Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson & Co.’s Fantasy Value, with Michael Fabiano

Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson & Co.’s Fantasy Value, with Michael Fabiano

do not neglect your fantasy prep and I know you guys are going to be drafting some Colts so today we’ve got one of the Giants of the fantasy industry joining us to help figure it all out let’s get to it you are locked on Colts your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday oh right thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day this is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and Today’s Show is brought to you by our friends over at game time go and download the Gametime app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off of your first purchase terms apply what is up y’all this is Jake arur of horseshoe huddle.com your media member covering the Indianapolis Colts and today like I said we are joined by a giant in the fantasy football industry it’s Michael Fabiano of Sports Illustrated I started following Fabs uh way back when he was at nfl.com doing his weekly start and sit and even though I consider myself pretty good at Fantasy um you know he’s he’s been my go-to fantasy Guru ever since we all need our guys that are still our sounding boards that we got to kind of Bounce our ideas off of uh so we’re going to have a great chat with him uh and then we’re just going to kind of go over some housekeeping some quick news and notes uh pertaining to the Colts so first and foremost uh the Colts canceled their uh training camp schedule announcement party that was planned for Westfield uh some you know maybe Rocky weather coming into the area uh tonight they have again they’ve canceled the on-site deal but they’re still going to do it online at colts.com at 6m uh so bummer we don’t get to go out there for that I was going to be out there maybe meeting some of you guys um but we have it covered for you here on horseshoe huddle.com and then Zach and I tomorrow are going to put together a show uh kind of showing what we think are the high points of the schedule you know you’ve got your uh your joint practices with the Cardinals and Bengals there’s going to be some night practices uh so we’ll kind of just go over our our main thoughts on the uh on the training camp schedule some things we’re looking for and things like that uh so again like I mentioned fantasy time uh it is time to get ready for our drafts the Dy rookie drafts are already well underway uh redrafts especially like for your home leagues and stuff it’s going to be rolling Full Steam heading into August so I mean don’t don’t cram all at that time use this boring part of the NFL calendar to uh figure out what to do and again your Colts fans it’s ingrained in all of us we’re gonna draft guys from our home team whether it’s smart or not but maybe we can get you the proper uh spots to where you can actually pick those guys up uh just kind of going over some some quick notes with you guys from uh Fabiano before we get into the chat so I think one of the most interesting things is where do you put Anthony Richardson in terms of uh quarterback rankings so Fabs has got him six which I think is nice uh I’ll get into more details on that later but in general you kind of have to give Richardson the benefit of the doubt uh he’s healthy right now Chris Ballard said he’s going to be full go for training camp uh I know everyone’s Chief concern is the injuries but he’s not injured right now so if it happens again we’ll go from there but right now he’s he’s healthy so it it’s not currently a thing uh Jonathan Taylor is running back six which on the surface maybe sounds a little low because in reality he’s probably better than the sixth best running back in the NFL but this is fantasy uh when you go over it you know there’s a few guys around the league who have a high percentage of you know touches from receptions and and H carries they get a lot of yards from scrimmage a lot of touchdowns from scrimmage Taylor does too but like I mean he’s got kind of got the injury thing too people have to see it before they believe it luckily week 18 against the Texans he exploded against them so we we’ve seen that he is still that dude uh going on to the receivers that one’s a little harder to gauge because you got one you know dominant Target and then the rest you don’t really know what to do with so Michael pit is 16th which from a PPR perspective I think that’s pretty good uh Josh DS at wide receiver 58 and AD Mitchell at 74 uh Fabs in our chat said you know he doesn’t really think Alec Pierce is a viable option right now which is fair uh because he has a very Niche role but he’s not going to be a high Target in that you can’t really count on that from a fantasy perspective uh Matt gay kicker 11th uh which is pretty good again we’ll go into a little further detail there much to uh Z Zach shagrin uh and then the Colts defense 12 which that one you might be saying that’s that’s kind of sweet uh cuz you know the Colts may give up a lot of yards and points but in fantasy it’s based on big plays and the Colts can’t do that so um yeah let’s go ahead and get into this uh again Michael can be found at si.com driving the fantasy ship he’s also one half of the believe fantasy football show alongside Lindsey roads uh they’re a great Duo I’ve been on with them a few times before on their leave show and also uh on the radio show the fantasy dirt so uh here in a second we are going to dive into our chat with Michael Fabiano passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights a bunch of other stuff I know nothing about whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one rid or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or it’s your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber and not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home some huge wins keep your RIT or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusion Supply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers all right Fabs thanks for joining us today and this is of course the Dead part of the NFL season if there is any dead part and you know for guys like us that means fantasy time you got to gear up for you know your home League that’s going to be starting up it’s its draft at any time so um you have always been my favorite source for for Fantasy knowledge so course of course and uh I was scouring your rankings and everything and the entire Colts offense and the fantasy value of a lot of players kind of hinges on that quarterback spot in Anthony Richardson uh so I see you have him at number six qb6 is that right yeah I I love the kid I mean it’s hard not to right every fantasy analyst out there is going to have Anthony Richardson listed as a breakout player for this year why because in the three full games that he played last year he was phenomenal he can run with the football that’s huge in fantasy and he’s got the skill set that we love right he’s a guy who he he showed that I mean listen I mean he only played you know three full games but I think he started to show a little bit of what he could do as a passer and certainly the stats that he put up as a runner were impressive now does he come with risk absolutely because the one thing that we’re worried about is what injuries durability uh style of play conducive to getting hurt again we don’t want that obviously we don’t want that and what’s funny to me and I mean you know I’m I’m looking at Anthony Richardson I’m looking at the skill set if he goes down your backup quarterback is completely different like you go from a guy who’s like you know you could run design plays design runs and rpos and then you got Joe flacko who’s you know 100 years old and can’t move right so but I honestly I will say this I don’t hate it from a fantasy perspective why Joe flacko looked damn good in the last what five games of last season and the Colts have a lot of weapons yeah Michael Pitman obviously uh you’re looking at Jonathan Taylor and at least the passing game for the Browns last season of course Nick chub was Out Boy it thrived so if you lose Richardson which let’s keep our fingers and toes crossed that doesn’t happen but if we lose him I don’t necessarily think that’s a downgrade for your your offense uh when Flaco takes over if he’s the Joe flacko from the second half of last year in Cleveland but yeah I love Richard and uh most in the fantasy industry love Richardson yeah I think you have to it’s obviously that balance between is he going to get hurt you know how how much can you worry about that but I mean right now as far as we know he’s healthy Chris Balor just said you know he’s GNA be full go for training camp so that’s what we’ve got to go on so that upside of course is crazy uh but he he’s he’s not got a highly heralded group of pass catchers but there are some guys in there and as a group they can get the job done yeah so yeah yeah for for you how have you kind of sorted out this passing attack from a fantasy perspective of who given the ADP is is really worth going for well so first off Pitman Jr is going to be the only guy that’s really prominently drafted in fantasy and I remember last year I was a little bit worried about him because of Richardson not knowing what he could be as a passer but if you look at the numbers from the three full games that Richardson played Pitman was good in fantasy he was getting targeted a ton so that concern is sort of out the window and Pitman was a very good fantasy player last year I mean he wasn’t Elite but he was very good he was very consistent but you know some people are going to be like well they brought in ad Mitchell and you know they’ve got Alec Pierce and they’ve got Josh DS and to me I don’t care about that stuff I think Pitman Jr’s still going to be a very nice wide receiver too from a fantasy perspective and again as I mentioned God forbid Richardson gets hurt I don’t think there’s a huge downgrade for Pitman when it goes to Flaco uh and FL showed Flaco was awesome like and again you know it was it was a small sample size from the end of last season uh and you know obviously you know stefansky was able to throw the ball a little bit more with with Flaco than he did with Watson but I I would not be concerned about Pitman Jr if Flo were the quarterback in Indianapolis we hope that does not happen Josh DS too like Josh DS he showed some flashes last year right I mean he wasn’t like super super consistent but there was you know there was a few games they were like this kid’s got something right not not a not a kid out of North Carolina but still made some plays and so he’s a draftable asset I think Mitchell just because of the name is probably a draftable asset but I gota be honest with you I don’t think ad Mitchell is gonna come in and put a huge dent in anybody’s targets especially Michael Pitman Jr you know Pierce is not a draftable last at this point at tight end I mean you know maybe you throw a dart at galani woods but uh he he’s not a guy that I would be targeting as anything more than a late