Fantasy Football Guru Mike Wright Gives His Picks For This Season

It's me and David here.

Yes sir.

How'd you know?

Cuz you got a name tag on. Oh man, don't read the tag. Don't read the tag.

Okay, so Michael Ryten.

Yes, sir.

Fantasy Football, Icon, Legend, Something like that?

Oh, we're we're getting there. We're getting there. But But if you want to if you want to call me that, I will accept.

All right, I'll call you that. Cuz you had the number one fantasy team in the world last year, right?

Uh, yeah, the fantasy footballers, we're essentially the largest fantasy football podcast.

In all of humanity.

All of humanity. Of yes, the universe. The known, I mean, I mean, maybe we're out there and ET's getting some some hot tips from us, I don't know. Okay. I don't want to leave them out.

Well, taking talking about hot tips, I'm going to ask you a few questions. See if you could answer them for us for all the fans, the fantasy football fans out there, okay?

Sure.

Who is your sleeper for this coming year?

Sure, so my sleeper I'm going to go with because he's very, very late. I'm going to go with Curtis Samuel from the Carolina Panthers. Wide receiver, he was a second round pick. He was drafted 40th overall just a couple years ago. And the reason he hasn't showed out simply injuries. He once when he was drafted, he was hurt. Then he was recovering from an ankle problem last off season and you saw the light switch go on about halfway through the season. You saw his snaps jump from about a from about a 30% all the way to a full-time starter, right into the 80th percentile range. Everyone is everyone wants it to be DJ Moore. I kind of want it to be DJ Moore. I love that guy. But I think that Curtis Samuel is at this time, he's he's more polished. His routes are incredible. Uh we work with a gentleman his name is Matt Harmon. And and he has a philosophy called Reception Perception where he grades out wide receivers. And that information's only available. So you got Well, to the people who like the show, but for the fantasy footballers, Curtis Samuel grades out as an absolute superstar. He called him he could be the next Stefon Diggs. where this guy just gets open, he's being drafted. He has that speed. He has he has the speed, he has the draft pedigree. And

What round? What round are you thinking?

You're talking double digits. I mean, you can if you want the thing about a sleeper is guys that are going late. Once you know you want to call your shot. It doesn't matter if you take a guy three rounds early. So if you want to take him in the 10th round, the ninth round, go for it. No later or no earlier. Well, yeah, just make sure that that you're you're not taking him over known commodities. Let's say that.

Next question is who is your safest bet?

Ooh, this is my safest bet. I'm gonna go with Ezekiel Elliott, a running back from the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, it's an early pick. So when you're at the very front of the draft, sometimes you just want to be safe. And like that's why you're not taking Todd Gurley at the very top cuz you're a little worried about his knee. But Zeke, since he came into the league, he has led the league in rushing yards per game. He's an absolute monster. He's extremely durable. He only misses time when he does stupid crap and he ends up getting suspended which the news came out, he's not going to get suspended for this off field or this off season's incident. Thankfully, luckily, yeah. Yeah, I mean, come on, Zeke. Get it together. Get it together, buddy. We're we're good. We're good. Uh, but like I said,

And he's a beast.

Yeah, he's an absolute beast. And last year things really changed for him because they finally started throwing him the ball. That was the difference between a Christian McCaffrey, Todd Gurley and a Ezekiel Elliott, is Elliott was getting 30 receptions. That all changed. And people don't realize when Amari Cooper came to the team, he actually started getting even more targets on a per game basis. If that actually sticks, and you're seeing Ezekiel Elliott catch 60 plus passes, I mean, he's he's going to be the number one guy. The number one absolutely. Yeah.

Okay. Last one, okay. What do you draft first? Running back, receiver? PPR.

PPR. Okay, in a PPR, if I have a top four pick, I'm taking one of the elite running backs. I'm taking Saquon, Christian McCaffrey, Zeke, Alvin Kamara. I'll probably throw Gurley,

What about Gurley? Oh, my God. Are we scared about Gurley?

We're we're very concerned about Gurley. And even if you aren't concerned about Gurley, everyone else is and you need to play the room knowing that maybe you can get him with your second pick.

Round two, okay.

Yeah. But so after those receivers or after those running backs go, the workhorse running backs who actually catch the ball too, which that's the biggest advantage in all fantasy. Then I'll then I'll go to the top tier wide receivers. So, everything is all about where you your position in the draft.

Okay. I I have to break this one down. Let's do it. Um the Browns running back, I forget his name. Nick Chubb. No. Duke Johnson. No, Kareem Hunt.

Kareem Hunt. Okay. Suspended. Don't draft him. He's suspended for eight games. Okay. Right in time for playoffs. Fresh legs. The Browns' bye week is also in there. So you don't get Kareem Hunt until week 10. That's the earliest you can play him. Okay. So that means that if if you make it to the championship, you've been carrying a player on your bench who can do absolutely nothing for you for about 80% of your season. You I would our recommendation is hands off, don't draft him. Someone's going to draft him.

Right. It was going to be me.

And And guess what? When you drop him in week five,

Yeah.

because you're so sick of it and you need a player.

I'd be stubborn. I'd be stubborn.

Oh, I don't know if you can hold on for eight for 10 weeks, man. That's And then and then on top of that, Nick Chubb is still there and Nick Chubb's pretty good.

Right, yeah. All right, Mike, thank you so much for the tips and advice. Good luck this fantasy season.

No worries, man. Thank you. Talk to you next time.