Super Bowl Updates, 49ers Future Coach, Brandon Marshall

the fantasy free style. You win championships with that fantasy free style. You already know what it is. It's your boy, Rocks at your voice, Speeds, dropping stats over beats is the fantasy freestyle. Fantasy Sports Radio Network, Rocks and Speeds, we're gonna be holding you down in that little interim first week Rocks in about four and a half months where there is no football. What are we gonna do. It's a really really sad, sad sad weekends coming up.

But what I will say is that every single time me and Speeds get together there to give you what you need to win your league and win that catch. It's essentially a skills competition. I'm flexing here live in a story of Queen's. My man is up in Washington Heights flexing on him. And we're gonna give you some

stuff to keep you focused on the prize ahead. And whether that may be some news and notes from baseball, or whether it's making sure you really took home everything you needed to know from the football season this year to get yourself ready for next year's draft. We got you your speech, give me a ballpark about how long until pitchers and catchers report right around Valentine's Day? But um check it out one person. Unfortunately, the fantasy freestyle, we need to give rest in peace for a little

bit out. You're done. Ventura Rocks you mentioned, were doing that baseball and football at the same time. Tragically over the weekend, killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. And he's not alone. Also Andy Marte, third baseman, utility guy, also in a separate car crash, killed in the Dominican Republic. You also remember, like a year and a half ago, hospered to Vera's also killed in the Cardinals prospects in the Dominican Republic. So many going on, and we were

talking about it before Roger Don't Eventora. He of the hundred mile an hour fastball, but a sword in past, you know, the electric stuff, but also triggering a few bench bench clearing brawls. Yeah, he was definitely someone that you got a sense was really having trouble maybe controlling his emotions, but played with so much passion. He was a sort of player that you could tell that his

teammates really really liked. But sometimes, you know, maybe he might have someone pulling him aside in the dugout and saying, man, you can't really be doing that still does. The Kansas City Royals definitely wrapped their arms around him. I mean, this is a guy who drilled Manny Machado, Adam eating uh, Mike Trout and others to to start roles. But you're right, the Kansas City Royals, like, you know, kind of really

cared about him. It's is in general manager said that you know this firstson so much because they were working with this kid. But I will say, James like this kid with thirty nine wins over the three seasons when he was there. That is when the Royals went to the playoffs, even winning the World Series. Remember him Game six of the World Series pitching seven shutout innings. Yeah, that's that's obviously going to go down as the best

start in his short career. And you know, he put up great numbers in in the two thousand and fourteen seasons, took a couple of steps back in the years following that, but he was definitely still someone who was young in his mid you know, mid twenties, had a plenty of time to figure it out and really see if he could have developed into that consistent top of the rotation starter.

So our heart goes out to his family, you know, pending the toxicology report, will be really interesting to see whether or not his family gets the rest of the guarantee heed money on his contrattract as it seems like it's a stand there clause written in that, you know, if you happen to die as a result of a car accident or any other accident where you may be intoxicated.

We obviously don't know that yet. Uh, the contract does not pay out, So for the sake of his family, I certainly hope that that that it was just a terrible accident. And one thing I did notice when he was back in his native Dominican, he always did go and spend time and coach with his youth team, So it seemed like he was someone who was really into giving back during the off season. And her heart certainly goes out to his royal family and his family out

in the Dominican no doubt, no doubt. It makes me also think Rocks. As I mentioned before, there was um, you know a lot of Latin ballplayers and and all the times that we're talking about them are remembering them. We talked about this passion, this enthusiasm, this giving back, this joy kind of that they played the game with. And it makes me also think, man, about these unwritten

rules of baseball. You know, Um, some of the things like that guys like ya C. L. Puig Uh you know get kind of uh kind of kind of talk smack about. And also things like the bat flip of Joey Batista and things like that. You know. But yet I saw Many Ramirez last week in Taiwan hit his hit another home run out there. He's out there playing in Taiwan, and and and that's just Many me. Many, that's the that's the incredible excitable joy. And they also flip their bats out there in in the in the

far in the Far East, in the Pacific. You know. So here's what I'm thinking. Here's what I'm thinking, Rocks. There is the World Baseball Classic coming up in in March. You know how like it used to be the All Star Game, it was like this time it counts from home field advantage. I think of the World Baseball Classic should be for the unwritten rules of baseball. So if the Dominican team wins the World Baseball Classic, then the global world has to adopt the cultural elements of the

Dominican Baseball game. And then like, we're gonna see all sorts of interesting things, and if it's the Japanese team, it'll be all sorts of other things. So we'll go to rotation, will have the nets up in the stadiums. You know what I'm saying, We'll have the thundersticks everywhere the Yeah, absolutely absolutely, that's what I think we can. We should. That's the one way to settle the under rules of baseball. At this time, it counts w B

STO what do you think? That's an interesting idea? Certainly, I do think that though a lot of times to w BC is an is an opportunity for for teams to maybe show off the supremacy of the way that they not only just the talent that they have, but the way that they treat the game, whether having having pictures throw three pitches a day or whatever like they do in Japan, or mabing, bunting guys across over things of that nature, the finer points of the game, how

they manage their teams, for sure. But I do think though that you know that some of the exuberants that you talked about and the obvious love for the game, you know, speaking of Manny in his in his mid forties, still part of at a baseball He's planning for the love right now, and I think that that's something that's

something you can't diminish. And a lot of times I feel like it's construed as showing someone up or trying to big dog it, but really it's like, you know, it's the sort of thing that we take for granted in sports like football, where you know, you spike the football, you maybe do a little dance. You're not showing up your opponent. You're so lebrating all those hours you practice, all those years you know you you you were playing, you were trying to hope to get an opportunity in

