Fantasy Football Today - 01/22 Fantasy Football Podcast: Sunday Reactions; 2017 Breakouts

Episode Date: January 22, 2018

Philadelphia and New England are on to the Super Bowl! Let's recap the AFC (5:25) and NFC (10:32) Championship Games with some Fantasy thoughts and an offseason question for Jacksonville and Minnesota ... Check out our first voicemail question (25:30), as one of our listeners follows up on last week's A.J. Green analysis ... 2017 breakouts! What went right for Todd Gurley (27:30), a couple of Eagles studs (29:40), Mark Ingram (38:58), Marvin Jones (41:00), Tyreek Hill (43:14) and Adam Thielen (47:21) and what can we learn for 2018? ... 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

Hey guys, Kevin from Hudson, New Hampshire. I am blind and I'm in my fifth year of fantasy football. I listen to you guys all the time, even throughout the summer. Just wanted to say hey, since you never answer my emails. Thanks guys, great job. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And the Super Bowl is set. We've got a rematch at Super Bowl 39. Does anybody think the Eagles can win? Yes.

Of course they can win. We've got future star Nick Wentz at quarterback. I don't know how they're going to be beat. There you go. And I'd like to say hello to Kevin. Thank you for the voicemail, Kevin. Thank you for starting off our show with something new and something awesome. And we're sorry we never read your emails.

But I just wanted to play that from Kevin because this is a new way for you to get in touch with us. We're going to listen to some voicemails today. We're going to save some for Thursday as well, our second show of the week. But welcome to the Monday show, January 22nd. One great game, one blowout yesterday. We'll talk about that. An off-season question for the Jaguars, an off-season question for the Vikings. Some head coaching news, but also we talked about 2017 busts last week.

Let's talk about the 2017 breakouts and what went right. Everybody have a nice weekend. How are you guys doing? Great. Great. Yay. Loved the weekend. Loved the football games.

Both of them were great games. Really interesting. One of them was ass kicking. A good old ass kicking every once in a while is okay. Oh, gosh. What are you talking about? It was a fun first half, I guess. Yeah, sure.

Some good plays. Nick Foles played. I mean, you're so unsatisfied by football these days, Adam. It's amazing. What are you talking about? I'm supposed to be satisfied by the NFC Championship game? That was a satisfying game for you? It is if you pick Philly.

Yeah. The bar that you've set with the Super Bowl last year being boring. Enough with that. Because I'm not setting a high bar. The Jacksonville-New England game was better than the Atlanta-New England game. How about that? I would say no, but the stakes weren't near as high. There were comebacks in both games, exciting plays in both games.

Well, anyway, I'm glad you guys had a good weekend. I hope everybody enjoyed some football yesterday. I hope you had some good food with it. I hope you're ready to talk head coaches. Here's your conspiracy theory of the day. Congratulations, Giants. You got a winner. What are you – what is this?

You're just trolling me today? No. It's not you that we're trolling. It's everybody who's a fan of the Giants. What's wrong with Pat Sherbert? The offensive coordinator that got crushed last night is now the Giants head coach. Crushed in two games. And Jack Del Rio is going to be the defensive coordinator?

Yay. It's a lot to be excited about, Big Blue. Well, I'm not thrilled about the defensive part, but Shermer has a great history with quarterbacks. I think it's good fantasy news. I think he's a transition coach. Well, according to Jayay glazer it's eli manning next year right that's what he said during the game yesterday oh it'll be like man should be

good news for evan ingram right sure it'll be good for him i will come back to the uh giants coaching news in a little bit but conspiracy theory of the day from the well a lot of people reporting this but i saw it in the ap the patri' one penalty against the Jaguars is the fewest called on one team in a playoff game since the 2011 AFC Championship game. When the Patriots were called for just one penalty in a win over Baltimore. Not a good look. I don't mean not a good look. That's excellent coaching by the Patriots. Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in the history of the NFL.

Excellent discipline from the team. That's exactly what we want. I wish everybody played like the Patriots so we'd only have one penalty on each team every game. I'll tell you what. I wish we had more games like that Jacksonville-New England game because it went by quick. It was fun. The rest didn't get in the way. There was one bad game.

There weren't a lot of challenges in the way. It was like, as far as time goes, it was perfect. And Jimmy, you said there was one bad penalty, but that was one they called that we wish they wouldn't have. There's not anything you saw that they should have called on New England. I mean, you can make a case, but it's the time of the game. The Deion Lewis run to the

end of the game, essentially. That was probably holding on the left tackle there. Mercedes Lewis had a couple plays that, you know, he probably got pass interference, should have been called. They all seem to be mostly pro Jaguars. Do you agree that the pass interference calls on Jacksonville were egregious and necessary, given what happened on the plays? Like, they weren't ticky-tacky. No, the one on the sidelineeline right after Gronk's penalty.

That's the only one I think you can make a case was probably not pass interference. Because it was uncatchable because the ball was out of bounds. Yeah, I didn't like that call. And the two guys fighting for the ball. Yeah, I didn't like that call at all. The other one was pass interference call. I didn't watch the game and think, oh, the Jaguars are getting hosed here. Right.

No, but people are making a big stink about the ref laughing in the end zone when they were celebrating. I mean, he's seeing something funny. I mean, it's hard not to laugh when you're seeing guys celebrate when it's good. And the one where the ref came up to him after the game and patted Brady on the chest. Right. Whatever. Who knows how much those guys know each other and how much they've talked throughout the course of the game. Every time Brady gets hit, he probably looks up at him and says something or makes a comment.

Right. All right, so let's talk about that game. New England 24, Jacksonville 20. Do you have any fantasy thoughts, any fantasy takeaways from this game? Boy, we don't ever know who the good Jacksonville wide receiver is going to be, do we? We will next year. Hopefully. Well, what happened on Thursday or Friday's show whenever we recorded?

I said, Patriots struggle against slot receivers. So who would that favor? Jamie said, I don't know, probably Alan Hearns or Keelan Cole. I said, I don't want to start one of those guys. Of course, Alan Hearns with six catches for 80 yards. So we will next year. But that's as good as it got. Who will it be next year?

It will probably be one of Lee or Robinson. And then the two young guys of Cole and Westbrook. I cannot imagine they keep Alan Hearns at this price tag. They've got a talented receiving core. I mean, it would help a quarterback. My offseason question for the Jaguars is, should Blake Bortles be drafted next season? My offseason fantasy question as we look ahead.

Should Blake Bortles be drafted next season? He was the number 14 quarterback in fantasy. Let's just assume he's back as the starting quarterback next year. Do you think Blake Bortles should be drafted in a 12-team fantasy league? Adam, I think we could go around the table and each of us name four quarterbacks, four different quarterbacks, each of us, that we'd rather have ahead of Blake Bortles. Four? I was being conservative.

Do five if you want. Fourteen. I can name you 18. of Blake Bortles. Four? I was being conservative. You can do five if you want. Fourteen. I can name you 18th. No, no, no. I'm saying each of us naming a different quarterback. So five for Heath, five for Jamie, five for me. Yeah, I bet he's a top 20 quarterback for me next year, assuming they sign either Lee or Robinson. He's a top what?

