Fantasy Football Today - 01/28: Who is the #1 Pick in 2019? (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

It seems Todd Gurley may no longer be considered the #1 player in Fantasy. Is this fair? We'll get to that after Jamey reports from Radio Row in Atlanta! Jamey recently spoke to a bunch of players at the Pro Bowl and he reports on Amari Cooper (1:40), some noteworthy Steelers (5:00) and Phillip Lindsay (8:22) ... Let's debate the #1 pick (16:35)! If not Gurley, who would it be? Plus news and notes (22:00) and Dave's Super Bowl thoughts (28:20) ... Adam discusses six picks he loved from our recent mock draft (31:40). Are A.J. Green and Keenan Allen becoming steals? What about Kerryon Johnson? ... 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

we're back let's party yeah all four of us are here i hope everybody's excited because i'm excited what's up dave jamie heath i can't think of a more uh appropriate song to welcome back the four of us on the same podcast and a song that was made 40 plus years ago and is played at ball games every time somebody in the crowd guesses which hat the ball is under on the Jumbotron. It's Heath's Bar Mitzvah.

Hey, Heath, what's up? Celebrate. It's my Bar Mitzvah. You've completely and totally lost me. You're a man now. Congratulations. Thank you. Jamie's here, the award winner, J.B. Eisenberg. That's why we're celebrating. You're the award winner, my friend.

We're all award winners. J.B., you're in Atlanta right now. How's it going out there? I'm sitting on Radio Row. I'm on our wonderful CBS Sports set, CBS Sports HQ set, CBS Sports Radio, CBS Sports Network. We are all together celebrating the CBS Super Bowl. What are you doing with the CBS Super Bowl? Celebrating.

Celebrating. That's right. Good word. Listen, Jamie's got some stuff going on in the background, as you can hear. So we're going to get him on to talk about what he gathered at the Pro Bowl. Jamie's going to hang with us for about 10 minutes, and then we're going to do the rest of the show, including my favorite six picks from the most recent mock draft, me agreeing with Heath on something, me disagreeing with Heath on something, and plenty more.

Your email is fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. So, Jamie, let's start with Amari Cooper and what you gathered about Amari Cooper, who ended up as the number 18 wide receiver in fantasy, but he was much better than that in his nine regular season games, two postseason games with Dallas. What can you tell us about the Cowboys receiver? So I asked Amari, you know, John Gruden spent the entire offseason last year saying how much he was going to use Amari Cooper.

He was going to be, the quote was, the main vein of the passing game. And so I said to him, what was the difference in your, I asked him, what was the difference in your trade going from Oakland to Dallas? And he said, I was just used more. And so I said to him, well, didn't Gruden say he was going to use you like as the focal point of asking was like i don't know what's going on in that guy's head um so i i think it's just a matter of you know he feels like he'll be more involved uh he was more involved he's excited about the off season to actually spend time with dac prescott they don't have an office coordinator right now but jason garrett may be more involved in the play calling and then dac prescott also you know he said that the biggest thing that he was able to work on with Amari on the fly

was just them talking through the plays and getting to know each other. And he's excited also about just getting some time to be on the field together and have some free time to learn what each other likes, what they don't like, what works, what doesn't work. And I think that'll help Amari Cooper going into next season. Dave Heath, you look at Cooper and what he did with the Cowboys. He was on pace for about 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns and 94 catches and a 16-game pace. He did have two enormous games.

He had 180 yards and two touchdowns against the Redskins, 217 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles. His final three regular season games were terrible. He had under 36 yards in all of them. I don't know. Were you bothered by the inconsistency or what? Well, give me those numbers again, the 16-game numbers. So he had nine games with the Cowboys in the regular season.

His 16-game pace, 94 catches, 1,289 yards, and 11 touchdowns. That's real close to what I have on a 16-game base if you include the playoffs, which I don't think you did. No, he was also good in the playoffs, yeah. He was very good in the playoffs. He would have finished, if you extrapolate those numbers, top seven among all wide receivers. Gladly put him at number 13 among all wide receivers, non-PPR 2019.

And I think he's probably going to have some inconsistent moments again but when you're looking for a receiver late round three round four you're going to be hard pressed to find one that you'll feel as good about as amari cooper yeah i think he's a high-end number two wide receiver he's got a chance to be a number one wide receiver i I don't really care that much about consistency. I mean, Tyree Kill is about as inconsistent as they come. And when we talked about win rates for wide receivers, he was on one of the highest percentage of winning teams this year. So I'm going to be happy to have Amari Cooper as my number two next year. All right, Jamie.

So Jamie's got five takeaways. I think you can tell me, Jamie, can you read about them on the site? Or I know you're doing something with Will about them because we'll get to maybe three of them on today's show. No, you can't read about them on the site. Not yet. I'll probably be writing a lot of these throughout the offseason. Okay, okay, cool. But I know you talked to Will Brinson about it.

Check out the Pick 6 podcast. Will's at Radio Row all week. But let's talk about the Steelers because we don't know exactly where Antonio Brown will be next season, but James Conner, Juju Smith-Schuster, Jamie, they're ready to be the guys for the Steelers. Yeah, it's

twofold. One, Conner I think benefits from being in that scenario that he was in last year and also benefits from being in the Pro Bowl. You see guys sometimes that are around other stars, they act like stars. And he was carrying himself as if he was among the best players in practice. You know, just going through the practice.

