One Hit Wonders (past and present)

yards over expectation, advanced analytics. We don't have a lot of shows that are just kind of silly fun and that's fun, and that's that's this show. They're fun, but they're working there, work for us. Yes, this is we were. We were having an offline conversation about one Hit Wonders, fantasy one hit Wonders, not the musical one hit Wonders, of which the greatest one hit wonder of all time musically Dexi's Midnight Runners with Come On, Eileen, the most

important comma in the history of music. Now the runner up is Chumba Womba with tub thumping. Yeah, that would be that to me? Is the number is the runner up musically for one Hit Wonders. I'm drawn a blank. There are a lot out there. Hundred that's a I mean, that's right up high school. And so yeah, that was overplayed a lot overplayed songs. And but they all were, they all were. You know, it's not like now. It's not like now you just go load up your own

playlist and just only hear songs you love. Back then, you had to listen to whatever they were playing. You know, it's less so this now, for sure. But one hit wonders from a fantasy standpoint in past years, but also some of the one hit wonders that we think may have happened last season. Candidates who have been one hit wonders last year. So guys who put up like they're one good year and are they going to come back

and be able to do it again? But let's have a little fun to talk about some of the past one hit wonders. Yeah, we're gonna do a draft, right, so we're kind of these guys. But uh yeah, Number one, there's no arguing this one. The rest we can debate, like jockeying positions. One the fantasy one hit wonder of all time one one hillis in two thousand and ten for the Cleveland Browns. Again, no arguing this I won't

have it. After two seasons with the Broncos to start his career, Hillis went to Cleveland in twenty ten and had a season for the Ages with one thousand, one hundred and seventy seven rushing yards and eleven touchdowns. Wow, he did it through the air. Two added sixty one catches for four hundred and seventy seven yards and two touchdowns. And oh yeah, he landed on the cover of Madden Madden as a result. Now, Grant, I'm pretty sure that

was a fan vote, but everyone was voting for Peyton Hillis. Yeah, after that. It was exciting at the time, and there's a huge push from Cleveland, of course, but the good times and not last too long for Hillis, sadly would only go on to play four more seasons, one more with Cleveland, then he went to Kansas City then finished his career with two seasons with the Giants, where he totalled fifteen hundred and three comboy yards and just six

touchdowns in those four seasons. So he had a better year in twenty ten than he did for the remainder of his career. Pretty much his whole career, everything just came out of nowhere. Yeah, absolute league winner and it was just like it was insane and he was in the news recently. He saved saved a life his own children. I think both kids almost lost his but thankfully he came through that because absolute legend one hund Payton hillis absolutely I think that that certainly counts um and and

good for him on literally saving lives. When you saving a drownding victim, very dicey because the drowned will try to kill you inadvertently while you're trying to save them because they're in a panic. Assuming that's what happened to hillis because he was an intensive care for quite some time, I think that's I think that's right. He's good to go now. Thankfully. I want to bring up as my one hit wonder And by the way, we used year two thousand as our cut offs or we're not going.

We're going with quasi reason one hit wonders. David Johnson posted a two thousand, one hundred yard season with twenty touchdowns, unbelievable twenty sixteen. David Johnson pulled all that together. The next year was a hard Knox year for them, and we got to see David Johnson in the offseason and his beautiful girlfriend who eventually I think ended up marrying. Um, I forgot that they did because they've done the Cardinals twice now because they well the Cardinals was in season,

so that's right. Yeah, this is the one where, yeah they were preseason. Yeah, it was the Priests. They didn't have the in season. One's back. So for the rest of David Johnson's career, outside of his twenty one hundred yard twenty touchdown season, his average non twenty sixteen season was six hundred eighty yards and five touchdowns, So fifteen hundred fewer yards in fifteen fewer touchdowns for David Johnson

through the rest of his career. Yeah, I remember season average in twenty seventeen understandably, so he was basically the top overall pick and that broke his hand or something in like I think it was hand. Yeah, that was that was brutal. I actually added David Johnson last year because he made he was on the Saints roster. Yeah, one point he was. And this is a deep dynasty league. Or I was just throwing darts wherever I could, and I was like, David Johnson, let's see, No, that he

