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New England Patriots 2021 Fantasy Football Featuring JBatts from FTLS
Intro 00:05
You’re listening to the good old boys fantasy football podcast. Now here’s your host, Kevin, Derek and Alex.
Derek 00:14
Alrighty! Welcome, and ladies and gentlemen to another episode of the good old boys fantasy football Podcast. I am Derek and I am joined as always, by your co host, Kevin and Alex. Guys, we’ve got a special guest joining us tonight. And that’s Johnny Batts from for the love of Sunday podcast. Johnny joined us last year when we broke down the Buffalo Bills. very insightful, very knowledgeable, and we appreciate him taking the time. Oh guys, we’ve got a team of the week to break down. Let’s go ahead and move on over into the Patriots. And the Patriots a little bit of a down year there from what we’ve been used to seeing over the last 20 with a guy named Tb 12 moving on to Tampa, but they still have some fantasy pieces on the roster there. Let’s go ahead and start over in the running back room where we always do and that’s gonna be Damien Harris. Damien Harris finished last year is running back 50 137 rushing attempts, 691 yards, two rushing touchdowns. Your thoughts on Damien Harris,
New England Patriots 2021 Running Backs
Alex 01:12
I’m not going to start this whole thing off by saying that it is a roulette wheel when it comes to New England running backs. And it is a dangerous game to play. I have played it several years where it’s, you know, pick the right one and I never do. So I think I’m going to start listening to myself and just read myself of the headache, and stay away from New England running backs. Because whenever I think I’ve got a pulse on what Bill Belichick is thinking heading into a game, I clearly do not. And that’s probably by design out of his part. But I I am staying away from all New England running backs. I unless it comes down to dire situations. But I’m going to do my best to stay away from New England running back. So I will step back because my opinions are going to be extremely biased in the fact that I don’t like any of them, even though that they are good and serviceable. I don’t like any of them. I think you’re onto something.
JBatts 02:13
I think it’s the story of around New England has always been you know, it’s a roulette wheel. But one of them’s gonna hit right it’s always gonna be like one of these players is gonna hit and we’ll figure it out. And and if you nail it, if it’s if it’s James White week, great if it’s a ligera blunt week, great if it’s a whoever week or insert player. I mean, you could go all the way back. Laurence Moroney, if it’s a Laurence Moroney week, you have a great week, you know, whatever it is, but I think this might be the first year and because Cam Newton and because it’s not Tom Brady, that it’s a roulette wheel. And it’s probably not going to pay out no matter who hits right even if it is a Damien Harris week, because it’s Cam Newton and he’s going to voltar touchdowns. What really is if if Damien Harris gets 20 touches 30 touches in between the 20s What good is that? You know, he’s going to rip off five six yarders every couple plays and so you know you’ll end up with 22 carries for 80 something yards 86 yards and no scores not nothing in the passing game. So I think you’re right This might be the year that I’m with you I’m kind of hands off on a lot of these guys to Damien Harris is the only one to me that shows some life and shows a little bit of you know, pizzazz, so I’d be excited about him. But that’s long, late, super late in a draft later than he’s going to go is the problem. So that’s interested in him much later than he’s going to go because he’s a New England running back and they have this a lower bottom. They always will. But I think you’re right, this might be because of the quarterback change. This might be the year to start backing off because there’s not that same ligera blunt touchdown upside. That’s always been the mo like, what if you give this New England running back the goal line work and it’s like well, now it’s Cam Newton‘s goal line. It’s not the same goofy Tb 12 trying to run it in they’re trying to do a stupid one yard quarterback sneak we actually have a quarterback that can run so I’m with you. I think Damien Harris is my favorite. Add a low RB two. And the other people are flex plays. The fat. James White really is the only interesting flex play. The other two are desperation.
