess what is the right time to set up a draft?
Honestly, it's really about the comfort
for the comfort and knowledge of the fantasy football players
and how much risk they want to take on.
Because the injury thing is the biggest, right?
Where your second round pick, whatever, your first round
pick, they go out and then they're hurt
before the season even starts
and your team is toast
because you've already burned that pick.
So we're, our main league, we call it the League of Record,
we are, for the first time ever,
we are drafting kickoff Thursday.
Like we're drafting, we're scrambling to put our teams in
and then we're all hanging out watching the opening night.
But there is an advantage, or I should say a strategy,
of if you really know football and everyone in your group
knows football, an earlier draft can be fun,
because over August, that's when these later players start
to reveal themselves to the general public, because the casual players are trying to catch up.
So a player, if you want my late round player right now, it's Rico Dowdell running back
of the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys despite all this CD Lamb nonsense and Jerry Jones just, someone needs to get,
we got to get Jerry Jones out of there of running
things for the Cowboys. It's time for the new regime to take over Jerry. You had a good
run but they're gonna be a good offense. That's what I think you can project confidently about
them is they're gonna be a good team, they're gonna be a top 15 offense at worst and I did a huge study of looking at running backs who aren't drafted to be
great but then end up sneaking into the top 24 and there's about five or so of these players every
year and the thing that all of them have in common is they're on great offenses so I I understand
that Ezekiel Elliott is the name and it's Mr Cow Cowboy is back with the team but he hasn't been the Zeke that we we knew and loved for it's been a while
since we've really seen that player and even all the Cowboys beat reporters
where the moment pads came on Rico Daddle has been the best running back on
this team and he is being drafted after Zeke and just extremely late I think
there is a a good chance that Rico Dadel emerges
as the leader of the timeshare and the most valuable fantasy football running back from that team.
All right, Mike, so people who have a bad commissioner out there
and they have to draft, you know, this week or next week,
they're not doing it opening night of the NFL season.
How do you handle how do you go, if you're drafting in the next 7
to 10 days, let's say, how do you handle guys like Jamar
Chase, C.D. Lamb, and IU?
What do you do there?
So the big three wide receivers I'm not as concerned about,
like they know the system.
Nothing has really changed for those players.
And it's not like the running back position.
I never played run. I don't know if you guys know this,
I never played running back in the NFL,
but I can make some assumptions about playing
that your body has to get ready.
You're gonna be in a car crash every 45 seconds
when you're playing running back in the NFL.
And Josh Jacobs last year during his holdout,
I was mentioning on the show
like guys I'm a little concerned here that he's not out there getting the reps
getting his body really ready to play now maybe I just got to the correct
result with the wrong process but it still led me to be very concerned about
Josh Jacobs for wide receivers though these guys are the elite of the elite
I'm not concerned.
They're going to play. Like they're not going to hold out through the season. At least I
understand there's whispers that Jamar Chase is like, there are people saying he won't
step a foot on a football field without the extension. Once game checks are up in the
air and you miss a game, you miss a game game check that's a whole different level of cash like that's that's people's entire year's
salary that they're gonna skip out in a game I don't think they're gonna do it
you mentioned before that you created this list of running backs based on good
offenses how much stock do you put into a guy being on a good offense versus
say a Deontay Johnson who's going to be on probably
a bad offense.
Sure. For running backs, it's extremely important. You have to have, you know, like there's some
key tenets that we need to have for our fantasy running backs. Number one is volume. The phrase
volume is king for fantasy running backs. That has been true for a very long time. That's
the reason why in the first round you're seeing just essentially three
guys. You see Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, Bijon Robinson because those are
the only three running backs we can, well number one they're really really good at
football, but two you can confidently project these are three down running
backs who are only going to be taken off of the field
When they're tired, you know
Project it because Arthur Smith
Has been kicked out of Atlanta for failing to do that in my opinion
So that's that's why they're up there at the top So if you're not gonna find a guy who has volume which is the majority of the running back position now
It's it's all platoons.