round Dart throw deep sleeper type uh in this off offense so I I think there’s certainly you’ve got the alpha and Pitman Jr and you’ve got some guys with potential like a downs and again Mitchell I don’t see him seeing enough targets to be a consistently good fantasy receiver unless somebody gets hurt uh but still certainly worth uh a dart throw somewhere late yeah definitely an interesting group because Mitchell I think at some point he’s gonna usurp Pierce as as that other starting outside very possible yes yeah but Pierce is a pretty valuable part to their blocking scheme as well he almost never you know left the field now Pitman missed a game so this is primarily why but Pierce had the most snaps of any receiver last year so that’ll be interesting for me to see how they work Mitchell and they’re given how much they like Pierce to be out there but I I agree with you there’s there’s really two receivers you can be somewhat comfortable with um kind of leads us to the next thing and you you went to it a little bit was the tight ends um is there anyone on the Colts that’s kind of sneaky for you I mean with with Jani Woods you mentioned I I think right now most of these guys until we see otherwise are kind of streamers yeah right I mean you know you’re looking at you know kylin Granton I mean Mo Cox is still there I really Woods is the only guy that I have any interest in and really it’s late rounds it really is a late round sort of Dart throw type of guy you know if you’re in a beste ball league and you you know want a third tight end maybe you throw a dart at him uh that that’s really about it but do show anything as a big guy you know maybe he’s going to end up being a red zone option there for Richardson this upcoming season but you know we haven’t seen enough from from him to really make a statement that’s you know solid one way or the other he is or he is not going to make an impact I think there’s going to be games that he will uh I think he could be a little bit touchdown dependent but not somebody that’s like on my radar as a player that I’m like wow late you know like like Ben Senate in Washington is a player that I’m like you know what I think late I’ll take a chance on him because maybe he takes over for Zack her at some point in Washington he’s a young guy there are some other tight ends I would have mentioned Joan Johnson before he got hurt there’s some other tight ends out there that I’d prefer over gelani woods but Le at least a name to keep uh in the back of your mind if especially if you’re in a larger League yeah he he’s he’s definitely someone who last year he was pointed at for the Colts you know be watch out for him and then of course had these kind of unprecedented hamstring injuries that I I think you saw a specialist and they said they hadn’t really seen his case necessarily before so hopefully he can get right because he is definitely a weapon for them I saw you have Jonathan Taylor as as rb6 is he someone you you wish you could have him hire you’re just kind of waiting almost like Richardson with the injury stuff uh respectable by the way I don’t want to make it seem like you’re I mean listen pretty good it’s pretty good buddy I mean you know Five Guys better than him in the entire league at running back that’s pretty good and the guys that I have in front of them you know Christian mcaffry is a no-brainer yeah desan Robin now that he’s um I think he’ll be a featured back in in Zack Robinson system in Atlanta he’s got Kurt Cousins I think that’s a no-brainer brall was the number two running back in fantasy football last year I think that’s a no-brainer and not for another but saquan Barkley as much as I hate it because I’m a Cowboys fan he was the rb13 last year he missed time and he played in a lousy offense now he’s going to Philadelphia for Christ’s sake I mean geez the wi and hoe Roseman boy they get it right that’s what pisses me off about the Cowboys I don’t want to go off on a Cowboys tension here uh we want to stick with the but uh in the running backs in this scenario but I mean hell saquon Barkley is in a really good spot like where could he have landed this like realistically that would have been better than Philadelphia I mean I don’t see anywhere so and then jir Gibbs obviously he’s still somewhat of a committee back as David montgomer is going to get his but I think a lot of people fell in love with him in the second half of last year down the stretch and into the postseason uh those are the only guys that I have ahead to Jonathan Taylor and really Jonathan Taylor’s one concern is that you know he’s he’s been banged up and now the spe of Zach Moss is gone like who’s your backup running back is it Trey Surman is it Evan Hull I don’t know but I don’t see either one of those guys putting a Deb in a Jonathan Taylor’s touches and they just paid the guy you know a lot of money so they’re gonna give him the football so I think if there’s one concern with Taylor it’s injuries that’s it the talent we know is there yeah I mean I think the good thing that can give a lot of us confidence is the last time we saw him he was going for like a buck 70 or whatever it was against Houston so he showed that that old John and Taylor is there so that’s definitely good but no I’m with you you know the last like year and a half with the injuries and the unknown there there’s just again there’s so much that kind of hinges on Richardson’s health because having the threat of Richardson obviously opens things up for the other running backs and there’s just kind of a lot of