Becoming a Best Ball Bro: Which Value Tight End?

JJ Zachariason (0:00)

Rich, do you remember the movie Angels in the Outfield?

Rich Ryan (0:03)

You know, that's one of those movies where I vaguely remember a plot about a kid playing for the Angels, not the Bears, that's, or excuse me, the Cubs, that's Rookie of the Year, but I don't know the plot in its entirety. Why do you ask?

JJ Zachariason (0:16)

Yeah, so he doesn't play for them. He sees Angels and he sees them helping the actual baseball team out, right? I watched it recently with my daughter. It is as putrid as you probably think it would be. It's a terrible, terrible movie when you go back and watch it. It was fine growing up, but it's terrible right now. But I was thinking I might need, you know, Christopher Lloyd was the main angel in that movie. I might need to do the little angel sign, flap my wings a little bit, get Christopher Lloyd down here, and fix my Kimani Vidal and potentially Tyrone Tracy lineups. I'm JJ, and I've been playing in best ball leagues for years. But there are people out there who play a lot more than I do, and there are people out there who have won a lot more than I have. And I want to learn from them. This season, I'll be documenting my journey of Max entering Underdog's Best Ball Mania Contest. And I'll be doing so with guidance from some of the most successful best ball players on the planet. This is the year where things start to change. This is the year where I officially become a best ball bro.

Welcome in to another episode of Becoming a Best Ball Bro. I'm JJ Zachariason. first episode with glasses, Rich, and I'm joined, I just spoiled it. I'm joined by Rich Ryan. Rich, what's going on, buddy?

Rich Ryan (1:40)

Doing good, man. I almost went eight eyes, you know? Six eyes might not be enough, but...

JJ Zachariason (1:44)

There we go.

Rich Ryan (1:46)

But yeah, I'll go no glasses here. Purposefully wearing the Jets hat just to prove that, even in times of turmoil, absolute clown organization, looking like a bunch of idiots with regards to the Hassan Reddick contract negotiation or lack thereof, I'm a fan through and through. I'm here for the bad times and with the Jets, mostly the bad times.

JJ Zachariason (2:07)

Yeah. You know, it's really funny. I saw someone quote tweet the Reddick trade request in the tweet about that. One of the beats who sent that out and quote tweeted it with the Aaron Rodgers quote of him saying that people will take like a discount to go play in Green Bay because I'm playing here.

It's just such a perfect chef's kiss situation going on there.

Rich Ryan (2:29)

Yeah. I just I don't understand a player who they knew needed a new contract. You execute a trade without a contract in place. And lo and behold, it turns out kicking the can down the road, not a very good strategy.

JJ Zachariason (2:43)

Yeah. I mean, as we're seeing with Brandon Ayyuk right now, who, by the way, I recorded this earlier today, the interview later with with Neil Orfield, which you guys will listen to in just a second, recorded it earlier today. And we talked a little bit about Brandon Ayyuk and that whole situation. And at the time when we were recording it, we were kind of assuming that Ayyuk was leaning towards the 49ers. And then literally right after we were done recording, we get this rap sheet tweet saying that it's kind of like, it's just up in the air. We don't know. Is it going to be Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh has a deal on the table, or is it, or is he going to sign this extension with the 49ers? So by the time you listen to this show, a couple of things might be different. Number one, I mentioned Tyrone Tracy at the top. Earlier today, we got news that he had this horrific injury.

He was carted off, he had an air cast, he went to the hospital. And then recently, right before we started recording, we learned that Tyrone Tracy's injury might not be that bad. So that cold open we did, I did mention Tracy, but if he's okay, then my best ball rosters and lineups will feel much, much better, much better.

Rich Ryan (3:52)

Undertaker.jiff, I mean, when the air cast comes out, it's season's over, right?

JJ Zachariason (3:58)

Yeah, like what are the percent? I know that they're overly cautious in training camp and stuff like that, but what are the odds of it being nothing major when the air cast happens, right? It's gotta be-