Fantasy Football Today - 03/11: Quick Reaction - Brown Trade and Hyde Signing (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: March 11, 2019

We'll have our big free agency reaction show tomorrow, but let's bring on Pete Prisco to talk about Antonio Brown and Carlos Hyde! Obviously, Brown is the headliner here and we'll go over his impact on the OAK offense and what PIT will look like without him. And what role will Carlos Hyde have with KC (17:00)? How much does it hurt Damien Williams? 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. All right, a little bonus episode for you here on Monday.

Going to be here. I really want to come on the show. So, Pete, thank you so much. Please, please, can I come on with you guys? Hey, by the way, do I have to drink every time I mention my own name? Pete Prisco, whoop, whoop, whoop. I'm bombed. Right? That's great. That is great. Do you like when people, whenever we mention you, say drink?

It's funny. It's a funny shtick. It's almost as funny as see you on Twitter. I mean, you know, my little shtick. Pete Briscoe drinks on air. Yeah. Look, I'm almost out of water, so we can't say your name that often. So, kind sir, what did you think about the Raiders getting Antonio Brown for third and fifth round picks?

Well, I mean, on the face value, it's a great deal for the Raiders because you're giving up a third and a fifth for a guy who's one of the best receivers in the league. But there are buts. One is he's 31 years old in the summer. His yards per catch went down from 15 into the 12s. His yards per game, which is significant, went from 109 to the 80s. He led the league yards per game last year and went to the 80s.

That's concerning. Two years ago. Yeah, two years ago. And then you got the fact that he's a diva. I mean, add that all up, and I think I understand why they made the deal. I'm a little concerned about it. And will he be a star by the time they get to Las Vegas? That's the question.

Well, will he be a star next year? Will he be a star in 2019? From a fantasy standpoint, will he ever be what he was in Pittsburgh, in Oakland? No, I don't think so. You guys? No, not to that level. Yeah, it's too hard to expect that with the quarterback downgrade, system downgrade, talent around him downgrade. But he could still be successful. He just won't be as successful. Give me numbers. He's going to continue to trend. I think he'll still be around 85 to 90 catches. think he'll still be around 1100 yards and i think it'll probably be a touchdowns i mean that's you know puts him at the low end number one range of

guys that you would still obviously start week in week out but he's not going to be uh the the statistical monster that he's been and and was starting to trend away from you know the touchdown saved him last year if he scores six seven touchdowns he's not the same guy right and that's where i think you're going to see the biggest decline in antonio brown is in touchdowns i don't think he's getting double digit numbers like he got in pittsburgh mainly because it's derrick carr at the trigger and it's an oakland offense that when they get inside the red zone i don't know if they're going to be thinking about 84 as much as maybe pittsburgh did and i think he can still he might have five touchdowns this year just

catching and breaking a long run he can still do that i don't i don't think he can still, he might have five touchdowns this year just catching and breaking a long run. He can still do that. I don't think he's necessarily slowing down. I also think that he's going to catch a lot of passes. And I think the floor, in my mind, is 90 receptions. I think he can get there. The way that Oakland just likes to dink and dunk and play conservatively. You know, conservatively? Bidibibly?

Bidibibly. Buh! Gruden wants those passes completed downfield. Short area passing, a couple of deep shots. The numbers say he's slowing down. But if he's getting volume to the tune of 90 catches, he's not going to average 15 yards per catch. I think he can get close to 1,200 yards. His 20-plus catches last year were the lowest since 2003.

I mean, that's concerning. Now, there was a little difference in the offensive philosophies, a little change a little bit. And he had a star opposite him. Right. So, look, they're also going to be probably a high-volume offense just based on how their run game may look if they don't add somebody to their backfield,

and their defense is still clearly a work in progress. And, look, there's still the unknown of they're in the Kyler Murray business, essentially. They may make the move to go get him. And if that happens, how happy will Antonio Brown be if he's playing with a young quarterback? It may not happen this year, but it could happen next year if they do decide to move on from Derek Carr. And he's never had to do that in his career. He's never had to play without a veteran quarterback over a 16-game span. I'd like him less if he was with Kyler Murray.