20? Yeah. There's so many good quarterbacks. He won't be in my top 15. He's at top what? 20? Yeah. But I don't – There's so many good quarterbacks. He won't be in my top 15. He'll be in that 15 to 20 range. Yeah. He's not going to be ranked where he finished. Okay.

He had a five-game stretch with 22 or more fantasy points in every game. He had a nine-game stretch with 17 or more fantasy points in every game except for week 11 at Cleveland with really windy conditions. It looked like he was maybe having a bit of a breakout, but he really did not finish strong. So, yeah, I don't think – He's just never consistent, and you never feel comfortable with really windy conditions. It looked like he was maybe having a bit of a breakout, but he really did not finish strong. He's just never consistent, and you never feel comfortable with him. Right, and Bortles only threw for about 3,700 yards, which is lower than each of the last two seasons.

And I would assume, because they won their division, that their schedule is going to be much more difficult than it was this year. Yes, plus you have a better Texans team because they'll be healthy, presumably a better Colts team because they'll be healthy, presumably better Colts team because they'll be healthy, and the Titans will still be a force. It's going to be a very good division if everybody's healthy. Yeah. If you see that Deshaun Watson is facing the Jaguars in Week 16 next season,

actually the schedule's out. Are the dates out? No, the opponents are out. The teams are out. Yeah, the teams are out. If you see that Jacksonville is playing Houston in Week 16, is that going to deter you from drafting Deshaun Watson? No.

For the Patriots, Deion Lewis has now caught five or more passes in five of his last six games. Rex Burkhead was basically uninvolved. That's what happens when you rip open Tom Brady's man. Did he get hurt? No. I didn't see an injury. He barely played.

That was expected, though. There was a report that he was going to be heavily involved. So you never know. What do you mean? Come on. I don't know. You don't ever know what to expect with these guys. And James White had six touches and a touchdown.

I think last week he had eight touches and two touchdowns. Oh, Amendola. We should talk about him because, Jamie, you were pretty high on Amendola. And he had a huge game, two touchdowns Yep, I think I played him in all my DFS I cashed in all those lineups and I think I locked up the playoff challenge that we're in

because of Amendola I think I have an 80 point lead on you guys and then yeah, he was great You make a case that it was Gronk related, that he probably had the game that he had with the two touchdowns, but I think he would have probably been heavily involved in their comeback effort regardless.

How about Brandon Cooks with 100 yards? I thought that was good. And he would have had more if he didn't drop that pass. Yep. They had a couple bad drops in the first half. Yep, Gronk had a bad one too before he got hurt. I think the fact that he was on Boye was on him. It kind of shows you that they didn't really worry about him as much as they did Gronk and the game plan going in.

I think we should probably just take a moment because I don't know if we've mentioned it yet to talk about how awesome Tom Brady is still. Because there was that time at the end of the regular season where he started to look bad again. And now, I mean, he did what he did against the Titans, which was incredible. But to throw for 290 yards and two touchdowns against this defense with Gronk getting hurt and the Cooks drop and the Gronk drop over the middle. Like he's just incredible still. I think one thing when you draft him next year is just realize, because this has kind of been the case for the last four or five seasons, you probably want to have somebody else at the end of the season

as a fantasy quarterback because they lock up things so early and it's almost like they take their foot off the gas. I think to Heath's point, when he needs to play, he's still the best quarterback in football. Yeah, he is pretty incredible. You mentioned, Heath, the rough stretch at the end where he just wasn't putting up the fantasy totals.

Well, his last two games, 31 fantasy points against Tennessee, 23 fantasy points against Jacksonville. Philadelphia 38 and Minnesota 7. Oh, my goodness, Nick Foles, he was incredible. How about the touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffrey, the first one? What a play. The better throw was the one to Torrey Smith. Yeah, that was incredible, too. He first one. What a play. The better throw was the one to Torrey Smith. Yeah, that was incredible too.

He was outstanding. He was great. Fantasy takeaways from this game, guys? Jeff Hostetler and Phil Simms all over again. I guess so. What about... It is? No.

Come on. What about for the Vikings? Anything for the Vikings? I don't think there's anything great to talk about with Minnesota. So I love Jerick McKinnon's usage. I love that they were throwing short to him. He had 11 catches. Where the hell was this during the regular season?

They could have done a lot more than that. Maybe it's because they were trailing in this game. I think it's only the third time they've been trailing all season. Case Keenum came back to earth, man. I thought he really was playing great heading into this game. What? Trailing by 10 points maybe all season? Maybe.

Third time? Maybe that's why Case Keenum was so rough. But Philadelphia got in his face, and that defense really played great. And Philadelphia's offense put him in a huge hole. And I just don't think Case Keenum had anything good going for him after that one touch. The touchdown to Rudolph was awesome, but he was throwing off his back foot a bunch. He was just totally flummoxed by the pass rush.

To tie in Schirmer to the Giants, he apparently is really great at scripting plays, and so his opening drives, I guess, are always going to be good. Maybe not to the level of what they were against the Eagles, but he's good at getting a game plan together. He's reportedly not so good at making adjustments throughout the course of the game. It's just so funny though,

how, you know, things turn early in a game. And if they don't throw that pick six, they may drive, you know, who knows how that drive finishes, finishes out.

They're up 10, they're up 14. I mean, I don't think they're going to win the game, but it certainly changed the dynamic of how the game was played. The same thing happened to the Eagles in the Falcons game. Remember when the ball bounced off of what's-his-name's knee?

It ends up in the Nelson Aguilar. They get a field goal out at the end of the first half in the game against the Falcons. Then the Falcons have to score a touchdown at the end instead of kicking a field goal to win that game. They would have been chasing two points as opposed to chasing five. I think Philadelphia won this game when they had ten points in the last minute nine in the first half.

Yeah, the end of their first half compared to the end of Jaguars' first half was just night and day, how to approach things. Right. You've got to go for it. Yep. Yeah, they did a great job. McKinnon in his last game in Minnesota was great. We'll see.

I mean, look, Latavius, they couldn't run the ball. Latavius wasn't doing anything. I never really felt like they trusted Keenum that much because they ran the ball so much without having that good of a running game after Cook went out. And yeah, Keenum, you're right, Dave. I mean, they were in his face. I thought Philadelphia at the line of scrimmage

on both ends just completely dominated that game. For sure. Can they do it again, though? The sack fumble. Yeah, they can do it again. I mean, I think they can. The Patriots have won five Super Bowls. They have won those Super Bowls by three, three, three, four, and six points in overtime. So they always play close games. It's strange. They always play close games. And the other two games that they lost were close games too. Every Belichick-Brady Super Bowl has been a close game, which is awesome, which I hope we get another

one. It's just kind of surprising. I'm sure there were at least one or two of those seven where a lot of people thought they were going to win big, and they never, ever have. Well, this is the largest spread since the Cardinal Steelers. Yeah. Yeah, it's about six. The thing that worries me

about the Eagles is that their defense has benefited so much from playing at home. They've been a lot like the Chiefs were this year, where they are just incredible at home and pretty awful on the road. They held, I think, one team, maybe two teams all year under 24 points on the road, and they were just dominant at home. So this won't be a road game, but they aren't going to have the benefit of that home crowd either. Okay, here's my offseason question for Minnesota. Are you worried about their offense without coordinator Pat Shermer?

