Fantasy Football Today - 01/08 Fantasy Football Podcast: Finding 2018's Gems; Player Debates

Episode Date: January 8, 2018

Who is next season's Todd Gurley (9:35)? Next season's Robert Woods (14:00)? Next season's DeAndre Hopkins (20:30)? We're looking for breakouts, guys who come out of nowhere to help your teams, bouncebacks and more as we bring in special guest Nick Kostos to talk Fantasy Football ... Reacting to the latest news around the NFL (29:15), how will Matt Nagy affect the Bears offense? ... Time for some player debates! Hopkins vs. Brown (42:00), Wentz vs. Brees (44:50), Kamara vs. Fournette (50:30), Hill vs. Baldwin (55:04) and more ... Email us 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 fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Here we go! If you still draft quarterbacks in round one, we're here to help. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. All right, welcome to Fantasy Football Today after wild card round.

Back here on Monday, January 8th. We've got a special guest today. It's Jamie Eisenberg. What's up, Jamie? I'm so special that I'm not going to talk for the next 10 minutes. Oh, come on. And Dave Richards, our other special guest. Hey, Dave.

Some people have called me special. That is true. You are very special. I was super special after Saturday's playoff games. Why is that? 0 for 2. That's okay. Good pick of a winner.

First one was crazy. And then the real special guest is from the Pick 6 podcast, from Fantasy Football Today, the video show, from everything you see on CBSSports.com. It's Nick Kostos, and he used to be on this podcast. Nick, special guest. What's up? How you doing? You know, I do feel like I am the most special out of everybody here since Jamie started by saying, I'm so special, I'm not going to talk.

And then Dave goes, oh, for two. Well, Dave, that was a real sizzling open to the podcast, Dave. Great stuff. So I will attempt to bring the energy that these two clowns flanking me, Adam, failed to bring you, good sir, in the first 30 seconds or so. See, it's great. No, the general's here. This is great.

Well, I'm not general of this particular self-proclaimed general of cbs you're gonna try no not not of this no i i acquiesce to uh to all of you guys i am infringing on your territory here and i'm very very happy to be here thank you for having me i nick is great because he says the things that i'm too afraid to say to david jamie so i appreciate that that was stuff. So I was actually thinking about that, like what the dynamic is like with you guys as opposed to like – because it's nonstop with us, like back and forth, back and forth. Is this the same kind of relationship that you guys have with Azar on this podcast? Yes and no. I think it really depends, A, on the time of year and, B, what we're discussing.

When we're knee-deep in fantasy football and we're trying to go through the players we like and don't like in games i'm not going to bust his chops over things even though he looks really fat right now in his blue shirt jamie eisenberg as your as your buttons uh look i can't talk i'm the fattest one here i'm i'm standing out of that congratulations dave you're the fattest boy in camp well is that heavyweights it is yes get off the scale. So I'm fat or Jamie's fat? Who's the fat one, Nick? Me or was that me? I look fat? No, Jamie looks fat.

Oh, okay, okay. All right, so anyway, coming up on today's show, who is next season's blank? Who's next season's Todd Gurley? Who's next season's Adam Thielen? Who's next season's Demarius Thomas? I got some questions for you guys, and you've got blanks to fill. We're going to get Nick's opinion on some potentially polarizing player debates, like DeAndre Hopkins versus Antonio Brown, Carson Wentz versus Drew Brees.

I gave him a list of six player debates. He said they were all very, very easy. So, right, Lyle, is that an exaggeration? Pretty easy for you. There were one or two. Well, there's one, the first one, is that an exaggeration? Pretty easy for you. There were one or two. Well, there's one, the first one, which is the biggest one, which is at the very top of the draft that I think is slightly difficult, but I think that the others, for me at least, I looked at and said,

okay, these are all pretty easy. All right, good. And we will talk about all four games from last week, and then later this week in our second episode, we'll talk more playoff challenge, more FanDuel and DraftKings and give you some lineups. How did you guys do with your DFS? I did cash both of my 50-50s on DraftKings and FanDuel.

I went all in on the Rams to be different, and I finished dead last in the one that I – By the way, Azar, you know that Dave has never won one of the DFS challenges. You keep saying that. It's a lot more fun to say that he's never won. Dave has never won one of our DFS challenges. Let's put it more in perspective. So we did a four-man DFS challenge last year. Every week.

Every week that Dave went over. Did Pete win one of those? I think Pete maybe won one. No, Nick and I didn't win every single one. I think you two won every single one. I think Pete had a couple in there. Dave went over. I definitely went over. Which is remarkable because you have a 25% chance

to win. How many times was I closed, though? Doesn't matter. You lost. There's four people. Of course you're going to be closed. Then we did a, which Adam was a part of, the Friends of FFT one, which was what? 15 people? Not quite. 15 to 16, yeah.

No, I thought it was like 13 or 14. No, it was 15, I think. It doesn't matter, but it's about 15. So Dave won one. That's not easy to win. No, I didn't win any. Yeah. Really?

I didn't win any of them. I think I won two or three. I'm still top five overall, though, I believe. Yeah, I may have won one. Yeah, I'm a little bit behind Jamie. Okay. All right. So that's all right. So, Dave, maybe you'll win this week. The, I'm a little bit behind Jamie. Okay. All right. So that's all right.

So, Dave, maybe you'll win this week. The four of us will do one this week. Let's talk fantasy football. And, Nick, you had an undefeated season. I did. So that's pretty freaking incredible. It's honestly like I feel – should I feel embarrassed to say that it's probably one of the best things I've ever done in my life? Absolutely not.

Like it's actually like it's in like my list of top ten favorite things things I've ever done in my life. Absolutely not. Like it's actually like it's in like my list of top ten favorite things that I've ever done in my life. And it might even crack the top five. Because what it was for me as a lifelong fantasy player, and I feel like people can relate to this listening, that you got that one league, right? You guys play a ton of leagues, right? But I feel like everyone's got that one league that you want to win more than any of the others.

And this is the one I do with all my college buddies, some friends I grew up with. And I had never won the league before. And because of the job that I have. I don't know if I knew that. Not only had I never won the league before, but my nickname was Marv Levy because I've been to the finals four times and lost in the championship every single time. Once was Tony Romo played on a Saturday against the Eagles, and the Cowboys started him and then pulled him after like two series. I had Arian Foster get hurt in week 16. It was the year that Matt Ryan had his first blow-up year as a fantasy quarterback.

I had two or three other real heartbreakers at the end in the championship games. So for me, it was not just winning the league. It was shutting everybody up because I'm supposed to win because I'm in the industry, but I would always fall short in the end. And it really pissed me off about fantasy football because you can make all the right decisions. You can make all the right trades, but then the games start and you're essentially rolling the dice.

So it's a frustrating part about fantasy. So not only did I win, Azar, you kind of buried the lead, buddy. I went undefeated this year in my fantasy league. And in the championship game, I was up by 12 going into Monday Night Football against Alshon Jeffrey and Zach Ertz in a standard league, and I ended up winning by about four points. And it was the most exhilarating three hours of my entire life. I would equate it as a sports fan to watching my Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII to the point that I think that I could go the next 10 years without winning one fantasy championship, and I think that I would be okay with it. You'll remember it for the rest of your life which is what life is all about is having these amazing experiences and so this was an amazing experience for you it doesn't matter if it's fantasy football

or you know climbing mount kilimanjaro it's it's this was my kill and i like i can't i sat in the same position for three hours i I barely moved off the couch. We kept texting him. So we're on a text chain, the three of us and Pete Prisco. And Dave is the quiet one on the text chain. Dave never says anything. Pete and I probably over the course of the – you said three hours didn't move? A solid two and a half.

Over the course of at least an hour of that, Pete and I were texting basically each other trying to see if nick was like alive what his what his status was he would not reply to us because i i was afraid like it would it would mess up the juju of the game if i if i went to the phone because things were going well and then and then pete and i would text each other separately like what's wrong with him he's gonna he's got this i don't know why he's he's not he's not replying it was a very very funny like two hours or so and and i had my own fantasy championship on the line as well that was waiting out. By the way, Adam loves text chains. So if you ever get a couple people that you want to involve him with, he loves them.

What kind of text chains do you hate? No, he likes them all. No, I hate them. Pictures, funny lines. No, there are some that are funny. He even likes typos. Like if you accidentally type a letter to him and six other people on the chain,

it doesn't matter which letter. It's fine. We should get Azar on a text chain with Frisco. He'd love that. I do confess that I was not aware until recently about the Do Not Disturb feature on iPhones. Oh, it's awesome, isn't it? Well, wait.

