Fantasy Football Daily - 2023 Underdog Bestball Rankings Reveal with Graham Barfield | Two-Point Stance Podcast

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Underdog Fantasy is the best place to draft best ball teams.  At FantasyPoints.com, you can find our initial 2023 Underdog best ball rankings.  Graham Barfield of Fantasy Points joins us on the show to reveal the 2023 rankings.  Fantasy Football drafts are back and easier than ever with Fantasy Points rankings and Underdog Fantasy.   Want a deal?  Of course you do.  Head to UnderdogFantasy.com or download the app today.  When you sign up using our code "FANTASYPTS" we'll double your first-time deposit up to $100.  That's not all.  With that deposit, you'll also get a subscription to FantasyPoints.com for just $5.  That's a $155 value.  Don't miss out, use code "FANTASYPTS" on Underdog today.   Read the Underdog Fantasy rankings on Fantasy Points here:https://www.fantasypoints.com/nfl/articles/season/2023/underdog-top-240-best-ball-rankings#/   Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FantasyPts  https://twitter.com/DrakeFantasy  https://twitter.com/FG_Dolan  https://twitter.com/GrahamBarfield   Subscribe to our free YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/live/QAwI3NlfpcA FantasyPoints.com is your home for the best in fantasy football, DFS, and betting analysis.   #FantasyFootball #NFL #DFS #Underdog #bestball --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. All across the fantasy universe, welcome one and all to the two-point stance. That's right, Brian Drake, Joe Dolan, FantasyPoint.com. Welcome back, everybody. joining us here on your favorite podcast feed or on YouTube. We really love those YouTube folks who come and hang out with us. Search us on YouTube at Fantasy Points, YouTube.com slash Fantasy Points.

We're joining us here on your favorite. We got a great one tonight. And I'm not talking just because every show we do is great and I'm a company man, but we have what I think is one of the best analysts in the industry, the director of analytics for FantasyPoint.com. Mr. Graham Barfield, my arch nemesis from the King's classic bland division. We'll get into that later. But Joe, I'm excited to have Graham on the show today because we're going to kick off best ball season here at FantasyPoints.com. Yeah, it's wonderful.

It's good to be with Graham. It's good to be with you, Drake. Had some fun talking XFL. Now we're talking real football, at least for your, from your perspective, Drake. But hey, I am definitely making some XFL lineups using Jake Trebries. Go listen to the pog. Oh, here comes Butterscotch.

For those of you who see on YouTube, here comes my dog, Buttercotch, too. she, she's been dealing with a paw infection, Drake, since Thanksgiving. I think we talked about that. So what's going on here is like we put our initial bestball rankings up. Underdogs got a couple tournaments going, so we need to have rankings up. Graham did an article. Graham's really been digging in.

And I'm really interested to get into like, because Graham's a big tears guy. Not like Eric Clapton, but like tears like levels of things. I guess is the way you one would say. And that's how I like to really rank my players as well. I think that's the smart way to rank your players. And I'm really interested to see if he's noticed any trends. Graham, it's good to be with you, my friend. Thanks for joining us here on the two-point stance.

We've had the rankings out. You've dived into the rankings. You've gone through the ADP. What's going on, man? How's the work been for you? It's been good. Yeah, yeah. It's been good to get back into things.

I was just telling Brian, I took like three days off in the last couple days or a couple weeks. That's been nice. But no, just diving right back into the best ball rankings. Yeah, Little and Big Board, 10 and $3 contests on Underdog. And just off the top, man, Joe, I don't know if you guys have done any drafts yet. But like, you know, we're seeing the first two rounds, like very receiver heavy, which makes a lot of sense. But like after you get like to round seven, eight, nine. there are a lot of backs with very interesting profiles from the free agents to this rookie class.

I think this is a really interesting ADP pocket right now because it feels like to me there's like maybe six to seven guys after around eight, nine that could just blow past their ADP. And then there's another like six to seven that could just get blown up by their ADP. So it's, you know, you're always taking a risk if you're drafting on March the second, of course. but I think this is a really interesting ADP landscape just because there's so many late-round running backs this year. And Drake, I think you know from doing Underdog last year. Underdog is wide receiver drunk anyway. Underdog drafters are, which is interesting because underdogs have PPR.

So there's like, obviously I've done drafts on like draft kings, NFFC, you know, the old best ball tens, like full PPR sites. and they're not as wide receiver drunk as underdog, and that trend is just exploding this year. The downside is, you're like, well, you know, I'll zig when I zag. The problem is, man, you can really get behind at the wide receiver position if you don't go along with the trend.

And it's going to be fascinating to see how people build their teams because grandma, I think this is going to be a question. Well, Drake, I want to see, do you, I'll get into the tears because there was a big lesson I learned from last year in Underdog. And we'll get into that. But Drake, are you old school? Are you running back first round type of guy? Are you?