Kevin 04:27
Yeah, I would. I would agree with that. I think George Georgia guy I really want Sony Michel to reappear but it seems like he gets these he gets the opportunities at times and just can’t seem to do anything with the opportunities that he’s getting. Whether he’s dropping passes, that don’t go to James White for whatever reason, and that’s causing frustration or he’s, he’s been to yards and a cloud of dust for a lot of his career in New England, which is Crazy to to an extent because he never did that at Georgia. That was not his function. When he was with the Bulldogs he was, you know, zone read, get in between the tackle in the garden go not know you were trying to hit your B and C gap you weren’t going a gap and it just doesn’t seem to fit. Damien Harris. I do think we’ll see the majority of the touches in the backfield as the season breaks down. But as john alluded to, what good does that do you in between the 20s? Like, so if you’re looking at all these touches at the end of season, you know, does he have 170 touches and three touchdowns to show for it because they split out between everybody like, that’s the biggest thing. Yeah, I keep an eye on them. Like they’re always kind of in my watch list of players just to keep an eye on in case you feel like you’re getting a beat on it. But I really do my best to fade New England running backs for this reason. It’s not it’s just not how the the offensive scheme is designed. They are designed to attack their opponent’s weakness, whatever that is. And however best they can do it. That’s why they’ve been so dominant over the course of the last 20 years on top of having Tom Brady as your quarterback, but just the philosophy of we’re going to take what you don’t do well, and we’re going to use it against you until you prove us or prove to us that you can stop it. And that is simple concept, but it’s a simple concept that’s made Bill Belichick the greatest NFL head coach of all time. So for all the reasons that we’ve said I’m gonna do the same thing I’m fading them I’m gonna keep an eye on them but people will get desperate for running backs if they don’t feel like they get there early people get desperate for running backs. I choose not to put myself in that situation when I’m drafting therefore I I fade these guys because they go for I’m willing to you know, bite bite that often put them on a roster
Derek 07:09
100% agree with with everything that y’all have said quite frankly the runningback that I’m looking to target there isn’t in the running back room he’s in the quarterback room. So Cam Newton is definitely going to take the bulk of where a lot of these running backs that score their points and that’s can be Voltron the inside the red zone on those touchdown type of runs. But looking at it you had a lot of these running backs all finished very similar to one another last year in fantasy right you had Damien Harris finish the season at running back 50 James wide at 47 Sony Michel at 59 they drafted JD Taylor to bring in they’re not a good season there. But the question that I that I have for you is are you going to see any of these guys kind of break out a little bit and separate themselves from each other this year or you’re going to see another running back committee where all of these guys finished in the 40s and 50s
Alex 08:09
to me it looks like and you guys will remember this if you were in Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts when you were younger and you went to the rifle range and all you wanted to get was a good grouping right like that’s all you wanted was a good grouping of all your your rifle shots on that target and that to me is the New England running back room they are just a good grouping combined one heck of a good running back individually. Yeah, just doesn’t do it for me so I would be shocked I guess I guess the real question is do we see you know, New England running back finishing in RB three territory? And I I don’t see it I don’t see any of these running backs finishing an RB three and that’s not against the players it’s against the system that they’re in and the usage that they get because it to Kevin’s point and to John’s point it is just a system and the system works in real life but for fantasy it just does not pay off.
JBatts 09:13
Yeah, I’m with you. It there’s no one that’ll really separate I think it’s just by design. They don’t want it to be that way. The only person who has if we’re going off of skill set the only person to me Sony Michel has that skill set to do all three stuff, believe it or not, I think he can pass catch I know he’s got people say he’s got feet for hands but he’s he can do it. We’ve seen them do it a little bit. They say Damien Harris can catch the ball. I again. So you could have both either one of them has the skill set to be three down back but it’s just not going to happen. They don’t want that. That’s just not how they want to play this. They want to always keep you on your toes. They want to mismatch people. They want to be Be able to keep a running back fresh and have them out for a drive and then sit and they’re going to keep this they I mean they ran almost 1000 plays last year Believe it or not as ugly as it was it was pretty up tempo in terms of speed of play. So I think that they’re gonna keep doing that and the way they do that is just have this slew of running backs.
Kevin 10:23
I’m just gonna say I just I agree with that just because the New England offense as a whole for their their deficiencies were not in the ground game, they managed to make that work between Cam Newton Damien Harris Sony Michel, when he was healthy. A little bit of Rex Burkhead JJ Taylor like they were their fourth in the league in rushing yards third, and attempts and nine and touchdowns like so they’re a top 10 rushing team. But it is team and the utmost word like none of these guys dominated even even in games were Damien Harrison, Sony Michel, we’re both healthy each averaged about 10 and 12. touches. Like, it’s hard to get prediction or production consistent out of 10 to 12 touches like you have to bank on guy. All right. He’s going to break the 15 yard run and it’s going to set him apart and hopefully that gains goodwill with Bella check into next week like this is fantasy football guys. It Ain’t Rocket Science. There’s a lot of things that you can break down and understand and get into the the analytics and the metrics behind everything. guessing the New England runningback game one. Nope.