Can I tell you something about Adam? Adam lied to us. A group of six people? Uh one of which nando dafino introduced him to his wife okay love nando one of which uh uh i'm not gonna say who uh helped him keep his job at cbs okay one of which um what are you talking about you have to im me who you're talking about huh you have to im me who you're talking about. Huh? You have to IM me who you're talking about. There are several people in this group chain that have done things for Adam or have been very kind. I don't want to be on a group chain with you. I hate you guys.

He lied to us and said his plan – this was a couple years ago. His plan will not allow him the minutes or the data to be a part of the text chain. See, this is what's great, Azar. Just rip the Band-Aid off and just tell everyone you don't want to be on the text chain. That's what I did. They don't listen. They don't listen, except Sergio. He was the only guy who was nice enough to take me off the text chain.

Anyway, let's talk football. Block them. Block them if you have to. I was considering it, but I didn't know about doing that. Have you ever gone undefeated? Oh, of course not. Who's gone undefeated? You're the only person I know who's ever done that.

I'm Don Shula. I went undefeated. I know somebody who picked up fantasy football, went undefeated in their first year, and never played again. That's incredible. I actually do know one person. That guy's a jerk. Two people now. I hate that guy, whoever that is.

I hate him. All right. Who is next year's Todd Gurley? Who is next year's breakout star? At any position? Yeah. I'll go first. I was hoping we were going to talk more about my undefeated season

and the really close wins that I had. You want to go undefeated next year too? I do. Get Dalvin Cook on your fantasy team. Oh, is this the guy? I love him. And I know that he's coming back from the ACL. Obviously, it's contingent on him being healthy and ready to go for the start of the season.

But I think Minnesota's got nowhere to go but up from here, and I think he's going to be their main back. They've got a defense that's going to shut opposing offenses down next year, and I think Dalvin Cook's going to be in line to get all the work that we've seen Latavius Murray and Jarek McKinnon get. By the way, both of those guys free agents coming up this offseason. Murray's not a free agent. Murray signed a four-year deal, right? I think, oh, okay, okay.

McKinnon is the free agent. Murray can get cut. Didn't he say Murray signed a four-year $60 million deal? Yeah, but it's basically a one-year deal. Murray's get cut. Didn't he say Murray's on the four-year deal? Yeah, but it's basically a one-year deal. Yeah, Murray's coming back. There's no way they're cutting him. He sucks. He does not suck.

He's not great, but he's not great. It doesn't really matter. They were both on the team this year, and Dalvin Cook was the only guy. No, Murray and Cook didn't play at the same time because Murray had the advantage. You want to know why? Because Murray sucks. That's why. Well, he's not as good as Dalvin Cook.

I don't think he sucks, though. I dropped the sucks label on him. He would have been the best running back on the Giants this year by a mile. You know why? Because they suck, too. No, Latavius Murray does not suck, though. I mean, I think that's incorrect. I don't think he's great.

He doesn't suck. Yeah, he's average. We'll call him average. Is that good for everybody? Anyway, Dalvin Cook, breakout star. Nick, who you got? Breakout star for next year. I have like six guys written here.

Do I have to pick one or can I give a couple? You have to pick one. Then you can say here are two others that I was considering. Derek Henry is a lame one, right? Like Derek Henry doesn't count because everyone's going to be on Derek Henry. Throw him out. Yeah. All right.

But yeah, obviously he's – assuming Mike Malarkey gets his act together with this run game. All right. So I really like Deontay Foreman of the Texans, but I don't know if he really counts like in the comparison that we're trying to make here next year's breakout start. But he could be. But I mean, I don't like Lamar Miller and that offense is going to be so good next year with Deshaun Watson back. I think they should be good.

And Foreman, I think, is better than Miller. And Foreman, remember when he tore his ACL, it was on a touchdown run. I think Foreman's going to be nasty next year with Deshaun Watson back. I think they should be good. And Foreman, I think, is better than Miller. And Foreman, remember when he tore his ACL, it was on a touchdown run. I think Foreman's going to be nasty next year. But you make me pick. I got two guys that I really like. Alex Collins of the Ravens, who I feel like it doesn't really fit the Gurley comparison because Gurley was bad last year and Collins was good this year. And the other guy that I think's really got a chance, and Jamie, you were on this guy

from the beginning, from training camp on, was Jamal Williams of like let's get aaron rogers back and back in the lineup for green bay jamal williams is the opera because he's a better pass catcher than aaron jones and i think he's got an opportunity to be a star next season like jamal williams is going to be a first or second round pick and you were team aaron jones coming out of the draft too you loved aaron i think williams is better at this point i mean just watching them down the out of the draft, too. You love Aaron Jones. I think Williams is better at this point. I mean, just watching them down the stretch of the year, I prefer Williams. I think he's better, too. I'm concerned that they don't go out and find somebody even better than Williams. They're not adding to that backfield.

They don't need to. They don't need to, but I'm saying they can add one more running back. But they're not going to. They don't sign free agents. They have a new GM. They drafted a guy. They drafted three guys last year. Yeah, but one of them is not going to make the team this year.

There's no way that they're wasting any of their resources. They might go with Williams. Is Kenyon Drake a free agent? No, right? No. And in case you were wondering about Lamar Miller, the Texans save almost $6 million in cap space. Get Lamar Miller the hell out of here. They only owe him a million bucks if he's a post-June 1st draft cut.

Let's get Deontay Foreman in there. I'll give you another one that I think kind of fits more of the girly comparison, just the disappointment, and that's Joe Mixon. I mean, you know, you have what should be a better team, hopefully, if they invest a little bit in their offensive line because they lost two starters, which I think hurt them last year. But Dalton could still be better. He's not ever going to be good, but he could certainly be competent,

which we've seen him be. And A.J. Green, I think, will be better. He's not ever going to be good, but he could certainly be competent, which we've seen him be. And A.J. Green, I think, will be better. But Mixon's got too much talent to be as mediocre as he was. 3.5 yards per carry. I know because I looked it up because I was thinking about having him be one of my guys, but I was like, I can't do it. Jamal Williams averaged 3.6

yards per carry. As we established on last week's show, you don't have to necessarily average 4 yards per carry to be a great fantasy running back as Melvin Gordon and Todd. 3-6 is pretty bad, but it's only a rookie year. But I do think that there's more upside for Joe Mixon still to come. And if you're talking about what Todd Gurley is in terms of great, bust, great again, Mixon was a little bit of a bust just based on the hype that we had on him coming into the year. All right.

Next season's Robert Woods is blank. This is a guy who would go to a new team in theory, have really zero hype, come out of nowhere, and become pretty damn good. Robert Woods next year. Who do you got? I tried to legitimately find the next Robert Woods. You guys tell me. And I don't know if I love this guy, but late-round pick, if he ends up on the right team, I like him. Paul Richardson.

Oh, I like it. Free agent from Seattle. Goes on the right team, I like him. Paul Richardson. Oh, I like it. Free agent from Seattle. Goes to the right team. I don't know which team. Ends up being a quasi-number-one type receiver for them. Maybe he opens up a little bit. What about the 49ers? What if he goes and he's the new number one for Jimmy Garoppolo?

I don't think he's not a number one. He's not going to be the number one there. Well, Robert Woods wasn't going to be the number one in L.A., and then he ended up being the number one in L.A. True, but you're going to be the number one there. Well, Robert Woods wasn't going to be the number one in LA, and then he ended up being the number one in LA. True, but you're going to bet on – like the Robert Woods arc this season has been stunning. Like he is legitimately equally stunning. Actually, for the winners and losers column that I'm writing on based on Wild Card Weekend, if you project his numbers over the 12 games that he played because he missed three with a shoulder injury and sat out week 17 to rest.

Oh, he would have been like top 12 uh no but he would have been right around there but 74 catches a little over a thousand yards and seven touchdowns so i said this about robert woods like throw the numbers out there and obviously fantasy is a numbers game so i'm not saying numbers aren't important like watch robert woods play the receiver position he's awesome yeah Yeah, he looked great. I don't know where the hell this came from with Robert Woods. And I just want to say, I had him, Jamie, I did the 16-game pace for Robert Woods because not only did he miss those three, but he also sat out week 17. His 16-game pace, Robert Woods was on pace to be the number eight wide receiver

in standard, number nine in PPR. So that's how I calculated it. Because I have him playing 12 games, and I just divide it by 12 times 16. That's what I got. So number eight, number nine in standard in PPR. He had a great season. Now four of his five touchdowns came in two games, at the Giants and against the Texans, two of the worst pass defenses.

But whatever. He did in the playoffs, though. Yeah, no, but he didn't score a touchdown. So maybe he might be a little bit better in PPR. I don't know. But yeah, great year. So look, you have to come up with a name like Paul Richardson. This is a guy who comes out of nowhere.