Okay, now I'm going to factor in efficiency. I'm going to factor in how good is the offense,
because I need touchdowns. I need touchdowns on any guys who are actually catching the ball,
because that's just how fantasy scoring works in half point or full point PPR. Yeah, I get,
there's some holdouts out there that play, They call it standard where they don't get a
point for catching the ball. But those are like those are
dinosaurs. Those those guys are going. They're dying off. It's
all half point full point PPR. So it really is finding high
scoring offenses and efficient running backs because it's not
the 90s anymore where 20 plus running backs are going to get all of the work. They're they're rotating way too much
12 team draft where does Mike right? Like what's the preferred position for Mike, right? So
I'm good. I would say to about maybe the 106 the 107
Because that that way to me, you know, I tear I
Put these players into like buckets and those three running backs
I mentioned those guys are in a bucket and then the big-time wide receivers of of Tyreek CD
Jamar
Those are I feel really really confident in them. It sucks that I don't get to say Justin Jefferson's in that bucket
them. It sucks that I don't get to say Justin Jefferson's in that bucket, but with Sam Darnold being the guy for the Minnesota Vikings and you don't have the
the unknown hope of JJ McCarthy coming to take over halfway through the year
anymore because of the the meniscus injury, the Darnold numbers are scary man.
They're really, they are really, really scary. Not scary enough to drop
Justin Jefferson, who in my opinion is the best wide receiver in football.
Can't drop him out of the first,
but it's enough of a tiebreaker
that I put those other three guys above him.
So if I'm at the 106,
I guarantee I get one of those six players.
And then second round, I get the best player back.
You put a lot of stock in like offensive coordinator changes
in terms of like fantasy and what that might do for players like a
Cliff Kingsbury or Kellen Moore like do you does that impact players greatly or not that much to you?
It is definitely part of the process
Kellen Moore would be the name I would go to of
Wow
He's kind of floating around the NFL can't seem to hold down a job
Sorry Kellenellen, that does
not affect what I'm doing over here. I'm playing a different game than you are.
And the last couple years, Kellen Moore has given us greatness. Like, you know, CD Lamb,
the real breakout. Last year, before Keenan Allen got hurt, he was he was absolutely elite and now we're looking at
him over in Philadelphia. The big thing is bringing motion to the offense. You
know we've kind of started to talk about that a bit more. It's a it's a deeper
concept for fantasy football but casual fans should get used to it. Looking at
the teams and the offenses in particular who use motion the most,
just rattle off any top tier offense that you can think of.
And they are, they're there.
They're using motion all the time
and Kelly Moore was a part of that.
So he's gonna bring that to Philadelphia
with tons of reports of it already,
of moving guys like Devontae Smith,
moving them into the slot, moving them all over the field,
creating actual mismatches. It's not the, we're really high T, we're just, it's man
versus man, we're going to beat you. No, use some strategy, man. There's a reason that
the Miami Dolphins get Tyreek moving because he's already at full speed once the play starts.
It's a huge advantage, so use that. So for the Philadelphia Eagles, we're
very excited what Kelly Moore should
be bringing to this offense for a team that was,
if memory serves, they were near the bottom of the league
in terms of motion.
And you saw what happened to their offense.
Like the second half of the year,
it sure felt like people had figured out
how to stop the Philadelphia Eagles.
Hopefully, they can't stop them.
I am hesitant to bring Mike Fuentes into this conversation
and allow Mikey to ask another question
because what I want for this segment
is for Mike Wright to help the audience,
not to help the individual people associated with this show,
with their draft and their team.
And with that said, I bring in Mike Fuentes
to ask a question I'm sure has nothing to do
in terms of positive information for the audience
and is only concerned about his own team.
Mike Fuentes, go ahead.
Well, actually me and Danny B are taking a look
at Mike's desk and he has Powerline there next to him
on his right, Tua Burrow, his Air Jordan coffee mug.
It looks like Newman right here in front of the camera.
And then I'm really in love with the huge
Indiana Jones Funko Pop there underneath the guitar.
That's probably my favorite thing.
My man.
Yeah, I'm like, none of that matters right now.
I'm doing a 16 team league this year.
Jesus.
Good Lord.
That's a lot.
That's a lot.
Listen, you got off to a good start.
You talked about his desk and all the things around it.
What's the matter with you?
He sucked me into it. Anyone who knows the the icon that power line?
Actually is they're okay in my book
I feel like tight end is kind of one of the most shallow positions
It's basically you have Laporta, and then you have Kelsey,
and then just a grab bag of guys.
So if I want to target somebody in later rounds,
do you have a suggestion outside of a McBride or somebody
who might be a sleeper or even a Kyle Pitts who's
kind of in a now or never type year?
Who would you suggest would be a good sleeper for a tight end
in this coming season?