JBatts 11:37
I’ve been playing this game for 20 years. It’s just trying trying to think of what Bill Belichick is gonna do next, might be the dumbest thing you can try to do as an analyst. It’s just so stupid, because you don’t know. He keeps everything so tight lipped and everything in that organization is so close to the chest. It’s amazing. And it’s amazing that they’ve done it at such a high level for so many years. So, yeah, don’t try and predict what Bill I mean Bill Belichick could come out there and all of a sudden, it could be Damien Harris. All all week one week where he gets 3020 carries and five targets six targets in any touchdowns. He looks unbelievable. And that’s week one. Remember Mike Gillislee week one a couple years ago and everyone was freaking out about my gillislee Yeah, okay, any faded off into non existence? I think he got cut or traded, or it was a healthy scratch like two Three weeks later. I mean, that’s a that’s the thing that Bill Belichick will do. He doesn’t care. It’s crazy. So you know, I can’t put too much stock in these new england running backs either. It’s been too long. I mean, I’ve in this one segment alone. I think I brought up six names that that we’ve all have drooled over and fantasy at some day. Dion Lewis. Another great one is another great head for kids keep going. Amazing. It’s just and it sucks. I think Finally,
Kevin 13:03
The law firm was my favorite.
JBatts 13:05
Oh, he was so good. He was so I liked. He was a great one. Ben Jarvis green. Ellis was a great one. Fun fact about him. He hadn’t fumbled. He has not recorded a fumble since sophomore year of high school. In his entire career. That’s pretty good. That’s a good stat to have. That’s ball security or ball security at its finest. That’s what happens when you only go four yards and fall down. That’s what happens.
Derek 13:32
You know, one or two word answer on this one just around the horn. Real quick. I’m gonna tell you that you have to draft one of these running backs to put on your fantasy roster. We’ll say it can be a 10th round pick. But you have to draft one of these guys to put on your fantasy roster Who is it? is not an option.
Alex 13:53
Pass
Kevin 13:56
I’ll take Sony Michel. I’ll go back to Georgia roots. I’ll take the guy that at least in the most familiar with and I have the most comfortable position was
JBatts 14:07
Damien Harris. I’ll take Damien.
Derek 14:10
I’ll just be different. I’ll take James White.
JBatts 14:13
Smart, safe play.
Derek 14:14
There you go.
Alex 14:16
Still pass, still listening to myself this year. I am listening to myself this year. Pass. Well, I
Derek 14:24
thought I could get you with a you had to take one but we’ll we’ll let you fly with your pass.
Alex 14:30
I don’t even want to talk myself into thinking about taking I don’t want to do that. Yeah, that’s that’s the first step and I don’t want to go down all those steps. I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it this year. Alex is just out all the New England running backs. I’m out Yeah, that sounds about accurate.
New England Patriots 2021 Wide Receivers
Derek 14:50
Alrighty, let’s go ahead and move on over to the wide receiver room then. And they acquired some during the offseason. Nelson Agholor finished last year on the road. As the 29th wide receiver in fantasy 82 targets had 48 receptions, 896 yards and eight touchdowns through the years guys your thoughts on Nelson Agholor New England style
Kevin 15:15
as I said earlier I expect him to fall below wide receiver 50 this wide receiver room is quickly looking like the running background guys like there’s no standout there are a lot of guys who do similar things so obviously it makes the team game work for different formations and how you can put these guys all over the field and you get kind of the same result no matter what you do. Agholor is probably going to be the deep threat there you’re still waiting kind of see if N’Keal Harry Can you know pull us pull those stuff together and be the player out of Arizona state that New England hoped he’d be but now sag again I’m fading like I just I feel like I can build my roster without I can go to other places and be more comfortable with the output arrange where you’re going to see Nelson Agholor drafted as you know the 40 to 45th wide receiver taken I we just saw the list right we just went through this list I am much more comfortable with some other guys on here. You know I think that I think that T.Y. Hilton would be a little bit higher at my radar in just redraft leagues just because of he’s familiar with the offense and he’s not trying to learn something new it’s a new quarterback but it’s not a new offense overall. So I mean a situation like that. I’ll rather have a tea why Sure.