So that's Dave's guy. Nick, Jamie, who you got as next year's Robert Woods. So like Alan Robinson doesn't count, right? Correct. Because he'll be hyped. We've known all about him. All right. I got a guy coming off an injury that I think if you put him in the right offense,

and I think the Patriots would be absolutely perfect for this guy. How about Taylor Gabriel in the right offense? Okay. Speedy guy out of the slot. Again, it's difficult to find a name like this because you're banking on someone potentially breaking out. And it really does come down to finding the right place.

Exactly. Robert Woods goes to Chicago. He's 600 yards again. Maybe. I mean, I don't know. I think their offense might be a lot better next year. No, no. I'm. He's 600 yards again. Maybe. I mean, I don't know. I think their offense might be a lot better next year. No, no. I'm saying if he had done it this year. Oh, he would have been awful.

He would have been terrible. It's him going to L.A., getting a big opportunity in L.A., and everybody taking a step forward there, including him. I think you put Taylor Gabriel in the right spot where there's not a Julio Jones there to take all the targets. I think this is a guy that can have a really nice season. Mainly in PPR, but he's someone I'm keeping my eye on. I'm going to go down the rabbit hole again that I promised I never would, but Dante Montague.

I guess that's fair, though. I still think he's talented. He's only 24 years old. He had a good quarterback. He had good production. He had bad quarterback play. He was terrible. So if he ends up in the right spot, he's not a number one. I don't even know if he's a number two, but he could still have

a 806 type of season. 5,806, 6,806. Which is essentially what Woods did over 12 games, but could still be a playmaker in the right system and the right situation.

You know where I'd like to see him go? The Giants. Dante Moncrief. And he'd basically take over for Brandon Marshall? Yeah, so you'd have Odell, Sterling, Engram, Moncrief. I'll tell you where I'd like to see him go. Kansas City. They're desperate, desperate for somebody to play opposite Tyreek Hill.

They haven't had a number two receiver. You go back, Dwayne Bowe had nobody opposite him. Jeremy Macklin, nobody opposite him. Tyreek Hill, they've tried this for years. We talked about this the other day. Albert Wilson, Chris Conley, these type of players. Patrick Mahomes, with his arm, is going to make a lot of receivers look good. And you can make somebody like Moncrief, who can, like I said, still play,

he can make that type of player look good. What about Albert Wilson actually also fits under this umbrella? But not in the team. Oh, you're saying if he leaves? Yes. Yeah, but I think he's going to go to Chicago. You know where he's going? Oh, no, he's a free agent.

He's going to go to Chicago. With Nagy. Yeah. And I think he could be pretty good there because he's got – he's baby Tyreek Hill. He just had a career year where he had like 550 yards and three touchdowns. He's baby Tyreek. The one game where he was featured, which was Week 17. He did great.

He had a ton of targets. That's part of the reason why. I don't know if he's going to end up being 1,000 yards. But, hey, we said this about Robert Woods last year. I'll go right back to it. Right fit, right scheme. Does it have to be a wide receiver? No.

Can I give you another player? Yeah. Trey Burton. I really think where Trey Burton ends up is going to be a starting tight end in fantasy. Okay. And how about this one? Next season's Adam Thielen. So kind of like Robert Woods, but the only difference is some hype from the previous season.

Drafted. You know, Robert Woods was undrafted. Drafted, but certainly took us by surprise and took the next step. Who's next year's Adam Thielen? So I've got a guy, but he wasn't drafted. That's fine. And I just love the way he finished this season no no no uh we'll be like we'll be drafted next year whereas yeah yeah oh this guy's gonna get drafted you're gonna take my guy i think so go ahead because he's still playing no oh then i'm not taking okay keelan cole in jacksonville

slot receiver tons of speed they're gonna do a lot to improve the offensive line and maybe improve the quarterbacking too. And I think that that will help Keelan Cole really develop further. I would agree with you if we knew who was going to be there because you saw what it looked like this past weekend and he was not part of the offense at all. They can't keep Blake Bortles. Well, I don't care about Bortles.

It has nothing to do with Bortles. If they bring back Marquise Lee or Allen Robinson, that's too many mouths to feed because Keelan Cole was just left out. Everybody was left out. But the targets weren't there for him. I mean, he wasn't even part of the offense. Okay. Who was the leading target getter for that team?

I believe it was D.D. Westbrook, but I'll take a look right now. How many did he have? Who, on Sunday? Yeah. Westbrook was the only guy who had a catch. Westbrook had eight targets. Keelan Cole had one. Yeah.

And so that's with Hearns playing, Lee playing, and Westbrook was the only guy who had a catch. Westbrook had eight targets. Keelan Cole had one. Yeah. And so that's with Hearns playing, Lee playing, and Westbrook playing. And plus, there's talk about them bringing back Allen Robinson on a one-year proof of deal. So if they let Lee walk and bring back Robinson or don't bring back Robinson to keep Lee, then I think Cole has a shot. But the problem is that there's just too many mouths to feed there. I could see Marquise Lee actually being the best. Like they bring back Allen Robinson see Marquise Lee actually being the best. They bring back Allen Robinson, Marquise Lee, people kind of think he fades into the background, and then we find out he's the best wide receiver on the team. That wouldn't shock me. Nick, who's next year's Adam Thielen? I got two for you. One, I wish for many reasons that the Browns had fired Hugh Jackson,

but especially because I don't feel like Hugh and his coaching staff has gotten the best thus far out of Corey Coleman. But watching Corey Coleman at Baylor, he's so freaking talented, and all anyone's going to remember heading into next year is the drop against the Steelers in Week 17 that secured the 0-16. So I don't think there's going to be a lot of hype around Corey Coleman. If they get Sam Darnold or Alex Smith, I mean, Alex Smith's not a long ball thrower, but Corey Coleman, he can't be worse than he's been these last two years.

And he's a really good wide receiver. So I think there's going to be some value with Corey Coleman. And the second guy is Chris Godwin of the Bucs. Get Deshaun Jackson out of there. Get Deshaun – like, Chris Godwin on this. January 8th, the year of our Lord, 2018, Chris Godwin is a better wide receiver than Deshaun Jackson. Wow. And the lasting memory of Chris Godwin is going to wide receiver than deshaun jackson wow and the

lasting memory of chris godwin is going to be the touchdown in week 17 to beat the saints he's nasty and this buck's offense is going to be a lot better next year with a healthy james winston i love james next year i love oj howard next year i love mike evans next year and i love me some chris godwin next year yeah no that's a that's a good call if Deshaun Jackson's gone, because I think if Jackson's back, he's not going to get enough opportunity. But he's better than Deshaun Jackson. I don't even care about the contract. Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you.

Jamie, you got Adam Thielen for next year? I don't know if this is too obvious or not, but Will Fuller with a healthy Deshaun Watson? Yeah, I think so. I think that's a good one. I think that's a good one. Yeah, it's a little obvious. Okay. Josh Doxon?

A little obvious. How about Nelson Aguilar? I think he could be really awesome next year. I think he could be better than Alshon. It's a little obvious. Well, but Phelan didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, he was drafted. Phelan at the end of last season was, and going into this year as well, he was very

popular among analysts as a sleeper. So it's not like he was a huge surprise. I think Aguilar is the best receiver on the Eagles. I think he's better than Alshon. And Thielen, I don't know if he is better than Diggs, but he was better than Diggs this year. Barely. Yeah.

But he had huge breakout games. He was a monster. Diggs didn't get to that point this year, really. Diggs was boom or bust. I would take Diggs next year over Thielen because I think Diggs has more talent than Thielen does. I want to see the quarterback, because if it's somebody that has a big arm, then I would agree with you 100%. All right, last one. Sorry, Nick.

Last one. Next season's DeAndre Hopkins is blank. This is somebody who would be bouncing back. Still going to be a fairly early round pick, but one of the steals of the draft. Next year's DeAndre Hopkins. I have three names for this. The one that I'm

most comfortable with of the three is J.J. who went through some struggles in Miami, got traded to Philly, didn't quite become that main guy there yet. We'll see what happens in the playoffs. But I think they enter next year with Ajay as their lead running back. So I think he could bounce back from a pretty down, weird year.

But you think he'll be a – because I think that – let's say he has a good play. Even if it's only one game and he's their guy next year, you're not going to be able to get him later in a draft or in the mid-rounds. He's going to go early. No, but he's – where did he win like in round two this year? Yeah. And I think he could go around three. Exactly. But that's where Hopkins went. He's going to go early. No, but where did he went in round two this year? I think he could go round three. That's where Hopkins went. Hopkins was a third-round pick

this past year. He could be a third-round pick, but give you first-round value, I guess is kind of what I'm saying. I'll give you the other two names on the list. One of these, I just think there's comparisons to Hopkins, and that's Amari Cooper, because he had two amazing games, and the rest of the year was just terrible. And then Jimmy Graham.