This is more of a body language thing. And I got a chance to speak to him a little bit, and he just talked about how he doesn't necessarily view himself as the guy, but I think you just kind of hear the confidence in his voice that this is a different player than he was going into the 2018 season. I think that's going to carry over to what his performance is

in 2019. Now, Juju's in a different scenario because he doesn't know yet if he's going to be the number one guy there. I think we can all sort of see the way this is heading, that Antonio Brown's not coming back to Pittsburgh. He sort of said that this was see the way this is heading, that Antonio Brown's not coming back to Pittsburgh. And he sort of said that this was a big learning experience for him too, you know, to sort of take the leap in targets, take the leap in, you know, being trusted,

take the leap in being a favorite, you know, option for Ben Roethlisberger. And that's something I think that will also carry over to the 2019 season, whether or not he is the number one guy. But again, I think that's the way this is headed. It just seems as if, you know, both these guys are ready to be those next two players in Pittsburgh, as we saw last year. Guys, what did you make of the Steelers' terrible Week 17 performance against arguably the worst defense in the NFL? And Smith-Schuster, five catches, 37 yards, and a touchdown on 10 targets. But that was without Antonio Brown. I'll throw it to Dave and Heath. You know, I guess my question is, is Brown better for Juju or worse for Juju?

I think there's a chance and likelihood that we see Juju's efficiency go down. But if he's getting 140, 150 targets, I'm not sure that that really matters. So I don't necessarily see him average the same number of yards per reception, or maybe he scores touchdowns at a little higher rate. He's going to be a top 10 wide receiver, probably whether Brown's there or not for me next year. I don't think he's the same type of wide receiver as Antonio Brown, but if you're going to lose a wide receiver off your team

and you've got Juju Smith-Schuster ready to replace him as the number one guy, that's still a pretty good replacement. He can line up everywhere. You know that he can make huge plays off of short catches. He can also catch deep balls. So lots of versatility, just maybe not quite as fast or not as shifty as Antonio Brown. Does anybody think there's a chance that he stays?

It sounds like there's been some softening from the Steelers. Rooney came out and talked about how maybe there's a way, and the Steelers aren't letting Brown shop himself around. It really hurts that trade value if it's a must-trade situation. Right, so now you think it's all just trying to act like, oh, well, maybe we'll keep him after all. I think it is. I would be surprised if we had what happened with Alex Smith last year.

We had a trade during Super Bowl week. You have some news that sort of supersedes the game. Okay. All right. Finally, Jamie, we got I think a top 12. I think it was like 11th in non-PPR, about 13th in PPR. Phillip Lindsey. You got a good Phillip Lindsey story for us?

Yeah. So first off, I got a chance to talk to him about his health. He says he'll be ready for OTAs. He's just waiting to get – he's in a cast. He didn't play in the Pro Bowl. He still showed up, but he was there. And he talked about hopefully getting the flexion backs in his wrist. That was important to him before he starts to really go through his rehab.

But he was one of the coolest things that I saw there because he stayed and signed autographs for almost every single person that was waiting for him well after practice ended. And just really a really friendly guy. You know, one of those guys you want to root for. I asked him if he felt like he was the biggest underdog at the Pro Bowl because of just where he came from for being undrafted, you know, to making the game. But, you know, I think just more importantly that his, you know, health will be fine and he'll be 100% ready to go for next season.

And, Adam, well, I'm glad you're back. And it's good to talk to you guys. I've got to go. Bye. All right, Jamie Eisenberg, thanks a lot for hopping on. And Philip Lindsay went in a very fun, interesting group of six straight running backs off the board in the non-PPR mock draft that you guys talked about on your last show. Great show, by the way. Great job. It was Derrick Henry, Phillip Lindsay, Marlon Mack, Leonard Fournette, Devante Freeman, and Sonny Michel. Derrick Henry,

Phillip Lindsay, Marlon Mack, Leonard Fournette, Devante Freeman, Sonny Michel. Who's your favorite of that six? I did a number on this one today trying to figure out who my favorite really was of the six. And I think I came to the conclusion that it was Lindsay. I like the potential. I think he can do more work in the offense there. I'll take another look at it before I actually drop the rankings later this week.

But Lindsey's got potential to get even more work in the passing game and be the main guy in Denver, their best running back. Yeah, I'm really curious what this is. There's a lot of opportunity in Denver for the running game going with the defensive head coach. I think my favorite is still Sonny Michel, though. I think there's just too much upside i don't really expect the denver offense to be that good sony michelle could score 15 to 20 touchdowns next year when you look at philip lindsey he had what like 25 catches last year very uninvolved in the passing game but doesn't

he look like the kind of player that needs to be more involved in the passing game? Yes. In fact, when I studied him during the preseason, that was the role that I thought he could get. But maybe he wasn't as good of a pass blocker as Booker, and that's why Booker got that job. Remember, later on in the season, when Freeman went down,

Lindsey and Booker were splitting the reps, and Booker was the one taking third down work. That coaching staff was more comfortable with Booker protecting the quarterback. Sonny Michel is definitely boosting his stock in the playoffs. He kind of limped to the finish line. In four of his last five games, he scored six or fewer fantasy points, seven or fewer fantasy points in PPR. He had one catch in those five games. So he had four or five games with 63 or fewer rushing yards and no touchdowns.

And boy, his stock certainly, I mean, Heath just said he's his favorite guy in that group of six that we just mentioned, because he's had two straight games with 24 or more carries, 113 or more rushing yards, and five total touchdowns. But we do know that Patriots running backs tend to not get that much work on a weekly basis until December. So it's not surprising that he got a lot of work toward the end of the year. The Patriots typically do that with their backs. I suppose it would change if the Patriots don't add some firepower to their passing game, and they really, really buy into Sonny Michel being the main cog of the offense, i.e. taking some work,

some significant work off of Tom Brady. So how have you guys been? What's up? Oh, we've been fantastic. How was your month? I want to tell you... A lot better until today. I want to tell you about all the plays that I watched from the Pro Bowl. And I'm done.