got some carry. I mean, it was crazy that he was even the last think only out of desperation. Yeah, but you know, and it's not that he was a bad player, but he obviously fell into the exact right situation in twenty sixteen, and he was a decent enough catcher receiver that they helped him that way too, a little bit through the air. All right, who's your who's your your second selection or our third overall? In our one hit wonders, I'm staying in Cleveland and going with

tight end Gary Barnage in twenty fifteen, Gary Barnage. Barely remember Gary Barnage. You will remember this probably well well, you will remember this. Prior to the twenty fifteen season, Barnage had been in the league for seven years. He missed all of twenty eleven with a broken angle, but no one missed him then. During that time, he totalled four hundred or sorry, forty four catches, six hundred and three yards and three touchdowns with the Panthers and the Browns.

Then came twenty fifteen. Barnage saw one hundred and twenty five targets. She's he had eighty career targets prior to that wow one twenty five targets. He finished with seventy nine catches, one tho forty three yards and nine touchdowns, finished his tight end four. It was just out of notally. No one was drafting him. He was waiver wire gold. He was drafted such in twenty sixteen as a top tight end option. People are like, oh, Gary Barnage, but that turned out to be his last year. No, it

was his last year. Wow, that was it hed sports herney surgery and I onlyink he ever really Wow again he was. That was like his ninth year in the league. Two he's probably thirty two, but uh yeah, that was. I mean he had a fifty five catches, six hundred and twelve yards, two touchdowns the next year. But nothing

like that magical twenty fifteen for Gary Barnage. Maybe a guy I should have used last time, because I think this is another standard bear for one hit wonders Josh Gordon, that magical twenty thirteen season that people still remember and go back to when we draft. Josh Gordon was on fantasy rosters last year based really only on what he did in twenty thirteen with Jason Campbell throwing him the ball when he led the NFL with sixteen hundred receiving

yards and the longest average reception in the NFL. And he didn't even play, by the way, the first two games of that season, because and you'll be shocked by this, he had been suspended for the first two games of the twenty thirteen season. But Josh Gordon still led the NFL in receiving yards his average game one hundred seventeen yards that year. He was awesome. He was amazing. I went back to his Wikipedia page because I was trying to figure out how many times Josh Gordon got suspended.

I believe if I counted it upright, it was six NFL suspensions, and he got suspended in college, which I had not remembered. He got suspended in college as well. And the funny thing is it was all marijuana. They only even test for marijuana in a two week window. Now he would have like no suspensions by today's standards, potentially, and an honorable mention. Who a player who sadly kind of had the same career arc with we'll call it troubles with marijuana, was justin Blackman with the Jaguars. I

don't think he ever had the talent. But oh no, he had the talent. He had agree level. Oh he's one good year, I'll look it up. Did Oh yeah, I mean he was a blue hit prospect. Oh, it was like the third pick in the draft. I remember that, but I don't remember ever putting together a meaningful NFL season. I got it right. Hold on, it'll be like twenty. He'll be right around that. I think he would. I'm gonna go pick four. It was the Matt Khalil year

or something. I would have been a twenty like fifteen, Well he was. I'm sorry. He showed promise as a rookie his rookie year in twenty twelve. Uh, in just fourteen games. Uh, eight hundred and sixty five yards, five touchdowns. He was starting eight hundred yards as a rookie's good in five touchdowns. But then twenty thirteen he played four games and that was it. That that's unbelievable. Wow, he was a first round pick though if I recall correctly, it's not showing me on this page. Oh he was.

He was like the fourth or fifth pick in the draft. Yeah, he was very high down draft pick. But he's in Jacksonville, so he knew he was at the top of the draft. So that that's three Browns. How about that to come three three Browns out of four? Pick We're not done. Yeah, that's the funny thing, all right, So one hit wonders, you've we've got four under our belt. Who's next. I'm gonna go with my This is my one non brown? No, yeah, no, my one non brown. This is your only non Browns.