Does it take a Falcons-like step back? I don't think he's that good that he's not replaceable. Yeah, I'm more, I wouldn't say worried. I'm curious, because I don't know for sure who their quarterback is going to be. I don't know for sure who their offensive – I don't know what type of system they're planning on running. They have so many weapons in Dalvin Cook and Diggs and Thielen and Rudolph that I don't think they'll be bad. But I don't necessarily know who – somebody is going to benefit and someone is going to lose over the next couple of months in figuring out who the quarterback and who the offensive coordinator is. Okay.

And who do you guys think the quarterback will be? I would guess Keenum. I would lean Bridgewater. I would lean Bridgewater too. I don't think Keenum stays. I think Bridgewater is their most cost-effective option. They could get him and draft another guy. Yeah, I would think that's the route that they go.

Or do you think Bradford settles for a decent price? I think there's going to be a lot of quarterbacks, whether the guys that they have in their building or whoever may become available that would like to play there because you play in a dome. You play with a great defense. Like you said, you have great weapons there. So it's a very attractive situation.

The coach is good in terms of Zimmer. Whoever the offensive coordinator may be is going to determine that, but it's a very favorable scenario if you're just looking at it from Kirk Cousins, Alex Smith, probably the two headliners of the available quarterbacks if they in fact are available. Keenum, I'm sure, would love to stay if he can get the right deal in place. I'm sure Bradford would love to stay. So none of their quarterbacks are actually under contract? No, they're all available to leave. Yeah, which leads me to this

very interesting question. You have to pick one. Do you give $15 million a year to Case Keenum, $15 million a year to Sam Bradford, or do you trade a second-round pick to the Eagles for Nick Foles? None of the above. I'd try to trade a second-round pick for Alex Smith.

I'm not interested at all in Nick Foles. None of the above. I'd try to trade second-round pick for Alex Smith. I'm not interested at all in Nick Foles. I think Alex Smith is the – because I think there's a chance you'll be able to get Alex Smith for a third-round pick. That's it? I would even think a fourth. Someone would go higher than that. I think a second is – The Chiefs are in the bad spot that everybody knows they want to trade him.

They have no leverage. Which is why someone's going to stop him. Plus, you have to take on $20 million a year, and you have to – A lot of teams have that cap space. Or you have to work on a contract with A lot of teams have that cap space. Or you have to work on a contract with him. Plus he's not young. But wait. But everybody knew the Patriots had to trade Jimmy Garoppolo,

and they still got a second-round pick out of him. Yeah, but, I mean, depending on what side of the equation you're on, was this something that they did as a fight? Arizona has no quarterback. Cleveland's going to want to upgrade a quarterback. The Jets might not have a quarterback. There are going to be so many teams that are desperate for a guy, and Alex Smith is going to be the best.

A lot of those, most of the other teams you talked about were bad and are going to have a draft pick where they can get their choice almost of the rookie quarterback to draft. The Vikings are into the draft. Alex Smith will be 34 in May, and as of now he's due? It's like $16 million. He is due $14.5 million with a $2 million roster bonus. Okay, so here's a fantasy question.

If it's one of the three quarterbacks currently on the Vikings roster next year, is that guy a top 15 quarterback on draft day? No. No chance. No. I'm not so sure about that. I think there's a chance the top 15 quarterback next year finishes there, but I'm not drafting any of them.

I might take Bortles ahead of whoever. No, that was going to be my next question. I like the situation they're walking into. They're walking into a great situation, and we've seen them be good. Keenum had a good year. Bradford started out great. He was looking great. I don't know about Bridgewater, but I think it's a great, like you said,

it's a great situation to walk into. Are there really 15 quarterbacks? I don't know. Off the top of my head, do you have rankings? There are. Which 15? Okay, well, the same offensive system. Eli Manning's going to have great players around him.

Yeah. I'd probably take the Vikings guy over Eli. I'm not saying that, though, but it's the same situation. Eli's walking into a great scenario. He's got Ingram. He's got Shepard. He's got Beckham. He's got the same coach.

Could easily be a top 15 guy. If Alex Smith goes there, he's a top 15 guy. Who? Alex Smith. If Kirk Cousins goes there, he's a top 10 guy. Yeah. Yep. The other guys, no.

Not for me. Okay. Well, I mean, top 15, isn't that good? Adam, there are so many good quarterbacks. I don't even have Dak Prescott in my top 15 next year. I doubt it. Yeah. He's in mine.

Yeah, I know. We thought there were like 18 good quarterbacks going into the season, and it just didn't end up that way at all. There were. It was just the bottom six were different guys. Well, yeah, exactly. No, the middle six. Sure, sure.

But we thought Eli Manning and Carson Palmer were good late-round fallback options to be starters or one of two quarterbacks on your team that you could stream, and neither of that played out. Sure team that you could stream, and neither of that played out. Sure, but you had Goff, you had Wentz, you had... And if I asked you this time next year, do you think Goff and Wentz were top 15 quarterbacks, you would have laughed at me. So that's all I'm saying.

These guys are walking into good situations. Well, I think he answered that, though. He said, could they finish as top 15 quarterbacks? Yes. Your question was, would you draft them? No. I think there's a case to be made, because they're going to have some of the best weapons in football. And not only that, they played like top 15 quarterbacks.

You know, when Keenum got the... When Bradford was finally... Forget it. Let's move on. Let's move on. Talk about the head coaches. After I tell you about how you can get to the Super Bowl. Super Bowl tickets are expensive, but take $20 off with SeatGeek.

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Mike Vrabel caught a two-yard touchdown in Super Bowl 39. He is the Titans head coach. Shermer is the Giants head coach. Doesn't sound like you guys are too happy about Shermer going to the Giants head coach. Doesn't sound like you guys are too happy about Schirmer going to the Giants. Well, just the fact that Minnesota laid an egg against a division rival of the Giants yesterday, that just makes it all the more frustrating. Their last two offensive performances have been pretty dismal. I think you're being a little bit too critical of how they did against the Saints.

They were good against the Saints? They weren't that good. They had a good half. Look at just the overall season that the Vikings had offensively. They lost to Alvin Cook, and they played Case Keenum for most of the year. Oh, he deserves the job. He earned the job. I just don't know if he's – he's just not coming off of two very good performances.

No, that's 100% true. Right. It's going to be a hard sell to the fan base. And what about Vrabel? Do we know who the offensive coordinator will be in Tennessee? Not yet, not yet. Okay. And I like Vrabel as a head coach.

