Fantasy Football Today - 03/15 Fantasy Football Podcast: Free Agency is Awesome!

Episode Date: March 15, 2018

Our heads are spinning as Kirk Cousins, Carlos Hyde, Isaiah Crowell, Jerick McKinnon, Sammy Watkins and Allen Robinson (among others) have new teams and new Fantasy values. Let's get started with winners and losers as we cover everything from the first round of free agency ... Talking McKinnon's potential in SF (3:36), MIN with Cousins (11:46) and why it might not be great news for Adam Thielen, CHI with Allen Robinson (22:55) and if Rex Burkhead (28:26) is a winner ... All the leftovers at QB (33:00), RB (37:32), WR (39:45), TE (43:41) including Jimmy Graham with GB, OL (47:50) and defense ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at 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. Oh yeah, everybody. I hope you are as fired up, as pumped up as we are for this podcast. Guys,

these are the podcasts that dreams are made of. Right? I thought you were going to say these are the podcasts of our lives. These are the best podcasts. So are the podcasts of our lives. I mean, I've been excited to talk since we got off the air doing the Brown stuff.

As the news has gone in, I can't wait for Thursday's show. I felt the same way. I've just been building up to this moment in my career, in my life. It's all led up to this show, which I expect will be the most popular podcast ever done. Not just by CBS Sports, but by anyone ever. Yes, top of the charts. Jamie, unfortunately not here.

He's still on paternity leave. He's having major FOMO right now, I'm sure. But we are going to talk about all of the moves, and we are going to talk about the winners and the losers. Some of them just not necessarily players changing teams. But, for example, Heath, Marquise Goodwin is a winner, right? Marquise Goodwin, thus far, is a winner. Something could happen during this podcast that would change that.

But as of right now, the 49ers came into free agency with just about as much money, maybe more money than any other team in the NFL. There was a lot of concern from Marquise Goodwin truthers that Sammy Watkins or Alan Robinson could get in the way. They're both gone. They're not going to San Francisco. The only money that San Francisco has spent on receivers so far is to extend Marquise Goodwin, who

had a phenomenal rapport with Jimmy Garoppolo at the end of last year. He sure did. And Dave's here, too. Hi, Dave. What up? How you feeling? I'm feeling good. The NCAA tournament also started, and we've got our bracket with all the

listeners. Yes. I have Rhode Island in the finals. I did a lot of research this year. Yeah, I have Rhode Island in the finals. I need them to pull through here. Yeah. We're recording this while Rhode Island and Oklahoma are doing it. And Trey Young just made a deep three to put Oklahoma up one with two minutes left.

Oh, really? Oh, is that right, Heath? Because what's about to happen is apparently my TV is ahead of yours. It's going to make you very disappointed. Anyway, enough of that. Enough of that. I don't have Rhode Island in the finals. I have the winning one game.

Let's talk football here. And last year, look, Dave, we had some good names, right? We had Alshon Jeffrey. We had Pierre Garçon. It was fun. It was cute. Good names? Yeah, they were fine, right?

They were okay. Alshon was a huge name. Davis Murray might have been like one of the biggest big name running backs. Adrian Peterson, Eddie Lacy. Yeah. Rex Burkhead. This year was like, screw you, 2016. Give me some winners and we will go through everything.

Kirk Cousins, Sam Bradford, Carlos Hyde, Jarek McKinnon, Deion Lewis, Allen Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Jordy Nelson. One of those names is not like the other. Whose? You're like, we're going to go through everything. Kirk Cousins, Sam Bradford. We really need to go through. We have to, I guess.

You left out Dante Moncrief. Dante Moncrief, yes, absolutely. Albert Wilson's fantasy value. What was that? Albert Wilson. I know who my big loser is. Actually, I know who my big winner is. It's the Patriots because I don't think the Dolphins, Bills, or Jets

really did anything to make themselves a lot better. But, Dave, why don't you go for it? Who's a fantasy winner other than Marquise Goodwin? I'm going to stick with the guy on Marquise Goodwin's team now, and it's Jarek McKinnon. And now that Carlos Hyde is off to Cleveland, McKinnon got more money than Hyde got per year to go to the 49ers. He's a fast running back with good hands. He can run routes out of

the backfield. He's going to be a big part of that run game. He won't be the only guy. Matt Breida, Joe Williams, they'll be involved too. I'd be a little surprised if they drafted a running back at this point. I think Jarrett McKinnon's in line for a career high in touches, total yards, and touchdowns. He's going to be a very trendy breakout pick this year, and I think he'll be worth it running in San Francisco. Okay, we've got to talk about this. This is arguably the most interesting one.

I mean, the Jimmy Graham thing is fascinating, but the money that they gave McKinnon, four years, $30 million, and no contract is really, except for Kirk Cousins, which is fully guaranteed $84 million, no contract is really as valuable as what it says on paper for the most part. So I don't know. This one really surprised me. Do you buy McKinnon as that kind of back? Well, he almost had 1,000 total yards last year.

He's had at least 750 yards each of the last two years. I would have a hard time believing in him as an every-down feature back. But as a guy to lead a duo or trio, I mean, we saw him do it before. He was okay in that role, and I think in San Francisco, his talents can be maximized with Kyle Shanahan. A lot of this has to do with two guys, Kyle Shanahan, who I definitely believe in as an offensive play caller and a guy who can help his players put up numbers,

and Jimmy Garoppolo, who's the best quarterback the 49ers have had since, fill in the blank. Jeff Garcia. You could say Garcia. I would accept that as an answer. I would accept Colin Kaepernick as an answer. Oh, I forgot about him. But the bottom line is that I think McKinnon is going to be in a spot

where he'll get more work and be in as good, if not a better situation, with the best play caller he's ever been around. I think the really interesting question I have for McKinnon, and I do think there's still some chance that he is in a committee committee, but the really interesting part of this for me is San Francisco and throwing the ball to running backs. Because they threw 169 passes to running backs last year. That's an enormous amount.

