Fantasy Football Today - 01/02 Fantasy Football Podcast: Lessons Learned; 2018 Top 12

Episode Date: January 2, 2018

Ready to draft? Well let's get started with a Top 12 (3:50). How many RBs make the cut? Does Rob Gronkowski get in? ... All the latest coaching news (23:10) and what it could mean for Fantasy ... We discuss the changing Fantasy Football landscape and what lessons we learned this year (29:00), we revisit some 2017 predictions (40:00) and we discuss Playoff Challenge formats and who we recommend (46:25) ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! We're here to help you win your league and have bragging rights on your friends. Let's go! Now, here's Adam, Dave, and Jamie. Welcome to the postseason!

The 2017 Fantasy Football season is over, but we go nowhere. We got two episodes per week coming at you during the off season get excited and send us your emails at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com today it is adam dave and jamie so how was your new year's how was your three-day weekend how's it going guys three-day weekend that's good one i uh i had a one-day weekend. That's a good one. I had a one-day weekend. Actually, January 1st was the first day in seven months where I wasn't on my computer for the rest part of the day. I wrote about

fantasy playoff challenges. Yeah. We're going to talk about that. Although we have an episode on Friday. So on Friday we're really going to get into the playoff challenges and the fun part of the playoff challenge is not just about looking at matchups and selecting the best players. You've got to pick

the players that you think are going to go far into the postseason. So that's... Well, it depends. There are different formats. Right. The one that we are doing is sort of like that, right? The one we are doing is you want longevity. You want longevity. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know what else I wanted?

I wanted Heath to eat crow, and that little weasel barely gets out of it. Melvin Gordon finishes fifth. If he had finished top four, it would have been great. Where do you get off calling anybody little? It's true. Or weasel. It's a good point. Good point on both accounts.

Sorry about that. Heath's on vacation. We'll get him back next week. But Melvin Gordon, fifth in standard, fifth in PPR. Heath, you're very lucky, sir. Would have been gross. So I want to work on a top 12 for 2018 and do a little first round. I want to tell you guys, Dave and Jamie and all the listeners, that we did this.

Heath and I did a draft on the air on Saturday night on the radio show. And we only made like four or five picks. And then we let the listeners do the rest. So we went with Gurley, I think Bell, Zeke, David Johnson. Then Heath took DeAndre Hopkins fifth. And I took Antonio Brown sixth. Then we had some callers chime in. With the seventh overall pick, a caller took Cam Newton.

And we were like, what? Taking a quarterback? We were so surprised. With the eighth overall pick, a caller took Jared Goff. And then with the ninth overall pick, it was a running back, I think. I think it was a running back. And then with

the tenth overall pick, someone called up and said, I'm going to take the only quarterback that actually deserves to be taken in the first round, Deshaun Watson. So three of our top 10 picks on the air on Saturday were quarterbacks. I see nothing wrong with that. I'm sure. I'm sure. Those are all. You told all those people to call in.

Actually, I'm writing a story on our 2018 top 12, the three of us. We did this for our video show on Sunday. The three of you being Heath. We used mine on Sunday, and Heath and Dave picked it apart a little bit. And then Heath and Dave gave me theirs, so I'll be able to pick theirs apart a little bit. But there will be a story on all of our top 12s, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But you can see it in the online version by the end of the day.

Also coming up on the show, we'll go through all the coaching news, look back at some of the preseason predictions we made and how they turned out. My bold predictions are hilarious and some 2018 stuff, lessons learned, and maybe a little playoff challenge, plus your emails. Let's do the top 12 here. Let's pick. Now, I think we could just reveal top 12s, but those are on the website, right? So let's direct people there.

I think we should do a draft. Cool? First round? Sure, it's fine with me. Who wants the first pick? It's going to be the same player, no matter who gets it. Fine. So why don't we say who gets the second pick?

I'll take the first pick then. It's not interesting. Todd Gurley. It's hard to say that he's not worth taking number one overall after the year that he had. Yep. The absolute engine of an offense that could probably stand to get a little bit better in 2018. Better offensive linemen. Jared Goff having a better understanding of it.

It's clear that he's getting tons of usage he had i believe over 60 catches on top of almost 280 carries yep so workload check goal lineback check awesome player check and now the supporting cast has a chance to get much stronger and i don't see any reason why they would go and add another running back to the mix and make it a two-headed monster. That would be a nightmare. No, but they need to give him some help. But not too much. Very little. Little bit. He

had 62 more fantasy points than Bell in Standard. He had 41 more fantasy points than Bell in PPR. Here we are. It's 2016 all over again. Gurley versus Bell. Yeah, but Bell... Right, and that's the thing.

Couldn't you just say Bell does this every single year? Why not just make him number one? I'm assuming he's going to be number two. Jamie, you have the number two pick? Yep. Easy number two choice. I disagree. I'm glad you took him at number two. Because I think there's somebody better than him. All right, Dave, number three.

Ezekiel Elliott. Slightly better schedule, at least as of now. We'll really get an idea of that come April. But in the games he played, he averaged over two more fantasy points per game than Le'Veon Bell. He did? No. He averaged two more than everybody but Le'Veon Bell. He did? No. He averaged two more than everybody but Le'Veon Bell and Todd Gurley.

He averaged almost one point more per game than Le'Veon Bell. Wow. That's surprising. Now that's standard. In PPR, would you take Bell over Zeke? Probably so because of the catches being a huge factor. But this isn't a PPR draft, is it?

It could be. We could half P ppr now i guess we'll keep it standard well no we already started the draft commissioner i never said we're gonna change the rules to your your liking guess what i'm out of this league you never asked all right so girly bell zeke and then like i i was gonna say david johnson's the clear number four but you know it shouldn't be a surprise that bruce a is out, but Bruce Arians retired. I guess I'll still take David Johnson, but that is a much different situation he could be in next year than what he was walking into this year. I don't care as much about the coach as I do the quarterback. Right, that's the other thing.

Will Palmer be back? But will they have a coach that throws the ball as much to the running back as they had in the past. You know, talking to Prisco a lot, Pete Prisco a lot, the last few days, what you tend to see, which he's right about this, is when you go from one to the other, offense to defense, or when you lose an offensive coach, you go to defensive coach. Typically, when you lose a defensive coach, you go to an offensive coach. So he thinks there'll probably be more of a defensive guy there because defense is really good,

and they'll bring in probably a strong offensive coordinator. Yeah. I mean, just having a defensive coach isn't necessarily a bad thing for an offense like Dan Quinn, defensive coach, the offense in for Atlanta. But the coordinator was really what made Matt Ryan go. Yeah. I mean, I think everybody's after Josh McDaniels. You know, wherever he goes is probably going to be the first big offensive domino to the falls. We said that last year and he didn't go anywhere.

Right. But there's so many jobs open right now. I'd be shocked if he doesn't go somewhere. Then Pat Shermer would be the second guy. And then the third guy

is probably Matt Nagy. Okay. We'll get into that later. So it's Gurley, Bell, Zeke. I took David Johnson for it. Jamie, you got the fifth pick. It's interesting now. No, it's not. It's DeAnd that later. So it's Gurley, Bell, Zeke. I took David Johnson forward. Jamie, you got the fifth pick.