I got to get one in the first two rounds kind of guy. Have you changed that? Because, man, if you want a running back in the first round, you're going to have your pick of the litter here on Underdog if you're drafting early. Yeah, I'm looking at the rankings that Graham has up here. And there's eight wide receivers in our top. 12, three running backs, and the third of which being Jonathan Taylor, who is at 11 overall RB3. So, I mean, you can get last year's literally RB1 overall number one player at the end of

the first round. I think that's going to creep up as we see, you know, a quarterback land in Indianapolis and things progress through the offseason. But I'm, I'm best player available. If that best player is Travis Kelsey, I'll take Travis Kelsey. I did that last year. a 14 team draft that Graham and I were in together. If I get to the back half of the first round and there's a couple of good backs there, maybe Austin Echler falls, I'll take Austin Echler there. But I think at that, at that top end of the draft, you know, call me crazy. I still love CMC.

I think he's just such an advantage weekly when you get him in your lineup. And hey, guess what? He stayed healthy guys. And, you know, God forbid that happens again. But I love Christian McCaffrey. I have no problem taking him to 101. No, I don't think, I think there's going to be a lot of people who don't have a problem doing that. Now, Graham, you basically were looking at the ADP throughout this doing drafts and whatnot.

Do you think it's too wide receiver drunk right now? Like, no, I think it's, honestly, I think it's perfect. And I think it's, it's one of those things where like, okay, last year was a historically bad year for later on wide receivers. I mean, name me one that really smashed Garrett Wilson. and it really took till week, I don't know, nine, ten for him to get around. I mean, a lot of, you know, he probably got dumped in a lot of shower leagues. I mean, I know I hung on to him in all of mine, but I mean, I think this year, it'll, it'll balance out a little bit better.

But I think we've just gotten better at identifying the top end receivers and more to the point. We've gotten better at identifying the mid-range receivers too. And right now, as I'm looking across the running back landscape, the one thing I do when I, when I start my rankings. I don't look at ADP. I go from a top-down approach. I start at a team-by-team level, and I go, okay, these are the backs

that I feel really, really good about. The top ones are easy. McCaffrey, Echler. You could put J.T. in that mix. Once you get past that point, though, this year, guys, it's like, I mean, Ken Walker's fantastically love him, but he doesn't have a receiving profile. Bejan Robinson isn't drafted yet,

and he's going as a near-first-round pick. The running-back landscape gets real murky, really fast, and it's not just receipts. We're now seeing Josh Allen, Jalen Hertz, Patrick Mahomes, start going in the back half of the second round, early third round. And I think that just makes sense. Is it different from everything that we've been drafting for the last five, six years? Absolutely. I think it's one of those things where people are looking across the running back landscape and just realizing, man, like, it is thin.

And it gets thin fast. So who else are we going to draft? I mean, these difference making quarterbacks and all of the best wide receiver ones and twos, I think that's. That's, at least in the first couple of rounds, I think that's where everybody's heads out. Yeah, if you look back at last year, 2022, in, I mean, I'm in full PPR here, but I can switch over to half, which underdog is. And you look at what guys were scoring at a points per game basis. After you get past Tony Pollard at RB7, you don't have another running back averaging 15 points a game. It's a long flat tier.

It's an extremely long flat tier. And that's, I mean, my rankings represent that. I mean, if you go down, and maybe we can talk a little bit about this rookie class. But, you know, Bijon is obviously at the top. Jamir Gibbs is probably the consensus too. But then, like, this rookie class from three to ten, they're all, like, very interesting profiles that, like, kind of fit the NFL. And all these guys are going to have some early round draft capital. It's a draft capital.

I mean, I mean, I'm looking across the landscape here. Kenny McIntosh is. is RV 52. I mean, you're getting him, I mean, a lot of these rookies are going so late right now because one, obviously, we don't know landing spots and a lot can change, yada, yada, yada, but if you're building teams right now, I think you've got to be extremely aware of what this running back landscape looks like. And, you know, you're going to hit, you're going to have some really bad swings and this is on some of these like speculative rookies. But I think that's where a lot of the value is. And I think that's more to the point why wide receivers and

and quarterbacks are going story. You know, and also, I think you said we've become good at identifying which wide receivers are good. We've become good at identifying which teams are good. So one of the things I noticed just on the surface level when I was going through leaderboards from last year, 10 of the 19 top scoring wide receivers came from five teams. So there were five teams that put two wide receivers in the top 19 in scoring. And I mean, and you pretty much could guess all of them off the top of your head.

You know, Philadelphia had two, Cincinnati had to, Miami had two, Tampa Bay had to, you know, Seattle had to. And Seattle's guys were underrated because of nobody really projected that Gino Smith would be good. But that was an edge last year for people. Devonte Smith, Tyler Lockett were huge league winners. Those guys are going earlier a lot earlier this year. Tyler Lockett isn't. He's still too cheap.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, perennally underrated Tyler Lockett. Now, he was available in like the eighth round last year. He is going earlier than that this year. But everybody, yeah, nobody wants to draft Tyler Lockett. I do wonder if there's still something to be exploited there.

