Fantasy Football Today - 02/12 Fantasy Football Podcast: Fantasy Luck vs. Fantasy Skill; Draft Thoughts; Erdahl Interview

Episode Date: February 13, 2018

Some say making the Fantasy playoffs requires skill and winning a championship requires luck, do we agree (3:50)? We start the show with that discussion before revealing an amazing payoff of a Fantasy Football bet ... Frank Reich fun facts! Plus our thoughts on how our teams turned out in last week's draft (17:08), our favorite teams from the draft, why Adam reached for a Kicker (25:16) and interesting late-round picks (32:30) ... We are joined by CBS Sports Sideline Reporter Jamie Erdahl (38:25) who gives you the inside scoop on production meetings with players and coaches, which players impressed her last season, what it's like to work with Greg Gumbel and Trent Green and more ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. We got a good one for you today on Fantasy Football Today.

Welcome, everybody. It is Monday, the 12th of february dave happy early valentine's day bud um it's weird to hear that from you i did not choo-choo choose you to be my valentine but i'm i'm gonna take that as a friendly co-worker to co-worker Valentine's Day wish. That's all it was. And I will embrace it with all of my cuddly heart. Now, I am kind of in a good mood right now. You may be hearing this episode on Tuesday, most likely, Tuesday the 13th.

We are recording on Monday afternoon. But I'm in a very good mood because we just did an interview with CBS Sports sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl, who used to work in the Fort Lauderdale office at CBSSports.com. You've seen her doing college basketball. You've seen her on the sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl, who used to work in the Fort Lauderdale office at CBSSports.com. You've seen her doing college basketball. You've seen her on the sideline at a lot of Broncos games and just all over the AFC. She works with Greg Gumbel and Trent Green. We just sat down with her for 20 minutes, so we're going to air that at the end of today's show.

It was a lot of fun. I've always been very curious about the production meetings and how they work and the rules and whatnot with coaches and players. So we got into that a little bit. We talked fantasy with her. Dave asked some really interesting questions. And then we even asked her about Gumbel to Gumbel from Family Guy. And it's good stuff.

So I think people are going to really enjoy that. That will be the last 20 minutes or so of our show. Dave, we're going to look back at the draft we did last week. And, yeah, that's – and Frank Reich at the draft we did last week. And Frank Reich is the coach of the Colts. They finally got a coach. How about that? They did it. And you know what? I think that they didn't really

do anything bad here. Like Josh McDaniels obviously would have been a fun, flashy name. I think it would have interested people in Indianapolis a little bit more than if they had gone to Frank Reich the first time. But now you can look at it and say the Colts just got the offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champs, the team that just knocked off the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

And by the way, he's a pretty decorated guy in the National Football League. There's a lot of fun facts about him. And I always like it when a quarterback, a former quarterback, takes over as the play caller. We're presuming that he's going to be the play caller for the Colts. I think good times are ahead for Indianapolis. My favorite Frank Reich

fun fact is that everybody, or not everybody, many people know, Frank Reich orchestrated arguably the greatest comeback in NFL history. It is the greatest comeback points-wise in NFL history. Until a few years ago, he also, I believe, had the greatest points comeback in college football history. Yes, against Star Hurricane.

Yes, it was Miami. He was on Maryland, 1984. It may have been like a week after Hale Flutie, or was it a year after Hale Flutie? I don't remember. When was Hale Flutie? I want to say 84. Okay, I think it was the same year. Well, whatever it was.

So Frank Reich has two of the greatest comebacks in football history. One in college. Yeah, it was 1984, Hale Flutie, and the Frank Reich comeback. One in college, one in the NFL. Very cool stuff. Do you know that he is the first person to ever throw a touchdown for the Carolina Panthers? No. Wow.

Do you know who he threw it to? Ooh. Himself. Pete Metzlar. Pete Metzlar. Never would have gotten that. All right, Dave, let's get into the show. Email and voicemail of the day.

The email was from Mark in the submarine capital of the world, and the voicemail is from Brian, and they both have basically the same question. It's about doing really well in the regular season and then not winning a championship. So let me play the voicemail from Brian, which basically is also the email from Mark. Hey, guys. This is Brian from Anderson, Illinois. I've gotten to many Super Bowls. I've yet to win one, but

that's part of the topic. So I've been having a discussion with my friends, and we're deciding if it's luck or skill to get to the playoffs, and then luck or skill to make it through the playoffs. My take is it takes skill to get to the playoffs, and then it's

basically luck to win the Super Bowl. I got Todd Gurley in the Super Bowl, so I lost by seven points. I just want to hear what you guys take on it. Yeah, so I've had that conversation before, too. In fact, on this show, luck versus skill, it's a common sort of saying to say it takes skill to get to the playoffs and luck to win it. Heath wrote that in a story last year. I talked about that with him on the show. I mean, there's truth to it, but it's obviously oversimplifying it a little bit. What's your take on the luck versus skill thing? I think you hit the nail on the head.

I try and treat every week of the NFL season the same. I like looking at matchups. I don't want to start a player just because, oh, his name is Julio Jones. Oh, his name is Todd Gurley. You have to start Todd Gurley. Well, in most cases, you're going to start those guys. It doesn't hurt to take a look at the matchups just in case or look at the injury report for them. You just do the same things that you do every week. You start the players who you think give you the best chance to win. You take a chance here and there if you think you've got a player on your bench that has some big upside, maybe a good matchup, maybe an opportunity to bounce back from a bad game or continue on what you've been doing with a good game. But you can't control what your opponent does or what the players on your opponent's team do. And every year,

there are players that put on these amazing performances, and when you go against them, you're going to lose, and that's what happened with Todd Gurley this year. Everybody who had Todd Gurley that one week where he exploded, it was Tennessee, they won more or less, and people who went up against Todd Gurley that week, they lost. There's just not a lot you can do about that. Yeah, I don't think it's like complete luck just to win, though. I mean, what I would say if you find yourself in a situation where you're making the playoffs and not winning a lot is don't be afraid to make trades even if you have a really good team.

But that can't happen by the time you get to the playoffs. No, no, no. Earlier in the season, if you're on a playoff trajectory, don't get complacent. Always be looking to upgrade. And then the Gurley thing was just interesting because in the fantasy playoffs, he scored 24, 41, and 38 points in standard scoring leagues. You weren't beating him. You were not getting past him in weeks 15 and 16. So this was a year where you could have been a little unlucky

and ran into Gurley. But I don't think it's just that simple. It definitely takes more skill to make the playoffs. Maybe it takes some luck in terms of injuries, like not having a bunch of injuries to win. I mean, that's huge. But you have to have players who are good on a consistent basis. And that means they've got to be available for games.