JBatts 16:51
I’m with you. I think the one thing as a fan of New England that you can say is we finally have a wide receiver room like in general you know, we just before we didn’t even have pros at least now we have a group of professionals that can play wide receiver so I’m excited in that regard that we finally have a jumping off point we didn’t even have a jumping off point last year we were just you know bubblegum and sticking stuff together and putting quarterbacks at wide receiver and doing anything we could so Nelson Agholor to me I don’t think he fits what Cam Newton is good at nowadays. I don’t think he’s good at the deep ball. If he’s lost a lot of that act he received so out on Nelson Agholor but I’m in on the wide receivers I guess as a whole as a like you said as a group like the like the running backs as a core. They’re a decent core which as of last year when we had Damiere Byrd and whoever else we gunner Lawsky and whoever else we felt like rolling out there that week. We finally have pros at least
Alex 17:54
I will say though that the New England way of doing things by putting a quarterback at wide receiver worked out a lot better than the Broncos way of doing things like putting a wide receiver and quarterback
Kevin 18:07
it’s so true
Alex 18:08
for a game last year so that that you know i mean it there’s a blueprint out there that one way works the other one doesn’t. I am also out on Nelson Aguilar. Again his strength is to stretch the field Cam Newton‘s strength is no longer throwing that deep ball like that that’s just what it is. You know like Cam Newton he just does not have the accuracy to throw the ball down the field and that takes away a lot of what Nelson Aguilar is good at provided Nelson Aguilar figures out or remembers how to catch a football thrown over 40 yards so I just don’t see it happening it doesn’t it doesn’t strike me as you know somebody that is worth drafting where he’s probably going to go and where he if based on where you finished last year it new situation new quarterback it just doesn’t work for me
Kevin 19:01
wide receivers as a whole I think the guy that I’m still the most interested in is N’Keal Harry like he was a first round pick for a reason the the Patriots are not the only team that had him rated as a first round talent. He’s six four so he’s the biggest bodied receiver on this team. And historically that’s where Cam Newton has done the best is finding those big body receivers because he’s not pinpoint accurate right? Cam Newton strays some passes here and there that’s why they liked Kelvin Benjamin there for a little while is because he’s a big body receiver with a huge wingspan. I think I think all these guys serve purposes on your fantasy roster as like your fourth or fifth receiver on your depth chart. Surely one of them will kind of be the true number one as we discovered through the first quarter of the season, but as it says it’s I feel like I said earlier that The wide receiver room guess as john said, there’s they actually have pros playing wide receiver. But it’s a Russian Roulette all over again just with a position group because you don’t know which one’s going to step out. yet. That’s a to be determined as we get into 2021 my
JBatts 20:17
so my redrafting answer is a little different than my dynasty answer for you know who I’m who I’m interested in. I’m more interested in reborn for redraft, believe it or not. And Harry for dynasty where Kendrick born I think he walks in and he’s sort of a poor man’s Acts where he can, he can play the boundary, you can play on the outside, he can do whatever you need them to do. And that’s kind of why they brought him in because he can just step in right now. And day one, be in it suck up at targets in an offense, like that’s just who he is. And so, plus and plus his upside Plus, if he does do well, they will feature him more. Whereas Harry’s a little bit more of a project where you’re really banking on you hope he takes a step because if you get more of the same, you’re kind of not too thrilled. But you hope he takes a step forward. And if he does in the next year or two he develops into a Kelvin Benjamin develops into this great you know, 5050 ball receiving type piece. You’re like this is awesome, but so I think that’s kind of where I’m at where I think if I’m in a if I’m in a dynasty, I’m trying to scoop up Harry, because he’s probably super cheap right now you can trade next to nothing and get him and Kendrick born in redraft because I think he’s going to go late in drafts, he’s going to be real cheap. And you might be able to get some serviceable weeks out of him early on in the season. And that’s I want to start my season off on the right foot and then once it’s once I’m six weeks into my fantasy football season all hell breaks loose this waiver wire assets I’m trying to grab and, and everything else. So that’s how I’m playing it.
Alex 21:50
I still feel like and it was you know, kind of a rough year for him last year. But to me, I still think Julian Edelman has some value in this league. You only got six games in last year. It’s hard to base on what he did last year and I know it’s tough because I was also the first year with cam and we’re not sure how can you know would work with Julian Edelman but what what we saw you know was was okay 315 yards on 21 catches like yeah, I take that production stretched out over 16 games like that would work for me so so Julian Edelman to me is a guy that you know, no, he’s getting he’s getting up there in age. But I still think that he’s a valuable asset to this team. Now you know you guys make the good point. Younger is always better in dynasty but in a redraft league and I have to take one of these guys. I’ll go Sure thing. I’ll go with Edelman. Hopefully he’s healthy and come back and come play. But I’d go with that.