It's interesting now. No, it's not. It's DeAndre Hopkins. Over Brown? Yeah, I think so. Just hoping Deshaun Watson's okay. That would be my guess. Hopkins was just amazing this year, and I don't see any reason for him slowing down.

Especially with Bill O'Brien back. It's kind of like the Gurley-Bell argument, only this time Hopkins wasn't really better than Antonio Brown. They were basically the same. Yeah, but I do think you're going to see – Brown during his run, which he's still in the middle of. He's not done yet. He hasn't had a partner like Juju Smith-Schuster. You think Juju Smith-Schuster takes away from Antonio Brown next year? Absolutely.

He has. It's already happened. Not really. I mean, Antonio Brown had— There have been three games this year where Juju's gotten double digits in fantasy points. Four games, I'm sorry, where he's gotten 10-plus and Antonio Brown got less than 10. And still, with all that said, Antonio Brown, 101 catches, 1,533 yards. He's amazing. It's not really a slight to Antonio Brown got less than 10. And still, with all that said, Antonio Brown, 101 catches, 1,533 yards. He's amazing.

It's not really a slight to Antonio Brown. It's just more of a nod to DeAndre Hopkins. All right. I'll be contrary because, Dave, you're also going to take Hopkins one? Nope. I'll take Brown. Okay. Yeah, I agree because I just feel like – yeah, I don't know.

I just feel like why get away – it's almost like being cute. Why get away from the guy who's the best? Well, I don't think. I just feel like why get away? It's almost like being cute. Why get away from the guy who's the best? Well, I don't think it's necessarily being cute. Again, I think both are amazing, but you have one quarterback that's trending in the right direction where Ben is clearly trending in the wrong direction. I mean, he's talking about retirement. The offense, I think, is going to be more explosive in Houston.

Unless it's a run game. All right. Don't forget what Hopkins was when Watson was playing. He was an animal. I know. Brown is always an animal, no matter what, every time, every year. That's why I've got him ahead of Hopkins. He's just safer.

Track record's better. Gurley Bell, Zeke, David Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, and then Dave, you have the sixth pick. I will take Leonard Fournette. I believe in Jacksonville's defense and passive approach to offense. I think Leonard Fournette is that type of heavy-duty running back that can, even if he's playing hurt, still get you a lot of carries and a lot of numbers. And I think he's got room to get better next year. And I think his offensive line gets better next year.

All right, so why, Jamie, did you go with a wide receiver before the fifth running back came off? And Dave, you decided Fournette over Antonio Brown. Oh, I don't even think Fournette's the best running back next after the first four. Well, before we even get into that debate, you know, who's next, it's why you've obviously reached a point in your running back rankings, Jamie, where you now value a wide receiver ahead of your fifth best running back. Yes, I think there's a clear-cut top four at running back. Then I think there is two wide receivers that stand out above the next group of running backs,

and that's Hopkins and Brown. And Dave, you don't quite see it that way. I mean, you're on similar pages here. I mean, it's the same philosophy. As soon as there's a cut where there's a running back that you don't want to take, you go to wide receiver and you take the best available one that's left. Jamie's just doing that sooner than I would. All right, so why Fournette over Kareem Hunt, over Melvin Gordon, et cetera?

I just think he's got the most likely chance to retain the heavy workload and get tons of numbers. Kareem Hunt's right behind him in my rankings. I figured, yeah. And they're all – my running backs – I've got six running backs before I look at Antonio Brown. So Fournette missed, what, two games this year? Yep.

And he – One was because of suspension. No, two games. Because of suspension? No. He missed two games. Right, he missed two games. Yep.

And, okay, he finishes the number seven or eight running back in standard and very similar in PPR, I think eighth or ninth in PPR. Yeah, I've got him eighth in standard. And the yards per carry are not great, but he really was very affected by the injury, obvious, because he just hasn't been the same guy since the injury, and at the end of the year he's dealing with two injuries. So that's the red flag for me, Dave.

I'm sorry, he missed three games. Yeah. He missed three games. Yeah, two injury, one suspension. That's the red flag for me, Dave, with Fournette. I feel like if you could tell me that Fournette was going to stay healthy, to me I'd take him fourth. But he's so injury prone, and he's shown it again this year. Not a concern for you?

No, not yet. There were so many games where he played through it and he gave you good numbers. It's not a concern for me yet in terms of putting him in the first round, but again, I think there are six running backs better than him. I have the seventh pick. I'm going to take Antonio Brown.

I'm still not ready to take Kareem Hunt over him. Right. Push your arm, right? Yeah. It was a fairly easy call, I guess. But I do – what I haven't done is played out two rounds and knowing, okay, this was the seventh pick. Who could I get at running back in the middle of the second round? And if there's nobody good there and the receivers are falling, then maybe that's something that would make me take Kareem Hunt over Antonio Brown. But

for the sake of just like a pure top 12 who I'd rather have, I'd go with Brown. And Jamie, who would you take with the eighth pick? Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt. Yeah. Okay. That's pretty self-explanatory. Dave, who would you take with the ninth pick? And this is where things get tough for me Because that's my consensus top eight The guys that have gone already Not necessarily in that order It's top eight

So as of now On January 2nd, 2018 In the year of our lord, 2018 I'll take Odell Beckham Alright, Odell Beckham Off the board. Expecting him to get healthy, expecting the Giants offense to obviously bounce back. I'm sure offensive line will be a huge point of emphasis this offseason.

I think they'll do a good job replacing both tackles and at least one interior lineman. I'm assuming Eli will be back under center. And I think Odell's going to be hungry in what amounts to a contract year. Okay. So we've got Gurley, Bell, Zeke, David Johnson, Hopkins, Fournette, Antonio Brown, Kareem Hunt, and Odell Beckham with our first nine picks, which gives me the 10th pick, which is down to two people here. Is it going to be Julio Jones in standard scoring, which is usually not a great idea, or Melvin Gordon?

And I guess Gordon makes sense here. I can't get over his yards per carry. Two years. It's bad. But he scores so many touchdowns. So what I'd say is if they don't add anybody of significance, then yeah, it's Gordon. I won't overthink it. I'll just take Melvin Gordon right now, number 10.

That's what I would do. Okay. And I know the yards per carry is gross, but think of it this way. We've seen him have a bad yards per carry for the past two seasons, and he makes up for it with work in the receiving game and touchdowns. Yeah, what would really scare me is if they add a Woodhead-type player. That's going to clearly be their passing downs guy. I think they're probably fine

with that. They might have that already. Yeah, okay. Then they would have to expand his role, which they didn't really do. I doubt they add a lot to the passing game. No, they made that mistake. Right. Well, they've already got Mike Williams there. So, whatever they add to the offense the offense is probably going to be along the line.

All right, Jamie, who's 11? Alvin Kamara. In standard? Yep. Isn't that something? Well, what about Ingram? Why would you take Kamara? What do you think about Ingram?