And then when they play, you want them to get you to your expectation at least 50% of the time. There aren't a lot of players that do that. That's the problem. All right. Well, I think we pretty much summed it up. But I will say, like you said, making trades to have your team playoff ready, simplifying your lineup so that you're not in a position with, well, do I start Golden's 8 or Mohamed Sanu? Trade away some depth.

It's a little risky because you have to stay healthy. But you're sitting there and you've got four running backs for two spots. Make a two-for-one trade and upgrade and get a great player. And then in the playoffs, there are no bye weeks anymore. You have to be lucky enough to stay healthy. But that is a way to sort of take a risk and really go for it. It's to make a two-for-one trade and go from two good players to one great player, and that is one way to maybe get a leg up.

The great ones find a way to get you 20 fantasy points every once in a while, or in the case of Todd Gurley, 40 points. Besides, only a moron would trade Todd Gurley and then tell him about it. And then tell him about it. Yeah, that'd be me. Email of the day number two is from Kyle Duffy. Our email address is fantasyfootballatcbsi.com

You saw this email? I forwarded it to you. Oh, yeah. Kyle, I don't know if anybody's going to remember this. They had a bet in their league where the loser had to get a nipple ring. So Kyle wrote us today, My buddy finally paid the piper on his nipple ring bet. Unfortunately, the place that did it did not allow filming,

but attached are the best pictures. In his words, quote, It hurt worse than he'd ever imagined, end quote. They also wouldn't let him use the smallest gauge and told him they could only do a 14 gauge or higher because he has a large areola. I've been laughing so hard for the last 12 hours my face hurts. And he sent pictures. He did.

We just sent areola on the air too, Dave. That's a big moment for this podcast. It's about time. Yeah. We're breaking down barriers here on Fantasy Football today. He sent pictures. They were disgusting That's dedication

I saw a nipple with a stud through it and deleted it Pretty quickly I printed it, I mean yeah, I deleted it too So news and notes Other than Frank Reich, there's not much Yeah, so check this out For the 1984 Miami Hurricanes Who were coming off a national championship.

On November 10th, they were winning 31-0 at halftime at home, and Frank Reich comes back and has, at the time, the greatest comeback in college football history and beats Miami 42-40. Down 31-0 at halftime, Maryland wins 42-40. The next game was 13 days later was Halefaluti. Miami 42-0. 42-40. Down 31-0 at halftime. Maryland wins 42-40. The next game was 13 days later was Hale-Faluti. That is what hell of a back-to-back loss. Frank Reich.

That's tough. All right. So are you concerned? Andrew Luck in his career has 14 fourth-quarter comebacks, 18 game-winning drives. Are you concerned about the lack of experience as a play caller For Reich Well you never know how that's going to turn out But again

Anytime a former quarterback Ends up taking over that role I think it helps The current quarterback of the team And he's got a lot of Experience being around some good players He's been in indianapolis before spent three years with peyton manning as his quarterbacks coach one of those years was when

they lost the saints in the super bowl uh he also spent a year in indianapolis as their wide receivers coach and that was the year peyton was out spent a year in arizona with ken wisenhunt as the wide receiver coach so a lot of time with larry fitzgerald then followed wisenhunt as the wide receiver coach. So a lot of time with Larry Fitzgerald then. Followed Wisenhunt to San Diego when Mike McCoy was the head coach. Wisenhunt was calling the plays then. He was the quarterback coach, Reich was. And then he was the offensive coordinator there, but he didn't call the plays. And then in Philadelphia with Peterson, again, offensive coordinator, but didn't call the plays, but did have a hand in putting together the game plan each week.

So he's learned a lot. He's played a ton. He knows obviously the k-gun offense that's what he ran when he was in buffalo west coast offense he's obviously familiar with from philadelphia so i think he can really vary things quite a bit and i especially think that as long as he's got a smart quarterback, he'll be able to do some really interesting things with his offense in Indianapolis. And Andrew Luck is a pretty bright guy, so hopefully his shoulder is fine and he's back at training camp

and there's a whole new playbook for him to learn. But he and Reich should be able to get along great. I think it's a solid football hire for Indianapolis. Which, again, McDaniels knows his stuff too, but I just think that this is more substance over style for Indy. Yeah, I'm happy for them. They still need to rebuild their offensive line. Yeah.

Doesn't matter who the coach is. Got to protect the quarterback from that one. And we also have a new offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. It is Eagles quarterbacks coach. So now the Eagles have lost their offensive coordinator and their quarterbacks coach, but it's John DiFilippo who will be the Vikings offensive coordinator. What do you think about that hire? He's going to be a head

coach soon, too. It's a great hire for Minnesota. This guy's bright. I know people who know him, and they're impressed with him. He's got a great track record with young quarterbacks. He was in Oakland when Derek Carr came into the league. He was in Philadelphia when Carson Wentz came into the league. He was in Cleveland when, well, Cleveland didn't have anything going for them in 2015,

but he was their offensive coordinator that year. Spent time earlier in his life with the Giants, the Jets. I think this is going to be fine. First question for him is, who's your quarterback going to be? And that's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out. But smart football guy, good offensive-minded guy, played quarterback. So a lot of similarities to Frank Reich. We'll see what he does in Minnesota, but my guess is he won't be there for very long.

And a couple of Patriots items. Julian Edelman expected to be ready for training camp. 2016, Edelman was the number 24 wide receiver in standard scoring leagues, and that was with only three touchdowns. And he had the fifth most receptions or the fourth most receptions in football that year, so obviously much better in PPR. He had the fourth most, 98, only three touchdowns. But Edelman went in the

seventh round, I believe. Yeah, late seventh round, just ahead of Marquise Goodwin in the draft that we did last week. Last four years, this is his receptions per game average. 6.6, 6.6, 6.8, 6.1. Great catch rate. Three of the years above 68%. That last year, 2016, it was 61.6%. But that was a year where Tom Brady didn't play for four games. You know what you're getting with him. He's good in standard play. He is very good in PPR play.

And the Boston Herald's Jeff Howe says the early vibe is that Deion Lewis will not be on the Patriots next season. Plenty of time for that to take shape. And, dude, gosh, I think you've got to think there's a more than 0% chance that Rob Gronkowski retires. I honestly feel like— What are you saying? You're saying there's no way— No, no, no, that there is a chance, that there's a chance. I feel like there's more of a chance that Gronk retires than there was with Roethlisberger this time last year.

