Free Agent Predictions + Combine Reactions! | Fantasy Football 2024 – Ep. 1555
Free Agency is almost here and we are going to get you prepared. We’re going through all the top NFL free agents and making our predictions where we think they’re going to go. You don’t want to miss a minute. Make sure you subscribe and enjoy the show. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Tuesday, March 5th. The Fantasy Footballers back with you, Mike Wright, Jason Moore. I’m Andy Holloway. Hope you enjoyed a bonus episode of the show. We dropped a draft episode on Saturday morning. Sure
did. Had a nice time. Jason was, he did a live best ball draft and we commentated the draft itself and talked about the picks he made and the picks that were being made throughout the draft and there were some surprises and it was a good time. But you know. Talked about how the Tush push was not going to be changed and about how Jason Kelsey had not yet officially retired. Right. Until now. Until now, he did today. We’ll see how well that Tush gets pushed now. Yeah, no, that’s actually a good point. That’s a good
point. He might have been the secret sauce in all of that. But hopefully you enjoyed that show. Make sure you’re subscribed over on YouTube. That
then was that Jared Goff? Yeah, that’s the that’s the the golf horn. Well, I thought we do we probably have a horn without Jared Goff. I hit it. Yeah, that’s the one I hit. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations to the winner of the listener league spot. Anybody that preordered the UDK before March 1st actually up and up through the end of the day, March 1st, you were entered to win and Jordan K Jordan K. Congratulations. You have won a listener league spot to come play with us. And this is the first official, I guess
the second official member, right? Has Jordan K been messaged? No. All right. Well, let’s message Jordan K. He will be by the time this show hits. Okay, that’s all that’s all I meant was like people look there’s Jordan’s out there. Yeah, there’s probably some Jordan K’s out there. Yeah. And they’re real excited. One of them’s the winner. Yeah. So we’ll send that message to you. But thank you to everybody that participated. Hopefully you’re enjoying the ultimate draft kit, the UDK plus with the dynasty pass. We have a post combine update coming very soon. We had
the NFL combine this weekend. And that leads us into our quick question, which was like, what was the big takeaway for you about a specific player or reaction you had to the NFL players that did participate in the combine? Sure. Yeah, I’ll start us off because I think it is the the headliner of it’s not necessarily the most impactful, but it’s always the most fun and the most watched event is the 40 and when the and when the all time NFL record for the 40 yard dash is beat that is the the the most fun
story. But we’re talking about Xavier worthy. He ran a 421 we knew it was fast. He ran a 425 and people were saying, Hey, dude, you’re good. Take the shoes off. Don’t have a chance of having a worse one. He’s like, No, I want the record went back out there beat the record ran a 421. But his teammate at an I Mitchell both the Texas wide receivers. It was you 435. I mean, and he’s he’s a big boy. So those weight training program for Texas is they’re doing some good work. It was a very decay
Metcalf comparable run. Remembering that right? Yep, you are from a size perspective. That was one of the one of the fastest runs. They’re very similar in size. And I think Metcalf was 435 and Mitchell was 434 or something like that. So both Texas wideouts blazing. Really the entire wide receiver class. I believe this is the fastest average. You know, we talked we’ve talked them up quite a while now about what a good wide receiver class this is. There is, you know, last year, and for a couple of years, it’s been a bunch of itty bitty
baby boys. And we haven’t really had the the classic X six foot to six to 200 pound receiver archetype. And there’s a handful of them this year. Yeah, I mean, for me, it was lad mcconkey. He has been a darling, a favorite in terms of, you know, he’s been pretty high on my rookie board, even before the combine. But then he came out and ran a 434. The fourth was that it was I think it was a 434. He ran a I thought he was 0.1 faster than Garrett Wilson was. Let’s see, I’ll just double
check double check that for me. It could be 435. I don’t remember. But great combine from mcconkey looked great in the gauntlet. 439. Oh, 439. Yeah, that’s what I was saying. I apologize. I apologize. Fourth, he’s in the four threes. I was happy to see that. But size speed wise, very similar to, you know, you can look up the metrics of what he did at the combine versus what Garrett Wilson did at the combine. And the physical stature is identical. And you watch six foot 186. You watch the gauntlet drill. And it’s just, you know,