Of course. Do you like him less if they get Bell? If they add other pieces, yeah. I mean, they could still bring back Jared Cook. That would hurt. If they add another receiver, that's going to bring him along. They're going to bring some back in, but Bell catches a ton of passes no matter where he plays. Right, and that would impact everybody.

Bell would effectively be the number two receiver in Oakland, just as he was the number two receiver in Pittsburgh. See, I think that would hurt him somewhat in their offense. I think that would be a thing. And the other thing is, you mentioned it, he got a lot of doubles last year still. That's why Juju was able to do what he did. So we could flip it forward to go to the other side. What's it mean for Juju in Pittsburgh?

Juju's going to have – we talk about this all the time, Jamie, about how a guy is now thrust into the number one role. Can he handle that and handle the double? The great ones handle it. The average ones have problems with it. So I'm curious to see how that plays out. So I was having a conversation, Adam, with Heath. He does projections still. And he said he projected Juju right now as his number one receiver.

He's not going to rank it that way because he's going to dial back some of the numbers. But he said just looking at what his efficiency was last year and the expected target boost, that if he stays that efficient, he's going to put up monster numbers because clearly the only thing missing for him last season was the touchdowns. He was better in terms of catches

and yards than what Brown was on basically the same amount of targets, and that's factoring in Brown missing that Week 17 game. You look at what Juju did in 2017 when Brown missed the end of the season. He was a star, you know, from the New England game through the playoffs. When Brown had that calf injury, Juju was just a monster. So there's a lot to like about him. But yeah, you're right, Pete. I'll always go back to the conversation I had with Mike McCoy after Keenan Allen's rookie season.

Because Keenan Allen was very good as a rookie. And I said to him, well, what do you expect from this year? And he's like, the target's on his back now. Everybody knows he can play, and now can he handle the attention? And he struggled a little bit, and then he got hurt. So I think that's one thing to consider is, can Juju do it? Now, with Ben, with this offense, with the fact that he's going into his third year,

that's really the big step for receivers, that maturation process. I think he'll be fine. I think he'll put up great numbers, but he's not going to be as efficient, and that's something you just have to take into account. But Randall Cobb never handled it. When Jordy went out and he was the one, he couldn't handle it. I can give you the numbers of Juju in the four games, basically regular season games that he's played without Antonio Brown,

including when Brown got hurt early against New England two seasons ago. Six catches for 114 yards, six for 75 and a touchdown, nine for 143 and a touchdown, and then last year in Week 17, it was ugly, but he got this touchdown, five catches, 37 yards and a touchdown. So that is a touchdown in three of those four games. And one of those was without Ben. Oh, right, Week 17 against Cleveland in 2017 was without Ben. Two 100-yard games, three games with 75 or more catches out of four. So pretty good.

But let me go back to Antonio Brown. I believe his target share also spikes by about 5% too. Let me go back to Antonio Brown and compare him. You guys tell me who you'd rather have. Antonio Brown with the Raiders or Tyreek Hill? Hill. Hill. Hill. who you'd rather have. Antonio Brown with the Raiders or Tyreek Hill? Hill. Hill. PPR is close though.

Mike Evans or Brown? Brown. Too many mouths to feed in Tampa. T.Y. Hilton or Brown? Brown. Okay, so we did the Twitter poll last time when you did a show, but it was like he's going to be like an end of round two. 12-team league. We're talking around pick 24, so we did the Twitter poll last time when you did a show, but it was like he's going to be like an end of round two, 12-team league.

We're talking around pick 24, so somewhere before and after. I think he goes before that. I think you're probably talking 20. Okay, 20 or later. 20. I mean, is there even a question? Beckham or Brown? Oh, Beckham.

Beckham. I think it's going to be close. I'll say Beckham. Why? Because of the quarterback? A little bit because of the quarterback and a little bit because Odell's missed some time. Yeah, but if Beckham plays 16 games, different story. You have to worry about Brown?

No, I mean he's getting to that point where age injuries happen. I'm not there with him yet. So, Pete, let me ask you what you think about— Slow him down, though. The numbers don't lie. Pete, let me ask you what you think about Derek Carr. Because, you know, he didn't have a great season last year. He was the number 19 quarterback in four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues, number 18 in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues.

