Well, buckle up, sports fans! 🏈 In this week's episode of "Fantasy Island," we've got King dropping wisdom bombs that'll have you questioning everything you thought you knew about fantasy football. RIP, workhorse running backs; hello, wide receivers and QBs reign supreme.

King spills the tea on how you're basically playing 4D chess if you're not prioritizing receivers in your draft. Get ready for hot takes on Jonathan Taylor's job insecurity, Justin Fields' meteoric rise, and why the Arizona Cardinals might just be the "fantasy wasteland" of 2023.

But wait, there's more! King also drops his Fantasy MVP picks for the year, and let's just say if you're a fan of Justin Fields or Tyreek Hill, Christmas came early. 🎄

Got a problem with our picks? Think you know better? Prove it. Shoot us your scorching hot takes or icy hate mail at getatus@fantasyiisland.com. We'll read it, laugh, and then keep on schooling you. Hit subscribe, unless you enjoy being the laughingstock of your league.

#FantasyFootball #WideReceiverNewKing #JustinFieldsForMVP #2023FantasyOutlook

Listen now to recalibrate your entire approach to the upcoming fantasy season! 🎧

A Glimpse into the State of Fantasy Season with King

King: Definitely things are changing fantasy football guys, and I think that over the past few years we have. Mentioned it. We have said it. I know Bombo calls it the no running back truthers, but the reality is fantasy's changing guys and the days of the workhorse running back are gone.

The days of the running backs that are dominating, the first round is gone. This is a completely. Targeted wide receiver, quarterback, fantasy, prevalent league. And that's the way this thing is driven. You know, um, I guess for older guys like me, the days of the workhorse running back are completely gone.

'cause almost every team now has two or three viable running backs and it makes it harder for fantasy. And I think what fantasy has done is they've done a good job this year at least actually ranking the guys in the right spots. In the beginning I was thinking about like, damn, all these running backs are rated so low, but the reality is they're sort of rated in the right position because of how many points they're actually gonna score.

And we have to start looking at this thing a little bit differently. Um, I understand there's still guys there that think that the running back position is gonna be the one that you need to start your building block with your team with. But the reality is guys, especially in a P P R league, If you got a receiver in the first round, that gets a hundred catches, that's a hundred points right off the top.

So the value of the wide receiver is much higher than the running back now in the state of fantasy. You know, we have to understand that and we have to start adjusting, you know, accordingly. Right? I know that a lot of guys here still wanna, you know, take running backs. Take even a guy like Travis Kelsey, I.

But I, I was helping a buddy do a draft the other day and by the second round he is already thinking, I gotta get me a running back. I gotta get me a running back. Why you're reaching now at this point, just get you the next best receiver load up on receivers and that's what this fantasy league's about.

You know, there's things that are going on with the running backs. Real life as well. And I wanna touch on that a little bit and it's, you know, we'll talk about Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor last year was the number one rated fantasy guy in fantasy. He completely took a shit last season, had a bad season, got hurt, never really got his footing, just never really got any momentum.

And they got, he got shut down at the end of the year. You know, start over. You know, you fast forward to this year. He wants a new contract. He's in the last year of his contract, he's extension eligible. The team told him, we're not gonna give you an extension, and if we do, we're not gonna pay you the money you're asking.

So he's asked for a trade. Um, as my understanding is that the thing with the N F L too is there's multiple deadlines. So there was a deadline that he needed to be traded by last Tuesday 'cause it was cut down day. The reality is he needs to get off of the pub list by today. The day we're recording is on a Sunday, so he has to get off the pub list by today.

I wanna say 5:00 PM Eastern time to be AB eligible to play in week one. They still can trade him today, so my understanding is there's one team trying to really work it out and is the Miami Dolphins. Um, guys, I'm just saying this. If Jonathan Taylor goes on that team, they have a real legitimate shot of, of doing some damage in the A F C because the way that they run their ver their horizontal stuff, and this guy just runs north and south it, he's gonna explode through their offense.

I really like what they do offensively there, and I just think in addition of him would be ridiculous. But I guess, you know, me and t were talking the other day and t was making a comment that, you know, Indianapolis is being so stupid and they're, they're asking, you know, a ridiculous price for him, but they don't wanna pay him.

Well, that's not being stupid to you. That's smart business. You buy low and sell high. You know what I mean? They know what's out there. They know if somebody's looking for him, they can get maximum value for him. Yeah. They, and they don't need to pay 'em. It's the way the market's dictating. Somebody will though, and somebody wants them, so hopefully he gets moved.

I, I guess what I'm getting at is, The lifespan in the N F L is very short for running backs anyway. I think at this point in fantasy, your target needs to be wide receivers, especially in keeper leagues. Just target the best wide receivers, get a couple of them, get you a good quarterback mixed with them, and I think that's gonna transition me in my next discussion.

I think this year we're gonna see another step from another group of guys and you know, I just want to go back in a couple years and. Every year there's an addition of a number one receiver to a quarterback that elevates him. Right? And we can go back to Stefan Biggs. When Josh Allen was coming up. We can go to so many different guys, right?

AJ Brown with Herz. We can go to Tyreek Hill. Tua, we can go even to Jamar Chase with Burrow. 'cause the first year, burrow didn't have him. They take that next step when they get that stud number one receiver. And I think this is the year for DJ Moore and for Justin Fields. I think the reality is Justin Fields is primed.