But you look at Carlos Hyde's targets. He had several, almost, most of his games were 6-plus targets. He had an 11, a 13, an 8, and a 9 early in the year. His last 5 games, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4. Let me tell you the stats.

Let me tell you the stats, though, because Carlos Hyde had 58 catches last year. He had 48 of them in 11 games without Garoppolo starting. He had 10 catches in five games with Garoppolo starting. And, yeah, Brita, I tried to look that up. I don't think it was anything significant with his catches, but I'll confirm that. I'm going to look right now. I'm on it.

No, I don't know, because I thought about that, too. I have some interesting concerns about McKinnon. I mean, if they had brought him over on a normal, like a reasonable contract that I would have expected, I would have thought McKinnon was going to be part of a tandem. But they gave him so much money, which just kind of surprised me. But like Dalvin Cook averaged 4.8 yards per carry last year. Jared McKinnon averaged 3.8.

I feel like he might not be as good as we hope he is or think he is. Well, and Carlos Hyde averaged 3.9 last year in San Francisco. Carlos Hyde, who had never averaged below 4, and had averaged 4.6 the year before. I wonder if that's a byproduct of the bad quarterbacking and the bad offensive line. Offensive line, maybe, but Carlos Hyde did not improve yards per carry-wise. In fact, I believe he got worse with Jimmy Garoppolo.

He did. He averaged 3.6 yards per carry in five games with Garoppolo. Now, we know that doesn't really make sense, right? It's small sample size, but I cannot sit here and say, well, their run game got better when Garoppolo was the quarterback. It's not the case. So just throwing that out there. And for Breida, he had a total of four targets in his final five games.

Right, right. So maybe the guy we've got to look at is Kyle Juszczyk and see where he shook out in terms of targets, except he's not going anywhere. I don't believe any of the running backs had very many targets in the last five games because Marquis Goodwin got all of them. We don't know what Jimmy Garoppolo's tendencies are, but we do know that in the five games,

he didn't throw to running backs very often. All right, so who do you like better right now, McKinnon or Hyde? I think it's Hyde, but it's not by a lot. Yeah, I'll say Hyde. I haven't gotten around to mapping out what I think the 49ers or Browns completely look like. Hyde's obviously got Duke Johnson,

who I still expect to be heavily involved, but I'd lean Hyde, especially in standard. All right, guys. Any other winners that stand out? I know we spent a lot of time on McKinnon, but I really did think that was the most interesting one. Who else stands out to you? My first one that came to mind was Patrick Mahomes,

and it also involved one of my losers, who was Sammy Watkins. But I do think adding Sammy Watkins to that offense, you're talking about Mahomes now, gets Watkins and Tyreek Hill a couple of just incredible field stretchers. You've got Travis Kelsey over the middle. You've got Kareem Hunt. It's all set up for him there. I did a Twitter poll yesterday. I want to see what people have to say here.

It was, what do you think about Tyreek Hill's value with the addition of Sammy Watkins? It has improved, no change, or it has gotten worse? And no change, 55% is the winner. Yep, that's what I would say. Yeah, it has improved and it has gotten worse, 23% and 22%. I lowered his targets just like a very small amount, but I don't think it's a huge impact. Okay, so is Hill clearly, I mean, it's's a stupid question but we'll just get it out there clearly better than sammy

walkins for fantasy next year yes i believe so yeah but could you see a scenario where walkins has his best season yes no no no i can't Okay, why not? Because I don't think he'll get the targets or the yards that Hill and Kelsey will get Does this hurt Travis Kelsey at all? It could It really comes down to just how you think Sammy Watkins will be used Is he going to be a downfield threat like Tyreek Hill? Probably some of the time he will. But I also think you could see him end up more as a red zone threat,

which is what he ended up being in Los Angeles last season. And let's just remember, like Sammy Watkins' best season, on a per-game basis, I don't really think he has a chance of doing that. But the best season of his career, he plays 16 games. His best year is 60 catches for 1,000 yards. I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could get to 1,100 this year. I think that's totally unreasonable.

With Kelsey and Tyreek Hill on the field. I haven't projected around 900. How many yards is Patrick Mahomes throwing for? I'd expect 4,000. How many did Alex Smith throw for last year? Like 3,600 or something? In 15 games? Yeah, 30.

Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm way off. He had 4,042 yards. He had a very good year. 4,000 yards in 15 games. Previously, he had not thrown for more than 3,500 yards with the Chiefs. Last year, he threw the ball more, and he had a great year. And so far, the Chiefs' defense has gotten quite a bit worse.

So where do you have Mahomes if he's a winner for you? Is he a top 15 guy? He's right there. There is a big jumbled mess of quarterbacks right on the cusp of top 12, and he's in the middle of it now. Okay, that's like Goff, Mariota, Garoppolo, guys like that. Wentz. Wentz, okay.

I'm starting to come your way on Wentz because of the health, just so you know. Well, I think the health and I think the volume. Like you said, I think he's going to throw more next year. Their defense is going to be outstanding. It's gotten even better. I don't know why he would throw more next year. Fair enough. All right, Dave, losers, winners, anybody you want to talk about?

I want to talk about the Minnesota Vikings now that Kirk Cousins is their quarterback. I think that they're all winners in that they should be able to maintain what they did with Case Keenum in his career best season. And I fully expect Kirk Cousins to remain efficient and effective. Two nice words that begin with the letter E. He had good pass catchers to work with in Washington. He's got better ones now, especially at receiver specifically. And I believe in John DeFilippo.

I think he's going to be a head coach probably by this time next year because I think he will coordinate a sensational offense in Washington, or I'm sorry, in Minnesota. And I think Kirk Cousins will be a better red zone quarterback with him. And, yeah, I think Cousins is going to finish as a top 10 fantasy quarterback again. Wouldn't surprise me if his numbers were just about as good as what they have been. 30 total touchdowns would be one more than what he's delivered each of the

past three seasons at least. And 4,000 yards on top of it. Now that's a guy who's going to throw for over 4,000 yards. The only problem I have with Cousins, I think the situation's better. I agree with 99.9% of what Dave just said. I'm afraid that his ceiling is a little bit lower going to Minnesota. I expect them to be a good team. And once again, it kind of comes back to the Carson Wentz thing.