I got a Bronco, I got a Denver Bronco Brandon Lloyd in twenty ten. Prior to the twenty ten season, which was his second with the Broncos, people knew about Brandon Lloyd mainly for his like occasional eye popping catches made something crazy highlight reel catches in his six seasons forty nine Ers. Yeah, with the forty nine Ers, and then he was with Washington before Denver. Uh. He was waiver wire early on with the Niners, but kind of

like a weekly streamer type guy. Never never a household name, especially in the fantasy football community. But then came twenty ten. And by the way, if you somehow grabbed Brandon Lloyd and Peyton Hillos off waivers in twenty ten, good for you. Those only two players right to win your league, right, But in twenty ten, Lloyd racked up seventy seven catches, fourteen hundred and forty eight receiving yards, and eleven touchdowns. Wow.

Technically only started eleven games. He played all sixteen, but he wasn't even a starter until you know, a third into the season. He led the league in the receiving yards. He had fifty nine more yards than Roddy White, who finished second. The only wide receivers with more touchdowns than Lloyd that year were Dwayne Bow, who maybe could have been on this list, but people were expecting things from Duyne Bow, big things from Duayne Bow, and he didn't

produce that year. But only receivers who had more touchdowns again were Dwayne Bow, Greg Jennings, and a guy named Calvin Johnson who most remember he did He did okay, but then Lloyd went on to play several more seasons. He'd never quite replicated that success he had in twenty fifteen before I'm start in twenty ten before retiring in twenty fifteen, but just an absolute monster in twenty ten.

You're gonna kill Browns fans if it turns out that your candidates, one of your candidates for the for the one hit Wonder status from last year that we're gonna We're gonna hit down these at the end of the show. If one of those is a Brown, we'll find out

we will Beanie Wells. Remember the name Beanie Wells. He had a nice twenty eleven season where he scored eleven touchdowns put up over a thousand yards, but he was only in the league for four years, and by comparison, his average non twenty eleven was three hundred yards and two touchdowns. So he had the one good year and back on November twenty seventh, twenty eleven, Wells Beanie Wells set a cardinal single game and personal record. He ran

for two hundred twenty eight yards in one game. Then what happened in twenty twelve You might be wondering for Beanie Wells. Well he got turf toe and that kept him out of the first half of the season. Then he comes back from the turf toe in twenty eighteen and Beanie Wells has a bad game against the Bears

four yards down. It's Week seventeen of that season. He has a four yard game against the Bears and then In the ensuing week, he's it's coming up to the last week of the season, and Beanie Wells declares that this week is his audition week for the other thirty one teams in the league to see what he can bring to the table. So what happens. Cardinals head coach Ken wizzen Hunt benches him. He doesn't get to play at all, and he doesn't get to audition for anybody. Beanie,

what are you doing? Yeah, it didn't work out well for Beanie Wells. Let's go to player number seven. After we take a break. Thank you for listening Fantasy Football Weekly. We'll continue on with the relatively recent one hit wonders and we'll wrap up with some one hit wonder candidates from last year. We're back Fantasy Football Weekly Paul Charchie and Brian Johnson. You can follow us on Twitter at

Paul Giarchi and at bt XJ. A reminder, we're doing an experiment Mondays through Thursdays by releasing Fantasy Football Weekly micro additions. These live give you a short five to ten minute well they're more like ten than five minutes quick hitter on one player. We do a deep dive on one player, five to ten minutes Fantasy Football weekly micro additions. We encourage you to check those out and let us know what you think. It is an experiments,

it's something you love, is it? You really don't care? We're gonna we care what you think. Ryan, We've already knocked down six of the one hit wonders. Give me the seventh and is three Browns, two Cardinals. Yeah, what a Bronco and a parent tree. And guess what. We're going back to Cleveland with Thrill Prior a tortured fan base in twenty sixteen. Now you can say no one saw this coming, but that isn't true. I remember it like it was yesterday. Charge twas the night before Fantasy

football training camp, and I was sitting in my house. Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm gonna stop rhyming there or stop the Christmas Eve thing. But yeah, I was watching Cleveland's a Cleveland preseason game, and Terrell Prior was going into his first year as a wide receiver. Yeah, the quarterback. He had been drafted by the Raiders quarterback quarterback out of Ohio State Universities. There were expectations of him being a great NFL quarterback, but that didn't happen, so they

converted him to wide receiver. But I'm watching this preseason game, and yes it was the preseason, and it was probably like the second or third quarter or so. He's not up against the starters. But I'm like, man, this dude looks like Terrell Owens out there physically, and he was making plays. And I'm like, you know what, I don't have my sleeper pegged for training camp the next day. I gotta state, Terrell Prior, just throw a you know,

last round pick. Take a chance in Terroll Prior. Now, I was braided by you, I'm sure, and the room of hundreds of people, they all booed you. And it was a thousand people, by the way, vociferously booing you. I could hear we could hear the people booing in their cars driving around the state of Minnesota, and I was getting it on Twitter. I was like, man, my feelings were hurt, but I was right Terrell for that year.