I think that the new regime there has really set him up for success, and I don't think he's gonna disappoint. I really see both of those players taking that next step this year. I'm going out on a limb to say, Justin Fields will be a top tier quarterback for the next four or five years. He'll be in the, he might not be in the Josh Allen Mahomes, but he's definitely gonna be a right there with Hertz Burrow and all those other guys.

So he's definitely gonna have that ability. I think that the weapons they have around them are gonna allow him to flourish. And the reality is he's under pressure this year. You know, there's a couple quarterbacks in our league really under pressure. One of them is Justin Fields. I think he's gonna go ahead and he's, he's gonna do very well.

But on the other hand, if he doesn't, looks like, uh, me and t are gonna be looking for a new quarterback in Chi Town. I think the other thing that, you know, we have to realize is there's other quarterbacks in the league under a lot of pressure, and the one that I'm gonna talk about now is Aaron Rogers.

Aaron Rogers is the media darling. Everybody's all over him. He is on hard knocks. Bombo mentioned it. Tees mentioned it. These guys really don't have the quality of a team to get him to the Super Bowl. I don't believe that offensively, you know, I think their offensive line just isn't ready for that. He's only got a couple years, so I understand what everyone's excited about and the Jets haven't been to a fucking playoff game in fucking 30, 40 years, something like that, since Joe Namath.

But come on, guys. Let's put a little filter on it and slow this down a little bit. All right. I still have 'em finishing last in their division. I don't, I don't even know how you can get in the playoffs finishing last in your division, but enough of this, Aaron Rogers is gonna go to the Super Bowl, man.

You know, I think the other thing for me too is, and I get it, they're big boys and everything else, but this trickles down into lower, lower ranks of football, college football, high school football. If you don't win that ultimate prize, your season was a failure. And I get it in the N F L, they're grown men, okay?

But it's seeping down into the lower ranks of football. And that's not necessarily true. There are really good seasons that can be had and things that happen. And you know, people do well on teams, and the teams mature and take those steps. Just 'cause you don't win that ultimate prize doesn't mean you're a failure.

But in this case, if he doesn't win that ultimate prize, I'm gonna call him a failure. Last thing I wanna talk about is, I just wanna throw out a couple things that I think are gonna be, make this season really good. I think that the play of certain guys and elevation of certain guys are gonna change, you know, the landscape of how we look at drafts and how these new players come up and certain players are valued.

And I'm gonna go out on a little bit of a limb, you know, do a little predicting here. I guess a little, you know, Swami type of setup here. But I'm gonna give you guys my fantasy champions for this year, and these are guys who are gonna be the MVPs, the fantasy MVPs. I'm throwing them out preseason so that we can go back at the end of the season and say, fuck, how bad you were fucking king.

This is horrible. But my fantasy, M V P for this year, it's gonna be Justin Fields. My runner up is gonna be Tyreek Hill. I think both those guys are gonna have monster years. I think if you have any piece of those guys, you're in good shape. You know, it's one of those things too, where they're motivated.

Both of these players are motivated and they want to do well. The cheetah's just ridiculous. He's just, he wants to be the best guy. He wants his name in the books, he wants all that shit, you know? But I just, I feel that those two guys are gonna be the standout guys this year. I love me some Justin Jefferson.

I love me some Jamar Chase. I love certain guys. I just think these two guys are gonna be a little bit above everybody else and I hope they let just Justin Fields run. Just run, dude. Just run. 'cause he is one of the best running quarterbacks in the N F L. You know, the last thing I want to talk about is our fantasy island fuckup.

And this year, It's gonna be the Arizona Cardinals. Okay? What in the fuck is going on in Arizona two days ago, three days ago, or a week before the season started? So this whole off season, Colt McCoy's, their starter Colt McCoy's, the starter. They just cut 'em two days ago. Now they got Josh Dobbs and some dude I never heard of.

Okay. If that isn't just serious tanking. I don't know what is, and that shit shouldn't be allowed in the N F L, but I feel so bad for Arizona Cardinal fans. Here's the thing, fantasy football owners stay the fuck away from anybody on the Arizona Cardinals 'cause they are just a, a lump of shit. I don't understand what they're doing, why they're doing what they're doing.

So I, I don't get that. But they're my biggest fantasy loser of the year already. The other one that I'm gonna say, buyer beware. Stay the fuck away. Is the rookie first round running back be Jean Robinson? Just don't like it. Doesn't smell right to me. Doesn't smell like it's all the way cooked, so I'm gonna stay away.

I think that you guys gotta understand rookies need to sort of acclimate a little bit more to the league and running backs. Especially I see him being lucky to play half the games. I think he'll have some big moments early in the year, but I think he's gonna get nicked up and I think that they're gonna end up saying, okay, you know what?

After 10 games he played, let's go ahead and shelf 'em and get 'em ready for next year. But fantasy's changing, guys. We gotta stay up with it. We gotta progress with it. We gotta make sure that we understand it and understand the philosophies, especially in P p R leagues. Where that point per reception is huge.

And the value of these receivers now is higher than anything we've ever seen. Draft those receivers early, get you a good quarterback and you should be fine.