Sure.
I would start off saying that this year at tight end the at least
guys at the top it's way heavier than it's been in a long time. It has been
Travis, Kelsey, Mark, Andrews log out. It has been that for years and years and now
you got Kelsey, Laporta, McBride, Andrews and I'll even put Dalton Cade in there.
Those are five players that none of them would shock me
if they finished as the tight end one
at the end of the year.
But I would say the 16 teamer is a little bit different.
So this is a 12 teamer sleeper.
We'll start there.
What is Jake Ferguson of the Dallas Cowboys?
My second cowboy I'm gonna mention here.
But he led tight ends in red zone targets.
It just didn't come through as much as it should. Historically speaking, Dak Prescott
has always favored the tight end position going way, way back. But Ferguson was essentially
a rookie last year. It's his second year, but it was his first year really being the
starter. So he can even improve from what he was which is was really a breakout
For fantasy football, and if you're looking let's see a deep deep sleeper
Alright, I'll give you I'll give you two one of them. I hate
But I have to bring it up anyways
It's it depends on where you play I should say depending on your platform
But taste some hill of the New Orleans Saints,
I hate it because it's so gadgety and it drives me crazy,
but I'm not sure I love anything in this world
the way that the New Orleans Saints
seem to love Taysom Hill.
Like, this guy gets to line up all over the field,
he gets to take snaps away
from the starting quarterback sometimes, and there's platforms out there like sleeper where he is still eligible
To go into the tight end position and then other than that
Dude, you you got to start strong
I'll say that it's if you can start strong and buy a few weeks at the tight end position and then figure it out
On the waiver wire one of my favorite guys to start that right now at least just
start Hunter Henry of the New England Patriots. He got off to a really really
hot start last year and his opening schedule is opening three to four games
very favorable at least based off of what defenses did last year. Defenses will
change of course but Hunter Henry is a guy who I think that if you have completely punted the position even in a
16 team or I don't know if anybody's really gonna be on Hunter Henry and you
can pick them up and play in the first couple weeks and then just make that
your priority for the waiver those first couple weeks grab a tight end. Mike for
me I haven't done my drafts yet but I've done a lot of mocks.
And one name that keeps jumping out at me
where I can't believe he's still there.
I mean, go back a year,
Cooper Cup was going top eight picks probably.
And now I'm seeing him in the fourth round, fifth round,
but like he was hurt and he came back
and he still got his volume.
What do you make of like the Pukinokua Cooper Cup share with the Rams?
I think that people are writing Cooper Cup off just too quick.
Look, Pukinokua is,
it's extremely exciting what he did of breaking the rookie reception record and
all that. Like the fact that he did that from being a fifth round draft pick,
I think that's part of like such of the intrigue you know when when Jamar Chase is his
rookie year is awesome for fantasy football no one's surprised but because
of the whole story of Pukinokua I think that really does it gets in your bones
man fantasy football is emotional we try to pretend that it's just it's statistics
and I'm a
robot and I'm gonna... No man, the guys who are on my team, those are the best
players in the NFL because they're on my fantasy football team and when they have
bad games like it's personally affecting me. So the fact that Cooper Cupp who when
he came back like you said from the injury he did have a couple good games
I think both him and Puka can coexist. think Puka's being drafted too high I think
Cooper Cupps being drafted too low having said all that everything rides on
Matthew Stafford who I mean like I think we're okay he had a little bit of
hamstring tightness but his his injury concerns like if if Stafford goes down,
that whole everything, Kyron, Puka, Cooper Cup,
it's all ruined.
And he has been a little bit more fragile dealing,
like just these chronic back problems.
So that's the risk involved with the Rams,
but Cupp's ADP is sensational,
and hopefully we're not moving it.
Mike, has there been a guy over all the years
you've been playing fantasy football that you drafted
and he absolutely wrecked your season, wrecked your league,
wrecked your team and you swore never to draft him again?
Yeah, there are definitely those players.
Recently it's been T Higgins.
Okay.
He just keeps breaking my heart over and over.
But I still pound the table and I
say he's a really good player.
He's not Jamar Chase level.
He doesn't have to be.
He's a really, really good wide receiver.
And my main league, it's a keeper league.
So you get three players and you hold over.