dominoes that goes with it but Fabs I appreciate you joining us and giving us some insight we probably we’ll have to have you on sometime again soon once fantasy season kicks up yeah man and by the way the Sports Illustrated draft kid just uh got released today oh okay so we have and it’s going to be a live draft kit as they say where it’s going to continually be updated and content will be added to it and it’s already got a boatload of stuff all the nuts and bolts the sleepers the breakouts the bus the rookies all the rankings Dynasty otherwise like it’s all on their strategies so make sure you go and check that out over at si.com fantasy absolutely Fab’s part of the SI family as well you know we’re with horseshoe huddle so we’ll be plugging the heck out of that as well so again brother y thanks for being on we’ll see you soon you got it all right thanks again to Fabs for joining the show again be sure to go to si.com fantasy to check out that season preview guide that he mentioned uh so let’s dive into some of Fab’s thoughts on on these major Colts players here uh so again Richardson as qb6 again when for me my Approach with uh with fantasy I normally try and for these uh these quarterbacks if you’re not going to get like a momes or someone who’s going to put up like the Gody passing stats then I typically try and look for a a mobile quarterback who’s going to do something on the ground as well get you four five 100 yards minimum get some touchdowns that’s kind of what we’re looking at with Richardson here uh so again we saw him in just four games last year two of them he played basically full uh he averaged 29.5 yards from scrimmage and had five touchdowns in those two games uh and then in a 17 Game season he was on Pace for 30 total touchdowns uh so that’s a a really big season for him you’ve got to think when you mix in the rushing and the passing that the guy is going to have a little north of 4,000 yards at least from scrimmage when you consider both uh I I think 30 touchdowns from scrimmage is very realistic when you factor in the rush as well uh so if you miss out on one of those top few guys that’s going to put up the elite passing stats go for a quarterback that’s going to get you the the um the points on the ground especially if you’re in a league that only rewards like four points for touchdown passes I almost do this religiously when I’m in a league like that that doesn’t really reward uh passing touchdowns very handsomely I almost always get a mobile quarterback because they’re going to add those rushing stats in rushing touchdowns will be six full points uh so I think AR being sixth if healthy throughout the year I think that’s very fair uh there there’s going to be other guys that put up more better passing stats but when you factor in Richardson’s uh ground game I think that’s going to be more than enough Again Taylor being six I think that’s pretty good as well I think there’s room for him to outperform that uh the last full season we saw from him 2021 he had one of the best seasons of running back has ever had and again that’s factoring in Edan James Eric Dickerson Marshall Faulk he even throw joose F in there he had some big performances as well uh so Jonathan Taylor we know is special when he’s healthy and again he doesn’t have the ankle thing he doesn’t have the contract thing he doesn’t have the thumb thing like as far as we know Anthony Richardson is healthy and his running back Jonathan Taylor is healthy and to get this whole thing that that fans and the team has hoped to see come to fruition this dynamic duo we might finally see that those guys are going to open up so much for each other uh so while I I totally agree with sixth being an appropriate spot for Taylor in the preseason I do think there’s definitely room for him to outperform that I don’t know that he’s going to finish like first or second but inside that top five I I think is is appropriate if he stays healthy all year uh Pitman at 16th um I I think due to PPR I think will be big for him he’s a 100 catch guy he’s improved his targets and receptions each year in his career um touchdowns is something he’s really got to get up there I mean again a game like fantasy being based so heavily on big plays he just has always kind of been lacking the touchdowns um he’s a thousand- yard guy as well so you’re going to Baseline get the 90 catches and about a th yards you know that but if you’re only getting like four touchdowns out of it you would hope to see a little more uh Josh DS being at 58 that is when I would imagine he’ll outperform a little bit again because of PPR uh he had one of the statistically best seasons from a Colts rookie receiver uh in franchise history last year wasn’t a huge season in NFL standards for like a veteran receiver but it was very very productive for a rookie and as long as he’s healthy because remember he had that knee was kind of giving him some issues at points last year as long as he is healthy as well uh he’s got great chemistry with Richardson and he’s not just like a slot guy that’s going to clean up all the stuff within the sticks uh because Richardson does look for him downfield as well and then ad Mitchell being at 74 that’s fine you kind of have to give these rookies who you don’t know exactly what their role is yet you kind of have to shove them down the list a little bit and so being at 74 that’s fine with me uh Mitchell I think is is going to be the the primary other outside receiver um opposite of Pitman at some point I don’t know how long it’s going to take uh