I think Graham had a good year, obviously, for tight end purposes, but I think he could still put up some yardage on top of touchdowns. I know that sounds kind of crazy for Jimmy Graham based on what this past year was like, but he's going to be a free agent. I'm interested to see where he lands, and I think he could bounce back next year too. Okay. Oh, you guys are going to love this. So Adam, Jamie and Dave know that I hate Amari Cooper, and I said before the season I don't think Amari's good.

I would never draft Amari Cooper early in the draft. Of course, I did in the FFT draft, and he screwed me. Surprise, surprise. I think Cooper's going to have a big year next year in year four it's gruden going to oakland he's he's so how how old is amari cooper he's like 22 he's got he's young like i don't think he's any older than he's 23 at most he is still a young like he's 23 he's like eight months old he'll be 24 when next season starts he's like eight months older than calvin ridley who's the Alabama receiver now, who's going to be a first or second round pick in next year's draft.

So the talent is there for Amari. And you saw it at the end of the season with the two touchdowns, the one a week 16 against Philly, the one a week 17 against the Chargers. I think he's going to have a big year. And I think getting John Gruden there, and I don't care that Greg Olson is going to be the offensive coordinator, that's John Gruden's offense. And I'm bullish on the Raiders next year.

My Oakland Raiders are going to win the AFC West with John Gruden. Can I give you – how about Derek Carr, I think, is going to be a steal in drafts next year too. He's going to end up being a late-round pick. Like, I think – I like Derek Carr a lot. Not by the time the hype starts happening. And give me Amari Cooper. There are so many quarterbacks next year.

It doesn't matter. He won't be a late-round pick. He'll be in that group of – What round? What round do you think he'll go? Oh, well, I mean, ADP? Fifth? No, he'll be way later.

His average draft position based on how people draft quarterbacks? Derek Carr. In the 5-7 range. I'll take way later. In a smart league, he should go in the 10th round. In expert drafts, he will go after round 10. But that's going to be when you see quarterbacks 8 through 15 go. All right, fine.

But that's just people being dumb. But should I get on the John Gruden hype train? This guy hasn't coached in a decade. And Prisco tweeted out his record in his last six years. He had no playoff. But you're talking about fantasy versus reality. He's going to make that offense better. Is he?

He's going to be aggressive with it, and that will help everything. I mean, I just don't know that he's a guru anymore. I would have said that both Derek Carr and Amari Cooper would be bounce-back candidates regardless of who the coach was. Yeah, I agree. Because they're too talented. Yeah, I totally agree. But, yes, you should be on the Gruden bandwagon. Absolutely.

All right. And, Jamie, who's next year's DeAndre Hopkins? I mean, there's two very obvious ones. Mike Evans is the most obvious because he's too talented and just had a down season, very similar to what Hopkins had. And so I think you'll see him bounce back. And he's been saying this for the last three, four weeks. It's 12 touchdowns, not 12 touchdowns, 12 touchdowns, not 12 touchdowns.

So this is going to be a 12-touchdown season. The other one would be T.Y. Hilton. Like Keith Beard, no beard, Beard, no beard. Like muskrat dyes on your face, wear it to work. T.Y. Hilton. I mean, just getting Andrew Luck back, if he's 100%, that's to work. T.Y. Hilton. I mean, just getting Andrew Luck back if he's 100%, that's going to make T.Y. Hilton the top five receiver again. Okay.

Coming up on the show, we will have those player debates, talk about the games, and we'll go through the news. And we have some emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. If you want to go and see some playoff winners and losers, Jamie's column is up on cbssports.com slash fantasy. Some playoff winners and losers, Jamie's column is up on CBSSports.com slash fantasy. Some playoff winners and losers, interesting stuff. And we have a lot of other podcasts. Of course, we have the Pick 6 podcast hosted by Nick Kostos with Will Brinson, Jason Lockenfora, and Pete Prisco.

Absolutely brilliant football minds who don't take themselves too seriously. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, some of them may be. I mean there are multiple brilliant football minds out there. Yeah, I mean, maybe like combined, maybe we're like

one and a half brilliant football minds, but we are very entertaining. So we will entertain you and give you the football talk. It's really fun. It's like the funniest football podcast

you're going to find. It's outstanding. So check out the Pick 6 podcast and you can hear Nick talk about eHarmony. They're one of the sponsors and that's always good stuff. I think I'm going to get,

by the way, I emailed, should I not say this on? I'm going to try and get some sort of deal with them to see if I can get on to Harmony. You should. And by the way, we have a new podcast that just launched today. It is the Sportsline DFS podcast. I did today's show with Heath Cummings and Mike McClure. Mike McClure is a guy who made a living on Daily Fantasy Sports before he started work,

and now he still does, just differently. He does projections for Sportsline.com, which you should go subscribe to right now. They have a discounted rate, and it's pretty inexpensive to begin with. But we have the Sportsline DFS podcast that we're going to try to do five days a week and give you FanDuel and DraftKings lineups. And I think they're going to be pretty successful. I think it's going to be a money-making endeavor and a lot of fun to listen to.

So check that out. And that one's not on CBSSports.com slash podcast yet because it's brand new. But if you want to see our other ones, CBSSports.com slash podcast. Some notes. I don't think we talked about Carson Palmer retiring since we last spoke, but he's retiring. Yeah. And, yeah, what does that mean for David Johnson, guys? Well, who's the coach?

I don't know. That's the thing. I think if they get the right guy in place and you're starting to see the dominoes fall, Matt Patricia now in Detroit. Is that official, by the way? No, but that's going to happen. Is it Nagy or Nagy? Nagy.

Nagy will be the head coach in Chicago. And so wherever Josh McDaniels goes, I think you're going to see Steve Wilkes for the Giants. And then most likely – You think so? Yeah, I mean just connecting the Gettleman dots. What if McDaniels doesn't think that Luck's going to be 100% again? Then I think McDaniels takes the Giants. I kind of feel McDaniels.

I mean look, I'm basing it on nothing. Yes, Wilks being the coordinator for the Panthers and the Gettleman Dots. Sure, that makes sense. I think McDaniels is a candidate there, though. I think if it's Pat Shermer in Arizona, that would be interesting. In case Keenum goes with him. I've got to tell you, it doesn't matter who the coach is. For David Johnson?

It doesn't matter. It really doesn't. It shouldn't. He's going to be their entire offense offense like he is when he's healthy. The guy's going to be great no matter who the coach is. One of us can coach the team. Would you have said coming off the 2015 season that it doesn't matter who the Rams coach is? No, but that's different.

Like you had Todd Gurley coming out and saying we're running a high school offense. I don't think Bruce Arians was running a high school offense. Are the Cardinals hiring Jeff Fisher? The Cardinals hire Jeff Fisher. I'm out on David Johnson. Okay, you just said the coach doesn't matter, though, so the coach matters. If it's just Jeff Fisher, it matters, yeah. If the Cardinals hire Jeff Fisher,

would you rather draft Todd Gurley or Leonard Fournette? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. David Johnson or Leonard Fournette? David Johnson or Leonard Fournette? Yeah, yeah. Still David Johnson. Okay. I roll the dice. Yeah, I think so. Jeff Fisher also got Todd Gurley to that great 2015 season too.

And Fernette is really disappointing. He also coached Eddie George and what's his name? Chris Johnson. All right, guys. So, yeah, Matt Nagy to the Bears. He was the Chiefs offensive coordinator. He gave us this year the number three quarterback, the number four running back, the number five wide receiver in standard, number eight in PPR, and the number one running back, the number five wide receiver in standard,

number eight in PPR, and the number one tight end. So Nagy gave us the best offense in fantasy. That is unbelievable. What do you think he does for the Bears? You say he gave it to you. He only called the plays for the last six games of the year, and it might not even be his last six because there's talk that Andy Reid took over in the in the second half of their playoff game that would make sense is kareem hunt didn't

touch the ball so that would make sense reed said after the game matt called the good plays i called the bad plays which tells me that he was covering for yeah reed was eating barbecue while uh while while his team was losing yeah so i'm gonna go ahead and say that all six of those games were all naggy and look he he's he's a disciple from the andy reed trees a former quarterback he's So I'm going to go ahead and say that all six of those games were all Nagy. Look, he's a disciple from the Andy Reid trees, a former quarterback. He's going to run the West Coast system. I think it's a great fit for Trubisky. Nagy apparently was a Trubisky fan last year this time.