And so these last two years
I've had tea and it's just been emotionally draining for me and yet
I'll be back over here saying he's got Joe burrow. Everything makes sense for T Higgins
then the other one was
It wasn't a draft but it was Deandre Swift the year back when he was on not the Eagles year
But the Lions year where I traded essentially
all my big ammo to trade in my main league
to go for a championship.
All of it went into DeAndre Swift.
It didn't work.
It didn't work.
It didn't work.
And then I'm stuck holding the bag
because there's nothing I can do. I can't make good trades.
My ammo's gone.
No one wants Swift.
So we'll see how he does for the Bears.
But him and T are the most recent fantasy burns
all over my body.
You seem to be very high on Anthony Richardson
from what I've seen.
I think I saw that in your rankings
in a four point touchdown league,
you have him higher than Patrick Mahomes on your rankings. I can go and
verify that but I will say regardless of that yes extremely bullish on Anthony
Richardson and it's he is a he is the difficult case where you can get mad
that fantasy football is not real football.
Like these guys that run, these quarterbacks that run,
it is a totally unfair advantage.
That's like the reason why Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts
are the elite of elite for fantasy quarterbacks
is because they run so much.
And that's just, that's simple math.
10 yards on the ground, one point. Twenty-five
passing yards, one point. I'd rather a guy who runs for 50 plus yards every single game.
And it's just it's projecting what Anthony Richardson could do. Obviously, it's it's
really high risk. We've seen him play two games, two full games. We've seen him been
in more, but he keeps getting knocked out with injuries.
So it's a really high risk situation for him but I think that he's going to run so much
and as long as he can give us 3,200 or so passing yards, that with the amount that I
think he's going to run, especially around the goal line, he's going to be one of these guys that maybe you don't necessarily
want to watch it because he's completing 58% of his passes.
But when he's running that much and getting
all those rushing touchdowns, you're not going to care.
But does Jalen hurt someone we should
be concerned about with Jason Kelsey retiring?
So I think it's a combination of things, right? Because you have Jason Kelsey retiring? So I think it's it's a combination of things, right?
Because you have Jason Kelsey.
We get to find out this year the tush push.
Who was really responsible for it?
Because the the broadcasts like to remind you each and every single time
that he does it. You know, that guy squats 650 pounds.
Yes, I know, Troy.
You you already told me that this game that he
is very strong. I get it. He has strong legs. But is it Jason Kelsey because other teams
have tried to do it and they can't seem to have the success rate that the Philadelphia
Eagles have. You also have Saquon Barkley who, I just mentioned DeAndre Swift.
Swift actually had a ton of carries inside the five.
He just was a professional at getting tackled
and stopped at the one yard line
which gave all those rushing touchdowns to Jalen Hurts.
He was Saquon Barkley.
I mean, you want to talk about guys that squat,
Saquon Barkley could do that too.
So I think that that will be the difference of,
I think the rushing touchdowns for Jaylen Hurts go down,
but all that stuff I talked about with Kellan Moore,
you're hoping it balances out with some more passing
touchdowns, which it really should happen.
His touchdown mark was too low last year.
Jayden Daniels seems to be one of those guys
that you might want to get.
What do you do with him? Where is he going in mock draft, Jaden Daniels seems to be one of those guys that you might want to get. What do you do with him?
Where is he going in mock draft, Jaden Daniels?
So he is one of our favorite targets.
My favorite personal quarterback targets,
it starts with Kyler Murray, because you can get him usually
in the sixth or seventh round.
And he is back.
The fact that the moment he came back last year for the
Arizona Cardinals they went from one of the worst offenses in the league to
immediately a top ten offense is just because Kyler was back now you had
Marvin Harrison jr. Kyler's my favorite target but Jayden is right up there he
might even be my second favorite guy to draft because of the upside.
Everything I just said about a quarterback running,
it applies 100% to Jayden Daniels.
Plus Jayden Daniels, like,
I'm more confident as Daniels,
Daniels being a good passer in the NFL
than I am for Anthony Richardson.
The numbers at LSU are outrageous.
Meanwhile, the college tape on Richardson, it's tough. You would see him
throw a pass that only he could throw and then the very next pass you're like has this guy ever
thrown a football? That's how wild the accuracy jumps were for Richardson but Jaden Daniels,
just absolutely John Madden football type numbers from LSU last year. Cliff, I know him well because I'm an Arizona boy,
so I've watched his offenses.
They're not the most creative things in the entire world,
but I think that you'll get enough that drafting him
is a really good idea.