Derek 22:52
Yeah, I think I probably staying away from Edelman even and redraft myself but I don’t again, I think I’m kind of just out on this wide receiver core for the most part in in redraft their dynasty I do like you know the intrigue that Nikhil Harry may still yet deliver on that value. But that’s waning as the seasons go along. So we’ll see how that continues to work. Let’s go ahead and move on over into the tight end room where they signed a couple more tight ends there a common theme this this episode with the Patriots, they signed somebody. So they signed two tight ends. s Smith and Hunter Henry, guys your thoughts on this tight end room.
New England Patriots 2021 Tight Ends
Alex 23:35
I really am excited to hear Kevin’s thoughts on this because I think he was big, big on Jonnu Smith last year and big big big on Hunter Henry. And it did not pan out very well. So Kevin, the floor is yours.
Kevin 23:49
I see remnants of old school patriots with Gronk and Aaron Hernandez floating in our future. It didn’t quite pan out how I thought it would really thought Jonnu was gonna have more of a coming out year with the Titans last year. And it just the game script didn’t necessarily play for that they shuffled Titans in and out a little bit more Jonnu kind of having some nagging injuries nothing major but just nicked that you get throughout the season, so they shuffled some guys in and out Derrick Henry went beast mode with 2000 plus yards. Ryan Tannehill had the emergence of Corey Davis which no one was really expecting coming into the season so they’re able to push the ball further down the field. That was last year coming into this year. Cam Newton is much more accurate 20 yards in than he is 21 yards plus we have spoken about that. What this does is it creates different mismatches. It creates them to run a lot of two tight end sets to not only help their running game, but to make it very difficult to defend the past game because you don’t know which one of these tight ends or if both are going to go out into into routes. Both of them are very good, tight ends. So I won’t say that they’re plus, plus blockers, but they’re very serviceable two plus side blockers, john, who’s slightly better than Hunter Henry. So I am excited for what this brings, these are the most these two assets are what I’m most excited about with this patriots offense, I think. And john would be able to better speak to this as as the Patriot fan, but that’s what I want to see, I want to see Cam Newton dunk it off to the tight ends, who cares, let these guys work their way down the field, you use your Russian Roulette of running backs and wide receivers to get you inside the red zone. And then you use the Titan to save cams body. So that way you can keep him around a little bit longer. If If that is what your long term plan is. And not just do the year to year deals. You give him some more options, big bond options in the end zone. He can connect on a few more of these and hopefully have more than the nine touchdown passes he ended up with last year.
JBatts 26:13
Yeah, I’m glad you said these are the past catchers I’m interested in. Like we talked about the wide receivers real quick. And we had some fun banter and some fun conversations about them, which is great. These are the two past catchers I’m really interested in in this whole offense in this whole passing attack. Because again, I don’t want to say gronk and Hernandez because that was go back and watch ridiculous Hernandez was lining up in the backfield he was lining up everywhere. I don’t know if we’ll see a player like Aaron Hernandez again in a long time. But having two tight end sets, like you said, Does free up them to do a lot of things in the run game, which I think they want to do, they want to have a power football type of mentality where you know, it’s not, it’s the whatever Patrick Mahomes and they’re doing in Kansas City, New England is sort of set up to do the opposite right now, which is slow the game down, control the ball short from the line of scrimmage, run, run, run, run, run and like that’s what they’re planning on doing. And again, when they do pass off, it’s going to be to these Yak guys, these Hunter Henry‘s these Jonnu Smith, these guys who can just bully other defenders and just, you know, they have to go, we’re watching DBS, and we’re watching linebackers have to go small and fast. So what New England is doing the same will take big powerful guys to line up against these smaller, faster linebackers. And so it’s interesting, it’s going to be interesting to see, I think we’re gonna see a lot of like you said, these, like short out routes and these quick throws to these tight ends, which will be and then what john who does, we’ve seen john, with the ball in his hands do some amazing stuff. And Hunter Henry to his run after the catch his bar next to any in terms of like, tight ends in the league. So I’m excited for both of these players. I think it sucks that they both landed in New England, if one landed here and not the other, we would be really excited for fantasy. But I think they’re both sort of high end streaming options week in week out, which helps because the tight end landscape is garbage.