They have not been a team that has thrown the ball a ton over the last few years. I don't think their defense is going to be a problem, and they have Dalvin Cook. I'm not sure they're a team that throws it a lot. Cousins could improve in terms of efficiency. I don't know that he does so on a yardage basis, though, because he's already been a 7 and a half yards per attempt guy. So he's going to have to do it in terms of touchdowns, which is a possibility. And I think that that sets up a good floor for him.

Yes, I think that's really what it comes down to, because I don't think he's going to throw 600 times either. Limited ceiling. Well, he's been a top nine quarterback three years in a row, Kirk Cousins. Yeah. And I mean, it's a fairly similar situation. It's a good tight end and good receivers, probably worse tight end and better receivers than what he had. He's got a running back who can catch balls

out of the backfield, even without McKinnon. Dalvin Cook can do it. But here is my question. I think that Adam Thielen might be a loser. He had 143 targets last year. Yeah, that's going down. In Kirk Cousins' three seasons as the starting quarterback in Washington, I believe no wide receiver had more than 114 targets.

Remember, Dave, we sort of discovered that on the air. He just spreads the ball around. He really gets everybody involved. It's a great thing for him. It's kind of like what he says about Mike Evans and what Jameis Winston was doing at the end of last year. Too many mouths to feed. So I wonder if it's more like 110 targets for Adam Thielen,

and I don't think he can produce close to what he did last year if the targets come down to that number. Yeah, my only hesitation there would be was that entirely a Kirk Cousins thing or was that a bit of a philosophical thing from Gruden? I don't know the answer to that. It may very well be right, and we should probably expect Thielen's targets to come down a little bit, but we could also find out that was more of a Washington thing than a Cousins thing. So who's made the biggest movement up or down in your rankings? I know we're talking winners and losers, but it's a similar question.

Any big-time movers? Derrick Henry has moved up and down over the last month. DeMarco Murray got cut, and I was like, yes, finally! And they signed Deion Lewis, and it was a bit of a groan from me. And as it stands right now, I don't know that you can really trust Henry or Deion Lewis as more of a low-end number-two running back. And I honestly thought there was a chance a week ago that they would just bring in a third down guy only

and he would be a borderline number one. I don't really see that now. Deion Lewis is too good of a runner. But he's also an injury-prone runner. So do you think Derrick Henry gets 15 carries a game? I think he does in the games where you're not going to have Deion Lewis available. Yeah. In the games that you are going to have.

But that's the knock on Deion Lewis. Like, you can mock me for saying that all you want, but I think that that's going to be the problem, is that they could either overuse Deion Lewis and he'd get hurt, or they could just utilize him along the lines of 13 touches per game, many of them in passing situations. And then you've still got Derrick Henry getting close to 15 touches. I haven't projected. Who's getting used at the goal line?

Who's got the better chance to stay healthy? I'm liking this because now I can get Derrick Henry around later than where I thought I was going to have to get him. I have Henry at 202, so I guess that's more like 12 to 13 carries per game. In a standard scoring league, I have no interest in Deion Lewis. I think he's useless. I don't necessarily think that's true. I mean, look, I have no idea how it's going to look, but my – like, why – it's a weird fit.

But they are going to be a little bit different of a team, right? I mean, they have a new head coach, new coordinator bringing LeFleur over. But, like, it just doesn't make any sense. You're ready to give your third-year running back, Derrick Henry, the reins here. Turn him loose. Give him 250 carries. He had 176 last year. I don't know why they brought him. But they didn't pay Lewis that much.

They didn't pay him nearly as much as what McKinnon is getting. So if you wanted them to turn him loose and then they go ahead and sign another big time free agent running back and the contract really, I know people, there was a jarring line in all the stories that said Dion Lewis is now a top 10 paid running back, but that doesn't really make a difference to me. What does that tell you about how the coaching staff, this new coaching staff in Tennessee, thinks of Derrick Henry, that they went out and they made this move? What does that tell you? I don't know that it tells me what you're getting at.

I don't really agree with that premise that they don't think highly of him. Deion Lewis did not get McKinnon money, but he also did not get backup just in case Derrick Henry gets it. No, but did he get pass-catching down money? Because I know he didn't catch passes last year, but he has in the past. He had 32 catches in 16 games. That's not much.

But three years ago, he had 36 catches in seven games. So we know he can catch passes. Is that his role? Is he the third down guy? No. I think he's going to definitely be the two-minute offense guy. And when the Titans are playing from behind, you're going to see a lot more of him than you are of Derrick Henry.

But I think they're going to be almost mixed and matched and frustrating to deal with just like the Patriots running backs were. Oh, yeah. I think that both of these running backs are going to be dependent on the success of their team. If the Titans are a 12-4, 11-5 team this year, I'm probably too low on Derrick Henry. If they're a 6-10, 7-9 type team, I'm probably too low on Deion Lewis. And so with that in mind, you look at their schedule coming up.

You know that they're going to have uphill battles against that Jacksonville defense. Texans defense is going to be better because they're going to get a lot of healthy guys back they play the patriots they play the eagles they play the chargers those are going to be tough games dallas on the road is going to be tough on tennessee there's a lot of games that do set up for deon lewis to be a factor in the event he's actually on the field. And just remember this. He's missed at least seven games in three of the previous seasons before this past one. So, Heath, are your rankings updated? They are not, no. Okay.

Dave's got Derrick Henry 16th. So does Jamie. Probably lower in PPR? I would have Henry 20th in standard, 25th in PPR. Oh, wow. Okay. So, like, they were talking about Henry being involved in the passing game. I think that is obviously a big impact here.

Why would you do that at that point? Well, it's not that he can't do it. It's that they just now brought in this running back who's going to be significantly better than him at it. He'll still catch passes, but perfect world. First of all, the reason why I've got Deion Lewis ranked as low as I do, and I've got him 25th among running backs in PPR leagues, is because I expect him to not last the season. Okay.