the Major League. So you know, I'm maybe, uh, I'm a little bit of a younger guy than some of these people in the you know, the baseball writers out there that are voting on the Hall of Fame and and all that stuff. So it's never really bothered me. And you know, speed just just going back. You know, twenty five years people hated Can Griffe Jr. Because he lost hat backwards. Ken Griffey Jr. I think we can

all agree was a complete class act. But the fact that he had the nerve to wear his hat backwards, violating one of the unwritten rules of which way the brim was supposed to face, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. And I think it's just part of the way that our country and our world continues to evolve and we continue to accept viewpoints that maybe very a little further from the traditional that we grew up knowing,

no doubt, no doubt. Let's keep it moving though. You know, despite the fact that there is no football this week, we all getting geared up for Super Bowl fifty one, the Atlanta Falcons and the Noidaly Patriots. Right now, the Patriots are minus three. I wanna go over. Obviously, these guys are going to play in the Super Bowl, but interesting to see that all week Julio Jones will not practice.

They're gonna manage his rep because of those foots and if you know, because of his foot injuries, those ligament injuries. He's been dealing with a lot of pain. But I'll tell you what, sign me up for having to deal with that much pain and putting forth that kind of performance that he put forth in the NMC Championship. Also very interesting to see Alex Mack, who I have been touting as the glue of that offensive line, he had a little bit of an ankle injury. Um, he's not

gonna practice all week. Um, but obviously those guys will play on the Patriots side. The one thing I would want to point out, they've revealed that the Black Unicorn has been playing for the last few months with a cracked bone in his ankle. He's obviously gonna play as well. Rocks you think, Um, are there any injuries you want to talk about, any early looks at how this might impact the game. I mean, Julio's obviously gonna tour do all him up right, Yeah, I think he's gonna be fine.

I think Alex mcken who who did come back into the game after he suffered but looked like it could have been a really serious injury, came back. But you know, I want are you're bringing up the Martellis Bennett black Unicorn injury and that was not something that ever showed up on the injury report. If I'm wrong, listen, listen, listen. I'm glad you mentioned that, rock because we gotta get into this. We'll talk about the black Unicorn as an example.

Remember last week how Richard Sherman and uh, you know, the the Arrow admitted that he had this m but it wasn't on it, but it wasn't on the injury report. So thus maybe they're getting docked the second round pick. Well, I am very very intrigued that this week a team that was eliminated was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we found out after that game that the Pittsburgh Steelers knew about

Levy on Bell's groin injury before that. Mike Tomlin this week was very careful about the words that he used to describe the injury with leby On bells very very cautious to say that it was not significant. That's the exact same verbiage that Lee that reads in the league rules about being like a violation. So I don't know what the Patriots did or did not say with Martella's Bennett. My guess would be that they followed the rules but

did not disclose much information. What do you think because now that the data phill has stop themselves a kind of a hole here, they now kind of if they're gonna punish Seahawks, they kind of have to punish the Steelers also, do they really want to get into this? Uh? You know, I mean, it's one of those things that I think that there needs to be parody, and it's one of the things the NFL has always struggled with.

I also think that having these kind of hard and fast rules with things that maybe it's it's something that a player says to a coach after they're eliminated. You know, man, my knee has really been jacked up for the last you know, last eight weeks because they about it. Yeah, that's a fair point. But you also, you know, some of these coaches, uh, they do a little bit of coach speak, and sometimes I feel like they get caught out there just kind of trying to be a little

bit innocuous. I think the Pete Carroll thing with Richard Sherman is a little bit of a bigger deal because he was not nearly as guarded in his comments. Um, And I also think it's it's one thing that the Patriots you mentioned maybe going by the letter of the law, but they've forever been playing games with the injury report more so than any team in the league. You've actually seen a lot of other teams who have not nearly come close to matching the Patriot success try to kind

of imitate what they do. Listing a million guys as it used to be questionable, now it's maybe as probable or limited in practice, uh, you know, the practice portion

of practice that's open to the media. So to me, I mean, it's really the people that lose in this situation is the fantasy sports players, and that's our audience here and the American betting public who's out there trying to make these decisions based on all the available information and come to find out that the information that we're

getting is incomplete, if not downright misleading. So it's just another issue that Roger Goodell, let's say, has failed to show a consistent approach to and has failed to show leadership on Okay, okay, we move from one Pittsburgh Steelers running back in Levy on Belt to an underreported story that I think could be interesting. Hey, Rocks, you remember Carlos Williams. Well, it seems like Pittsburgh Steelers have signed Carlos Williams to a deal for next year, which I

think is very very interesting. And here's why. Um, if you remember the Pittzog Steelers had not one, but two different games when Chris Boswell had six field goals and they said that they could and they struggled in the red zone. Carl Loles Williams is the kind of back who could really actually help them in that kind of red zone goal line situation. Remember he blew up to whatever it was too much six five pounds as a you know, eating bond bonds with empathy pains with his

pregnant girlfriend or whatever it was. And then there was definitely some other things going on as well. But I think this is under report. It could this be the uh, the exact the lick, sir, the Steelers might need with D'Angelo Williams not getting any younger for next year. Uh. You know, it's interesting because Carlos Williams, he did score seven touchdowns as a rookie on the Bills in two thou fifteen, was entirely out of the league last year,

blew up, and then he got suspended. I think he's actually going to be suspended for the first two games of the Sea And I think that this is more maybe insurance for D'Angelo Williams. But the thing is, if I am the Pittsburgh Steelers, I don't want to knucklehead running backs on my roster. Yeah, you know, I mean you might see you might see another one of those uh you know, La Garrett Blunt situations where they're popped together. Even so, you know, it's certainly and it's interesting. He