Alex 28:17
That is the point that is my biggest concern is that these two are on the same roster together. And just like we talked about with the running back room, and bam, kind of bled into the wide receiver room. Which one is it? You know, and that and that’s a headache week in and week out? You know, do I play this guy? You know, is he gonna be the guy this week, I think it’s a little safer with the tight end group because I think the probability that cam kind of finds them individually is is higher, versus having to spread them out, you know, amongst the four or five wide receivers that they’ll run with the four or five running backs that they’ll have with these two guys as pass catchers. I think that their their likelihood of having, you know, a safe floor is higher than anybody else on this team. But with those two, but again, it scares the EverLiving out of me because how much are they just gonna, you know, poach off of each other? How much Hocking are they doing from each other? You know, that’s a real concern that I have with this team. And I and neither of these guys are in, you know, as we talk about our tight end tears that we’ve we’ve expressed on this show, you know, neither of these guys are in that upper echelon tier, they’re in that, you know, second group individually, but together, are they in that second group? And then does that ruin their individual, you know, their their individual value? So for fantasy purposes, it scares me. It’s it’s honestly like when I saw the Jonnu Smith stuff, I was like, all right, yeah. Let’s that’s that’s where it’s at. And then you You see the Hunter Henry stuff here like, huh? Okay, hold on just a second pump the brakes like let’s not get too excited because now there’s two guys. And neither of them are gronk. Neither of them are Hernandez. But if they I just feel like they they might cannibalize each other to a point where neither of them are valuable for fantasy purposes. But as a whole tight end group is great. And that doesn’t work for me.
Derek 30:25
Fair enough.
Kevin 30:27
So here’s how I got there.
Derek 30:28
I would just say I think with some of this, what you’ll see is so john smith last year was actually tied in one on the season about four or five weeks into it, and direct correlation, AJ Brown was out. So when you saw AJ Brown, come back, you saw Jonnu Smith take a backseat when it came to a target share there. Similar things happened out there in LA where Hunter Henry had to compete with targets against Keenan Allen, Austin eckler, some of those types of things, that’s not going to be the case here in New England, those will be two of the primary reads coming off of that. And where john smith is, you know, he finished his Titan 10 last year, where he’s going to have value is going to be the fact that he falls into the end zone with the touchdown. And I think that you’re going to see a lot of that where he’ll be in line, make a block, they can run some of that play action, some run option, some run pass option there with cam, and then you’ll see him sneak off when they get in that red zone and camel find him there. And really for him to get to Titan 10. Last year, it took him to get eight touchdowns and 500 yards. I don’t think that that’s out of the realm of possibility for him doing Hunter Henry, I think you’ll see him do a little bit more of what you saw him do in Los Angeles last year, where he’s going to get more more passes, more yards, fewer touchdowns. And I think that’s how that they’ll kind of split that thing out. But both of those guys, I see them being as a back end tight end one top end tight end to their, they’re going to be probably somewhere in between Titan 10 and Titan 14, both of them will finish in that range. And I can absolutely see that happening.
Kevin 32:03
I completely agree with what you just said that that was going to be my point as well as I see Hunter Henry being the the tight end of choice, if you will, between the 20s. And then once we get into the red zone, Hunter Henry will garner more coverage and more specialty coverage. And that is where you’ll see Jonnu Smith being able to sneak out and he will have more touchdowns than Hunter Henry. So understand the scoring system of the fantasy league that you’re drafting these tight ends in height in premiums, Hunter Henry‘s probably the clear option to go with because I would not be surprised to see him with 100 targets at the end of the year Jonnu Smith on you know somewhere in that 70 type range. But if you’re not in a tight end premium, and it’s just kind of your traditional PPR league that I believe that the touchdowns jonnu we’ll get in the end. We’ll we’ll balance that out to be extremely close. Derek you said 10 and 14, I was thinking a lot ones. I think I have Henry at 11 and jonnu at 13. So we’re right there in that same range that you were talking about. But I do believe that both of them are right there on that cusp of tight end one. If you will, they’re not bad options, especially if you’re waiting on tight end because you know they’re going to see volume week in and week out.
Cam Newton QB New England Patriots 2021
Derek 33:31
Let’s go ahead and move on over to the quarterback room. They got Cam Newton and he finished as quarterback 16 last year. Very interesting scenario with him coming over to New England after leaving the Panthers. But interesting side note just a fun fact for y’all if you will. There’s only been one quarterback in the last three fantasy football seasons that finished outside of QB one territory with 100 or more rush attempts on a single season. And that was Cam Newton this last year. So that being said, Guys, your thoughts on Cam Newton,
JBatts 34:08
I think the floor is gonna keep him safe with his rushing so saw last year was as pitiful as we thought Cam Newton was he still finished Arby’s? Would you say 15?