Oh yeah, same here, same here. Low scoring affair. I couldn't tell you a thing that happened in the Pro Bowl. Patrick Mahomes was the MVP. Jason Witten broke the trophy. Jason Witten broke the trophy? Oh boy. I can't defend that i can't defend that after mahomes threw a touchdown pass to eric ebron jason witten of course ebron scored he scores everywhere witten says ebron's been his guy all year which not not true jason witten and then he broke the mvp trophy trying to hand it to the uh tim holmes oh that's awesome adam yeah keep jason witten away from your

baby so you guys like want to ask me how my month was or anything like that or no okay that's fine yeah i mean we pretty much know like you already do absolutely nothing when you work so the fact that you not nothing i mean nothing outside of your job like you don't go anywhere you don't leave the house i assume that you just didn't even turn lights on or use your shower or change clothes for the last month i want to know how the most important creature in your house reacted to you winning the best host award she meowed a lot yeah Yeah. We were all very excited about the awards. You earned that one, buddy. Yeah, thank you.

I hope so. You did. And I earned it because of stats of the day, like the one I'm about to give. I was going through what I thought were the six best picks from our latest mock draft. And the last one I had was Jimmy Garoppolo, 155th overall, QB 16. And that's when I saw Nick Mullins was 7th in the NFL in passing yards per game. 7th! Like, Jimmy Garoppolo just needs one more weapon, and they'll get him something.

And he, to me, has the best chance of being this year's Patrick Mahomes. A 10th-ish round pick that gives you first round value. I love Jimmy Garoppolo as the 16th quarterback off the board. Could you make similar cases for other quarterbacks, though? Yeah, yeah. But I just think it's unbelievable how good Kyle Shanahan is and how good Jimmy Garoppolo has been. He was okay in three starts this year.

Yeah. But he was better, obviously, at the end of that. If you take away the Minnesota game, he was good. So I don't know. That, to me, is the guy, if you say who's the next Mahomes, that's the first guy I'm looking at. There is no other Mahomes. But he could definitely be the guy that you draft

outside of the top ten quarterbacks that is a top six quarterback. Top two, top three quarterback. I could see him getting up to fourth i can't see jimmy garoppolo getting up to fourth i could see him being top 10 and that probably would have to coincide with antonio brown landing in san francisco or somebody else landing there i think dante pettis can you know we didn't see much of Pettis with Garoppolo. Love Pettis. Pettis is going to get more work with Jimmy G. I'd like to see Jimmy G connect better downfield, 15-plus yard throws.

I'm not sure he's quite as good at that as, say, Patrick Mahomes. But my quarterback that I'm going to look at late in draft in a bunch of leagues is Josh Allen. Yeah. Yep. That definitely could make a case there. I think he could have some seriously silly numbers in 2019. All right. So that is the day number two.

I just heard Dave mention this on the last podcast you guys did, that Trey Burton was the number six tight end in non-PPR. That is true. He was number eight in PPR. But in non-PPR, him being number six is hilarious because he was 36 fantasy points behind number five and 65 fantasy points behind number four. And seven points ahead of number ten. So after your top four tight ends, a huge drop-off to Jared Cook.

And then after Jared Cook, a huge drop-off to everyone else. So that's why sometimes where you finish can be a little bit deceiving. And I give you Trey Burton. All right. Time for a fun segment. Adam disagrees with Heath. Oh, I missed this. But don't worry, because there is also Adam agrees with Heath coming up soon. Yeah, I heard Heath talking about how Todd Gurley is no longer his number one player for 2019.

I think Dave agreed, too. Yeah, Todd Gurley's not my number one either. You guys are crazy. You're crazy. I go away for a too. Yeah, Ty Gurley's not my number one, either. You guys are crazy! You're crazy! I go away for a month, and you guys take crazy pills? Is that what happened? Did you watch any football while you were gone for this month? Did you watch football before I was gone? I did.

He still was the number one running back in non-PPR, number two in PPR, or number three in PPR. That was with missing the last two games of the season. He's the best player. He's the best runner. Did you listen to the podcast when we discussed why he was not number one? Yes, I did.

It's not because I think that Todd Gurley is bad, or I think that Todd Gurley lost it. I think he's probably nicked and he's going to have a minor procedure in the offseason even though he keeps saying he's fine. My concern is Todd Gurley's workload changes. I don't think that's... Okay, that's

fair. I don't think it's going to happen. First of all, he's not like a major workload guy. He's not like Zeke. He's like a 280 carry kind of guy. He's not like a 350. How many catches? 60. Okay, well, that's part of the workload. It's a great workload,

but it's not like oh he's relying on having the most touches in the nfl he had 340 touches in 2017 and 15 games which is a ton yeah it's a lot this year he had 315 and 14 games and And did the Rams just learn that they could find a running back off the scrap heap? No. Put them in their office and get something effective out of them while taking work off of Todd Gurley. I think they did.

They're not going to take, they're not going to take work off of Todd Gurley. Cause you know what I was thinking during, especially during the Cowboys game, when CJ Anderson had a very good game, I was thinking like, man, if Todd Gurley had gotten more carries, he would have rushed for 200 yards. C.J. Anderson was great. Todd Gurley was better. He's just better.

And they had the second best offense in football this year. He's going to be on a better offense than the Cowboys, than the Giants, than the Panthers. Any running back that you might take ahead of him. He's going to score the touchdowns. They're not going to have a two-back system. They're going to feed Todd Gurley. He's going to get well over 300 touches and be the number one player in fantasy. What if they win the Super Bowl this week with a two-back system?

They won't win the Super Bowl with a two-back system. The only way they're winning the Super Bowl, which I think they will, by the way, is if Todd Gurley has a huge game, which he will. He could have a huge game. He had a huge game against Dallas, right? Yes. And so did C.J. Anderson. It doesn't matter, Heath. It doesn't matter. Todd Gurley

is going to get the work. Todd Gurley is going to be the guy. They are not taking carries away from him. I disagree with that. Well, you are joined by a Twitter. And more importantly, you don't know, I don't know, but we have reason for concern that that's going to happen right now on January whatever it is. 28th.