obviously has the skills to play in the NFL. The issue is really is his head screwed on straight? But he is, you know, he is a guy that looks like he's got a nose for the goal line. And while Levian Bell has been completely dominant, you certainly can't ignore that the Steelers as a team excel at scoring long touchdowns but have struggled in that red zone, particularly as you said, when it counted the most. So it's

definitely something to keep an eye on. I also that would not be at all surprised if he flamed out in camp or just showed up overweight again. I don't know, I don't know. I don't know if his girlfriend had the baby or not. But you know, I bet that there's plenty of plenty of women who would be happy to to to eat some bond bonds with him in the offseason. Yeah, you know, as we keep it moving here, Rocks. You know what else is happening in this off week

between the championship games and the Super Bowl. It see, it is once again legal for coaches on these teams to have interviews, and in the worst kept secret in the NFL, Kyle Shanahan will have his second interview with the only team left to fill their head coaching situation, the San Francisco forty Niners. I've been saying it both here on the Fantasy Freestyle and on shot callers on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network that Kyle Shanahan was the

fit for the San Francisco forty Niners. I like that job originally because they were gonna maybe be able to come in with a GM, But now it looks like Cops Hanhan is just gonna be the guy. Even before his duties with the Atlanta Falcons going into Super Bowl fifty one, he is going to have his second interview with the Niners this weekend. That's the called shot from

Speed spins that decision. But what I find interesting, Rocks that I want to get your take on, is we've also getting reports that the forty nine ers maybe someone who quote unquote goes hard after Kirk Cousins, if by any way, shape or form he becomes out there right.

And I just think this is important to know because Coyle Shanahan did have him as their offensive coordinator quarterbacks coach with the Washington football team and basically has developed Cousins into something that now Washington likes because they now like that see any possible connecting of the data, Rocks, It's it's certainly interesting. I think that the the Washington football team is definitely saying that they're open to a

long term deal with Kirk Cousins. They've also indicated that in an absolute worst case scenario that they that they might just tag him again. And you know, Kirk Cousins, you know, hey, who is he to turn down twenty four million dollars. I don't know if I'm Kyle Shanahan, though, I'm just not sure going from a team that has a winning culture, you know, going from a team that that will at the very least be competing in the

Super Bowl to completely dysfunctional forty Niners organization. And you know, Jed York, the CEO of the really not someone who has a very good reputation. Um, you know, Arthur Blank seems like a pretty well liked guy out there in Atlanta. You know, I'm not really sure if that's if this is as much of a done deal. I mean, it's certainly one of those where there's smoke, there's fire, and

it's been happening all off season. But if I was Kyle Shanahan, you know, every once in a while, it pays to wait a few more years before you get your feet wet and try and take on one of these big rebuilding efforts, because it could really damage your reputation in the league for years to come. I don't know, we do. I smell a gentleman's pet rocks, uh, you know, I mean, I'm gonna need some sort of crop odds here because he definitely is the odds on favorite. And

I'll give you two props. I'll give you two props. You give me one prop to odd all right, I'll take it. I'll take it. Kyle Shanahan, don't do it interestingly enough. Let's you know what do if do you think he is more or less likely to go somewhere else if they win or lose the game. I think he's more likely to jump the ship if they win, because then he will he will always have on his resume, He'll always have on his resume that he was you know, he was the the o C on the Super Bowl

winning Atlanta Falcons offense. And you know, we may well be looking at peak Matt Ryan right now and that's what he'll always be remembered for. Um. Whereas if they lose, he's you know, he's going to be in a good situation exactly. And you know, hey, there's worst things you could do then come back to an offense it's got Julio Jones, Devanta Freeman, and Tevin Coleman with Matt Ryan

playing quarterback, no doubt. You know, when we come back on the Fantasy Freestyle, Hey, Rocks, We're really excited because one of our biggest listeners we had a chance to interview. You've been listening to the Fantasy Freestyle for a while now and did pretty good. We're gonna find out if we were, in fact the key to his success had more a little bit more when we come back. Then later on, we're gonna do our flagship segments. This time,

we wanted season awards for the wide receiver position. Rocks and Speeds will be dropping stats over the beats about the wide receiver positions, letting you know who are diamonds, who are games flu genius, and who who are fantasy food gazies. Get about Yo, that's what's gonna happen. We got Maddie g And to build them when we come back, dropping stats over beats. It's the Fantasy Freestyle on the award winning Fantasy Sports Radio Network, Mantle full of trophies.

I want winners. I want people that want to win. You cannot play with him, cannot win with him, cannot coach with him, can't do it. Yeah, you know what it is. This is Rocks and Seas dropping status repeats. It's the Fantasy Freestyle on the award winning Fantasy Sports Radio Networks. Hey, Rocks, check us out. We got a big Times interview we're about to have. If you listen

to the Fantasy Freestyle. Over the course of the last few years, you've heard Maddie g asked mad questions in the mail bag and Rocks, we've been holding that cat down right, one of the earliest proponents, one of the earliest supporters. I think the first person actually to hit us on the Gmail account at Fantasy Freestyle at gmail dot com at least one of the one of the first people outside of that Nigerian Prince scammers asking us for some tips that he could use in his local

league to win that cash exactly. And so yo, in this time we don't have in between now and the Super Bowl, we wanted to have Maddie on and be able to come on and talk about the Fantasy Freestyle, talk about what we did for him to win his league and win that cast. And we are at me and honored to have Maddie Green with us right now. So that what's up to the people, Matt what's going on out there Fantasy Freestyle people. I have fallen all