I think he's going to be a good leader for them. I just don't know if he really earned it. Vrabel? Yeah. Well, he was a member of the Patriots. That if he really earned it. Vrabel? Yeah. Well, he was a member of the Patriots. That's why he got it. If you played for the Patriots, if you coached for the Patriots, if you know somebody on the Patriots, you're going to get a head coaching job.

Do you know that their linebackers coach is a finalist for the job in Arizona? Yes. It's really incredible. Well, it's silly, I think. I mean, I don't really get the Patricia thing. I just don't think he's done. He has not done what most coordinators do, my personal opinion, to get a head coaching job.

He has not had dominant defensive units. They're very good at keeping points off the board. But I just don't know, man. Is that kind of the case with Shermer on the offense side of things? I don't know. He's kind of been good, but he hasn't really done a lot of great things. He's been really good. But he has head coaching experience.

With a 300 winning percentage. Yeah, with the Browns. Can I point out one thing to you, though? Yeah. The Patriots ranked fifth, they did this season, in points allowed per game. 18.5. You know where the Texans ranked in points allowed per game? Nowhere.

Dead last. 27.2. Yeah, but I mean he lost. They lost Watt and Merciless and all those guys. Yeah. Still gave up a ton of points. The thing you got to look at the Patriots' defensive stats is look from week five on. From week five on, they were amazing.

Yeah, they were. Now, you know, another thing to keep in mind is Pete Prisco, right? Like he used to criticize Jay Gruden as the Bengals' offensive coordinator like every single Sunday. And then he got hired as the Redskins' head coach. And he was like, look, just because I didn't like him as a coordinator doesn't mean I won't like him as a head coach. The jobs are different. So you don't know how it's going to translate. Yeah, anyway, Le'Veon Bell showed up late before last week's playoff game.

Do we really think he's going to be a stealer next year? I'm starting to think no. I know that sounds crazy, but I'm starting to think that they're just going to say, you're a headache, we don't want to deal with you, we've gotten a lot out of you. It'd be dumb to give him the contract he wants. I agree. He's not getting the contract he wants. We'll get the franchise tag again. And you think he's just actually not going to sit out

like he says he is? He may sit out six games. He's not going to sit out where he loses a season. Right. Agreed. But, okay. And Robbie Anderson was arrested. So, keep an eye on that. Not a lot of news going on. If you want something fun, go Google what he said to the cop. That's fun?

Oh, that's awful what he said. Yeah, that's, I mean, he could get suspended for that if that's true. Second arrest. Yeah. Something to keep in mind for Robbie Anderson. All right, it's time to get into some voicemails, guys. Let's see how this works. Kind of an experiment here.

And the number is 954-689-3199. 954-689-3199. Some of the voicemails I wasn't able to use because the audio quality wasn't very good. I'm only going to use one or two today, I think. But Thursday will unleash a little bit, a few more. Definitely not going to get to all of them, just like emails. And we're not going to neglect the emails either. So please email us, fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

But last week we talked about A.J. Green as a bust and what happened. And, you know, very mild bust. Still finished around 10th at wide receiver. But we offered some and what happened. And we, you know, very mild bust. Still finished around 10th at wide receiver. But we offered some explanations what happened. Ben from Massachusetts left us a voicemail. And here's what Ben had to say. I already gave away his name. Sorry.

So, Ben, thank you for reiterating. Here we go. Hey, guys. This is Ben from Springfield, Massachusetts. Great show. Awesome. Love listening to you guys. You missed on A.J.

Green, though. The big problem with A.J. Green was Whitmore, the loss of a supremely awesome pass-blocking offensive tackle, and now we know why these guys are paid so well. Take care, guys. Good phone call. Good phone call. It's a good point, and it's always overlooked. And the fact that Whitworth left Cincinnati wasn't replaced well.

That hurt Dalton. Obviously, that hurts the pass catchers there. And what happened in L.A. where he went? Goff had a little extra time to throw. Robert Woods had a career year. You can say that that's the reason why. I think that's part of the reason why. I think just all the issues with their offense and changing coordinators,

not being able to run consistently. I think they're all factors. But at the end of the day, this guy didn't get as many targets as anybody would like, and he certainly didn't score as many touchdowns as everybody would have liked. And another voicemail I want to play, this one's a little bit different. So this was about two and a half minutes of a song in Spanish that somebody was just playing off the radio. So I just took like the last ten seconds or so

and just have a listen at this one. Hazer, you suck. That was it. The guy made me listen for about two and a half minutes and then finish with, Acer, you suck. You listened for two and a half minutes? No, I fast-forwarded. I fast-forwarded.

Okay. I was like, there's got to be a payoff, right? And sure enough, it was Acer, you suck. We can make that a drop if we want. I can just edit out the Acer, you suck. All right, let's get into 2017 breakouts. Todd Gurley, I would say he was a breakout. Most valuable player in fantasy.

Number one running back in both formats. Actually, not that much better than Le'Veon Bell in PPR. And he also scored fewer fantasy points than David Johnson did in 2016. However, that was with sitting out the final game of the season. Regardless, Gurley was great. What's your opinion on it? What went right? How did this happen?

What could we see from the Todd Gurley case that we might be able to apply next year? Better coach, better quarterback. We all went right to the same place. That's the coach. Better coach, better quarterback, better O-line. All those were improvements, and just the opportunities were up, too. Matters.

All those catches. He didn't get catches like that with Jeff Fisher. No, he did not. No. He had 64. So creative usage, lots of usage, lots of opportunities at the goal line, lots of fantasy points. It sounds simple, doesn't it?

Yeah. You would expect it to be a lot more complex to break down, but it's pretty simple. Like how to have a good running back in fantasy, kind of just laid it out there. I know people think I'm the yards per carry police, but I mean, Gurley is just a really interesting case. His yards per carry in three seasons, 4.8, 3.2, and 4.7. And also, there was about a 20-game, I think even a little bit more than that. It was like four good games at the beginning of his rookie year, and that was pretty much it, a season and a half of being bad.

And I don't know, did it make you question how good Todd Gurley was, the fact that he had those four awesome games, and then he went like 20 straight games without 100 yards or something like that? Did it make you question the talent at all? No. Not really, no. I did. I think I did a little bit too.

Just 3.2 yards per carry is stunning. I don't care how bad your offensive line, your coach, and your passing game is. That's really alarming. But I guess lesson learned, it wasn't alarming because he was incredible the next year. All right, so Todd Gurley, there you go. That's an easy one. A couple of Eagles were breakouts.

Carson Wentz was a breakout. He finishes the number – What about Jared Goff? Yeah, I mean there are a lot. I left some off. We don't have as the number one. What about Jared Goff? Yeah, I mean, there are a lot. I left some off. You know, we don't have time for everybody. You can talk about Goff if you'd like. But I have Wentz and Ertz as breakouts.