What's he going to say? I hate him. Well, no, he didn't say it. This came out. It's from a reporter in Chicago. No, it's not from Nagy. It's from a reporter in Chicago. Yeah, Trub not from Maggie. It's from a reporter in Chicago. Yeah, Trubisky sucks.

I'll take the job. No, I like the money. I'll take the job. You don't care who the quarterback is. They've got so much work to do as far as their receiving core goes, but I'm sure he's going to find some creative ways to use Cohen, and I think he'll like Shaheen as that big tight end. You nailed it.

I think this is great for Jordan Howard because, look, we always talk about it, the Andy Reid offense who excels the running back. Except when they don't. Except when they don't. Except when Andy Reid doesn't give them the ball. I got a point about that. Up 18 in a playoff game. Love Jordan Howard.

Love Tariq Cohen. I think Cohen could be like the switchblade, kind of like Tyreek Hill was for the Chiefs this past year. And Dave, Adam Shaheen, baby Gronk, 6'7", red zone target. I think he's going to be a very nice tight end next year. I'm an Adam Shaheen, baby Gronk, 6'7", red zone target. I think he's going to be a very nice tight end next year. I'm an Adam Shaheen fan. The one concern with Howard is Andy Reid's running backs catch the football. Jordan Howard has proven so far through two years that that's not his strong suit.

Now, he could, and he certainly – But it's not his strong suit. But then they've got to get a new running back because Cohen's not a 20-carrier. No, no, no. But you can see at least in the interim until maybe they – depending depending how long naggy's there until he gets his guys in place he could get i think jordan howard could be a 30 catch guy which is what four net was he was 32 catches elliot as a rookie was 32 catches he could be a 35 i think at 28 this year so it's not like it's a big stretch but he's got to be a little bit more consistent get two to three every game

don't go four catches one game one catch next, no catches for three weeks in a row. That's not going to happen in this offense. So that's where I think Jordan Howard can win is if he gets a little bit more involved in the passing game. Adam, we talked about this earlier today. Do you know how many running backs this year – Adam knows the answer to this because he cheated. I did not. How many running backs this year had 1,000 rushing yards and 50 receptions? And not only did I not cheat, I named – not only did I get the question right, I named the running backs.

That's how I knew you cheated. Really impressive on my part. Like an undefeated season almost. So how many running backs had what? Not quite. 1,000 rushing yards and 50 catches? There's at least four. You say four?

Yeah. What do you say? There's at least four. It's 50 catches and 1,000 rushing runs. We don't get points for at least, Nick. Trying to go through it in my head here. I'll say seven. Seven, your final answer?

Can I get a second here? Can I filibuster for a second here? No, no. I guess that I have to stick with four because – no, five. Six. Six it is. Exactly six. So who is the six?

Because I think the five are fairly obvious. So Shady, Gurley, Le'Veon, Kamara. No. Not Kamara, right? He didn't have 1,000 rushing yards. Not Kamara. Kamara didn't have 1,000 yards? Kamara didn't have 1,000 yards rushing.

Ingram. Ingram. Ingram. Wow. Okay. And Gordon. I would probably have not gotten Melvin Gordon. I'm glad Melvin Gordon finally got his 1,000 yards.

I'm glad – have we finally come to the consensus that Melvin Gordon is good at football? Has that happened on this podcast? He's good at football. He's great for fantasy. As a group or everybody individually? No, because I – yeah, I mean I would almost like to know because it's a group, of course, because the group is not dumb. So the group knows that Melvin Gordon is good. I would hope that all the individuals will also think that

well uh to point uh our audience to another piece of content um one of the said people you might be referencing did a new year's resolutions of the three other analysts that write about fantasy football okay and one of those said persons resolutions was was, I will not doubt Melvin Gordon again. I like it. I like it. All right, cool. Shout out to Chris Towers. Last point on Matt Nagy. Averaged 21.2 running back carries in the six games he called plays for.

Three of Kareem Hunt's games with 24 or more carries came when Nagy was calling the plays. Cool. It's a very good offensive line. In Chicago? Sure. If Trubisky gets better, they need to add at least two receivers. Because I think you can get by. Kendall Wright's a free agent.

You can get by with Dontrell Inman as a three. Well, they've got Cameron Meredith coming back. I was going to say he could be the two. Okay. What about the ghost of Kevin White? He's floating away. Yeah. Slowly.

They need to either draft a couple of receivers and go the Green Bay running back route and try and build that way or try and sign somebody. Who that may be, I don't know. Allen Robinson. Yeah, but we could sit here and say Allen Robinson because we're going to say that with a lot of wide receiver opens. I think San Francisco would be a great spot for him. He's got to prove that, A, he's healthy, and B, that that one year wasn't a fluke. Yeah, do you know what the one year, you know what we call that

one year? Blake Bortles. That's what we call that year. No, I mean, he was great that year. I'm talking about the good year. No, I'm talking about the bad year, the disappointing year afterwards. Blake Bortles. I know Bortles was there the other year, too, but Bortles threw what? How many touchdowns did Bortles throw that year? The good year. 32? The good year.

The good year was 29, I think. 29? All right. I took a guess. Okay, so let's move on. Some news for this upcoming weekend. Derek Henry likely to remain the starter, even if DeMarco Murray plays at New England. Finally. Did they get to twist Mike Malarkey's arm to make that happen?

Out of there. Get DeMarco Murray out of there. Jacksonville linebacker Paul Pasluzny left with a hip injury. He did not return. They're at Pittsburgh, and the Saints lost Andrews Peet. Offensive guard Andrews Peet broke his leg. I could not be more excited for the Saints-Vikings game. Yes, let's do it. All right, so I wanted to go through the games,

but I think what would be even more fun is getting Nick's take and then Dave and Jamie's take on some potentially polarizing player debates. Are you ready, Nick Costos? I've never been more ready for anything in my life. Okay. Well, then actually would you like to tell us about the girl you're not sure about? I was actually – I was hoping that you would say that. I'm kind of sitting here and I'm thinking. So I was talking to this girl three months. It was right around the time of the hurricanes.

It was right around the start of the football season. We still follow each other on Instagram. This hurricane or last year when you had the panic attack? This was the non-panic attack hurricane. We got sent to Stanford and somebody left. We got sent to Stanford. So Adam, have you ever heard the story of Dave bailing on Jamie in Stanford, Connecticut? Have you ever heard that story?

I want to hear about the girl. Oh, you're going to hear about both. But Adam, have the listeners ever heard the story of Dave bailing on Jamie in Stanford, Connecticut? Have you ever heard that story? I want to hear about the girl. Oh, you're going to hear about both. But Adam, have the listeners ever heard the story or no? Definitely not. You never told the story? No, because this is your story. I would say it's probably more your story than anybody else's. But you get more glee out of it.

I really do because it was awesome. So we do fantasy football today, week one, from Stanford, Connecticut. Jamie's family with his pregnant wife is home in Boca Raton, and Dave basically ran out of there as soon as the show ended with pepperoni off his goatee, taking a few slices of pizza and bailed. And Jamie had to stay in Stanford away from his pregnant wife for about four days while Dave was cavorting in Baltimore eating crab cakes. I had to drive up from Baltimore the night before and drive back the next day, and nobody

told me that I needed to stay the next day. So what do I do? I'm getting out of there so I can listen to what's happening and get home in time to watch at least the night games. Can't watch games while I drive home. That Giants-Cowboys game was great in week one. Absolutely loved it. A lot of offensive fireworks.

Now on to the girl. I can't believe you left that for me to tell like this is your story it's not that great story it's an awesome story no you don't like it because you're because you're the bad part of it i'm not the bad part of it um so i was talking to this girl around the time of the hurricane nothing ended up coming of it and football season it's tough for get together right so last night so we every once in a while we'll direct message each other just whatever i get a text last night and the we, every once in a while, will direct message each other, just whatever. I get a text last night, and the only reason that I know that it was from her is because I had my iPad out at the time.

My iPad saves all my text messages under iMessages, so I was able to scroll up and see it was her. If I had seen it on my cell phone because my text messages delete after a month, I wouldn't have known who it was because I never had the number saved. So in my infinite wisdom, I'm thinking to myself, I tried to hang tried to hang out with this woman. Why didn't you have the number saved? I don't know. It's a good question. I don't have an answer to it. It wasn't like something I thought about like consciously, like I'm not saving the number. I just didn't save it.

Okay. So in my infinite wisdom, I decide to mess with her a little bit, and I wrote, who is this? And there has been no response since then. And this girl is very attractive and i feel like i may have but like if she were interested she would have answered that question right maybe she thought you were somebody else maybe she'd been another nick impossible i guess right i would say that's unlikely so you want you want you want her back in your life yes all right so then why'd you write who is this because i'm an idiot instead saying, Mary, good to see you again.