I just think that, first off, we'll find out what Ingram's status is next year. Dave pointed out over the weekend he's got a very high cap number next year, or a very high salary next year. The All-Pro thing is not something I think you're going to have to worry about because it's doubtful he's named All-Pro. He would have had to be named to the Pro Bowl two years in a row based on what he's probably going to be, which is a Pro Bowl, to have his contract nullified to become a free agent.

So unless he's named to the All-Pro team, which would be having to get that nod over both Le'Veon Bell and Todd Gurley, which I don't think is going to happen. So he could be back with the team. I'd be surprised if he's not back with the team. But I think you saw what Kamara did in a limited role this year. I expect his role to expand. Okay. And then finally, the 12th pick, Dave Richard.

Oh, I get the 12th pick. Awesome. Julio Jones is still there? He is. A.J. Green is still there. Michael Thomas is still there. A lot of wide receivers are still there. So I'm going to take the best available running back.

And that's a guy by the name of Dalvin Cook. Yeah, yeah. I like it. And I can do that because I've got the 13th pick, unless you're going to change the rules and give that pick to somebody else. Well, we haven't really done that. And I can go and take Julio with the first pick in round two. So, okay, go ahead.

Just the overall philosophy here is that i think round two will be dominated by wide receiver their their names julio green michael thomas keenan allen aj green they're all going to be in that 10 to 15 range and then there's more wide receivers after that plus grok and i i just think that the second round will be full of wide receivers, and I think it'll, in theory, push up the running backs that aren't quite as good as the guys taken at the beginning of the draft, but are still really good and have a lot of potential. Jarek McKinnon's a free agent to be.

Latavius Murray carries a huge cap number. Both of those guys could be gone off of Minnesota's roster, and I'm assuming cook recovers fine from the acl i think it's interesting that gronkowski wasn't picked in the top 12 well you know why he wasn't i don't know why because we're not forgetting about the injuries that he has and how it can cost him playing time and fantasy points sure and oh you made that case with half the guys we drafted. Right, that's the problem.

But we've seen it for several years with Gronk. I'm not saying Gronk's not worth a top pick, but I think you can do better in the first place. Didn't Fournette miss? I just took a running back with one knee. Didn't Fournette miss more games than Gronk this year? Maybe, but that was this year. Gronk missed two games this year.

But one was suspension. Right, one was suspension and he missed the Bucs game, which was on a short week. Yeah, and he still finished as number one in standard, number two in PPR. I think the other argument against Gronk is that he might not have that much separation from Travis Kelsey and Zach Ertz next year. Right, that's my concern. Yeah, I mean, they're all going to be second round picks, you'd think. All three tight ends? I would think so. Yeah, I mean, they're all going to be second-round picks, you'd think. All three tight ends?

I would think so. I think there's too many receivers. I think you'll see Kelsey and Ertz fall to round three, early round three. Okay, fine. Early round three, though. Yeah, they'll be in the first 30 picks. Yeah, they're all top 30 picks. But just to give you an idea, Gronk averaged 10.9 fantasy points per game. Kelsey was at 9.5, and Ertz was at 8.7.

Yeah. All right. Kind of hard to believe that Ertz was at 8.7, given how he started the season. He had some injuries. And then he lost Wentz, obviously. But he was obviously. I'll tell you what. One of my favorite sleepers is going to be Trey Burton and where he ends up.

Really? Oh, yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Gator. Gator. Gator. Gator tight ends. Oh, that's Maybe. Yeah. Gator. Gator. Gator tight ends. Oh, that's why.

Or just a good player. He is a good player. I mean, the Gators produce good tight ends, Jamie. It's a very nice compliment. Well, not all. Well, let's see. Who would you rather spend money on? Jimmy Graham, Tyler Eifert, Safarian Jenkins, or Trey Burton?

Well, you'll spend the least on Burton. Exactly. Well, no. Maybe Safarian Jenkins. Or maybe Eifert. I'm not. I think I'd probably still. Seriously, if you were an NFL GM and you could take Jimmy Graham or Trey Burton, same price, who would you take?

Well, I mean, it's the same price, then you're getting Graham at a huge discount. So, yeah. Right. You still would rather have Graham, right? Burton could also re-sign with Philadelphia. That would be terrible. Okay. Especially since you just took him in round two.

All right. So since you just took him in round two. All right, so there you go. So to recap our first round, Gurley, Bell, Zeke, David Johnson, Hopkins, Fournette, Antonio Brown, Kareem Hunt, Odell Beckham, Melvin Gordon, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook. So just to let you know, most of the guys that you named are in both of the top 12s for me and Dave. I'll give you the guys for Heath that we did not draft that are in his top 12. So he has Julio Jones at 7.

He has Devontae Adams at 9. Wow. He has A.J. Green at 10. Mark Ingram at 11. And Gronk at 12. I did not have Kamara in my top 12. And I have a stat. Give me just one moment here.

So Kamara finished as a top five running back in standard with only 111 carries. The fewest carries for a running back in the previous five years that finished top five in standard was 200 for D'Angelo Williams. No, well, I don't know what the numbers are, but somebody whose workload is very similar to this is David Johnson. What do you mean, similar? His workload as a rookie compared to what Camara has. But he didn't finish top five, that's all I'm saying. No, he didn't finish top five, but good production. Now, we did have a running back finish top five in PPR a few years ago with only 97 carries.

That was Danny Woodhead. That was 2015. That was a terrible year for running backs. Kamara crushed him. So, yeah, the role has to expand. You're assuming it will? Yep. I wonder, though, if he's big enough to be an 18-carry kind of guy.

You guys concerned about that at all? Because that's sort of like what I always feared about Giovanni Bernard, whether or not they could give him that full workload, and I think they've always been hesitant to do so. I think Kamara's bigger than Gio, though. I think he is, too. He's certainly taller. Yeah.

All right. Yeah, because— I mean, look, I'll certainly change my opinion if Mark Ingram was back. I also have the same fears about Devante Freeman, and those

were obviously unfounded. And Kamara is kind of bigger than he seems. For the way he plays and the way he moves, he's got

a little more weight on him than you'd expect. All right, cool. Yeah, that round two is going to be really interesting next year because of

all the receivers and how much bounce back potential there is for Julio and Evans and what Adams could do once they cut Jordy Nelson. Yeah. Even if they don't.

No, they will. You think so? They may cut Jordy and Cobb. Or pay cuts. But, yeah. All right, here's our email of the day, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. It's from Tracy in Omaha. Tracy says,

This is the guy who listened to your podcast while getting his vasectomy in Omaha. Literally won my league on the Bengals touchdown with under a minute to go because it bumped my opponent's DST

down by two points. That's awesome. Wow. So he just barely made the cut. What a way to start and end your season. A vasectomy

and a fantasy title in week 17 on one of the final plays of the season. Very cool. Congratulations, Tracy. Here are your news and notes. Let's get to the coaching stuff. The Bears fired John Fox. The Lions fired Jim Caldwell. The Raiders fired Jack Del Rio, and it appears John Gruden will be their head coach.

Pete Prisco tweeting, John Gruden, last six years in Tampa, 45-51, no playoff wins, 0-2. Just reminding everybody who thinks he's the end-all, be-all. Bruce Arians retired. Marvin Lewis, still don't know what's going to happen. He could be the Bengals coach next year. The Cowboys could have new coordinators. I'll tell you what, if they play like they did the last two weeks of the season, he should come back.