Like, yeah, Jalen Waddle and Tyree killer going early. And Devonte Smith and AJ Brown are rightfully going. but if there's still something to exploit there, I'm wondering, Drake. But that's neither here nor there. But if you look at Underdog ADP right now, I'm looking at about a week, week old ADP, both Miami receivers, both Philadelphia receivers, both Cincinnati receivers are all going in the first two rounds of drafts. I have to imagine that's the first time that's like ever happened in fantasy football history.

Yeah, it goes back to my point, you know, we want these teams. like the Eagles that were top, they're going to be top five, top eight, at least in scoring offense again, I mean, I think anything less than fifth would be a miss in projection for the Eagles. Same thing with the Bengals. I mean, the Bengals finally unleashed bro and became one of the most pass-heavy teams in terms of pass rate over our expectation this past couple years. And then, I mean, the market's just getting a lot sharper. I'll throw it to you guys. One guy I've really struggled with ranking right now is Breece Hall. You can make any upside argument that you want, right? I mean, the dude had nearly, he was averaging 100 yards from scrimmage

right out of the, you know, per game, out of the gates. Coming off the ACL, loaded, back loaded late round running back group, but I mean, Hall just has so much upside. He's, he is very, very tough to rank right now. His ADP right now, an underdog 25. So you're getting him at the back end of the first, of the second round, beginning of that third round turn. I have a tough time right there because I think you're seeing guys in that situation who they took a wide receiver early. They're swinging for upside. Again, this is season long contest. You're not really worried about having Breece Hall maybe for the first or second weeks.

And you're hoping by the end of the year, he's clicking with whatever quarterback they have in there. But is that more of a pick of necessity from someone who's kind of also thinking, I got to get a wide, or I got to get a running back right here. And Breeze Hall, maybe it would be the best name on the board. or you know do you guys does that injury still bother you because how many guys do we really see come back from these injuries and they're that good the next year like it's not that often i mean you can almost drop these guys down a tier i was reading something on twitter this week just about that where are we overrating brees hall because of what we saw and not what we're going to see after this injury i mean i think it's fair um i also think that there is an understanding that the these injuries are different. Like, Javante Williams is buried in ADP right now,

and there's been conflicting reports about Jvante Williams this offseason that, oh, he's not going to be ready. And then they said, oh, he will be ready. Same as J.K. Dobbins last offseason. And I have to point out the fact that Dr. Edwin Porris said at the time, Williams injury is a lot more like J.K.

Dobbins, while Brees Hall is more of a traditional ACL. Edwin, in talking to Edwin, he said he's going to draft Brees Hall. I wonder if he's going to be drafting Brees Hall if he knows he's a second round pick, though. I wonder if Edwin was looking at that as like, oh, he's going to be a fourth or fifth round pick. I'm going to draft him. And I also think part of the thing that's playing into this is people anticipate the Jets offense is going to be way better. Whether they get Aaron Rogers, whether they get Derek Carr, whether they get Jimmy Garapolo, that offense is going to be way better than it was last year. So I think that's playing into it as well. I have them right

currently at 27 overall. Again, don't feel great about that. The running back I have right behind him is Dalvin Cook, who also is injured and had some surgery this offseason. The running back I have right in front of him is Nick Chub, and I feel pretty good about having Nick Chub in front of him because Cream Hunt's moving on. So, yeah, that is a really tough spot for me right now. Yeah, I'm a little lower on haul just out of the gates than you.

He's super tricky because we love the talent coming out, a big believer, but like, you know, even just your normal ACL tariff for running back, the average return according to Edwin is about 10 months. And that puts them right up to September. And Brian, your point, you know, you're right. You can take the zeros in weeks one and two. I mean, it's just, it's a tricky projection because you're taking them over bona fide guys like, possibly Patrick Moore Holmes and Josh Allen and Jalen Hertz.

I mean, those guys have been bona fide league winners with 25, 26 point per game upside. It's tricky. I got to say, Joe, you mentioned Nick Chubb. Nick Chub is one running back that I'm way in on in early ADP. His ADP doesn't make any sense. I haven't been in on him in three years either, but I think I am this year. I'm definitely in this year. He's going at 28.

I've gotten at 10 spots ahead of ADP. He's like one of the few guys. like I was saying earlier, when I'm looking at backs, it's like, okay, I'm looking from a team down perspective, like, are they going to score points? The Browns will be better this coming year. I don't think they're going to be a top 10 offense, but they'll be mid-range. You know, we know what Chubb's upside is in terms of what he provides, like, and they're going to lose Kareem Hunt. Chubb's spike games remind me of, like, prime Derek Henry, and I think he's going a little too late. He's like one of the, he's like the only running back in the first

three rounds and I'm like slightly higher than ADP on. And then him and Najee Harris because I think they have two bankable workloads. What about Aaron Jones? So his ADP right now is 61, right? And yes, he's going to be splitting time in the backfield again. But Aaron Jones is a really talented running back. Finished last year at RB9 in half point PPR. You're getting him in the 60s.