28th. We have no reason for concern that Ezekiel Elliott or Saquon Barkley is going to be in a timeshare at all. Zip. Zilch. Todd Gurley is not going to be in a timeshare. That's ridiculous. Who's the number one pick in fantasy? He is currently in a timeshare. He's in a timeshare because he's got a bad knee. He clearly has a bad knee.

He's been very clear that he does not. He's lying because he was on a bike during the Saints game on the sideline, and he was flexing his leg. He's obviously hurt. Who's the number one pick in fantasy in PPR leagues next year, I asked. Nearly 4,000 votes are in. 37% Todd Gurley, 9% Ezekiel Elliott, 49% Saquon Barkley. He's the winner. 5% someone else, which would most likely be Christian McCaffrey

or maybe even Alvin Kamara. So Barkley is winning, Gurley second, nobody else is close. Interesting. Okay, now time for Adam Agrees with Heath. Are you excited for this segment? No, no. Okay, Heath, don't spoil anything, please, because I have a few episodes left. But you were right about Ozark.

That show is awesome. Oh, yeah, it's fantastic and it's going to get better that is what i mostly did in these two months or sorry one month four weeks of paternity leave i took an ozark and it was great you didn't work at all for a month that's not true not even close to true uh yeah what i think it should be it should be but I unfortunately did work a little bit not nearly as much I'm just I'm wondering how many people listening could get away with not working for a month

I was on paternity leave for a month did you deliver the baby I could take another week and I didn't well I listen I'm happy that you're back i mean you are the podcast host of the year stop um but a month is pretty excessive what do you know how many days i missed on the birth of my kids how many i worked the night my daughter was born really it was a

sunday i think i took three days off for each of my kids And my son was born in July So I had a little bit more time Me too, so he was born in July I worked all of football season And then I took January off That's cool Literally wrote a column with my newborn daughter in my arms

That's very cute Like in my lap The Eagles, let's do some news and notes The Eagles could be interested in Kareem Hunt According to the Philly Voice The Packers could release Jimmy Graham Here's a fun stat on Jimmy Graham The Eagles, let's do some news and notes. The Eagles could be interested in Kareem Hunt, according to the Philly Voice. The Packers could release Jimmy Graham. Here's a fun stat on Jimmy Graham. Yes, that's probably going to happen.

He was second on the team in targets, catches, yards, and touchdowns. And he had a terrible year. Yeah, that tells you just how bad the rest of that receiving core was. Here's the thing, though. Aaron Rodgers had kind of a rough year but i mean it wasn't wasn't aaron rogers jimmy graham was his second best target in the passing game well you could look at it that way but also i would say geronimo allison was better when he was healthy valdez scantling had a stretch where he was better just graham played 16 games

but what you're saying is that it's not all Aaron Rodgers' fault. It's not all Aaron Rodgers' fault, but this does not feel like the great first step to fixing things. Releasing Jimmy Graham. Why? They free up $9 million in cap space if they designate him post-June 1st. Maybe they try and restructure him and they bring him back. And maybe he accepts that because I don't know how popular he would be on the free agent market if he was available.

Aaron Rodgers was the number nine quarterback in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. Dallas quarterback coach Kellen Moore expected to be promoted to the offensive coordinator position according to NFL Network. So we would think business as usual there offensively maybe even a little bit a little bit more aggressive throwing the football which would be delightful for dac prescott and amari cooper and blake jarwin

uh so this is what i got on on prescott in nine games with Amari Cooper, not counting the playoffs. Uh, he, let's say he played 16 games at that nine game pace. He would have finished 10th in six point for passing touchdown leagues, seventh in four point for passing touchdown leagues. Uh, now that doesn't factor injuries that that's not on a per game basis. That's with him playing 16 and other guys, you know,

not playing 16 necessarily. Yeah. You can absolutely make the case for Dak is a top 12 fantasy quarterback. I, I haven't finished slash done slash started my rankings yet. Um, but I anticipate that I will have him ahead of Carson Wentz. Yeah.

I figured you would, and you would probably figure that I would not. I think in a four-pointer passing touchdown league That makes sense You guys had three straight years with six rushing touchdowns Yeah They are both going to be in my top 12 Cam Newton had arthroscopic shoulder surgery

Speaking of quarterbacks He won't be in my top 12 The ball may have been tipped There seems to be some angles that you could look at Of the pass interference play Where the ball may have been tipped. There seems to be some angles that you could look at of the pass interference play where the ball may have been tipped. But it doesn't matter because it was still a legal blow to the head. If the referees made that call on the field, of course that would have negated the pass interference.

But not the helmet to helmet that he was fighting for. Of course not. Right. And, yeah. Roby Coleman is now talking about how Tom Brady isn't the same guy he once was. Did you catch that? I saw that. I actually didn't think it was that bad.

Well, it's accurate. It's probably true. Sure. It's definitely true. But you know that's going to find its way to the bulletin board in the AFC locker room at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Oh, yeah. He's getting scored on on Sunday. We still don't know where Antonio Brown will be next season,

although the recent report is that they're not letting him seek a trade and the Redskins are not planning on having Alex Smith next season. Back to the Antonio Brown item, there was a report as well this past week that suggested the Steelers weren't getting offers that they thought they would for him. So if all they're going to get is a second-round pick for Antonio Brown, it would make sense that they try and reconcile. And that would be best for his fantasy value. If he stays in Pittsburgh, it would be absolutely the best for him. He would be my number one receiver in fantasy if he stays in Pittsburgh.