How do you think Rob Gronkowski feels about his acting career? I don't know. I mean I don't blame the guy. He takes such a beating. I don't blame the guy either, but he's set to make 10 million next year he could make that 12 million the next year he it wouldn't shock me would shock me look i mean he's already made 44 million and change really comes down to how he feels i guess could the patriots go with a running back in the draft with their first or second pick

and try and find a guy who they can use more frequently than the mix and match running backs that they've had in an effort to take some pressure off of their 41-year-old quarterback. It would just shock me to see Bill Belichick take a running back in the first round. It would shock me too. Was Lawrence Maroney a first-round pick? He was. Yeah. It would shock me. That's the last Maroney a first-round pick? He was. Yeah.

It would shock me. Maybe that's the last time they took a running back even close to early. Yeah. All right, Dave. Let's talk about the draft and how our team's finished. You heard, I don't remember, what, seven, eight rounds or something on last week's show? I think more than that. And we'll tell you how the team's finished.

And also, we each picked a team that's our favorite other than our own, and we'll tell you why we liked it so much. But my favorite app on my phone is the SeatGeek app because it saves me money and it saves me time. It used to be a big pain in the neck to look for tickets. Complicated and confusing. SeatGeek gives you a better way. The reason I like SeatGeek is because, you know, if you just download the app,

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code FFT. That is FFT for 20 bucks off your first SeatGeek purchase. Again, download the SeatGeek app and use the promo code FFT. You forget that code, you feel free to tweet me, and I got your back. Dave, tell me about your team. You definitely get experimental on mock drafts, and I applaud you for that because I still always want to have a great team, and I'm afraid to try new things, which is stupid because that's the point of mock drafts. Yeah, I look at your your team and I feel like I couldn't go with...

What did you have? Three receivers in your first four picks? I had three receivers on the entire team. But they were your first three picks. My first three picks were all receivers. Yeah, I don't think I'd do that. How do you feel about it? Would you do that again? Standard scoring league. I don't think so. Odell Beckham was my first round pick. I picked nine, I believe.

So Odell was first. A.J. Green was my early-round pick. I picked nine, I believe. So Odell was first. A.J. Green was my early second-round pick. I took Brandon Cooks in round three. That's the pick that I don't like the most of the three. Just to lay it out there, I could have had Melvin Gordon instead of Odell Beckham. Could have had Devontae Freeman instead of A.J. Green. Or Derek Henry. Derek Henry may have been an even better pick.

I kind of regret not going with Henry. Maybe. J.H.I. over Brandon Cooks was an option in round three. I could have started with those three running backs and had stud running backs, but then I'd be weak at wide receiver. And the one thing that I look at with this result for all the teams in this draft is that no one's great at wide receiver, except for me.

Except for you? Heath's got good wide receivers. He's got – who does he have? He's got someone with Keenan Allen. He's got like Nuke. Hopkins and Allen. Yeah. Hopkins, Keenan Allen, Adam Thielen. I think that's a great trio.

What about Chris? After last year, and it's been two years now where i've seen wide receivers kind of trail off like once you get to the 13 14th 15th best wide receiver there's not much difference between them and the 30th or 35th best receiver so i feel like i'll have a little bit of an advantage by having two to three really good wide receivers on my team and then i just make do with the running backs that I have. And I don't hate my running back group. I've got like six names each week.

Is it too much to ask for two of them to be reliable? Not necessarily reliable. That's the wrong word. Guys I can feel comfortable starting each week. And the group is Carlos Hyde, Chris Carson, Tevin Coleman, Jarek McKinnon, Giovanni Bernard, Corey Clement, Frank Gore. Frank Gore, I don't know if I'm ever going to start. I don't even know if I'm the one who picked him. I think somebody else picked him for me. But you get the point.

It's zero RB. And as of now, I don't think it's terrible. I waited on quarterback. I feel like I got a steal with Stafford in round 11. Waited on tight end. I got Jimmy Graham in round eight, something like that. I think that it's not the worst that I could have done. The alternative would be getting a Jai in round three

and then finding another receiver, probably where I drafted Gio or Gore. Just roll with that as the team. So Dave's team is Stafford and Jameis Winston at quarterback. Carlos Hyde, Tevin Coleman, Chris Carson. You heard the running backs, but Hyde, Coleman, and Carson, plus McKinnon, Geo, Corey Clement, and Frank Gore. Standard scoring, two receiver league with a flex. Odell Beckham, A.J. Green, Brandon Cooks is his flex.

Jimmy Graham, Greg Z zerline uh and the bangles dst i feel like everybody's gonna have to decide and this is how it is right now a month from now it's going to be different in three months from now it's going to be way different you might have to decide well where do i where won't i mind being weak at with my roster am i going to mind being weak at wide receiver and in exchange for that i'm going to feel safe with my running backs and i do am i going to mind going with a tight end that i draft in the second half of of the draft somebody around eight or beyond or do i need to get one of those stud tight ends because i almost want to get one of those stud tight ends

too i just i i couldn't pull the trigger on it after going wide receiver with my first three picks. Yeah, where do I want to be weak at? It's kind of an interesting question. I don't know that I want to be weak at quarterback. I know that's kind of the easy answer, just wait on quarterback, wait on quarterback. I don't know that I want to be weak there in this particular format, which is standard scoring and six points per passing touchdown. If it were four points per passing touchdown, I'd feel differently.

If it were PPR, I'd feel differently for half PPR. But quarterbacks are most valuable in standard scoring with six points per passing touchdown. You're not going to find a format where quarterbacks have as much value. So I have Cam Newton, who I kind of felt like was not the last guy who could be great. Like Jimmy Garoppolo could be great. Even Matthew Stafford could be great. But I was happy with where I got Cam Newton.

We have the draft results here. I got Cam Newton in the eighth round, late in the eighth round. I have Alex Collins and Devontae Freeman. And by the way, Dave, you are a Devontae Freeman injury away from having probably the best team because Kevin Coleman is your number two running back. I have Alex Collins, Devontae Freeman, Antonio Brown, and Marvin Jones. I have Zach Ertz, who I took in the third round. And at flex, I have maybe Corey Davis, maybe Will Fuller, maybe Marshawn Lynch.

Also, what I did, Dave, was I backed up my run. I took backfields. So I have Alex Collins. I also took Kenneth Dixon. I didn't take Tevin Coleman. I probably would have if he had gotten past Dave in the next round. I have Marshawn Lynch. I took the other two Raiders running backs.