We've been telling people, even if you invest,
whenever you invest in a quarterback,
you might want to draft Jayden Daniels at the end, just in case.
He is the prototypical late round quarterback
that can break fantasy football.
It's a long time ago, but Lamar, Lamar's MVP season,
he was being drafted right around where
Jayden Daniels drafted.
I had him, yeah.
Yeah, and it was like I
Screw you could have screwed up eight picks, but because you got Lamar, right?
He turned into a championship team Mike. When should you start thinking about a quarterback not in the first round not in the second round, right?
Yeah, no, don't do it that early
but the numbers are actually
it plays out more of take the early guy, you know, Josh Allen, Jalen Hertz, you can take them, and in my homes, I'll go Allen Hertz, my home's Lamar.
If you're going to go early, it's okay because the hit rate, historically talking about quarterbacks drafted in that range, the hit rate for them
to at least be a top five quarterback is very strong. Obviously, if you draft a quarterback,
the first one you want it to be the first overall quarterback, but just saying the percentage
chance that they will not destroy you is pretty good. It's actually those middle quarterbacks.
Those are the guys that historically are not coming through with their floor and it's not
coming through with their ceiling.
So those middle round quarterbacks, that's actually where I avoid it.
I either jump in early or I wait later and I'm leaving the draft with like Jared Goff
and Jayden Daniels.
The Fantasy Footballers 10th anniversary Megalith show is going to be held this Saturday in
Los Angeles live at the Palace Theater.
For tickets go to BallersLive.com.
Mike, congratulations first on 10 years when you started this.
You seem surprised it was this Saturday by the way.
No, no, it's that I just, I'm wondering if Mike is surprised that 10 years on this is
where he is right now.
Yeah, not on this shitty it's not what I meant.
So this show started where the three of us all
works together at a tech company making video games
where all we wanted to do was spend our time
talking about fantasy football.
That company actually goes under,
we're all trying to find jobs,
the other guys are working,
like getting their real estate license, I'm trying to start a beard oil company and trying to like what are we gonna do
boys and then it's and we're like hey it's three guys upstairs in some in a
kids converted bedroom just sweating our balls off because it's Arizona and you
have to turn the AC off to record because that's how loud it was in that
house. The fact that it's there to 10 years later
and we have like a big office, we have multiple employees,
we have an incredible team, yes, it is extremely surprising.
What is your personal favorite fantasy,
I guess, you know, type league?
Like is it, you know, is it individual teams?
Like what is your preference, Mike?
My preference first off is the ones that I win.
I like those ones the best.
Yeah, of course.
But I like keeper leagues.
I hate keeper leagues, man.
Oh, get on board, man!
I can't stand it.
Dynasty is really fun because you get to, like, I mean, I had,
so I drafted Evan Ingram in our dynasty league,
in the rookie draft, I just traded him this year.
So his entire career was on my team.
So it's like, Evan Ingram's one of my guys.
I'll love that guy forever.
Hard to let go, huh?
Yeah, oh, very, very, very difficult.
But so it's, but those can be tough. Like if your team falls apart and you're trying to rebuild Let go, huh? Yeah, oh, very, very, very difficult.
But those can be tough.
If your team falls apart and you're
trying to rebuild and actually trying to win,
it can take a while.
Where keepers gives you just a little taste of that,
where maybe you find lightning in a bottle.
Our main keeper league, I got Antonio Brown right
before he turned into Antonio Brown.
And I kept him through that whole entire run
and people hated it because they knew in that league no one else is ever gonna
have Antonio Brown he's mine he's on my team. So getting a taste of that the
the attachment to some of the players I like that more than the full start over
and I like it a little bit more than I just have everybody forever. Alright so
give me a guy who's worth a flyer at each of these positions.
Late in the draft, OK, you're reaching,
you're just trying to find the guy that
has some upside or is an injury away from becoming the guy.
Let's start with running back, the running back position.
Give me a flyer at running back.
OK, so I threw out Rico Dowdle for you.
The other one I'll throw out is, let's go, man, it's tough, but I'll go JK Dobbins, Los Angeles Chargers,
one because when he's healthy, his talent is unbelievable to me.
I mean, we saw him a couple years ago return from an ACL, gets hurt, misses like six games and comes back and he's still hurt and he averages over seven yards
of carry.
We called him JK 1L because of JK 1 leg.
If you watched him running out there,
he's literally throwing half of his body forward,
just willing it to go down the field.