If he did last the season in a perfect world, he'd have a ton of catches. We'd be talking about him having well over 50. Joe Mixon over Derrick Henry. Yes. Okay. All right. Which wasn't over Derrick Henry. Yes. Okay. All right. Which wasn't the case. Right in the same range.

They're within five spots of each other maybe. But that wasn't the case before Deion Lewis went to Tennessee. I am so excited. I'm like a kid in a candy store right now. You know who I think is a big winner? Leonard Fournette, undeniably. They got the best offensive lineman on the market, Andrew Norwell at guard. I love it for Fournette.

Add another good blocking tight end in Dante Moncrief. Is Marquis Leo winner? He's the best receiver on the team, right? He's the best receiver on the team, but they've got a lot of young and I'm not sure what they are type of wide receivers, and now they throw on Moncrief, which I don't understand. And Alan Hearns is still there. Right, which I would consider one of those guys.

I know it seems like Alan Hearns has been in the NFL for 10 years, but he's still relatively young. He's the old man of this group. And I think you have to project him to throw less passes than probably any team in the NFL. They led the league in rushing attempts last year, the Jacks. Yeah, they're going to keep trying to do that. Yeah, they were 1-2 with Minnesota.

I don't remember who was 1. I think it was Jacksonville and then Minnesota. And I should probably get one of my losers in just because of what I said on last week's – or two days ago's podcast. Sorry, Adam Shaheen. Yeah, it's rough. Trey Burton. I mean, Trey Burton's an obvious winner.

He goes from being a backup to a starter, you would think. Yes. He'd have to really suck in training camp in order for that not to be the case. All right, where's Trey Burton in your rankings? I haven't officially moved him yet, but he's probably going to be close to where I had Shaheen, which is a top 15 fantasy tight end. Yeah, he'll be borderline top 10 for me.

I am very curious about this Bears offense, and maybe this will spawn the conversation about Allen Robinson. That's up to you, Adam, since you're driving this thing. But it should be a West Coast-ish type of scheme because that's what Matt Nagy is based on and what he's done his whole career. But Mark Helfrich, as the offensive coordinator, is going to bring in some spread

concepts that's what trubisky was doing in college and i wonder if they end up going that route a little bit more given the personnel that they have and i don't know if that would necessarily be a good thing for trey burton well trubisky i mean what do you think about alan robinson we should go there trubisky had a 77.5 passer rating last year. Jared Goff had a 63.6 passer rating in his rookie season. We've made so many comparisons. Get rid of the coach. Bring in a better offensive mind.

They have a decent offensive line. It's not like it was the Rams in 2016. But now they bring in Allen Robinson, just like the Rams brought in Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins and Cooper Cup. Yeah, what do you think about the offense? What do you think about Allen Robinson and the passing game in general for Chicago? Let me start by saying that you should take everything that you know about Mitchell Trubisky from last season and throw it out the window

because the receiving core sucked the play calling bad the playbook and so i'm willing to give him a pass on everything that we saw uh and and now that he's got a better receiving core i trust his coaching staff a lot more and i like trubisky coming out i thought he was pretty good i'm uh i'm I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to say that this is an upgrade at quarterback for Allen Robinson. Now that he's going from Bortles to Trubisky, I think Trubisky will be more accurate. I think the quality of target will be there,

but I don't necessarily see Robinson as a 1,000-yard receiver. I think he's going to fall just short of there, but I think he's still going to be pretty good in the red zone. Still a number two fantasy wide receiver, but kind of closer to the just short of there. But I think he's still going to be pretty good in the red zone. Still a number two fantasy wide receiver, but kind of closer to the low end of that group. Yeah, I've got Robinson around 70 catches, 950 yards, eight touchdowns. Yeah, and I'm a little bit lower than that, simply because of all the other pass catchers that Chicago has.

Cameron Meredith's coming back. Taylor Gabriel's coming back. Don't forget about Kevin White. Cohen. Taylor Gabriel's coming back. Don't forget about Kevin White. Cohen. Oh, yeah, sure. He'll get his 15 catches or whatever, but Tariq Cohen's going to see a bump in catches for sure.

And Trey Burton, Adam Shaheen, they're going to get passes on their way. If you're drafting today, Dez Bryant or Allen Robinson? Dez. Allen Robinson for sure. Dez. If you're drafting today, Marquise Goodwin or Allen Robinson? Robinson. I think Robinson. Dez. Allen Robinson, for sure. Dez. If you're drafting today, Marquise Goodwin or Allen Robinson? Robinson. I think Robinson. So Robinson is what, like a number three wide receiver?

Number two. Number two? Okay. Dez is a borderline number two at best. All right, Dave's got Allen Robinson 23rd, Jamie 21st, and we will await Heath's rankings update on him. I'm just going to throw some more stuff out there. Is LaShawn McCoy a loser?

Yes. I mean, this team, I thought they were going to be terrible last year and they made the playoffs. But he had 59 catches, 448 receiving yards, two receiving touchdowns. That save, LaShawn McCoy was the number seven running back in fantasy on, I believe, the 23rd best offense. And you know I say it all the time. Bad offense often means bad running back unless they're involved in the passing game.

I suppose he could still be involved in the passing game, but I just don't like anything that's happening with the Bills. Cordy Glenn gone. Tyrod Taylor gone. It makes a guy that people are already nervous about even more nervous-ier. It's exactly how I feel. It's extremely, extremely nervous-ier.

We'll see what the Bills do with the rest of the offseason, but I am scared to death of McCoy. I remember what we just got done talking about on our last podcast when we broke down Tyrod Taylor and how running backs fare with running quarterbacks yeah yeah and that's out the window now because AJ McCarron isn't going to run anywhere close to as well as Tyrod Taylor is AJ McCarron going to be their

starter for the entire season if it's not then I'm not sure if the guy who is their starter whether they're clearly going to try and move up and draft somebody. I'm not sure he's going to run like we saw Tyrod Taylor run. Right. Okay, so that was a thought of mine, McCoy. McCoy and Henry both being losers, those are two guys that are going late second round. So it does kind of change running back a little bit. Gurley, Elliott, Bell, Johnson, Hunt, Fournette, Gordon, Kamara, Cook, Ingram.