that you want to see how guys catch the gauntlet drill. I think it’s probably far more important than the 40 yard dash because they’re actually doing a little bit of football. And it’s just like thoughtless, easy grab and release this ball as he’s running full speed. He just looks so fluid as an athlete. I give Andy full credit on being first to the lad mcconkey party. But I am, I am a believer. Yeah, I welcome you in the door a long time ago. Garrett Wilson was a 438 mcconkey was a 439. So it’s neat to
see. I think if he goes to the right situation, that that’s worth saying. Like before we get to Mike’s takeaway, like this is an exciting time to watch these players on display, all the hype around the draft. But these, these players don’t have teams yet. And I just want to stress how significant the landing spots and draft capital are going to be and how significant our changes will be in terms of the rookie rankings. And in terms of where we think these players are going to contribute for fantasy, it’s going to change so much based
on, you know, we’ve been talking about the running back room. There’s five to six running backs right now where legitimately at least at least four or five that could go first running back overall. The destination is going to matter tremendously, whether these guys are third round or later picks or do they did somebody sneak into the second round. You know, those are going to make big differences and we’ll be reacting and modifying so you can do the same. Mike, what your takeaway was for me. It selfishly is Trey Benson related running back that we’ve shared
on this show that we like this guy. And he was kind of the, I had watched Corum and Jonathan Brooks like they’re fine prospects. And I know there’s no out in mock drafts like Jonathan Brooks. It seemed he was unfortunately tore his ACL. So he’s recovering from that from, from last season. But Jonathan Brooks is like this. A lot of people’s number one running back and people love Blake Cormat of Michigan. And I watched them both. I’m like, you know, they’re good players. I think they’ll make an impact. And then Trey Benson’s tape immediately to
me was this is now this is a player I can get behind of falling in love with the guys. Speed is great. He looks like he’s a good size running back as well. And has a good production profile. And then he weighed in at six foot two 16 and he ran a four three nine. Yeah, maybe. So I mean, that is a for that size that is incredibly fast. So it was, it was, it was exciting to see a player you were already falling in love with. And it’s kind of like lab Mconkey of their,
their stock went up after the combine. We still got to see what happens with the draft, but they are now on the ascension. So it’s, it’s always fun to see that happen with these players. Well, speaking of Benson and Corum and all the, the running backs, we’ve got a free agency prediction show today, which really is a running back free agent prediction show in a lot of ways, because I’ve got news I’m going to talk about in a minute, closing the door on another free agent wide receiver in their opportunity to hit the market. But
it’ll be interesting whether the teams that we’re predicting to land these free agent running backs go with the rookie, or they go with one of these available free agents. You know, we can talk about Blake Corum and Jim Harbaugh. And whether that comes together and whether, you know, a team like the Ravens decides to go with a free agent running back, or they finally, you know, go back to the draft after losing JK Dobbins and, and going through retreads, like do they, do they finally go in on a guy like whatever, Trey Benson or somebody.
So that is coming up momentarily, but quickly some news for you. News and Notes from Around the League. Well, somebody got paid. Mike Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally reached an agreement. Two years, $52 million, $35 million guaranteed. Locks Mike Evans for year 31, year 32 in Tampa. It’s a lot of money. It should be encouraging to those of you that have Mike Evans in a dynasty league, you’re going to get at least another, I think, high, highly productive year, you know, $35 million guaranteed in this deal. And then it’ll probably have a decent
year the following season. So quarterback not situated in Tampa right now, but Mike Evans is coming off one of his statistically best seasons ever. And I think Tampa might have lost some money not paying him last year. Yeah. I mean, he just needed to get rid of that Tom Brady guy so you could go out there and score some touchdowns. Am I right? That is, it is funny because it’s like, obviously, there were meetings last year and Mike Evans and the Buccaneers didn’t come together. And Mike Evans is like, no, I’m going to just, I’m
going to go play. And then they’re like, you, you know, you don’t have Brady, right? And he’s like, no, I’m going to go play. And then it, you know, he’s just that good. Is he so good that he cost them money on Baker too? Like, did Mike, Mike Evans, yeah, Baker look great again. And then it’s like, okay, now you got to pay him. I don’t think Mike Evans signs this deal with, with Tampa Bay without the assurances that Baker’s back. I genuinely believe that. I think Baker will be back that is just an assumption.