What's happening? No, I didn't want to do that because I wanted to mess with her a little bit. I wanted to have hands, like George Costanza says, Adam. Because I felt like I didn't have hands when the situation died, so I needed to reacquire the hand. So how are you going to do that? And now I'm stuck because I don't know what to do. What do we do here? Let this girl go so she doesn't have to do that in her

life this is that's the makings of a really solid relationship right right she should be so fortunate to have to deal with me how many dates a week are you uh are you at now now i mean i don't have a freaking social life so i mean i i don't really go on dates as much as i have like scheduled meetups all right well no i mean i haven haven't gone on an actual date probably in about a month, probably since the beginning of December. So you're rusty. An actual date. So that's the real reason why you're not trying to get with this girl is because you might be all thumbs when you go out on a date. No, it's because I think that I was really interested at the start, and she wasn't as interested.

And then once she started showing a little interest, I decided to be a jerk about it, and now I'm back in the space that I was. I'm the loser is basically what it comes down to. All right. Well, you had an undefeated season, so this is fine. Let's do some player debates. DeAndre Hopkins versus – I might choose her. I might.

No, I would take the undefeated season, but it's close. DeAndre Hopkins versus Antonio Brown. Who you got, Nick? This is really close, really close. But I'm going to go with Antonio Brown because while I think the Deshaun Watson-led Texans offense is going to be nasty next year, there's almost no way that it can continue on the pace that it was at, right? It's just not mathematically possible for that to be the case. Hopkins is awesome. You can't go wrong with either of these guys.

But Brown comes back healthy and plays well in the postseason. I'm taking Antonio Brown as the number one receiver next year. I'm taking him over Beckham. I take him over Julio. I'm with you. And I take him over Hopkins. I'm totally with you. I feel like he's safer, just a little bit.

Hopkins is a great receiver. There's no question about it. But I just feel like Antonio Brown is a little bit safer. Well, let's consider one other thing here. If you look at both of their 16-game paces, Antonio Brown would have outscored Hopkins by 28 points.

So that's a lot. He was on pace for 249 games. I took away the New England game. You completely take away the stats and the game, because he got hurt after a quarter. And you go 16 games for Brown, 16 games for Hopkins, 249 points to 229 points in standard. That's a pretty big gap. And he was even better in PPR than Hopkins.

He had a bigger gap in PPR than in Hopkins, over Hopkins. So that means a lot to me. That's a big gap to close. But all right, I know a lot of people are going to take Hopkins. The thing I like about Hopkins is in the four games where Watson – his final four games when he was playing out of this world. And clearly he's not going to be that guy again because – or at least at that level over a four-game stretch. I find it a little hard for him to repeat that type of play. It's just not possible. Right.

Yeah. But Hopkins over those four games was averaging 18.5 fantasy points. This is average. Yeah. In a standard league. But that's not even – that's not as much as what Brown did in his best four-game stretch. Clearly. But I'm looking at it from the standpoint of Hopkins is five years younger than Brown, so he's still entering his prime.

He hasn't hit his prime yet. And Watson is clearly on the upside, whereas Roethlisberger is going to start to decline. And so you also have – And Ben may not come back depending on how this all goes. Like Steelers win a Super Bowl. I think Ben's out. He's done. And then it changes.

And then it changes. Obviously it changes the entire tenor of the conversation. But you also have, for the first time in Brown's stretch of being the best receiver in football, he has a running mate. He never had a running mate. You mean Juju. And Juju. Yeah. And so.

And Martavis also, to a lesser degree, but. And the better running game. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about how Lamar Miller may be cut and Deontay Foreman is coming back from a torn ACL. This is Deshaun Watson's offense. And while it's still Ben Roethlisberger, it's Le'Veon Bell's, the catalyst of this offense.

So this is not to slight Antonio Brown in any stretch. He's going to be amazing. But I think DeAndre Hopkins is going to pass him this year. All right, Carson Wentz versus Drew Brees. Carson Wentz versus Drew Brees. Nick, who are you taking? I mean, is Drew Brees a saint next year? Yeah.

I think the answer – let's assume Brees is a saint. I don't even think it's close. I'm taking Carson Wentz over Drew Brees. I'm not taking either guy early. But you've seen what the Saints are now. And as Brees starts to get older even, I don't know how many years he has left, this is going to be the Ingram Camara show, right? I mean, assuming that Ingram comes back. And I think either way, I'm taking Carson Wentz,

because Doug Peterson has shown you who he is as a play caller and a head coach. He's going to be airing the ball out constantly. So to me, it's not even close. I mean, I like Carson Wentz a lot better than Drew Brees. This was the first year in over a decade where Drew Brees did not finish as a top six fantasy quarterback. So that's going to be something that makes people pause and worry about whether or not he can do it again.

Not this past year? Yeah, in CBS Sports Leaks, he was number six. He was not. I know what's happening. One of you is going to be looking at decimals. One of you is not going to be looking at decimals. I'm looking at CBSSports.com, our stats page. He's the number six quarterback. Are you sure you're looking at 2017

or are you looking at 2016? No, it's... Dave, look. You have Cousins ahead of Breeze, right? Yeah. Yeah, you have Cousins six and Breeze seven. I'm telling you, this happens every time when you two do this. Drew Breeze has 332 fantasy points. Yes, in decimal scoring, he does. In non-decimal scoring have Cousins 6 and Breeze 7. I'm telling you, this happens every time when you two do this. Drew Breeze has 332 fantasy points. Yes, in decimal scoring he does. In non-decimal scoring, Cousins is probably ahead of Breeze.

So let's just say he's tied for 6th or 7th, whatever. I knew that was going to happen. What if you had a family in Florida and you were in Stanford, Connecticut, and your running buddy left you there? Then who would be in 6th place and who would be in 7th? It doesn't matter. So, like, look, Breeze had it down here because he didn't throw the ball nearly as much, but he had a career-high completion percentage.

And what I was really surprised by, I couldn't figure out, how come he didn't throw the ball? They had the 13th most rush attempts in the NFL. They had the 19th most pass attempts. The Saints somehow ran the 19th most plays from scrimmage. Really strange. And they had one of the best offenses. They were second in the NFL. They had the 19th most pass attempts. The Saints somehow ran the 19th most plays from scrimmage. Really strange. And they had one of the best offenses. They were second in total yards. Amazing. They had hyper-efficiency in their run game. Alvin Kamara averaged 6 yards

per carry and 10 yards per catch. That's probably a big reason why that happened. He had the 4th most red zone pass attempts and the 8th most pass attempts inside the 10-yard line and yet Breeze threw 23 touchdowns. So I think you can make the case that even if he does throw 536 pass attempts, which Carson Wentz was on pace.

He was not on pace for that many more, probably about the same, 541, five more pass attempts than what Brees threw in 16 games, that Brees could get 30 touchdowns. He only hit 23, but I think he's kind of fluky. And to be fair, in what I'm looking at, he finished 11th as far as quarterbacks. He was 20 points away, 21 points away from being 6th, which is where Jamie sees him right. So it's obviously very close. You're talking about less than two points per game. But the thing that I love about Wentz is the fact that he had seven games

out of 13 with 25 or more fantasy points. So the only other quarterback that came that exceeded that was Russell Wilson. You just have to hope that he's healthy and ready to go for the start of the season. The guy's a freaking – he's going to be one of the first five quarterbacks taken. I don't think Breeze is out of that top five. The only way he won't be is if you're drafting in August and he's still not a part of training camp. Because if he's still not there for training camp. I agree.

Well, but who would you guys rather have? So Nick is taking Wentz. Dave and Jamie, who are you taking? Jamie's saying from a value perspective. Oh, I'm taking Breeze all day. I'm going to let everybody else go. No, I don't care about value. I'm not talking about value either.

Who are you ranking higher? I'm saying whoever I have in a vacuum, I take Wentz. Ranking higher. Yes. Wentz. Right. But are you ranking higher? I'm saying whoever they're having a vacuum, I take Wentz. Ranking higher. Yes. Wentz. Right. But are you taking Wentz in three? You're right.

I'm just having a conversation. I'm just having a conversation. I'm taking Drew Brees in the eighth round and Carson Wentz in the fourth. Of course. And you're not going to get either one of those guys at that value. Oh, I don't think – you think Wentz is going to be a third rounder? I think Wentz is going to end up being at least third round. It's the fourth round for Wentz and it's the sixth round for Brees, and I will take Brees in the sixth round.