But he had a career-high 68.9% completion rate. That's way above his career high. Career-high yards per attempt. He didn't have great talent around him. And just two years ago, 2016, I mean, I feel like he was kind of an MVP candidate. He was just short of 4,000 yards, 28 touchdowns, six interceptions in 15 games. What kind of quarterback do you think Derek Carr is? A little bit above average. Nothing more. I think you can lump him into that category of Dalton, Cousins, Alex Smith when he was healthy, guys like that.

I don't think there's a huge upside for him. I think he's a little bit above average quarterback. If everything goes around him right, he can win games and he can put up some decent numbers. But when things go poorly, he's not going to carry your team. That's who I think he is. It's funny, Adam, that you mentioned the 2016 season because that was when Cooper and Crabtree were playing probably their best football, certainly for Cooper prior to last year, and Crabtree made it the last time he played good football, at least in terms of their statistics.

2015, both those guys put up good numbers as well. The line was really good that year. And that's the second thing I was going to say is the offensive line was fantastic. And so, yeah, Carr wasn'tvp candidate that season before the broken leg and he hasn't really been the same since remember 2017 he had the the broken back you know so he's been recovering from injuries essentially the last two seasons prior to last year so the hope would be is that if he does get a a brown type performance that we've seen from him over the last six seasons of over 100 catches over 1200 yards and over uh nine touchdowns, that's going to help him in a big way.

It's going to help Jordy Nelson, too, because it's going to draw attention away from him. And then depending what else they do to bring back, you know, the line will be better. I don't know. Well, they got rid of a seven. Yeah, but the tackles will get better. You got to figure that those guys will be much better than they were a year ago. Colton Miller and – I think maybe one of them can, but both of them, stepping up and playing better?

Well, you have to. You have to get better. I mean, if you're a good player and they draft them to be good players – one kid came out of this small school. He had a big major adjustment. Right. But, yeah, those tackles will be better, but they've got to get the guards solidified because neither of the guards played that well. I think an interesting thing will be to see, and no one's going to draft this this way,

nor should they, will Carr be better than Roethlisberger? I don't think so, but you look at it right now, which receiving core would you rather have? The Raiders or the Steelers? Well, I don't even know who's in the Raiders receiving core other than Antonio Brown.

No, Jordy's there. I guess Jordy's there. I'd rather have the Steelers. Versus Juju and James Washington. I'd rather have the Steelers. And the running backs. Most people would rather have the Steelers. But again, you just look at it on the surface. Just the receivers. You can make an argument the Raiders might be better.

The Steelers' line is better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I want. Oh, team is better. Offense is better. No question. Quarterback is better. Just receivers.

Just receivers. Is Juju better than Antonio Brown? I would say they're on par. Wow. I'd say we'll find out. I'd probably put Antonio ahead of him. Statistically. Statistically.

Even though he's slowing down. Statistically. They're going to be on par. Age is undefeated, Dave. I know. Unless you're Frank Corn. Unless you're Frank Corn. But a 31-year-old receiver isn't like a 31-year-old running back.

He's not that old. I mean, he's getting there, but 31 is not that old. That's when they start to fall, though. They start to go down. Is it? I mean, I don't know. Because people said that about Brown two years ago, and he bounced back very nicely. I always mention that, 2017.

He was 29 then. I was 31. I know. I know. So if there's one player – You're 14. You don't know mention that. 2017. He was 29 then. I was 31. I know. If there's one player... You're 14. You don't know what that's like. Can I tell you guys a funny story? There's a sponsor for the college basketball podcast and off the bench

called Loci. They make these bracelets. They have team-themed bracelets. They have orange and green for Miami. I was thinking of getting one because there's a promo code. Of the options for the sizes for the bracelets. By the way, I think the promo code is college25. But just listen to the college basketball podcast.

Okay, so here we go. It's the game day collection. And then I couldn't figure out which size to get. You can tell me. We've got small, usually fits adolescents and women with thin wrists. That's you. Medium, usually fits teenage boys and most women.

Large usually fits most men. Or extra large fits larger wrists. You've got to go with the first. Who has larger wrists? You, your wife, or your son, who's, what, six months? Almost eight months. I think I have to go with the medium, which usually fits teenage boys and most women. That's probably safe.