because Alec Pierce does have a role on the team and it’s hard to take him off the field because he does play such a big role as a blocker uh but at a certain point like if Mitchell looks really good in the opportunities he’s given how much can you hold off a playmaking receiver in favor of a receiver who’s just really good at blocking you know uh that’s that’s not to downgrade what Pierce can do in the passing game either because like he is a big play threat as well uh but it looks like Mitchell probably has a higher ceiling and could probably do a little more than Pierce uh so until we see otherwise I would put Mitchell down there around 74 as well that’s fine um I think you know at some if you’re going to draft Mitchell he’s one of those guys you could take in the last couple rounds to fill out your bench you know take a flyer on him in case you know God forbid there’s an injury or something or he develops a bigger role I I think that would be fine but yeah I I wouldn’t rush to draft Mitchell uh I I know he’s going to be a popular pick amongst Colts fans but I would be a little patient there um now for another POS two other positions that you wait until the end to address uh Matt gay being 11th at kicker and then uh the Colts defense being 12 so gay I think as long as he proves he’s healthy uh he had that lower body you know mid to lower body injury during the season that um in the latter half of the Season caused him some issues missed some kicks uncharacteristically uh but he’s still had one of the best seasons that a Colts kicker has had in recent memory um you know go going back to to Prime Adam viter now I know the the late season misses kind of spoiled that a little bit but don’t get it to us ad mag is a a really really good kicker um he had nine weeks where he had top 10 finishes last year throughout fantasy scoring a lot of those were top five as well uh so when it comes to Fantasy I think gay is a very safe kicker to get again he kicks indoors as well uh he has another division game against Houston where he’s indoors so Matt gay gets a lot of good opportunities there uh and then the Colts defense again not great statistically in yardage in points uh but they did have 51 sacks last year that’s top five um again fantasy for defenses it doesn’t points and yards just really don’t matter it’s all based on big plays so it’s a team that gets 51 sacks that just added latu latu to that and a lot of those sacks are coming from guys who are still young and ascending you got quiddy pay Dio dbo uh guys like that who are still young and and getting better and DeForest Buckner doesn’t look like he’s slowing out in fact he’s been a bit banged up the last year or so so if he’s healthy that’s great um you got Samson eom who’s not Young by any means but you know if if he just does what he did again last year with nine and a half sacks that’s really productive so you add latu LTI latu onto that the best pass rusher in the draft and shoot you can think that number’s probably going to get better or at least the pass rush will and even if the sacks don’t go up if the pass rush is more consistent and they’re harassing quarterbacks it’s going to lead to bad plays and you know misjudgments by opposing offensive players leading to more big plays like uh the Colts had 24 takeaways last year way closer to the top than it was the bottom when you look into like teams tying for the same numbers of stuff it averages out to being roughly like the middle of the road uh but again it’s much higher to being among the most in the league they had three touchdowns off of interceptions and they had a punt block touchdown so between special teams which counts towards this touchdowns between special teams touchdowns and defensive touchdowns it’s really volatile and you can never count on it but historically the Colts have shown that they can do it like they always put points on the board defensively in with special teams they’ve just got good players that can do that blocking punts and kicks and things like that and you can never go into a draft strategizing that because again it’s not something you can count on uh but it’s definitely something to keep in your at the back of your mind that the Colts do have history of creating those big plays kind of out of thin air it seems uh so that is it for us today again I mentioned Zach and I will be with you guys tomorrow talking about the training camp schedule uh kind of the highlights from that what we think uh are the the things to really focus on and don’t forget lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it’s also available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app lockon sports today is here for you 24/7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows that cover every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app and if you don’t already make sure to follow at locked on Colts uh yeah lockon Colts atj Arthur NFL and Zack hicks2 on Twitter uh locked on Colts also as an Instagram and a Tik Tok now as well so please follow those get those uh numbers up because we want to bring you guys good content uh also please be sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts 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Fantasy football expert Michael Fabiano joins the show to discuss the fantasy prospects for Indianapolis Colts, such as Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor, and Michael Pittman Jr., but what should you do about AD Mitchell and Jelani Woods?

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