You were right for that year, for that year. And yeah, he people went on to draft him the next year and did not work out. But yes, in twenty sixteen, he had seventy seven catches over a thousand yards and four receiving touchdowns. He added a rushing touchdown. Not massive touchdown totals, but those are incredible numbers for a converted quarterback who was not getting drafted. It was just an epic season for Terrell prior. But that was all she wrote for for Terrell was the league caught up to

him somehow. Man, imagine if he just focused on being a wide receiver, right, that's a position to almost nobody makes a transition too late in their career, and by the time you get to the pros, I'm saying you're late in your career. Wide receiver is a hard position to pick up. Remember Matt Jones, Yeah right, people quarterback, Yeah, people thought he might make that, but he was drafted as a wide receiver. He couldn't even do it. He wasn't he wasn't expected play. He went early too. They

took him with a meaningful draft selection. As I wrote, he was a first round pick. Was he really pretty sure or a second I remember my buddy was obsessed with him in Madden like we would be dining Smo Beatty. He's like he was the biggest Matt Jones fans in the world of it. He did not have any hits Matt Jones he took. He was a no hit wonder he was taking hits of something else. Yeah, that that makes more. It wasn't marijuana. Oh all right, you just outed your friend as a myth head. No, no, no no,

Matt Jones, all right, okay. Ryan Grant in twenty nineteen, do you remember what team he played for? Oh? Yeah, Green Bay Packer and Bay Packers fourteen hundred yards two thousand and nine, two thousand nine, Thank you, I miss spoke fourteen hundred yards and eleven touchdowns his average. Every other average season other than twenty nineteen, he averaged a

thousand fewer yards in three touchdowns. He is the all time postseason single game rushing leader and Packers history with a two hundred and one yard rushing game against Seattle. Save for Ryan Grant, save that for Jeopardy or at least bar room trivia. There you go. Even Packer fans couldn't identify that. I think so. Then you might be wondering what happened to Ryan Grant in twenty ten. Well, he shattered his ankle and the season opener went on

season ending. Ir lost his jobs to James Starks in the next year, it was a two headed monster for James Starks and Ryan Grant in a committee in Green Bay, and then he was done. Then came over I'm on Green or he was before that. I'm on Green was before that? Yeah, he was before that. Yeah, I'm on Green. Was really good by the Oh yeah he was leading. He was not a one hit wonder, Yeah, no, he was. He was a no Sam Kangato. If we want to

go with a a year random, remember Sam Tondado. That's like two thousand or something or twenty two thousand and two or something. Packers lore all right, our ninth of ten one hit wonder players, Fantasy one hit wonders. Who you got? I got another Cleveland Brown No quarterback this time? Yeah, Derek Anderson in two thousand and seven, which was the second season in the NFL. Technically, Anderson started the year as quarterback three on the Browns depth chart, behind Charlie

Fry and rookie Brady Quinn. Yeah, Crady Quinn was a like the six player taken in the draft tenth or something like that. But those are back in those days. They wouldn't really start there. Even though they threw Tim Couch into the fire a few that was that was several years before, but uh Fry was clearly not the guy.

He was benched after Week one. He was actually traded a couple days later to the Seahawks, I believe, and the Browns didn't want to turn to Quinn yet, so they turned to Derek Anderson in Week two, where he went on to lead the Cleveland Browns to victory by throwing three hundred and twenty eight yards and five touchdown pass He further went on that season to throw from nearly thirty eight hundred yards and twenty nine touchdowns finished

as quarterback six that year, the Browns almost made the playoffs. They were winning games with Derek Anderson, but sadly, Anderson did not turn out to be Kurt Warner two point zero. He did say in the league for eleven more years, but mostly as a backup. He threw just twenty six touchdown passes from two thousand in an eight to twenty eighteen for retiring, but two thousand and seven We'll never forget you, Derek Anderson. Magical, magical year for Cleveland. Yeah man,