But not for Heath, right? No. Heath and Jamie, we all have different guys at number one. Yeah, he's not my number one. I never got a chance to say this, but that was a thing that kind of stood out, how I knew I wanted to get back to work because I was listening to the show and I kept wanting to blurt something out. Do you notice the similarities with Antonio Brown's 2016 stats and 2018 stats? Because I know that you look at Antonio Brown's stats

and it looks like a player who's falling off a little bit. But that's what it looked like in 2016 as well. And 2017 was possibly his best year. I think he was on pace for over 1,800 receiving yards. So I just want to point that out, that he may have fooled us once before. But we won't get fooled again. We won't get fooled again. Dave, you are not going to be here most likely on our second show this week,

which will be, of course, a Super Bowl preview. Would you like to give us some Super Bowl thoughts? Yes or no? Yeah, sure. Okay, great. We'll get to Dave's Super Bowl thoughts and my favorite six picks from our latest mock draft right after this. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM,

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Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. Okay, Dave, who's going to win? The New England Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl. And I say that with the enthusiasm of going on a field trip to your local school library because it's just you know ho-hum patriots win again but i really feel like bill belichick with two weeks to prepare against jared goff who's in the biggest spot he's ever been in in his life um i i think that they're

going to find ways definitely slow down the run that run defense has been pretty good over the balance of the season i know damian williams a big game last week. That doesn't bother me. I think they'll figure out ways to pressure Jared Goff versus the Rams, who won't have many ways to pressure Tom Brady. He was unflappable last week against Kansas, or the last time he played, rather, against Kansas City. I just think the Patriots are the better team. The sum of their parts is better than the sum of the Rams' parts. The Rams might actually have better players if you're just going to study the players. But I think the Patriots win, and I think they win by a touchdown. I disagree with many things you said there.

Go on. Well, I don't believe in the Belichick two weeks thing, because this is their ninth Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era, right? They're 5-3, is that right? Sure. Every single game they've played is a close game. because this is their ninth Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era, right? They're 5-3, is that right? Sure. Every single game they've played is a close game. And that's, you know, if you're tired of seeing the Patriots in the Super Bowl,

you get a great game every single time they play. And, you know, he's got two weeks to prepare for Matt Ryan and the Falcons. Well, they had to win that one in overtime. He's got two weeks to prepare for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Well, we know how that turned out. Close games. He's got two weeks to prepare for Doug Peterson and Nick Foles, and they lost. So that just hasn't really come to fruition. I actually think the Rams have a better team overall.

And that's pretty much all I disagree with you. And I'm picking the Rams if Todd Gurley is healthy, which obviously I i won't fully know but i'm hoping that two weeks off really helps him my one other thing that's still still just sour grapes is uh the tom brady was unflappable against the chiefs he threw two interceptions and had a third called back because of d ford's offsides and had one touchdown pass one interception how many times was that he well i don't think he was right so that's what I was looking at. The offensive line did a good job. But Brady was not great in that game.

He just kind of got lucky. He definitely got lucky. I thought he was great late. Yeah, he was great. You know what? Both of those things are true. I think there were a lot of things that definitely went his way. And he did really have great command late in the game.

And I think they're going to pick on Marcus Peters. I think the pass rush will not be a factor. I think he'll have time to throw. I think Sony will be able to run. I think James White has a big game. In fact, I'm going to set a daily lineup, and it's one of these showdown lineups where you pick a captain. James White's going to be my captain.

Oh, that's interesting. I think the Patriots are going to copy what the Saints did. They're going to throw to their running backs out of the backfield, look for those matchups against the linebackers. James White's going to have a good game. He's got a history of doing well in the Super Bowl. All right, we'll talk more about it on Thursday, or I think Wednesday, I believe, is our second show.

So at some point this week, we will talk more about it. Thank you, Dave, for your Super Bowl thoughts. You're welcome. What is your favorite Super Bowl food? Nachos. Okay. All right, so I went through the mock draft you guys talked about. He did a great job discussing your teams and some interesting picks.

Just six picks that stood out, and it's now down to five because I already talked about Jimmy Garoppolo. But let's just go through two in the third round, guys, that I thought were great values. A.J. Green, 28th overall, 11th wide receiver off the board. Keenan Allen, 32nd overall,

14th wide receiver off the board. I'd be thrilled to have either of those guys in the third round outside of the top 10 wide receivers, A.J. Green and Keenan Allen. Agree completely. You're exactly right. Thanks, man. I think those are going to be very popular and early third-round picks,

especially in non-PPR. Full PPR, you might see them trickle up into round two, late round two. The thing you worry about with both of them is probably injuries, first and foremost. A.J. Green, each of the last two seasons, he hasn't finished healthy. Allen's been there, though. He's finished the season pretty healthy, but it's that first half of the year where he's played like he hasn't been

healthy each of the last two seasons. So you might have to be a little more patient with Keenan Allen than you would be with A.J. Green. But I think both of them have potential. You could obviously draft them to be your wide receiver one if you want to, but getting them as your wide receiver two by going running back receiver or something like that with your first two picks, that's awesome. Yeah, picking early is going to be a lot of fun this year.

If you've got one of the first six or seven picks on draft day, I think you're going to be a little happier than the guys that are picking eight and later. But Keenan Allen went with the fifth to last pick of round three so he was pretty late that was and that was an unbelievable steal yeah and then after that you know i mentioned the six running backs that went off the board um you know in the same range henry lindsey mac fornette fre, Michelle. That was right after Keenan Allen. So there are eight more picks made, or seven more picks made before another wide receiver comes off the board, and it was Amari Cooper.