But he's one of those players,
like I talked about Rico Dowdle of,
the Chargers are gonna be a good offense. It's gonna be high T it's gonna be the Greg Roman hardball
way over there it's gonna be run run run run run but it's gonna be effective it
always has been effective for Greg Roman offenses so the fact that JK
Dobbins is really late and could take over he could be a steal really late
all right give me a flyer at wide receiver.
Okay, at wide receiver, let me think here. The name, it jumps to, I'll give you two.
I'll give you two guys.
Okay.
One is Don Tavian Wicks of the Green Bay Packers.
He's like the super nerd metrics that we talk about
in fantasy football, like yards per route run,
targets per route run, these types of things
that most casual NFL fans have never heard of.
He scores really, really well in them
and these are metrics that we use to find guys
that can truly break out.
The question for him is, will he be on the field?
Where, I mean, they have an embarrassment of riches
at the wide receiver position.
It just comes down to if Duntavian gets an opportunity,
I think that he will come through.
And the other one would, I'm gonna throw out Khalil Shakir of the Buffalo Bills,
had an awesome yards per reception this past year.
The whole wide receiver crew for the Buffalo Bills is in flux.
What you know is the offense will be good.
Josh Allen will probably throw for 400 passing yards, 30 plus passing
touchdowns. It's just who's gonna benefit from it. Curtis Samuel already dealing
with turf toe. Keon Coleman is a rookie and I think he'll be pretty inconsistent.
So it's Shakir is a deep flyer. Donteva on Wichstegotz was one of those
guys last year that we would pick like over, under, on, on like receiving yards
because he'd get like one or two targets a game
and he'd break out like a 15 yard reception
if he caught the one target that he would get per game,
which is why he was crazy.
By the way,
A staple of Billy's Big Board, yes.
Exactly right.
In addition to the 10th anniversary, if you want,
you can get the Ultimate Draft Kit at ultimatedraftkit.com. A portion of that will go to St. Jude's, which you guys
have done a great job raising money over the years. Stugatz, you're going to like this.
As part of the Ultimate Draft Kit, you can get a risk and upside meter to be checking
in on players.
Oh, wow. What does that look like? Just explain that to me, Mike. That's exciting.
Yeah, so with all the players, you can see out there their projections because that's how we do it.
We start at the quarterback and then start divvying things out to the rest of the team.
But those are like median projections. I can't project that Devon H. Han is gonna run for eight yards a carry like it just I can't do that
Because this is not being intellectually honest. That's such an outlier
But what I can do then is in his upside meter. I go and I put he's at a nine
So what it what it looks like when you're looking at the players? It's just an easy little
There's a green bar in a red bar high red bar means high risk high green bar means high upside
Wow easy I mean send me the entire kit if you don't mind
Send them money
Everyone can get it
I'm not gonna send you money. I'm just asking for a kit
Give you the money, okay, well 100% go to the Children's Hospital or no?
No, I paid for a portion.
A portion, man.
I got a business to run to.
Okay.
All right.
I would like my 100% to go to the Children's Hospital if you don't buy it.
Okay.
I'll tell you what.
You make a donation.
I'll get you a free draft kit.
Okay.
Wow.
Wow.
That is a ability.
You're gonna have to show me how to make a donation.
I've never done it before. Okay. Wow. Wow. That is a ability. You're going to have to show me how to make a donation. I've never done it before.
I think you're telling on yourself, man. Yeah, I don't care. I've been telling on myself
for 20 years.
It's like just telling on himself.
Give me a flyer quickly here, like a late round guy that you might like at tight end.
Ooh, I mean, Hunter Henry is about as nasty as you want to get there. Okay.
But I'll throw one more out for you.
Let's go, like we don't know exactly what the Baltimore Ravens passing attack is going
to look like, but Isaiah Likely, the other tight end for that team, he was very serviceable.
He had some games last year.
Yeah.
When Mark Andrews went down,
Isaiah Likely was an excellent pickup
and just a full plug and play tight end.
And just with the progression of his career,
it wouldn't be a surprising thing
if their focal point of the offense
is Zay Flowers, Marc Andrews,
and then they've been trying to find
that other wide receiver for years. The reports on Rashad Bateman have just they've always up
always down getting hurt all the time it wouldn't surprise me if they switch
things up and they feature Isaiah likely a little bit more you ever give your
fake team your fake players a fake pregame speech like how does that how
does that work oh yeah you got you you gotta order them in your starting lineup
appropriately.