Yeah. Dallas could have new coordinators. What about the first 14 weeks? Ignore those. And Tampa Bay is keeping Dirk Cutter. But you make a good point. It's like I wonder if the Lions and the Bengals maybe, you know, the grass isn't always greener. I don't think Jim Caldwell did a bad job.

No, I think that was more new GM in place wants his guy. Yeah. And that was kind of the writing on the wall when they signed him. All right, fellas. So what's the big impact here in fantasy in this coaching news? I think Derek Carr will benefit by having John Gruden on staff. Did you hear who the quarterback coach might be there? Horton?

Rick. Rich Gannon. Oh, yeah. I don't know why I said Rick. Rich Gannon. Cool. He's expected to come out of the booth and onto the sideline. And did you hear who the coordinator would be?

Yeah. Jamie was saying that. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. So Morton, John Morton, right? Yeah. That would be the Jets offensive coordinator. Who, let's face it, we all thought he was a lame duck OC.

And he did a nice job with the jet josh mccown had a great year robbie anderson had a great year they ended up putting up some decent points despite all their shortcomings and now he's going to leave them high and dry to go to the raiders yeah all right well we'll see what happens i guess we can talk about this stuff when hiring when hires are actually made on zip recruiter weekiter. Week 17 stuff. Eagles punter Donnie Jones forgot to take his sweatpants off before a punt. That was terrific. Can I just tell you guys how freaking cold it is up here?

Like, it sucks. I just want you to know how lucky you are. Okay? Could have been you. Could have been you down here sitting in this amazing studio that we're in Lavish Wouldn't you move to New York if your wife Had to move to New York Dave

Who Okay Jonathan Stewart was inactive with a back injury And it was Was it disappointing to you that Christian McCaffrey didn't get more carries He only had six Yep Does that tell you something about next year with

McCaffrey? Not to overrate him. Yeah. Alright. Because it feels like the games with 15 carries, how many did he even have? Two? Two, I think. Yeah, so I just don't think that we can count on that

next year. Depends on what they do. Who they bring in to share time with him. Well, he was 10th in PPR, so let's give him credit for that. He's great in that format. He's the new Danny Woodhead. He's better than anyone. No one's better than Danny. 117 carries, 80 catches for Christian McCaffrey.

Joe Mixon ended up playing. He got 18 carries for 96 yards. And Giovanni Bernard had 10 carries and 6 catches. And if you started Samaje Pirine, very sorry. He left after just 2 carries with an injury. And LaShawn McCoy left, but apparently he has a chance to play in the playoffs. So I was talking to Jamie yesterday, Dave, and I think the Bills... Ah!

Do I really want to go ahead and finish this sentence? Beat Jacksonville? I think they win, yeah. I think they have a chance. I think they lose by 10 or more. Well, it depends. If Shady's out, and if Shady's not close to 100%, even if he does play, then

Jacksonville's going to win. But think about how this year has gone for buffalo and now are they still going to try and make a quarterback change after this season what if tyrod what if tyrod wins what if he's what if shady's out and the bills still win because of tyrod taylor and they advance to the final four in the afc how do you let go of that guy you draft somebody and that's your long-term answer. Yeah, I think you can do it. We'll talk about the Chiefs, though. The Chiefs might

get rid of their quarterback. He was the third best quarterback in fantasy. Well, he was going into Week 17. Sorry, Smith finishes fifth. What were you saying about Mahomes? I thought he was fun to watch.

You can kind of see the potential. He made some ridiculous throws, right or wrong decisions, but just some ridiculous throws. That arm is just ridiculous. Okay, I'm looking at the Bills' schedule. They kind of suck on the road. Yep, they're bad on the road. He's bad on the road.

They can't stop the run. It's going to be a huge day. Anybody in any playoff challenge that does not have Leonard Fournette in the first round is crazy. But see, that's the thing. He's so banged up. He's just not running well. Just watch this weekend. I guess.

I mean, they are the worst run defense in football. They've given up the most fantasy points. I can't get over the five interceptions by Blake Bortles in his last two games. He looked so bad. If he throws two interceptions, I'm not sure that they can win by ten. Or even by seven, which is the spread. All right, anywho. 2018 stuff.

Jimmy Graham unlikely to resign with Seattle, according to the Seattle Times. Jason Witten returning. And Colts owner Jim Ursae said Andrew Luck will be back next season, and he hinted that the Colts could use an early pick on a running back. Oh, Saquon. You know what I think is very interesting is last year's running back draft, I think it's changed the landscape of fantasy football. You know, you just look at the amount of running backs we just took in the first round.

I think it's kind of back to what we used to be, right? Running backs are king. It's because there are more running backs getting more work. And they're good. Yeah, guys that we like, guys that we're ready to trust. That's the only reason why. We didn't have as many of those guys. Well, it takes pressure off the quarterback, and I think that's huge.

You've seen what it's done for Bortles. You saw what it did for Dak. You saw what it did for Romo at the end of his career when Murray was good. Good offensive line, good running game. Makes it easy on your quarterback. Makes it easy on your defense. And so if you're the Colts, those two things are needed in a big way. It would be a great situation for a running back if they took him early.

And I just think, you look at what happened in the NFL draft, right? There was a few years stretch where taking a running back in the first round was frowned. It was almost like taboo. You can't do that. Now it's totally accepted. You may have the MVP of the league as a running back. Yeah, exactly. You know, Zeke and Gurley being top 10 picks.

Christian McCaffrey being a top 10 pick. Am I forgetting someone? Fournette. Saquon Fork. Duh, yeah. Well, I mean, Gordon two years ago as well. Three years ago. Was he top 10?

I thought he was 11. I think he was just outside. He was 12. Gurley was 10. Right. So they're back, baby. Running backs are back. And that's why I don't think it's going to be a big overreaction if people draft a lot of running backs early.

I just think that the running backs are better and they're more featured. And teams have put a priority on them. And think about the teams that won in fantasy this year. Yeah. How many teams won with Christian McCaffrey as their number one running back? And that brings us to our lessons learned. All right? Lesson learned for me, and this is a lesson I learned, I guess, two years ago,

but reinforced this year. Running backs are injury prone. There's no doubt. But so are wide receivers. So are quarterbacks. Quarterbacks ruin wide receivers. Like, you look at T.Y. Hilton, you look at Jordy Nelson. A quarterback gets injured.

You look at Antonio Brown when Ben Roethlisberger has been out. So I do think that running backs are a little bit riskier than wide receivers. I'm not getting away from that. But you just can't play afraid of the injury. Great running backs win you fantasy. Spend your early picks. At least one of your first two has got to be a running back, in my opinion. I mean, there are certain circumstances where that might not be the case,

but running backs win you fantasy. You've got to prioritize them. What are some of the lessons that you guys learned this year? Don't overlook talent unless the situation is completely horrible. You got an example? Tyreek Hill. He made me nervous because of the circumstances around him. Now, clearly, Augsmith played better, but, I mean, he's just so good.