Derek 34:21
Yeah, he was quarter something like quarterback 16 last year quarterback
JBatts 34:24
yet running back guy, he should be by the quarterback 16. So that’s kind of the lowest point you’re going to get in my opinion, like that’s it. And so now they added passing attack options. So where he can make up that rest of that ground and get back into the top 10 conversations through the air. He’s not going to have single digit passing touchdowns. Again, it’s this is not going to happen. It’ll balance back out to where he will pass the ball a little bit more in the redzone. And so, again, he’ll hopefully go up in passing and maybe he doesn’t have 12 With 13 touchdowns whatever he had he fell into but maybe comes back down to earth and has a he runs eight touchdowns in but throws for 15 touchdowns 16 touchdowns you know that’s much more realistic and again, now you’re talking low end quarterback one which I think cam can do I think can can certainly do given what we saw with the crap that he had at wide receiver before. I actually liked Cam Newton a lot. I think all the expectations we had about Cam Newton last year. You can kind of replay all that tape. Now in this offseason, I think he has a year healthy a year with the team. He’s not battling COVID like he did early in the season. And so we could see some not great things because I think the great days are behind Cam Newton but we could see see serviceable good Cam Newton again, which I’m excited about. And that’s top 12 guy to me.
Alex 35:55
Yeah, I think when it’s all said and done that the range that I would I would put him in is in that you know 12 I don’t know that he jumps into the top 10 but you know, I’d see him in that 12 range that 12 to 1510 to 15 that’s a huge range but still I think that that’s probably the safe area for him. And I just personally I’d never you know had really shares of Cam Newton. It’s just never worked out for me. Or I’ve just you know, gone other places. I’m notorious for finding my quarterback and taking him way too early. And just sitting on that one so I can I easily see it. And you know, obviously you’d like to see that that touchdown pass number go up. That’s to be expected with with the weapons that they brought in. Just for me, you know, I think he is last resort in a superflex League though he is very, very valuable.
Kevin 37:01
So back in 2019 I was really high on Cam Newton his last year in Carolina before the injuries took over I thought I was banking on the fact that he was a top five quarterback that I was going to get later in the draft. first couple weeks looked like that might be the case and then the injury bug hit and you know, it is what it is 2020 going to New England was very interesting right it was not the Cam Newton we anticipated he was coming back from an injury is a new play a new playbook trying to understand the you know what was being asked of him with a lack of talent at past catching options type in and receiver so I do think that comes back I think absolutely the floor for Cam Newton is probably quarterback 15 I think the ceiling for Cam Newton is probably as high as quarterback seven. I don’t think I see him sneaking into the top five. But if if he continues to be efficient, continues to get those redzone touchdowns that the running backs weren’t getting. You know if he ends up with six touchdowns and can if he can break 20 passing touchdowns, which isn’t out of the question, guys, we have an extra week in this season too. So he gets a whole nother week to kind of establish that. So I do think that puts them into, you know, the top 10 conversation because of his rushing ability for a quarterback that you can get later in the draft. As far as quarterback is concerned, most people are fading Cam Newton, they’re not paying attention to the rebuilt past catching options that they have in New England. And there’s a lot of recency bias so he’s the guy that you could get kind of as a quarterback sleeper. That could really help your team down the stretch in a super flex need the excuse me a super flex League, or you need your second quarterback to help come through and get you into that playoff push. Cam Newton can easily be that guy for you.