Mike Evans got the PR team out this weekend and was like, I’m not playing for anybody, but an elite quarterback. And then comes back to Tampa Bay 15 minutes later. It certainly would help Baker to come back. Like, imagine being Baker where you’re, you’re like, I have, I have resurrected my career from the ashes. And the Bucs like, well, come on back. You’re not, we’re not going to have Mike Evans, but you should come back here. No, thank you. They got Trey Palmer and Trey Palmer had one of the more productive rookie seasons that’s kind
of under the radar for, for fantasy players. And, you know, pretty good situation there. Another piece of news, we were just talking about this tight end on the Saturday live draft. Darren Waller is quote, still undecided on whether or not he will continue to play or will opt to retire. Hmm. Well, I hope you play Darren Waller because I drafted you. 32 years old, I believe. Yeah, it’s just good to know if you are doing drafts right now that he’s TBD still under contract for three more years. He is not yet 32. He’s 31.5. Do
have you transitioned to your own age now being in the point and the month? I haven’t because I’m not a superstar athlete. Oh, okay. Because I’m sitting at 39. Right. Point. Yeah, but you want to rate 11. It’s better for you to just be like 39. That’s right. It’s just a mystery. When, when are you 40? And you’re like, well, that’s actually real soon. And you’d be like, where are you at now? 41. Okay. Just making sure. 0.0. 0.0 because your birthday was rather be 41.0. 39.9. Bruxy, do we have any other news? Papa Josh,
you got anything for us? There was. It’s not necessarily the most fantasy related news. I mean, it could be with the tush bush, but Jason Kelsey of the Philadelphia Eagles did officially announce his retirement, a beloved character among the NFL. They just, I’m very, it watching what he’s going to do now will be very fun because I think that the job opportunities for, for Jason Kelsey are going to be just flying in the door. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, this weekend was the first time I had heard a rumor of him going to Kansas City to
play with his brother. I don’t think it’s happening. And he’s now retired, but the, that idea really did spark the imagination. The, but they’ve, they’ve taken over the world already. Yeah. He’s going to keep that legacy in Philadelphia. Okay. We’ll take a quick break. We’ll come back with our free agency predictions. Should be a lot of fun watching where some big names land this off season. All right. Before we jump in, did I, it’s 31.5, right? Like that is the age for Mike Evans. Okay. So translate that 31.5. So then that’s six months. That’s six
months. Yeah. Okay. There’s no, there’s no point. Yeah. It’s point. It’s percentage. Exactly. So making sure. Now we can move on. All right. By the way, apparently I was the, the champion of the free agent predictions last year. You did it, which equated to, I did look this up, but equated to three correct free agent predictions. It’s pretty hard to, to nail these. I think if we, if we’re wanting to go for just the highest score, we should just predict them to go back to their team. Yeah. Yeah. But I’m going for glory. I want
really, really happy for running backs this year because the universe is lined up very nicely. We’re, we’re, we’re going to go through these positions and there are a lot of running back free agents of note and there are no wide receiver virtually very few notable wide receiver free agents, but the draft class this year is chock full of nonstop high end, highly rated wide receiver prospects and not a ton of people excited about running back. So it’s like the first time in, as long as I can remember that I feel like maybe running backs actually
have a market in free agency from NFL teams that they’re not just going to go, I’m just going to draft a rookie and be cheap. Some of these guys might actually get paid this year. I can preview our, our mock draft that we’re going through post-combine and nine of the 12 picks are wide receivers in the first round. So to your point, either of you guys want to talk briefly about some of the lingo and the language around the cap. Sure. I’ll jump in just a couple of vocab words if you’re not familiar, things like
cap hit, which a player’s cap hit is not necessarily how much they’re being paid that year, but how much they will count against the salary cap. And that’s more of a complicated thing of, of your, your bonus structure, how much you’re paid per game. And so there’s, there’s a formula to figure all that out. Dead money is when a team has moved on from a player or that it, but they had some guaranteed money that’s left on the contract. So it hurts. It’s still against the cap. Yeah. Because of that formula I talked about with
the cap hit of you can’t just give a player a gigantic signing bonus and then be like, no, you don’t get to count against the cap next year. Just the way that all the deals are structured. And then some important dates of note today is the franchise tag deadline. So there could be some news that we unfortunately miss with that next Monday is the legal tampering. The worst named thing of all time. It’s teams are permitted to enter contract negotiations with free agents. Whenever I hear that, if it reminds me of that movie, the movie,
The Purge, it’s like you just, you just get like a certain amount of time to do some rules. There are no rules. They do something illegal for a, because tampering by definition is like a right. It’s like a wrong thing to do. Yeah. Just contract negotiations open. Right. So they, they are able to talk to players. Oftentimes they get announcements, but the pin is into the paper negotiating window. Like that’s, that’s what it should be called. It’s just a free agent negotiating window. Yeah. Legal tampering. And then Wednesday the 13th. So next Wednesday, that is