He had a new coach and a new offensive line. And a better running game. And receivers. Yeah. Well, as far as the Eagles go, Carson Wentz, Zach Ertz. Now, I'll say this about Ertz. Statistically, it looks almost identical. He's had 74 to 78 catches, Zach Ertz. Now, I'll say this about Ertz. Statistically, it looks almost identical. He's had 74 to 78

catches, three straight years. He's had 816 to 853 yards, three straight years. He's had 106 to 112 targets, three straight years. So you could say the only thing that changed were the targets. Or were the touchdowns, because he had eight this year. I completely

disagree. I think if you take away the Two games in which he got hurt Oh no he got hurt in one game and he barely played In week 17 you see a Legit breakout where he Was a stud every single week Except for one So that's my take on it I think it was

A legit breakout it was not just he scored More touchdowns but what's your Take on Wentz and Ertz? I thought Zach Ertz was one of the best tight ends in football coming into last year. I don't think there was a whole lot different other than the touchdowns. But the touchdowns are king in fantasy, so it was awesome to see. But he missed a couple games last year. He missed a couple games in 2016.

He missed one game in 2015. That's kind of what happens with most tight ends. They don't play 16 games. So that doesn't bother me too much either. I expect about the same thing for him next year. Maybe the touchdowns go down to six or seven. He had a great four-game stretch in 2015. He had a great nine-game stretch in 2016.

He's just been progressing toward this. And so his quarterback's getting better too. Yeah, but let's dive into the game log for Zach Ertz. His first eight or nine weeks, he scored eight or nine fantasy points. The first eight games, he had eight or more fantasy points in every game. And then he started getting hurt. He played one game, he had two catches for eight yards on five targets after coming back from an injury.

He left the game early. He missed week 17. If you just take, like, all right, so this is the rosiest scenario. I admit the best-case scenario, not the realistic. But you take he played 14 games at Gertz. Take away week 13 when he got hurt. Take away week 17, he played 14 snaps. Actually, that's pretty fair.

Now you give him a 12-game sample size. He's the number one tight end in fantasy. Better than Gronk, he's better than Kelsey. If you do that, he averaged just over 10 fantasy points per game. That's Gronk territory. Yeah. I just think if you do that and want to then compare him to the other tight ends, then you have to take away Travis Kelsey's worst two or three games

and Gronk's worst two or three games. But it wasn't just that he had a bad game because I didn't take away a bad game for Zach Ertz. I took away the game in which he got hurt in Week 17. Now you have to take away Week 17 for Kelsey. And what did Gronk do? Oh, Gronk played, but he had nothing in Week 17. But there was a bad game for Zach Ertz that I didn't take away that he played in. I'm just talking about the one in which he got hurt and the one in which he barely played in Week 17. But there was a bad game for Zach Ertz that I didn't take away that he played in. I'm just talking about the one in which he got hurt

and the one in which he barely played in Week 17 when they sat the starters after about a quarter. I just think it was much different than the previous two years. It wasn't just touchdowns. It was consistently outstanding production for Zach Ertz. If he didn't get dinged up midway through the season, he would have had over 1,000 yards. He would have had a monster, monster year.

But he's been dinged up each of the last three years. Most tight ends are. Okay, that's a fair point. He's a top three tight end. I mean, it's going to come down to your choice of do you want to take Gronk probably in the second round? Do you want to take Ertz or Kelsey in that end of two, beginning of three, maybe round four range, depending on how far they slip. Ertz is most likely going to be the third one drafted just because of what the perception is of Gronk and Kelsey at this point. But they're going to be the top three guys drafted.

See, I'm ready to really consider Ertz over Kelsey if Alex Smith is not the quarterback. That's a fair point, and I think that's something that people will consider if they don't think Patrick Mahomes can continue to feature Travis Kelsey the way that Alex Smith did. Yeah, I just, I would have a hard time taking Ertz on the rosy scenario of look, he could have been a thousand yard tight end over a tight end that's given us over a thousand yards each of the last two years. Wouldn't you just feel more comfortable taking who's ever left of those

three? No, Gronk's going to be the first one. It depends. But if it's round three and you're up and Kelsey slash Ertz, one of those guys is gone, you just take the other? If Kelsey and Ertz are going back-to-back in the third, I'd much rather have Kelsey. If Kelsey's an early third and Ertz is an early fourth,

then, yeah, Ertz is a better choice. Okay. So how about Wentz, guys? What did you make of Wentz's breakout season? And if there were any signs that he could have this type of season from his rookie year? When he had Lane Johnson, he was fantastic last year. So if you just look at offensive line play, that's a big plus for him. That's what helped Nick Foles on Sunday.

And it's one of the best offensive lines in football. And they're going to have to replace their left tackle, unless they're really happy with what they're getting out of... Is it Vitae at left tackle now? With Peters out? You mean replace who? Peters got hurt. Right, but Peters will be back next year. Will he?

I would assume so. I would... Listen, for Philadelphia's sake, I hope so, but I'm not so sure he will be. And if he's not, then they've got to make sure... You're saying it won't be because they're going to move on from him or because of his injury? I think the injury is severe.'s not, then they've got to make sure. You're saying it won't be because they're going to move on from him or because of his injury? I think the injury is severe. Well, look, they've had a big sample size without him this year. And unlike 2016, they were able to recover.

In 2016, they lose Lane Johnson and they were really good. He played five games, I think, with Lane Johnson. They were four and one. And Wentz was good. This year, it didn't matter. He took away his left tackle, and Peters went out, and he still played really well, so that was encouraging. Does he continue this pace with his touchdowns?

No. Because he had 33 in however many games he had. He had seven games with less than 250 yards passing. So the touchdowns were just enormous. Five of those with less than 230 yards passing. For this one, you're going to have a hard time predicting which guys are going to have a career touchdown rate when they're not really throwing for that many more yards than they were in the first place.

Now, I will say that I think his schedule could end up being really good because you look at the defenses in his division. We'll see what the Giants turn into, but I think Washington and Dallas have a ways to go to slow him down. They play the AFC South. That's bad. It does mean a game against Jacksonville. That's going to be tough And Houston could be back

But we'll see what happens with Indianapolis and Tennessee They've got the NFC South Carolina's defense is great We'll see what Atlanta does Secondary's not great though And then you've got the Rams and you've got the Vikings It's not going to be a death slate I think the thing about Wentz is

You have to just assume he's going to continue to progress as a quarterback. So the things that you saw him do as a rookie, he improved his second season. They added weapons to the offense. They gave him Alshon Jeffrey. They gave him Torrey Smith. Nelson Aguilar and Zach Ertz get better. Offensive line play got better. They gave him more players out of the backfield, trying to draft Pumphrey and bringing in J.H.I. in the middle of the season.

So this is not a team that's going to stop adding to his weaponry. And I think he just continues to progress as well. I look at him as a top five fantasy quarterback, make sure. There's also the teeny tiny issue of his ACL. Yeah. Obviously, there's probably

going to be... It's unlikely he'll be ready for the start of training camp. I don't think it's unlikely.'ll be ready for the start of training camp. I don't think it's unlikely. How long does it take a quarterback to come back from an ACL injury? Depends who it is. Phillip Rivers played the week. I think it's unlikely. Did Rivers miss any of training camp that year?