Well, like right there. So that's nine up to Cook. Ingram, Freeman, McCoy, Jordan Howard. They're all – this is a – it gets a little dangerous here. Yeah. Well, and there are so many potential landmines in the NFL draft. I'm kind of surprised as many veterans have gotten contracts as they have because there are people that are speculating there's 15-plus running backs

coming out of this draft that could have NFL jobs. There's going to be a lot more shifting going on in the next month and a half. Yeah, boy, this was a lot of fun this week. All right, more. Let's talk about Isaiah Crowell on the Jets. Where is he for you? Stinkerville. Yeah, I'm not excited about it.

I don't know this situation is much different than what Isaiah Crowell has dealt with his entire life. I think it's worse. I think the offensive line is worse than what it's been the past couple of years in Cleveland. I think the fact that he's going to have to split with two running backs instead of one is going to be bad. I think it's, uh, I think it's bad news for Isaiah Crowell.

Yeah. And he can't, he can't catch like Matt Forte did. I mean, he's not, Oh, he can catch. He was very good as a receiving back when they threw it to him the last

couple of years, two years ago, he's not ever been in a good situation ever. It's not like he's being downgraded from a good situation. He he's one in 31 over the last two years. Two years ago, he was. And he's not ever been in a good situation. Ever. It's not like he's being downgraded from a good situation. He's 1-31 over the last two years. We thought that he was going to have a better situation, Crowell, this

past season with an improved offensive line, with maybe an improved team. Of course, you know, they're not good. Cleveland, that is. The Jets, the running game was awful for the Jets last year. But the year before that, Bilal Powell had a seriously good year. But he's still there.

Crowell is what, a number three? Yeah, he's a number three, if that. You have Rex Burkhead and Isaiah Crowell, Dave, ranked back-to-back. Jamie has them within two spots. I haven't officially re-ranked Crowell. But how could, like, Burkhead seems like a winner to me. Big-time winner. He was one of the guys I put in my winners, and I, not just staying with New England,

but Deion Lewis also leaving, Belichick making a commitment to Burkhead. Listen, it's still a New England running back situation. If it wasn't for the fact of Belichick's history with running backs, I might rank him as a top 20 running back. He's going to be lower than that now, but he's still a borderline number two. Does it annoy you that he might deal with nagging injuries that could slow him down and cost him a couple of games? He's a running back.

What about Mike Gilleslie still being on the roster? It doesn't really bother me. We saw last year when Gilleslie was inactive for, what, six straight weeks? It was weird. I mean, Gilleslie was a terror. He was a bust for the Patriots. Okay, so if those two have the same role and Burkhead has the nod coming out this season,

then, yeah, I'm with you on what you're saying. But I don't know if I'm going to reach often for racks. Burkhead had three games with double-digit carries last year. He had 11 fantasy points at Denver. He scored a receiving touchdown. He had 17 fantasy points against Miami. He had a rushing and receiving touchdown, the standard scoring. He had 21 fantasy points.

He had two rushing touchdowns at Buffalo. So when they gave him work, any running back who gets work in New England is going to be good. So, you know, no Deion Lewis. That's a good thing for Burkhead, but Heath seems a little bit more on board with that than Dave. Alright,

so I think let's go through... Oh, one more guy before we go through the news items. Tell me how you feel about... I can't figure out if he's a winner or a loser, Kenyon Drake. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's kind of hard to look at him and say, yep, all aboard the Kenyon Drake train.

That offensive line isn't great. The offense has some speed on the outside and good short area pass catchers on the inside. But there's just a lot that makes me nervous about Miami. Tack on a defense that probably won't be nearly as good as it might have been if they had kept Sue. Yeah, he makes me nervous. He definitely makes me nervous,

and this is a team that will definitely draft somebody. Yeah, obviously our opinions are going to change after the draft, but it's fun to have these conversations now. Look, the Dolphins didn't add anybody, so that was good for Drake. He had three games with 16 or more carries, and he scored 16 or more fantasy points in standard in all three. He can catch the ball. He looks like a good player. But I don't know.

I can appreciate on one hand what the Dolphins are doing. They're getting rid of expensive contracts. They're getting rid of guys that they don't think want to be there. They got rid of Landry. They cut in Dominick and Sue. It seems like by the time you hear this, get rid of Mike Pouncey. I can get that, but it almost seems like they're tanking a little bit, and the 2018 outlook scares me for the Dolphins. Heath, what do you think? I think the Dolphins are going to be terrible, but I thought like last year when they were sitting at 500 after six games or whatever and had a negative 60-point differential,

we kind of knew that maybe this needed to happen. Right, right. 2018 is terrifying, and I've downgraded Drake because of it. Yeah. So the AFC East, I mean, I just – I don't – does anybody like what the Bills, Jets, or Dolphins did? I mean, the Jets are trying. The Jets signed Tremaine Johnson, one of the top cornerbacks. They signed linebacker Avery Williamson, who don't know much about him But apparently he's very good

Unfortunately they missed out on the marquee guys And they signed Isaiah Crowell They didn't really get any better They brought in Bridgewater and McCown Teddy Bridgewater could still be good Yeah but you can't go into the season Thinking that he's the surefire starter I'm not even sure if he's an improvement

Over McCown at this point We just don't know what he is Okay so ready to go through All the news items and see what we missed I'm not even sure if he's an improvement over McCown at this point. We just don't know what he is. Okay, so ready to go through all the news items and see what we missed? Yeah. All right, let's do it. Start with the quarterbacks here. By the way, you can email us at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. And if Heath sounds a little nervous right now, I mean, we've done so many podcasts. Kansas is in a bit of a tight game at the moment. So he's a little nervous. Give him a little break. I was a lot more nervous about five minutes ago when they were down 21-13. It's all good now. Oh, what's the score?