the way down the rabbit hole. I'm gone from listening to being on the podcast I'm hoping on now and listen to you guys talking and actually answer the questions. Yeah, so let's find out real quick. Let's get into it here, Maddie. UM, let me ask you this, how would you do this year? This is what I want to know. Are we an accountable source of information? It or knots? It's a little bit about your league that you were in this speeds

we've won that cash overall. So in a in an Apex league, seven hundred eighty five dollar take home on a hundred dollar entry fee is hello, you play to win the gate? Alright, alright, time coming in on just the draft strategies that you guys had the league. I've been running for myself for the last sixteen years. Finished just four points short. Uh. You know, sometimes you go against Charles Clay and Taylor Gabriel and they put up a billion points on it and and and there's nothing

you can do about that. But when that happens, I hate when that happens. But the fact that you get there, and again it's a regular season that you guys talking about. It's about getting there and being in the playoffs, and then you know what, you're gonna get into that final four and then you know, luck is gonna have a little bit to do with it. Injuries are gonna have a little bit to do with it. But it's about

getting there. And because of you guys, all four of my leagues I made the playoffs, even the one I drafted Todd Gurley and shout to that. Shout out to that. So you mentioned Todd really obviously he was he was someone that has to be characterized as a draft bust. Who were a couple of guys across your leagues that that you may have wound up on and for more

than one team. And if there was any one player that really maybe uh made a difference for you, maybe a late round sleep or a diamond and the rough that you grabbed that really helped put you over the top, Shout those guys out. You know, there's a lot of guys that have come in and it's I think it's not even just a late round like picks there. One that comes to mind definitely though, is spencer Ware. Yeah, you guys are talking about Jamala, Charles and and and

spencer Ware. If you went back to the year before the playoff run, that he did for those Chiefs. He stood out there moving against the old the shark there, Chuck Hendrick West, So I was grabbing him in a lot of leagues when if people were jumping on Jamal Charles.

And again he petered out a little bit in the playoffs, but overall for the season, He's a big reason that three of my teams did end up getting in the playoffs because I got these deep leagues where you're starting three running backs in some of them too in a flex, So having that running back that you can rely on for the touch is made a huge difference. Absolutely. If you can get a guy like Spenser where who could serve as your say R B two, you're good to

go and really deep leaves. Let me ask you this, Maddie. You know, one of the things that we try to pride ourselves here on the Fantasy pre Cell is that we dropped stats over beats. How does uh? Is that part of why you're listening to the podcast tech to me? Are you a hip hop fan? What kind of beats are we putting out there that you're bothering your head too? Huh? Well, look, man, I grew up in the Bronx and I I was class of ninety four Mount St. Michael Academy, so it's

the birthplace at nip hop Man. The one that stood out at the most is when you guys did know Allege r P and rock Him. That was one of my favorite songs of all time. And uh and hearing that on here and just just all the different you know, Biggie and Andre and Snoop and all of those just classics from you know, days gone by for me, someone who again would be classified as an o G at this point. So, um, you know that. But no, but no,

the ledged one of my all time theorists. And I heard that on one of the initial podcasts I heard you guys do and and from then on, you know, if you guys had me locked and what a great world that would be right now if Eric B was

actually president. Hello. Another thing I wanted to ask you real quick along those same lines, as we talked a lot about different draft strategies, did you follow you know, an overall draft strategy plan, you know, whether it was staying true to your board, trying to lock down an RB one or did you have it. Do you have a general strategy or you just kind of just take what the room gave you. In your leagues this season, again, one of the things you guys do definitely talk about

is knowing your rules. And the thing I love about the four different leagues is the different rules that we're going on. That was like, yeah, absolutely, you know, something wanted to definitely wait on was a quarterback and in years passed ive than the type that that kind of wanted that that you know, like I think speech says you said it and forget it. Um, you know, I

like to have that. But this year, you know, you look over the stats and you hear what you guys are talking about, and and waiting on the quarterback is something that definitely made a difference by stacking those running backs and wide receiver especially not with back in the day, it wasn't always PPR. Now every where you look PPR, half point PPR. These are things that are there and you have to take that into account when you're drafting. Hey,

are you playing any daily fantasy? Also? You know, Maddie, what else you're getting into and fan in football? You're playing fantasy baseball? Also what fantasy baseball? Man? Fantasy baseball is probably something I know even better than the fantasy football side. Okay, okay, I did my toe in the in the in the in the Daily Fantasy. But when all that information came out about the shark dow, I'm an old school poker player, and the last thing I thought I wanted to be going down. Yeah, it got

down though those sites like the poker games. Oh man, it took away my bread and butter. I was paying the rent a little bit there, man, and the world got a lot smaller after all that went down. Um So, I mean I listened to you guys talk about Daily Fantasy, and I think, you know, maybe next year I want to jump in. I know you guys have those uh those leagues going right now, and I think that's something that I'm gonna probably give a try to. And I think you meet your guy's advice though, to help me

get through that. We should be holding you down for sure. Hey, you know, I just got a couple of more questions for you. Matt. Once again, thanks so much for coming on this edition of the Fantasy Freestyle and help us drop stats over beats. We love one of our listeners. Come on, you could always holler at us at Fantasy Freestyle. Had Gene mail you can get us on the Fantasy freestyle on Twitter. Leave off the last eve. We don't

make any errors on the Fantasy freestyle. Um later on in our episode, we're gonna be doing our diamonds and our food gazes for the wide receiver position. Hey, Matt, you obviously know what you're talking about. You listen to us. After all, who would be your diamond and your food gaze at the wide receiver position for this last season? You gotta stuff start off with the biggest foo gaze. I had so in my in my two quarterback league where we start four wide receivers. There, I am sitting there.