when the league year opens for 2024 free agency begins. People will start signing contracts. All these dudes will be making tons of cash. We will be recording next Tuesday’s episode that morning. So that we have all the information possible from the negotiating window. Right. And, and so we’ll jump in. We’ll talk about some of the deals that have already been reached. We’ll start hearing about them on Monday. And just another thing before we jump into our predictions, which are mostly running backs, the cap space situation right now, I just wanted to read the teams with
the most cap space in the NFL. The commanders are number one, 96 million. The Patriots at 91 million Titans at 80 million, Bears at 79, Colts at 73, Texans at 70, then the Lions with 54 million in cap space. That’s kind of it’s impressive. Yeah. I mean, when you think about these are not playoff teams, Houston was Detroit was Cincinnati at 52 million, Cardinals at 51 and the Raiders at 47. So those are the only two playoff teams, right? Did the Colts, I think they had like the missed out. Yeah, it was them versus the
Texans for the final week for the playoffs. So yeah, but three, three competitive teams last year with, with lots of space, we will, we’ll go to the quarterback position. It may be for about a minute, but the two names now that will make predictions for Kirk Cousins or any of us detouring from him returning to Minnesota. I went through the league to look at like who would go after, in my opinion, all these teams should be trying to sign Kirk Cousins. I think a lot of people are going to. But it just seems like the
teams that are clear and obviously in need of a quarterback, they’re at the top of the draft and able to acquire one, you know, the, so at that point, you go, okay, what teams are left? And I, I do think he returns to the Vikings. The Vikings don’t want to lose him. They don’t have another good option. If, if he goes elsewhere, he has roots there now, likes the franchise, has great weapons. Jefferson about to sign a 30 million per season type of deal. Yeah. So for me, I, you know, the, like, if I was
the Falcons, I would go so hard after Kirk Cousins. That’s where that’s like, I, that’s what I would do. But they keep talking about, they want youth. They want someone young. They have just in inferior. Right. It’s like, what is, what is, how is younger better if the players worse? Washington came up this weekend, which obviously Kirk Cousins wasn’t watching him before. But we all have Minnesota down as the destination. Is that the summary? Yeah, but it’s going to be wild. And then Baker Mayfield, the resurgent season gets Mike Evans back in Tampa. Jason and
I both have Tampa as the, as the destination Mike, are you trying to be spicy here? It’s a little bit. I’m just, I more wanted to bring up because I put down the Falcons for Baker Mayfield. The Mike Evans signing, I probably points to that Baker will be back, but just wanted to briefly talk about. So Caleb Williams, the presumed overall number one pick by the Chicago Bears or whoever has the number one pick did not, he didn’t do anything at the combine. And in that was he didn’t do medical testing for in, for anyone
at the combine. And he will, he will do that on an individual basis of teams as they can make their certain allotment of individual visits. And I thought that was interesting of, well now at this point with free agency opening up next week, like the Falcons were a, there was a pretty hot tweet that came out that said it’s, it’s basically done of Justin Fields traded to the Atlanta Falcons. Can, like, can the Bears really do that right now? If you haven’t done a full medical testing on Caleb Williams, like you can’t trade away to
the guy who right now is your franchise QB for a player that what if, just what if, what if some crazy red flag popped up in, in Caleb’s medicals and you had already traded away your quarterback. So just trying to do all those puzzle pieces. That does make sense, Mike. I hadn’t thought about that at all with the medical. So and the pieces of that being, well Atlanta then can’t trade for him. But if, like, if you’re going to go get someone like Baker, you just, you have to do it. You have to do it
next week. So it was just more just to bring up the scenario of like there is the stuff with Kirk Cousins and Baker is wild. And now I think it’s, it is kind of getting some ripple effect of teams don’t know for sure that Caleb Williams is 100% good to go. One of the reasons the free agent predictions and the draft predictions are so difficult is because there is that cascading effect of getting one wrong. You get one person in one place wrong and it trickles down to all the others so often. So let’s turn
to the, the priority predictions here, which is the running back position because we have significant big names. Saquon, Jacobs, Henry, Echler, Pollard, Swift. Those are the six that we’re going to predict here. But before so many more to there, there really are. I mean, you have Dobbins coming off the ACL who’s a free agent, Antonio Gibson, finding a new home, Singletary who is effective. Zach Moss who had a great start to the year. Yeah, there are some names Alexander Madison’s out there guys. Zeke. I mean, Madison hitting the waiver. Why do you know what he’s
thinking when he sees this list? It’s time to get paid. He’s like, can I switch positions? The teams with the highest vacated opportunities going into the upcoming year at running back. The number one is Dallas. 76% of the running back carries available. The Giants at 66%. I mean, these are basically the same teams. It’s the teams that have these free agents leaving all these big names. You know, they’re not under contract right now. Jacobs and the Raiders, the Titans and then an interesting one is the Texans just because Singletary is a free agent and I