I have Lynch, DeAndre Washington, and Jalen Richard. I don't know if that's going to do me any good. But, you know but it's not like I'm going to have them on my team the entire time, but going into the season, we'll see what happens. So Cam Newton, Collins and Freeman, Lynch, Dixon, DeAndre Washington, and Jalen Richard at running back with Antonio Brown, Marvin Jones. And I like my bench wide receivers after Brown and Marvin Jones. I have Corey Davis, Will Fuller, and J.J. Nelson. Plus I have Zach Ertz.

Now, Nelson is the number two, possibly number one wide receiver on the Cardinals if Larry Fitzgerald retires. I don't think he's going to be like that. This is my last pick. I think he is what he is. I don't think he's ever going to be a 60-catch guy. No, and I was thinking about taking Chad Williams, who John Brown is a free agent, is very high on Chad Williams. He's now a second-year guy.

Didn't do much last year as a rookie, but that's kind of a sleeper to put on your radar right now. Cardinals wide receiver, Chad Williams. They're going to do something. They're going to add to their receiving unit. But right now, I think J.J. Nelson is worth a 15th-round pick, or maybe Chad Williams is. But there you go. So I got Zach Ertz. That made me a littleth round pick, or maybe Chad Williams is. But there you go. So I got Zach Ertz. That made me a little weaker at running back and maybe wide receiver.

Actually, I was pretty happy with my team. And as I said on the show when we were doing the draft on Thursday or whenever it was, on Wednesday, I want at least two top 18 running backs, 18 to 20. You have to look at the rankings from Dave, Jamie, and Heath and decide where your limit is. But I want two of them, top 18, top 20, because it gets pretty

different, scary after that. I don't have that. The reason I don't have that is I took Antonio Brown in the first round and I took Zach Ertz in the third round. I'm fine with that. I went away from my plan. I'm totally fine with that. That's what free agency is for.

I think I like your team the best. Really? Yeah, because I think the weakness that you have, you've covered for with depth. That's what I try to do, yeah. Because I think Devontae Freeman is going to be your starter to begin the season. You're going to feel good about that. Your second running back spot for now, it's Alex Collins. We'll see if he's the starter in Baltimore.

Maybe Kenneth Dixon gets in there. And even if neither of those guys get it, at least you've got all three of the Raiders running backs. Those are guys playing in an offense tailored to the running back behind a good offensive line. I invested five picks in the Ravens and the Raiders'

backfield, and I don't feel like I am lacking somewhere. You know? There were enough rounds. I couldn't have done it probably in a 14-round draft. Eh, I probably could have. I just wouldn't have taken J.J. Nelson. So yeah, I'm cool with it. Also, I went early on a – I took the Jaguars DST.

I forgot to mention that. And I took Justin Tucker, which may have been a mistake. I took him in round 13 out of 15. I'm not opposed to going early on your kicker if you want your kicker, but I probably should have taken Greg Zerline instead. Who's your number one kicker? Zerline. Yeah, I probably should have taken him.

So that's a mistake on my part. But I've evolved to the point, Dave, where it was kind of it was kind of like cool and trendy when people were taking steven goszkowski in the second to last round i'm willing to take a kicker in the third to last round now that's weird why i don't think there's anyone there's one player that went after i took uh justin tucker that i'm looking at like wow i should have taken this guy and it's andrew. Even though I already had Cam Newton. Andrew Luck is who I should have taken instead of my kicker. That's the only guy that went off the board after that in two and a half rounds that I feel like, oh, man, I wish I had that guy.

The rest of it is kickers, DSTs, and then like Arlen's Darkwas and my DeAndre Washington, Jonathan Stewart, J.J. Nelson, Alan Hearns. I don't feel like any of those guys are must-haves. I'd rather be a lead at any position, even if it's kicker. What do you think? Yeah, I don't know if I'm feeling that. Kicker's kicker. Not a whole lot you can do with it.

Yeah, you get a few extra points per week with a Tucker. Fine, but spending it with the third-to-last-run pick, i look maybe we're just splitting hairs here but i didn't i didn't mind going kicker when i did i took him with my second to last pick because i knew that i wasn't going to get one of my top dsts with my second to last pick so i figured i'll just take the best available dst i'm probably going to end up streaming dst anyway so in case, I don't mind taking the best kicker. By you taking the kicker in round three, you're just beating me to the punch by taking one around before I can get it. The third to last round, not round three. Right, and I'm going for him in the second round.

If I took a kicker in round three. And the way I feel about it is if you really love that kicker, you go ahead and take him. I'm going to take my number two kicker if I so choose with my next pick, and the drop-off shouldn't be that much. Yeah. I just didn't feel like I was sacrificing much to take my favorite kicker, but my favorite kicker should not have been Tucker.

It should have been Greg Zerline. All right, let's talk about our favorite non-us teams. What's your favorite team? Although you did kind of say it was me. I said it was yours. Heath, I guess we can make a case for. I think Heath's team is pretty interesting. I liked his wide receivers.

Again, I think that matters. But I think his running backs are more or less in the same boat as mine. Maybe he's got a better headliner with Kenyon Drake. Well, let's read his team. Let's read his team. Read his team. Go ahead. If you're on a computer,

I really recommend you pulling up the draft. It's available at cbssports.com slash fantasy. Heath's team is one quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, Kenyon Drake, CJ Anderson, Isaiah Crowell, Marlon Mack, Bilal Powell,

Keenan Allen and DeAndre Hopkins, Jack Doyle, and then at flex, he could go with Crowell, who I already mentioned, Marlon Mack, Bilal Powell, or Adam Thielen, Rashard Matthews, Alan Hearns, Marquise Lee. He has Matt Bryant and the Rams. So yeah, it's Roethlisberger. Starting lineup would be Roethlisberger, Drake, C.J. Anderson, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins, Jack Doyle, and then probably either Thielen or Crowell at flex. It's good. I was down to four teams as my favorite.

Chris, Heath, Jamie, and Jeremy Bache. So Heath was definitely a frontrunner. I think I like Roethlisberger a lot. I might be like the high guy on Roethlisberger. That's kind of like why Heath's team stood out to me. What stands out to you about it? You said you like the wide receivers. I like the wide receivers.

I think the quarterback's good. He certainly got good value waiting for Roethlisberger. Don't love the depth. Don't really love his bench at this point, although I will admit there's a lot of potential for Marlon Mack in Indianapolis, depending on what the Colts do at that position. I don't know what to make of Jack Doyle now that Frank Reich is there. I did not like Doyle with McDaniels as the head coach because I don't see Doyle as the same type of tight end as Gronkowski. I don't think that they're even in the same universe.