There's been there's some keepers that were involved in that too, but I'm sitting there looking at Keenan Allen and left Bell PPR. I went with Keenan Allen and in that first half, what did it have? It catches already. I know about that. I was gonna be a big year. I lost a couple of leagues on the strength of Keenan Allen being my my first round pick late in the first round. Uh. Hey, I hope he, I hope he comes back stronger than ever this year. But he

did give. He did give Tyrrell Williams, who I might be talking about a little bit later, a chance to shine in that San Diego offense. And on the plus side, there who was someone that shined for you that you maybe have gotten at a later round, someone that maybe the rest of your opponents overlooked in at the wide receiver position. Well, yeah, this was a little bit more on on the luck side of things that I've had Julio Jones as a keeper and a huge value on

that one. So you know, watching him this year finally stay healthy for the most part um and obviously see what he's done in the playoffs so far, you know he's somebody there. And again strategy wise, and then thinking in these other deeper leagues where there's keepers involved in things like that, drafting late and getting guys that you might be able to grab with value and then watching

them shine forever after that. Like David Johnson's another example of matter, someone I drafted the year before, all of a sudden he comes around as a keeper and I didn't even need to look at his stat line because I knew what it was going to be every week. Yeah. Absolutely, Hey, yo, Mattie, thanks so much for coming on man, we really really appreciate it. It Uh. It sounds like we may need to come back to you as we get ready for

the baseball season. Huh, you big, big Fantasy baseball. You got any early thoughts about the baseball season because you know it turns over real quick. Pitchers and catchers are about to report you like, Uh, do you like focusing on power? Do you like focusing on getting your starting pictures? What do you think about starting pitchers in this day and age of Tommy John surgeries? Wait, wait and then

wait some more on those starting pictures? Now, I can definitely subscribe to the idea, depending on again, if you're doing head to head, are you doing points? Are you're doing rhodo of grabbing that one stud early on? But you're looking at eight or nine rounds one maybe two starting pitchers at most, fill up all those position guys that you know we're gonna roll out there every day and avoid the guys whose arm is gonna fall off. Maybe ask you. I'm gonna ask you one more quick

baseball question. Brian, does your first round pick forty something? Chance? No way, no way. Look at that first half that he had last year before he exploded there. You never know what type of slow start he's gonna get into

in the out there at the target field. I like that, Maddie g telling everybody about the recentcy bias, don't overreact, and certainly hitting some of those main fantasy freestyle mantras on the football side to know your settings and to certainly wait on the quarterback position while you stack those running backs and those wide receivers. Yo, Maddie, thank you very much for listening. We really do truly appreciate it, and thank you so much for coming on the show

and representing Yo. Me and Speeds are gonna be back in a little while to break down our game flow geniuses, Diamonds in the roof and more fool gazes at the wide receiver position. But we're not gonna forget about you. We're gonna be holding you down all baseball season long, and we'd love to have you back on the show in the near future. I can't wait to come back down here in the rabbit hole one more time. Hey, O man, just before you go, can we get you

to say forget about it? Forget about it trapping that's over beats, it's the fantasy freestyle. How do you notice the gazing. We looked at it, Fonds, what is a fake? Hey, I know what the fla now if you want to crown them, they crowned their heads. But they are who we thought they were, and we got about the hook. You know what's good? Glat your boy Rocks here with my man Speeds on the Fantasy Freestyle on the award

winning Fantasy Sports Radio Network. We're going to continue a segment we've been doing for the last couple of weeks where we break down the year end performances at the positions through the lens of our superlatives that's the diamonds in the rough, Fantasy fool gazes and game flow geniuses.

And we are now on the wide receiver position. We saved the best for last because if you were listening to Rocks and Speeds in the off season, you know that we were constantly telling you, particularly in PPR leagues, particularly in leagues, to start three wide receivers and have a flex that you're gonna be a step up on the competition if you hit that wide receiver position early and often. And me and Speeds did that end. We

hit it hard. You just heard from Mattie g talking about how Julio Jones helped win him some leagues, and I just want to say the top three wide receivers who were widely regarded as the top tier at the position, Antonio Brown did nothing other than finish as the number one overall wide receiver in PPR for the third year

in a row. That's what you wanted. Odell Beckham, despite all the historianics, despite all the complaining, despite the funny hair, was the number for wide receiver overall in PPR leagues. That's what you paid for. Jones. Julio Jones even hoveled at the end of the season, missing some games waiting for that playoff push where he's absolutely exploded, destroying the Green Bay Packers secondary. Last week. He finished as the number six overall wide Julio and only playing fourteen games

to do so, which is incredible. And there's just simply a lower bust rate at the wide receiver position than a lot of those other positions, particularly running back, where you might want to you might be tempted to use in early, early, early first round pick on a stud running back only to see him be a fool gaze. That's not to say, however, that top tier wide receivers

were completely immune to being fool gazes. And we're gonna get into that inefit but speeds, I know you and I were all over the wide receiver position in the preseason, sharing our rankings, telling people to know they're setting and if they were in those PPR leagues those half PPR leagues, to hit them early, and also pointing out guys that we thought we're gonna pop pop all. So let's start with the diamonds, who were a couple of diamonds in the rough for you at the wide receiver position that

helped teams win their leagues in two thousand sixteen. You know, for sure, one diamond I gotta give you right off the bat was my man TP three Toorell Prior. And you know I want to give a shout out to this guy anyway, because you know he fully embraced the change to the wide receiver positions, and he did so