don’t know if they’re certain. They have a lot of cap space and they should be circling for a great running back. So I think that they may find one and the Eagles. So the Eagles have nobody under contract pretty much. I think Gainwell is there for one more year. Is he? I think so. I mean, I’ll double check that. Yeah, one more for Gainwell and then they did the Tied Davis price or whatever. Yeah. So let’s start with Saquon Barclay, spent his entire career in New York. They’re not franchise tagging him. He came back on
the franchise tag last year. He was productive. The team struggled quarterback injuries, rotating quarterback situation, still ended up with three games missed as the number 12 fantasy running back. You know, I don’t know, you know, he’s 3.9 to carry six touchdowns, caught 41 pounds is. He was solid with occasional spectacular games, but is older. I mean, he’s getting up there. He’s probably going to get paid this offseason. So where’s he going? I want him to leave so bad. I want to see him on a good offense. I want to see him with a good quarterback
with an offensive line. Like I want to see him be able to succeed because what he did last year was masterful given what he had to do it behind. You’re saying the sliding scale here, when you look at all the things opposing him in New York, he still was productive. Yes, exactly. And so I might just be trying to wish this into existence. If I think it would be a perfect fit for the Dallas Cowboys to upgrade from Pollard upgrade, I think even from, you know, late career Zeke and allow a pass catcher who can
be a goal line guy who can be a bell cow back. I want him to go to Dallas have a quarterback. That would be so wonderful. It would be very exciting. If that happened, he would be an easy first round pick. Mike and I, we took the boring route. Well, I or are you pivoting? No, no, no. I put in the giants. Now you put New York. Oh, I didn’t I didn’t know he’s got the jets. I don’t know if he was just trying to hedge and get two teams just in case. Now I see
how he won last year. Bruce Hall get out of here. He’s going to California Los Angeles. Western United States. No, I’m taking the giants. You and I both think he’ll come to an agreement. I think this is very, very much like the Mike Evans situation just that running back. Seik one is a team identity type of player. I don’t think he really wants to leave. So I think they configure something. Yep. I have him coming back. I think we have three teams predicted for this next player all different. So let’s turn to it. The one
of the younger options on the free agent market. Second youngest of the names I mentioned, Josh Jacobs, 26.1 years old. And I am going to go with the Chicago Bears. It makes sense. The Chicago Bears, I think will do everything they can this off season. You’ll see it in the rest of the predictions to equip Caleb Williams for the most success he could possibly have. They’re a competitive team with a good defense. They need a running game to take the pressure off. They have the fourth most cap space. And I think Josh Jacobs is, I
think in a lot of GM’s minds, he’s going to be the cream of the crop of this entire group. When you have the aged combination with his ability to be effective in the passing game between the tackles, what he did two years ago leading the league and rushing, I’m going to go with the Chicago Bears. It’s almost a two-fer of should you trade Justin Fields, reset your rookie contract at the quarterback position that, and you have all that cast space. Okay. We can, we can pay a premier running back for three to four years because
it balances off with the quarterback. So it does, it makes logical sense to me. Yeah. And I would, I would love to see it too. I think that would be a really fun destination. Much better than where I’ve got him going, but another team with a ton of cap space. Have seen this rumored that needs offensive weapons and has a new head coach that wants to run the ball, wants to establish it. And so I’ve got him going to the New England Patriots at 26 years old. Oh man. All the Ramondri managers just dying on
the inside. Yeah. That would, that would be brutal for Ramondri. He would clearly usurp him in the packing order and it would be kind of brutal for Josh Jacobs because Ramondri would not go away. It would probably be a, you know, a 45, 55 split. I think that would be brutal for, for Jacobs. Most landing spots for running backs. They’re, someone’s party’s getting ruined. All right. So what party are you ruining? I’m going to the Buffalo Bills. Oh, you’re ruining James Cook’s party. They, and I have, I don’t think I’ve seen this rumored anywhere. It’s
to me is just the Buffalo Bills for so long now. Keep getting linked to high profile running backs. And as good as James Cook was, they still wanted other guys involved. Like they wanted, you know, a bigger body guy. We want Latavius Murray’s getting goal line carries. They brought in Leonard Fournette to not really use them, but they still brought him in because they were, they were hopeful. And I don’t know what the cap space is. I don’t know if they have the least cap room in the league. Yeah. I had teams can figure things
out. And just say, I, one of these guys would not shock me at all if he ends up with, with a up there in Buffalo as they want, they seem to want this. Derek Henry, the Yeti. Why don’t you guys go first? You have us the same destination. Well, this is, this one’s, this one’s selfish guys. I had to make the trade for Derek Henry last year in the dynasty in league to make my run. It worked out knowing that trade for Derek Henry is truly playing with fire for any future purposes as he is
over 30 years old. He’s a free agent. So I am sending him to Baltimore. I’m willing it into existence for touchdown upside. I think it makes sense for both sides. It is. I believe it’s also like the favorite. It’s been rumored. There was, you know, trade rumors at the end towards the trade deadline last year. I think it makes sense for all parties and our champ, champ, champ team could also use it. It makes too much sense for you guys. I’m not going to Baltimore. I love where you, I don’t think Henry’s going to Baltimore.