You gotta like you move a guy up to RB1 like,
like I'm giving you the confidence boost today.
Man, I'm putting you on my RB1, don't let me down.
You've been promoted to RB1.
Yeah, and they care.
Act like an RB1.
Yeah.
Are you mean like Brian Flores or you nice like McDaniel1. Yeah. Ha ha ha. Are you mean like Brian Flores, or you nice like McDaniel?
Too soon.
Too soon.
I'm sorry.
Wow.
I'm more of a McDaniel motivational with positivity.
What is the thing, since Fuentes brought it up earlier,
we haven't heard from him since, the thing
that you were proudest of around that desk?
Oh, I mean, I love the power line.
And I don't know if you can see, I might be blocking it.
Oh, I'm the weatherman right now.
If you can see, if you can see Bill and Ted back here.
Ooh.
That's who that is in the orange jacket.
I didn't know.
Is that- Yeah, big time Bill and Ted.
Is that Donovan McNabb on your bookshelf running?
I don't know, it might be.
Right next to the Vans.
Number six? Yeah, is that no, it's Smith then, it has to be Devonta Smith. Yeah. And I like your retro Bucks helmet too.
Oh, that one's signed by Mike Evans.
Oh, there you go. Wow. I like it more now. Send me that too with the kit, all right? Yeah.
All right, the Fantasy Footballers, you can check them out on Spotify, Apple.
You can check out their website, fantasyfootballers.com.
Mike Wright, we appreciate this.
We're sorry, Nitro couldn't make it.
He parlayed his success with you last year
into his own fantasy show.
So thank you though, buddy.
I know, I appreciate it.
Again, I love cutting it up with you guys.
You're a good group of guys to talk with.
So anytime, you let me know.
All right, we'll do it again soon.
My biggest regret is not starting a fantasy show.
That's the thing.
That's the thing.
Don't worry.
I'll clip this for our award nominations, two guys.
We're good.
Thank you, Mike.
Happy 10th anniversary to you, man.
Thank you.
Happy 10th anniversary to you man. Thank you.
The year was 2017 and I was a youngish man thinking I was invincible and nothing could
stop me.
I lost a bet and I said, you know what?
I'm going to bite into this onion because that is the punishment for losing this bet.
And boy did I learn I was not invincible.
Lots changed over the years.
One thing that hasn't the great taste of Miller Lite. Another thing that hasn't changed, is that it's less filling.
So what is the best thing about the original light beer? Miller Lite has
sparked this debate since 1975 and we still haven't settled it. My personal
favorite, the great taste. It goes with almost anything and now during the summer
if you're outside grilling, it's the perfect accompaniment to a nice warm
burger hot dog.
You don't have to choose what's best. Miller Lite has great taste and is less filling.
Tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com
slash GBF. Or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly.
Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Fewer calz and
carbs than premium regular beer
and we're back yeah godless football is presented by smirnoff we do game days please drink responsibly the responsibly. The Smyrnaf Company, New York, New York.
So you gots.
Yeah, go ahead Billy.
I have a question for you.
It's a game I'd like to play.
I don't know if you wanna.
Is this a new game?
I have a question for you.
I mean.
No, no, no, no, no.
This is a different game.
We have that game.
Okay.
Yeah.
You wanna play a game?
We have so many games.
No, no, just go ahead.
You were talking, go ahead.
Oh, you don't wanna.
Well, what I was gonna do is play a game. If you don't wanna play a game, we won't play it. All, just go ahead. You were talking. Go ahead. Oh, you don't want to. Well, what I was going to do is play a game.
If you don't want to play a game, we won't.
All right. Let's let's play a new game.
I think Mike is disappointed with our performance in that last segment.
But go ahead, let's play a game.
Well, this game is called Mike, right or Mike wrong.
And here's how it works.
Here's how it works.
We had Mike right on for a long time.
I feel like we did a better job by not having Nitron.
We love Nitro. We'd love to have Nitron again. Would love you guys stop
outing your criticism of Nitro by saying you love Nitro. Just it was a bad idea.
I love Nitro. I love every time you have to put a qualifier though. It's like never good.
Like I just love Nitro, but the man was an American Gladiator. I don't want him thinking.
I didn't. I don't like it. Okay. we love him so much that we didn't invite him back.
Anyway, go ahead, Billy.