in a big way. This guy wound up wide receiver nineteen, wound up over a thousand receiving yards, a thousand and seven receiving yards, seventy seven catches, and four touchdowns, and really, to be quite honest, was the only bright spot of the Cleveland Browns all season long. They are now actually staying out there in Cleveland that they are likely to franchise tag to Rell Prior, which means us what he

gonna get paid one way or the other. So shout out to Terrell Prior because he chains resiant, embraced it. Had a great season. And I know if you drafted him, you didn't draft him to be your wide receiver too. But look what you found an actual wide receiver too that went to Ohio State. You don't actually get many of those, except for another diamond that I know you may want to talk about from your New Orleans Saints a little bit later on Rocks. But my first diamond

at the wide receiver position Terrell Prior, senior. Yeah, man, Terrell Prior was an early member of the transition team this season, making that switch from quarterback to wide receiver and doing well. As you said, correctly, my diamond in the rock, my first one is a wide receiver at an os U and he was actually a second round pick that the Saints made sure they could secure. Of course, I am talking about Michael Thomas. He was one of two Saints wide receiver verse in the top ten in

PPR leagues. I was actually not that high on Michael Thomas going into the season, only because I thought that Willie Snead was not going to give up that number two wide receiver role for a while. I had higher hopes for Kobe Fleener than he actually wound up with. But boy was I wrong. In only fifteen games, Michael Thomas posted a ninety two catch season. He wound up

over eleven hundred yards, and he scored nine touchdowns. That was good for the seventh overall in PPR, and he was far and away the best of the rookie class in year one. He was so consistent. His only bad game was one against Denver where he fumbled the ball twice, but he showed maturity. He earned Drew Brees trust at a time when other people who've been in the league

like Kobe Creener, could not. He was a playmaker. He had at least four catches for forty yards in every game of the season, and that's a nice little floor. He also had two games with more than ten catches and two other games with two touchdowns, showing that nice high sheiling. He was a threat in the red zone, and unlike Brandon Cooks. He was actually slightly more effective

on the road than he was in the Dome. All of that is not bad at all for a wide receiver that Yahoo had ranked fIF three and their preseason PPR settings. I don't know. I'm gonna ask you, real quicker Michael Thomas legit wide receiver number one in drafts next season, listen, I think, um, maybe, but we have so far to go until next season, and I actually think the New Orleans Saints could be a team in some flux. I don't know exactly what role he will

be playing on that offense. I don't know what's going to be around him. He definitely has the talent, and if you assume that there's you know, if he's the guy who's going to get the majority of if it's Drew Brees is five thousand yards, then I'm sure. But they're not necessarily a team I want to project too far into the future in uh with some of the

guys they still have. But yeah, I mean the town, it is there, and he's supposted red zone target better than like you said, Kobe Fleaner, So he's definitely on the cut of their white out one take no doubt, no doubt, I'm gonna keep it moving. My second Diamonds is actually from the other duo in the league that had two wide receivers in the top ten PPR. I kind of considered going with Jordy here because he just

really came back and put it in everyone's eye. But I'm going, oh, he's I'm going with Davante Adams here though. Adams and Jordan Nelson, Like I said, second duo in the top ten, and no one saw this coming. For Davante Adams, he had a horrible two thousand fifteen, really like they needed him to step up with Jordy out, and he did absolutely nothing. You know, the offense was

in shambles. Aaron Rodgers couldn't seem to get into as much of a rhythm as he had been in years passed and Davante adams inability to step up was as much of a reason. I was shocked. They even said that they were going to give him a blank slate going into the off season, and you know what, he came through in a big, big way, seventy five catches, a thousand yards and twelve touchdowns. He was rated the overall wide receiver by Yahoo in the preseason in PPR

and he popped off as the number nine. He was undrafted in most leagues, and it took a while for him to get there with the yards and the catches, but he showed us a little glimpse of that potential early in the season, scoring two touchdowns in the first three weeks, and he was a reliable TV score all year long. He had three two touchdown games, which is really really awesome for his ceiling, and he also went over ten catches twice back to back weeks in the

middle of the season. He earned Aaron Rodgers trust and you could tell that in the playoffs went down the stretch. He had two touchdown catches in the three playoff games. He was a difference maker on the team. And whether you picked him up early after he started popping those touchdowns, or whether you happened to snag him in drafts or hold on to him for just one more year in a keeper or dynasty leagues, what you wound up with was a fantasy difference maker who was at the diamond

in the rock AO speech. Who else shine for you this season? For Shureo And you remember we just had Maddie Green on with us before in the last segment, and he mentioned that his fool gazy was Keenan Allen. Right, and so one man's one man's trash is another man's opportunity. There's a very very uh you know, commonly used phrase

in the NFL, which is like next man up. And in that situation where Keenan Allen was the fool gazy, if you happen to have a top waiver priority after Week one of the NFL season, you might have been able to grab the wide receiver I believe eighteen or nineteen or twenty in the NFL and fantasy this year, and that was at of Santiego. Now the l H Chargers, tie Rell Williams. This is a guy who was also over a thousand yards receiving ten ten fifty nine, got

seven touchdowns. This guy evolved into Philip Rivers is big play threat. There were a number of games this year where Tyrell Williams was the guy deep and to be quite honest, I don't think that role changes even if Keenan Allen is back next year. These guys now moving to Los Angeles, I think that offense predicated with Melvin Gordon coming back Keenan Allen coming back, albeit a declining Philip Rivers, I think Tyrrell Williams becomes a very important

weapon no matter what. And I see Tyrell Williams even with Keenan Allen as a wild low wide out, too high wide out three next season, and he was a diamond in the rough for me because you wouldn't have thought it. I remember early in the season a week one, my boy Frankie standfull on Fantasy First Book. Also on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network, they did a whole kind of like game on a segment like which Chargers receiver