Not many tight ends are in the same universe as Rob Gronkowski. So that's not saying much. But I think he's got a good competitive team. We'll see what happens with C.J. Anderson this offseason. We'll see if he's still a starter somewhere. We'll see if Kenyon Drake is still the every-down guy for Miami. That's something I'm a little nervous about. I would make him that guy, but I don't know how the Dolphins think. I know that Adam Gase doesn't really believe in a featured guy. We'll see if that opinion's changed

after what Drake did to finish the year. And I like Crowell. I mean, Crowell, if he lands in the right spot, some team believes in him. Crowell could definitely benefit from being on a better offense. He's not a bad player. I'm interested to see what kind of player Crowell is definitely benefit from being on a better offense. He's not a bad player. I'm interested to see what kind of player Crowell is. I just hope he gets out of Cleveland. All right, so my favorite team was Jeremy Bates' team. Jeremy has Drew Brees. He has Kareem Hunt and Joe Mixon.

He has Michael Thomas and Demarius Thomas. Now, interesting story on the Broncos and the Denver Post speculating that – I wouldn't say speculating, but suggesting that Demarius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders could get cut. They're both very expensive. I'll read the team again. Breeze, Kareem Hunt and Joe Mixon, Michael Thomas and Demarius Thomas, Hunter Henry, and then at flex, it's probably going to be a wide receiver. It's probably going to be Juju Smith-Schuster.

He also has Mike Wallace, Kelvin Benjamin, Corey Coleman. Those picks are, you know, whatever. Jordan Reed, I think is a very good pick. He's got two tight ends, but they're Henry and Reed. And then the backup running backs are Burkhead and Montgomery. I would say this team doesn't have great depth, but I like the starting lineup of Breeze, Hunt, Nixon, Michael Thomas, Demarius Thomas, Hunter Henry, or Jordan Reed, and then probably Juju Smith-Schuster

with Gostkowski at kicker and the Texans DST. You like this team from Jeremy? Yeah, I do. I like the tight ends, first and foremost, because Jordan Reed I thought was one of the better late-round picks in the draft. I don't know what we're going to get out of him. I think it's fair to say that he's not a sure thing. Hunter Henry, though, seems to be a lot safer.

You're going to see Henry picked ahead of Jordan Reed in a lot of drafts. Having them both on the same team will give you a lot of flexibility. It might give you a trade ship for later in the year. So I don't mind that. He's got good wide receivers, too. It's just not great. I don't think he's – I think – let's put it this way. I think my wide receivers, I think Keith's wide receivers are a little bit better

than his wide receivers, but he makes up for it at running back. Gobs of upside with Kareem Hunt and Joe Mixon. You already know what Hunt can do. Mixon should take a step forward this year. Brees took a step back last year, but I still think that he's got plenty of potential to put up good numbers. I like this team a lot. I wish they got a little luckier with their depth, but overall, it should be a solid competitive team.

You have any favorite late-round picks from this draft? We didn't cover it on the Wednesday show. We didn't get to it on the draft. There were so many late-round quarterback picks that I don't know what to tell people about drafting a quarterback. I think what I'm going to say is either you get a stud quarterback in round four or five, and I'm talking Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, one of those guys, or you just really wait a long time. Stafford went in round 11. Ben in round 12.

Kirk Cousins, Jameis Winston, Andrew Luck all in round 13. Jared Goff, Phillip Rivers, round 14. Now, if you're waiting for a quarterback and you get one of those values, you're in hog heaven. As far as non-quarterbacks, I like Nelson Aguilar in round 10. I like Marquise Lee in round 11. DeeDee Westbrook went in round 10, so you got Lee a round later. Mentioned Jordan Reed in round 11 I thought was good.

David Njoku, round 12. Adam Shaheen, round 13. Those are interesting tight end sleepers if you want to speculate and get two at that position. Those would be guys to draft, not necessarily as starters, but guys to kind of wait and see on, especially Njoku. I think that there is some big time numbers coming for him. I like Elijah McGuire. I think that's an interesting pick. He didn't do much.

Because of Forte being out? Yeah, I don't know what they have planned for Bilal Powell, but first pick of round 12 for Elijah Maguire, I like it. I think that kid's got talent. I'd like to see them unleash Elijah Maguire a little bit. We'll see what they do with him, and we'll see what they do with that position. For now, it's a good pick, yes. The next pick after, so

Maguire was the first pick of round 12 to Will Brinson. The next pick was David Njoku. And, you know, that was one of the reasons why I didn't select Chris Towers as my favorite team, because he took Andrew Luck as his only quarterback. And he probably thinks, oh, whatever, if Luck doesn't pan out,

let's play the waiver wire, and that's fine. But you might be a little weak. Andrew Luck in the 13th round might be the best pick in the draft, no question. Could end up being that, yes. It's dicey. So with David Njoku at tight end also, I don't know. It's waiting. You say Luck is dicey, but it's a round 13 pick.

I know, but – We were talking about Luck is a good pick in round 7. But he doesn't have another quarterback. It's his only quarterback. So his first 11 rounds, he didn't take a quarterback or a tight end. So he's potentially weak at both positions. I like that he went with two high upside guys. If the Browns get themselves a good player, a quarterback,

Njoku could be great there. And Luck, obviously, we know he could be – he's been the number one quarterback in fantasy before. So I don't know. It's not a combo I love. It's too much risk at two important positions to do that with Njoku in round 12 and Luck in round 13. But it's interesting.

You know, Dave, I want to get to some voicemails, and then we'll hear from Jamie Erdahl. Let's hear from Jules. This is Jules from Austin. I'm asking about how specific quarterbacks will impact how the Browns should be treated if they were to sign one of, let's say, four quarterbacks. Two of the three Vikings, I'd say, are an option, And then Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles. If they get one of those guys, I wanted to ask you guys how that would impact,

how we should look at the wide receivers and just the Browns team in general in fantasy. Because I'm sure some would argue that just like Jimmy Garoppolo going to the 49ers, having a veteran on the team would just boost their fantasy value. But at the same time, they don't have Kyle Shanahan, and they are probably the worst organization ever in the NFL. So I just wanted to ask you guys that and see what your opinion was. Thank you very much.

You know, usually I cut the voicemail off when the question is done because otherwise they'd be too long. But I had to leave that last part in for the rules. That's a great question. I mean, they could get a quarterback that would really change fantasy values for a lot of players, Dave. And not only do they have Hugh Jackson. And listen, we can say what we will about Hugh Jackson. He just led them to an 0-16 season.

But Todd Haley's there. And Haley's done good work. He did it in Pittsburgh. And I think it's going to be interesting to see how he organizes this offense. Kirk Cousins is the number one answer for every team that needs a quarterback and doesn't want to draft one. The question isn't can the Browns afford Kirk Cousins because they can. They've got over $100 million in cap space.