You'll probably get away with that. You can go with the extra large and use it as a belt. Is it like a link bracelet or just something that wraps around? It looks like there's links. Because you can take links out. No, you can't link it, but I think you can unhook it. Yeah, I think I've got to go with the medium for most women. All right, so who's the one player?

Wait, Pete, do you know that you and I both grew up in South Florida? Right. You're obviously older than me. I grew up in the heyday of the hurricanes. I grew up a Hurricanes fan. And I had a shirt, a t-shirt that I wore in middle school, a Hurricanes t-shirt. Two shirts.

Huh? Two shirts. Two shirts that I wore in middle school, a Hurricanes t-shirt. Two shirts. Huh? Two shirts. Two shirts that I wore in middle school that when I was cleaning out my family's house after they were going to sell it, I found the shirt. So I said, hey, Adam, do you think these will fit you? Not only do they fit him, my shirt's from middle school. He still wears them today. Yeah, I do occasionally.

I'm not wearing my shirt from middle school, I can tell you that. Alright, so if there's one player affected most by the Antonio Brown trade, good or bad, on Pittsburgh, on Oakland, who is it? Roethlisberger, bad. Roethlisberger. Unless James Washington's something.

And Juju's a one. I think they've got to add somebody else. They found guys where they find Antonio Brown in the sixth round. They did. They took him a couple years to get going. But they get guys all over the place. Fine, but I'm talking about 2019. Yeah, Ben's the biggest loser.

Yes. I think Jared Cook is – he led the team in targets, catches, touchdowns. I just – if he comes back to Oakland – Yeah, there's no saying he's going to come back, though. Yeah. I'm just – in the scenario that he's back, I just – And that's – He was number Oakland... Yeah, there's no saying he's going to come back though. In the scenario that he's back, he was number five last year. There's no way.

That's the last point I want to make on Gruden is that he found a way to get a career year out of Jared Cook in his age 31 season. I think Gruden can do just fine with Antonio. But let's not forget that Gruden sent Keyshawn Johnson home because he didn't like his attitude the way he was in Tampa, remember?

I do remember. It's going to be interesting because they're going to lose. He's used to a team that averages, what, nine wins a season, essentially? Oh, no. More than that. It's got to be more than that over six years. Call it ten. They make the playoffs a lot. The last couple of years weren't very good in Tampa, though. No, no, no.

No, we're talking about Antonio Brown. Oh, yeah. So you're talking about a guy that's used to winning, that's used to being part of a successful organization. However things fell apart at the end of the 2018 campaign, he certainly has been part of a winning culture. And so if the Raiders don't get to that level in 2019, how is he going to handle that, especially if his numbers aren't coming along with it? He'll look at his bank account and be thrilled, but will he be as happy, and will that lead to maybe some pouting and some poor production? Oh, he'll pout.

He's a hard worker. Look, from what I was told by people in Pittsburgh. But not if they're winning and he's getting numbers. But he's a hard worker. He loves the game. He practices hard. And the players in Pittsburgh loved him until the end. And it started fraying,

and the players kind of turned on him a little bit. Okay, last thing on this, and then I'll just get Pete's quick thoughts on Carlos Hyde, and he can hop off if he needs to. We'll stay on and talk about it. Just Dave, Jamie, Ben Roethlisberger, is he a top 10 quarterback? No. No, he's not top 12 either. James Washington, he's a blank round pick.

Eight. Yeah, I would say seventh. I'm going way later than that on James Washington. Someone's got to catch the passes. Someone, yeah. But there's a lot of people in this league who can catch passes, and they might do better than James Washington. But the Steelers throw the ball around, and they find –

They like him. Kevin Colbert at the Combine was very – he got asked about some of the drops that Washington had, specifically the one in Denver. And he said we have, you know, I mean, clearly he's going to back him, but, you know, he said we have a lot of faith in him. So the draft will tell you, you know, if they add somebody in the first round, second round, third round, you know, they have, what, two third round picks now, obviously? They won't draft one in the first round.