They are ahead 30-23. Oh, okay. Okay, good. So he's good. All right, then. Quarterback, Kirk Cousins, yay. Aaron or Sam Bradford to Arizona. Dumb.

Okay. It's not dumb for Sam Bradford. No, it's awesome for him, and I'm not hating on Sam Bradford. Can I just say what Sam Bradford has done in his last five games? Of course I can. I'm the host. Last four games of 2016, he averaged 304 passing yards and two touchdowns. And in week one of 2016, he scored 31 fantasy points,

threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns. It's possible he was – he's not a bad quarterback. He's not a bad quarterback at all. It's possible that he's underrated. Oh, yeah. No, he – on a per-game basis, he is great, but he is made of glass and not like bulletproof glass or the type of glass they put up in office buildings in case there's a hurricane.

I'm talking like the most thin type of glass that you've ever seen. Don't worry, don't worry. Everything's going to be just fine because that Arizona offensive line, I am sure, will protect him. They've got a... I do think this is not a bad thing

for Larry Fitzgerald, who should probably catch 95 passes again. Denver signed Case Keenum. Is this good or bad for the wide receivers? It's an upgrade over what they had last year, but Case Keenum is going to come crashing back to earth because that Broncos offensive line isn't very good either. About a 60% completion passer,

and I like that he's going to have good pass catchers to throw to. I think that that'll help him out because I think that's what helped him make his year last year in Minnesota. Yeah, he's been pretty blessed in that regard. Well, now, nowadays. It's not like it was before when he was with the Rams. Those were not good days. Did you move Demarius Thomas up at all in your rankings? I'm probably going to end up moving him down

because when I originally ranked him, it was under the expectation that they'd get Cousins. Okay, so would you rather have Amari Cooper or Demarius Thomas? I will still take Thomas. Yeah, the numbers will all say to rank Thomas higher. I do love Amari Cooper's upside, and the Raiders have talked about how it's his receiving core now. But I'll say Thomas.

All right, just case Keenum, if you want the numbers. In his last nine games, he threw 17 touchdowns, five interceptions. He scored 21 or more fantasy points in six of nine games. Only twice more than 23 fantasy points, but didn't throw that much, just 32.3 passes per game, which would have ranked 25th in the NFL. Had a 104.4 passer rating. That's Case Keenum in his last nine games. But, you know, that's the best stretch of his career.

All right, more quarterback stuff. Drew Breesie is resigning two years 50 million jets signing teddy bridgewater as we mentioned and josh mccown both the one-year deals buffalo signing aj mccarran two years 10 million and tom brady chugged a beer with stephen colbert and destroyed stephen colbert i know who the best beer chugger is in this room. Were you impressed, Heath? I was impressed. I also liked there was a deal on Twitter where an ex-Pats backup offensive lineman told a story about when they were stuck in Buffalo one time. They had a beer chugging contest, and he beat Tom Brady, and he was the only one on the team that could. Oh, I'm sorry.

I thought you were going to talk about the Brian Hoyer story with Dinosaur Barbecue. This is somebody who actually beat Tom Brady. Somebody actually beat Tom Brady. He was a backup offensive lineman. Wow. So, Dave, are you saying that Heath would beat you in a beer chugging contest? Yes, he would. I would like to think that I probably would.

I've practiced a lot. I'm kind of a failure if I'm not good at drinking beer. You know what's kind of hard to chug that most people don't know except for people like me is water. Because when we would play beer pong in college, I would play and I would just chug water instead of beer. And it's hard. That's a weird thing about me, and my wife finds this really odd. But I don't, like, get a glass of water and sit it there with dinner and drink it from time to time in small drinks. I know that I need to stay

hydrated, so I go to the water fountain four or five times a day, I fill the cup with water, and I drink it all. Yeah, but what would you drink faster, water or beer? I mean, I've probably drank more beer than water, so I'll say beer. You would.

Water is interesting. It's kind of difficult to judge. All right, running back news. That's what you've got to do if you have the hiccups. I think we talked about all of this. Carlos Hyde, I think it's three years, $15 million. When I did the numbers for the contracts, it was like as the news was breaking, so I'm sure there's different numbers now. Well, luckily, how much money they make has absolutely no impact on their fantasy value.

Yeah, except the McKinnon thing really stood out. That was the one. Could it just be that the 49ers wanted to outbid everybody? They clearly targeted McKinnon. They had to have him, so they just outbid everybody. They don't really care. I don't think they were like, well, geez, he's the guy we really want, but we don't want to overpay him. I think they realized that that's how much it was going to take to get him, and they wanted him bad enough.

They can do that. And I've had some questions about some of the things John Lynch has done. They paid him twice as much as they could have had Carlos Hyde for. Right, that's what I'm saying. Like, it just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't know, man. Everybody was applauding John Lynch when he got Reuben Foster, right? That might be a terrible pick now.

He's got major behavioral issues. There's a reason why he slipped to the end of the first round. I'm not sure if he's a good GM yet. The jury's out. The Jimmy Garoppolo trade is freaking brilliant. Five games in. But still, it's a win. It Yeah, but still it's a win. Oh, it's brilliant anyway.

It's a win. It's brilliant anyway because think about what some of these other quarterbacks are now getting paid. Garoppolo's getting paid a lot. Garoppolo's getting paid a lot. I know he's getting paid a lot too, but just to give up the second round pick to not have to go through that trouble to get a quarterback who doesn't have as much long-term upside as Garoppolo has. It was brilliant. Yeah.

And it was fortuitous. This one, though, I don't know. I just don't know about the McKinnon deal. There are bad contracts handed out all the time. This one might be. But Deion Lewis, Tennessee, Jets, Crowell, and Baltimore released Danny Woodhead. Woodhead's already gaining interest from the Falcons and Patriots. Oh, I would hate him on the Falcons.

I don't think I'm going to like him no matter where he goes. I don't think he can do it for 16 games, and I don't know if a team's going to let him even try to do it more than a few times per game. I hate him on the Falcons because of Devontae Freeman, because I need Freeman to start catching the ball. I don't want him there. All right, what else? Wide receiver, Allen Robinson, three years, $42 million.