Derek 39:10
Yeah, absolutely. When you look at it, he had eight finishes last year as QB one. So as a super flex like you don’t you don’t get much better than having two guys that can finish inside the top 12 for your week in week out. And he definitely gives that Russian upside like I dropped that nugget earlier where he was the only quarterback in the last three seasons to finish outside of the top 12 having 100 rushing attempts on the season. I don’t see him having less than 100 rushing attempts this year. Again, I easily see him getting there. And I see him returning to form a little bit more in the passing game. The fact that he didn’t have those weapons last year definitely hurt. And the fact that a when you when you saw him come out the first couple of weeks he looked pretty good look pretty sharp, and that New England offense was moving the ball up and down the field. After he got the FA got COVID was out those couple of weeks, he looked like a different quarterback on the field as well. So I think you’ll see him come back this season, I think it’s very easy to see that you’ll probably get at least 30 to 3300 yards from him throwing the ball this year, probably easily up there north of 15 touchdowns you maybe see those, those rushing touchdowns come down a little bit. But overall, I think that he’ll easily get probably qb 1112 is probably where I’m going to see him finishing on the 2021 season. Guys, any final thoughts on the Patriots? Overall,
JBatts 40:38
I am a big fan of what New England is doing. We talked about it off air real quick. But basically what the whole sort of feeling around New England was we could all read the writing on the wall as fans, we all knew that once Tom leaves and once the breakup happened, it was gonna happen. And once it did, the dead cap money was going to be serious, it was going to be really difficult for about a year, cap wise. And then we got hit with COVID. And then we got hit with COVID OPT outs. And so 2020 was really a washout season for us. And we all accepted that and we said you know what? It is what it is we’ll have a crap season. But the organization we trust and believe, unlike again, going back to the conversation, unlike the Jets. So I believed in the organization and said they’re going to know how to do this rebuild, and they’re going to know how to do it right. Bill Belichick has never really done a rebuild. We haven’t seen it. We saw him do a little one, sort of in like the mid 2000s. Kind of but we haven’t seen a real that’s a retooling not a rebuilding, I want to see a real rebuild. And I think that they’re at least set up a good foundation for themselves right now to then make moves. So I like what they’ve done. They’ve given themselves a legitimate chance to win 10 games and and then who knows you win 1011 games, and then who knows what happens? You sneak into the playoffs and anything can happen. But what they did as a fan, I’m happy because they made a competitive roster, which is all you can ask for. I’m done trying to chase the Dragon of saying, Oh, it’s super bowl or bust if you if you’re in New England fan and you still think that way. You’re a maniac. You’re absolutely Yak. It’s not those days are over. So just be grateful that we have probably a 10 win team.
Alex 42:28
Yeah, I think as a team, New England, good as individual fantasy players. Good luck to you if you put them on your roster.
Derek 42:37
I like it. Oh, guys, any final thoughts for the listeners?
JBatts 42:40
Peace, love, and positivity. That’s all I got.
Kevin 42:46
The draft right around the corner. Oh, there’s still a bunch of different things happening. Keep an eye on what’s going on with the Falcons keep an eye Keep your eye posted to the news to see what breaks. And if we have some sort of an idea of what the niners are going to be doing it three, whatever what other moves might be coming here in the first round. So we’re we’re getting close. We’re getting really close to you guys. So stay tuned. And then after the draft, then the fun starts. Because then we can start mocking out and drafting these rookies way too early. And we’ll start telling everyone to pump their breaks and go through the same routine, but it’ll be good.
Derek 43:22
I like it. Oh, Johnny, if you can give the listeners how to connect with you again.
JBatts 43:28
Sure. You can get at me on twitter at F TLS underscore j bats. I’m pretty active on Twitter. I’m there I spend most of my useless time on there. So or you can follow the podcast, which is F TLS fantasy football podcast or for the love of Sundays. I say if my grandfather can find it, you can find it anytime, anywhere. There’s podcasts, it’s super easy. And like I said, we’re trying to get a show out a week. Once the season kicks in. It’ll be a lot more. Right now. It’s the offseason. So it’s we’re doing these sort of roundtable interviews with people talking about their projects and bringing up and coming fantasy football content creators on the show. Just to give them a little platform. So the past couple episodes have been that. But yeah, it’s like like, like Kevin said, it’s almost there. Football is almost here. We’re almost at the draft. So we’ll start churning out tons of content at the F TLS. headquarters. So yeah, check us out. I’m excited.
Derek 44:28
Awesome. Well, guys, if you haven’t checked them out, get over there, do it. They did very well. Last year in some, some accuracy projections over there on fantasy pros. You guys did very well. I was keeping track of that and kind of my rookie season doing that.
JBatts 44:48
Appreciate that. So look forward to seeing you guys. I appreciate that shout out Brian is the brain. It make sure you check them out. They’re
Derek 44:51
great follow a lot of great content coming for you but I think that’s gonna wrap up yet another episode for the good ol boys fantasy football podcast. Make sure you hit us up on our socials at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, the good old boys FF. You can kind of see on our website goodoldboysff.com for Kevin and Alex. I’m Derek. Have a good one. Be safe.