I mean, are we downgrading that offense that much because Jordan was could be taking over? I mean, this could be a situation where maybe Aaron Rogers is still there. Even if Jordan Love is the quarterback, I would anticipate a featured role for Aaron Jones. We could be seeing Alan Lazzard move on. And then good God, I mean, they're throwing us three out there at that point. Yeah, I think that's all somewhat just like projection that Rogers might not be back. The other thing is like, you know, Aaron Jones is about going to his age 29 season. You know, typically we don't really want to be drafting backs much past 29 now.

but I think it's a slight overreaction because, you know, in terms of efficiency, he was still the same guy last year. Who would you rather have Aaron Jones or D'Andre Swift, who's going nearly 10 spots ahead of him? I have Swift ranked ahead simply because, you know, Emil Williams might not be back. I think he will be, by the way. I think he will be too.

You can't fix that wiggle, baby. Come on. Joe, what? Did Deuce just like hate DeAndre Swift? Like, was that it? I think he got hurt. And I also think Deuce is adamant about running back rotations. I mean, look at what he did in Philadelphia.

And remember, like, there was always, like, the media always would ask Doug Peterson, oh, why isn't this guy getting carries? And he's like, asked Deuce. He's the one who does the rotations, you know, like when the Eagles were in the Super Bowl, the last time they were in the Super Bowl, you know, Jay, J. J. J. J. J. Garrett Blunt, Corey Clement, were all getting burned, you know? Like so, no, I think Duce Daly is an adamant running back rotation guy. And I think, I think that that's his philosophy.

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, Swift's just got so much upside. We've seen it in such small spurts, but like, I mean, I was watching him during the season. I haven't done like a film study or anything on him this off season. But, I mean, his vision has just gotten, like, worse. Like, so I don't know if it was a confidence thing with all the injuries or what have you, but I still think he carries a ton of upside. But you're right, Drake, I mean, if Jones is, or if Rogers is back, Aaron Jones is probably at least 10 lows by 80, 10 spots too low by ADP.

And that, that raises a point. Did you guys see Matt Schneidman from The Athletic? What did he say? Well, he said he would listen to one of Rogers like podcasts. I forget what podcast he was on, but that guy does more podcasts. Not this one so effort. Not this one yet. We'll have to get him on here. Hold on, hold on. We can get him on here now. That's why I've got the lights off in the background here. By the way, I love this. I love this thing, man.

He got the clicker here. You turn that on. Oh, you got to have the clicker for the last. Yeah, but we'll get them on here. But Matt Schneiman said his, he said he's not ruling out Rogers retiring, but he says, and I think this is an informed guess. He said he thinks if Rogers plays it's for the Packers. It's just so much money.

In which case, if you're drafted. Packers right now, these guys are values. Yeah. Now, maybe they're values anyway because maybe Jordan loves the next star quarterback. We don't know. I think that's the point. It's so much money. There's no way he's walking away from that and thinking he can get that on the market.

Like, no. Yeah. No. It's a very good deal for him. I mean, and he's still a great player, I think. But this guy, man, he's learned one thing from far. It's the drama, you know. Jesus.

Hey, maybe you guys learn about a, Well, maybe our listeners out there don't quite have Aaron Rogers money and they want to save a couple bucks. How about you save $155? Because that's the value we're giving you right now with our deal between underdog fantasy and fantasy points.com. Use our code fantasy PTS. When you sign up for underdog fantasy, we're going to double your first time deposit. So you deposit $100 with the code fantasy PTS. I'm doubling it.

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I can get you a subscription to FantasyPoints.com. You can get the guru. You can get Wes Huber. You can get, oh, our guest right here, Mr. Graham Barfield, Joe Dolan, Tom Broly's betting advice, Scott Barrett and all this dank stats, five freaking dollars. Just use code fantasy PTS when you sign up at underdog fantasy.com. Deposit, I'm going to match it up to $100.5 fantasy points. You're in, you're rocking and rolling, and you're kicking some ass in best ball drafts with these rankings today.

So let's keep rolling here, Mr. Barfield. And we need to digress to the grudge match you and I had over the summer. Graham and I compete in the King's Classic draft. And it's a draft that's done at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We met in the finals. And this is the first time I've been able to see Graham now face to face. He stole the trophy from me right out from under me in a championship week where he started Russell Wilson, Taysam Hill, just scrub after scrub after scrub, and on literally the final drive of the NFL fantasy season, beat me with a Pat Friarmoot catching to win the championship. Congratulations, my friend. I look forward to seeing you get the trophy this year, but damn it, I wanted that. It's funny you say I have scrubs. I mean, I seem to remember having

Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill. Those guys scrubs there, buddy? Yeah, and then you also had who's the kid from the Saints, the wide receiver? The speech to beed. Yeah. My God. I'm out there. Yeah. I'm out there. Yeah. I'm out there. Yeah. I'm only rolling with Mahomes and Kelsey and A.J. Brown. Look, I lost Lamar Jackson. I lost Jeff Wilson, who I had been riding. I went zero R.B. It worked. But I was starting some to steal word from John, some skanky guys. I think of the season. But hey, thank you. That was a battle. That Pat Firemove catch, I was legit sweating there. That was, that was brutal. He had a drop. Do you remember that? He had a drop. And I thought I had that. I didn't watch the guy.