Okay, so glad Heath agrees with me. Adam agrees with Heath. Heath agrees with Adam. Great segment. I love Jamie's carry-on Johnson pick, 42nd overall. Carry-on Johnson was the 22nd running back off the board. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry YPC for life, three games with 15 or more carries. He had 101 yards against the Patriots 158 at the Dolphins 87 and a touchdown against Carolina. I don't I loved it guys. you think about Kerryon Johnson, 42nd overall? I think he has a lot of upside at running back 22, but I don't know that it's necessarily

a steal or something that's right about where he belongs. Just because I have so much concern about what are the Lions in 2019. Can they run at all? Okay. I think they're going to try like hell to. Yeah. Can they stop anybody all? Okay. I think they're going to try like hell to.

Darryl Bevel is the new offensive coordinator. I think the bigger concern is they're going to run. Can Kerryon Johnson handle 300 touches over the balance of the season? And will he even get that opportunity? Because we've seen the Lions year after year after year use multiple running backs. Now, Jim Bob Cooter was a big reason for it. He's gone. But Matt Patricia probably isn't going to stick with one running back unless that guy really earns it.

He's not going to begin the year as an every down 70% of the snaps type of running back. I'd be surprised if that happened. However, Theo Riddick is probably going to get cut. LeGarrette Blount is old. Who's going to be there? Do they draft another running back? I don't know if the Lions can spend the draft capital on another back. Do they bring in Zach Zenner, and he's the complimentary guy?

I do think there's an opportunity. 70% might be a little stiff, but 60% of the snaps. And a lot of touches. 15 plus touches for Kerryon Johnson with goal line work, and he can catch the ball. I think he would be okay as a round three pick. This was, what, the fourth year in a row the Lions have talked about how they were going to establish the run and be better at running the football.

But they were with him. And they were going to run the ball more. They ran the ball 404 times and threw it 574. They were with him, though. When Kerryon Johnson was healthy and being featured, I think they ran the ball pretty well. It doesn't necessarily mean they didn't run it well. It's that they're behind, so they don't run enough.

I think the other flip side of that is that it took them a long time to really come around on Kerryon Johnson, and when they really started leaning on him, he got hurt. I'd like to see the offensive line get addressed this offseason you know the quarterback's going to stay the same um and daryl bevel has worked he's done amazing things but he's done it with amazing running backs adrian peterson and marshawn lynch so we have to see carry on johnson prove it a little bit banking on that with a late third round pick to fourth round which is where jamie picked him i don't think that that's a stretch at all.

I think that's the type of pick you're going to have to make to get carry on. How many games do you think carry on Johnson had 15 carries this year? Three. I just gave this stat. Exactly. Good job, Adam. And he was great in all three of them. 15 or more carries.

He had more than 100 yards twice. He had 87 yards and a touchdown against the Panthers in the other one. So Kerryon Johnson, I like the pick. I would have been excited to get him. The next running back off the board was Darius Geis. To me, right now, I mean, things change. Right now, it's clear I'd take Johnson over Geis. How about you guys?

Agreed. And Geis is probably going to be one of those running backs that you're going to draft and say, well, there's nothing else left at the running back position that I feel great about, so I'm going to roll with the upside of what we think Darius Geis can be. And it looks like he's going to return to full health, and

we'll see who his teammates are in Washington. It's interesting because he was the better prospect. He was a guy for sure. He was a better running back than carry on a year ago today well he was a better prospect i wonder about about the injuries because dave did mention that like on draft day or after the draft that was one of the first things dave said like the guy was carry on johnson was consistently nicked up and i don't think he missed a lot of games necessarily, but he was always

dealing with injuries. And he got hurt again last year. And he got hurt again. The guy got hurt last year. And he had a ton of work at Auburn. So it's kind of a blessing in disguise that he sprained his knee late in the year. And he says he's fine now. Somebody talked to him from Detroit. One of the newspapers talked to him

recently. And he says he's healthy. He's getting ready to start his off-season program at Auburn. I feel good about Carrion. I would draft him ahead of Darius Geis as of now. But things change once training camp starts and the preseason starts. You guys know that. All right, two more picks that stood out to me. And then you just start to realize these are just guys you like.

But Doug Baldwin, 54th overall, 22nd wide receiver off the board. stood out to me. And then you just start to realize these are just guys you like. But Doug Baldwin, 54th overall, 22nd wide receiver off the board. Yeah, it was obviously a bad year for him, but he had a training camp injury and maybe wasn't right for more than half the season. And he was a top 12 wide receiver in non-PPR and PPR, doesn't matter the format, three years in a row. I don't think he's too three years in a row. I don't think he's too old or anything like that. I don't think he's injury prone all of a sudden. I just think it was a bad year. And if I got Doug Baldwin as the 22nd wide receiver off the board in the fifth round, I'd be very happy. He was very touchdown heavy late in the year. His last seven games, 50 targets, 30 catches, 375 yards, five touchdowns. Yeah.

Yep. I wish the numbers were a little better other than the touchdowns. But I guess I'm willing to give him a pass. How about you, Baldwin? I don't think this is a bad place to take him. He's going to be in an interesting mix. I would probably aim for him a little bit later than this. Actually, this is interesting.

Tyler Lockett went one pick ahead of Doug Baldwin. Thoughts? I loved watching Lockett play. It's going to be very hard to expect him to score double-digit touchdowns on such low volume. He had a touchdown every seven targets, something like that? Right, yes. And you just kind of have to expect that everyone in this passing offense is low volume now well i would i think i'd probably like lockett a little more just because there's

a better chance he scores i mean it's not likely that he scores like he did last year but i would like his chances of making a big play on five targets better than baldwin's so you would take lockett ahead of baldwin I think so. Okay. Last pick I liked, you guys talked about him a little bit on your last show, was Cortland Sutton, 86th overall. And yeah, he wasn't great. He caught, as Dave mentioned, 50% of his targets, but he averaged 16.8 yards per catch.