They also signed Taylor Gabriel, which could help. More speed in that offense, yeah. Sammy Watkins got more money than Allen Robinson, $48 million over three years instead of $42. He got $30 million guaranteed. I think that's another case where a team was willing to overpay a player just to make sure they had him. Did I ask you if you'd rather have Watkins or Allen Robinson? I think you asked us something like that. I'd definitely rather have Robinson just because he doesn't have near as many

mouths to compete with. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. He's got as many mouths to compete with. They're just not as notable. They're not as big. Remember the game Big Mouth when we were kids? No. Big, giant, yellow guy.

His mouth would open up, and he had to flick these things into his mouth. Dave, that's Pac-Man. No, no, no, no, no. This was a board game. Google it. Hungry Hippos? Hungry Hungry Hippos. It's kind of closer to Hungry Hippos than it is.

Hungry Hungry Hippos, you dads. There's two Hungries in there. Come on. What else? Jordy Nelson got cut, and Jimmy Graham comes over. So we'll talk about that when we get to tight ends. But Jordy Nelson, Oakland is finalizing a deal with him. Should we talk about that now, or should we wait for it to be official?

Let's wait for it to be official. It sounds like it's going to happen. I'm curious to see whether or not Michael Crabtree will be a teammate of his his it sounds like he won't be i think that that could be a mistake by oakland really interesting strategy assign the worst receiver and drop the better one would you rather have marquise lee back with the jaguars on a four-year deal or sammy watkins on the chiefs wow i think what I think I would too Because Lee will have a bigger chunk of his team's targets But there are not very many targets to go around in Jacksonville

And I think it's almost a cinch that Watkins will have more touchdowns Yeah it could be a standard versus PPR thing Because Watkins has never been a catch guy And I don't really think Yeah like Dave said I don't think any of us would project a lot of touchdowns from Mark Easley. And then these are kind of curious. Baltimore signing Ryan Grant, pretty big deal.

They also signed John Brown, and the Dolphins signed Albert Wilson, three years, $24 million, and they signed Danny Amendola. And the Redskins signed Paul Richardson. So Ryan Grant, John Brown on Baltimore, Albert Wilson, Danny Amendola on the Dolphins, Paul Richardson on the Redskins. Who's got the most fantasy relevance? I think it has to be Richardson. He's got the best quarterback of that group.

He has the best opportunity to take over a number one role in that offense. Are any of these guys good sleepers as the offseason rolls on it'll be interesting to study richardson and grant i know brown is the one who fantasy owners have heard of the most i'm concerned about him being available yeah he's yeah so maybe he's a final round flyer probably more so in deeper leagues than typical seasonal leagues. I think Grant probably has a lot more potential to help your fantasy team, and I agree with Heath. I think Richardson has the most,

since he could be the number one outside threat in Washington. And he has a lot. I mean, he's fast, and he has a big catch radius. I don't really know why he wasn't more consistent in Seattle. And I'm still going to say that, as of now, Chad Williams is still a sleeper for the Cardinals. They haven't upgraded their wide receivers yet. Looks like Jerron Brown's not coming back.

Yeah, John Brown said himself that Chad Williams, who's going to be a second-year receiver out of Grambling State, that Chad Williams is ready to step up and be, I think he said, a number one receiver. So sleeper for you right there. All right, tight end news. Well, who do you like better? Sam Bradford throwing him passes. Sam Bradford's not that bad, man.

He's not bad, but I don't know. He does like tight ends, right? Yes. You're thinking RSJ? RSJ may be a thing. Yeah. Okay, so who do you like better, Trey Burton, the Bear, or Jimmy Graham, the Packer? Graham.

Graham. I did a Twitter poll about this too, but not about Burton. Of this group, who is your favorite tight end next season? Jimmy Graham, Kyle Rudolph, Delaney Walker. Graham. I think it's probably Walker. The listeners or the Twitter followers said Jimmy Graham 61%. Kyle Rudolph 27%. Delaney Walker 12%. Interesting. I'm worried about Walker

coming back to being an improvement on what he was last season. I think Graham has pretty much established himself as a touchdown or nothing type of tight end because he's only averaging like 42 yards per game. Yeah, he was very good. I don't think that that's going to go up that much in Green Bay. You look at what Aaron Rodgers' track record is with tight ends, I don't think unless there's massive philosophical change

now that Jordy's out and Graham's in, I think Graham could score eight, nine, ten times, but he might not get much more than 600 yards. 600? Yeah. All right. Well, that'll make... That's not per game, by the way. That's per season, baby.

All right, so last year he had 520-10, and he was the number four tight end in fantasy. Pretty far behind the big three, I'd say. Because Ertz had some injuries, but certainly on a per-game basis he was behind them. Like 808 would be a great year for a tight end. Do you think he can get 808? I've got him at 630 and eight.

I don't think 800 is – it's possible, but that's at the very tip top of the possibilities. So then here's my question, right? Well, first of all – no, we'll come back to Graham. But are we worried at all about Aaron Rodgers' weapons? It's not great after Adams, is it? Are they keeping Cobb? Does it matter? I think they need another receiver.

And I don't know if Geronimo Allison is going to be the one who fills that third receiver role. They've got Jeff Janis, Dave. Ty Montgomery. Ty Montgomery, put him out there. If they were going to move Montgomery to receiver, then they don't need Cobb because Cobb's salary is too much. But does that concern you right now?

Do you need to see something more from the Packers to feel good about Rogers being number one or two? I'd like to see them draft a wide receiver for the outside. You know, if you line Dave up for 60 snaps a game with Aaron Rogers, he'd score 10 touchdowns. I would? You know what, though? When he lost Jordy Nelson two years ago, or was it three years ago? Yeah, he struggled. 2015.

Yeah, he struggled. He was like the number six quarterback. Devontae Adams is a lot better now. Sure. I think it's fair to say that Devontae Adams is the best wide receiver there. Yeah. And Cobb is number two by default, but I don't think anybody's got a lot of confidence in Cobb as the number two guy.