Okay. Dave? I'm done streaming tight end. I kind of learned this lesson this past preseason where I felt better about my teams when I took a tight end at a fair value, not trying to steal one. I wanted to get a good one. And a lot of my successful teams had Zach Ertz or Travis Kelsey or Rob Ronkowski. And so I'm going to prioritize tight ends in 2018. I want to have a good one on my squad.

I don't want to have to go through Ben Watson to Eric Ebron to Jesse James to Vernon Davis. My blood's boiling just thinking about that. Yeah. Jamie, when do we get the win percentage data? I'll probably see if I can get it today. I'd really be interested to know where Gronkowski, Kelsey, and Ertz rank on the teams that won their championships. Gronk probably is not going to be very high, given how he finished.

As opposed to Hurts and Kelsey? Well, Kelsey probably is. But Gronk's end of season was not exactly great. I mean, he missed a game, which could have knocked a lot of people out of the playoffs. What if Ebron will be on there? I'm sure Ebron 100% will. But here's my question. So this data tells us the—what's the best way to phrase what this data tells us?

It tells you who is on the most championship-winning rosters. And that does—so if a league ends in Week 16, that's factored in, right? Yes. Right. So Gronkowski's last five games Were huge 20 fantasy points 14

Right but it's that week 14 game That probably hurt a lot of people That did not have first round buys Week 14 he was suspended Week 15 Week 16 Very very good So as long as they got by week 14

He did what he needed to do He just was suspended for that game Alright so that would be interesting to see Alright Dave says He doesn't like streaming tight ends. Yeah, who does? They're annoying. Another lesson I learned, and again, reinforced lesson.

The biggest red flag to me, the biggest bust potential, is a running back on a bad offense that's not involved in the passing game. You talk about this every year. Every year. Hello, Isaiah Crow year. Hello, Isaiah Crowell. Hello, Isaiah Crowell. Hello, Jordan Howard. And Howard had a solid year. He was a top 10 running back.

He was 10th in standard outside the top 10 in PPR. But he let a lot of people down, especially down the stretch. And that is number one for me. And I was always marveling at how Jordan Howard was able to do it. He was able to be a good fantasy running back, even on a bad offense, even without catching passes. That stopped in the second half of the 2017 season. That is something I will be hammering in the preseason.

You've got to be very careful about those guys. Anything else, fellas? I'm done with guys that have have been bussed year over year yeah like who uh abdullah parker right they are they are yeah fool me once shame on you yeah me twice shame on you fool me three times shame on me yeah one of those things i i i hear you i don't mind taking a chance on those guys if it's with the late oh late yeah yeah we were doing that with round seven no it's what doula was even earlier for you abdullah was better offensive line now you know that changed a little bit when the left tackle got hurt when taylor decker got hurt but you know i mean again you look good in

the preseason parker was again look good in the preseason new quarterback you know, I mean, again, he looked good in the preseason. Parker was, again, looked good in the preseason. New quarterback, you know, more downfield throws. These guys just are – these type of players just are never going to turn a corner. Right. I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was, not only in Crowell, because I talked him up a lot six months ago, but also Terrell Pryor. Yeah. Liked him a lot.

What was the upside that we touted for him? Was it like 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns, something like that? Yeah, building off of a 1,000-yard season with the Browns quarterback. Yeah, and I've got to find a filter for that. A player who changed teams and didn't have a great year with his past team, should we expect him to have an even better year with his new team? He did have a good season with his past team. Right, but it wasn't better. He didn't have a better season with his past team. Right, but it wasn't better.

He didn't have a better year with his new team. Oh, no, no. Yeah, seriously. I don't think you were wrong there. I mean, it made sense. Terrell Pryor played hurt for almost all of the season until he finally just couldn't play anymore. That hurt.

What players changed teams this year that were good? Oh, Brandon Marshall. What players changed teams and were good? It's my fear. Alex Collins. It's my fear every year. Alex Collins, yeah. Marshall and Lynch.

But, I mean, it's the signings. It's not the guys that got cut. Like, if Lynch is the – you know, Alshon was okay. Alshon was okay, yeah. But, you know what? Like, take a is the—you know, Alshon was okay. Alshon was okay, yeah. But you know what? Like, take a look at Marvin Jones. Maybe year two will be better for Alshon. Oh, year two is always better in the right scenario.

Because he knows the system better. He knows what's going on. Right, and that's why Sammy Watkins, if he goes back to the Rams, would be very interesting to me. And a lot of it's circumstantial, too. I mean, like Pierre Garçon, obviously he got hurt, but he went to a system that he's used to and a coach that he knows. That's a good point. All right, it's interesting stuff.

So maybe we're just done with free agents. I don't think it's that. I mean, you know, there's going to be, you know, whoever signs Jimmy Graham, he's not going back to Seattle. If he gets in the right situation where they actually throw him the ball maybe more than two yards downfield and outside the red zone, he could be good. What's New Orleans' cap like? Do they have the salary?

That'd be fun. Bring them back? That would be fun. I wonder if they would. I think they could really use him. It seemed like in the red zone, they ran the ball so much, and Drew Brees lost so many touchdowns to handoffs. Yeah, that's a good call, Dave.

That'd be a lot of fun. I'm looking up to see what Kobe Fleener's cap number is this year. Because they could just cut his butt. Next year's the year for Kobe Fleener, I think. If they do him as a post-June 1st cut, they save over $6 million on the cap. They could just give that to Jimmy Graham. Somebody asked me on a radio show, would I name my child Kobe Fleener Eisenberg? That's a yes, right?

Yeah. I said if I want to be a bust, then yes. Kobe Eisenberg is not bad. It's not happening. Someone said you named your kids after a Japanese warrior and a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback

for the Giants. He's probably going to be in the hall. Sure. There you go. Okay, do you guys remember any 2017 predictions that you want to revisit? I mean, Willie Sneed was awesome, wasn't he?

Another one that got hurt by the suspension. Start at the zeros and go not too far up. Let's see. Who was better, Tavon Austin or Willie Sneed? Oh, Austin. It's kind of interesting. A lot of times we use the they have to replace this many targets argument, and I wonder what our success rate with that is.

Well, Marquise Goodwin was good. Marquise Goodwin was good. You mean when Garcon got hurt? Yep. Yeah, I don't know if it's any different when we're doing this preseason compared to midseason. You know what I'm saying? Because that was the argument for Terrell Pryor, right? when we're doing this preseason compared to midseason? You know what I'm saying?

Because that was the argument for Terrell Pryor, right? Like they lost. Well, I think, you know, yes, Pryor was one, Snead was another. I think if you're looking at it from the Saints' perspective, if we thought that this was going to be how the year unfolded for them, we all would have clearly had more optimism for, even if you throw in Adrian Peterson, the running backs for New Orleans, and severely downgraded Breeze, who I think consensus, I don't know, amongst the three of us. But industry wise was the third best quarterback coming into the year.

Yeah, this is his first year in a dozen years where he didn't finish as a top six quarterback. Yeah. And Michael Thomas had one hundred and forty two targets, I believe that you don't see that on the Saints. They're usually in the 120 to 130 range with their wide receivers. I love him next year. Third year, going to be awesome. He's so good. He had 149 targets. Same as Julio Jones?