will it be to step up? And they were talking about Benjamin and Tyrelle Williams, and there there was a actual conversation in week one about who would it be that would come up in this situation. So if you thought it was Tyrolle Williams and grabbed him early, he probably helped you win your league and win that cash. You know, Speeds, I agree with you. And this is a guy who was undrafted coming into his second year after he did basically nothing, and you know this is

a guy you had him as a diamond. He was someone I was gonna shout out as a game flow genius because the Chargers were trailing a lot, and the Chargers also played a lot of back and forth in the fourth quarter of the season, seemed to wind up

always losing. But you know, he had forty catches for six hundred yards and four touchdowns in the second half, So he was also a guy if you thought the Chargers might be down big, you could probably predict with a pretty high degree of certainty when he was gonna pop pop pop off. Moving from the diamonds to the game flow geniuses, you know, at the wide receiver position, it's so easy sometimes to rack up a lot of catches a lot of points late in games when you're

down big, playing against a prevent defense. And it's also sometimes you know, when you've got a quarterback who just loves to chuck it up and maybe the running game is not working. You know, you can maybe start to predict some of those targets, and particularly in daily fantasy,

try to profit from that. Are there a couple of people that that you kind of feel like season long or gameflow geniuses and maybe really made a difference as far as that's concerned based on the game flow, Sure, but I'm gonna go in one way that you would not expect because as you were saying, Rocks, when you say game flow, you think about these teams that are throwing the ball. You might even remember previously I was talking about these different types of offenses. You know, my man,

Jim Bob Cooder. But for my first game flow genius, I'm gonna go away you do not think, and that is my man. I re kill the game flow of the Kansas City Chiefs. May tire Hill a game flow genius. This is a guy who was used in double screens and tunnel screens. This was a guy who was in the backfield on running plays and that was the Kansas City Chiefs game flow. This was a guy who was, you know, taking Wildcats snaps and the game flow you

never think about it. But the game flow also involves the special teams, and Tyreek Hill is not only my game flow genius at the wide receiver position, but has to be the fantasy m v P as it relates to special teams for this season with three return touchdowns, so in a weird way, he could get you the running touchdowns, the receiving touchdowns, and the return touchdowns and sometimes your game flow for your fantasy teams needs that extra juice of energy. At Tyreek Hill was the man

to do it, finishing at wide receivers seventeen overall. Tyreek Hill odd game flow genius, but these days those game flows be odd. Shining city on a Hill. I call him one of the guys that I want to talk about, and you know, he's maybe someone who a lot of people thought was gonna take a step back take a step forward the season reclaim his rightful spot among the

best wide receivers in the league. But Mike Evans really came through in a huge way this season, and a lot of that was damage that was done in the second half when a Buccaneers team that was a little bit uneven the defense maybe didn't take as much of a step forward as a lot of people had thought that they would. There were still a good team overall, faded down the stretch, but man did Jamis Winston lock onto Mike Evans in the second half and when that

team was trailing. Let me just shout out his stats. His stats overall were obviously ridiculous. He wound up with over undred yards and twelve touchdowns, but he wound up with seven hundred and twenty eight yards in the second half, seven touchdowns in the second half. My man had ninety four targets in the second half of games, and particularly when the going got tough, Jamis looked to Mike Evans, and he's someone who really has now two incredible seasons

in his first three in the league. He's a guy that I think is poised to wind up with a wide receiver one overall finished one of these years, and it may even be next year. He's gonna be a really interesting player for me to watch, particularly he's right out four for you next year, behind Antonio O'Dell and

Julio Uh. You know, he's definitely, he's definitely. In the conversation, you're hearing a lot about Tampa maybe uh releasing Doug Martin, which is me something I said for the season started, I could see him just as easily flaming out as having another great year. It's it's interesting to see this the running position. And let me ask you this, you're late. You're late first round, right, and you can have Mike

Evans or Jordy Nelson where you drafting. Uh, it's pretty difficult, but I think I'm gonna I think gonna have to go with Mike Evans, a player that's on the upside, you know, join Mike Evans or t Y Hilton. Wait on the Colts offense once. Shame on me, wait on the Colts offense twice I lost my league. I'm gonna go with Mike Evans, Mike Evans or your boy Michael Thomas. Mike Evans definitely mine. I think Mike Evans just has Drew Brees is a good quarterback. Jamis Winson is learning

how to be a good quarterbacks. They're gonna lock onto one receiver the same way. It sounds like Jamis is gonna lock onto Mike Kevins. It sounds like he sits wide receiver five or six for you. But that's a lot of that was dependent on game flow. You got another game flow genius. You could shout out for the good folks, my last game flow genius. And you know it's just a way for me to wind up saying Jim Bob Couder on yet another Fantasy Freestyle episode. But

I'm gonna go with the street continues. I'm gonna go with Golden Tape. Let me tell you something, then, Golden Tape like continues to be a solid pass catching option. Listen another season, nine one catches a thousand, seventy seven yards a hundred and thirty five targets. This guy was wide receiver sixteen a solid wide receiver too, And why is he my game flow genius? If you don't know by now, you ask better call somebody because you know I'm telling you about Jim Bob Cooter's offense, which is

predicated on throw, throw, throw. At the end of the season, they had exactly center running the ball in between the tackles. They tried to start off with a near a gula running the ball in between tackles. They had justin fort Sette trying to run the ball in between tackles at some point this season. This is a team that was

continuing to throw the ball. And I specifically said at the beginning of the season it was a good thing that they didn't have Megatron there to suck all the air out of the room, and that just allowed golden tapes. And you can take a little bit of a step forward and be my game flow genius. But Rocks, we always have to do this. We have to end with our fool gazzies Rocks. So who did you look a