And then you think about who the number three guy is, and you know that whoever the number three guy is isn't as good as Cobb. But who is that guy? Do you really buy into Geronimo Allison? No, but we're saying that Adams is better now than he was then, yes. But remember how good we thought Randall Cobb was in 2015 when Jordy Nelson tore his ACL? He was a second-round pick. So it's just kind of interesting.

It is a lot. Very, very interesting offseason thus far. Jimmy Graham or Greg Olson? Olson. Yeah, I think Olson still. That can change, though. Jimmy Graham or Evan Ingram? Graham. Ingram. Ingram? Graham.

Ingram. Yeah, I'm probably going to be the low guy on Ingram for now. No, I want to be the low guy on Ingram. Well, I mean, you can rank him wherever you want in your imaginary head, and then you can say you're lower than me. You just look at where my ranking is and then say you have him one spot lower than that. Okay. Detroit released Eric Ebron.

Miami released Julius Thomas. Philadelphia released Brent Selick. Offensive line. Okay. Well, I thought the Giants would end up with Andrew Norwell. Instead, he went to the Jaguars. So did the Giants. Yeah.

The Giants got Nate Solder. And I think that's really most interesting for Saquon Barkley because if the Giants take him, it doesn't look like the Browns... Well, no, right? Why would the Browns take him with Hyde? Whoa, whoa, whoa. We skipped over some major news in the running back news. What? The Giants don't need to take Saquon Barkley now.

Oh, yeah. I forgot they signed Jonathan Stewart. Why is Jonathan Stewart not in the running back news? Because fullbacks don't count, Heath. We didn't talk about the projections for Jonathan Stewart. We didn't talk about this guy or this guy. Have you projected Jonathan Stewart? Jonathan Stewart or Isaiah Crowell? Oh, I'll take anybody over Stewart.

Nobody cares about Stewart. Have I drafted a kicker yet? But they got Nate Solder, left tackle, best left tackle on the market, four years, $60 million. And they signed former Jaguars guard Patrick, oh, mom, may I have no idea how to pronounce your name, but he's the guy that Andrew Norwell is replacing. So, look, for the sake of Eli Manning, for the sake of the Giants offense, they obviously needed to upgrade their line.

What do you think with Solder and a guard in there? Eh. I am having a hard time being moved by the Giants' offensive line moves for the sake of Eli Manning, only because we just moved Patrick Mahomes up in our rankings with the acquisition of Sammy Watkins. Mitchell Trubisky, somebody we're a little more interested in as the number two quarterback now. I feel like Manning's just going backwards. I love Manning's just going backwards.

I love Manning's receiving core. I am very, very worried about what that offensive line looks like. If you take Mitchell Trubisky over Eli Manning, is that what you're saying? I didn't say that. Okay, because if you do, then I think you're completely – it's like that is insane. I think that there is a possibility that Mitchell Trubisky scores more fantasy points than Eli Manning next year. Absolutely. But I don't think you can draft like that.

Even if they both play 16 games. I don't think you can draft like that. Even if Odell Beckham doesn't get hurt. I think Eli Manning is – They're in trouble on that offensive line. There's no question about it. But they've been in trouble. Like Eli Manning, when Beckham plays, Eli Manning is good.

He may not be good in real life, but he's good in fantasy because they have no running game. I think he's an underrated quarterback in fantasy. Well, if they draft Barkley. Yeah, that would change. Right, that changes a lot. But then the offensive line again becomes a question mark, even with Barkley there.

I mean, they did add Nate Solder. That's a big addition. That's a big addition, and that's probably better for Eli Manning than it is for the run game. Sure, yeah. Because even with Omame as the guard, he's not that good either. He really was a liability at times for Jacksonville. He was their second-worst graded offensive lineman.

I'm sorry, third-worst on pro football focus. And the Giants had a team full of red-graded offensive linemen. So I don't know if there's really an upgrade there or not. No, I don't know that there is. They did lose center Weston Richburg, who is now on the 49ers. Cincinnati acquired left tackle Cordy Glenn. That could be nice. That's an interesting move.

I'm not sure if Glenn still can be a great left tackle. He'll probably be somewhere between solid and serviceable. Two teams that really could have used Andrew Norwell were the Giants and the Bengals. Neither got him. I don't know if the Bengals needed Norwell. Well, I guess in the sense that anyone needed Norwell, and they were hindered by their offensive line last year. Is that fair?

Yes. Yeah, but the offensive line issues had more to do with tackle than they did with guard. The Jets signed center Spencer Long. The Browns signed offensive lineman Chris Hubbard and Donald Stevenson. And actually, this one might be a little underrated. The Texans signed former Chiefs guard Zach Fulton and Buffalo offensive tackle Sancho Henderson. But Fulton to the Texans, that's nice.

I like that. They need that depth. He might end up being a starter for them. They need talent on that offensive line for sure. They have to protect Deshaun Watson. Is there any team that really jumped out at you defensively? Philadelphia. Yep.

And the Rams. They're going to be amazing. Yeah. Okay. Green Bay signing Muhammad Wilkerson. That's interesting. Tennessee just raiding the Patriots, taking Malcolm Butler. Yeah, so now they've got, I think both of their starting corners

are going to end up being former Patriots. And Deion Lewis. That's right. And their starting running back. Tennessee also signed, re-signed defensive end Daquan Jones, who is apparently very good against the run. And remember, this was a tough team to run on last year. So they could have a good run defense again.

Wow, that was fun. Anything else, guys? Any free agent notes you want to get to? I think you pretty well nailed it. The Bears gave $9 million guaranteed to kicker Cody Parkey. Oh man, I should have been a football player. The kicker

is what you would have been. Yeah, 100%. Are you kidding? Absolutely I think that's going to do it for us Fun show today, a lot of stuff going on in the NFL We appreciate it, if you have any questions Send us your emails at fantasyfootball At cbsi.com Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com

Good luck with your brackets, thank you for joining We have about 1400 people again this year That's awesome And I look forward to meeting you all. See you later.