He's a first-round pick for me. He's certainly going to be right there at the end, right? Yeah, I would take him over Julio and AJ Green. Totally fair. Well, here are my bold predictions for 2017. Who's ready for a laugh? Mike Gillislee. Yeah, everybody laugh. Mike Gillislee will have more than 1,000 rushing yards

and double-digit touchdowns. He was on his way. Yeah, he had three in the first game. I don't think he was ever going to get to 1,000 yards, but yeah, good for him he might have well him plus dion lewis was almost 13 was almost 1200 yards so there's talk about dion lewis or 1300 awesome what what what was that that was a bleep for you okay that's what i thought it was my goodness you you knew there was a problem with gillis i can't believe what just happened you knew there was a problem with Gilleslie. I can't believe what just happened.

You knew there was a problem with Gilleslie when Bill Belichick was talking about how he didn't like his short yardage running a game after he had three short yardage touchdowns. He couldn't get a first down. That was a problem. He didn't get in the end zone. He just couldn't get a first down. All right. So here's a bold prediction that I feel like I was on the right track with, but it totally ended up not happening. Kyle Rudolph will be owned in less than 60% of leagues by week five. I thought he was a huge bust,

and Kyle Rudolph finished as the number seven tight end in standard, number eight in PPR. He's strong. Scored a touchdown in four of his last six games. Well, that was the thing. He scored touchdowns. But I was – his targets came way down. My whole basis of Rudolph being a bust

was that he wasn't good for the amount of targets he had in 2016. He had 132 and didn't do that much with it. He had 57 catches for 532 yards. That's not good, but he had eight touchdowns on 81 targets. To be fair to him, though,

I think it took this offense a little bit of time before they got their quarterback situation straightened out. Yeah know but i was factoring in i think just started to you know click for him toward the end of the year i didn't think they'd have a good quarterback situation so i don't know but he obviously was not a bust and he wasn't dropped although he might have been dropped in some leagues he was he was bad for a while and turned it on with the touchdowns late oh and then this one's great great. Kelvin Benjamin finishes as a top 12 wide receiver. Almost.

Yeah, that didn't work out. Almost got that one, yeah. Just 690 yards. He's going to be a guy that people are going to reluctantly take in round eight-ish. You think he'll go that high? I think it depends on the quarterback. Obviously, it depends on the quarterback. And it depends on his health, but I can already tell you right now that as much as I loved him two years ago, there's just no way you can feel good about him.

I found my bust list from 2017. All right. What do we got? Cam Newton, number one bust on the bust list. Nice. Oh, you know what? He's such a deceiving player. He finishes the number five quarterback.

I know. You can't take it away from him. BS. He had, like, what, three great games. He had more than three. Let me see had, like, what, three great games. He had more than three. Let me see what he had. He had three great ones. He had three great ones.

He had four great ones. Four great ones. And then he had another couple of games that were certainly good enough for fantasy purposes. He was not a consistently good quarterback. No, but he did finish high. Marshawn Lynch was on my bust list. And he ended up being pretty good. Where did he rank among running backs

at the end of the year? Standard scoring. Top 15, I think. He ranked 18th. He was a bust. Number two running back. I mean, that is what we said. And people were taking him in round two. We thought he was more of a round four, round five. He played 16 games.

Yeah. He was better than expected. That's true. Ty Montgomery was on the bust list. LeGarrette Blount, Adrian Peterson, Alan Robinson. Here's Sammy Watkins. Nice. Was he a bust or not? Of course.

How could he not be? He was a huge bust. Scored a lot of touchdowns. He's a completely useless fantasy player for most of the season. He was the number 32 wide receiver. Yeah, bust. Okay. Jarvis Landry.

Not a bust. Breakout. The ultimate breakout. He had a great season. Nine touchdowns somehow. Yep. Second catch is great in PPR. Yeah.

Wait a minute. This is Jamie's bus list, not mine. Oh my gosh. That's incredible. What? I thought it was mine. Well, Jamie, good job on your bus list. You did great. Martellus Bennett is on Jamie's bus list.

There might be another name that I'm not reading. I went back and looked at the ADP and Martellus Bennett is on Jamie's bus list. Oh, yeah. There might be another name that I'm not reading. I went back and looked at the ADP, and Martellus Bennett was like the seventh tight end off the board or something like that. It was so stupid. We couldn't understand it all preseason. It made no sense. It was name and seeing what Jerry Cook did and Aaron Rodgers.

All right, here's mine. I found the right bus list this time. Okay. All right, Cam's on mine too. Okay. So I was with Jamie on that one. Lamar Miller? Yeah.

I think he was a frustrating running back to own. He was until the end of the season. He was kind of the same guy as a year ago. So I think you're right on that. He was the number 14 running back. That's where he finished. Ahead of Alex Collins, Duke Johnson, Christian McCaffrey. It's funny, but that's standard. Cam and Lamar Miller are kind of the same

thing. There was never a moment at any point in the season where you were like, oh my god, this guy is helping me win. I had Tevin Coleman on my do not draft list. Very good. That was pretty good. He ended up being number 22.

Useless fantasy player. Not for the two games that Coleman was out. Right, when you needed him. Yeah, that's it. Matt Forte. Jarvis Landry was on the bus list. Alan Robinson. Are you sure this isn't Jameis?

Yeah, we had a lot of the same guys, apparently. Good, you guys did great with that. And now the best part is reading some of the comments at the bottom of the page. Oh, those are fun. What do they say? Let's see. Can't agree with you more on Miller, so that guy liked him. I like Alan Robinson this year. He keeps falling. I'll take the chance on him.

Most fantasy experts suck. 50% at best. That includes you and Jamie. You should really specify or give a scenario on the number of teams in a person's league for their draft. You need to be more detailed and more specific. Earn your money. Earn your money, Dave. That's great. Heath rules all, somebody wrote. Heath? Yeah, Heath does. Let's move on, guys. Quick look at the playoff challenge, Jamie, and what you wrote up on CBSSports.com.

So what I did was I ranked the players based on how far I expect them to advance. And I think that's really the approach for most playoff challenges is if they are cumulative. If they change week to week, it's different. But you want to get guys that are going to play two games, hopefully play three games, and the best case scenario is four games. So if there is a team playing in the wildcard round you think will advance to the Super Bowl, that is the guys you want to kind of attach yourself to. So I think the Saints are going to make it to the Super Bowl in the NFC. So I am very heavy on Saints guys. So Breeze, the two running backs, Michael Thomas, those four guys will be in a lot of

my playoff challenge lineups, the ones that are cumulative. Different leagues do different sort of scoring systems, bonuses if you advance, you know, if your players advance to the next round. So again, if you do think that there's a team. I think the two most popular teams I think that people will look at will be the Saints-Panthers pairing because if the Rams win, that team plays Philadelphia in the second round. And I think everybody wants to play Philadelphia in the second round.