It's does Kirk Cousins want to go to Cleveland? If I were the Browns and if I really liked him, and I do, I would sell him hard on, look at what we've got, look at what's around you, we're ready to win, and you're going to be rich as heck. All right, Dave. Kirk Cousins goes to the Browns. Josh Gordon becomes.

Top 12. Gordon or Cooks? Gordon. Gordon or Doug Baldwin? I will probably take the upside of Gordon there. All right, what about Njoku? Cousins goes to the Browns. What happens to Njoku?

I think Njoku would be pretty much right where he is now, on the border, real close to being a top 12 fantasy tight end. I'm not ready to say that he would most certainly be a top 12 guy. I've got him 14th right now. Maybe he flips to 13. Okay. All right, well, I think everybody's going to really enjoy what we have coming up for you next. Please send us your emails, fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

Your voicemail is at 954-689-3199. 954-689-3199. 954-689-3199. We'll try to do some more voicemails later in the week and do have some emails to read in our next episode as well. In the meantime, here is CBS Sports sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl. You'll see her on the NFL Sundays on CBS and during March Madness. Here's Jamie Erdahl. Well, hello, Jamie Erdahl.

Thanks for stopping by. You guys, thanks for having me. It is good to have you back in the office, and we've got a lot of exciting things coming on CBS Sports, and you're going to be a part of it. But you've already been a part of exciting things for CBS Sports. Oh, yes. It is still cool-slash-surreal to be sitting in the green room,

which is on the other side of this wall in our office on Sunday afternoons. And your face pops up before the game. And then right after halftime, and you're talking to these coaches. And there is a little part of me that wants to reach out to you via text and say, can you ask coach about this or about that before the game? And I know I can't do it because I know you've got a job to do, and I'm not going to bother you when you're doing your job. But it's still very cool to see you there and you're doing a great job.

Thank you. Well, you guys, I think, across the industry are some of, if not the most prepared with you and Jamie and Adam for a full-blown hour at a time helped me a lot more in my career than some other things. Yeah. But are you weirded out by the way Jamie spells his name? From one Jamie to another, I guess, like J-A-M-E-Y is Jamie Eisenberg, and it's just so strange. What is that like for you? What's weird is that – so I guess my way is the boy way, J-A-M-I-E. I don't think there is a boy or a girl way. Well, allegedly the boy way, J-A-M-I-E. I don't think there is a boy or a girl way.

Well, allegedly the girl way is J-A-I-M-E apparently. Yeah. Can we just get into the whole Jaime conversation? That's Jaime, yeah. Right. Yeah. I think J-A-M-I-E is definitely for boys and girls. Yes.

And J-A-M-E-Y is for weirdos. Yeah. I mean that's just how it is. I don't want to bash my namesake without him here. So let's just, you know, put him in the Jamie corner and leave him with his why over there. Yeah. Dave, ask Jamie some sideline questions. You had some very good questions before we went on the air.

So take it away. Well, I know that you're down there and you're doing exciting things on the sideline and you're talking to players and coaches, but you're also in pre-production meetings and these are meetings that happen a day or two days before the game you get to sit down all the coaches or just the head coach um if we want a coordinator he'll come in the room um usually trent green talks to the coordinators on his own just because those are very much the x's and o's conversation of the game that if we have time we'll have them in but no usually it's the home team on Friday, the away team on Saturday, head coach, quarterback, and then another two players,

both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Okay, without giving me a name, because I don't think you should give a name. Sure. Have you ever talked to anybody before a game and then changed a fantasy lineup because of it? 100%. You have? Yes.

Like you've gotten inside info. Yeah, and it's happened a couple times. So I'm in one fantasy league because, frankly, doing the work that I do on the weekends and being in multiple is just not fathomable in my opinion. So I'm just in this eight-person league with my family. So sometimes if I'm not playing my dad or something i'll throw him a bone even and be like hey dad so and so's not starting but i make sure not to do it too

early because his big mouth like he'd go into work on friday be like oh this tight end so i wait till saturday night so he has plenty of time to change it but i have helped my dad out i have helped myself out um but also once or twice i think i might have helped you but. You might have helped me once or twice. I think I might have helped you once or twice. But I will say this. Also, not from an injury standpoint, but even from like if I know a defense, if a coach comes in and he's like, we are not going to let this running back do X, Y, and Z, I'm like, boop, out of the lineup.

Wow. Yeah, because especially if it's a good defense that's stopped a run game or something like that before, i've definitely altered my lineup how much of a chance do you get to watch the game live the whole game okay yeah unless like i was in denver earlier this year and uh josh mccown broke his hand and i had to follow him back to the x-ray room and stalk the outside of the x-ray room door i missed like five minutes of that game but okay yeah you i'm right there you there pending something really crazy happening that I have to follow back into the tunnels.

Yeah, I'm right there. Unfortunately, it's only my game. That's what's hard about fantasy. That's what I was about to ask you. How hard is it to pay attention to the rest of the league when you've got your game each week? This is your assignment. I assume that you're studying the two teams that you're getting ready to call the game with them and then you go into the meetings with them and then by the time the

game's over you don't have a clue what's going on with the other 30 teams if i'm lucky and if it's an easy travel sunday to get back to my home in philadelphia i'm able to get home for the sunday night game and that's it which means i've already missed all the other one o'clock games and i've missed the four o'clock games which is totally frustrating. I will say one of the favorite parts of my weeks is our car ride as a crew after our football games to the airport. Because we all pile in my producer, my director, Greg Gumbel, Trent Green and myself. And, you know, we're probably 30 minutes, give or take, from any airport, from the stadium. The first couple of minutes, everyone's silent because we just went through this four hour broadcast. And you're just kind of coming down from it.

The next 20, 25 minutes is trent reads off the scores um i am checking my fantasy lineup and and then everyone else is kind of giving commentary we're talking about our game we're talking about other scores we're listening to westwood one on the radio trying to hear whatever game is going on so uh i try it but it's difficult. I had a similar setup. When we used to do our fantasy show from New York, Adam, and we'd fly up, Jamie and I would alternate weeks. This is Jamie Eisenberg. When I would fly up, I would leave the studio with Nathan Zagura,

who we did the show with then. He would fire up the Red Zone on his iPad. I would fire up Sirius Radio on my phone. And between the two of us, for a 45-minute car ride from our studio at Chelsea to LaGuardia or JFK or wherever we're going, we're going through every nook and cranny of what's happening in the NFL to keep us up to date. I'm about to be disowned by my family by using too much data at all times on my family plan, so I wish I could just fire up the red zone any any chance i got but no i rely on the whole the old am radio station updates i just love that

you guys love football like i knew you love football as much as we do but like to know that your producer and director and greg and trent obviously trent but like everybody's still crazy about football uh i get that i like you like that. We get really attached to these teams. If we have the same team, my first year in the NFL, I had Pittsburgh five times. By the time Week 17 rolls around, Mike Tomlin, it's like, what else do we talk to him about? You really feel a connection, whether we just had a team and all of a sudden we had a team crash and burn the week before, and all of a sudden, there they go again. It's happening again.