the Browns again tortured fan base. A quick um Tim Couch story for you back in our magazine days. So this is uh said Christmas have been in the late nineties. I would guess we had different players that would put on the covers of our magazine based on where we were selling. That you know, where we were going to sell. And Cleveland is a fantastic fantasy market and so is Ohio generally, and so we needed a Browns player, but there were no good Browns players. So that was in

those Tim Couch's rookie year. That's when Cleveland was an expansion team, Yes, because they went to they became the Ravens, the original and this might have been this might have been the expansion This might have been the expansion year. And I sort of like, well, who do we put on? So we put we have Tim Couch on the cover. Actually, one of our summer magazine watched the thing about Tim brown So I know Tim Couch. Sorry, that was his

rookie year. Was the first year of the new Browns. Yeah, anyway, yes, yep, so I think that was the year that we yeah, that we had Tim Couch. Somewhere in my basement, I probably got a Tim Couch cover Fantasy Football Weekly, but I won't go too into detail. But he got a raw deal. He got thrown in way too early. Yeah, I think Ty Detmer was the starting quarterback, but they he got hurt and they went to Couch and it

was an expansion team. In right waited. He was a number one overall pick and he ended up getting hurt in. He could have had a lot better career if he did not get drafted by Cleveland. Oh for sure. Yeah, I'm thinking of The Texans did the exact same thing with um uh yeah, Derek Carr, dere David Carry exactly exactly same story. Um you know, if they had they just rested him for you know, a year or whatever that then he could have been the quarterback future. Yeah,

he started the very first game. I remember why it For some reason they played the Cowboys. The Texans played the Cowboys. I don't know why. I remember watching that game. David Carr absorbed I did I talied it up. He absorbed one thousand, eight hundred and seventy two sacks in his career. Honorable mentioned real quick Mike Furrey two thousand and well, wait, I'm not I still have a guy left.

Oh my bed, I still have a guy left in our in our one hit wonder draft this match Shob match Shab one year led the NFL in completions and yards and had a season in which he scored twenty nine passing touchdowns and I think he ran in one or two as well. He's threw for more yards than and this isn't in their prime Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning fourth almost five thousand, four thousand, eight hundred yards for Matt Shab one season when he was

the quarterback of Houston Texas. You got a Houston Texans well done. He was there for a long time. Now, Matt Shob credit him this. You know how long he was in the league. That earned him a pretty big contract was Atlanta. After he did he started and finished with the Falcons. That book ended his career. How many years at least ten, sixteen year career for mattch Job. Sixteen years just takes one hit. You set for life,

it really does. Although if you can be just be on roster for sixteen years making the veteran minimum, you're set for life at that point. Um. Yeah, So it was a it was a magical season for Matt Job, who never got near any of those numbers again. You mentioned honorable mentions. You mentioned Mike Furrey, the old Detroit Lions received that two thousand and six and he got he got his way into the league through the Arena League, kind of like Kurt Warner get like fifty touchdowns one years.

That caught the NFL as I. But in two thousand and six with Detroit ninety eight catches, one thousand and eighty six yards and six touchdowns, they went on to draft a guy named Calvin Johnson the next year. So I think that kind of put in in the rearview. And Brandon Stokely in oh four and you know that's prime Manning Marvin Harrison rechid days. But he had sixty eight for one thousand and seventy seven yards and ten touchdowns. He was a wow. That was That is a good one.

That was a great year to have Peyton Manning on your fans. All right, so let's talk about guys from last year that could someday appear on this list as one hit wonders. Before we do that really quick, the valuable one of the main takeaways other than what we're going to talk about two is just pay attention to the waiver wire the first week or two season. I can see these things get all these guys. So this is a long time debate inside the fan ball offices.

Was always overreact or underreact to Week one. I've always been an overreac I'd I'd rather, I'd rather, I'd rather be wrong. And because there are just things that pop up and you can Week one that you never saw coming, and a lot of times it's legit. Okay, uh candidates to appear on this list, and from last year, I'll go first. Good Devanta Smith put up a really good years wide receiver eight last season, but I don't know that that's replicable. And it's not because he's not a

good receiver. He is a good receiver. AJ Brown's a better receiver. Dallas Goddard is a key part of that offense. They will continue to run like crazy. And where I really think Devanta Smith, with this frail little body, these toothpick legs and arms, I don't think he's going to be a reliable touchdown score. I think that guy. I think I think he's got like four touchdown downside to him.