So that gives that team a chance at three games. And the Falcons, because of the same scenario, because the Falcons win, they go to Philadelphia at round two. And obviously Atlanta's the defending NFC champion, so they can get to the Super Bowl again. So any team you think can get four games, it should be the most popular. If you do a draft, somebody tweeted me yesterday after I posted it that they do a draft, and the guy went heavy on Saints as well because he

feels the same way. So that's I think the best thing you can do is map out the playoffs and whichever teams you think will go the farthest or play the most games, the Patriots clearly are going to be popular because most people think they'll get to the Super Bowl. So that'll be three games. But that's kind of the way you want to approach it. So I have the rankings on there if you want to go

over that at any point. I think, well let's just talk about who you guys think could make runs. I think we can all agree that hitching your wagon to the Bills or the Titans is a mistake. Bills, Titans, and Eagles to me are the biggest mistakes. Right. I mean they could win one game. It doesn't seem like they're going to make long runs. Right.

I think that – I mean look, the Steelers rested some starters in Week 17. They did not rest their secondary. And that was pathetic. Their defense is bad. And I think the Chiefs could beat—well, no, the Chiefs wouldn't play them unless the Bills win, right? Well, Joe Hayden played in Week 17. I know, and they sucked. They were terrible.

Yeah, but I do think that having him get a game under his belt going into playoffs will help. I thought he didn't play in Week 16. I'm not sure. But my guess is that he'll be back to at least some simple support. He played in Week 16. He played in Week 17. They have a bad defense, I think, without Shazier. I agree.

But I don't think the Jaguars go in there and win. Well, I'll tell you what, though. That's another reason, again, if you get bonus points for advancing to the rounds, Fournette against Buffalo, Fournette against Steelers is very, very good. It is good, yeah. It is. All right, so how many teams do you think could win the NFC? Could win the NFC?

Six. But five. To me, there are two that I really like, the Saints and the Vikings. Yeah, those are my two favorites. I think those two teams with the path that they can take. Now, the unfortunate thing would be is if they have to face each other in a divisional round. Sure. So, Dave, what do you think?

What's your read on the NFC? And then we'll get to the AFC. I love the Vikings. I think the Vikings are best suited to make a run here. And if I had to pick a team from the ones that are going to play on Saturday and Sunday, I would take the Rams. I think the Rams have a chance to make some noise. But if the Rams win, then your two teams are going to get each other. The Rams are the three.

That's true. Three plays two if they win. So I'd have to really have a strong feeling about who i like better between those two teams and i do it's minnesota yeah but i'm saying like they both can't make a run correct right because well the rams can't play any more than two games based on that minnesota can't play any more than one yep if i if i like them both too much now what could do, could I load up on players from both of those teams? And then I would feel very good about having at least one team with a chance to advance in the Super Bowl because they play against each other.

So if you play in a format that our game used to be where you get seven lineup changes or you get a locked amount of lineup changes throughout the playoffs, then you want to kind of diversify yourself or do go Dave's route, which is buy into two teams that are going to face each other relatively early and, or not relatively, but face each other at some point and get those guys. So at least, you know, okay,

I have a quarterback that will advance. And then if I have to switch, I'll switch. If I have no X players that will advance, then I have to switch. So the other thing that I think about just moving to the AFC is which of the four AFC teams playing this weekend has a chance to go into Pittsburgh or Foxborough or both and win. Chiefs. And to me, there's only one.

It's Kansas City. Right. So I might prioritize Chiefs players. Like Kareem Hunt might be my number one pick. I will say this, though. I would actually disagree with you. I think Jacksonville, just based on they went into Pittsburgh and totally annihilated them before. And the things that they do well are the things that Pittsburgh does poorly, which is defend the run, which is you can hit some big plays down the field. On the other side of the ball, they can get after the quarterbacks that hold the ball too long, which is what Roethlisberger does more than anybody.

So they also have the cornerbacks to at least match up with those guys. Again, you're not going to stop Brown and Juju. As good as Boye and Ramsey are, they'll annoy them, but they won't stop them. So I could see Jacksonville beating the bleep out of Buffalo and then going into Pittsburgh and winning an ugly game and getting three games out of Buffalo and then going into Pittsburgh and winning an ugly game and getting three games out of them. Well, personally, I think Antonio Brown would have to miss that game for that to happen. And we shouldn't just assume that Brown's going to play.

I know they've been saying that. Yeah, no, it's very true. They are less than what they normally are because of Shazier, because of Brown, because of just not being the team that they were a couple weeks ago. Even in that Patriots game, when they had that game won. They're down two guys. I just can't imagine Blake Bortles going to a cold weather climate and playing well. He is playing so horribly.

It would have to be Bortles just getting out of the way. But I just think based on the teams that are playing now, Jacksonville to me can get three games. I don't think that they would four. I'm sorry. Yeah, they can get three games. I don't think that they would four because I don't think – I'm sorry. Yeah, they can get three games. I don't think they go into New England and win that game. And I think Kansas City's defense, from what they were in that week one game to where they are now, they would get annihilated by New England in the second round. Oh, that's okay.

That's what I was going to ask. So can the Chiefs win at Foxboro? Look, I think the Bills have a chance to win, but the Jaguars are heavy favorites. And without McCoy, I don't think the Bills have a chance to win, but the Jaguars are heavy favorites. And without McCoy, I don't think the Bills have a chance to win. And if McCoy is playing at like 30%, I don't think they have a chance to win. So let's just assume that they lose. And Jacksonville is at Pittsburgh, and the Chiefs are – wait, am I wrong about that?

Yep, Jacksonville goes to Pittsburgh because it's three versus two. Chiefs go to the Patriots. You don't think the Chiefs Jacksonville goes to Pittsburgh. Three versus two. Chiefs go to the Patriots. You don't think the Chiefs have a chance to win that game? No. Dave? I do. I give them more of a chance than I would ever have in the past.

I would have given them more of a chance if their defense was right. Their defense has not played very well. But if it's Kansas City and Pittsburgh, is that what we're talking about? No, it's Kansas City and New England. The only way that Kansas City goes to Pittsburgh is if Buffalo wins. No, you're right. Or if Buffalo wins. Right. No, I think that this whole Tyree kill, Travis Kelsey, Kareem Hunt dynamic is just different than what they've had in the past.

They've got a legit number one receiver. And maybe the confidence is going to win. I think their offense is great. I just don't think that their defense is going to hold up in New England. Here's what I always look for in playoff teams. This is just general and picking who goes far in the playoffs, not for fantasy playoff games. Who's got the pass rush? Kansas City doesn't have that great of a pass rush.

No. No. All right. Well, all right. That said, the Patriots are obviously a huge favorite. and they are set up to go to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I don't see a scenario really where there's an AFC team that gets you four games. The NFC, to me, again, I think has two. Who's the second?

The Rams? I think it's New Orleans and Atlanta. Oh, Atlanta? Because Atlanta would go to Philadelphia if they win, no matter what happens. I think they beat Philadelphia, and then I think that they would give whoever they face in the NFC Championship game a game. I don't think it would be a blowout by any stretch of the imagination, given what the other quarterbacks are in that division.

So that's actually a really good point, because I think we already sort of said this, but maybe just to clarify, you might want to hesitate with the Rams, because the Rams, if they win, if they beat the Falcons, they have to go to Minnesota. Regardless. And I actually think the Rams win that game. So here I am saying that the Falcons have a chance to win four games. I think you just have to speculate on that.