But yeah, I don't know. I liked it. It stood out to me as maybe you're getting a number one receiver there, not a number one fantasy receiver But Corlin Sutton, right after Michael Gallup Right before Golden Tate Christian Kirk, Sterling Shepard Yeah, I liked it I like Corlin Sutton to Will Brinson

86th overall It's hard to nitpick The 86th overall pick in a fantasy draft Well, what do you think about him compared to Gallup, Tate, Christian Kirk, Sterling Shepard? I think, I mean, Tate, it's going to completely depend on where he lands and how much competition he has for targets. But my initial impression is I'm probably going to like Golden Tate more than Corlin Sutton. I'm going to like Kirk and Tate more than Sutton.

I don't see Sutton going into the draft as more than a number four wide receiver, and you're hoping? I've got Sutton. This is tentative. You know it's going to change, but I've got Sutton one spot higher than Gallup in my receiver rank. Around 40? I could judge.

I don't have the actual number, but I can get it. Okay, well then forget that one. We'll just use Jimmy Garoppolo as my other pick I liked. How about that? Right around 40. It's like you could see my rankings. I cannot. You could if I showed them to you. Here, take a peek. Okay, right around 40.

Good job. Let's read some emails. FantasyFootball at CBSi.com. This one is from Dakota. Dakota says, hey, Adam and Dave. Now that's interesting. That's weird that that would be addressed to Adam and Dave since I haven't been on the show in a month. And Heath's on every show.

I don't know. But Heath, you can sit this one out. 12-team PPR league. We have one keeper per team. I won my league. I finished with two losses. I am keeping Todd Gurley and I drafted Christian McCaffrey.

Wondering who do you think I should keep? Gurley or McCaffrey? Because he's got... Gurley's a little bit older. What do you think, guys? I'd go Gurley. He's not answering. I'm sorry. I was joking.

Who do you say, Adam? I would you say adam i would go with obviously you know where i'm going with that i would go with girly yeah just get on the record that's all yeah heath i'm what okay next we're doing another email next one uh this is will in wait i want to know heath's answer i do too i'm genuinely interested okay McCaffrey, PPR, who would you rather keep? I haven't decided yet, but I lean right now today towards McCaffrey. Okay. Okay. When do you think you're going to decide that?

I believe I have to decide by Monday. Oh, rankings are coming out? I think so. But it's not, it's keeper rankings, you know? I understand, but there's not – these guys are both young. They're both in the prime of their career. It wouldn't be that much different. Yeah, I wonder –

Especially a one-keeper league. I mean it's not like it's dynasty. Sure. Okay, next email is from Will. He wrote 40 mil, but I think it should be 40 mil. The Y and the T are next to each other. Dear Drew, Archie, Aaron, and Billy Joe. Saints quarterbacks.

That's right. I'm in a 10-team, three-player PPR keeper league. Three-player keeper PPR league. No draft picks lost on keeping players. I am keeping McCaffrey and Le'Veon Bell. My last spot is up for grabs. Antonio Brown, Michael Thomas, George Kittle, or Damian Williams? I have to make my cuts by the Super Bowl.

So pick one. Antonio Brown, Michael Thomas, George Kittle, or Damian Williams? I'd play it safe and keep Thomas. Yeah, definitely Thomas. Even if you told me tomorrow Antonio Brown has made up with Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers and he's going to sign a lifetime contract, I would still keep Michael Thomas. Yeah, agreed.

This is Kevin from – all right. Leicester? I think it's Leicester. Or Leicester? It could be Leicester. It could be Leicester because Leicester City is the soccer team, I believe. But every city in Massachusetts, just spell your name phonetically to say it. I don't – all right, anyway.

They got it right with Boston. Yeah. Dear Poppy, Kenny B., Babu, and Tim W., like phonetically just say it i don't all right anyway they got it right with boston yeah dear poppy kenny b babu and tim w those are seinfeld characters right are they oh yeah poppy's getting sloppy i've heard you mention the packers receiving core and what you expect next year from them i haven't heard you say anything about the possibility of geronimo allison not being there do you think it's a foregone conclusion that the packers don't let allison sign somewhere as he is a restricted free age could you expand yep he's he is a restricted free agent they will tender him probably at the second round value no one will touch him and he'll be back with the pack for one more year. And he'll be in a contract year.

That'll be exciting. And he's got a big opportunity because he actually went, I mentioned Cortland Sutton as a pick I like, but Allison went a lot later, 113th overall. Wow, that's around 10. I bet you a pop that it'll be at least one round higher than that come August. I bet you a pop that I will not take Cortland Sutton when Jarno Mallison is available. Yeah, I agree.

That's a much better pick. I should have gone with Jarno Mallison. Do you guys think he's the number two receiver for the Packers? If the Packers keep it that way during the offseason, then yes. But I think Green Bay is going to add something. They have to. Devonta Adams was great. They had to lean on him because they had nothing else after Allison got hurt.

And maybe that new coaching staff says, Allison's more of a three than a two. They're going to let Cobb go. They're going to draft someone. This is starting to look like a really nice, maybe more deep is the better word, receiving class in the draft. I could see them adding one of these slot receivers that just stepped up in the senior bowl and giving some firepower to their offense. That would hurt Geronimo.

So Allison played the first four weeks before getting hurt, and then he played one more game, got hurt. But in those first four weeks, he was very consistent, 64 to 80 receiving yards, anywhere from 64 to 80, with two touchdowns. He had five or six catches in three of the four games and only two catches at Washington. But he was good. From Brandon, 12-team, two-quarterback, PPR Keeper League. So it's a two-quarterback league.