If if things don't break right for DeVonta Smith and that gives him I think the possibility of never having another season where he's sitting at wide receiver eight like he did last year. I can see it, hopefully not. This was actually the pull names from for this because really there is no one quite like any of the players we mentioned. Well, I think my next guy has got a very good candidate, is a very good candidate

to be a one hit. Well, I'll throw out one real quick, and it's Daniel Jones, who before last year was viewed as a wasted draft pick, a bust. Yeah, you know, total mistake by my old friend Dave Gettleman. But last year he was easily getting drafted outside the top twenty quarterbacks. We mentioned him last week. He finished quarterback six or seven solely based on his legs really, but I don't know. We'll see if he can continue

this success. They've added Darred Waller, which is nice. But one factor I hate to throw out there is he got the bag. He got the big bag of this offseason. We've seen the big money demotivate people. I don't think Daniel he certainly can finish as a top eight quarterback again, but there's a chance that he just is relegated back to that quarterback fifteen to twenty arrange and just never quite puts up the numbers like he did in twenty twenty two. My guy also got paid this offseason, but

I don't think it's gonna go to his head. I don't think he's gonna be somebody's gonna get paid and relax. I don't think he's that kind of person, Gino Smith. But we got to acknowledge that last year was so far out of bounds for everything we've ever seen in the history of Gino Smith. Well, most people thought Drew

Locke was gonna win the job. I think the Seahawks might have thought Drew Locke was gonna because they had Drew lock in that trade forty three hundred passing yards, thirty passing touchdowns, and he chipped in some non trivial rushing as well. He gave you a three hundred sixty six rushing yards and a rushing touchdown for Gino Smith. I can't see a scenario coming where you're gonna end up with another season this good for Gino Smith and I for his sack. I hope. So it's a crazy

good story. But he was quarterback eight last year. I just I can't see him finishing like that. Again, it just seems it seems incredibly improbable, depending your scoring system. By the way, some scoring systems like yahoos. He was quarter five last year, well, he had at least two or three passing touchdowns and all but five games five or seventeen games, maybe two or three, so twelve games of two and then he only had two games with out a passing touchdown against the Niners and Arizona that

which was inexplicable. But yeah, crazy consistent out of nowhere, right, Um, you know he had. He got drafted in twenty thirteen by the Jets, thrown into his rookie year. He got thrown to the Wolves and they know they tried him and it didn't work out. Zone players were punching him. Yeah, remember that got literally punching him. He broke his jaw.

I don't remember who the guy was, but he had from twenty thirteen up two up in two last year, up to last year, Gino Smith had scored thirty four touchdowns. He scored thirty one last year in one season, so you know, maybe he could. I hope, I hope it doesn't work out that way, but you have to acknowledge that it's such an outlier that there's a chance that last year is gonna gonna be the exception for Geno Smith. It's possible, but like you, I hope, I hope it

doesn't happen. Stay tuned Fantasy Football Weekly, and by stay tuned, I guess it just means m Monday, look for a Fantasy Football Weekly Micro edition deep dive on one player. It's pretty much a daily hit this Monday through Thursday. We're trying to do these um and you got the Big show on Friday, got the Big Show on Friday. Yeah, it's very exciting. So we'll do a deep dive in a variety of different players Monday through Thursday. Let us know what you think of that and we'll talk to you.

If not, then then the following Friday. As we start turning our attention more and more to the draft, as a draft gets closer, we'll be breaking down more rookies. We're all over Damian Pierce at about this time last year. We'll tell you if we found our new Damian Pierson, whether or not that is Tank bigsby next week. Your newest crush, my new crush so far with the right, I reserve the right to change my mind, okay, because it's it's it's it's April, right, so you know, we

can we get to change our mind. Landing spot certainly matter. It makes a huge, huge difference, so you know, we'll see how this works out. But right now, I'm very intrigued by Tank Bigsby, Doctor Week, Everybody, Bye Bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.