I think he’s going to a different team that also had trade deadline rumors around the running back. A perfect bell cow for the change of pace. Kenneth Gainwell. It is Derek Henry to Philadelphia. It is the most Philadelphia type of move I think that they could make. Gonna need the tush push to slow down. You know, Henry, Henry to Philly will bring some question marks around the goal line, I think. Could you imagine Henry helping to push? No, he would. He would help push. Now he’s done it. First and 10, tush push. First down. Got
a question here. If Jalen Hertz is lifted into the air and never actually comes down in bounce. Yeah. Is it still a touchdown? Absolutely it is. Cross the plane. It’s just never been done from the front out the back of the end. That’s what I’m talking. Oh, I hear you. The full end zone. You’re saying he crosses the goal line in the air and then flies through the back of the end zone. Yeah, perhaps through the uprights. Perhaps. So I’ll go Philly. Not going to rule out. I’m going to go Philadelphia, a little different than
you guys on that one. Okay. Not sure about the upright thing, but otherwise that’s my prediction. This one. All right. Austin Eckler. Not yet 29 years old. Difficult. Injured year. No quarterback. Not the kind of display he wanted to put out on film for free agency. So we have three destinations. Mike, let’s start with you. I’m going boring. I’m going with him back to the Los Angeles Chargers on a, and they, I mean, they have a cap problem, but I think that this is a Eckler’s where he, like where he’s played his entire career. Give
me a one year, prove a deal, and then I’ll go get my money. I’ll try to go get my money afterwards. I just, it’s, it’s hard to see the, the market being really hot for Eckler, unfortunately. I, I’m going to, I’m going to go with a, this is the one that I have the most kind of like secret confidence about. Oh, wow. It’s not a secret anymore. I think Austin Eckler ends up maybe a similar scenario like you just said, where he, he doesn’t find a big market. I think he becomes the new Samaj J.P.
Rine in Denver. We know that Peyton wants to run the football and I think Austin Eckler is a perfect fit there to be a part of a run centric offense in Denver. So I think they find a way running back centric one for sure. I think they find a way to, to get Austin Eckler in my own high city. That would be very interesting. I agree with Mike’s ascitation that the market will not be there for him. You know, there’s only going to be a couple of teams that are willing to go out and spend
a big bag on a free agent running back and Eckler’s just not at the top of the list. But I think he is still really valuable to a quarterback to, to being able to dump off the passes, pass, protect. I think he is a quarterback’s best friend at running back. And that’s the type of player that I could see the Houston Texans going after and finding someone for CJ Stroud to just help take the offense to the next level. Devin Singletary is a free agent. I think, you know, look, Devin Singletary played very well, but
you know, Eckler is an upgrade from Devin Singletary. And I think that’ll help the offense. They got the money to do it. Yeah. And I’ll kick off the next one just because I have that destination for this next gentleman. Tony Pollard, a little bit younger, going to be probably more expensive. Could be a one year deal. I haven’t gone to Houston, where you just had Austin Eckler going. They’ve got so much cap space. I think they’re going to be able to pay up for Tony Pollard. And so that is my destination for him. Where you
got Pollard going? Makes complete sense. I see what you did, Jason. You see what I did? Having him go to the giants. He has already replaced Ezekiel Elliott once now. I have him replacing Saquon Barkley. No. Does Pollard get on the plane right after Barkley? Like arrives or is it the other way around? I think it will be. Or do they high five in midair? No, it’ll be after. All right. I’m going Eagles. We’ve kind of laid out their situation, but they’re going to need some help with running back. Tony Pollard, if he is actually
healthy and can get back to really explosive Tony Pollard, he would fit the scheme. All right. Last one. We’ll predict it running back before our next break. Deandre Swift, just 25 years old. He looked really good at times in Philadelphia. His season’s weird. He was set up in the most opposite of Saquon kind of way. Mm-hmm. Where he took advantage of the great offensive line, great situation at the quarterback, and the read option. 47% of Deandre Swift’s yardage came before contact. Highest among all running back. Yeah. Highest among all running back, which is why I’m
putting him in Washington to become the next Antonio Gibson in Washington. It seems too perfect to me. Washington has cap space, and I think they will add a body after losing Gibson. You guys have had the Eagles signing a running back because they will need one. The Eagles just don’t spend up at the position. I don’t think Deandre Swift’s going to cost a lot, so I’ve got him returning to the Eagles. Yeah. I have Swift probably not costing a lot too, and I’m going to send him to the Kansas City Chiefs where Clyde Edwards-Alarre will