You want to ride the wave with them as best as you can and and then also keep on track for the next week too because you know what's coming up who were the players who impressed you the most during this season that you got to see that you got to see like it doesn't count if you only did one or two patriots games yeah um ty Tyreek Hill. Jordan Howard. He was really strong. Yeah. I really wanted the quarterback situation in Denver just to pan out, like, in some capacity for them because I like those guys there. Who else?

Let me think. Oh, Juju. I mean, he's so fun. Yeah. So fun. Yeah. Those are just to name a few. And yeah, you talked to someone who was quite into fantasy football, right? Yes, a player to be named at some point in my career. Maybe this is just a thing that I tease out for the rest of my life. And people always wonder who I'm talking about. Yeah, I was somewhere

and we were meeting with a team and it was I was in Denver. I'll say that we were a mile high. Not not sure if we were home or away, but our entire production meeting. I mean, it was funny because Greg and Trent, producer, director, they want all this other information. And I'm sitting there eating this up because we're all fantasy football. The whole conversation. So when you say it's all fantasy football, it's however we got asking you like starter sick questions.

Yes, he and he was it wasn't just bragging but he was had some thorough concerns that like had been bothering him he told the story about he was they were playing in a game somewhere and and some a coach came in a coordinator someone came in and said we gotta we gotta change this one play because so-and-so's out on the other team and he told us i I reached back behind my locker and grabbed my phone and changed my line a couple minutes before kickoff. That's amazing. I know.

I was like, so you do that and I do that. We all do this. We all do it. But he's doing it. It was awesome. And then he was saying, whoever had been his quarterback a couple years ago, he told him on a Thursday, he's like, yo, I'm sitting you this weekend. I know what we're doing.

I know we're focusing on the run game because we're playing so-and-so. I benched you. And so then we asked the quarterback when he came in, you know, how does that feel? And it was a whole thing. But he was obsessed. That's awesome. It was unbelievable. Yeah.

We're talking to a bunch of people who are equally obsessed because they're listening to a fantasy football podcast in the middle of February. How refreshing is that? Well, I mean, it's awesome. It was awesome. Yeah. Because, for a number of reasons, but it's because we care. I mean, you hate to hear those stories of guys just straight up hating fantasy football

because they just get barked at all the time for not playing well. And then here's this guy that is equally as invested. And he said he never started the quarterback that they were playing that week. Oh, that's good to know. I told you 10 minutes, Jamie. It's about 10 minutes. I have like a million questions. Can I run down a few more? I'm here. Okay, cool. All right. I'm so interested in the production meeting. Tell me about it. Who does most of the talking and what are you allowed to ask about? What do they tell you? Do you think they're being honest? Tell me about the production meeting. It's an interesting dynamic and it changes team to team and it gets easier. I just finished my third year in the NFL. So as you come across guys

more and more, obviously you know how to handle some players versus others, some coaches versus others. And everyone's dynamic is different. I approach Adam adam gaze differently than i would approach belichick belichick exactly or you know just the just the run of personalities you can get is is different so but the anatomy of a production meeting is as follows on a or a weekend let's just say on a friday we land usually friday early morning we go to the home team facility we watch practice we all kind of just trickle in at different times um Trent for the past couple years his sons are going through their junior and senior year of high school football so we usually don't have him on Fridays because he stays home to watch his sons play so he's on the phone but Trent will go out and watch practice because to be honest I'm not I'm not looking for the same things as much as Trent is

so he's you know whatever how lineups, changes and whatnot, however that works. Sometimes the teams feed us, which is always very exciting because we get to eat what the players are eating. But then the coaches, the head coach comes in. It depends on the order, but the head coach comes in or players come right off the practice field. Like Peyton used to come right off, put his helmet down and sit down have the conversation and then he would able then he would go and change and shower and finish his day so everyone's different depends on who's kind of the we had the Texans this year on the road and uh who was it that came in and um oh I can't think of his name someone walked by us and was like hey can I just meet with you guys now?

Whoever was on our list. And we're like, sure. He came in, sits down. Bill O'Brien opens the door and he's like, coach, I'm going first. I was like, oh, man, this just started a battle. But so we meet with the head coach and then the players just trickle in one after another. And some are five minutes, some are 45 minutes. I mean, and then there are some questions that we say, okay, we have to get to this.

And then there are some questions where Greg or Trent will say, like, this is probably better if Jamie asks this. I don't know. Just the nature of the question or however we get there. Trent goes first always. Then Greg. Then they look at each other. It kind of goes over to Greg. And then maybe back to Trent.

And then I kind of slide in at the end with like a couple of questions. And then is it a lot? Is it a lot of game plan stuff? Is it how are you going to do this? How are you going to contain this? Um, usually when it gets to Trent, that's how that goes. He wants to know, you know, some coaches will go as far as they'll tell us like, oh, you know, trick play.

Like what we've known, we've known because because that's also like a director's call. Like she needs to – or my director, Suzanne Smith, she needs to know certain camera angles. I mean she's been with CBS since 1985. She's been around a lot of these coaches. So they'll sometimes give her a little like if we're doing this, watch for this trick play, which I always think is kind of cool. Yeah.

Do you get information on who's starting? Yes. Like if there's a quarterback situation or a running back? We had a situation a couple years ago where we were given two quarterbacks because they didn't want to tell us who was starting, which was frustrating because from a content standpoint, it's hard to differentiate. Like who are you really focusing on then?

And it's also really hard, too, if you are given information. And this is something that any network would struggle with. But let's say we are given, you know, oh, Tom Brady's not going to start. And they're going to tell us this on a Friday. That would never happen. It's really frustrating when other people break that news on Sunday morning and we've been sitting on it, I guess, is the best way to say it. But I almost feel like you have to do that. Oh, of course.

You don't want to burn a bridge. No, it's all about the relationships. And to be honest, game broadcasts are different than Adam Schefter trying to break news. And that's just the nature of the business. So I don't even know if I answered your question, Adam. Yeah, totally. Every meeting is different. Bill Belichick, he is sometimes challenging to talk to.