I turned the game off until the final drive. So my question of you is this, to circle back to my team. I drafted Travis Kelsey in the first round of that draft. In best ball, you've got Travis Kelsey at number four overall. He's tight end one. What's your tight end strategy in something like that is it, hey, I can get Kelsey and then I'm going to come back. I got a stacking with Mahomes, maybe in the second round.

Or do you just say, I'm going to take a bunch of tight ends later. And if so, who are some guys you like? Yeah. last year it was like just that like i'm going to take kelsey i really wasn't into andrews i definitely wasn't into pits uh if i don't take kelsey early then i'm just going to go with like three or four late round tight ends i'll take even four um especially if you're not spending a lot of uh draft capital on it tight end's always tricky um and everybody's going to say this this is the year where we get uh you know finally we get some tight end depth we've got some young guys coming in

I wrote it in my article, but this year really comes down to what do we get from Greg Dolcich, Chego Quanko, Cole Comet, even Dawson Knox to a certain extent. I'll go a little off the board, though, and Joe, you're probably going to, you're probably going to laugh at me, or jar will drop when I say this name. I like Mike Gassicki super late. Well, honestly, he's entering free agency, so he's going to sign him where he fits the offense better. I actually really like that pick.

Yeah, yeah. I think Gassiki's a little bit like Gerald Everett last year. He'll go to a better spot with a team that hopefully knows how to use him a little better. I still think, I mean... That might be the spot he goes to, by the way. Yeah, we've been power fading Gassiki here at fantasy points for the last three years, just because his role has always been super weird with the dolphins. They've just never used him as a full-time player.

Maybe he can go somewhere and get like an Evan Ingram, Greg, you know, Gerald Everett type of one-year deal. And there's some upside there. I mean, he's free. He's going at 170 and a half. Beyond, like, just a late round dart guy, I think you have to kind of be excited about Greg Dulcich and what we saw on him last year. We want some of these guys who can play in big slot roles,

be a little bit of a field stretcher. Obviously, Russell Wilson is just a total mystery box at this point. You know, maybe Sean Payton can save him. Maybe you can't. But I think Dulcich just set up really well with a strong role. He was running around at, like, 75, 80 percent of the, of the team's dropbacks to finish last year. You know, targets came and gone, came and went, but the usage was great.

We love, obviously, the athletic profile he has. I think Dolcich is definitely somebody I want to be a little overweight on. He's going to get steam, too. He's already, like, 130, 125 overall. Like, I think that's the right pocket for him. You know, I said last year when I was watching games at the end of the season, now it entirely depends on what are the quarterback situations look like here? What the hell cup is that, by the way?

Get that off of my podcast. Oh, I'm sorry. Get that off of my podcast. And it's an Atlanta Braves World Series. I'm straight. I'm right. So, Jolani Woods, Chigakancoe are two guys that I'll love to have on every team.

The question is, what's the quarterback situation? There hasn't been any Ryan Tannahill buzz, really, because, I mean, when Derek Carr, Aaron Rogers, potentially available. I guess there won't be any Ryan Tannahill buzz, but he's a guy who I'm interested in a Conquo. Jelani Woods, who's Indianapolis going to get? And I think Indianapolis is as big a threat as anybody to trade up to the top overall pick, get a Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, whoever, that's a guy who I think could be utilized. I think there are a lot of appealing late-round tight ends. And maybe that is the strategy. Maybe it's to go over for the first 13

rounds of a draft and then go boom, boom, get these high upside later round guys straight because those, the early tight end, sans Kelsey last year did not pay off. I mean, you could wait until legitimately 150 picks into the draft and then walk out of there with Akankwo, Gisicki, Juan Johnson, a guy I really like Daniel Bellinger,

because no one else is in New York to catch a pass right now. I mean, they literally have like no receivers right now. No play. Hodgins was an ERFA, so he's back, but they relieves Galday. Slayton's a free agent, you know, I think Richard James is a free agent. Wondale Robinson's coming off in ACL. I mean, yeah, who else do they have? And it's a terrible free agent class for the wide receivers.

Drake, as we'll talk about next week. Yeah, I think this is an interesting rookie tight-in class, too. I mean, we saw it last year. Yeah, we saw, I mean, I don't know if Bellinger's any good, but I'm with you, like, you know, the opportunities there. We saw Bellinger pop. we saw McBride pop for a couple games. I think we're going to start seeing some of these rookie tight-ins, not break them old.

They're not going to come out and be Rob Kronkowski or anything right out of the gates, of course. But I think we're going to start seeing rookie titans produce and be viable late around best ball picks. And for what it's worth, we're seeing Michael Mayer and Luke Musgrave. Those guys are getting picked and pushed up for. Dalton Kinkade, who might be the best of them, but he's not working out at the combine.