But I do think that the Rams are the better team at home in the wild card round. But if you are just looking for sleeper teams, I think New Orleans is kind of too hard to call them a sleeper just because they're the three. I'm sorry, they're the four, but they usually could have been the two. The sleeper teams would be Atlanta and Jacksonville. Just on the chance of what you've seen from the season, how it could play out,

those two teams can get you three games or more. All right, I will just disagree and say I prefer the Chiefs to the Jaguars. Fair. How about you? I understand. I just don't think that their defense gets them more than two games because going into New England is going to be tough. Now you have Buffalo beating Jacksonville.

No, I don't have Buffalo. I think there's a chance. What do you think they could win? I think they have a better chance of winning than Tennessee. I think if there's. No, I don't have Buffalo. I think there's a chance. What do you think they could win? I think they have a better chance of winning than Tennessee. I think if there's an upset, in the AFC, there's no doubt Buffalo has the better chance to upset Jacksonville than Tennessee does. Now, to be fair, Tennessee went into Kansas City last year and beat them. And their style is going to frustrate Kansas City because they could stop the run. They could defend the pass.

They've done a better job of it lately than we give them credit for. And they'll make this game ugly. is going to frustrate Kansas City because they could stop the run. They could defend the pass. They've done a better job of it lately than we give them credit for. And they'll make this game ugly. This is Mariota in cold weather, though, right? I mean, it's going to be – I know in New York it's going to be like in the negatives. It's going to be cold. It's going to be cold, but they can run on Kansas City. Yeah, I feel like Kansas City is going to crush them.

I agree. Kansas City should win, but I wouldn't necessarily just say it's... Like you're saying the easier game is Kansas City-Tennessee. I think the easier game is Jacksonville-Buffalo. I think a lot of people are going to see it your way.

I just... I think it's just... I have this bad taste in my mouth with the way Bortles has been playing lately. Mm-hmm. I mean, look at the way

they play. It's going to be a tough matchup for him throwing against Buffalo. The last two weeks, the Jaguars haven't played that well. He doesn't have to throw against Buffalo. Yeah, it's true. But the other thing is for him throwing against Buffalo. The last two weeks, the Jaguars haven't played that well. He doesn't have to throw against Buffalo. Yeah, it's true.

But the other thing is Fournette has not been running the ball well. Yeah, but their offensive line has been banged up too. I don't think we talked about that enough. Cam Robinson has been in and out of the lineup. They had guards that were missing over the last six games. They didn't have Robinson in Week 17. So he's going to play, and that's a big difference. All right, so here's what we're going to do.

We're going to make – at least I'm going to make an NFL.com playoff challenge lineup and give it away on Friday. And you guys can do whatever websites, whatever challenges you guys want to do, however much you want to give away. We'll do that on our Friday show. We'll do some FanDuel on Friday, some daily talk on Friday. I can tell you my lineup now. I don't care sharing it. Oh, let's do it on Friday Friday show. We'll do some fan duel on Friday, some daily talk on Friday. I can tell you my lineup now. I don't care sharing it.

Oh, let's do it on Friday. Okay. And for now, let's read some emails to finish the show. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com. Danny from Northern Kentucky. Dear some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Chief, 10-team half PBR keeper. I'm keeping Hopkins and Kareem Hunt

in the third and the fourth rounds. So it's a three-wide receiver league with two running backs and a flex. He wants to know what should his strategy be. He's keeping Hopkins and Hunt in a three-receiver league, half PPR. Antonio Brown, David Johnson, Todd Gurley will be draft eligible again, but he doesn't know where he's picking. But do you have any blanket suggestions for what he should target

in the first two rounds? His third and fourth round picks are Hopkins and Hunt. Best player available. I think that's easy enough. He's got two first round picks. Don't overthink it. Best player available. Not quarterback. Maybe Gronk.

Sean is looking for keepers and standard scoring. Six points for passing Not quarterback. Maybe Gronk. Okay. Sean. 10-team league. Sean is looking for keepers in standard scoring. Six points for passing touchdown. Keep three guys. Aaron Rodgers for 32. There's no way we're going to say that guy. No way. Andrew Luck for 11.

No way. Allen Robinson for 10. No. Sammy Watkins for four. No. Corey Davis for 10. No. Sammy Watkins for four. No. Corey Davis for two. No. James Conner for two. Chris Carson for four.

Jonathan Williams for 10. Marlon Mack for one. There's another one. We like Jonathan Williams this year. He got cut right before the season started. This is not a great list here. Rodgers for 32. Luck for 11.

Mack for one is easy. Robinson for 10. Watkins for four. Corey Davis for two. Connor for two. Chris Carson for four. Jonathan Williams for 10. Marlon Mack for one.

I may go with the two running backs. I'll go Carson and Mack for five bucks and just see what happens to those guys. You get one more. You get one more if you want. Sammy for four. Why not Corey Davis for two? How long can you keep him for? Can you keep Corey Davis want. Sammy for four? Why not Corey Davis for two? How long can you keep him for? Can you keep Corey Davis for two for several years?

Yeah, Corey Davis for two makes sense. I don't know, but if the Colts draft a running back in round one, I don't even know that I'd want more than Mack for a dollar. Maybe for a dollar. Maybe. Do you feel the same way or no? I mean, if they draft a guy, then it makes it less attractive. But what are you giving up?

There's nobody on this list that's like, oh, my God, I have to have these guys. I'd be pretty tempted to take Sammy Watkins for $4 if he's back with the Rams. The four guys would be the two receivers and the two running backs that are $5 or less. So, look, if Andrew Luck is right, for $11, that could be a steal. That's true. That's also true. A few more here. This is from Sean.

Nope, we just did Sean. This is from James in a city located between D.C. and Richmond. I think Landover is – well, it's obviously near there. Sure. Dear Glenn, Gary, Glenn, and Ross. Now, if that's a Glenn, Gary, Glenn, Ross reference, fine. If that's a Modern Family reference, hilarious. I get the joke.

Oh, you know what? This is a tough email to read at the end of the show. Very interested in hearing any advice you have to up-and-coming college students hoping to cover the world of sports and more specifically fantasy football. I probably should have read that earlier. Go to med school? Yeah. Get involved. I was involved with student radio and the newspaper and TV.

Any media outlet at your university, you need to get involved in that. Start your own blog. Do your own rankings. Tweet those out. Develop a following. It'll help you when you start applying for jobs. Yeah. Or be like me, not even know what a podcast is when you graduate college and somehow end up hosting a podcast.

Learn what virtual reality is all about and develop it. Start your own company developing technology that helps virtual reality. Your life is going to be a lot different than you anticipate. A lot of twists and turns. But, yes, be experienced in as many types of media as possible. Writing, on camera, on radio, all that stuff is good stuff. And thank you for emailing. And that's going to

do it for today's show. We've got more emails on Friday. We've got playoff challenge lineups. We've got the Bills beating the Jaguars. And much, much more. For Dave, for Jamie, I'm Adam. See ya! Bye.