However, he is a brilliant historian and such an interesting man when it comes to lacrosse, the history of the game. I mean, we got into a conversation with him once as to how I think it was how the three-point stance has changed over time or something along those lines. And he was just so into it. It was so interesting. one of those strategies different one of the strategies my buddy in boston uses is he tries to soften bill with historical questions and then when he really needs to ask him something he tries to you know yes hey we just got done talking about you know the lawrence taylor days of the giants now why don't you tell me about this player's injury? And Belichick almost always clams up, knows better. But every team is different.

And like I said, every relationship grows. But then it's also hard. I didn't have the Patriots at all this year. So that changes. So then I haven't seen them. So it's different. All right, here's my last question. Were you at all a Family Guy fan like 10, 15 years ago?

Sure. Enough to get a reference here and there. Gumball to Gumball? Do you remember Gumball to Gumball? Yes. Oh, my gosh. Do you ever break it up with him? Yes.

Well, sometimes it's – I'll tell you this. We were in Kansas City. I was in this tiny elevator in the hotel, andreg was on the seventh floor and i was on the fifth so i get on some people get on the fourth floor and they turn around they were like brian gumbel i love you and greg is just like he like he never knows what to do like he's like i'm greg like i just and i just we were in this elevator and i was like this could not be the slowest elevator in the world right now. It was unbelievable. But yes,

we've, we have, uh, talked about it before. I've yet to meet Brian. I'm kind of, I have, they,

every time we have a game in New York, they have brother to brother dinner. And I just think that's like the sweetest thing ever. And, um, but Greg makes me laugh. He like never watches his brother's show. Like,

it's just so funny, like how they're brothers first. And that there's the fact that they both are amazing and icons in sports television is just like, yeah, we're brothers. Does Greg ever consider just playing it out? Like he's Brian Cumble.

No, he's fake. Yeah, that's me. Oh, you're right. Yeah. That's,

that's like when people yell at me on the sideline, like Allie LaForce. And I just look at them and I'm like, uh, yes. Like, I'm not even gonna I just look at them and I'm like, yes. Like, I'm not even going to fight you. And frankly, I'm flattered. I get Zac Efron all the time. So I totally get it.

You get which one? I get Zac Efron all the time. Oh, totally, right? I think I actually did that to you the first time I met you. Yep, yeah, it was weird. I get Peter Griffin. Oh my God. All right, my last question for you jamie is which players are you looking forward to watching play and maybe even you want to have on your fantasy

team man well not fantasy but i am interested to see how alex smith lands in washington um i was able to chat with patrick mahomes a little bit during Super Bowl week, and I'm interested to see how he slides into the offense in Kansas City. How did you like him, by the way? He was a nice young man. I was pleasantly surprised, actually. It was Super Bowl week, so it's kind of lighthearted, and he's just kind of walking around, so I just said hi.

But you know what I liked about him was having been in Kansas City, which is where Trent Green lives now, he said that he has reached out to Trent a lot, I guess, and uses him as a sounding board and a mentor, it sounds like. And I think for all the things that we have seen go down with rookie quarterbacks in the last five years, it's smart to do that. And if a resource is there, he should utilize it. So I was and I think Trent is one of the greatest guys in the game. So I think the fact that he is putting is putting the pieces together and using that to his benefit is awesome for him.

That is interesting to me. I'm interested to see how Eli turns things around, if Pat Schirmer is the answer there. I really like Schirmer. Being from Minnesota, he did wonders for the Vikings. And also, what are the Vikings going to do about their quarterback situation? Yeah. Fascinating. Isn't that crazy?

So crazy. I mean, it's, again, good problem to have. It's kind of like the Eagles with their quarterbacks. But the Vikings, a little bit more of a conundrum because they're all not under contract. Right. What would you do? I would see which one I could get for the cheapest amount and keep that one. And then I would try and find another one either via the draft or free of charge.

So let the other two walk. Well, there is one solution that trumps it all. And that's just drop a truckload full of $100 bills at Kirk Cousins' house and say, come play. And let all three of them go. Let all three. Wow. Adam, do you agree with that? Maybe Bridgewater stays for $5 million, $6 million a year.

I don't mind it because I think they could win the Super Bowl this year if they get great quarterback play. I agree. I don't mind them. I think you're just convinced that Teddy Bridgewater can't provide that yet. We don't know. The coaches obviously have a better idea on just how far Teddy's come along. Most teams don't have a huge window, so

you don't want to waste a year where it's like, well, he was just kind of getting his legs under him. Not to say that that would happen, but it could happen. I think I'd rather have Keenum this year than Bridgewater. Maybe not long-term, but just this year. You're not going to get Keenum for... He's going to get a ton of money.

I was going to say, is he the kind of guy, though, that defenses are going to figure him out? Like, did he get through? You know? Probably. But he's not going to be – And kind of like, out of feeling, incredible athlete, but like, what are the different variations to his game where he's going to be able to separate year in and year out? I mean, I'm glad he got a great contract.

But in Minnesota native, I think his story is incredible. But that's very interesting to me. I'm in his development. And I would go the other way to say that I think he's, he's pretty well developed and he's got, he's, he's, he's part of the reason why Keenum and Bradford,

and if Bridgewater had played for an extended period of time, why all three of those guys played well or would have played well. Like I, I, I want to give credit where it's due. Bradford played well early in the season, and then Case Keenum came in. But I think that it's got a lot more to do with how they schemed the offensive line to protect the quarterback and how well all those pass catchers did.

And I think that that just makes a huge difference because they were able to keep doing what they were doing even after Dalvin Cook got hurt. And that was almost as impressive as everything else that they put together. That's true. But I don't know how they keep Case Keenum if he's going to cost $15 plus million. But you go get Cousins. You go get Cousins. Cousins is obviously going to cost way more.

Yeah. But I think that that would be – I think that's the solution if I'm Minnesota. Interesting. Jamie, thank you for being on the show. That was awesome. Always a pleasure. Great stuff. Well, I'm going to – like Dave said, I'm going being on the show. That was awesome. Always a pleasure. Great stuff. Well, I'm going to, like Dave said, I'm going to be down here a lot more often,

so I might just have to crash the party again. Hope so. All right. I appreciate it, and good luck during the March Madness tournament. Oh, thank you. I know you're going to be on the sidelines there, too. We'll look for you. I can't wait.

That's when I get to focus on hoops and then right back to football. Awesome. Well, that is not stop. I like it. Not Jaime, but Jamie Erdahl, J-A-M-I-E, and we thank her very much. Thanks to Dave Richard. Thank you all for listening.

This has been Fantasy Football Today. We'll be back later in the week with another episode.