I think listening back to my buddy Fran Duffy, who does just an incredible NFL drive. draft podcast every week. They went through Dane Brukler's top 100 players, just like, just top 100 big board. I think he had seven tight ends in his top 100, which seems insane. But like Fran said it tracks. Like last year, 19 tight ends got drafted in the NFL draft. Yeah.

Yeah, I think we're seeing a lot more of these like kind of hybrid guys who can play a little bit of everything. They can play in line. You can put them in slide. You can put them out wide. Yeah. one one kind of like lynchpin guy i think if you're wanting to draft early round tight ends you can always make a case for mark andrews t j hawkinson man like that's he was awesome he was so good last year uh he's

one you know it's the offense will be the same cousins is back jefferson's back we've got some bankability there he's easy to stack too because cousins still goes so late i think if you're if you're drafting early around tight ends this year, I think Hock, paying that kind of premium on Hock kind of makes some sense. He's my two. Or two goes right now in ADP is, it's not great. I mean, the running backs there, you know, you got to, you got to kind of like twist your arm and make a case for them.

The receivers kind of drop off. I think, I think Hock at like 40, 45. He's my two right now. I have him ahead of Andrews. And I feel like, in a way, you know, how we talked about like those. those three teams that have two receivers going in the top two rounds, which is insane. I think you can kind of throw Hawkinson into that category. He's the new stealing.

Yeah, he, I feel like he's kind of replaced sealing. I call these teams narrow fantasy teams, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Minnesota has been a narrow fantasy team since Kurt Cousins got into town. And it's great, it's great, you know, like, when I talk about him every week, I'm like, I don't have to talk about this team. know what to do with these guys. If somebody's hurt, then we'll, then we'll, we'll, we'll assess it otherwise, but the Hawkinson's my two. And I definitely think he's going to be a target of mine. But that brings in another question for me. And it builds off of running backs, it builds off

of tight ends. This receiver tier, there is, I think there is a precipitous tier drop at receiver in the third round. Yep. And that's why I'm in on Hawkinson. It's like, okay, Hopkins, Cooper. then you can, you know, you got to take a leap on Chris Goblin. You'd have to take a leap on DJ Moore. You'd have to take a leap on Michael Pittman. Yeah. Right. I think.

Christian Watson requires a leap of faith right now, you know. Absolutely. And, you know, that's kind of, you know, when we first started talking tonight, that's another reason why quarterbacks are starting to go earlier. I've got Justin Fields at 41. I've got Lamar at 37. I mean, it's like that pocket. You're right.

That's where receiver around that, like, 17, 18 range starts dying. Now, granted. It's so rough. Amar was so bad last year. But I think the offense is going to help him, yes. Yeah. The Andrew, your Andrews or Hawkinson over Andrews thing, by the way, is not a hot take. I think that's pretty sharp, honestly, because I was thinking about it too with Lamar potentially not being back.

But Andrews just, man, he might get a 28% target chair this year. I'm the only one on staff who has Hawkinson as my two, which shocks me because I cannot believe John Hanson didn't do it. I have them really close in my overall. I haven't separated by just a couple of stuff. I mean, I have him separated by like nine spots or something like that overall, Drake. And I want to parlay that off of because, like, right now, like, Graham was talking, Amari Cooper's boring. I drafted him everywhere because he was so dirt cheap last year and he's not this year.

I still think, I wonder if D'Andre Hopkins could be like, I still like DeAndre Hopkins. He's still produced last year. but I do wonder if this year there could be like some ooh the Titans traded for Julio uh oh and oh Hopkins

and then like all those I mean this is this is what you have to do but all the content farming sites are going to be like who's stopping D'Andre Hopkins in a Patriot uniform you know like stuff like that like they'll make their hot take so I think it takes a leap of faith

but I come back to last year. And I know we're skipping around here. And one of my big lessons learned is these dead zone running backs, everybody knows why Josh Jacobs was a seventh round pick last year. Everybody knows why Miles Sanders was an eighth round pick last year. Like these guys who ended up winning people leagues.

I have to adjust my thinking, Drake. I've got to say to myself, what is the best case scenario for these guys especially and here is the caveat especially when they're a guy who has proven he can play in the league and miles Sanders and josh jacobs were two guys who had proven i understood their flaws but they had proven they can play in the nfl and they were relatively young as well and were we just missing on guys like that because we were looking for the hot new thing, you know, like, well, we got to, we can't miss out on Javonte Williams, who would have, you know, we can't miss out on this guy. And meanwhile, these guys who had

proven they can play in the league and in the case of Sanders were in the lead offense, just slipped through the cracks. I wonder how many guys like that are going to exist this year. I can tell you one that I see right off the bat. Graham's got an RB 16. It's Delvin Cook. Delvin Cook was a guy last year who people were drafting as, you know, a top five running back. And now he's going to get his shoulder fixed. Hopefully he's okay. Madison's likely out of town. This offense is still going to be really good.