little bit deeper and see the flaws this season? Who to the people at the wide receiver even though we go hard on them, Who do we need to downgrade for next year? Because we look deeper, we found out that they were a fool gazzy forgot about them. Oh man, I wish uh I wish, I wish I knew then what I know now? You know? Too old, too fast, too smart, too late. Uh, you know we talked. I believe I. I said that the the New York Jets offense had a bunch of great options, but they didn't

have any tertiary options. And uh it turned out that they after Decker went down, didn't even really have any wide receiver that could be counted on. In one of my leagues, I was way too late to quit on Brandon Marshall when all the writing was on the wall. Brandon Marshall had a terrible, terrible season fifty nine catches, less than eight hundred yards and only three touchdowns, which just boggles the mind. All lowis since his rookie year of two thousand six, played in every game except for

Week seventeen. He was banged up a bit but this is someone who a lot of people thought was going to blow up even more when Eric Decker was no longer healthy to take those targets. What really happened was defenses were able to key on keyan on him a lot more, and a combination of Ryan Fitzpatrick Gino Smith. Uh. I think Ryan Leaf threw a couple of passes for the Jets this year were simply not able to get him the ball the same way that they were last year.

He wound up finishing as the number forty nine wide receiver in PPR. He was number eight. Yeah who preseason I also had him not only as a top ten wide receiver, but as a late late late round, late first round pick. I had him in a couple of leagues. I did not win those leagues. It's he's an interesting case going into the offseason speeds. I'm gonna ask you real quick. He's got a pretty reasonable contract. You know, he's thirty three. I don't see the Jets necessarily making

moves next year. Do they keep him around or do they cut? Yeah, I think they're gonna wind up keeping him around. Uh, They're gonna wind up after that locker

room battle. I think gets Sheldon Richardson, who is actually going to go there Rocks another wide receiver that you were really, really really high on, in fact, was in that position that you just recently put Mike Evans and guy who was in that position last year, he actually unfortunately fell all the way to wide receiver twenty five and that is a R fifteen Allen Robinson, and he is my number one full gaze at the wide receiver position. I agreed with you. I thought he was a first

round pick. We saw what happened with that Jacksonville team. We thought they were going to be a team on the rise. It turns out they were not. And they did not even get any of that good garbage time like they did last year. They got it did when it related to Blake Borders. Not so much with Allen Robinson. They did not have the chemistry. And I'll tell you what this new coach, Doug Morone, when he came in, even on an interim basis, he ran the ball that

did open it up a little bit. So I'm excited to see maybe what happens, but he's gonna be still attached to border service, so I'm uh proceeding with caution for a R fifteen Allen Robinson's on my mind, fu gaze forget about him. Who else you got is the fugaz Rocks. I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do a quick two for one for our listeners that the second one is free, you only pay one price. I'm going with a couple of Arizona Cardinals wide receivers. First, Michael Floyd.

Michael Floyd turned it on down the stretch in two thousand fifteen. The Cardinals amount is explosive. He was in a contract year. However, he turned in a horrible campaign, culminating with him getting benched and then cut for drunk driving.

He finishes a number sixty nine overall wide receiver in his contract year and this season is basically we gonna be known as His highlight is that block that sprung Julian Edelman late in the season while he was on in the Patriots second and this guy's got a better excuses his teammate John Smokey Brown. He was only the seventy fifth overall wide receiver. People drafted him as an upside wide receiver three who may even creep into that

wide receiver to combination. He had a sickle cell trade affecting his legs, so we'll give him a little bit of a pass. But suffice to say, if you were drafting any Arizona Cardinals wide receiver other than Larry Fitzgerald, if you wound up with a food gazing forget about for sure my last food gazey here as we wrap up this episode of the Fantasy Freestyle dropping stats over beats on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Last year, this

guy was in very elite territory. He was part of that elite top tier, and he unfortunately fell all the way down to wide receiver twenty seven. We talked about him all season long, and to be honest, we didn't even give him much of the blame. Most of the blame went to that noose around the franchise, brock Oswilder.

But unfortunately, DeAndre Hopkins went all the way down to wide receiver twenty seven, and even there, in what everyone considers a fool gazzy year, he still had seventy eight catches, nine hundred fifty four yards and four tuds. But when you drafted him in the mid first round, or when you thought he was gonna be your locked and loaded wide out, one. It did not prove to be true this season, So unfortunately, I love you, d Hop, but this year you were food gazy. I will say last note,

Rocks one other wide receiver. Remember how I early in the preseason was saying Dez Bryant was gonna be a fool gazy all year. He finished wide receiver thirty nine, one half of a point ahead of the illustrious Cameron Meredith. But Rocks, we're gonna be back in the next week super Bowl, right, We're gonna have our dancing shoes breakdown all things super Bowl fifty one. Yeah, man, we're gonna be We're gonna be. Um. We're maybe just gonna call some random people in Houston down on the phone books

he with their thinking. See who there with? You know? We know I know a lot of Pats and Speeds. You know many do you know many Falcons? Fancy? I know a couple of people down in Atlanta, dirty birds. Maybe we can keep the streak of interviewing the fans on the Fantasy Freestyle continue once again. Huge shout out

to Mattie Green for joining us on this episode. Rocks and Speeds, as you will holding you down to when your league and win that cash, dropping stats over beats as the Fantasy Freestyle on the award winning Fantasy sports radio network, A Rocks say goodbye to the people, YO, thanks for rocking with us all season long, and make sure you tune in next week and we take you home before that big game ha ha super Bowl fifty one next week. All lady got beats that