I'd be surprised if they did. That's not their MO. I don't know the last time they spent a first round pick on a wide receiver. Was it Plaxico? Maybe. Okay, Pete. The line not their M.O. I don't know the last time they spent a first-round pick on a wide receiver. Was it Plaxico? Maybe. Okay, Pete. Let me get Pete's thoughts on Carlos Hyde. One-year, $2.8 million deal with the Kansas City

Chiefs. Pete, what are your thoughts on Carlos Hyde? If he's motivated, I think that's a good place for him. Again, I'm going to tell a story that happened last year. He refused to go in the game at Tennessee, I was told, by people in Jacksonville. Whatever that was about, who knows? That was the Thursday night game.

Yeah. He had an issue with his play time, and he didn't go in the game. So that's never a good look. But if he's motivated, I think that's a good spot for him. And look, they need a nice backup running back, and Spencer Ware is probably out the door. So it makes a lot of sense. I like it. You know, I think he's somebody that you can you can easily look at and say could be the best running back there, not necessarily by week one. But Damian Williams

has never been a 16 game starter. The one time he got a chance to be a starter prior to last season was when Jay Ajayi was traded. He got two games and then he got hurt. I think it was a shoulder. I wasn't able to finish the season. And that's what made Kenyon Drake the star that he was at the end of that season. So Williams should be the first guy drafted. This hurts him a little bit. Doesn't hurt him a lot. But this is a great guy to target with a mid-round pick. Carries?

How do they split the carries? I would imagine he's probably getting six to eight if Williams is there. Right. And then, you know, the thing will be is what happens by the second quarter of the season. Once they get to week five, week six, is Damian Williams still doing what he did last year? I mean, he was on pace for 27 touchdowns and 1,700 total yards. That's the insanity of what Damian Williams was doing. But he's on a great offense with a team that's not going to be having to see stack boxes

because of that passing game. And if he gets the starter's role by any reason, for any reason, injury or just better performance, you're going to be thrilled with Carlos Hyde. I'm going to have a lot of shares of Carlos Hyde. Yes, well, we're going to be fighting over him in a lot of drafts because I think he's going to be good. I've got him at round nine right now. No way.

There's players who I'm looking at who I've ranked ahead of him that I go, no, I can't do it. I'm going to take Carlos Hyde ahead. So it was just an initial take to have him around 100th overall, but I love the lottery ticket potential of him. Damian Williams has never had more than 50 carries in a season, in a regular season anyway. It's a lot of faith to put into him where we were going to be drafting him

before this news. Where are you going to be drafting Damian Williams now with the Carlos Hyde news? I guess the one good thing is it seems natural that Williams would stay in on passing downs. It's not like they added Hyde's shown it, but he's not like a demon in the passing game or anything like that. I don't think they're done either. No, I don't either. They might draft one. I'd be shocked if they didn't, just given what the history is there.

But I think also you look at it. Remember, I think it was two years ago with Minnesota. They had McKinnon. They signed Latavius Murray. And they drafted Dalvin Cook. So don't be surprised if it's something similar. I don't think this is done. But right now, if it's just those two guys, I'm going to take Damian Williams probably round four.

Which means I probably not going to get a lot of them. Pete, thanks for coming on, man. That could be a bust if you drafted him. I mean, it could be. We've been talking about Damian Williams going in the second round. That's a feast of famine for me. No, I'd wait it out now. Because there's a veteran presence there that could

hurt him. And, you know, the money says Damian Williams. They pay Damian Williams not a lot more, but more than what they're giving Carlos Hyde. But Hyde has proven, mostly San Francisco, a little bit of Cleveland last year, that he can be a good running back. That's going to do it for today's episode of Fantasy Football today. Pete Prisco, thanks for coming on. Great stuff, man.

Appreciate it. All right. See you guys. And Dave and Jamie, thank you. Yeah, whatever. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Yeah, bye. We've got to talk about Danny Amendola tomorrow, okay? We'll talk See you guys. And Dave and Jamie, thank you. Yeah, whatever. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Yeah, bye. We got to talk about Danny Amendola tomorrow, okay?

We'll talk to you then. Thanks a lot for listening, everybody. Wow, what a tease. See you. Danny Amendola. Tune in tomorrow, everybody. Danny Amendola. Here we go.