They're going to score points. They play indoors. Delvin Cook can catch the football. You can get him at RB 16 in Graham's rankings. I mean, I'm in for that. Why can't Delvin Cook be a top five running back this year? Yeah. I think there's some risk that the Vikings,

because like, you know, like you said, Madison probably won't be back. I think there's some risk the Vikings get like a legit two for him. Because I think we're at a point. I mean, Dalvin still is very effective last year, but I'm not sure you can maintain this, like, massive workload and still be effective. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what the Vikings do, because I think there's some, there's some, like, real list. Vikings get some, like, legit help for the back. Isn't this the conversation we had about Josh Jacobs last year?

And, you know, that's why it's like everyone's just going to be, yeah, maybe this guy's done. Dalvin's 28, though. I mean, Josh Jacobs is still young. I'm with you, Joe. I mean, like, I'm kicking myself for Josh Jacobs because I have always loved him, always thought he was a baller, just never had, like, a huge role. They always, like, tried to, like, shoehorn him into, like, not giving him, like, goal line carries to, like, finally got the big role. I think if you look across ADP last year, though, like, was Miles Sanders really a lead winner? Like, he had a couple big spike games for sure, but, like, I don't think he was a league winner.

I think Josh Jacobs played the league in rushing, you know, but, you know, Sanders had some big games. and I don't like anybody regretted drafting Miles Sanders. And he didn't catch passes either. But, you know, Miles Sanders right now is like, what, a ninth, tenth, round pick? What's his ADP? It's, uh, here's the thing about Miles Sanders that's interesting to me. I, by the way, his ADP's 89.3 is RB 27.

He was RB 15 in total scoring last year. So that's a pretty significant dip. He is a free agent. But what are the chances? And I don't think this is, I don't think this is that hot at take at all. what if Miles Sanders is out there looking for three for 35 or something like that? He doesn't get it. And Harry Roseman's like, hey, we didn't extend Jalen Hertz yet.

Or we did, but his cap hit doesn't get bigger for another two seasons. Why don't you come back here on a one-year deal? We'll pay you a lot of money and we run it back and try to get back to the Super Bowl. Like, I think that's within the realm of outcomes for Miles Sanders in this next couple weeks. And maybe there's a buying opportunity here for some of these free, agent running backs who you expect, oh, I'm not drafting him there because he might go somewhere else. What if he doesn't? What if Josh Jacobs doesn't go somewhere else? You know, like there, there could be some real buying opportunities here. Yeah. I mean, Jacobs, in terms of ADP,

you're not really getting too much of a discount. No, you're not. I was going to ask you what your read was on, on Eagles backs. Because like, if he, if Sanders isn't back and they'd get Gamewell, like a bigger role, like they'd throw out the playoffs, like Gamewell is a smash picket. Yeah, and I loved Gamewell last year. And like the thing about Gamewell was he was a miss for me. But like at the end of the year, he at least showed why. I'm like Derek Gunn, who's covered the Eagles, and he is plugged in, says the Eagles love him and they think he can be the leadback. Watching him at the end of the year, I think his role can be bigger than it was.

I'm not sure he's a leadback. I really don't. So I do think there is a spot. By the way, Boston Scott's a free agent too. So the Eagles need to add to that running back room. And they're going to. I don't think they're going to go pay Seacuan Barclay. I mean, although, God, where would he go for Fantasy?

If the Eagles signed him, oh, my, Lanta. But, like, that's why I think Miles Sanders, the Eagles have half their defensive starters are free agents. Like, if Miles Sanders, they're able to get him back on a one-year reasonable deal, I think they do that. Yeah. You know, so I think that, because I'm holding myself to this, by the way. There have been mock drafts that have the Eagles taking Bejohn Robinson and

10th overall. That'll never happen. I tweeted it. I am. I am holding myself to this. I am getting drunk and jumping off of my roof if Howie Roseman spends a top 10 pick on a running back. Now, I'm not saying they might not do it at 30. I still don't think they will, but they did draft Miles Sanders in the second round. So it's not that outrageous. I just, no way they do it at 10. There's not a chance in hell they do it at 10. And I will. I will get drunk and jump off my roof if they do. But that that calls back to why I think Miles Sanders at this spot. I mean, I'm not going to be excited about him if he really lands on a mediocre team that just pays him the most money. I'm not going to be excited about him.

But I think where he's getting drafted right now, Drake and Graham, just on the chance that the scenario I'm talking about comes true, that's a pretty easy pick for me if I'm drafted in the next couple weeks. One guy that I'm looking at too is what do you think of James Cook? Devin Singletary is a free agent. You know, he didn't, as the season went on, he got better. He scored some touchdowns at the end of the year in the playoffs. I mean, he's the guy who they drafted, I believe in the second round. They want big things out of James Cook.

They were in on, yeah, they were in on McCaffrey, and they wanted someone coming and catch the passes. Isn't that what James Cook is? And then they go out and trade for Naheim Hines. But could this be a year where maybe we're sleeping a little on, James Cook and he could be a bigger role in Buffalo than we have. He's a huge part of that mix that I like. Miles Sanders being a part of it too.