Oh, I would love to get him there. Yeah, that's great. I agree with that point, but again, in a vacuum, who's going to be better next year? Fantasy, I take Wentz. Now, you know, again, I'll speak for Heath. He expects Wentz to have the Matt Ryan-like regression just based on what his production was over yards per attempt

and his lack of passes. He doesn't think the touchdown rate will be sustainable, which is fair. I mean, that's hard to do the same thing with Watson. It's hard to expect that to be replicated. The hope would be is that, and Adam, this is my argument for Wentz coming into the season, was when he had Lane Johnson, that offensive line was competent. He was great as a rookie. And then you add these receivers, you have the offensive line back,

and he takes that next step. I think he's just continuing to get better. So he's going to be better than Breeze, again, in a vacuum, to your point. But give me the value of Breeze all day, because I still think Breeze will have—I almost hope that the Saints franchise tag him so he's playing on one-year deals the rest of the way until he retires. And then that motivation to still put up numbers is going to be there for him. Yeah, so Carson Wentz, I mean, it was just the yards.

The yards were so strange, because he was only on a 16-game pace. He was on pace for 4,057 yards with 41 touchdowns. So that's weird. And Russell Wilson had 3,983 yards and 34 passing touchdowns. So what I did was I took Carson Wentz, I took his 16-game pace, and I knocked him down from 41 touchdowns to 34 touchdowns, which is what Russell Wilson did in a similar amount of pass attempts per game. And if you take away seven touchdowns from Carson Wentz's 16-game output,

he becomes, are you ready, the number two quarterback in fantasy. So even if his touchdowns regress, I'm just – I think his yards go up. I don't think he's going to be so much worse, but I'll look forward to arguing with Heath about that many, many times. Alvin Kamara versus Leonard Fournette. Nick, who you got? Kamara. Kamara. Yeah.

Even standard? In standard. The Fournette thing – the thing about Fournette that really bothered me, and it's bothering me right now what we saw on Wild Card Weekend, at the beginning of the year, Fournette was seeking out contact, was lowering his shoulder and lowering the boom down onto opposing defenders and then getting up and wolfing in their faces afterwards. Now when you watch Leonard Fournette run, you guys tell me if you agree or disagree. I don't see how you could disagree. It's almost like he's bracing for contact before he makes contact. He's not running aggressive. He's almost running scared at this point. He's doing a little bit of the tiptoeing thing. And that's not Leonard Fournette, and that's not his game.

So I'm a little bit worried about Leonard. Look, Leonard Fournette's still going to be a great fantasy running back. Why? Because he's going to score touchdowns. They get down in the red zone. They're going to feed Fournette the ball. He's still going to score. But he ain't the player Alvin Kamara is.

I would take Kamara over Fournette. He's hurt. I think you've got to see if Mark Ingram is back. That's a big part of this. You're assuming that – I'm assuming you're talking about with Ingram back. Correct. Because it's an easy answer if Ingram is gone. Yeah, right.

Fournette had 148 more carries than Kamara. And what was the yards difference? Kamara was better. What were the total yards difference? Or rushing yards difference? 1040 for Fournette, 728, so 300.

And 148 extra carries for 300 yards. he trailed off at the end of the year when he got hurt and he missed a few games the the problem for fournette is he's running against nine men in the box because nobody's respecting portals as passing game and so he's going to have that problem if they don't enhance the offensive line which would be a shock that they didn't and if they don't change quarterbacks or at least bring somebody in to compete with him which again would be a shock if they didn't. And if they don't change quarterbacks or at least bring somebody in to compete with them, which again would be a shock if they didn't. So those two things should work in Fournette's favor next year.

But you're right. He has not been the same runner since the foot problem became an issue, since the quad problem arose. And he needs to be more involved in the passing game. Again, you can't be – They suspended him for a game. Can you count on this guy? I think you can.

I mean I don't think that's necessarily an issue. We see young players go through that all the time. He still has the ability to be elite, but some things need to change in Jacksonville for that to happen. He could be almost like Todd Gurley. Who loves Fournette more than me coming into this season?

I'm not saying you're... I still really like him, but I mean, I don't know. This may be recency. We're doing this after a while. What we've seen on Wild Card Weekend, maybe come the summer I'll feel differently. But right now, Kamara. And I think if they come back with the same cast of characters, like don't add somebody significant on the offensive line and keep Bortles,

he's going to be a bust candidate because he's going to get overdrafted in the end of the first round, beginning of the second round, and could face these same problems and be a failure. So we don't know who the quarterback is going to be in Jacksonville next year because it still could be Bortles. I think you have to assume. We have to wait and see.

But I think the offensive line gets better via the draft. I think they add players to it. They have to do it to help open up lanes for Fournette. And I think the huge questions with Fournette are, can he stay healthy and can he score a bunch of touchdowns? Whereas Kamara's questions are, can he stay healthy? Can he keep scoring touchdowns? Can he keep averaging six yards per carry?

Can he keep averaging 10 yards per catch? And is he still going to get all that work or is he going to get more work? And I feel like there are just a few more questions about Kamara than there are about Fournette. And Fournette caught 36 passes during the regular season. He had a bunch of games where he caught three passes. Not like Kamara. Kamara had 80 catches.

Is that what he ended up with? 81, I think. 80 or 81. Yeah, so he just blows them away there. So in PPR, it's an obvious answer. But in a standard scoring league, I think Fournette has fewer questions, believe it or not. I completely agree. It's just health with him to me.

No, he's touchdown dependent. You take away the touchdown. He's not that touchdown dependent. He's good. Well, okay, when he's healthy, I don't think he's touchdown dependent. When he's healthy, I think he's a total monster. But he also kind of reminds me of Thomas Rawls in that I feel like because he takes on so much contact, like Nick was saying, when he's at his best, takes on so much contact, he is going to get hurt a lot.

So he had four games in the first half of the season with over 100 total yards. He had only three in the second half of the season. His rushing average definitely dipped after he got hurt. Big time. Big time. Like down to like three per carry. Like terrible. Remember, but this was a thing with him in college also.

Like this is nothing new with him. That's true too. Okay. All right. Next one. Next one. Tyree Kill or Doug Baldwin? Tyree Kill or Doug Baldwin next year? Nick. This is nothing new. That's true, too. Okay, all right, next one, next one. Tyree Kill or Doug Baldwin? Tyree Kill or Doug Baldwin next year?

Nick. This is insulting. Why? This is an insulting question, and it's insulting to Tyree Kill, who is so obviously the answer to this question. Look at what Tyree Kill did with noon-alarmed Alex Smith. Now you get Patrick Mahomes in that offense. All systems go for Tyree.

Who the hell would draft Doug Baldwin over Tyree Kill next year? You know, I'm going through, again, the playoff winners and losers, and I said Tyree Kill is a winner because he's going to get rid of Alex Smith. I wonder where – like I just tried to do it quickly in my head. Is he going to be a number one receiver on draft day? Like is he a top 12 guy coming in? Tyree Kill? Yes.

He will be one of the first ones. He's a number five receiver in standard leagues and like they're the obvious ones ahead of them hopkins julio brown beckham uh michael thomas i think evans is still ahead of him aj green still ahead of him i would put keenan allen ahead of him now just because i think he now has proven i disagree with that it's fair but i think that you know you're starting to see that. Because of Mike Williams next year. Devontae Adams is ahead of him.

Well, and also Hill's going to be a guy who, at least he profiles right now, is a guy who's going to be better in standard than PPR. So maybe like with Keenan Allen, for example, maybe it's Keenan Allen in PPR. The thing that frustrates me is the lack of targets. Like 105 targets for a number of receivers, not a lot. He had the fewest targets of any of the top 18 wide receivers. So is that going to go up? If it does, that just means – like here are Tyreek Hill's numbers actually.

It's pretty interesting. In 31 career games, he has 13 touchdowns on 136 catches, so basically a touchdown every 10 catches, but 188 targets in 31 games. 31 games. We see wide receivers, like there's like one or two a year that get around 180 targets in 16 games. So he's got 188 in 31 games. It is a question of how much that would change.

I don't even know why they should get rid of Alex Smith. He had an unbelievable season. Because he sucks. If Tyreek Hill did not... I'm sorry, Jamie. If Travis Kelsey does not get hurt, they win that game... And lose by 50 to the Patriots.

Maybe, but they took away his best target. I think he's better than Tyreek Hill. They win that game, and I don't know if we're having this discussion. I don't know that they should get his best target. I think he's better than Tyreek Hill. Travis Kelsey. And they win that game. And I don't know if we're having this discussion. I don't know that they should get rid of him. He was the number three quarterback. Do you know why the Chiefs are going to get rid of Alex Smith?