Nope. He's going to miss OTAs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to miss everything up to the start of camp. Let me know what happens in July. The sooner he gets back, obviously, the better. This isn't Cam or certainly Luck with their shoulders, and we have to keep an eye on this.

Right. If these guys, you know, it's the same thing with Deshaun Watson. As long as they're ready by the start of, like Dave said, by July, you'll be fine drafting them. However you want to rank them. If you think that they're top ten, top five, maybe not as much, Adam's going to take Case Keenum and Blake Bortles over them, but that's certainly understandable.

You know, you just have to look at where they're at and how you feel that they're going to take Case Keenum and Blake Bortles over them, but that's certainly understandable. You just have to look at where they're at and how you feel that they're going to progress. If you believe, like Heath does, there's going to be some regression, which certainly can happen, then you're going to stay away from Wentz, probably what his ADP is going to be. Or if you think that there's still more to come for him, you could draft him probably in that. My guess is if he's right, he'll be around 5-7 based on ADP, probably in our drafts, 7-9, that range. And let's be honest. I mean, we're seeing now that he's in a great system.

He's got the coach that you want. It's a great system. It's a great scenario for a quarterback to step into. So that's good. I do think, though, in terms of the ACL, I mean, no, it's not a shoulder injury, but this is a guy who's probably going to run for about 350 yards a year. So you want to make sure he still has that ability. It's a pretty big part of Carson Wentz's game, his mobility.

Not just his rushing yards, but his mobility in the pocket. Very important for him. Mark Ingram, I would say, had a breakout, guys. He was the number six running back In fantasy In both standard and PPR He set a career high in carries Rushing yards, rushing touchdowns Catches, targets, and receiving yards And now Ingram has played

16 games in two straight seasons And he had the injury prone label on before that For sure So yeah, Mark Ingram had a breakout It was a Very interesting year for him What did you make of Mark Ingram's big, big season was a very interesting year for him. What did you make of Mark Ingram's big, big season as the number six running back in fantasy? Let's sign Adrian Peterson again.

That was smart. I bet they sold a decent amount of jerseys. I feel weird about the whole Mark Ingram thing because he has been awesome for three years now. He got 25 more carries and caught 12 more passes than he did the year before. But other than that, he was awesome the year before. He ran for 5.1 yards per carry. He caught 46 passes, scored double-digit touchdowns. Mark Ingram is an elite running back.

Next year is going to be so curious, though, with them. Because in the playoffs, they really started to turn to Camaro. Oh, I'm sure Mark Ingram will be a value again. Mark Ingram seemingly is almost always a value. Well, where do you take him next year? The guy who finished number six. How can he be a value? Where do you think he'll go?

As of now, I would take him second round. Yes, I would take him second round. I would guess his ADP will be third round, maybe end of the third. I don't think it'll be that low. I think he'll be picked no later than 27th overall. He might slip in a few leagues to round three, but I think people who are just dead set on getting two running backs to start their draft,

and I think there's going to be a lot of people who do that. I think they'll look at Mark Ingram as a good option as that second guy. And so they can get a stud running back early in round one. And then Ingram just kind of falls into their lap right around 20th overall. All right, let's move on from Mark Ingram. Marvin Jones. That might be what the Saints do. Maybe.

Marvin Jones was a breakout. He finished as the number four wide receiver in standard. And number 11 in PPR. He only had 61 catches. But Marvin Jones, 61 catches, 1,101 yards, and nine touchdowns. He only had 107 targets. It wasn't that great of a year. But it wasn't that great of a year for wide receivers in general.

Now, you give his fantasy point total for Marvin Jones for 2017 and put it on the 2016 wide receiver class, which was much better, just the way they finished, or the way the fantasy points shook out. He would have been number nine in standard, number 16 in PPR, so still really good. But what did you make of Marvin Jones? And I guess the question for him is, can he take the next step and put up even better numbers next year, really establish himself as the clear-cut, number one

awesome guy in Detroit? I'm going to say he falls short. No. I think this is his ceiling, which is good. 1,100 yards and hopefully, you know, he had nine touchdowns. That's a lot. Yeah, if you're going to say is he going to progress or regress,

I would say regress, but I don't think dramatically. What do you think the number one thing this offense is going to want to do this offseason, especially after getting a defensive-minded coach? They're going to run the ball. I mean, they've been trying to run the ball for three years. Right. They failed. So now they're going to try and get that job done with either a great rookie

draft pick or they make a move somewhere along the way. It could mean fewer pass attempts for Stafford, fewer targets for everybody in this passing game. I don't see Marvin Jones being anywhere near as good. I would expect his targets to be about the same. I don't think he's going to go down from 107 targets.

I don't know that a better rushing game would hurt the passing game. Because I just think that they have the worst running game in the NFL. It would only help their offense. You know, like you could, Jared Goff, put up much better numbers with a much better running game. Sure. Time of possession would be in their favor.

Right. First downs. It would certainly help things. Move the ball. I think the nine touchdowns is where that's the thing I have the problem with. Yeah. I have a problem with 18.1 yards. That as well. I think if he gets

107 targets, he'll probably be around 60 catches again. He probably is closer to 900 yards and he's probably closer to seven touchdowns. Okay, that's Marvin Jones. Heath Tyreek Hill at a breakout. Very similar to Marvin Jones. He's a lot better in standard than PPR. He was the number five wide receiver in standard, just

behind Jones, but he was ahead of Marvin Jones in PPR at number eight. Tyreek Hill with his breakout, finishing as a top eight receiver. Does that surprise you that he finished this high? It surprised, I mean, none of us ranked him to be a top eight receiver, so yes, it surprises me. Now, you look at what he did in terms of a stat line, I think that was well within the range of possibilities. I don't think we expected 75 for 1,107 touchdowns to be a top eight receiver. Right, right. So that might be part of it. It's going to be really interesting because all of the information that you look at in terms of how much separation wide receivers get

and just in terms of his general speed shows that he's pretty close to being uncoverable on deep routes and patrick mahomes is a much better deep ball passer than alex smith he finished top 10 in standard half ppr full point ppr and top five in consistency last year yeah you wouldn't think that just by looking at his numbers, because he only had seven games with ten or more fantasy points, but I think that just speaks to how last year was a down year for wideouts. I mean, he's a clear number one wide receiver.

The only thing that would worry me about Tyreek Hill going into next year is the chance that maybe Patrick Mahomes is just bad as a rookie. Right. But I don't really think that's going to happen. I'd like to see him get more targets. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Well, you'd like to see Kareem Hunt get more carries, and you'd like to see Tyreek Hill get more targets. I just don't see that in this offense. He'll get more, but I don't see him going from 105 to 150. No. I think he's a low-end number one. Like what you'd like to see him is get to the 125 range because based on what he's able to do with that.

Which he sat out of game last year. So 105, he's really on pace for 116 last year. True. Or 114, 113. And you factor – I mean they are putting the ball in his hands. So 17 carries is, you know, basically 125. So he'll also miss the game. Let's not forget that.