I mean, Sanders' ADP is basically the exact same as it was last year. The thing with Cook is like, I don't know if it's anything to do it with him. This Bill's run game, like, I don't know if it's a structural scheme thing. Like, I'm not sure if they have the right offensive line, you know, the right starting five. But like, this team, like, every year, we're like, oh, this is the year they're going to run it a little better, and then they never do, you know, like, I think James Cook is by far the most talented guy they've had back there. But, I mean, they play a soft brand of football.

They say Josh Allen, go be Superman every play. Yeah. It's, well, it was so apparent. That's why they lost in the playoffs. It's like they just don't have a piece. If everything's not clicking and Allen's not hitting digs on back shoulders and making crazy shit happen, like they don't have a run game to go to. at any point that they can consistently rely on.

So the bills to me have got to change something structurally or with their offensive line for me to really be like, okay, I'm in on a bill's back big time. But he's certainly got the upside. By the way, though, but here's the thing. I don't care if they play. I don't care of nothing changes with the Buffalo Bills. I'm hoping it does. His ADP is currently 91.

Yeah. That is a smash pick for me. Like, I don't care if I'm saying that. We say that, and then you're like, you know, you made a good comment earlier. It's like, okay, what's his upside? James Cook, what's his upside? Josh Allen's still the goal lineback. They still might get another guy to rotate with him.

That's fair. I mean, look, I like James Cook's talent. I was saying, you know, mid-season, the guy looks great. But, you know, I just don't know if the role will be there. Hold on. Who's the Eagles goal line back? Jalen. Yeah.

Miles Sanders scored 11 touchdowns this year. Yeah. Even though Jalen hurts, even though they had the most. most unstoppable play in the NFL at the goal line. So, you know, there's still some equity to be had there on an offense that scores touchdowns. Yeah, bills are a lot more pass heavy. That's a good point. Oh, but, but, and here's the other counter to one of the points I made earlier. You know, all these rules that I'm kind of like these lessons that I've learned, get the second receiver from a really good team. Get the running back from a really good team. The bills kind of broke those

rules last year. We were drafting Gabe Davis. Like he could be a top 20 receiver, you know, And it just didn't work out for him. But so you have to understand Clyde Edwards O'Lear was a dead zone running back. It was so easy to talk yourself into. But what was the difference? Well, he's never really proven it the way a guy like Josh Jacobs or Miles Sanders had proven it. You know, like so there are some things that you have to separate and you're not going to bat 100 on these things. And I'll probably formulate more hard and fast takes as the offseason goes on and once I start doing more drafts.

It doesn't mean you're going to bat 100, but I'm starting to say. see I'm trying to wonder if there are some trends here that we can exploit. Well, I think that's another, you know, if you go two receivers in their first three picks, you could legit take a shotgun to these guys after an ADP of 75, 80, draft six of them. And, I mean, you might have one or two where you're looking at it. It's like, okay, I took an L on that. But like, there is some gigantic upside, like we were saying with these rookies, especially with, you know, even somebody like Deonté Foreman and Damien Harris.

I mean, those guys have 100-yard double-donged upside, you know, still in their profile. So it's a really interesting, really interesting. This is, I think last year was like almost kind of a boring year for ADP. I don't know if that makes any sense. But like this running, there are a lot of running backs you can talk yourself into in the later rounds. I can't wait to dive into these drafts. And the article over at fantasy points.com is free. We've linked it in the show notes on YouTube and on the podcast platforms.

read Graham's rankings here. You know what we're going to have to do, guys, is come back in. Maybe the three of us do a team best ball draft on Underdog. We talk through the picks, talk through the values and all that fun stuff we see. We've got a lot to go through. We'll do it on my account. And then when we win, I'm not splitting the money. Now, that would be the biggest dick move of all the time, by the way.

I would never do that. But if you are going to do that, sign up at Underdog. Use code fantasy PTSD. We're going to double your first time deposit up to $100 and get you a five. dollar that's right five dollar foot long no just kidding five dollar uh subscription to fantasy points dot com the best deal in the business mr barfield better than a subway sandwich by the way oh god yeah huh so comes with uh dramatically a last chance for diarrhea yeah follow graham on twitter at graham barfield joe is at fg underscore dole and i'm of course at drake

fantasy uh graham thanks so much for coming and hanging out listening to the two points stance we appreciate it man of course yeah first uh first show of the year Hopefully it's first of many. So I'm looking forward to the season, boys. All right, we're going to get out of here, folks. Thanks for joining us. Make sure you leave us a review and subscribe on the YouTube channel. We're going to get Joe out of here to go play some Mario Party with Wauigi.

But until then, keep hanging and banging. No, my buddies and I, we used to play Mario Party like every Sunday night in college. And now with the Nintendo Switch, you can play it online. Let me tell you, you come up with some four-letter. words when you're playing Mario. Maybe that's what we'll do one week on the show too. We'll do a draft based on like Mario Kart races and that's, uh, I would be down for that.

You guys got to have me back for that one. All right, folks. Enjoy your time out there. And this has been the two points. Thanks for tuning into this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.