Because they are playing real football, not fantasy football. And because their job is to win a Super Bowl. And Alex Smith is not going to get that one. But we play fantasy. Is Mahomes going to be better? Every team, aside from the Patriots, has been successful recently. I guess maybe the Giants. I don't know what Eli Manning's contract is.

You probably wouldn't know. 20. 20 plus. No, when he won. What it was when he won. 2011 was up there. 2007, no. Most teams that have had success over the last 10 plus years have had quarterbacks either on their rookie deals or on very cheap contracts.

And so Patrick Mahomes gives them the flexibility to have a good quarterback. He's not a lot of money in the current climate. Mike Glennon made 18 last year. Is Mahomes going to be a better fantasy quarterback? That's what Glennon thinks. Alex Smith is better than Glennon. Yeah, but again, you're just going by the current climate of what teams have done. I don't think it's that outrageous.

I think they should get rid of him because they're not winning a championship. I mean, they made the decision on draft day last year when they traded up to get Patrick Mahomes. You can't trade up to get a quarterback and then let him sit for a second year. Smith just had an amazing year. I think it makes the decision. He did have an amazing year. All right, Marvin Jones versus Golden Tate.

Marvin Jones or Golden Tate? Doug Baldwin. What a joke. Tyree Kill. Golden Tate for me. I just think he's the superior player to Marvin Jones. And when Marvin Jones has these weeks where he rips off these, he'll have the three-game stretch where he's just absolutely insane.

It feels to me more like an outlier. I think Golden Tate's the safer player. I like Marvin Jones, but I really like Golden Tate. This one's a little tough, but I would go Tate over Jones. Anyone disagree? I'll take Jones, but I'm not loving either one. I feel like Jones may have legitimately broken out

late last year. Well, he had his first 1,000-yard season since high school. He had nine touchdowns. That's a great stat. A good Week 17 game helped him get over that. And I'm trying to see how many games he had with double-digit fancy points. Jones had six, and Tate might have also had six. I think it's an easy call on standards. He had seven, actually.

So he was a little more consistent than Jones, but Jones finishes a top ten wide receiver. Yeah, it's an easy call on standard for me because you just never get touchdowns from Tate. But in PPR, I mean, it might be an easy call there. You might go Tate, but I don't know. Jamie, who would you take, Jones or Tate? I would take Tate.

I just think that he's more of a go-to receiver for Matthew Stafford based on the rapport that they have. And I do think that Jones is going to lose a little bit as Kenny Galladay gets better. And finally, Evan Ingram versus any tight end that's not Gronkowski, Kelsey, or Ertz. See, this one's tough. I like Evan Ingram a lot. I'm going to take the field, though. I'm going to tell you why I'm going to take the field.

Because I'm not sure that when it's all said and done that Evan Engram is going to be the best fantasy tight end next year from this year's rookie class. Because I think there's a guy in Cleveland named David Njoku who might be better than Evan Engram is already. What about Howard, too? O.J. Howard, I like a lot of him. What about George Kittle? Love me George Kittle. I think that there's too many other young options. I like Evan Ingram.

Let's see who the coordinator is. Let's see who the quarterback's going to be, if it's going to be Eli or someone else. But I don't think it's a slam dunk that Evan Ingram's locked in as the number four player at the position. And I think it's great that Evan Ingram had seven games with seven or more fantasy points. A tight end, that's good. Six of them came after Odell got hurt. What's the softness of Odell? And Brandon Marshall.

And Sterling Shepard. He played better when he had Shepard on the field as opposed to when he did not. But he didn't have an opportunity to really have this breakout performance when Beckham was off the plate. I love Njoku. In the games where you saw Shepard off the field because of the migraines, those were Ingram's worst performances. You cannot love – I don't think they can key on him. You can't love David Njoku.

Like that is totally my thing. Like I've been – I claim David Njoku. We can't both love David Njoku. He's nasty. This is Big Kane too. I'm Big Kane too. I get David Njoku. And Dave's Big Kane 1.

I mean Dave should be. Dave is Big Kane 1, right? Yeah. I think the nice thing about the tight end position next year is And Dave's a big Cane 1. Well, I mean, Dave is a big Cane 1, right? Yeah. I think the nice thing about the tight end position next year is if you're going to go all in on the three guys that you mentioned, Gronk, Kelsey, and Ertz, you're going to be happy with the production you get from them. But I think also what Nick said about the field, it's going to be a very interesting year at the position. Again, we say it every year. Tell me if you you think the most exciting in years outside of the top options. I would agree because I think you're going to see Ingram and probably Hunter Henry as

the two guys that, you know, second year, third year tight ends that have the chance to really break out. Like I know one of your questions, Adam, when you get to it was who's the next Zach Ertz. I think Hunter Henry really qualifies if Antonio Gates is gone. I hadn't chosen. But Greg Olson is coming off. He's played four games with at least six targets this season. They've come in the last five games that he played.

And you see what his upside is. And he's going to get kind of forgotten a little bit, which I think is going to make him a great value pick. If Jimmy Graham ends up in the right spot, Dave brought up a great point the other day that if the Saints can clear some cap space and he ends up back there, how much fun would that be to see him reunited with Drew Brees as a free agent? What about Jordan Reed? Jordan, that's another one.

Because he ain't going in the top six rounds anymore. No, no. Not after this. If he's healthy, he's going to have a big bounce back type of potential. We're going to overlook – Eifert's coming back off an injury? Yeah. But you're going to overlook Delaney Walker again because – oh, it's Corey Davis and all these other weapons.

Johnnu. There's still a lot of, I think, mid-level, mid-round level depth to the position. Doyle rules with luck back? Doyle with luck back is a great one. And I'll throw it out there again. If Trey Burton ends up in the right situation, he could be pretty good. So it's going to be a fun year to draft tight ends next season. And I don't think you have to settle for those guys at the top.

Nick, who do you like tonight? Georgia. Big. Really? Not big. I think Georgia is going to win the game outright. I was just looking at one thing. They haven't faced a team even close to as good against the run as Alabama.

I looked at all of their opponents and where they rank. Alabama is number one against the run. So that will be really fun to watch, really interesting. See, here's the problem. Alabama, people see Alabama and they think it's always the same players. Alabama's defense is really good. They're also down a couple of really good linebackers. I don't think this defense is as good as it's been in previous years.

It's still really good. Georgia has two NFL running backs in that backfield, Nick Chubb and Sonny Michel. I think Georgia's going to win the game. I mean, I already bet them with the points. I think Georgia's going to win the game on the field. Okay, and I'll leave you with a trivia question since you're Mr. David Njoku. When the Miami Hurricanes won the national championship, the 2001 Hurricanes, they had five NFL running backs, five on the roster.

Who were they? Willis McGahee. Frank Gore. Yep. I mean, you'd have to give me – I'd have to think about this. I mean, I could definitely get all five if you gave me enough time, but I'm not going to get them in the time frame that you have. There's no way you get all five. There's no way.

No, not Lamar Miller. I don't think Lamar was on the team. that you have. There's no way you get all five. There's no way. No, not Lamar Miller. I don't think Lamar was on the team. Lamar Miller was like six years ago. 2001. 2001. McGahee, Gore. Neither McGahee nor Gore were the starting running back on that team. Clint Portis.

Clint Portis. Najee Davenport. Najee Davenport. And the fifth one is really hard. He was a scrub. What team did he play for in the NFL? I believe he was on the Titans. I know who it is.

Was he on the Titans, Dave? Jared Payton. Jared Payton. Yep. Walter Payton. The son of Walter? Yeah. He's a great guy.

He is. There you go. Five running backs. Best team ever. Des Bryant's going to stay. Can I throw one out there? Because I want to be on this mountain by myself. You know who I like next year as a late-round wide receiver pick?

You're going to say Des Bryant. No, not Des Bryant. Late round. Who's taking Des Bryant? Same team, though, late round. Brian Switzer? Bryce Butler. Bryce Butler.

All right. Bryce Butler hype is back. Well, no, it's originating from Nick Costas. Save this. It was January 8th. It's at the end of our podcast. I want to replay it for Nick when they cut Bryce Butler. 1-8-18.

No love for Kenyon Drake, but for anyone, by the way, on any of these questions. I've got to end this show. Hour five minutes already. Nick Costos, thank you very much. Great to have you on, Nick. We appreciate it, man. You know, the next time I come on the show, what I would like to be is carried into the podcast room like Don Shula

when he was carried off the field after the Dolphins completed the undefeated season. We'll make that happen unless we ignore your texts and pretend not to know who you are. That's Nick, Jamie, and Dave. I'm Adam. Talk to you later in the week. We'll preview the weekend's games. Bye.