He sat week 17. Don't forget about that. I didn't forget that. That's why I just said it. You just said that? I'm sorry. I was looking up his. Call to Dave.

He didn't listen. I was looking up. You know, you do that too sometimes, my friend. Sometimes that happens to me. You're looking up something. You listen to a voicemail. I'm looking up his game log. For two minutes.

Somebody was singing to him. It was pretty surprising that he finished top five in consistency. That really shocked me. The other thing that worries me about him, and I will look this up while we're talking about somebody else and come back to it, but it's really rare, I think, for somebody to catch 70% of their targets and average 15.8 yards per reception. That's true. I don't know that that's sustainable. Okay. A lot of those

targets were short targets though yeah but that's why he wouldn't average 15.8 if a lot of them were short targets because for every four catches he gets that go eight yards he's got one that goes 57 yards that like if he continues to do that then he's going to be a top six or seven i don't think there's any in between i think that's how he has to keep doing it this is not going to be a top six or seven. I don't think there's any in between. I think that's how he has to keep doing it. This is not going to be a guy who makes his living on 12 and 15 yard routes. Well, let's see. He had a 75 yard catch, a 64 yard catch,

a 56 yard catch, a 79 yard catch, a 44 yard catch, a 64 yard catch, a 52 yard catch. So he's pretty good at getting a 30 plus yard receptions. He is, but that's kind of tough to repeat.

Did he do that last year or in 2016 as well? He averaged like nine yards per reception as a rookie, didn't he? It's hard to say he didn't have any deep ball receptions two years ago. Yeah, it's hard. I just remember Victor Cruz in his breakout season, and he had a whole bunch of really long receptions, and I was like, I just don't know how he can do that again. It's not an easy thing to do.

But Hill is a pretty unique talent. If there's one guy in the NFL that can do it, it's probably him. Right? I mean, wouldn't you say, Heath, that Tyreek Hill is, if not the best, among the best deep ball guys in the NFL? Or big play guys? I would say he's the best right now. Yeah.

All right. And finally, Adam Thielen, number 14 in standard, number 8 in PPR. This would qualify as a breakout. He had more catches than Tyreek Hill. He had more yards than Tyreek Hill, but he only had four touchdowns. So can he get a 1,200-yard, eight-touchdown season? That would be a huge breakout for him. He had 91 catches, 1,276 yards, four touchdowns on 143 targets.

You love everything except for the touchdowns. And here's the cool thing about it. 22 red zone targets, eighth most in the NFL. 11 targets inside the 10. Five, fifth most in the NFL. So maybe Thielen can improve that touchdown total, significantly improve it. What do you think about Adam Thielen and his breakout 2016 season? He's going to leave a bad taste in a lot of people's

mouths about how he finished. Yeah, I completely agree. The last four games and the two playoff games were not good. I know, and it's almost like did he just really benefit from Diggs' midseason injury? Is Diggs really the better guy? I think something

we need to look at, I know it was true in their first playoff game, and I haven't seen any of the snap counts from yesterday, but towards the end of the year, he started playing more outside again, and they were playing him outside and Diggs outside. And I feel like he had a lot of his success in the slot. Early in the season. Yeah.

And he had, in the Saints game, he had Latimer on him. Yep. So that was the respect factor that he's earned. He's a very good player. And I think he's going to, I think he may get overdrafted a little bit next year, unless he does what you're saying, Adam, which is improve his touchdown potential, which that would lead him to probably living up to his average opposition. 143 snaps in the two playoff games.

Good old 1-4-3 for everybody out there. Hi, Sal. 105 of those snaps were on the outside. So, yeah, they kind of took him out of the slot quite a bit. 1-4-3-2, Dave.

Two as in T-O-O. Not the number two. I know. Yeah. All right. Time for some emails. Fantasyfootball at CBSI.com.

This is from, oh, no name. No name or city, guys. Please emails. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. This is from, no name. No name or city, guys. Please provide. It's Richard from Kansas City. Richard from Kansas City. Looking forward to my newly formed Keeper League. 12-team, half PPR. I get to keep one, and here are my options.

Jordan Howard in the second round. Andrew Luck in the eighth. Ertz in the twelfth, or Drake in the sixteenth? That's it. Down to two here, right? Ertz in the twelfth, Drake in the sixteenth? I think he only gets to keep one. Yeah, one.

I would lean toward Ertz at this point. Because either way, it's just an incredible value between tw 12th round 16th round either way you're going to love it But if Miami doesn't do anything with their run game This offseason The Dolphins are going to add a running back I think so too

But if they don't then it's Drake But even if they do does that mean they're going to play that running back a lot Who's the running back I mean is it like a Joe Schmo fifth round pick Or is it going to be somebody good? I mean, let's just say there's something wrong with Barkley's off-field whatever. I'm not saying there is, but Dalvin Cook's situation where something seems to pop up on his pass that scares teams off. And the Dolphins at 11 say, you know what?

We're not letting this pass like Laramie Tunsell. We're going to take him in. Well, yeah, that's different. Yeah, of course. But what if they take a guy in, like, the third round? Then I'm not going to feel... Well, it worked out for them a few years later. Yeah, I'm not going to feel too threatened by a third rounder, personally.

I don't know. I mean, as... Who are you drafting first if they do that? As of now, no. What'd you say? Earths or Drake? Earths. Yeah, if the Dolphins add another player in the third round,

you're still going to take Ertz ahead of Drake in a regular draft. Yep. So you'll keep him sooner here too. I'm trying to find it. Let's just, as a fun little experiment, here were the running backs taken in the third round. This guy didn't really do much. Alvin Kamara.

I don't even know how to pronounce it. Alvin Kamara. He was good. Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt. Yep. And Deontay Foreman. And that is Steelers took James Conner.

Yeah. Who knows what Hunt would have done if Ware didn't get hurt. He would have been awesome. Who knows how many carries. That would have been awesome. Who knows how many carries. That would have been interesting. How much work would he have gotten? He would have taken over that job. Probably. I mean, it's easy for me to say that. Spencer Ware would have been a top

five running back. No, he wouldn't. Get out of here. Okay, but he wouldn't have been as good as Melvin Gordon. Last email from Richard Hong in California. Oh, look at this greeting. Dear Gilberto, Pacho, Miguel, and Chepe, if you don't watch Narcos, you are crazy.

It is incredible. It is as good as it gets. Watch Narcos. 14-team Dynasty League standard scoring. Three receivers and a flex, so you can start four receivers, but it is standard scoring. This is a trade I've been talking with another owner about since the regular season ended. I would love to know which side of the trade you would each prefer and your thoughts on how this trade looks in two or three years from now since we're in a dynasty league.