be gone. I don’t know McKinnon’s contract status. I believe they, I think he was just a one year. And it was like they waited a really long time. They waited until after the draft. They’re like, can we get our guy? Nope. I felt so bad for him at the Super Bowl because it seemed like he was working so hard to get back. Yeah. And just, it wouldn’t work out, but Swift has that second option behind Pacheco. So not costing very much. It will be helpful. The Chiefs are an interesting destination because they do right now
that both those guys are gone. It’s just Pacheco with the roster. Yeah. Who’s been banged up many times. All right. Quick break. Back with some more. And just to recap the other running backs that will be available. No predictions here, but Dobbins, Gus Bus is gone, Gibson, Singletary, Zeke out there, Moss, AJ Dillon finding a new home. Clyde. Clyde finding a home. And Kareem Hunt’s out there. Cam Acres off of a, what, a second Achilles? Oh gosh. Yeah. But man, Antonio Gibson, just be a fun location. Just be a, be a fun place. Well, the
Chiefs would be perfect for that because as a pass catcher in doing the McKinnon roll. It could be amazing. If Gibson goes to the Chiefs, I will be so happy. Snip, snap, snip, snap, snip. All right. The wide receivers. Look, we’ve got franchise tags and contracts now. T Higgins franchise tag back to Cincinnati was going to be one of the, the jewels of the wide receiver free agent pool. Mike Evans. Contract. Contract. So Michael Pittman, we, He’s going to have a contract franchise. This is not really a prediction. We all have the Colts. Well, I
imagine by the time you’re hearing the show, he will have been franchise tag or extended. So I might throw another name or two out there for you to just improv. Okay. A destination for fun. But the two that we’ll focus on to begin, Hollywood Brown, who is still not yet 27 years old, pretty much non-existent last year. The scheme in Arizona did not work. They did not have Kyler Murray for part of the year. And he was just not a part of the offense under the new offensive regime. Where do you have Hollywood Brown landing
this off season? He’s going to need to go to a team that has a scheme that he likes. He wanted out of Baltimore because it didn’t throw it enough. The Stikin speed and the cap space that the Colts have, I think equipping the young quarterback with another wide receiver. I’ve got him going to Indy. All right. And I have him going to the Atlanta Falcons to join Drake London, put some serious speed over there. And their depth chart, I mean, as long as what I’m looking at is accurate, I’m looking at our lads. We have
under contract. We have Drake London. We have Josh Ali, Chris Blair, and Austin Mack. I believe that’s- So they have Drake London under contract, huh? So they’re going to have to make a splash here. And if they, we’ll see. Does Hollywood still have it? I don’t know. He was hurt the whole year. He was very hurt. He was hurt the whole year. I think he takes the biggest bag. And I think it comes from Carolina. I think Hollywood just finds the biggest bag. And I think Carolina is the one that’s going to have to write
that check to kind of promise somebody to come and give Bryce Young a try. So that’s where I’m going. Calvin Ridley as well. I mean, the rumors to me, I think Calvin Ridley gets paid pretty handsomely. I’m going to say that. I don’t think there are doubts in the general manager universe about Calvin Ridley the way that they might be in the fantasy community with how up and down he was. I think he goes to the team with the fourth most cap space that I already had making a splash. I think they make another one.
Oh my goodness. And they equip Caleb Williams. I’ve got Calvin Ridley to the Bears opposite of DJ Moore. And probably Rome. Probably. Well, possibly. Yeah. Unless they go, I don’t know, offensive line or something. Yeah. I mean, to if a team could actually do that have gotten DJ Moore, who is a wide receiver one, in my opinion, Calvin Ridley could be and then someone you drafting who you’re drafting that this person could be a wide receiver one to start a rookie with that with those three weapons would be that would be just like a really
special situation to watch unlock. Yeah. And similar to you, Andy, you paired your running back destination with Calvin Ridley, having both go to the Bears. I’m pairing Calvin Ridley with my Josh Jacobs destination for the Patriots. So didn’t I put Jacobs to the Bears? Yeah. Yeah. So we both did the same thing. Yep. We just got different teams. Yeah. And you went Patriots. Yeah. Ridley to the Patriots with insert quarterback here, right? Yep. I’m putting them on the Titans. They shoot. They need help. They got tons of money, right? They do. Do they? Okay. Good.