I think that American gladiator,
and I could be wrong, and maybe someone can look this up,
I think that American gladiator is like a Nobel Prize.
Like you were always an American gladiator.
Yes.
So like always Nobel Prize award,
but you're always an American gladiator.
Once a gladiator, always a gladiator.
Yeah.
Correct.
So I am saying how much I love him
because I still wanna have him on
into a fantasy segment with him later on,
just not this week, right?
So in that situation, I think we made
the right Mike Wright decision, right?
But I also believe we may have boxed out Mike Ye.
So I think we may have been Mike wrong in that situation.
So Mike Ye, how would you grade the interview that we do with Mike, right?
Mike, right or Mike wrong?
It was a little C plus ish.
I mean, it was, it was okay.
It was good.
Mike, you got a lot of good stuff in there.
I like this.
Mikey A, Mikey B or Mikey C.
I'm Mikey.
Wow.
Wow. Billy threw a bad. Mickey C. How about that? Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, Mike Wright knows, and there's so many guys I want to ask about because I don't know. I don't know.
Is Devin Aitchin gonna be really good this year
or is he gonna take a step back?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Mike Wright, Mike, no,
but I never got to ask.
It's a good question.
Never got to ask.
Yeah, sorry.
I think we should do a segment, Billy,
where we have Mike Wright back on
and only Mikey Hay asks questions, okay?
Okay.
You'll win your fantasy league.
I mean, listen,
Mikey has been great to both you and I and this show for many, many years.
Loyal and we love him.
And he just wants this one goddamn segment where we ask the right questions.
That's all he buys.
I lost my fantasy league and I had to make a calendar
for everybody in the league featuring. Oh, yeah.
Did you do that? We never got that.
Oh, yeah, I definitely did it.
So I really need, I do have one for me.
Where is it?
Get it, get it.
No, I'm definitely not gonna get it.
Yeah, they haven't seen it, so I can't show you guys yet.
But- When do you give it to them?
At the draft, at this year's draft.
Ah, what months are we doing?
Are we doing like a September September to August?
Okay, interesting.
I had a theme.
So so I lost my fantasy league.
So Mike, the Mike Wright segment is personal to me because I can't do that again.
Okay.
Well, to be honest with you, I'm more interested in your calendar than your fan.
Sure.
Everybody is where to take these pictures?
I have people flying.
I Billy, I learned Photoshop for this.
This is really Billy.
I'm going to tell you a secret just between me and you.
Yeah.
So I had myself animated for one picture.
Really?
I paid a professional illustrator to animate me.
That seems like cheating.
Billy, if you saw the picture, you wouldn't be upset.
No one would have said, you know what?
You know what? You cheated.
They'd say, thank you for doing this.
Is there a, so there's a theme?
There is a theme.
Can you tell us the theme at least?
Yeah, I'll tell you that.
It's called A Loser Through Television and Film.
So it's all famous TV and
movie scenes replacing me with the star of the movie.
Are they all shirtless TV and movie scenes?
At least six of them are.
And then others.
At least.
Were others just scenes that you decided to recreate shirtless?
I think I chose well, I will say that.
Did you choose running and sprinting on the beach
as Rocky or Apollo?
It was one of the last ones to get the axe.
It could only be me.
I couldn't have somebody else in the scene.
I didn't spend, we didn't spend any time on Tua.
I didn't ask for Billy's reaction.
I didn't ask Mikey A for his reaction from afar.
And the reason is Joe Rose, the big dog,
said it perfectly a day ago.
Why are we still talking about this?
How close football?
The year was 2017 and I was a youngish man thinking I was invincible and nothing could
stop me.
I lost a bet and I said, you know what?
I'm going to bite into this onion because that is the punishment for losing this bet.
And boy did I learn I was not invincible.
Lots changed over the years.
One thing that hasn't, the great taste of Miller Lite.
Another thing that hasn't changed is that it's less filling. So what is the
best thing about the original light beer? Miller Lite has sparked this debate
since 1975 and we still haven't settled it. My personal favorite, the great taste.
It goes with almost anything and now during the summer if you're outside
grilling, it's the perfect accompaniment to a nice warm burger hot dog. You don't
have to choose what's best.
Miller Lite has great taste and is less filling.
Tastes like Miller time.
To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com slash GBF.
Or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.
Celebrate responsibly.
Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
96 calories per 12 ounces.
Fewer calz and carbs than premium regular beer.