Keep two of the following. Russell Wilson, Juju Smith-Schuster, Keenan Allen, A.J. Green, and Todd Gurley. Juju and Gurley for me. Wilson and Gurley for me. Two-quarterback league. You've got to keep those quarterbacks. Hey, you know how I roll in the two-quarterback league. I'm not taking a quarterback general generally in the first couple of rounds still on a two quarterback league with 12 teams in there as deep and fun

as the quarterback position is i'd like to have a little safety there yeah but you're not keeping the number one quarterback or a top five quarterback he's pretty close to a top five i know he didn't finish top five this past year but he can get there i i want to have at least one really safe good quarterback and a two quarterback if it was patrick mahomes or andrew luck or aaron rogers then i would probably keep them over those guys does it matter if it's okay we're talking russell wilson versus juju keenan allen aj green and todd girley girley is going to be one of the keepers for sure so it's wilson versus one of those three wide receivers, Juju, Allen, and Green.

Does it matter if it's four point per passing touchdown instead of six? Not for me. Not for me either. That's kind of interesting. It's like Wilson's better in four point per passing touchdown leagues than he is in six.

I don't think he was this past year. Yeah, we talked about just how much he hasn't been rushing. Yeah, well, he didn't have a rushing touchdown, but that's surprising. And he was extremely—that's the problem. When he finished sixth, seventh, eighth, something like that at quarterback this year with an absurd touchdown rate, he's got regression coming. If he doesn't run more next year you get problems unless he just ends up throwing a little more well i guess then just to generalize it give me a quarterback that

you think is better in four point than six point deck okay so let's take that prescott anybody that runs yeah all right so we take those guys they're better in four point than six point but if you're in a two quarterback league well league, all of a sudden, the advantage they have is like quarterbacks not as important now because they score fewer points. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not explaining. I still think quarterbacks are important when you have to start two each week. And there's 11 other teams in the league. And then I think looking at –

I think my answer – honest to God, I think my answer changes if we're talking about an eight-team or a ten-team two- in the league. And then I think looking at... I think my answer changes. Honest to God, I think my answer changes if we're talking about an 8-team or a 10-team, two-quarterback league. But those extra two teams, it just makes it harder. I want to be prepared. Yeah, we were in a 12-team, two-quarterback league this year. And was it easy? Could you find quarterbacks easily?

Hell no. Yeah. It's hard. I took three fairly early in the draft. I won the league. And Heath and I had the two best teams. And I know my three quarterbacks were Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Jameis Winston.

And I drafted Winston third because he was suspended for three games. And I ended up using Winston and Roethlisberger down the stretch. But yeah, do you remember? So I didn't take any of the total studs, but I didn't wait too long to get my quarterbacks. Heath, do you remember who your quarterbacks were in a 12-team, 2QB league? Kirk Cousins, Josh Allen, and somebody else. Okay. Josh Allen and somebody else. I generally don't, like, in that league specifically, and it's usually been a 10 team until this year,

so it's been a little different approach, but that's about as good as my quarterbacks have been. But that league usually goes pretty crazy on quarterbacks early, too. All right, last email here is Steve from Hamilton, Ontario. I've been in the same league for 20 plus years and we have a deep keeper league with standard scoring where we keep 10 players. I've been tossing a deal around with another owner. Normally, I'm not afraid of risk, but I can go either way on this one. All right. So there are a lot of people involved here, everybody. So pen and paper out. This is a

non-tight end league, by the way, for what that's worth. Okay, he would be giving up Ezekiel Elliott, T.Y. Hilton, Will Fuller, and Deshaun Hamilton. Zeke, Hilton, Fuller, and Hamilton. Getting back Joe Mixon, Devontae Adams, and DJ Moore. Mixon, Devontae Adams, and Moore. Which side would you rather have? He's giving up the best player in the deal, but I think the next two best players are coming back to him. Did he give you the rest of his team?

He did. He's got a great team. Mahomes, Saquon, Zeke, Amari Cooper, Corey Davis, T.Y. Hilton, Will Fuller, Chris Godwin, David Ajoku, Dallas Goddard. There you go. Deshaun Hamilton. Okay, so he's giving up Zeke and Hilton. I love having Saquon and Zeke on the same team.

He's getting Mixon and Adams. And then he's also giving up Fuller, Deshaun Hamilton, and getting back DJ Moore. A lot of moving parts. But is it worth giving up Zeke to get Mixon and Adams? Would you trade Zeke and Hilton to get Mixon and Adams? I don't think I would. I wouldn't either. I don't think I would either.

You wouldn't in the Keeper League? I don't think so. Why do I feel like Adams has three more good years left compared to Hilton. Am I crazy? You mean three, whatever TY has left plus three. Yeah. They can't be that different.

It might only be one or two more than TY. TY is going to play until he's slow. So he suffers a catastrophic injury and then he's slow. It's one of the fastest players in football. Okay. Devontae Adams is 26. T.Y. Hilton is 29. 29.

Yeah. 29. Really? Yeah. I didn't think he was that much older. Well, there you go. I got to hang on to Zeke. All right.

You're telling Steve to hang on to Zeke. Heath? I'm hanging on to Zeke. All right. You're telling Steve to hang on to Zeke. Heath? I'm hanging on to Zeke. Bye, everybody. Good to be back. This is the end of the show? This is it. I forgot how to outro a show.

It's been so long. Yeah? So why don't you go ahead and take it away, Adam? When did you forget? Like before I started working here? Yeah, I suck at outros. It used to be like a long gag that we had yeah where i'd introduce you into the outro and then you'd stumble through it because

you really didn't know what to do this was actually one of the toughest shows i've ever done i had no idea what to talk about and well you picked some great topics super bowl week how do you not know what to talk about because i'm saving super bowl stuff for thursday or wednesday it's good to be back, everybody. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you later in the week. That's it for me, David, Ethan, Jamie. Na-na-na-na.