Because Calvin Ridley third most the way you were talking about Hollywood Brown of yeah, take the bag. He’s gonna go get a bag of money. I think Calvin Ridley is gonna go get himself a bag of money. I agree. And the only the other name I wanted to throw out there in case you want to just top of head. How about this? Gabe Davis because age wise could be an attractive name now that some of these other big names have been picked up. You know, I’m not really, you know, worried about projecting the Beckham Curtis,
Samuel Noah Brown destinations. But Gabe Davis, I don’t know. So it’s fun to think about. Yeah. So obviously both of these won’t come true. But I’m gonna go with the Colts here because they’ve got a quarterback. You’re putting everyone on the Colts. I could see. I think the Colts are gonna go after a wide receiver for Anthony Richardson. And whether that’s paying up top of the mark for Marquis Brown or whether that’s going and getting a guy that they see was helpful for Josh Allen, you know, the similar archetype of quarterback. So obviously they’re not
going to sign both guys, but I think either one of them could go to the Colts. That would be my top of the head. Go Houston for Gabe Davis. Oh, that’d be nice. Deep threat. Yeah. Not scare off too many fantasy managers from Tankdale and Nico. I wonder if you wouldn’t be freaked out, would you? If he went there? No. No. Yeah, see. But what would you think of him? Not much. Yeah. No, it would be. He would help Stroud. I think good things. But like Noah Brown. Exactly. Had some monstrous performances. Yeah, just he
didn’t know when. Best ball. Yeah. Best ball Gabe Davis. What’s going on with the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver situation? They’ve got CDLAMP. They’re okay. I’m aware they have CDLAMP, but like they, so. Is Brandon Cooks under contract? Brandon Cooks is under contracts. He will be a. 100 years old. Oh, sorry. He would be a $10 million cap hit. Should they keep him and 6 million dead cap if they were to cut him? I saw a lot of rumors floating around of Michael Gallop maybe getting cut after that contract extension that they had just given him
a couple years back. That looks like a huge flop right now. Yeah. Kyle, do you know what the dead cap would be for that? Is that just? It would be 13 million. It’s not happening this year. Okay. So maybe not Dallas. Cool. So your prediction is not Dallas. Is that where you think they would be? No, I’ll still go with it. But you could go Kansas City. I think that one’s interesting. Can I go AFC? For no credit. Yes. All right. I’ll take it. I’ll take it. All right. And then Dalton Schultz, he’s the only
tight end that we’re predicting here, but we all have him going back to the Texans. Yeah. Boring. Yeah. I hope he does. I mean, he was good there. And if he doesn’t, then they need to go sign Hunter Henry or, you know, I want them to have a good pass catching tight end there. Dalton should go back to Dallas. Get out of here. To Ferguson. All right. Well, next Monday, the legal tampering period, the purge begins. And then Wednesday, the new league year. And it’s time. It’ll be time to find out whether that dynasty player
you’re rostering, if it’s one of these running backs lands in a great place. I feel good about the Mike Evans deal. Maybe you’ll end up with a situation like that. Or maybe you’ll end up with the remandre getting squashed by another running back or something like that. Or, you know, how do you feel about a guy like DJ Moore? If Calvin Ridley landed in Chicago, is that concerning you at all with the rookie quarterback coming in? And maybe they draft, like if they legitimately drafted Roman Dunes and signed Calvin Ridley, your DJ Moore enthusiasm might
be stifled. It would be. So it’ll be very interesting off season. I can’t believe we’re already near the free agent period. It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy. All right. We’ve got, what do we got coming up on Thursday, gentlemen? We got a fun game time episode. Game time episode. I like games. Wait. So we got multiple games for playing on Thursday. Yeah, we have so many games. Got some who am I, some gut feelings and some liar liar. We got a liar liar. Now, are you are you wearing like kind of like a game show host type
of outfit for Thursday? I would never. Oh, man. I wanted to see him in his wedding suit. I thought maybe we could. I mean, you got a fitted suit, right? I do. Yeah, I’m just saying. I mean, chance to use it, permission granted. And then encouraged. Yeah, encouraged. Is it required though? Permission required. Permission required. I like it. All right. That’ll do it for today’s episode of the show. Make sure you like and subscribe and we’ll be back very soon for that game time episode. Yeah, it’s required now. Full suit. Goodbye. Bye. Thank you for
listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.