I give up Todd Gurley. I get DeAndre Hopkins and Keenan Allen. I already own Mike Evans and Devontae Adams, so if I execute this trade, I could start Evans, Adams, Hopkins, and Keenan Allen. I already own Mike Evans and Devontae Adams, so if I execute this trade, I could start Evans, Adams, Hopkins, and Keenan Allen and start four wide receivers each week. The thought of complete and utter domination over every other owner's wide receivers every week is a little intoxicating. Keep up the great work, as Belichick would say,

no days off, no days off, no days off. All right, so he would give up Todd Gurley and get Hopkins and Keenan Allen in a keeper league. It's a three-receiver league, and you can start four. There's a flex as well, which can be a running back. What do you think? The most important thing is it's not just a keeper league. It sounds like it's a true dynasty league. He said dynasty.

Keep these guys forever. I don't know personally in a dynasty league there's that much difference for me between Gurley and Hopkins. So if I could get Keenan Allen too, I'm absolutely doing that deal. And you have Keenan Allen is going to be 26. I'm just looking it up now. 26 in April. Hopkins is 25 now. I don't know when he turns 26.

Evans has got to be younger than that. And Adams is probably there as well. So you have those guys. Adams is 25. He'll be younger than that. And Adams is probably there as well. So you have those guys. Adams is 25. He'll be 26 in December of this year. So you have four receivers right around 25 years old. And you know what the lifespan is of running backs. As great as Todd Gurley is, and he seems to be the next great running back

that we're going to talk about for the next several years, you're getting two stud receivers for him. The one question I just would like to ask Richard is what he has either at running back right now or what his draft status is going into the rookie draft. Because if he has the chance to maybe get somebody good young early, then I think it's a no-brainer to make that trade. Dave? I'm making the deal.

I just want to give a reason not to. Just a devil's advocate. It's standard scoring. Four great wide receivers and standard scoring. I don't know that you want your flex to be a wide receiver. I mean, granted, you're going to have one of the better ones. Like in PPR, this is not even a question. In half PPR, it's not even a question.

But I just did, you know, we did the flex draft, Jamie. We did a three receiver standard scoring league and I had Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, and T.Y. Hilton. And it wasn't a flex league, so there were no other... No, no, no, you could start a lot of... The name of the league is flex.

It was called the flex league, but there was no flex, ironically. There were flexes. You played two flexes. I guess you kind of did, yeah. Well, no, flex, ironically. There were flexes. You played two flexes. I guess you kind of did, yeah. Well, no, you not kind of did. You did. You could have played five wide receivers if you wanted to. Right, yeah.

Well, it didn't work out for me. That's my point because my running back sucked. But again, I think it comes down to what else he has. You also have to factor in this is not just looking at it from a one-year scenario. If he's just trying to win one year, he'd probably keep Todd Gurley because then you pair Gurley with those two receivers and you're fine. But you're talking about what's going to happen as he asks us two or three years from now. And two or three years from now, Hopkins is probably playing with a great quarterback. At least that would be the hope in Deshaun Watson and putting up great numbers.

Keenan Allen's a little bit of a wild card just because I don't think Philip Rivers is in the NFL two or three years from now. But Todd Gurley may flame out. What? I don't think it's going to happen, but it's a running back that has the nature to get hurt. Let's say he doesn't flame out. Three years from now, you're looking at a running back that's getting ready to be 27, 28 years old. He has 2,000 career touches, and he may start to turn into Marco Murray. In how many years?

How old is he now? He will turn 24 this offseason. DeMarco Murray is 29. I understand. He wasn't very good when he was 27, though. No, but it could be Larry Johnson. It could be Aaron Foster. Yeah.

All right. Look, I'm not opposed to it. I will bet on the longevity of wide receivers over running backs every time. Yeah, how much do you – well, I would make the trade as well. But for the sake of the argument, how much do you care about longevity and not just I want to win the next couple years? I think Keenan Allen and DeAndre Hopkins score a lot more fantasy points than Todd Gurley next year. And what he potentially could do – again, I don't know the nature of his league or what he's sitting on, but what he could do then is maybe try and flip Keenan Allen and whatever

his first round pick is to somebody early in the round, early in the first round, and maybe he gets Saquon Barkley. Plus, it's a 14-team league. So I know the two-for-one thing. Oh, well, that's a good point. You want the one guy. Those four receivers in a 14-team league, holy cow. That's a good point.

All right, let's just see. We went over our rookie draft, right, a couple weeks ago, and some of the mess that it was. Like Dave had a great pick. I think it was seven or eight. You got Kareem Hunt. But don't expect Kareem Hunt to do this like we just talked about. I mean, you may have thought he was going to be good at some point

during his rookie season, but he took off a lot sooner. Somebody took John Ross in the first round. You took Corey Davis third, right? O.J. Howard went before Kareem Hunt. O.J. Howard went before Kareem Hunt. Now there was the flip side of that. Alvin Kamara went in the second round. So you're going to get some beneficial picks in a rookie draft that you don't see coming.

Like I got Wayne Gallman late, and Kenny Galladay was the second-to-last pick of the sixth round. So we'll see how those two guys materialize. But in any event, if he can maybe try and get a young running back to pair with three of these guys at least, he's in a great situation. Sure. And by the way, this past year, Allen and Hopkins outscored Gurley by 74 fantasy points in non-decimal scoring. Not too different in decimal

scoring. And let's have a... Yeah, the standard. 76. Alright, let's have a voicemail to end the show. What? I'm sorry. I didn't hear you say combine. Yeah, combine. Ready? Voicemail. Nope, I screwed up. Voicemail.

Hey, guys. This is Jeff DeCole from Nakatomi Plaza. I've got a question for Keeper League. We can keep two. It's half-point scoring, 10-team league. I can keep Deshaun Watson, Goodwin, Mike Williams, or Foreman in the 14th round, or I can keep Russell Wilson in the eighth. Reminder, keep two.

Thanks for everything. Love you guys. We love you too, Jesse. Thank you very much. So he's got Deshaun Watson, Goodwin, Mike Williams, and Foreman in round 14 in a 10-team half PPR league, and he's got Russell Wilson in round 8. Keep two. What do you do when your two best keepers are quarterbacks in a 10-team league?

You keep Watson six rounds later? Keep Watson with his value? Yeah. You really throw Russell Wilson back? In a 10-team league, though, an eighth round isn't a huge value for him. I don't think. I think you could trade him for an extra pick. It might not be any better than a fifth-round pick, but you'd get a little something.

Forget that. Or you just pick two. Keep both? I'm keeping both. What? And then trade us? Who are their choices? Goodwin, Mike Williams, Deontay Foreman in round 14.

I'll probably keep Goodwin. I can redraft all three of those guys. I think there's a chance we get to July, and it looks like Goodwin is the number one for Garoppolo and Pierre Garçon is his possession receiver. Okay. No, they're going to sign somebody. You know what, Dave? I think keeping both isn't a bad idea because you get a good trade.

It's just incredible value. It's really the only reason why because I like Foreman long-term, but who knows what you'll get with him. It's also not knowing if Sean Watson is ready for the start of the season. All right, fellas. Thank you very much. Good show! Thanks for the voicemails, everybody. We got more of them on Thursday's show. 954-689-3199.

I really hope I'm not giving out somebody else's extension at the office. That would be a pretty bad idea. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you later in the week. See ya. Bye.